Dragon Castle

Dragon Castle is a game freely inspired by Mahjong Solitaire. During your turn, you take a pair of identical tiles from the central “castle” (known as the Dragon Castle) and place them on your own realm board to build your own castle. From time to time, you may sacrifice these tiles to acquire shrines in their place.

Every time you create a set of tiles of the same kind, you “consolidate” them, i.e. flip them face down to score points. When you consolidate a set, you may also build shrines on top of the consolidated tiles: Shrines allow you to score more points, but they also limit your building options. You may also take advantage of the available spirit card and its game-changing powers…but this will come at a cost! Finally, don’t forget to check the dragon card in play, and to follow the building requirements to score bonus points.

When the Dragon Castle has been reduced to only one floor, the end of the game is triggered. After one final round, the player with the most points is the lord of the new Dragon Castle…and the winner of the game!

 

Steamrollers

In SteamRollers, players use dice to build the best railway network, upgrade their engine, and beat their opponents to the most lucrative cargo deliveries. Make smart use of the dice to become the world’s most famous railroad tycoon!

Each round, a certain number of dice are rolled and people draft one die with which to perform an action. They can draw a railroad track on their personal board, use the die to upgrade their engine, deliver a cube from a common supply board using their personal network (if their engine is strong enough) for victory points, or take a special card which allows the player to break the rules in small (or big) ways.

Once half the cities on the supply board are emptied, the game is over at the end of the round. Players total their delivery points and add extra points for their network, engine and cards. The player with the most points wins.

 

Way of the Panda

Way of the Panda is a worker-placement game in which players control three different figures — monk, merchant, and warrior — on a board. With a worker-placement mechanism, the players choose their action to move around the board, build buildings, train their character in fighting, and gain wisdom (which nets victory points at game’s end and serves as a multiplier), but they also have to pay action points to choose these actions. If they choose stronger actions, they must pay more and cannot go back on the action board (as in Egizia).

The players train their characters and fight against the evil guys on each street on the map. Also, they construct buildings to try to connect north and south with their own streets.

 

Council of 4

The Empire, formed by three Kingdoms, has a period of wealth and prosperity. Each Kingdom is governed by a council of four nobles. The members of six influential families sit around in the councils and lead the Kingdoms. Players hold the roles of rich merchants who seek to obtain permits to build their own Emporium inside the cities of the three kingdoms. Whoever take more permits, while also placing their Emporium in the best places, will be the most famous merchant and will win the game. But pay attention to the Emperor! He can allow you to build without permits!

On a turn in Consiglio dei Quattro (“Council of Four”), a player can perform different actions:

• The main action is to corrupt a council, which is represented by a slide with four noble’s pawns. By corrupting the three Kingdom’s councilors, the player gets permits cards that give various instant and game end benefits, and the possibility to build an Emporium in a specific city.
• Another action is to play a permission card to build an Emporium. Each emporium earns the player the special benefits of the space where it’s built, but also activates all connected emporiums, with a chain effect.
• Corrupt the Emperor’s council to allow a player to build Emporiums without permission cards.
• Players can change the composition of a council.

There are many different way to earn points:

• Build a connected Emporium in the cities that earn points.
• Build your emporium in all the city of an area of the board area: faster you complete the area more points you earn.
• Move up on the nobility’s track
• Obtain permits that give points

The board is modular and has eight possible combinations.

 

Lucidity: Six-Sided Nightmares

Lucidity: Six-sided Nightmares is a press-your-luck dice collection and manipulation game for 2–4 players. It takes less than a minute to learn and 20–30 minutes to play.

Whenever you close your eyes, you fall into the dream realm: a world of vivid hallucinations and dark monsters. You must use your wits to draw power from the dream realm and break its hold on you, before the monsters can track you down and consume you!

Each turn, you randomly draw a number of dice from a shared bag. This represents the dreams you will encounter this turn. Return two to the bag to represent your chosen path through the dream realm and roll the remainder. After you have suffered the effects of your roll, you must choose whether to rest (and clear your card of one or two dreams) or press on and try your luck on another turn – going deeper and rolling more dice every time you do so.

