Nautical

In Le Havre, a player’s turn consists of two parts: First, distribute newly supplied goods onto the offer spaces; then take an action. As an action, players may choose either to take all goods of one type from an offer space or to use one of the available buildings. Building actions allow players to upgrade goods, sell them or use them to build their own buildings and ships. Buildings are both an investment opportunity and a revenue stream, as players must pay an entry fee to use buildings that they do not own. Ships, on the other hand, are primarily used to provide the food that is needed to feed the workers.

After every seven turns, the round ends: players’ cattle and grain may multiply through a Harvest, and players must feed their workers. After a fixed number of rounds, each player may carry out one final action, and then the game ends. Players add the value of their buildings and ships to their cash reserves. The player who has amassed the largest fortune is the winner.

Le Havre was released by Lookout Games October 2008 in German and Australian English.

A board game with a nicely realized island group, which offers protection for either four nations or four pirate bands (depending on the edition) and indigenous people. Components: 300 plastic markers, 150 tokens, 8 ships made of metal with 2 masts, 55 cards (3rd edition only), 3 six-sided special dice, 1 rules booklet.

Between the second and third edition, the theme of the game changed. The first and second have a theme of four nations exploring and colonizing new land, while the third edition has a pirate theme. The third edition also adds 55 action cards, resulting in more chaos and - possibly - less strategy (at least that's what is suggested in the rules).

The board shows an island group composed of five smaller island groups separated by ocean. There is a large island group in the middle and four smaller ones in the corners. The four smaller island groups are the homelands of the four nations in editions 1 and 2 and the pirate bases in edition 3. Nations / pirates set out to explore and conquer the big island group in the middle (or each others' homelands).

Every round, each nation / pirate group has 10 action points. With these you can accomplish various actions: move, load ships, explore unknown areas, attack your opponents, etc. Most important action is probably exploration, in which you roll two special dice which determine how many natives and how much gold there is in a neighboring, unexplored land. You'll have to fight the natives to conquer that land and get the gold. The gold itself you use to muster new armies / pirates. Conquest ultimately decides the winner.

In the 3rd edition, you can use special cards to optimize your course or counter the actions of opponents. Thus you have a large freedom of movement, unfortunately your opponents do also.

A winner of the 1986 Concours International de Créateurs de Jeux de Société.

Two to five players act as leaders of different peoples and command them to explore, send out fleets, build trading posts, and generate the highest possible profit. Poseidon contains most of the basics of 18xx games and due to the relatively short running time of two hours is as suitable for 18xx-newbies who want to explore this wonderful world as it is for experienced train gamers.

The 18xx basics included are:
1) Instead of running a corporation, players control a country/people
2) The goal of the game is personal wealth, the wealthiest player at game end is the winner
3) Players create trade routes similar to railway lines in 18xx games
4) Trains are replaced with common modes of transportation at the time (i.e. ships) with varying types
5) 18xx type stations are replaced with trading posts

Game Contents: game board, eight "possession sheets", play money, lots of wood pieces, cards, 1 rule book

At the end of the 17th century, Macao – the mysterious port city on the southern coast of China – is a Portuguese trading post in the Far East. The players take on the role of energetic and daring adventurers. Many exciting tasks and challenges await the players, whether they are a captain, governor, craftsman, or scholar. Those who chose the wisest course of action and have the best overall strategy will earn the most prestige at the end.

Macao lasts twelve rounds, and in each round players select one new card from a display specific to that round, two of which were revealed at the start of the game and others that were revealed only at the start of the round. The deck of 96 cards includes all sorts of special abilities, with the more powerful actions costing more resources to put into play.

One player rolls six different-colored dice, then each player selects two of those dice (possibly the same ones chosen by opponents), then places cubes equal to the number and color of the two dice on a personalized "ship's wheel." For example, if a player chooses the blue die that shows a 5, he places five blue cubes on the ship's wheel position five spots away from the current round. (A player can never claim more cubes than the number of remaining rounds).

Players rotate their ship's wheels each round, then use the cubes available to them in that round to perform various actions: activating cards selected in that round or earlier rounds, buying city quarters and collecting the goods located there, moving that player's ship around Europe to deliver those goods, acquiring gold coins, taking special actions with card previously activated, and advancing on a turn order track.

Players score points by delivering goods, paying gold coins, using the powers on their cards, and building in Macao. Whoever has the most points at the end of twelve rounds wins.

Macao is number 13 in the alea big box series, with an estimated difficulty on the alea scale of 6/10.

A variation on Bingo, this children's game consists of moving about the North Atlantic, capturing Merchant Vessels and turning then in at the Pirates Market. The Merchant Vessel cards each have a number. When turned in at the Market, the number is announced and each player will mark said number on their BINGO card. The first player to get 5 in a row wins. The introduction of Magic Cards and several spaces on the board with various effects adds a random element to the game.

Contents:

1 game board
6 pirate ships
10 double-sided Bingo cards
54 Merchant cards
14 Magic cards
120 blue transparent Caps
1Merlin chip
1 die
rules (English, Traditional Chinese)