Area Majority / Influence

Maharaja: The Game of Palace Building in India

A board game for two to five players with elements of area control and simultaneous action selection. During the game, the players take different roles and travel from city to city in India. Their architects build palaces and houses for the Maharadja.

Of course, building a palace is expensive. Therefore, it is important to earn enough money in the cities. The first player who builds seven palaces is the winner.

Players choose their actions simultaneously, but reveal and resolve them in turn. Actions include generating money, building houses or palaces, manipulating the Maharaja's movements, and choosing new architects (each architect has a unique power, but the more powerful ones come further down the turn order).

At the end of each round, the Maharaja scores the city he is currently in based on the number of buildings, and players receive money accordingly. He then moves to a new city.

Besides the basic game, the rules booklet contains two advanced versions for players who seek even more depth in their game play.

Stronghold: Undead (Second Edition)

The Necromancer leads an undead army toward the stronghold walls. A powerful artifact lies within the stronghold. A magical item imbued with immense energy. The Necromancer's powers are weakening, and his magical essence is fading with each passing moment. He will regain his powers if he manages to take the castle by storm and claim the artifact. Thus, if the undead army succeeds in breaching the stronghold within eight turns, it will capture the artifact and attain victory. If not...well, if not, the Necromancer's powers will fade completely and the undead army will turn to dust.

Stronghold: Undead is a re-balancing of the original Stronghold: Undead expansion for the second edition of Stronghold that is now a standalone game. It includes a new board with new paths to siege the castle, undead mechanisms, and more ways for both sides to secure their victory!

—description from the publisher

NOTE: Retail edition doesn't include KS-exclusives. KS edition can be found here: Stronghold: Undead (Second Edition) – Kickstarter Edition

Illumination

Illumination is a game of Mad Medieval Monks and Illuminated Manuscripts.

You and your opponent are monks competing to become the new head of the Scriptorium. You do so by illuminating manuscripts with elaborate religious artwork. But not all is as peaceful as it once was! Possessed with eccentric enthusiasm, one of you has turned from the reverent to the irreverent by scrawling demons instead of angels and by painting fierce dragons instead of noble knights. Who will become the new master of the Scriptorium? Will it be the monk who reverently illuminates the page with monks, dogs, knights and angels; or the irreverent monk who whimsically draws the forces of rabbit, squirrel, dragon and demon? Play Illumination to find out!

OBJECT

Each turn, players create illuminations in three Books by placing one full row or column of tiles of their choice from their Player mat. With careful placement, players collect Coins that allow them to perform special actions or purchase Scriptorium cards. By placing tiles next to others of matching color, players collect Ritual tokens to score points at the Ritual stations in the Monastery when they are occupied by the Abbot.

As tiles are placed in Books, conflicts are set in motion: Angels wrestle with Demons, Knights skirmish with Dragons, Monks contend with Rabbits, and Dogs struggle with Squirrels. These conflicts are resolved only when they are bounded on all sides. Then, the player with more tiles on their side wins the
Bounded Battle, flips the losing side’s tiles facedown, and places their Marker on the matching Battle card.

When the game ends, players score points for the Rituals recorded on the Monastery mat and 1 point for each of their faceup Illumination tiles in each Book. Players also score points for placing more Markers on Battle cards and for defeated factions that match their Crusade card. The player with more points wins!

-description from publisher

Air, Land & Sea

In Air, Land, & Sea, two players participate in a series of Battles, with the objective to control two of the three Theaters of war after both players have played all of their Battle cards, or convince your opponent to withdraw!

As Supreme Commander of your country's military forces, you must carefully deploy your forces across three possible theaters of war: Air, Land, and Sea. The order you play your Battle cards is critical, and so is how you play them. All cards can either be played face-up or face-down. Playing a card face-up triggers its Tactical Ability, but the card must be played in its corresponding theater. Face-down cards are wild and can be played to any theater, but only have a strength of 2 and do not grant Tactical Abilities.

At the start of each battle, you will be dealt a hand of six cards. You will not draw additional cards during the Battle, so you must formulate your strategy based on only these cards. Players take turns playing Battle cards one at a time, until all cards have been played, or one player decides to withdraw.

You do not have to continue a Battle to the very end. Sometimes, it may be best to withdraw in order to deny your opponent complete victory! In Air, Land, & Sea, a strategic withdraw may lose you the battle to ultimately win the war! Victory points are awarded at the end of each Battle based on the results, and the first player to 12 victory points wins the war!

Aftershock: San Francisco & Venice

The world has been hit with mega earthquakes. The worst destruction devastated the San Francisco Bay area. It is a time of rebuilding to restore this area to its former glory.

Aftershock: San Francisco & Venice is an area control game. Players will spend money to acquire cards, which are used to increase population, build bridges, and determine where aftershocks occur. Negotiate with other players to score areas on the placement board.

Spend money wisely to acquire the needed cards that move people back into the demolished areas. Make deals to score points in Aftershock!

—description from the publisher