Negotiation

Bootleggers

It's January 1921. Prohibition has been in effect for a year, and it looks like the 18th Amendment is here to stay. The problem, however, is that outlawing the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" hasn't done anything to reduce the demand for booze! As a result, illegal stills dot the countryside and secret (or not-so-secret!) speakeasies are popping up all over in cities large and small. Local law enforcement may look the other way (especially if they're properly motivated) but Elliot Ness' G-Men are harder to convince. With this much money at stake, organized crime is sure to take an interest.

In Bootleggers, players take on the role of enterprising bosses seeking to make a name for themselves in the illegal alcohol trade at the height of the 1920's prohibition era. Deceit, lies, and alliances of convenience are the norm as players attempt to control distribution through money and corruption by muscling in on the competition, paying off the local law authorities, building underground speakeasies, and shipping trucks of "hooch"!

Tentative plans for the 2012 edition of Bootleggers include two double-influence cards, four blank cards, more cash, a revised rulebook, colored dice for each player, additional variants (including a two-player scenario), and improved trucks with easier-to-read numbering.

Simply Catan

From the SimplyFun website:

Exclusively Created for SimplyFun

Welcome to the unsettled Island of Catan. Using combinations of resources - wood, brick, wheat, wool and ore - players build, barter and trade in this family strategy game. The faster you build roads, settlements and cities, the more points you earn towards victory. Clever trading, lively negotiation, and the luck of the dice add to everyone's fun and enjoyment. Once you start playing you won't want to stop.

Simply Catan is based on the international, award winning classic game Settlers of Catan, which has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. Designed for beginning players, Simply Catan takes less than 5 minutes to set up and 30 minutes to play.

Also includes advanced play rules with variable game board and development cards.

Belongs to the Catan Series.

Dragon's Gold

In Dragon's Gold, each player controls a team of dragon hunters (two knights, a thief, and a wizard). Like all dragon hunters, they have only one goal: gold, silver, jewels and magic objects. As for actually killing a dragon? It's a piece of cake. But the most difficult part comes after the dragon is dead: the adventuring party has to figure out how to share the spoils.

As soon as a dragon is overpowered, then some additional gems are revealed, and the players who had participated in that hunting party start a negotiation over how to divvy up the gems. If the sixty-second sand timer runs out, then no one gets treasure. When all of the dragons have been slain and the treasure claimed or discarded, the game ends and players score for their holdings, with silver and magic objects worth 1 point each, gold worth 3, the Black Diamond worth 7, and the colored gems scoring 10-15 points for those players who hold more than everyone else. (In the Advanced game, the colored gems score 8-12 points in addition to a variety bonus of 5 points for each set of different colored gems a player holds. The Black Diamond is worth 19 points [in the 2011 edition], but negates a player's score for all colored gems.)

Resistance: Avalon

The Resistance: Avalon pits the forces of Good and Evil in a battle to control the future of civilization. Arthur represents the future of Britain, a promise of prosperity and honor, yet hidden among his brave warriors are Mordred's unscrupulous minions. These forces of evil are few in number but have knowledge of each other and remain hidden from all but one of Arthur's servants. Merlin alone knows the agents of evil, but he must speak of this only in riddles. If his true identity is discovered, all will be lost.

The Resistance: Avalon is a standalone game, and while The Resistance is not required to play, the games are compatible and can be combined.

Game of Thrones: The Board Game (2nd Edition)

Game description from the publisher:

King Robert Baratheon is dead, and the lands of Westeros brace for battle.

In the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Board Game, three to six players take on the roles of the great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, as they vie for control of the Iron Throne through the use of diplomacy and warfare. Based on the best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones is an epic board game in which it will take more than military might to win. Will you take power through force, use honeyed words to coerce your way onto the throne, or rally the townsfolk to your side? Through strategic planning, masterful diplomacy, and clever card play, spread your influence over Westeros!

To begin the game, each player receives an army of Footman, Knight, Siege Engine, and Ship units, as well as a set of Order tokens and other necessary components. Each player also receives a deck of unique House Cards, which are used as leaders in battles against rival Houses.

Each round in the game is made up of three phases: the Westeros Phase, the Planning Phase, and the Action Phase. The Westeros Phase represents special events and day-to-day activities in Westeros. There are three different Westeros Decks, and each denotes a different global action, potentially affecting all players.

The Planning Phase is perhaps the most important. Here you secretly assign orders to all of your units by placing one order token face down on each area you control that contains at least one unit (Knight, Footman, Ship, or Siege Engine). This portion of the game emphasizes diplomacy and deduction. Can you trust the alliance that you made? Will you betray your ally and march upon him? Players may make promises to each other (for aid or peace, for example), but these promises are never binding. The result is tense and compelling negotiations, often ending in backstabbing worthy of Westeros!

During the Action Phase, the orders are resolved and battle is entered! When armies meet in combat, they secretly choose one of their House cards to add strength to the battle. Finally, the Houses can consolidate their power in the areas they control and use that power in future turns to influence their position in the court of the Iron Throne and to stand against the wildling Hordes.

In addition to featuring updated graphics and a clarified ruleset, this second edition of A Game of Thrones includes elements from the A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords expansions, including ports, garrisons, Wildling cards, and Siege engines, while introducing welcome new innovations like player screens and Tides of Battle cards.

Tides of Battle cards are an optional mechanism that brings an element of unpredictability to combat, representing erratic shifts in the momentum of war due to factors such as weather, morale, and tactical opportunity. During each combat, both players draw one Tides of Battle card from a communal deck, and its value modifies the strength of his chosen House card. What's more, such a card may also contain icons that can affect the outcome of the battle...all of which delivers a new level of intensity to your military engagements.

Expanded by:

A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) – A Dance with Dragons (2012)
A Game of Thrones: The Board Game (Second Edition) – A Feast for Crows (2013)

Reimplements:

A Game of Thrones (first edition) (2003)
A Game of Thrones: A Clash of Kings Expansion (2004)
A Game of Thrones: A Storm of Swords Expansion (2006)