Action Point Allowance System

Pandemic: Iberia

Description from the publisher:

Welcome to the Iberian Peninsula! Set in 1848, Pandemic Iberia asks you to take on the roles of nurse, railwayman, rural doctor, sailor, and more to find the cures to malaria, typhus, the yellow fever, and cholera.

From Barcelona to Lisboa, you will need to travel by carriage, by boat, or by train to help the Iberian populace. While doing so, distributing purified water and developing railways will help you slow the spread of diseases in this new version of Pandemic.

Discover a unique part of the world during a historically significant time period: the construction of the first railroad in the Iberian Peninsula during the Spring of Nations.

The game comes with two variants that can be added :

patient flow : the cubes, representing patients, will tend to flock to hospitals to try to get cured. Hospitals also are a bit more powerful.
historical illnesses : instead of being generic, each illness has a specific power to better represent what it is (Malaria, Cholera, Yellow Fever etc.)

Star Trek: Ascendancy

Boldly go where no one has gone before. In Star Trek: Ascendancy — a board game of exploration, expansion and conflict between the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire — you control the great civilizations of the Galaxy, striking out from your home worlds to expand your influence and grow your civilization. Will you journey for peace and exploration, or will you travel the path of conquest and exploitation? Command starships, establish space lanes, construct starbases, and bring other systems under your banner. With more than 200 plastic miniatures and 30 star systems representing some of the Star Trek galaxy's most notable planets and locations, Star Trek: Ascendancy puts the fate of the galaxy in your hands.

The great unknown lies before you; with every turn is a new adventure as your ships explore new space systems, encounter new life forms and new civilizations, make wondrous discoveries, and face challenging obstacles, all drawn from the vast fifty year history of Star Trek. Will you brave the hazards of Rura Penthe to harvest vital resources, race to develop Sherman's Planet before your rivals stake their claim, or explore the mysteries of the Mutara Nebula on an ever-growing, adaptive map of the galaxy. With an infinite combination of planets and interstellar phenomena, no two games of Star Trek: Ascendancy will ever play the same!

Note: This is a protected game and requires having a membership to play.

Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu

Beings of ancient evil, known as Old Ones, are threatening to break out of their cosmic prison and awake into the world. Everything you know and love could be destroyed by chaos and madness. Can you and your fellow investigators manage to find and seal every portal in time? Hurry before you lose yourself to insanity.

In Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu, you'll experience the classic Pandemic gameplay with an horrific twist that'll have you face twelve Old Ones, each threatening the world with their unique powers. As players take on the roles of investigators attempting to seal a series of portals before monsters of unspeakable horror pour into our world there is, of course, a high risk of the investigators losing their own minds.

Instead of curing diseases like in the original Pandemic, players seal portals and shut down cults in the classic New England fictional towns of Arkham, Dunwich, Innsmouth, and Kingsport. Can you and your fellow investigators manage to find and seal every portal in time? Hurry before you lose yourself to insanity and the evil that lurks beneath your feet...

Paradox

In the near future of Paradox, a space-time disturbance called The Quake is fracturing entire worlds’ timelines and removing these worlds from existence. Two to four players take on the roles of scientists working quickly to repair these worlds’ connections to their past, present, and future by making new time strands — however, every repaired connection ripples through time and fuels the Quake to fracture more worlds. When the storm’s power fades, the most successful scientist will be hailed as a hero throughout the multiverse.

Paradox takes familiar board game elements such as card drafting, set collection, and resource management, then adds a Bejewelled-like grid of colorful disks for each player to manipulate, along with a universe of worlds that must be protected by game’s end. As a result, Paradox presents players with a unique experience that is simple to learn yet challenging to master as players navigate three interlocking systems to protect these worlds from the chaotic forces of the Quake.

Paradox is designed by Brian Suhre and is illustrated by 15 artists, each with their unique view of one of the worlds. Paradox plays in about 20-30min per player.

Apotheca

Players craft potions in a secret marketplace. Hide ingredients to deceive opponents, and use magical powers to mix concoctions. But beware - your opponents are brewing schemes of their own!

Apotheca is played on a 4x4 grid. Players gain points by making matches of three potions of the same color in a row. The first player to make three matches wins. It's easily learned, but the combination of asymmetric powers and secret facedown potions make the game a delicious challenge.

On each turn, players take 2 of 4 possible actions:

Reveal: Reveal a secret potion and gain a gem of that color
Restock: Draw, look at, and place secret potions on the board until there are exactly 3
Power: Use one of your active apothecary powers
Hire: Spend gems to hire new apothecaries

Whenever a player makes a match, they must place it on one of their apothecaries. This removes that apothecary's power for the rest of the game, so it's important for players to keep revealing potions, collecting gems and hiring new apothecaries... all while keeping their opponents at bay!

Deduction is key to Apotheca. Players trap each other with clever spatial moves, bluffing and misdirection. The action economy is very well balanced, so every turn offers an opportunity for strategy and tough decisions.

The feeling of the game differs with every number of players:

2 player is the most cerebral and controlled
3 player is the most chaotic, yet still within your grasp
4 player is played in teams, offering neat collaborative gameplay