Area Movement

Trajan

Set in ancient Rome, Trajan is a development game in which players try to increase their influence and power in various areas of Roman life such as political influence, trading, military dominion and other important parts of Roman culture.

The central mechanism of the game uses a system similar to that in Mancala or pit-and-pebbles games. In Trajan, a player has six possible actions: building, trading, taking tiles from the forum, using the military, influencing the Senate, and placing Trajan tiles on his tableau.

At the start of the game, each player has two differently colored pieces in each of the six sections (bowls) of his tableau. On a turn, the player picks up all the pieces in one bowl and distributes them one-by-one in bowls in a clockwise order. Wherever the final piece is placed, the player takes the action associated with that bowl; in addition, if the colored pieces in that bowl match the colors shown on a Trajan tile next to the bowl (with tiles being placed at the start of the game and through later actions), then the player takes the additional action shown on that tile.

What are you trying to do with these actions? Acquire victory points (VPs) in whatever ways are available to you – and since this is a Feld design, you try to avoid being punished, too. At the Forum you try to anticipate the demands of the public so that you can supply them what they want and not suffer a penalty. In the Senate you acquire influence which translates into votes on VP-related laws, ideally snagging a law that fits your long-term plans. With the military, you take control of regions in Europe, earning more points for those regions far from Rome.

All game components are language neutral, and the playing time is 30 minutes per player.

Age of Towers

You've just found a mine filled with precious energy crystals! Precisely those you use for your daily magic. The problem here is that you've also stumbled onto a horde of monsters! And to make things even worse, three other cities seem to have discovered the existence of your mine as well. As they rush into danger to mine the precious crystals, you have no choice but to join in the fray...

Age of Towers brings the exciting gameplay of your favorite tower defense games onto the tabletop! Playable either solo or with up to four players, Age of Towers sees you and your opponents competing to defend your cities against the oncoming wave of monsters by constructing defenses, placing traps, and funneling those beasts towards your opponents' cities!

In more detail, each turn has three phases: night, dawn, and day. During night, the event card is applied and monsters progress on your path (with each type having a different movement value). Two more monsters (or your boss) appear on your path. During dawn, the towers can attack one monster of a particular type on one of the four adjacent spaces, or the boss. During day, each player can choose one action from the four available, then they can take one more action, whether the same or different.

Each monster type has a movement value (1-3 spaces) and maybe a special ability; all core box monsters have 2 life points. The boss, who is not a monster, is harder to kill as it has 10 life points; when a player successfully kills it, the game ends. Each time a monster or a boss leaves your path to reach your city, you lose a number of city guards equal to their movement value. You begin at 15, and even if you lose your last one, you don't lose the game; you will just earn fewer victory points than other players.

After the game end, each player adds their victory points from three sources: Number of remaining city guards, amount of damage to your boss, and achievements (which are drawn randomly at the beginning of the game).

Chickapig

Break your flock of chickapigs free while dodging opponents, hay bales, and an unruly pooping cow in this strategic board game.

The first player to get their six chickapigs off the board wins. You must coordinate your chickapigs, hay bales, and the cow to help your chickapigs escape through their goal. At the same time, play defense against your opponents with your pieces, or use the cow to drop a poop in their way. Whenever someone goes over a poop, they must take a poop card which are always bad. There are also daisy cards, which are always good.

Chickapig is an abstract game with enough chance to keep everyone competitive.

Carnegie

Carnegie was inspired by the life of Andrew Carnegie who was born in Scotland in 1835. Andrew Carnegie and his parents emigrated to the United States in 1848. Although he started his career as a telegraphist, his role as one of the major players in the rise of the United States’ steel industry made him one of the richest men in the world and an icon of the American dream.

Andrew Carnegie was also a benefactor and philanthropist; upon his death in 1919, more than $350 million of his wealth was bequeathed to various foundations, with another $30 million going to various charities. His endowments created nearly 2,500 free public libraries that bear his name: the Carnegie Libraries.

During the game you will recruit and manage employees, expand your business, invest in real estate, produce and sell goods, and create transport chains across the United States; you may even work with important personalities of the era. Perhaps you will even become an illustrious benefactor who contributes to the greatness of his country through deeds and generosity!

The game takes place over 20 rounds; players will each have one turn per round. On each turn, the active player will choose one of four actions, which the other players may follow.

The goal of the game is to build the most prestigious company, as symbolized by victory points.

—description from publisher

Factions: Battlegrounds

In Factions: Battlegrounds, you take on the role of a general who's leading an army of troops, spellcasters, beasts, and mythological monsters into battle. You and the opposing generals determine the battleground, gather resources, and score points by eliminating enemy units. Whoever first captures 25 points of units wins.

In more detail, to set up choose one of the six factions in the game; each faction has twelve unique units and five "home terrain" cards that work well with your units. Players then take turns building the battleground by placing one terrain card at a time into the 3x3 grid, each terrain card is divided into a 2x2 grid, so the entire grid of play is 6x6. Whoever places terrain first has an advantage since they have more home terrain than other players, while players who go later during set up determine the location of resource centers on the battleground or recruit their starting units last so that they can respond to the choices of opponents. Units cost 1-5 gold, and each player can spend up to 10 gold on starting units, keeping anything unspent.

During a round, all units have the chance to move, with the highest-ranked units moving first and with ties being broken in favor of whoever has the most captains, followed by whoever has the most units. Each unit has a movement, attack, and health value, along with an indication of whether it generates gold or mana and (possibly) a spell that it can cast. After moving a unit, you can attack with it, whether melee or ranged as indicated on the card. If you defeat an enemy unit, you can points equal to its cost in gold, so while expensive units tend to be the most powerful, they also provide an opponent with their biggest target for points.

Prior to activating a unit on your turn, you can pay gold to recruit new units, and those units will slip into rank order for the turn, possibly allowing you to put a high-ranking unit into play directly and giving an opponent someone on the battleground that they didn't expect.

Once all the units have moved, players collect resources for units that gain them automatically and for units located on resource centers. Rounds continue until someone has collected 25 points of captured units, at which point they win immediately.

Factions: Battlegrounds is centered on inclusion and diversity, incorporating mythology from all over the world and representing traditionally European-based fantasy elements with underrepresented cultural elements.