You win by collecting 15 power symbols on your rolled dice – freeing yourself from the dream world’s grasp. But if you collect too many of the wrong symbols, you may find yourself twisted and turned by the monsters, until you too become a dreaded Nightmare. Or something’s dinner.

Should you become a Nightmare, your game completely changes. You can still win, but only by consuming the dreams of the remaining Dreamers, or sending minions after them to prevent them from becoming more powerful than you. If nobody has escaped by the end of the game, the most powerful Nightmare is the victor.

Without dreams, you cannot win. But without control, you risk becoming that which you fear most.

Or maybe that was your plan all along.

Inbetween

InBetween is a game for two players, competing against each other to either protect or devour the inhabitants of Upsideville in a tug-of-war between the Human and Creature dimensions.

During a game of InBetween, the Creature player is trying to devour the inhabitants of Upsideville by drawing them ever deeper into its home dimension, while the Town player is trying to increase the safety of the inhabitants in the Human dimension until they are secured from the Creature’s depredations. Players take turns playing cards and using abilities that will draw the Characters further into their dimension. At the same time they are trying to increase their Awareness of their opponent so as to enhance a powerful one-time ability that may affect the game’s outcome. There are several routes to victory in InBetween; a player can win by drawing enough Characters into their dimension, or by increasing their Awareness to its highest level.

The fate of Upsideville is in the hands of the players. Will the Town and its people be able to win and walk peacefully once again around? Or will the darkness triumph, and the horrifying creature will walk freely between the alleys?

 

Unlock! Tombstone Express (available 5/31)

The train you’re escorting through the Wild West contains some precious cargo. It’s up to you to survive the adventure and escort it home safely. Tombstone Express is a brand new Unlock! adventure for up to six players.

Unlock! is a series of escape adventures for up to six players. With one hour on the clock, players work through a deck of sixty cards as a team, searching for clues, combining objects, and solving puzzles. The free Unlock! companion app runs the timer while also providing clues, offering hints, and confirming successes. Once the team has reached a solution and entered the correct code into the app, they will escape and win the game!

Unlock! The Adventures of Oz (available 5/31)

Re-enter the land of Oz! Pay a visit to the wizard, meet some familiar friends, and challenge the Wicked Witch of the West. The Adventures of Oz is a brand new Unlock! adventure for up to six players.

Unlock! is a series of escape adventures for up to six players. With one hour on the clock, players work through a deck of sixty cards as a team, searching for clues, combining objects, and solving puzzles. The free Unlock! companion app runs the timer while also providing clues, offering hints, and confirming successes. Once the team has reached a solution and entered the correct code into the app, they will escape and win the game!

Unlock! A Noside Story (available 5/31)

Noside has returned to ruin your day! A thick smoke lingers over the region — it must be another trick of Noside. It’s up to you to stop him before it’s too late! A Noside Story is a brand new Unlock! adventure for up to six players.

Unlock! is a series of escape adventures for up to six players. With one hour on the clock, players work through a deck of sixty cards as a team, searching for clues, combining objects, and solving puzzles. The free Unlock! companion app runs the timer while also providing clues, offering hints, and confirming successes. Once the team has reached a solution and entered the correct code into the app, they will escape and win the game!

Altiplano

Altiplano, a bag-building game along the lines of Orléans set in the South American highlands of the Andes — the Altiplano — is not a simple game, presenting players with new challenges time and again. There are various ways to reach the goal, so the game remains appealing to try out new options and strategies, but success or failure also depends on whether your opponents let you do as you like or thwart the strategy you are pursuing. The competition for the individual types of goods is considerable — as is the fun in snatching a coveted extension card from under another player’s nose!

At the start of the game, players have access only to certain resources and goods, due to the different role tiles that each player receives that provide them. At the market, however, a player can acquire additional production sites that give new options. The numerous goods — such as fish, alpaca, cacao, silver, or corn — all have their own characteristics and places where they can be used. Whereas silver makes you rich, fish can be exchanged for other goods, and alpaca give you wool that you can then make into cloth.

