Ancient

Description from the publisher:

"For once, Zeus, Greek god of thunder and sky, is in high spirits. Hence, he decides to offer a generous gift to a worthy mortal and invite him, or her, to his realm, to Olympus. To determine a sufficient candidate, Zeus hosts a competition for his entertainment. Twelve legendary tasks are imposed upon the fearless participants: to erect graceful statues, to raise awe-inspiring sanctuaries, to offer capacious offerings, and to slay the most fearsome monsters. The first participant to master all the posed assignments wins the favor of the father of the gods himself.

Indubitably, you will not pass up this golden opportunity, so you clear your ship and rally your crew to follow on the trails of legendary Odysseus through the dangerous waters of the Aegean. But how could you find the righteous path onward? There is but one who can help you. Visit the mysterious oracle of Delphi and let her answers guide your ways.

In Stefan Feld's new game The Oracle of Delphi, the player's ships travel across a large variable game board of hexagonal tiles showing islands and the surrounding waters. Each player aims to reach certain islands to perform the twelve tasks given by Zeus: e.g., to collect offerings of different colors and to deliver them to corresponding temples, or to slay monsters of a specific type (and color), all of which can be discovered on the islands.

In order to execute these color-dependent actions, you are given three colored dice each turn, the so-called "oracle dice". Rolling the dice (at the start of the turn) is equivalent to consulting the oracle, whereas the results represent her answers. The answers determine which actions you will be able to take, but you will always have three actions per turn. However, a slight divergence from your fate is often possible.

In addition to the oracle, you can request support from the gods and you can acquire favor tokens, companions, and other special abilities that will help you win the race against other competitors.

Differently equipped ships and the variable set-up of the game board will offer new challenging and interesting strategic and tactical decisions with every new game of The Oracle of Delphi that you play.

Inis is a game deeply rooted in Celtic history and lore in which players win by being elected King of the Island (Inis). Players can try to achieve one of three different victory conditions:

Leadership: Be the leader — i.e., have more clan figures than any other player — of territories containing at least six opponents' clans.
Land: Have your clans present in at least six different territories.
Religion: Have your clans present in territories that collectively contain at least six shrines.

Over the course of the game, players also earn deeds, typically chanted by bards or engraved by master crafters, that reduce by one the magic total of six for any condition. While one victory condition is enough to claim the title of King, a game of experienced players usually has a tight balance of power, emphasizing the leadership of the capital of the island.

At the start of each round, players draft a hand of four action cards (with 13 action cards for three players and 17 for four players) during the Assembly. Action cards not played at the end of one season are not held for the next. Players also have access to leader cards for the territories that allow it and where they were elected leader during the assembly. Each Assembly reallocates those cards. Finally, they collect "epic tales" cards that depict the deeds of the ancient Irish gods and heroes, like Cuchulainn, the Dagda, Lugh and many others. These will be kept and used to inspire the clans and achieve extraordinary feats...under the right circumstances. The cards provide a variety of actions: adding clans, moving clans, building/exploring, and special actions.

Careful drafting, hand management, bluffing (especially once players understand the importance of passing their turn), good timing, and a precise understanding of the balance of power are the keys to victory. After a discovery game you'll be ready for a full and epic game, where an undisputed will be king by the Assembly for his merit and wisdom.

While Inis has "dudes" that are "on a map", it's a beginner's mistake to play this as a battle game because eliminating other clans reduces your chances of scoring a Leadership victory condition. Peace among different clans, with or without a clear territory leader, is the usual outcome of a clan's movement. Battles will occur, of course, as the Celtic clans can be unruly and a good player will listen to his clan's people (i.e., his hand of cards). That battle aspect is reflected in the clan's miniatures representing warriors. Woodsmen, shepherds and traders complete the set of twelve minis for each player; these occupations have no impact on the game, but give it flavor.

None can defy the will of the gods but the gods themselves. Driven by the ambition of their king, the Greeks have arrived on the shores of Troy. Some seek power, some seek revenge, while still others seek the great moment in battle that will define their place in history.

