Action Point Allowance System

The theaters of London are abuzz. In one week, her majesty the Queen will attend their new shows and will grant her support to one of the troupes. It's the chance of a lifetime for the young authors who are inflaming the populace with ever more audacious and motley plays. But how do you create a masterpiece in such a short time? Whoever has the answer to this thorny question will probably enter the rolls of history!

In Shakespeare, players are theater managers who must recruit actors, craftsmen, jewelers and others in order to assemble everything needed for the play's performance at week's end.

In more detail, the game lasts six days and on each day players recruit one new character — starting with five at the beginning of the game: four identical ones on their individual player board and one that they've drafted — and take 1-5 actions with the characters they have. Characters and their actions are:

Actors: Rehearse one or more acts in the three-act play; the more you rehearse, the more benefits you receive during the dress rehearsals on days four and six.
Costume mistress: Take costume elements to enhance your actors; if they lack a complete costume, they can't participate in the dress rehearsals.
Set dresser: Build the set. The more elaborate the set you build, the more rewards you receive — but the set must be symmetrical!
Handyman: Set them to work on whatever you need. These joes can assemble both costumes and sets, but they're not very good at it.
Assistant: Increase the power of your craftsmen, i.e., the three roles described above.
Jeweler: Take a gold costume element or set piece to dazzle the crowd.
Queen: Earn money by giving her an early peek, or gain an objective to win her favor on the final day.

After players take actions, they check the individual ambience level in their theater, gaining or losing points or rehearsal time depending on the atmosphere. Dress rehearsal on the fourth and sixth days provide another chance for fully-dressed actors to perform, and those who are well-rehearsed earn points or money.

On all but the final days, players must allow characters who performed to rest, with only one of those characters being able to work the next day. Thus, the more you put them to work today, the less you'll be able to do tomorrow — but those who don't plan to do as much act before other players, so that might be a good thing.

In the end, players must pay their actors, with each unpaid actor blemishing your reputation and costing you points. Whoever finishes with the most prestige points wins.

Norse law dictates that every man shall posses a weapon at all times. The need to swiftly wield an axe in the name of battle, honor, or revenge was ever-present. Valhalla will not be filled with the weak.

In Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga, originally released as Viking Fury, you vie for glory across three epic Viking sagas, each one a different journey to raid, trade, and settle territories. Will you choose the path of diplomacy and trade for victory? Or will your longship cast a bloody wake?

Start your journey by gathering crew and goods to outfit your boat. Will your ships be filled with warrior or goods? Settlers or sackers? After your launch from bustling ports into the open sea, you must choose your path to power — but don't get lost in the wind; the sea will gladly devour souls who take her lightly...

The life of a Viking is one of power and glory, or untold sorrow. Which shall be your destiny?

The zombie apocalypse has begun, and you and your friends take on the roles of various characters who are all working to survive.

In Dead Panic, each player takes on the role of one of eight unique characters, which have special abilities. Players work together to survive in a remote cabin, at the center of the board, against waves of the undead that close in from the edges of the board. If the players can hold out, survivors bring pieces of the radio needed to call for rescue. Once rescue arrives, it's up to each player to leave the safety of the cabin and make it out alive!

To fight the zombies, players use cabin cards, some of which are weapons that help players attack zombies at a distance or in hand-to-hand combat. If characters take too many injuries during combat, they die and return to the game as a zombie with customized rules as a member of the undead! Other cabin cards are items, which give the players various benefits and a better chance at survival. The supply of items and weapons is limited, however. Once the cabin deck is exhausted, it is not reshuffled. A separate deck of cards, called event cards, allow the zombies to have their turn. This deck not only brings a variety of zombies into play but each card also has a special effect when drawn.

Can you survive Dead Panic?

Basilica, a game for 2 players, presents the duel of two medieval master masons who are ordered to build a medieval cathedral together. Players are planning cathedral layout and overseeing work at the construction site in tandem, in the same time trying to gain advantage over the opposite player.

The temple is built by laying square tiles adjacent to the board or already built tiles. Tiles form the plan of the cathedral. These tiles, distinguished by four colors, represent different elements of the cathedral. The pool of tiles available to players is random. Later, the players place pawns on the tiles – these pawns are the teams of builders: foremen, masons and carpenters, who will make the design a reality.

The players strive to achieve two goals: to lay their cathedral tiles so as to create the largest possible areas representing a single color, and to have more pawns in these areas than their opponent.

Every tile bears also one special action that could be played instead of adding a tile to the cathedral. Using these actions player may move pawns from tile to tile, promote them (increasing their value) or manipulate the tiles. Execution of specific order excludes the tile from being used as part of cathedral, so choice between expanding the edifice and making some action is strategic. Planning and optimal use of available resources is important, as both participants share the same selection of tiles. Thus, tiles and actions shown on them not used by the player in her or his turn become immediately available to his opponent.

Some tiles trigger movement of a special King pawn, which moves along the scoring track. Every few moves, the King pawn comes to a space indicating a royal visit to the cathedral. During each royal visit, the progress of work is assessed and Victory Points are assigned to the players. The number of VPs each player is awarded depends on the size and number of the areas controlled by their pawns at the moment of scoring. The more areas the player controls, and the bigger these are, the greater the reward for the player. At the end of the game, the winner is the player who has claimed more Victory Points.

Players move their workers around the board (which is composed of variable groups of hexes) building houses along the banks of two rivers. Each turn certain hexes along the river pay out, either in money (which you use to build houses) or lumber (used to make dams). The first player to construct all five of their buildings (four houses and one hacienda) or a hacienda and three houses that are all on a riverbank, wins. Players build dams to change the flow of the rivers.