Arabian

From the publisher's website:

As the leader of a powerful merchant clan, you must carefully plan the trade routes that will bring wealth to your family. Build fleets and caravans to control commerce in key cities and vie for rights of passage to your rivals' islands.

Caravans of Ahldarahd is a boardgame set in a fantastic realm of desert kingdoms. Each player has a unique gameboard with a mix of advantages and disadvantages. As you plan your strategy, you must choose whether to secure monopolies in your own region or throw caution to the wind and deploy your traders to distant ports. Your deals with fellow players will ultimately determine your success or failure.

The resources you need to build your trading empire can only be acquired by the highest bid, so you must balance fast expansion with longterm planning. If you strike too soon, your control may be easy to challenge. But if you wait too long, the game could end before you're able to fulfill your plans.

In addition to resource and route management, players can bid for the favor of the mighty Shah, the zealous Eyes of Shamesh, and the mysterious Pirate Queen to secure special advantages. Meanwhile, each person's map can be invaded by any opponent controlling its Right of Passage card. The position of your allies changes from turn to turn, so those who ignore the political play can find themselves at a disadvantage.

In Sidibaba, players take on the role of Sidibaba and his friends who are searching for hidden treasure in a cave. One of the players (the moderator and also the Leader of the thieves) has a map of the maze and helps guide the other players by providing visions (using tiles) of what lies in front of Sidibaba and his friends, such as a corridor with branching tunnels. After discussion amongst themselves, the other players must decide which way to take, and which of their special powers to use to move along the track; if they cannot agree, then they must vote.

Unfortunately for the Sidibaba and his friends, the Leader of the thieves (the game moderator) knows that Sidibaba and his friends are in his cave and are after his treasure. Sidibaba and his friends win if they manage to get the treasure and get out of the cave before their oil lamps go out. The leader of the thieves wins if Sidibaba and his friends don't get out of the caves in time, or when he manages to catch Sidibaba and his friends when they don't have a spare oil lamp left. As a result, each camp has its own objectives and its own mode of operation.

Sidibaba is a real-time game in which players have a limited amount of time to negotiate or else they'll watch their torches go out one by one, eventually leaving them lost in the dark.

Sidibaba was originally designed as Theseus, with the players trying to outwit the Minotaur in its maze.

Lead the Tribes and Take Control of Naqala

Crossing into the Land of 1001 Nights, your caravan arrives at the fabled Sultanate of Naqala. The old sultan just died and control of Naqala is up for grabs! The oracles foretold of strangers who would maneuver the Five Tribes to gain influence over the legendary city-state. Will you fulfill the prophecy? Invoke the old Djinns and move the Tribes into position at the right time, and the Sultanate may become yours!

Designed by Bruno Cathala, Five Tribes builds on a long tradition of German-style games that feature wooden meeples. Here, in a unique twist on the now-standard “worker placement” genre, the game begins with the meeples already in place – and players must cleverly maneuver them over the villages, markets, oases, and sacred places tiles that make up Naqala. How, when, and where you dis-place these Five Tribes of Assassins, Elders, Builders, Merchants, and Viziers determine your victory or failure.

As befitting a Days of Wonder game, the rules are straightforward and easy to learn. But… devising a winning strategy will take a more calculated approach than our standard fare. You need to carefully consider what moves can score you well and put your opponents at a disadvantage. You need to weigh many different pathways to victory, including the summoning of powerful Djinns that may help your cause as you attempt to control this legendary Sultanate.

Five Tribes is for 2 to 4 players, ages 13 and older and takes approximately 40-80 minutes to play. The game is expected to be available in limited quantities at Gencon in August, and then from game retailers worldwide in September at an expected retail price of $60/€54.

Source: Days of Wonder Blog.

The year is 632 AD. The Byzantine Empire is all that remains of what once was the mighty Roman empire. She herself has only just survived a mighty war against Persia. Both empires now lay exhausted from their long years of struggle. Meanwhile, further south in the deserts of Arabia, the prophet Mohamed has given new meaning to an old religion and sets the peoples of that land on a course of action which will echo down the ages. Under the leadership of a succession of caliphs the Islamic Arabs are about to descend on the prostrate bodies of the Persian and Byzantine empires.

The game 'Byzantium' deals with the rise of the Muslim Caliphate and its war with the Byzantine Empire. Your role as a player is to take a stake in each side and outwit your opponents to secure your own personal victory.

The sultan has issued a decree: Whoever can build the most amazing palace in the city of Sultaniya will be made Grand Vizier. Become a character from 1001 Arabian Nights and build graceful minarets, dazzling gates and soaring cupolas to draw the eye of the sultan and carve your name in history. Players will carefully select the best building tiles to erect the most impressive structures, scoring points for following patterns and fulfilling secret objectives. Earn sapphires, and use them to secure the services of the mighty Djinn, whose aid will be invaluable in your quest to create the most stunning palace the city has ever seen.