Aside from building up an effective production, you must deliver the right goods at the right time, develop the road in good time, and store your goods cleverly enough to fill the most valuable rows with them. Often, a good warehouseperson is more relevant in the end than the best producer.

Dead Man’s Doubloons

Welcome to Dead Man’s Doubloons, an action-packed board game in which players take on the role of a legendary pirate ship captain hell-bent on winning the race to endless riches of buried treasure. Fragments of treasure maps, gold doubloons, and precious jewels can all be stolen, as can the reputation of rival ships! Once the buried treasure has been dug up, ship captains return to their vessels to engage in a final epic battle on the high seas!

As the game begins, pirate ships skirmish with one another while navigating the reefs surrounding the mysterious island, desperately searching for treasure map fragments and pillaging whatever they can. Meanwhile, the ships’ captains and their landing parties follow one of several possible paths leading to the buried treasure, discovering additional riches and perilous obstacles along the way. Only the savviest of captains will manage to locate and dig up the legendary treasure.

Having collecting their precious loots, the captains return to their vessels to engage in the final battle. Defeated vessels become ghost ships with cursed treasure, though with careful planning they may still emerge victorious. Once the captains have laid waste to their enemies and exhausted their options, the game ends and the richest pirate wins!

Nusfjord

Nusfjord is a tranquil fishing village in the Lofoten archipelago in northern Norway. Fifty years ago, business was blooming when the codfish would come for spawning. Today, Nusfjord is more of a museum than a village, with less than a hundred people living there. Imagine how beautiful this place must be given that you must pay a fee to even look at the houses. Cruise ships used to pass by this long and now mostly abandoned island world.

In the time period in which the game Nusfjord is set, things looked quite different. Sailing ships dominate the fjord. The rocks around Nusfjord are covered in trees. As the owner of a major fishing company in Nusfjord on the Lofoten archipelago, your goal is to develop the harbor and the surrounding landscape, and to succeed you must enlarge your fleet, clear the forest, erect new buildings, and satisfy the local elders. Others do this as well, of course, so the competition is steep.

As with Agricola and Ora et Labora, Nusfjord has a worker placement mechanism, with each player starting with three workers that they place on a central board to trigger certain actions. Whether a player wants to clear a forest on their own board, buy a new cutter, or construct a building, they must place a worker on the appropriate space — which is possible only if room is available for this worker. Money is scarce, and one of the quicker and easier ways to get it is to place shares of your own company on the market. This risky action could be worthwhile because if you succeed in buying these shares yourself, you have usually won money and not suffered any disadvantages; however, if an opponent acquires these shares, then you must allow them to benefit from your hard-earned catches at sea. The village elders might want their own share of your catch as well, especially if you’ve visited them to take certain actions in the village, so if you don’t take care, your catch could end up entirely in the hands of others and your camp will be empty.

GKR: Heavy Hitters

Welcome to the biggest sport of the future – GIANT KILLER ROBOTS : HEAVY HITTERS!

GKR: HEAVY HITTERS is an advertising-driven, televised combat sport where mega corporations fight for lucrative salvage rights and advertising dominance in Earth’s abandoned cities. But more importantly, they need you! Your skills as a pilot and tactician are needed to win, gaining your Faction more fans, and more importantly, loyal consumers.

You will be piloting a Heavy Hitter, the name given to the largest fighting mechs in the battle zone. Flanking your Heavy Hitter in these high stakes sport matches are 3 unmanned robotic support units, consisting of Combat, Repair and Recon. Fighting head-to-head using your Heavy Hitter, you control your entire team of GKRs, strategizing your way to victory. Any dumb mech-jockey can shoot, but can you STRAT? Guess we’re gonna find out!

GKR: Heavy Hitters – A new boardgame set in the world of Giant killer Robots!

The solo rules are included in the updated rulebook which comes with the game.

Istanbul: The Dice Game

Istanbul: Das Würfelspiel is a standalone dice game in which players are once again plunging into the bustle of Istanbul’s bazaar to collect rubies and thus secure their victory. By cleverly using the dice, the players can make money and goods, then exchange them for the precious jewels.

