Hand Management

Lyssan

It is an empire of changing flags. The old crown fell, and many stepped forward to claim it. That was two centuries ago.

Now the barons and the princes swear loyalty to whichever claimant-emperor garrisons the nearest army today. The clergy sell their sermons for the highest bidder, and spies whisper promises to mercenary generals.

You are the one true ruler of the broken Empire of Lyssan, and it's up to you to put the pretenders (the other players) in their place before their endless squabbling tears your nation apart. You (and others) will attempt to take control by using castles, knights, nobles, priests, and spies:

Knights hold territory and fight masterfully.
Nobles hold territory, support priests, and fight poorly.
Castles hold territory, spawn new units, and protect knights and nobles.
Priests manipulate influence and support spies.
Spies assassinate priests and other spies, and have the devastating power to steal other players' court cards.

Lyssan is an intense board game of strategy, cooperation, and betrayal for two to four players. The winner is the player who claims the most trophies, and each trophy can only be claimed by a single player. One trophy card might call for the player to control the most mines, the next to have most spies deployed, and the next to have the most sophisticated court. An upcoming trophy is revealed each turn, requiring strength, cunning, and adaptability to win.

Lyssan combines tightly designed euro-style rules with the interactivity and flavor of an epic wargame. Lyssan has slim rules comparable to many family friendly games. Yet the play is as rich and interactive as the crunchiest, most grognard-friendly wargames. And Lyssan plays fast. A typical game of Lyssan runs a full hour quicker than comparable games.

Lyssan combines:
A map to be conquered (like Risk)...
...with a few different unit types that act a few different ways each (like Chess or Diplomacy) ...
...with cards that let players pull off devastating surprise moves or permanently improve their abilities. To play one card, you discard others. (Like Race for the Galaxy) These cards can be very powerful, but they can also be stolen by spies. The whole landscape of the game can change in the blink of an eye as ownership of a card changes hands. Get one of your spies into a rival's castle, and you can take over his improvements or turn his own followers against him.

All interrupting effects have been stripped out of the game, so each player can complete their turn quickly, without waiting for the others. The game has been designed from the start to allow timed play, like a tournament chess match. This is good for players who want extra-brisk play, or who just have one slowpoke at the table who needs to be reined in.

Neuroshima Hex! Duel

Duel is the second expansion to the game Neuroshima HEX. Just as the first line of supplements, Duel includes two new armies, and something special - this time it is intended to be a unique board games for two players. Duel is both an expansion and a stand-alone game - the game does not need base Neuroshima HEX to play.

The first army in the expansion is Vegas, an army of people who grew up in gambling. Its special feature is the ability to control the enemy of man and machine by means of special units - agitators. They can bribe any enemy unit that is adjacent to Vegas's HQ to make it attack another unit. If your units attack Vegas HQ, you can not be sure when they will stop attacking Vegas and turn to attack you!

The other army is a SMART, spreading fear the army of half machines, half-mutants, the experimental hybrids are transported in sealed combat transporters to battlefield where they emerge and destroy everything that moves. These are an extremely deadly force. Every ally adjacent to Smart's HQ has the ability to move. It makes this army very flexible and dangerous.

Integrates with:

Neuroshima Hex!

Neuroshima Hex! Babel 13

Babel13, an expanded NY military base, has lost contact with its HQ. The lonely defenders must face an enemy they have never seen before: the forces of mutated nature, the Neojungle. The battle for survival begins.

Neuroshima Hex! Babel13 is the first Neuroshima Hex! expansion. In this box you'll find two new, unique armies (the heavily armored forces of New York and the Neojungle full of beasts). You'll also get terrain tiles that rebuild and modify the main board, allowing players to play different scenarios. The box also has a two-player campaign titled "Babel13" which allows players to play four closely connected scenarios which resolve in a deadly final game!

Catan

In The Settlers of Catan, players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players collect these resources (cards) - wood, grain, brick, sheep, or stone - to build up their civilizations to get to 10 victory points and win the game.

Setup includes randomly placing large hexagonal tiles (each showing a resource or the desert) in a honeycomb shape and surrounding them with water tiles, some of which contain ports of exchange. Number disks, which will correspond to die rolls (two 6-sided dice are used), are placed on each resource tile. Each player is given two settlements (think, houses) and roads (sticks) which are, in turn, placed on intersections and borders of the resource tiles. Players collect a hand of resource cards based on which hex tiles their last-placed house is adjacent to. A robber pawn is placed on the desert tile.

A turn consists of possibly playing a development card, rolling the dice, everyone (perhaps) collecting resource cards based on the roll and position of houses (or upgraded cities - think, hotels) unless a 7 is rolled, turning in resource cards (if possible and desired) for improvements, trading cards at a port, and trading resource cards with other players. If a 7 is rolled, the active player moves the robber to a new hex tile and steals resource cards from other players who have built structures adjacent to that tile.

Points are accumulated by building settlements and cities, having the longest road and the largest army (from some of the development cards), and gathering certain development cards that simply award victory points. When a player has gathered 10 points (some of which may be held in secret), he announces his total and claims the win.

The Settlers of Catan has won multiple awards and is one of the most popular games in recent history due to its amazing ability to appeal to experienced gamers as well as those new to the hobby.

Die Siedler von Catan was originally published by Kosmos and has gone through multiple editions. It was licensed by Mayfair and has undergone at least 4 editions as The Settlers of Catan. It has also been re-published in a travel edition by Kosmos and in yet another edition for Japan/Asia, Settlers of Catan: Rockman Edition.

The Settlers of Catan is the original game in the Catan Series.

Ricochet Rock Jockeys

Greetings Semi-Intelligence: 221-B, and welcome to sentience. Upon completion of your training download, you will commence operation of Mining and Delivery Probe 4. Your task is to extract valuable materials from extrasolar planetoids and deliver the appropriate amounts of each to their target locations. It is imperative that these deliveries be made at any cost.

In the uncertain days leading up to the destructive Cataclysm of Earth, humans have settled other worlds and created robotic vessels to perform manual labor throughout their civilization. You will take on the role of one of these artificial intelligences tasked with mining asteroids for rare minerals and ice water, and delivering them to the colonies of humanity.

The goal of Ricochet Rock Jockeys is to retrieve goods from the Asteroid Fields between Earth and its colonies, and deliver them. You will explore the space surrounding Earth, mine asteroids, and make deliveries – all while vying for position with other players attempting to mine those same asteroids and make those same deliveries. Ricochet Rock Jockeys is an extremely fast-paced game of chance, delivery, and crashing spaceships.

Players start with a ship on Earth, then move that ship to explore, mine, and deliver mined goods. Players can bump into other players' ships, taking or losing goods based upon the strength of the impact. Players gain victory points for each successful delivery. Once the pool of victory points is exhausted, the player with the most VPs wins!