Modular Board

Galaxy Defenders is a sci-fi cooperative, tactical battle game in which 1-5 players fight together against an oncoming alien menace. Each player takes control of one or more agents with unique powers to defend the planet from the alien invasion. Gameplay revolves around a tactical combat system, using custom ten-sided dice. Each player sequentially plays his Agent turn and then one Aliens turn. Players carry out their turns [agent and aliens] in clockwise order until the last player finishes his Aliens turn. Once done, the game passes to the Event phase that will bring the players to the next round. Players may choose up to five agents:

Marine: Coming from U.S. Special Forces, the Marine is an excellent soldier who can manage different combat situations, especially multiple enemies.
Biotech: The Biotech is the most technologically adept agent in service. He can use Nano-Technology to heal wounds or control war drones.
Infiltrator: A deadly and stealthy agent. This lethal specialist prefers hiding in the shadows. She has fast movement and good short-range combat ability.
Sniper: A silent sharpshooter and expert in camouflage and ranged combat. The sniper has average movement and excellent long-range firepower.
Hulk: The Hulk was a successful mercenary and now is one of the best agents; although slow, he enjoys an extraordinary resistance to damage and has high firepower.

There is no "Alien player" in Galaxy Defenders; instead, the aliens are controlled by the game system itself, through an artificial intelligence system based on two types of cards:

Alien cards, which define the behavior of each different alien and detail its skills and combat abilities.
Close Encounter cards, which are used at the beginning of each alien turn to determine which aliens activate.

The combination of a unique AI for each alien species and the uncertainty about alien activation in a turn provides a realistic simulation of the chaos of battle and a sophisticated challenge for the players. Since having more agents brings more alien activations for the aliens, the turn structure allows the level of difficulty to scale dynamically based on the number of agents in play. If agents die during the game, the system "recalibrates" the difficulty to a reasonable and enjoyable level, so you still have a chance to complete the mission.

The battle for Earth will be carried out in a series of twelve missions organized in a completely story-driven campaign. Mission events influence future games in two different ways:

Each mission has multiple endings, and the outcome of any mission will change the flow of the story.
The agents gain experience during the missions. This experience transforms a good soldier into a perfect Galaxy Defender agent with multiple skills, basic and improved tactics, and the ability to use new devices, improved human weapons, and Alien technology.

With the downloadable Galaxy Defenders: Alien Mind variant, you can transform the game into a competitive affair, with one player becoming the alien mastermind and controlling the alien army and the card in play, attempting to thwart each mission undertaken by the Agents. To do this, the alien player completes his own game objectives, obtaining new "alien signals" that can be teleported onto the battlefield. This variant, which allows for play with up to six players, can be used in a single mission or for a whole campaign of Galaxy Defenders. Using Alien Mind may increase the game difficulty and is suggested only for expert players.

Official FAQ: http://www.galaxy-defenders.com/faq.php
Additional Missions: http://www.galaxy-defenders.com/mission.php
Galaxy Ball: http://www.galaxy-defenders.com/gb-cards.php

Ricochet Robots is less of a game and more of a puzzle, which explains why there's such an odd number of solutions possible. There's a four-piece modular board that forms a large room with walls spread around the board. There are also color-coded targets on boards. Placed on top of the surface are four robots. The idea for each turn/puzzle is to get the like-colored robot to a randomly selected target. The trick is that once a robot starts moving, it will continue to move until a wall or another robot stops it. Therefore, players are seeking a sequence of moves for the robots that will enable them to move the required robot to the target in the fewest moves.

"Gold, Gold, Gold – A Ton of Gold" – this was the Seattle headline heard 'round the world announcing the discovery of great stores of gold in the Klondike. This was the beginning of an exodus of would-be prospectors dreaming of a better life, a chance to escape the toil caused by the financial recessions and bank failures of the 1890s. Gold rush hysteria was pulsing through the veins of the country and tens of thousands were willing to risk it all for the chance to have it all.

Lost Valley is a game about the Klondike stampede that rushed North and about the grueling journey that these would-be prospectors undertook, traversing Steep Mountain passes with heavy loads through severe weather and with ever-dwindling resources.