History of the World

Take a ride through humankind’s history with History of the World, a game of conquest and cunning for three to six players. Expand your empire as you command mighty empires at the height of their power from the dawn of civilization to the twentieth century. Each game offers an epic experience as great minds work toward technological advances, ambitious leaders inspire their citizens, and unpredictable calamities occur while empires rise and fall.

This remastered edition of History of the World contains a beautifully illustrated board, revised rules to streamline the experience, and everything you need to etch your name in the annals of history.

Halloween

It’s Halloween — time to haunt poor unfortunate humans who think the holiday is all fun and games, but wait until you unleash ghosts upon this little town. Use your knowledge and wit to summon ghosts, move them around town, scare people, and even fight other ghosts because only one demon lord can boast of being the scariest demon lord of them all.

Halloween is a tactical game for 2 to 4 players in which you take on the role of a demon lord that controls the many ghosts on the board. Carefully plan your actions through a unique mechanism that allows you to manage multiple ghosts to try to outwit your opponents. Summon ghosts, move them round the board, fight other ghosts, or use one of the numerous action cards that can give you great tactical advantage.

Pioneer Days

Saddle up and guide your wagon train along the perilous Oregon Trail! Build a team of hardy folk and gather resources and equipment with a unique dice drafting system. But dangers await in the dice you don’t choose! You can hire townsfolk, buy wagons, pan for gold, and take on cattle — all the while preparing for inevitable raids, storms and famine. Who will best face the perils of the wild frontier and lead their wagon train to victory?

Pioneer Days is a dice-drafting game reminiscent of The Oregon Trail. While you pursue your strategy, you must be prepared for impending disasters such as storms, disease, raids, and famine.

Round by round, players draw dice out of the bag, roll them, then take turns drafting one to either collect silver, hire a townsfolk, or take an action based on the die value. Townsfolk confer immediate or constant benefits as well as end game scoring bonuses, while actions help you collect wood, medicine, cattle, equipment, and gold nuggets. The unchosen die each round advances one of the disaster tracks based on its color, and when a disaster gets to the end of its track, all players must deal with its effects:

• During a raid, you lose half of your silver.
• During a famine, you need to spend 1 silver per cattle or lose the cattle.
• During a disease, you need 1 medicine per townsfolk or lose the townsfolk.
• During a storm, you need 1 wood per wagon or suffer damage to your wagons.

At the end of each round, you can satisfy the current town’s favor conditions in order to earn their favor. Prepare for the disasters while you pursue your strategy, and earn the most points to win the game!

 

Marvel Contest of Champions: Battlerealm

Choose your Champion, Enter the Contest! Inspired by the critically acclaimed mobile game, Contest of Champions: Battlerealm is a game of combat, strategy, and chance. Choose one of 13 fan-favorite Marvel champions, including Contest of Champions exclusives like Guillotine and Civil Warrior, roll the dice, and carefully allocate your ISO-8 to power up your champion and attack your opponents, travel to new locations, or activate powerful special abilities. Make every game unique in this fast-paced combat game as you battle your champions across 40 different locations!

Fae

In Fae, first released as Clans, each player is trying to achieve victory by scoring as many points for their color as they can. This is tricky as each player’s color is chosen at random and kept hidden until the end of the game. Each region of the board contains five areas, each one of five different types. Each area receives one hut each of five different colors. On their turn, a player moves all huts from one area containing less than seven to an adjacent area, all the while trying to hide which color is theirs. After moving, if one or more areas are completely surrounded by empty areas, they are scored. If all colors are present in a scoring, any colors with only one hut present are removed. The epoch track allows a limited number of areas to score before the game ends, and each scoring will either gain a bonus or score nothing depending on the terrain type in which scoring occurred and how far along the track the game has progressed; each scoring advances the track, and each section of the track gives different terrain types bonuses and penalties.

Once at least twelve areas have scored the game ends, then players reveal their colors to find out who was best able to score the most points while keeping their color a secret.

