Antics!
Fraser & Gordon Lamont; Fragor Games; 3-4; 60
Players represent ant colonies, building up their own mounds
in a way reminiscent of
Rat Hot.
In addition they send out ants to the central board to
retrieve leaves. To keep it from becoming too much of an
n-way solitaire there is also the possibility of stealing
leaves from other players before they can bring it back.
An interesting design idea is that there are a number of
different types of actions and the number of times that one
of these actions can be done is equal to the height of the mound.
[more]
Die Burgen von Burgund
Stefan Feld; alea; 2-4; 90
Alea big box game of small nobles attempting to
build up their holdings in medieval Burgundy. The
method is placing tiles which trigger some benefit
when placed. In addition dice determine what sorts
of actions the players are allowed to perform, e.g.
rolling a "2" and a "5" permits buying a watch tower
and placing it on a "5" tile (shades of Roma).
Activities include building settlements and castles,
mining, trading along the river and gleaning
information from travelers. Includes beginner and
advanced versions.
[more]
Cité
Firenze
The Great Fire of London 1666
London
Skyscrapers
Guillaume Besançon; Le Joueur; 3-4; 60 minutes
Players are building up a city. Each has a monopoly over
a certain type of resource (wood, stone, metal or cloth)
and their own district, in which only they may build.
Each turn they collect resources, trade with others and
build. Buildings have special effects on their neighborhoods
as printed on the tiles. Building tends to need a bit of
everything,; hence trading is vital. Intends to illustrate
the workings and limits of mainstream economic theory like
the Hecksche-Ohlin model (but then you probably already
guessed that). Includes metal nuggets, pieces of fabric and
stones.
[more]
Andreas Steding; Pegasus; 2-4; 60
Renaissance-era architects build towers in six different
colors and five different heights, each being buildable only once.
Players draft cards to get four or more tower pieces
and then build towers paying yet further tower pieces
depending on how much is built (following the Fibonacci scheme).
Each turn towers which do
not receive at least one addition fall to rubble.
Cards either give some special advantage or trigger a negative event
that often applies to all. Unpurchased cards slide down a space,
thus becoming cheaper for the next player.
[more]
Richard Denning; Prime Games; 3-6; 75-90
A firefighting game in which players represent the largest property
owners in the city. They field their own forces and realizing they
cannot save everything must decide where to focus their efforts.
It's not just a matter of saving their own holdings, but also one
of making money from those willing to pay for the service and of
getting the most glory which in the next election might just vault
them into the office of Lord Mayor. Besides putting the fire out,
it's also possible to explode blocks to stop the fire (better to
explode someone else's block than your own, of course). Players also
have hidden objectives which might include helping a particular other
player or saving a particular district.
[more]
Martin Wallace; Treefrog; 2-4; 90
Having made a point of creating many games with no cards whatsoever,
Martin Wallace has now made an about face as this one has no
fewer than 110, divided into three eras of 25, 50 and 35
each. The topic is the history of London since the Great
Fire (ironically the topic of
another game by another
publisher at this year's Essen) and right up to rather
modern developments like the creation of the Underground.
The game is about taking over various sections of the city
and playing permanent cards that offer significant
advantages. A great many cards are obtained by drafting them
for which other cards must be discarded. The cards appear to
be quite closely attached to historical events and try to
have effects that make sense with the them. Some of the
cards are unique. There are also rules for loans (what a
surprise) and an interesting rule is that each card played
generates more poverty which the player must deal with using
other cards.
[more]
Christophe Boelinger & Andrea Mainini; Sirius; 2-4; 30-45
Players build rather tall constructions in cardboard
decorated to look like a skyscraper. There are also
construction workers that can apparently be placed in order
to block other players.
[more]
| Society Games | Further Afield |