Ancient

A fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Led by powerful leaders, kingdoms and dynasties developed here around 3000 BC. Attacks and coups by neighboring kingdoms are the order of the day. But he who plans well will become the stuff of legend. Haven't we heard this before? Absolutely, but not in this form. Because now, the 'card game conversion' trend among board games has reached Reiner Knizia's classic game Euphrat & Tigris (Tigris and Euphrates). As Euphrates & Tigris: Contest of Kings, it will offer simpler and faster play, but will still be nicely outfitted with about 200 cards and 16 printed wooden discs.

From the publisher:

"It is 37 AD and Caligula is the extravagant Emperor of Rome! It is a time of excesses. It is a time of intrigue. And the latest gala in Caligula’s short reign is starting tonight—Bacchus’ Banquet!"

From BoardgameNews.com:

"As a player, you are one of the nine “honored” guests—each with his or her own secret objective. You might be a glutton who is only there for the food and wine. You might be an avaricious opportunist longing for the presents that are often bestowed. You might be a conspirator in one of the many plots to kidnap or assassinate the Emperor. You might even be Caligula himself, exploiting the all-too-human foibles of his groveling subjects."

In Qin players colonize the Chinese hinterland, seize territories, and expand their influence by placing tiles and pagodas.

A move is simple: You choose one out of three tiles from your hand, place it onto the grid of the board, then draw a new tile. Each tile shows two landscapes. If you create a territory that consists of at least two spaces of the same landscape, you seize it. You can also expand your territories, take over territories from other players, and connect your territories to villages on the board. All of this enables you to place pagodas. The player who is first to get rid of all his pagodas wins.

Antike Duellum – previewed at Spiel 2011 under the name Casus Belli – is a two-player strategy game based on modified rules from Mac Gerdts' Antike. The game includes two scenarios: Punic Wars (Rome vs. Carthago) on one side of the board, and Persian Wars (Greeks vs. Persians) on the other. The goal of the game is to be the first to gain nine ancient personages (Kings, Scholars, Generals, Citizens, Navigators).

Examples of modified rules from Antike:

Modular layout - when a player founds a city, he chooses whether it produces Iron, Marble, or Gold
Over 20 event cards, which provide more variety in the game
Town walls for individual protection of cities
Each "Know-How" costs a different amount - for example, inventing the market is more expensive than inventing the wheel
A new Know-How for trading goods with the bank
Higher costs for legions and galleys - they are first recruited from the bank to the personal supply (paying gold)
Easier rules for conquering cities with no movement of units

Players take on the role of one of three leaders in ancient Rome: Caesar, Pompeius, or Crassus. Each is seeking to dominate the others by various means. You could try a military victory by creating a massive land block... or perhaps a political victory by being elected as Consul twice... or perhaps you can win by sheer skill by raising your talents... Either way, a maximum of three players can participate in this sophomore release by Lookout games.

The turn play consist of 3 phases:
1: Supply phase - Each province supply gold or legion (based on the type of province)
2: Move Phase - The player move his Character to collect gold and move his Legions through out his province or invade province of his opponents
3: Action phase - can be used to do number of actions such as Persuade citizens, produce weapons or increase military or political competence.
The player turn end by moving the calendar stone one step down the track.

The game can be won by three different ways and ends immediately if one of the conditions is achieved:
Political victory: The player collects 6 citizens in his forum
Military Victory: The player conquers his 9th Province
Competence Victory: A player reaches VII on both Competence