miniatures

Galaxy Defenders is a sci-fi cooperative, tactical battle game in which 1-5 players fight together against an oncoming alien menace. Each player takes control of one or more agents with unique powers to defend the planet from the alien invasion. Gameplay revolves around a tactical combat system, using custom ten-sided dice. Each player sequentially plays his Agent turn and then one Aliens turn. Players carry out their turns [agent and aliens] in clockwise order until the last player finishes his Aliens turn. Once done, the game passes to the Event phase that will bring the players to the next round. Players may choose up to five agents:

Marine: Coming from U.S. Special Forces, the Marine is an excellent soldier who can manage different combat situations, especially multiple enemies.
Biotech: The Biotech is the most technologically adept agent in service. He can use Nano-Technology to heal wounds or control war drones.
Infiltrator: A deadly and stealthy agent. This lethal specialist prefers hiding in the shadows. She has fast movement and good short-range combat ability.
Sniper: A silent sharpshooter and expert in camouflage and ranged combat. The sniper has average movement and excellent long-range firepower.
Hulk: The Hulk was a successful mercenary and now is one of the best agents; although slow, he enjoys an extraordinary resistance to damage and has high firepower.

There is no "Alien player" in Galaxy Defenders; instead, the aliens are controlled by the game system itself, through an artificial intelligence system based on two types of cards:

Alien cards, which define the behavior of each different alien and detail its skills and combat abilities.
Close Encounter cards, which are used at the beginning of each alien turn to determine which aliens activate.

The combination of a unique AI for each alien species and the uncertainty about alien activation in a turn provides a realistic simulation of the chaos of battle and a sophisticated challenge for the players. Since having more agents brings more alien activations for the aliens, the turn structure allows the level of difficulty to scale dynamically based on the number of agents in play. If agents die during the game, the system "recalibrates" the difficulty to a reasonable and enjoyable level, so you still have a chance to complete the mission.

The battle for Earth will be carried out in a series of twelve missions organized in a completely story-driven campaign. Mission events influence future games in two different ways:

Each mission has multiple endings, and the outcome of any mission will change the flow of the story.
The agents gain experience during the missions. This experience transforms a good soldier into a perfect Galaxy Defender agent with multiple skills, basic and improved tactics, and the ability to use new devices, improved human weapons, and Alien technology.

With the downloadable Galaxy Defenders: Alien Mind variant, you can transform the game into a competitive affair, with one player becoming the alien mastermind and controlling the alien army and the card in play, attempting to thwart each mission undertaken by the Agents. To do this, the alien player completes his own game objectives, obtaining new "alien signals" that can be teleported onto the battlefield. This variant, which allows for play with up to six players, can be used in a single mission or for a whole campaign of Galaxy Defenders. Using Alien Mind may increase the game difficulty and is suggested only for expert players.

Official FAQ: http://www.galaxy-defenders.com/faq.php
Additional Missions: http://www.galaxy-defenders.com/mission.php
Galaxy Ball: http://www.galaxy-defenders.com/gb-cards.php

Players begin with a ship, and travel from planet to planet, hiring crew, purchasing ship upgrades, and picking up cargo to deliver (jobs) all in the form of cards. Some crew and cargo are illegal, and can be confiscated if your ship is boarded by an alliance vessel. Travelling from planet to planet requires turning over "full burn" cards, one for each space moved. Most do nothing, but you can also encounter an Alliance ship, have a breakdown, or even run into Reavers. Completing jobs gets you cash. First player to complete the story goals wins.

Game description from the publisher:

In Firefly: The Game – based on the popular Firefly television series created by Joss Whedon – players captain their own Firefly-class transport ship, traveling the 'Verse with a handpicked crew of fighters, mechanics and other travelers. As a captain desperate for work, players are compelled to take on any job — so long as it pays. Double-dealing employers, heavy-handed Alliance patrols, and marauding Reavers are all in a day's work for a ship's captain at the edge of the 'Verse. Firefly: The Game is a high-end thematic tabletop boardgame from Gale Force Nine (GF9) and the first in a series of tabletop hobby board games and miniatures games from GF9 set in the Firefly Universe.

From the publisher, Avalon Hill:

Ahoy, Mateys!

That scurvy villain, the Pirate King, has stolen the Sea Hammer - only the pride of Her Majesty’s Royal Navy - and taken to the seas like the dog he is! It’s up to you to commission a brave officer of the Royal Navy to pursue that black-hearted cur, catch him, and turn him into shark bait. But he’s a rascal, that Pirate King, so you’ll need to recruit one of the dregs of the Queen’s dungeons because sometimes it takes a pirate to catch a pirate. Iffn’ you discover where that swab is hiding, you’ll need to beat the Pirate King in a duel or acquire enough gold to buy back the ship. Act with haste because you’re not alone in this hunt. Whoever saves the Sea Hammer first wins the Queen’s undying gratitude - and the game!

Here's a description of the game from Timothy Rose, who saw a presentation on the game at GenCon:

The "S&S" pirate game is a "track" based game (think "Talisman" more than "Monopoly" ). Each player controls two characters, a "hero" and a "scoundrel" type, and the goal is to retrieve the Queen's flagship from the Pirate King. Of course, each character has different ways to do that, either by derring-do and combat or by more underhanded methods (if you have enough gold, you could even BRIBE the Pirate King to get the ship back!). They showed the box design, pretty standard pirate/cutlass stuff, but nice art.

Dark Darker Darkest is an intense cooperative survival horror game in which a team of urban survivors try to fight the darkness in an unsettling location: the house of Doctor Mortimer, which holds the antidote to a virus turning the world into an army of undead.

Players must gather the optimal tools to open doors, control destructive fires that slowly destroy the locations of the game, and battle the endless hordes of terrifying creatures that will do anything to slaughter this fragile group, while outsneaking lurking creatures and the eye of the ever-present security cameras guarding the secrets of the house.

The game uses innovative mechanisms for group-forming and mixes item management (using a color-code system), exploration, stealth, and icon-driven combat to form an intense tactical experience in a strongly thematic setting riddled with surprises and variation. All the creatures and other challenges are controlled by the A.I. of the game system. The board is modular, creating a unique narrative experience for each session.

Can you fight the darkness?

DARK DARKER DARKEST
Un jeu coopératif de survie et d'horreur.

"Une équipe de 2 à 5 survivants doit explorer la demeure étroitement gardée du docteur Mortimer afin de découvrir son laboratoire, de le déverrouiller et de mettre la main sur l'antidote. C'est la seule façon de mettre un terme à cette apocalyptique invasion de zombies. Pour déjouer le système de sécurité, l'équipe doit dénicher de l'équipement dans la
maison afin de déverrouiller les portes. Les codes des portes permettront finalement aux joueurs d'ouvrir le labo... où ils découvriront qu'aux hordes de zombies, aux créatures enragées et aux incendies qu'ils ont dû
affronter jusqu'ici s'ajoute une créature abominable, la Némésis, dont ils devront venir à bout au cours d'un final spectaculaire."
Les joueurs coopèrent et luttent ensemble contre le système de jeu a fin de déjouer les pièges du laboratoire !

• Un jeu de zombies coopératif.
• Une grande re-jouabilité.
• Une mise en place modulable

From the publisher:

A Stealthy Game of Swords and Rewards

Your Ninjas must defend the honor of their dōjō against a rival dōjō. Victory hinges on eliminating Ninjas and skillfully venturing into the opponent’s dōjō. But how far do your Ninjas dare to go...and will they return? Every move is critical as you position your Ninjas for defense and ready them for their mission!

Prove yourself to be a worthy master with Ninja versus Ninja!

Re-release of:

Foray!