Hand Management

Bullfrogs

“Just as water retains no constant shape, in warfare there are no constant conditions.” –Sun Tzu

Weapons clash, water splashes and the booming battle cries of armored bullfrogs ring out across the moonlit swamp. Amphibian armies leap from lily pad to lily pad in their desperate struggle to win control of the pond.

Suddenly, a shout of triumph rises up. Enough warriors have finally entered battle on a lily pad to dominate the fight and assure victory for their side. Overloaded, the lily pad sinks into the swamp.

Frogs scatter from the sinking lily pad to the surrounding ones, coming to aid their allies or sabotage their foes, their weight causing the lily pads to drift away across the cold, glittering water. The winning commander must understand the ripple effects of every move, and avoid acting to win a single battle at the cost of losing the war.

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In Bullfrogs, 2-4 players ages 8+ take control of warring factions of frogs and fight over lily pads in a pond over the course of 20-40 minutes.

Covert

Control your network of spies, gather intel, and break codes in Covert, a game of tactical dice placement, set collection, and timing set in Cold War Europe. Players race to complete high risk Missions by deploying their agents and acquiring the necessary equipment, all while keeping an eye on the needs of future missions and the advances of rival agencies.

Each round, players roll their hand of dice and in turn allocate them to different actions, like moving their Agents, acquiring Agency Cards, completing and acquiring new Missions, and more. Dice are placed on action circles that require players to place their dice numerically adjacent to dice that have already been placed, allowing for rival agencies to thwart their plans — but a good Agent always has a backup plan, and there are ways around everything that stands in your way.

Covert combines simple concepts with a depth of play that allows players the freedom to combine special abilities and card combos to complete their Missions and overcome obstacles. Utilize your assets. Make your move. Don't let anyone stand in your way.

Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu

Beings of ancient evil, known as Old Ones, are threatening to break out of their cosmic prison and awake into the world. Everything you know and love could be destroyed by chaos and madness. Can you and your fellow investigators manage to find and seal every portal in time? Hurry before you lose yourself to insanity.

In Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu, you'll experience the classic Pandemic gameplay with an horrific twist that'll have you face twelve Old Ones, each threatening the world with their unique powers. As players take on the roles of investigators attempting to seal a series of portals before monsters of unspeakable horror pour into our world there is, of course, a high risk of the investigators losing their own minds.

Instead of curing diseases like in the original Pandemic, players seal portals and shut down cults in the classic New England fictional towns of Arkham, Dunwich, Innsmouth, and Kingsport. Can you and your fellow investigators manage to find and seal every portal in time? Hurry before you lose yourself to insanity and the evil that lurks beneath your feet...

Dragon Lairds

In this cousin of Saint Petersburg, each player represents a monarch dragon clan, and attempts to assert herself as the Dragon Monarch by game end, by securing the most Royals (victory points). In order to facilitate this process, players will use their Geld (money) to hire Dragon Lairds (aristocrats) and buy Resources (buildings) and Commoners (peasants). You can use precious Royals (your victory points) to acquire Dragon Havocs, which empower you to do anything from getting extra cash, to stealing things from your opponents. The Havocs tend to be one-shot little guys, however, and are always discarded to the bottom of the discard deck, as far out of reach as possible from those cards that pilfer the discard pile.

At the end of each round, you accumulate the Geld and Royals that your acquisitions generate for your clan. At the end of the game, you additionally receive any Finale Royals on cards as end-game victory points.

From the Margaret Weis web site:
Deep in the heart of an island continent, many years ago, was a long forgotten land of ancient Saureans… Dragons of all sizes and shapes, who had, through the generations tamed the foolish races of men, dwarves, and elves that lived among them. Over the centuries, they refined their techniques and now were trying to gain control over all the surrounding dragon countries. There could be only one Dragon Monarch, but who would it be?

At the start of the game, each player is given a dragon clan and chooses to play either the king or queen of that clan. The object is for your clan to score the most points in Royals by the end of the game and thus become the ruling Dragon Monarch.

Edison & Co.

Mad professors test their experimental racing machines on the lab roof. Each player has a favorite machine, a set of movement cards for the racers and a secret score card. The score card shows the actual result you want to achieve, each player wanting the 4 cars to finish in a different order. The movement cards have 3 functions, showing number of spaces to move, or direction to move in, or 2 vehicles out of the 4 available that you could move. Start order changes each turn, the first player chooses one card of the three available, the next chooses a different type of card, the 3rd player the last type. The final player decides which car moves of the 2 cars that have been chosen as possible cars to move. The board also has random oil patches and hazards.