During the course of the game, players must explore an ever-expanding lost valley in hopes of discovering a gold vein in a mountain, a virgin forest to provide timber, or a fishing spot along the river to provide food. The map will be different each time you play, so you never know what lurks around the corner. As you set out from the outfitters with everything you own strapped to your back, you must balance carefully the resources that you need. Of course you will need tools, dynamite and timber to extract mountain gold, but you'll need to make sure you have room for food, rifles and fishing poles to help you survive in the wilderness.

In addition to expanding the player count to 2-6 (from 3-4) and shortening the playing time, the second edition of Lost Valley rebalances the gold nugget distribution; provides a third path to victory; and (thanks to the included expansion modules) allows players to build canals, learn new abilities, and stake claims on fish traps, gold mines and mills.

Join the Stampede

Settlers of Catan Travel Edition is, as the name says, a Travel Edition of The Settlers of Catan.
The rules of the game are the same, but there are some changes between the two editions:

No Expansions: In the Travel Edition it is not possible to add any expansions to the regular game, so it is a 3 or 4 players game only.
Pre-determined Desert location: The hex containing the Desert is always in the middle of the board.
Pre-determined numbers: The numbers for production are in fixed locations on the board. That is a natural follow up to the previous item.
Pre-determined port location: Although the type of port at a given location may vary, the port sites themselves are in fixed locations. So the numbers for production, where a port exists, are always the same, and there is never a port near the Desert.
Snap in bits: The roads, villages and cities are all snapped into the board during game play, so it is difficult to mess with the board. The Robber, however, sits freely on the board, and, as you need somewhere to throw the dice, you may prefer a table upon which to play the Travel Edition (although the box top or box insert could be used as a dice tray).

Belongs to the Catan Series.

Game description from the publisher:

Gunship: First Strike! is Escape Pod Games' core release in a planned series of tactical space combat games. Players fight to win battles in a futuristic civil war with a variety of ship types. From the agile and speedy Fighters, to lethal Gunships and intimidating Capital Ships, every battle is a well-balanced slugfest that comes right down to the wire. Our new Trinity Mechanic uses boards, cards and dice together in an extremely innovative and easy-to-learn system that lets new players jump right in.

What makes the Gunship series unique are the numerous combinations of ships that the players "build" at the start of each battle. By choosing from an ever-growing selection (through expansions) of available Weapons and Upgrades, players are able to create a custom Gunship that is suited to their particular style of play or battle situation. Some guys are "defensive" minded; they'll choose Heavy Armor, +1 Shield Generators and 4 Blaster Cannons to fend off the enemy Gunship. But another player might prefer to build a "Carrier Killer" complete with wings full of Bombs and an Autoblaster Cannon to shred his way through the enemy Fighter Squadron. While most of the Upgrade cards are geared toward the Gunships (the true star of the show) you can also do some great things to your Fighters and Capital Ships. New kinds of ships will come with every expansion to further add to the possibilities. No two battles are ever the same!

In Gunship: First Strike!, the civil war has just started. Your orders are simple: Command a task force of one Assault Carrier and its Gunship and Fighters on a mission to destroy the enemy's Carrier. Guess what? He has the very same orders! Dogfights will ensue, Torpedoes will strike home and Thruster Bombs are going to pound the Capital Ships mercilessly. If your Gunship takes too much damage for comfort, or if the battle situation changes and you want a different weapon load, land inside your Carrier for a quick "pit stop". Make sure that you defend it with all your might because once your Carrier is gone, the only option left to you is to flee the battlespace and hope to take revenge another day.

As the Gunship universe grows, players will be able to fight bigger and bigger battles. Soon the objectives will include breaking through the enemy picket line to drop troops on the planet below. The Gunships will be called upon to not only assault other ships, but also to go dirtside and give air support to the land battle raging below A free Campaign System is planned where players can keep track of a fleet of ships and territories. Lose your Carrier in today's battle and you might lose a critical Outpost next week. Don't let the enemy find the Shipyard where your damaged Destroyers limped home last time – if he does, they're toast!