fighting

Scythe

It is a time of unrest in 1920s Europa. The ashes from the first great war still darken the snow. The capitalistic city-state known simply as “The Factory”, which fueled the war with heavily armored mechs, has closed its doors, drawing the attention of several nearby countries.

Scythe is a Worker Placement/Economic Engine board game set in an alternate-history 1920s period. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and valor. In Scythe, each player represents a character from one of five factions of Eastern Europa who are attempting to earn their fortune and claim their faction's stake in the land around the mysterious Factory. Players conquer territory, enlist new recruits, reap resources, gain villagers, build structures, and activate monstrous mechs.

Each player begins the game with different resources (power, coins, combat acumen, and popularity), a different starting location, and a hidden goal. Starting positions are specially calibrated to contribute to each faction’s uniqueness and the asymmetrical nature of the game (each faction always starts in the same place).

Scythe gives players almost complete control over their fate. Other than each player’s individual hidden objective card, the only elements of luck or variability are “encounter” cards that players will draw as they interact with the citizens of newly explored lands. Each encounter card provides the player with several options, allowing them to mitigate the luck of the draw through their selection. Combat is also driven by choices, not luck or randomness.

Scythe uses a streamlined action-selection mechanism (no rounds or phases) to keep gameplay moving at a brisk pace and reduce downtime between turns. While there is plenty of direct conflict for players who seek it, there is no player elimination.

Every part of Scythe has an aspect of engine-building to it. Players can upgrade actions to become more efficient, build structures that improve their position on the map, enlist new recruits to enhance character abilities, activate mechs to deter opponents from invading, and expand their borders to reap greater types and quantities of resources. These engine-building aspects create a sense of momentum and progress throughout the game. The order in which players improve their engine adds to the unique feel of each game, even when playing one faction multiple times.

JAB: Realtime Boxing

JAB is a skill-centric strategic boxing card game. In JAB, you get direct control over your boxer's fists, providing an experience as close as possible to real boxing without getting punched in the face. JAB is played in real-time, meaning there are no turns.

Winning the game

To win the game, get a knockout by throwing staggering haymakers at your opponent until he eats canvas, or strategically win more rounds than your opponent by impressing the judges with your beautiful technique.

How is JAB different?

JAB attempts to innovate the real-time genre by challenging a player to be constantly making decisions, rather than simply recognizing patterns or performing calculations. The game also measures your ability to calmly manage your focus in a chaotic situation.

Last Friday

Last Friday is a hidden movement, hunting and deduction board game, inspired by the popular "slasher" horror movie genre. In the role of young campers, the players are challenged to survive a long weekend of terror – while one of them takes the role of the undying psychopath hiding in the shadows of the forest. In general, the murderer's goal is to remain hidden and to kill off each of the campers, while the campers are trying to fight back and kill the murderer before they are all killed.

The game is played over four chapters — Arrival at the Camp, The Chase, The Massacre, and The Final Chapter — and each chapter plays out differently as the hunter becomes the prey, then comes back from the dead looking for revenge.

Stellar Conflict

Stellar Conflict is a fast-paced space combat game with real-time elements set in the Among the Stars Universe.

In this game, which reimplements the James Ernest and Tom Jolly design Light Speed, players take over the role of an alien race taking part on a space battle. Each player has his/her own fleet and based on the size of the battle, he/she chooses which ships will be deployed for combat (deployment phase). Each race has its own power and abilities which grants it different advantages in combat.

After both players have deployed their forces in this time-limited real-time phase, the combat phase begins.

The Combat Phase lasts a random number of Rounds based on which ships have been deployed on the battlefield. Each Round, different ships fire their weapons and perform their abilities trying to destroy enemy ships and/or complete objectives.

Stellar Conflict offers a more advanced, deeper alternative to Light Speed. Each race has its own fleet of different ships and abilities guaranteed to offer lots of replayability.

Prophecy

Prophecy (originally released as Proroctví) is a Talisman-style game by Czech designer Vladimír Chvátil. The players represent fantasy characters on a path through a land full of adventure with the goal of grabbing ancient artifacts from the claws of demons guarding the surrounding astral realms.

Instead of rolling dice to move around the game board, players in Prophecy use a variety of means of transport. The game includes an experience system and loads of skills and spells that your character can learn. A large number of monsters that you can meet and fight also await you, as do random events that will keep taxing your abilities because after you cast a spell or lose a fight, your strength or willpower declines until it is recharged by healing.

Whoever holds four of the five hidden artifacts wins the game and becomes the next king of the land.

Expanded by:

Prophecy: Dragon Realm (2003)
Prophecy: Water Realm (2006)