Auction/Bidding

Aquileia, the second most important city of the Roman Empire, had been originally founded as an outpost against the Barbarian invaders. From its military origin comes the peculiar quadrilateral structure divided by the main streets. Later, the city developed to become an important political and cultural center and a prosperous trading city, especially for precious goods, thanks to its convenient and efficient river port. Important monuments such as the Gladiator Arena, the horse-racing Stadium, and the famous theater were built, as well as craftsmen's workshops, patrician villas which completed the architectural network of the city.

In Aquileia, players want to become the most powerful figure in the city by trading and building. Each player, representing a wealthy Aquileian patrician, owns a certain number of henchmen (pawns) which he uses for these main activities: sports playing, culture, trading, and building. Each activity can bring expenses, earnings and sometimes victory points (VPs).

Each round begins with a placement phase in which players take turns placing their henchmen on action spaces and their tiebreaker disc on the tiebreaker track. Placing the tiebreaker is mandatory; placing henchmen is not (but you probably want to place them). Once everyone has passed or placed all of their tokens, players resolve the action spaces in numerical order:

The Mercatus allows players to buy weapons, arms and slave cards, collect money through a die roll, claim four blue dice for use with the Arena and Stadium, and trade one currency for another. (This is the only way to make change, and some actions require specific currencies; if you must pay bronze and have only silver and gold, then you cannot take that action!)
At the Arena, players compare fighting strength, with that number determined by the starting strength on the action space claimed, the roll of three dice and the playing of slave and weapon cards. The winner gets three bronze coins and either double his strength in VPs or a slave card. The second and third best players receive lesser rewards.
The Stadium is similar to the Arena, with the horse cards coming into play and the winner receiving gold or silver coins and his choice of two laurel cards; laurel cards deliver 3-10 VPs or are a multiplier for endgame scoring.
The Theatrum brings a bid for a dual-colored laurel card, with players needing to ante and raise in particular currencies.
In the Forum, players build villas and private banks, sometimes scoring points for doing so when they pay the specific costs with the proper coins.
Finally, the Portus gives players a chance to activate their buildings, thereby earning them VPs or money.

After six rounds, the game ends and players score VPs for their hidden point cards and the product of their villas' values times laurel cards of a matching color. (For example, a total of 8 points of blue villas and three blue villa cards equals 24 points.) The player with the most victory points wins.

Traders & Barbarians is distributed as the third major expansion for The Settlers of Catan, although it is actually a compilation of small expansions and variants. (It is independent of the Seafarers and Cities & Knights expansions, but can be combined with them.)

All of the variants and three of the scenarios have been available from various sources in Europe and the United States or through official websites. The Great Rivers and the Fishermen of Catan have been expanded somewhat for this expansion through extra tiles and player pieces.

This compilation includes 5 scenarios:

The Fishermen of Catan - Originally released in the 05/2006 Spielbox magazine and then subsequently released in Games Quarterly magazine. Expanded in this edition.
The Rivers of Catan - Originally released in the Atlantis scenario box, then subsequently in Games Quarterly magazine as "The Great River". Expanded in this edition to include two rivers, one occupying 4 tiles, and one occupying 3.
The Great Caravan - Originally released as a free expansion in Germany.
Barbarian Invasion - New in this edition. - Barbarians are invading Catan and the players have to try to stop them with new knight pieces. This plays very similarly to the flood mechanic in the Atlantis scenario from the Atlantis and Das Buch scenario packs.
Traders & Barbarians - New in this edition. - You get new hexes, one for the castle, one to produce glass, and one to produce marble. You try to rebuild Catan after the invasion. You get gold and victory points if you finish tasks in the castle, but to do so you have to travel back and forth to the castle on roads and undeveloped paths. There are still some barbarians around who interfere with trade routes.

It also includes 4 minor variants:

2-Player Rules - Use the new "Commercial Chips" to force trade with your opponent. Use 3rd and 4th neutral player to block your opponent. Also available online: Klaus2player.pdf
Catan Event Cards - Originally released in the Atlantis scenario box, then subsequently released for sale separately. Replaces the dice with a deck of cards to minimize randomness.
The Harbormaster Card - Originally released in the Atlantis scenario box, then subsequently available online: harbormaster.pdf. Gives two victory points to the player with the most harbor points.
Friendly Robber Rules

This game belongs to the Catan Series.

