Civilization

Antike II

Antike II is a challenging strategy game about evolution and competition among ancient civilizations. Ancient nations create cities, build temples, sail the seas, and discover new principles of science and technology. Their legions and galleys open new settlements and defend their people against attacks from their enemies. Two scenarios can be chosen as the game board is two-sided.

Every nation tries to win ancient kings, scholars, generals, citizens, and navigators for themselves. The nation that acquires a specified number (depending on the number of players) of ancient personalities first wins the game!

Lead one of these nations to victory—but watch out for your enemies as they will want to conquer your cities to destroy your temples. The game depends not on the luck of dice or cards, but on thoughtful plans and skillful diplomacy.

Antike II differs from the 2005 Antike in several ways, according to designer Mac Gerdts. To start, players now own city tokens, which allows them some degree of choice as to which resource a newly founded city shall produce. Military units have become more expensive, and the rules for the conquest of cities are considerably easier. The scientific progresses were altered as well. Neutral temples now exist, which may be destroyed, gaining VPs of a general, without harming other players. The game features two new maps in a new graphical design, and a new card named "BELLONA" (the ancient Roman goddess of war) has been introduced to counter the starting player's advantage.

Gerdts notes that the main goal of all of these changes was to make the rules for a conquest of cities easier, while also opening more possibilities to win the game without the need to attack other players.

La Città

Set in the Italian countryside, this game features various city-states vying for population. Each player is given two cities to start with, and is charged with expanding the different aspects of the cities to attract larger populations.

Players build farms to feed their people, quarries to finance their expansions, marketplaces to allow growth in their cities, and bathhouses to keep their people clean and healthy. Additionally, structures can be built that give the city influence in one of three categories. Superiority in one of these categories will cause population to shift from other nearby cities when the Voice of the People is decided at the end of each turn.

At the end of six turns, the player with the most victory points, which are determined from well-rounded cities, well-fed populations, and overall size of population, will be the winner.

Note: The correct pronunciation is like "Cheetah", but with the accent on the last syllable: "La Chee-TAH".

Eminent Domain: Microcosm

The galaxy just got a whole lot smaller...

Two mighty empires are about to collide. Play your cards right and become the ultimate ruler of this microcosm!

Eminent Domain: Microcosm is a quick-playing two-player card game which brings you all the thrill of building a space empire in just 15-20 minutes. Each turn you take a card into your hand from the supply, then you either play a card and carry out its instructions, or pick up your discard pile to refill your hand. Each card also has a scoring condition on it, and to win you'll want to maximize those conditions.

As in the grandfather game Eminent Domain, actions you take can be "boosted" by revealing other cards sharing the same icon. Colonize and attack planets, do research, and take advantage of politics to score the most influence by the end of the game!

Catan: Portable Edition

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.

Terra Mystica: Fire & Ice

Terra Mystica: Fire & Ice has the original factions brace themselves for new competitors: Yetis – the masters of power, Ice Maidens – who adore their Temples, Acolytes – whose entire life is focused on the cults, and Dragonlords – who use their power to create volcanoes. And as if this wasn't enough, there are two more factions, Shapeshifters and Riverwalkers, who ignore the most basic of rule of one faction, one terrain type. (Inconceivable to the Halflings!)