Agamemnon is a fast-paced strategy board game in which two players take on the roles of ancient Greek gods during the Trojan War. By tactically deploying warriors to where they're needed across the board, each player may influence the final outcome of the battles famously detailed in Homer's Iliad. Some areas will be decided by the strength of the warriors, others by sheer weight of numbers, and some by the inspiration your heroes provide.

To begin the game, Strings of Fate tiles are placed on their matching spaces on the board, and each player receives one set of fifteen playing tiles. These tiles come in three varieties: Warriors, with a numerical value marking their strength, Leaders, with both a letter rank and a strength value, and Weavers who have no strength or rank, but instead manipulate the Strings of Fate. Each player will shuffle their tiles face down in front of them.

The first player flips over one of their tiles, and places it on any available space. If it’s a Weaver, its effect immediately comes into play: the Warp Weaver may swap two adjacent Strings of Fate, whilst the Weft Weaver simply splits all strings it’s connected to. After the first turn, each player flips and plays two tiles on their turns.

Once all the tiles have been placed, each string is resolved: each Strength String is won by the player with the highest combined strength contained within it; each Leadership String is won by the player with the single highest ranked tile within the string; and Force Strings are won by the player with the most tiles, including Weavers, in the string. Players claim all the tiles from Strings of Fate they have won, and the player with the most tiles at the end wins.
 

Central Italy in the year 753 B.C.: Many new villages have been founded in the region of Latium. This land is prosperous and a strong city here can easily control the trades between the Etruscan cities of the North and the Greek colonies of the South. The region is also rich in salt ponds, and the salt in this period is worth more than gold. There doesn't exist a better place for a new city!

The two grandsons of the King of Albalonga – the twins Romolo and Remo, descendants of Enea of Troy – don't want to miss an opportunity to dominate the region and, acting against each other, try to establish two cities close to the Tiber river. Their enterprise is not easy as the King of Antemnae and the King of Crustumerium will also fight to dominate this area! Who will prevail?

In Romolo o Remo?, players act as Kings of the new cities in the Latium and have to compete with each other in order to gain control of the whole Region. Players must manage their kingdom and their growing settlement. Two aspects are crucial: the citizens, as players act with citizens to take many different actions, and the territory, as players can act only in the territories they are able to control – excluding when they go to war, of course! If the population grows, they can take more actions, but they must feed all of them as well. Money, resources, trades, city buildings, and specialized characters increase a player's possibilites, and soldiers, mercenaries, and war declarations can change the game's storyline at any moment. Who will able to build the strongest city? Who will be the founder of a new civilization – or perhaps even an Empire?

In Assyria, players represent tribes living in Mesopotamia, trying to develop on the desert and a limted fertile area located between two rivers that divide the board. In their quest for power (points), players build Ziggurats (permanent outposts), wells, make sacrifices to gods and try to get along with nobles of Assur - the capital of Assyria. The game is a light-weight eurogame, built around the short-term rapid point gains vs long-term investments dilemma. General flow of play is as follows:

Phase 1: Players get resources for expansion and decide on play order

In this phase, players pick cards with resources that enable expansion on the board. In general he/she who gets most food, plays last. First player expands with least food.

Phase 2: Players expand on the board to earn points or money.

Players begin to form strings and/or clusters of huts and pay for placing them with their food cards. Depending on where huts are placed, they either score points or earn camels (money).

Phase 3: Players spend money/camels on various investments.

A player either goes for one-time bonuses from the nobles of Assur, or makes long-term investments by offerings to gods and building Ziggurats.

The game lasts for three eras, made up of 2-3 of such cycles. After each era comes the flood: the board is partially cleaned up, but players also capitalize on their investments from phase 3. Each round, players also score points for huts (those built on fertile land between the two rivers bring more points) and ziggurat tiles.

In comparison to other games from Ystari's series - Assyria is lighter than Caylus, Olympos, Ys or Sylla (in terms of complexity, available choices - represented by numerous tiles, cards, icons, cards etc. that need to be remembered and can be combined during play), but heavier than Yspahan, Mykerinos or Metropolis.