This game reuses the theme & mechanics of Return of the Heroes, and can be played either as a standalone 2-player game or combined with the original set for a 5-6 player game.
This time, the heroes must find one of three magic weapons that will allow them to defeat an evil dragon. If combined with the base game, a hero can win by defeating either the dragon or the Nameless.
Other games in the series:
Return of the Heroes
Helden in der Unterwelt
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.
The year is 1926, and it is the height of the Roaring Twenties. Flappers dance till dawn in smoke-filled speakeasies, drinking alcohol supplied by rum runners and the mob. It’s a celebration to end all celebrations in the aftermath of the War to End All Wars.
Yet a dark shadow grows in the city of Arkham. Alien entities known as Ancient Ones lurk in the emptiness beyond space and time, writhing at the thresholds between worlds. Occult rituals must be stopped and alien creatures destroyed before the Ancient Ones make our world their ruined dominion.
Only a handful of investigators stand against the Arkham Horror. Will they prevail?
Arkham Horror (Third Edition) is a cooperative board game for one to six players who take on the roles of investigators trying to rid the world of eldritch beings known as Ancient Ones. Based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, players will have to gather clues, defeat terrifying monsters, and find tools and allies if they are to stand any chance of defeating the creatures that dwell just beyond the veil of our reality.
The game is split into a series of rounds made up of four phases.
The Action Phase
The Monster Phase
The Encounter Phase
The Mythos Phase
The Action Phase sees your investigators fighting back against the dark power of the mythos. During this phase, each investigator can perform two different actions.
Move – Investigators can move up to two spaces in the city, spending money to hire speedy transport and move additional spaces. The space where you end your turn will determine what encounter card you draw later in the turn.
Gather Resources – Gain one dollar token, which can be used to purchase items and goods as well as increase how far you can move
Focus – Focus one of your skills, increasing its value.
Ward – Attempt to remove doom from your location. Increasing doom means danger for the investigators, and removing doom can delay these apocalyptic heraldings.
Attack – Attack a monster engaged with you.
Evade – Try to escape from a monster engaged with you.
Research – Search for clues at your location.
Trade – Trade money, clues, items, and more with other investigators at your location.
—description from the publisher
The game is for 2 teams, divided into two approximately equivalent number of players and takes about 30 minutes to play.
It could remind you of the classic word game known as Taboo, but this one has an interesting twist on gameplay – the opposing team is the one who chooses the words you cannot use. With you having no idea which words are "traps", it’s like dancing on a minefield, when you’re trying to describe your assigned word to the rest of the team.
You take the role of a group of adventurers crawling through a fantasy dungeon full of traps and curses, with a Boss waiting for you at the end.
You have to successfully guess a word that one of your teammates is trying to describe to you. Sounds simple, but it is made fiendishly difficult by not knowing which words you can't say. Because both teams are simultaneously preparing secret traps for each other, words that you can't use. And further you get, the more trapwords you might expect.
Let's see the example of one possible turn when you are trying to give clues for the word "Axe":
You: "It is a thing that a dwarf can…"
Opponents team: "A-ha, dwarf! Gotcha!"
You: "How did you know that? Was it obvious I will use that?"
Or when you would try another approach it could look like this, the successful turn of your team:
You: "This thing is used by a man with a beard, in a checkered shirt...."
One of your teammates: "A coffee maker?"
[Everyone laughs]
You: "He uses it for work in nature."
Another teammate: "A chainsaw!"
You: "He makes smaller pieces from a big plant with it."
Any of your teammate: "An axe!"
You: "Yes! Very good!"
Could you avoid your opponent's trapwords when you don't know what you can't say?
City of Gears is a unique steampunk game of exploration, area control, worker placement, and engine building. From your incredible Factory, you must race to claim ownership over the magnificent ruins of an abandoned clockwork metropolis. Each game plays in under an hour, and because only nine of the city tiles (from dozens available) are randomly chosen and placed each game, no two games ever play the same.
Each turn, you roll a number of production dice and activate City Tiles, then you move your automaton workers and perform a variety of actions (such as drawing and placing gears to reactivate areas of the city, sabotaging opponents, and activating unique steam powers) as determined by your resources. Along the way, you will develop your Factory with special powers which set it apart and provide you with powerful bonuses.
As the city is revealed and its abilities are discovered, players must concoct plans to accrue prestige and hinder opponents so that once Opening Day arrives, they will emerge victorious! Do you have what it takes to set the City of Gears in motion?