Route/Network Building

On the cusp of the twentieth century, America is the undisputed land of industry. Factories fire their machines twenty-four hours a day, and demand is skyrocketing in the cities. A small but fierce rivalry of shipping barons must manage their amazing airships and the extensive railroad system in order to get goods to the cities before the demand is met by someone else. Anyone who can't stay competitive will be left with nothing but dust in their coffers!

The process is simple: Factories produce the goods (machinery, textiles, chemicals, food, and luxuries) that are coveted by the city folk. Airships – forbidden from landing in the cities but capable of carrying cargo over great distances – must be used to gather those goods and deliver them to depots along the rail network. Trains then haul the goods to the cities that want them, earning cash for the competitor who gets there first! Will you be the "King of Air and Steam?"

Kings of Air and Steam spans five rounds, and at the beginning of each round, players plan their Airship flights using four of their movement cards. When everyone is ready, everyone reveals their first planned card. According to the turn order and movement limits of their cards, players move their Airships, then take an Action; Actions include Building Depots, Upgrading your Airship or Train, Shipping Goods by rail, and Soliciting Funds from the bank. When all players have acted, the second planned cards are revealed, and so on through the four planned cards until all players have finished carrying out their plans for the round. All the while, players must keep aware of the rising values of the different types of Goods and try to get the most-valuable Goods from the specialized factories that produce them to the cities that want them. At the end of the game, the player with the most money and the greatest shipping network will be declared King of Air and Steam!

Kings of Air and Steam includes seven teams of characters, each with unique powers to give them a competitive edge, and a modular game board that makes each game a different experience.

Indigo is a tile-laying game along the lines of Metro, Tsuro and Linie 1 in which players build paths bit by bit, with no player owning the individual paths and everyone trying to exploit the paths already present. Unlike those earlier games, however, your goal is to move gemstones from their starting locations on the board to your designated goals, with the player who scores the most points winning the game.

To set up the game board, place the central hex tile, then add five green and one indigo gems to it. Place six "u-turn" tiles at their designated locations on the outer edge of the game board, then place a yellow gem on each such tile. Each player places goal markers on goals between these u-turn tiles on the edge of the game board: in a two-player game, the players alternate goals; in a three-player game, each player has one goal to herself, while sharing two others; and in a four-player game, each player shares a goal with every other player.

On a turn, a player places a tile on any space on the game board, with the only restriction being that a player cannot create a route directly from one goal to another. Each tile has three route segments on it, connecting one pair of edges. If a player places a tile next to a gemstone, that gemstone "moves" as far as possible along the route so that all players can see where to place tiles to next move that gemstone. (Thus players avoid the mental gymnastics required in Metro and Linie 1 in which nothing moves until a route is complete.) When connecting to the central tile, the green gems move off first, with the indigo gem moving only with the sixth connection.

If a player places a tile so that one gem would run into another, both gems are removed from the game!

When a gem is moved to a goal owned by only one player, that player keeps the gem. If two players own the goal, then both players collect a gem of that color, taking the extra gem needed from the reserve. Once all the gems have been claimed, the game ends, with players earning 3 points for an indigo gem, 2 for green and 1 for yellow. The player with the most points wins.

Traders & Barbarians is distributed as the third major expansion for The Settlers of Catan, although it is actually a compilation of small expansions and variants. (It is independent of the Seafarers and Cities & Knights expansions, but can be combined with them.)

All of the variants and three of the scenarios have been available from various sources in Europe and the United States or through official websites. The Great Rivers and the Fishermen of Catan have been expanded somewhat for this expansion through extra tiles and player pieces.

This compilation includes 5 scenarios:

The Fishermen of Catan - Originally released in the 05/2006 Spielbox magazine and then subsequently released in Games Quarterly magazine. Expanded in this edition.
The Rivers of Catan - Originally released in the Atlantis scenario box, then subsequently in Games Quarterly magazine as "The Great River". Expanded in this edition to include two rivers, one occupying 4 tiles, and one occupying 3.
The Great Caravan - Originally released as a free expansion in Germany.
Barbarian Invasion - New in this edition. - Barbarians are invading Catan and the players have to try to stop them with new knight pieces. This plays very similarly to the flood mechanic in the Atlantis scenario from the Atlantis and Das Buch scenario packs.
Traders & Barbarians - New in this edition. - You get new hexes, one for the castle, one to produce glass, and one to produce marble. You try to rebuild Catan after the invasion. You get gold and victory points if you finish tasks in the castle, but to do so you have to travel back and forth to the castle on roads and undeveloped paths. There are still some barbarians around who interfere with trade routes.

It also includes 4 minor variants:

2-Player Rules - Use the new "Commercial Chips" to force trade with your opponent. Use 3rd and 4th neutral player to block your opponent. Also available online: Klaus2player.pdf
Catan Event Cards - Originally released in the Atlantis scenario box, then subsequently released for sale separately. Replaces the dice with a deck of cards to minimize randomness.
The Harbormaster Card - Originally released in the Atlantis scenario box, then subsequently available online: harbormaster.pdf. Gives two victory points to the player with the most harbor points.
Friendly Robber Rules

This game belongs to the Catan Series.

From the back of the box:

You have 10 DAYS in ASIA - touring by train, airplane, ship, or on foot. Chart your course from start to finish using destination and transportation tiles. With a little luck and clever planning, you just might outmaneuver your fellow travelers. The first traveler to make connections for a ten day journey wins the game.

In this fourth installment of the 10 Days in series, the players are touring Asia, arranging their tiles on the ten days (open spots) of their trays to create a string of consecutive steps that, once completed, creates one consecutive journey. Tiles of neighboring countries may be placed side-by-side on the tray, with trains, ships and airplanes connecting distant countries depending on where they are located. Tiles cannot be rearranged in a tray, but must be replaced one at a time from the few face-up tiles available to all players, or from a random draw.

This installment introduces railroads which allow players to connect any countries that have stops along a selected rail line. These work in addition to the now-familiar airlines (connecting countries of the same color), and ocean liners (although now you have two oceans to contend with).

Each player attempts to score the most points by snaking caravan routes through the desert, trying to reach oases and blocking off sections of the desert. Many people feel that it is reminiscent of Go.

Publisher's Description
From the award-winning game designer Reiner Knizia comes a game of strategy, patience, and cool plastic camels! The desert is still treacherous, mysterious, and without mercy. But for those willing to risk the dangers of the shifting, sun-baked sands, the desert holds riches beyond compare.
In Through the Desert, two to five players each control a tribe of nomads vying for control of the desert. By establishing caravans and taking over oases, the players gain points as their tribes increase in power.
Strategy is essential in deciding how and where to build your tribe's caravans. There are multiple ways to gain points and several ways to win. Should you try to build the longest caravan? Or should you dominate the desert's oases? Don't forget to keep an eye on your opponents' caravans, or you may find your own tribe cut off from valuable water holes.

Through the Desert is part of the so called Knizia tile-laying trilogy.