Dice

Catan: Junior

Explore the seas! Catan: Junior introduces a modified playing style of the classic Settlers of Catan, giving players as young as five a perfect introduction to the Catan series of games.

Catan: Junior takes place on a ring of islands where 2 to 4 players build hideouts and encounter the mysterious Spooky Island, where the Ghost Captain lives. Each island generates a specific resource: wood, goats, molasses or swords, and players can acquire gold. Each player starts with two pirate hideouts on different islands, and they can use the resources they acquire to build ships, hideouts or get help from Coco the Parrot. By building ships, they can expand their network; the more hideouts they build, the more resources they may receive. Just watch out for the dreaded Ghost Captain!

Be the first player to control seven pirate hideouts, and you win!

What sets this apart from the previous Die Siedler von Catan: Junior:

This game is playable with two as it comes with a two-player map.
The three- and four-player map is larger and is more symmetrical, so that two of the colors don't operate at a disadvantage.
The map now shows die faces rather than numbers for resource production.
Many of the event cards have been removed to make the game simpler.
There are no cards in the game only tiles for more durability.
There are no longer harbors in the game. In the original game you had to set up the board with random secret harbor tiles that allow for better trades with the bank. Now the trading to the bank is simpler and can be done from the beginning and doesn't require people to build to the harbors.
The resources are different.
There is a race for the Coco the Parrot tiles (rather than 'CoCo Helps' cards) and those that have the most get to put an extra piece on the board (one step closer to winning), tied players take their piece off the island and leave it vacated.
The market is now a part of the board, and can be traded into only once on your turn
By default, Trading with other players is excluded and only part of the "advanced game". In Die Siedler von Catan: Junior trading with other players could be excluded to simplify the game.

As in Die Siedler von Catan: Junior you can't chain ships, you must build a pirate lair before continuing on.

Reimplements:

Die Siedler von Catan: Junior

Genegrafter

Genegrafter is a superhero card and dice game that was designed to be easy to pick up and start playing within minutes but still offer enough complexity so that more advanced players won’t get bored.

The core game is comprised of a deck of 54 cards that include Characters, Abilities, and Events. The goal of the game is to have more Genetic Markers than your opponents when the last DNA Strand is revealed.

To do so, you will have to make the best use of your Characters and Abilities as you draw them from the main deck (all players draw from the same deck). Game play is also randomly affected by Event cards that can completely change who is winning or losing. The core game includes hand manipulation, resource management (your Characters and Abilities), bluffing, and blind luck (dice and Event cards) which make each game interesting and unique.

Genegrafter is currently available only on Kickstarter and will offer customization and additional expansions.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (2nd Edition): Lair of the Wyrm

Game description from the publisher:

Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) - Lair of the Wyrm introduces five new quests that can be played individually or used to supplement a larger campaign. With inventive objectives like rescuing survivors from a burning inn and protecting valuable ore from a greedy ettin, the Quest Guide in Lair of the Wyrm delivers fresh new challenges to your adventures.

What's more, Lair of the Wyrm brings two new heroes to the fight against the forces of evil. Reynhart the Worthy is a fearless warrior whose prowess in combat means he rarely makes mistakes. He can reroll misses once per attack, helping to ensure that every strike is righteous and true. Meanwhile, High Mage Quellen is a master of body and mind, and is able to quickly recover from exertions that would devastate lesser men. Quellen has developed the ability to feed off the fatigue of those around him, gaining strength where his fellows fail.

But even as the heroes of Terrinoth gain new allies and tactics, their great enemy silently grows in sinister power. In addition to the Wyrm Queen herself, a fearsome Dragon Lord lieutenant seemingly formed from solidified flame, the Overlord gains two new monsters: mischievous and destructive Fire Imps, and flying Hybrid Sentinels...half-dragon monstrosities with a cruel penchant for preying on the weak. The Overlord's new advantages are not limited to his minions, however. His new available class, Punisher, specializes in making heroes pay for every inch they advance. With abilities like Trading Pains and Exploit Weakness, the Punisher class will make the hero players flinch with fear every time something seems to go their way.

Mice and Mystics

Game description from the publisher:

In Mice and Mystics players take on the roles of those still loyal to the king – but to escape the clutches of Vanestra, they have been turned into mice! Play as cunning field mice who must race through a castle now twenty times larger than before. The castle would be a dangerous place with Vanestra's minions in control, but now countless other terrors also await heroes who are but the size of figs. Play as nimble Prince Collin and fence your way past your foes, or try Nez Bellows, the burly smith. Confound your foes as the wizened old mouse Maginos, or protect your companions as Tilda, the castle's former healer. Every player will have a vital role in the quest to warn the king, and it will take careful planning to find Vanestra's weakness and defeat her.

Mice and Mystics is a cooperative adventure game in which the players work together to save an imperiled kingdom. They will face countless adversaries such as rats, cockroaches, and spiders, and of course the greatest of all horrors: the castle's housecat, Brodie. Mice and Mystics is a boldly innovative game that thrusts players into an ever-changing, interactive environment, and features a rich storyline that the players help create as they play the game. The Cheese System allows players to hoard the crumbs of precious cheese they find on their journey, and use it to bolster their mice with grandiose new abilities and overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.

Mice and Mystics will provide any group of friends with an unforgettable adventure they will be talking about for years to come – assuming they can all squeak by...

Expansion advice:

For those who have expansions for this game the recommended order by the game designer for playing them is as follows (see original post HERE):

Sorrow and Remembrance (Base game)
Cat's Cradle (Lost Chapter 1)
Heart of Glorm
The Ghost of Castle Andon (Lost Chapter 2)

Escape: The Curse of the Temple – Expansion 1: Illusions

Escape: Illusions includes two new modules for the Escape base game that can be used individually or mixed with any other available modules.

The "Illusion Chambers" module consists of six chamber tiles that replace the tiles with only one magic gem in the basic game. After players return to the starting chamber during the game – something they must do twice in order to avoid losing a die – all illusion chambers in play are removed and returned to the bottom of the tile deck. Hopefully you already completed your business in any section of the temple now disconnected from the rest!

The "Special Chambers" module consists of six new chamber tiles, divided as follows:

Three linked chamber tiles that allow you to activate magic gems, thereby making it easier for the adventurers to escape the temple – but the gems can be activated only if players are in two separate such chambers at the same time.
Two double chamber tiles that consist of a front and back room, with access to the back room being available only if you add tiles to the temple and snake around to the back. Why do you want to reach this room? More opportunities to activate magic gems and ease your way out of the temple.
One treasure chamber tile, containing a chalice that adventurers must bear to the exit tile. If they fail to do so, they lose the game – even if they otherwise would all escape!

Components for a sixth player are included, as well as two copies each of one new curse card ("Soul Exchange") and one new treasure tile ("Large Torch").