Area Movement

Get ready to enter the poor and dreary Whitechapel district in London 1888 – the scene of the mysterious Jack the Ripper murders – with its crowded and smelly alleys, hawkers, shouting merchants, dirty children covered in rags who run through the crowd and beg for money, and prostitutes – called "the wretched" – on every street corner.

The board game Letters from Whitechapel, which plays in 90-150 minutes, takes the players right there. One player plays Jack the Ripper, and his goal is to take five victims before being caught. The other players are police detectives who must cooperate to catch Jack the Ripper before the end of the game. The game board represents the Whitechapel area at the time of Jack the Ripper and is marked with 199 numbered circles linked together by dotted lines. During play, Jack the Ripper, the Policemen, and the Wretched are moved along the dotted lines that represent Whitechapel's streets. Jack the Ripper moves stealthily between numbered circles, while policemen move on their patrols between crossings, and the Wretched wander alone between the numbered circles.

Italy, late Middle Ages. The fabric merchants need to write down their contracts in a language that everyone can understand and the literates are looking for an alternative to the elite of the traditional Latin language. So, the Volgare, the language spoken by the common people, taken from the dialects spoken in the various Italian regions, starts to gain relevance.
During this period, Francesco D’Assisi writes his famous Canticle of the Sun and Dante writes the Divine Comedy both written in Volgare.

The players will have to do their part in the creation of this new language! But who will provide them the proper knowledge to understand the manuscripts in the different dialects? Who will succeed to uncover the secrets of the books inside the Papal Library? Who will embrace the religious life and who will remain a merchant? Some of the players can become a famous banker, someone else can climb the church’s hierarchy to be the next Pope! But in the end, who will be the most appreciated and respected for his status and his culture?

The aim of the game is to obtain more Volgare points. The players will gain VP from reading manuscripts, looking for important documents like the Canticle of the Sun or "The Riddle from Verona". Players can also gain VP by improving their social status, for example, if the merchant become a banker or the Friar becomes a Benedictine Monk or the Cardinal becomes Camerlengo or Pope.
Moreover, VP can be gotten with money and with the support of Politicians, Noblemen, Abbesses, and of the Amanuensis.

Battleship Galaxies is a space combat miniatures board game that is a distant cousin to the original Battleship game. The two opposing forces represented in the game, the human Intergalactic Space Navy and the alien Wretcheridians, are represented by 20 highly-detailed starship miniatures. There are figures for several different ship types and each has an individual reference card that defines the characteristics of that ship (e.g. weapons, movement, shields). The game is played on a star field hex board.

The game is scenario driven and each scenario will define the goal of the game as well as initial board set-up. Each turn, players have a certain number of energy points that can be spent to perform actions, such as movement or fire. Combat is resolved by rolling special dice, a ten-sided die with letters and an eight-sided die with numbers. The resulting letter-number combination is compared to the target ship’s reference card to determine the result. Hits on a ship are indicated by placing colored pegs in the figure’s base.

A tale of teamwork and betrayal!

The mole ogre howled out as it collapsed into a bloody pile of rent flesh and broken bone. The aging knight bent over, panting heavily, and gave his dwarven peer an approving nod. It had taken great effort between them both to slay the beast, and they had each taken their share of wounds. But in the end their cooperation had paid off and they both knew it. And then their eyes found the treasure chest sitting in the corner of the room.

They looked at each other. They looked back at the treasure... and then the real fight began.

The game where YOU are the final boss!

Dungeon Run is an exciting dash through a dungeon packed with monsters and traps. Each player controls a unique hero capable of great feats, and whose powers and abilities are upgradable and customizable throughout the game. Players can work together to overcome the perils of the dungeon, or they can betray and sabotage each other as they see fit. Because in the final room of the dungeon lurks a powerful boss with the ultimate treasure - a treasure that turns its owner into the most powerful warrior they can become! Slay the boss, steal the treasure, and then run for your life as your friends try to cut you down. In Dungeon Run only one hero can escape with the fabled Summoning Stone. Don't crawl - run!

Dungeon Run features a randomly assembled dungeon that changes each time you play, as do the monsters you face and the treasures you find. Eight different heroes each with unique options for customization further add to a wealth of game play options. Choose the vicious Tundra Orc and bash your way through everything that stands in your path. Play as the cunning Grounder Wizard and use your magic to cheat the laws of nature. Select the Guild Dwarf adventurer and lay traps to ensnare your friends. There are many paths to victory in Dungeon Run. Win by working with your friends or against them - just win!

Philippe Keyaerts scored gold with Small World, a new version of his Vinci that was released by Days of Wonder in 2009 to great acclaim and numerous awards. With Olympos, coming from French publisher Ystari Games, Keyaerts has another go at the simplified civilization game. The playing time for Olympos is only 60-90 minutes for 3-5 players, but says Ystari's Cyril Demaegd, "Even if it's a short game, it's a gamer's game."

Players take actions based on their position on a time track, along the lines of Peter Prinz' Thebes. (Says Demaegd, "This is mainly a coincidence because Philippe designed this game years ago.") By spending time, players take actions, with the choices being expansion or development. Expanding brings new settlers onto the game board, which depicts Greece and Atlantis, which lets you conquer territories and thereby acquire resources.

Development takes place on the game's discovery board, with players either buying new scientific discoveries – such as medicine or phalanxes – or building architectural wonders. Each discovery brings you new powers, such as an upgrade in military strength due to the phalanx, and each wonder earns you points.

A player's piety is measured by discoveries, and the most pious player might be rewarded during the game by one of the nine gods included. Similarly, the less pious players might be punished by those same gods.

The replayability of Olympos is huge, says Demaegd, as the discovery board and gods in play will be different each game, not to mention the territories you're able to conquer.