Area Control / Area Influence

It is a time when the maps of the world are still being filled in. Seagoing empires expand their frontiers by sending ships to the farthest reaches of the globe in search of new lands, new alliances, and new conquests. The wealth of the newly-discovered worlds abroad is a tempting prize for those with the strength and the cunning to seize it... and to hold it!
You represent a growing empire engaged in a glorious endeavor to expand your
influence and status at home and across the great oceans of the world. Through exploration and shipping, colonization and war, you will struggle with the other great powers to control the resources and the regions that unfold before you.

The goal in Endeavor is to earn the most glory for your empire. Players earn glory by increasing their scores in Industry, Culture, Finance, and Politics, as well as by occupying cities, controlling connections between cities, and by holding certain Asset Cards and Building Tiles. Short-term goals of constructing useful buildings, gathering Trade Tokens, and obtaining Asset Cards must be balanced with the overall goal of attaining glory as you compete for control over the various regions of the world. The game only lasts seven rounds, and when it is over you want to be the one who has earned the most Glory points!

Each round every player gets to build a new building, based on their Industry track. They then obtain new population markers based on their Culture track and retrieve used markers from building based on their Finance track. During the action phase, players take turns to either activate a building using a population marker or spend trade tokens to take an action: Ship, Occupy, Attack, Payment or Draw. Some buildings and tokens allow a player to take one or both of two actions. Shipping is used to open new regions for Occupation and Drawing, and gains you Trade Tokens. Once a shipping track is full, the player with the most influence in that region gains the powerful Governor card for that region. Occupation of a city results in glory and Trade Tokens, while Attacking steals a city from an opponent! Either Occupation or Attacking can result in claiming the connection between two cities, if both connected cities are controlled by the same player. Drawing gains a card from a region up to the maximum hand limit based on the player's Politics track. A player's influence in a region determines which cards they can draw. Once all players have passed, a new round begins.

Eight-Minute Empire, by Ryan Laukat, is a quick game that implements the Civilization/Exploration theme using card-driven area control (by placing armies and cities in a small map) and set collection (by getting resources from the board and the cards). Players spread through the map in order to collect points at the end of the game by having majorities in regions and continents. All actions (such as land or sea movement, army production, or the founding of cities) are driven by cards that are face-up (six at a time) and available by increasing prices. Cards also contain resources, which also give points when the game ends if properly collected.

Its first version was available as print-and-play, and a regular (Kickstarter funded) version was published in 2013. An expansion featuring a European map is available as an expansion (Eight-Minute Empire: Europe Expansion Board), and a stand-alone sequel has also been published (Eight-Minute Empire: Legends).

From the publisher:
Build an empire and conquer the land in around eight minutes!

In Eight-Minute Empire, 2-5 players take turns selecting a card from six displayed. The card gives a good, and also has an action that the player takes immediately. Actions help players take over the map, but sets of goods are worth points at the end of the game, so players have to balance the two aspects.

Eight-Minute Empire is the super-quick area control game with tough decisions. It's easy to learn and perfect for when you only have a few minutes.

This classic game of pure negotiation has taken many forms over the years.

The first Avalon Hill version has perhaps the widest release, but Avalon Hill (Hasbro) re-released the game in 1999, complete with a colorful new map and metal pieces. They recently released a 50th anniversary edition with a new map and cardboard pieces representing the armies and navies.

In the game, players represent one of the seven "Great Powers of Europe" (Great Britain, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia or Turkey) in the years prior to World War I. Play begins in the Spring of 1901, and players make both Spring and Autumn moves each year. There are only two kinds of military units: armies and fleets. On any given turn, each of your military units has limited options: they can move into an adjoining territory, support an allied unit in an attack on an adjoining territory, support an allied unit in defending an adjoining territory, or hold their position. Players instruct each of their units by writing a set of "orders." The outcome of each turn is determined by the rules of the game. There are no dice rolls or other elements of chance. With its incredibly simplistic movement mechanics fused to a significant negotiation element, this system is highly respected by many a gamer.

Avalon Hill Complexity rating - 3

Re-implemented by:

Colonial Diplomacy
Diplomacy: Classical Variant
Diplomacy: Hundred Variant

In Collateral Damage, you play a Gang Boss trying to take over cities in Neo Japan in order to win the game. Your gang is made up of typical characters from romantic comedy anime, with a unique set of statistics and a Special Power to distinguish each one. You move your characters around the board from city to city, and you ultimately win the game by taking over cities. You as a gang boss get Notoriety Points by having your characters fight and hurt other players' characters. If you miss in a fight, you do Collateral Damage to the city (thus the name of the game). However, as is typical in romantic comedy anime, your characters might fall in love, usually unreciprocated, and will then ignore your orders to instead follow their love around the board.

Each turn in the game has 9 phases, most of which are brief.
1) Initiative - Figure out turn order, based on player strength.
2) Libido - All characters gain Libido, which they can use to move and fight.
3) Voluntary Movement - players move their characters, then 4) Automatic Movement - characters may be dragged towards a Love Interest or Rival.
5) Love - Characters may fall in love based on the Looks and Gender of other characters in that city.
6) Combat - Characters in cities fight, gaining Notoriety for the player.
7) Domination - Players can try to use any characters still conscious to Dominate cities, spending Notoriety Points to better their chances.
8) Firing & Recruitment - Players can fire characters and recruit new characters, spending Notoriety Points to do so.
9) Mutual Love - Characters in love with each other and alone together in a city lose all of their libido. We're not saying why...

The game contains:
20 city tiles which are used to make up the game board
6 sets of sliders, token stands, dice, and Gang Boss cards in 6 colors
Over 55 different characters, each with his or her own stats and unique Special Power
45 Training cards
1 Grease pencil
A 4 page custom manga
Complete instructions
and more

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.