Medieval

It is 13th century Italy. Trade is flourishing between the city-states and the Levant. Venice, Florence, and Genoa are all bursting with wealth. However, each city-state is also plagued with a weak national army, leaving them defenseless against invasion from their envious neighbors. Enter the Condottiere.
As veteran English soldiers returned from the Crusades, Italy found itself with an influx of desperate and capable men. These hired swords were contracted to fight for individual city-states by an agreement known as a condotta. The most elite of these men were the mercenary leaders known as the Condottiere.

The object of Condottiere is to acquire four connected provinces in renaissance Italy. To do this players auction off different provinces on the board and bid on these provinces with a hand of cards representing mercenaries, seasons, scarecrows, and political figures. However, unlike standard auctions in which only the highest bidder loses their bid, in Condottiere every player loses their bid. Players are, in effect, bidding the number of troops they are willing to lose in order to win a province. However, several special effect cards shake the contests up and keep the players guessing.

Torres is an abstract game of resource management and tactical pawn movement. Players are attempting to build up castles and position their knights to score the most points each turn. Players have a limited supply of knights and action cards that allow special actions to be taken. Efficient use of pieces and cards, along with a thoughtful awareness of future possibilities, is the heart of this game.

Torres is considered by many to be an informal member of what is referred to as the Mask Trilogy.

King Arthur is searching for a worthy heir. Together with Merlin, he tries to find the best candidate among the Knights of the Round Table.

In Merlin, players move their knights or Merlin with the help of dice around the action ring to get the most desired actions. While the knights are only moved by the corresponding player, Merlin can be moved by all players, which makes integrating Merlin in one's plan a tricky endeavor.

There are multiple ways to score victory points such as defeating barbarians, building manors in the surrounding area and increasing one's influence in the six counties. Additionally, players can fulfill task cards during their turn to get more victory points. The player who plans his actions most efficiently will ultimately have the most points and thus will be the royal successor of King Arthur.

Depending upon the number of players, each player receives 1 or 2 knights. Each of these knights lists a series of dice pips on the card, some of which are red in color. These red numbers are the knights defensive abilities, and he will block these numbers if rolled by an opponent during a competition. For instance, Upollonius Wolkenburg has a 1, 2 and 3 in red. Thus, he will block one of each of these numbers each time dice are rolled by an opponent in a competition. Some knights have less numbers in red, but they usually have a greater attack strength, meaning they can roll more dice in combat. This mechanism borrows very heavily from many role playing and fantasy games.

In addition to these 'defense' numbers and the attack dice chart, each knight card also has charts for prizes won (1 - 15) and damage points (1 - 10). There are also nice illustrations on each card ... about the only kind thing I can say about the game.

Each player also receives a 'lady' card. Each lady possesses a number of characteristics, including hair color, build, height and personality. When granting her favor to a knight (which is indicated by placing a corresponding token onto a knight card), the idea is to seek out a knight who desires similar characteristics in a lady.

The start player challenges an opposing knight with one of his knights. A challenge cannot be refused. These two enter battle, which involves each player tossing a number of dice equal to their attack strength into the tournament field. In mounted combat, any 1's, 2's or 3's thrown strike a blow, unless these are blocked by the opponent. If any of these dice strike, the knight falls from his horse and the knight suffers hit points equal to the number of blows which were landed. If only one knight is struck and falls from his horse, the opponent wins and earns a prize for himself and for his lady. If both knights fall from their horse, then the match continues on foot. This involves more dice rolling, but 4's, 5's and 6's now strike. This continues until one knight concedes or reaches 10 damage points, at which time he is out of the tournament (and out of the game).

The next player in turn order then challenges a knight. This process is repeated until there is only one healthy knight remaining. The round then ends and victory points are doled out to the knight and lady who won the most prizes. There are also potential bonuses which add to the players' scores.

The "Arte di Calimala" — the guild of cloth finishers and merchants in foreign cloth — was one of the greater guilds of Florence, who arrogated to themselves the civic power of the Republic of Florence during the Late Middle Ages. The woolen cloth trade was the engine that drove the city’s economy and the members of the Calimala were the elite of Florence.

Throughout its long history, the Arte di Calimala supervised the execution of artistic and architectural works. Most Florentine guilds performed such activities, but the Calimala distinguished itself from other guilds through the number and prestige of the projects and the sites administered, including the construction and decoration of some of the major churches of the city.

Players of Calimala are cloth merchants in medieval Florence, with a number of trusted employees that they assign to various streets within the city to carry out actions. (Each street connects two places where particular actions can be taken.) While taking these actions, players produce and deliver cloth and contribute to the construction and decoration of various buildings across the city. Employees stay on their assigned places for a while, carrying out their actions whenever the street is activated, and eventually are promoted into the city council, triggering a scoring phase.

Depending on the number of players, each player has a number of action discs. In turn order, they can put one on a space between two actions, performing both actions and activating all other discs on the same space. When the fourth disc is placed on an action space, the lowest one is promoted to the city council, which triggers a scoring. After the last action disc is placed or the last scoring phase in the council is triggered, the game ends. The positions of the action spaces and sequence of scoring phases vary from game to game, making each game very different. Secret scoring objectives and action cards add uncertainty.