Star Wars Force and Destiny RPG: Unlimited Power (available 5/31)

The dissolution of the Jedi Order has reopened alternative paths of communing with the Force; no longer bound by strict rules and regulations, the Mystic interacts with the Force in ways that might seem foreign to the Jedi of old. Some have merged their politics with the Force while others imbue artifacts with the power of the Living Force through alchemy. Unlimited Power is a new sourcebook for Mystic characters in the Star Wars™: Force and Destiny roleplaying game, expanding their options from the core rulebook by introducing three new specializations, new species, new equipment, and more.

Players will find everything they need to make a Mystic character in this full-color 96-page handbook, including the Alchemist, Magus, and Prophet specializations as well as new Force powers. Game Masters looking to tie their campaign to the Force will find adventure hooks and tips for integrating Mystic characters into their campaign. The path of a Mystic is one of attunement with the Force; unlock your Mystic’s full potential and discover Unlimited Power in this new sourcebook.

Legend of the Five Rings: The Sword and the Spirits (available 5/31)

Rokugan. A land where honor is stronger than steel. Here, the samurai of the seven Great Clans serve the Emperor as warriors, courtiers, priests, and monks. They live—and die—by the tenets of Bushidō.

Shiba Tsukune wasn’t supposed to become the Champion of the Phoenix Clan, but their ancient sword chose her. Trained as a samurai warrior, she was to be the bodyguard of Isawa Tadaka, a powerful shugenja—and the man she loved. Although her new duties have drawn them apart, she refuses to stand by and watch as Tadaka falls to the darkness within him.

Tsukune follows Tadaka north to Cliffside Shrine, home of the Kaito family, where he must investigate the mysterious death of a prominent priestess. All around them, the shrine shows signs of decay and desecration, and the wards that have bound an evil demon for centuries are fraying. What secrets are the Kaito family keeping? And can Tsukune save Tadaka from descending down a dark path before it’s too late?

The Sword and the Spirits by Robert Denton III, is a new novella set in the world of Legend of the Five Rings and featuring two exclusive alternate art cards for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game.

The Sword and the Spirits focuses on the Phoenix Clan’s investigation into a mysterious elemental disturbance and the secrets of a vassal family in the mountains. Sent to investigate a murder, Isawa Tadaka and Shiba Tsukune stumble upon an ancient conspiracy.

At over 100 pages, The Sword and the Spirits is the deepest dive into Legend of the Five Rings lore yet, and will be released alongside Disciples of the Void, the Phoenix Clan Pack for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game. In addition, you can learn more about the mysteries of the Phoenix and explore the land of Rokugan from the viewpoint of the most mystical Great Clan—not only with the novella, but with a full-color insert detailing the history of the Phoenix Clan, the Kaito family, and its darkest secrets.

Ancient Tradition

The Sword and the Spirits will also feature two alternate art cards for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game!

The first, Kaito Kosori,  is an alternate art version of a card debuting in Disciples of the Void, and marks the first time a character from the Kaito family makes an appearance in Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game. Kaito Kosori honors her family’s tradition of skill with a bow while also exemplifying the Kaito family’s mystical elements. While you are participating in an air conflict with at least one character, Kaito Kosori can contribute her skill to the conflict from your home area—essentially giving you a free skill boost to tip a conflict in your favor. Furthermore, as a Shugenja, Kaito Kosori synergizes well with the multitude of Spells found in Disciples of the Void.

 

The Sword and the Spirits also features an extended art version of the iconic Ofushikai,  the sword that chose Shiba Tsukune as Phoenix Clan Champion. Ofushikai offers guidance to its wielder, which can only be one of your unique Phoenix characters, and it grants a powerful ability when it’s wielded by a Champion. As an Action during a conflict in which its wielder is participating, you may move a participating character home and prevent them from attacking for the rest of the phase! Since Ofushikai contains the Ancestral keyword, it will be a constant presence on your battlefield, and it’s an attachment that your opponent will always have to beware: for both its skill boost and its ability.

Ofushikai is not included in Disciples of the Void, and is instead a preview of things to come. Because of this, Ofushikai will not be legal for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game tournament play until it is officially released in an upcoming Dynasty Pack later this year.

Frozen Memories

What mysteries does the Kaito family hide? Can Isawa Tadaka solve the mystery of the priestess’s death, and can Shiba Tsukune save Tadaka from his own darkness?