Medieval

Castelli

In Italy during the Middle Ages, it is of paramount importance to build castles at attractive locations – but unfortunately other landlords are also trying to gain power in the country.

In the strategy game Castelli, the players gradually develop their influence and try to collect as many raw materials as possible. The game board is a grid which alternately shows production areas and spaces for tiles; these tiles show a player color and number, e.g., red 4 or blue 2. A production area grants its building materials or silver to the player with the highest combined value on the adjacent tile edges. The tiles start face-down, and each turn, one of them is revealed. During their turns, players can rotate the tiles, thus influencing who gains which building materials, which are subsequently used to build castles.

With the unusual turning mechanism of the tiles, every player has the power to distribute the raw materials between himself and the other players on each turn. Building castles then results in victory points, depending on the positions of the villages and cities – and that's what it's all about if you want to become the most successful landlord!

The two expansion modules included – "Dilemma" and "Battle" – can be combined freely with the basic game. They increase the challenge and time of play gradually. The game also includes material for a "Castelli tournament" in which four players play in pairs simultaneously.

World Without End

Die Tore der Welt / World Without End is based on the novel by Ken Follett, a sequel to his bestselling The Pillars of the Earth. This is the 2009 game in the Kosmos line of literature-based games.

World Without End shares the Kingsbridge location of the earlier novel, but occurs 200 years later. Similarly, the game shares many themes but is a new standalone game.

As citizens of Kingsbridge, players need to take care of the following areas: Building, Trading, Religion, Feeding, and Medical Knowledge. Each turn an event card is flipped that defines available player actions. Victory points can be won in numerous ways, e.g. by creating buildings or taking care of sick people.

Sid Meier's Civilization: The Boardgame

This entry covers the 2002 release of Sid Meier´s Civilization: The Boardgame by Eagle Games. This game is unrelated to the similarly named 2010 FFG game Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game.

A boardgame version of the award-winning PC strategy game. Create a civilization to stand the test of time! The game begins in 4000 BC where the players found a pair of villages of a fledgling people.

Each player’s civilization :

Explores the world around them, discovering resources and the native people that defend them.
Expands by sending settlers out to create new cities.
Researches new technologies to gain advantages over the other players.
Builds unique “Wonders of the World”.
Increases the size of their cities (4 sizes from village to metropolis) to increase production.
Builds military units to defend what’s theirs, and to conquer what’s not.

Features:

2 sets of rules (standard, and advanced) allow anyone to play the game.
784 plastic pieces featuring 22 different, professionally sculpted playing pieces that represent cities, settlers, armies, navies, artillery, and air units from 4 different eras.
Over 100 full color Technology and Wonder cards.
A giant 46” x 36” gameboard featuring the artwork of Paul Niemeyer.

This game has been reimplemented in 2007 as Civilization CHR ("open source" project)

Régents

In 1286, Alexander III, King of Scotland, died of a fall from a horse. None of his children who survived him, the Scottish lords declared his little daughter Margaret, then aged 4, Queen of Scots. But because of his age too young, the Lords put up a regency, the Guardians of Scotland for the administration of the kingdom until Margaret was old enough to reign.

Gathered in a meeting in Edinburgh Castle, with the referee King Edward 1st of England, the major Scottish clans will have to use their influence to get the honorary title of Regent, also known as "Guardian of the kingdom."

REGENTS is a placement game / majority where he must win the points of influence in areas key to the kingdom (political, military, religious, financial and trade). The dot gain sensitivity is based on a threshold to cross in order to progress making the game very tight. In addition to playing cards "ACTION" and a charge to make the ambience of the conspiracy.

Caylus

Once upon a time ...
1289. To strengthen the borders of the Kingdom of France, King Philip the Fair decided to have a new castle built. For the time being, Caylus is but a humble village, but soon, workers and craftsmen will be flocking by the cartload, attracted by the great prospects. Around the building site, a city is slowly rising up.

The players embody master builders. By building the King's castle and developing the city around it, they earn prestige points and gain the King's favor. When the castle is finished, the player who has earned the most prestige wins the game. The expansion Caylus Expansion: The Jeweller was included in the 2nd Edition.

Each turn, players pay to place their workers in various buildings in the village. These buildings allow players to gather resources or money, or to build or upgrade buildings with those resources. Players can also use their resources to help build the castle itself, earning points and favors from the king, which provide larger bonuses. Building a building provides some immediate points, and potentially income throughout the game, since players receive bonuses when others use their buildings. The buildings chosen by the players have a heavy impact on the course of the game, since they determine the actions that will be available to all the players.

As new buildings are built, they stretch along a road stretching away from the castle, and not all buildings can be used every turn. Players have some control over which buildings are active by paying to influence the movement of the Provost marker. The final position of the marker is the newest building that can be used that turn. The Provost marker also helps determine the movement of the Bailiff marker, which determines the end of the game. Generally, if players are building many buildings and the Provost is generous in allowing them to be used, the game ends more quickly.