Science Fiction

After 500 years, two factions emerge from their underground cities into a new world, an Earth reborn from nuclear disaster.

12 highly detailed miniatures represent the two factions which are:

NORAD: military in thinking and origins. Scientists, engineers, add to their strength.

SALEMITES: occultists working with cadavers, bringing the dead to life.

Soon after emerging, these two factions meet - and it is determined that they cannot live together in peace.

Earth Reborn offers nine scenarios that take you through missions of rescue, retrieval, and escort through areas of labs, mansions, towns, and more. Each scenario builds upon the rules of a new chapter: the game system is built like a tutorial. There are core rules to start the game, and each chapter offers 1-3 new rules along with a scenario that uses these new rules.

The game also contains the innovative S.A.G.S. (Scenario Auto Generating System), where 2-4 players can make their own maps and mission objectives for near infinite replayability!

Other features include:

A Tetris-like board construction using polyomino floor tiles.
An order tiles system to give commands to your miniatures.
Interrupt Duels with Bluff, betting command points to interrupt an enemy character and act during another player's turn.
The I.P.S. (Iconographic Phrasing System) that allows almost any effect to occur with icons, totally language independent.
Colored base arcs on miniatures to simplify Line of Sight, shooting, and close combat. It also multiplies characters’ variations and possibilities.
The Search rule, giving a visceral feeling to searching in rooms to find equipment.
A Mission Points track that also serves as a Morale Points track.
Radio Scrambling to mess with your opponents' orders.

Based on the novel by Frank Schätzing, continuing the Kosmos line of literature-based games. The world is facing an ecological catastrophe caused by previously unknown marine life forms. Each player represents a nation sending their scientists out to confront the threat.

The action cards form the core of the game. For each round, the cards are shuffled and placed in a row. Each player in turn order takes the leftmost card from the row, until there are no more cards left. Instead of the leftmost card, players can also buy a different card by paying with victory points.

At the end of each round, players score points according to the sizes of their largest research networks. At the end of the game, extra points are given out based on whether research stations are connected to the center of the game board.

Publisher blurb

Including a total of 180 plastic figures and dozens of unit types, Starcraft: The Board Game features an innovative modular board of varying sizes, which guarantees a new experience each and every game. An exciting card driven combat system allows players to modify and upgrade their faction with a wealth of powerful technologies. Players can unleash a Zergling rush, use powerful Protoss shields to halt an enemy invasion, or even send cloaked Ghosts out to guide nuclear missiles to their target.

Description

In StarCraft: The Board Game, players battle for galactic domination on a dynamic board of interconnected planets. Planetary setup is already part of the game - every player gets two planets to place, and will place their starting base on one of them. Planets are connected with direct and "Z-Axis" connections that are placed during setup, but can sometimes later be modified during the game, and movement is only possible within planets and through those connections (by means of purpose-built transports).

Each player controls a faction out of six, that belongs to one race out of three - Humans, Zerg, and Protoss. Each faction has a unique special victory condition, but all factions can also win through victory points that are gained by controlling special areas on some of the planets. Players build units and base upgrades with the resources they gather from the planetary areas that they control, and gain access to additional unit types through those upgrades.

Each turn is subdivided into first a planning phase, then an execution phase, and finally a regrouping phase (used for cleanup). In the planning phase, players take turns playing a number of order tokens into stacks on each planet, with orders placed later obstructing the ones that were placed before them. This allows players to set up combos of their own, but also to obstruct plans of other players. In the execution phase then, players take turns again, and when a player's turn comes up he can choose one of his order tokens on top of any stack and execute that one - if all of their orders are obstructed, they skip their action and draw an event card instead. The execution phase isn't over until all players executed all of their orders. Possible orders are Build (used for building both units and buildings), Mobilize (used for moving units and attacking enemies) and Research (see below), and orders can always be Standard Orders or Special Orders, with the special orders having prerequisites but stronger effects.

Players can also research new technologies and thus improve their combat deck in a precursor to more recent deck building mechanisms. Each player is given a combat deck unique for their race at the start of the game, and when they research new technologies then matching cards are added to that deck. This allows the players to customize what cards they will draw; when the last card of the deck is drawn, the deck is reshuffled. Most cards remain in the combat deck once researched, though some researched technologies add effects that are always in play, while some particularly strong combat cards are discarded after one use.

Note: This game is available by request only and requires having a membership to play.
See game associate for details.

A fast paced game of terrifying alien invaders, futile human resistance, and 50's SciFi Movie Action. Players each take on the role of a different alien Race, all part of invading armada, but each with their own unique abilities and ambitions. Unleash waves of flying saucers to blast human resistance into submission with death rays and terrifying weapons of war as you unleash powerful alien technologies on earth (and other alien races if they get in your way). But beware these pitiful humans are not defenseless. They will fight to the last to defend their planet, aided by countless platoons of army soldiers, powerful human heroes, and their most deadly weapon, the dreaded atomic bomb.

Featuring a modular game board, 10 different alien races to play (such as the Orzax, master of technology, or the Venezian Matriarchy, beautiful but deadly space amazons) a host of Human resistance to battle, and four game types - competitive, cooperative, team game, and Solo Play. Conquest of Planet Earth is a strategic game of maneuvering, backstabbing, and fantastic battles for alien conquest.

Main Features :

Features a collection of beautifully illustrated artwork including over 100 unique images.
Over 25 detailed plastic miniatures of alien saucers to conquer the world
Games come with an original CD soundtrack to set the mood for alien conquest
Four game types - race against friend in competitive or team play, and be the first to conquer earth to impress your alien overseers, or cooperate as complete alien armada to sweep over the world and defeat human resistance. Also this game may be played Solo.
No two games are ever the same! There are many alien races to play and large decks of game cards, giving a great variety of gameplay. By rearranging the different boards each game along with the amount of human resistance to battle the aliens, there is a high level of re-playability.
Fast Paced games with easy to learn rules allow players to jump right into the action while strategic depth and strong cooperative/competitive play keep player coming back for more.
Excellent bridge between simple family games and deeper, more advanced board games. Easy enough for casual gamers/non gamers to enjoy, while exciting and strategic enough for hardcore gamers to love.
Expandable Design allows for many expansions and strong web support to create a loyal fan base/community.

Source: product summary

Note: The summary is a little out of date, the game contains 16 alien saucers and 4 allied models. They are however all detailed and of a high quality.

From the publishers web site:

Expansion to the space exploration game HIGH FRONTIER, adds a fifth player (the UN), and adds an extension to the map that includes Jupiter, Saturn, main belt comets, centaurs, and Trojan asteroids. The expanded rules include slingshots, radiation belts, piracy, combat, solar flares, and space politics and governments. There are also 48 new patent cards, representing reactors, generators, and radiators. The expanded scenarios include alien invasions, the solitaire game, and two short games.

Comment: There are in fact 24 new cards, giving 48 additional patents.