Designed by Bruno Cathala and Ludovic Maublanc, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects is a fun and engaging family game that includes a true, three-dimensional palace that players compete to build. Players strive to become the wealthiest of Cleopatra’s architects by constructing the most magnificent and valuable parts of her palace.

Players, however, will be tempted to deal with shady characters and trade in materials of dubious origins in order to help them build faster. While these corrupt practices might allow an architect to stay a step ahead of the rest, they come with a high price – cursed Corruption Amulets honoring Sobek, the Crocodile-god. When Cleopatra finally strolls into her new palace, at the end of the game, the most corrupt architect (the one with the most amulets) will be seized and offered as a sacrifice to her sacred crocodile! Only then will the wealthiest architect, from among those still alive, be selected and declared the winner of the game.

“The component design in Cleopatra is the most innovative we’ve undertaken to date,” said Days of Wonder CEO, Eric Hautemont. “While it’s still a board game, the dozens of 3D pieces – Column walls, Doorframes, Obelisks, Sphinxes, and Palace Throne – all create the sense that you’re constructing a royal palace.”

“The game play really forces players into continually weighing the risks and rewards between taking enough corruption to enhance your position in the game, but not so much that you are forced out of the game at the end,” said the game’s co-designer, Bruno Cathala. “It’s a classic ‘push your luck’ dilemma that continually raises the tension level higher and higher until the game reaches its climax.”

Description from the publisher.

Key Harvest is the fifth game in the key series of games published by R&D Games.

The object of the game is to score the most points. Players score points by placing tiles on their own country board. One point is scored for each field tile in the player's largest group of connected field tiles and two points for each tile in their second largest connected group.

Points are also scored for the worker tiles a player places on their country board. The number of points scored for each worker is equal to the number on the worker tile. Worker tiles do not count as connecting tiles when calculating the largest group of tiles. When played, a worker enables a player to take a special action. Each player has their own team of six workers, known as farmhands. There are also six townsfolk who can be acquired by any player.

There are usually six field tiles available at any time from the registry. On their turn a player may bid for up to two tiles using crop counters. The field tile being bid for and the bid in crop counters are placed in the player's store. On their turn the other players may match the store owner's bid in both the number and type of crop counters. If they choose to do so, then they place the field tile on their country board and pay the crop counters to the store owner. If no other player has matched the store owner's bid, then on their next turn the store owner may place the field tile(s) from their store onto their country board and pay their bid in crop counters to the general stock.

When deciding how much to bid for a field tile, players will need to consider how important the field tile is to them and whether other players are likely to bid for the tile. It is usually beneficial for a player to place field tiles into their store as that player will either obtain the field tile or receive additional crop counters.

When played, a worker tile must be adjacent to at least the number of field tiles as the number on the worker tile. A worker tile cannot be adjacent to another worker tile. If a player obtains a field tile for a space where they have already placed a worker tile, they must remove the worker tile. However, if the worker tile can be replaced immediately (next to the required number of field tiles), then the player can benefit from the worker's ability again. Getting these extra benefits is one of the keys to doing well in the game.

Players have two actions per turn. There are four possible actions. Each action can only be performed once per turn. As described above, the actions include placing field tiles from the stores onto their country board - action (c), placing field tiles from the registry into their store - action (d), and placing a worker tile onto their country board - action (b). Action (c) cannot be performed after action (d). A player may also harvest crops by turning over some unharvested field tiles on their country board - action (a).

Field tiles taken from the registry are replaced immediately with field tiles from the bag. The bag also contains a number of event tiles. The event tiles, when drawn, affect all of the players, not just the player who drew the event tile. When the tenth event tile is drawn, the game ends after two further rounds have been played.

One point is also awarded to the players who have the most of each of the types of crop counters at the end of the game. No points are awarded for ties. Points are tallied using the scoring track on the town board. The player with the most points is the winner.

Nr. 4 in the QWG Master Print Edition series, as Demetra

Build a galactic empire... In the depths of space, the alien races of the Cosmos vie with each other for control of the universe. Alliances form and shift from moment to moment, while cataclysmic battles send starships screaming into the warp. Players choose from dozens of alien races, each with its own unique power to further its efforts to build an empire that spans the galaxy.

Many classic aliens from earlier editions of this beloved game return, such as the Oracle, the Loser, and the Clone. Newly discovered aliens also join the fray, including Remora, Mite, and Tick-Tock. This classic game of alien politics returns from the warp once more.

In Cosmic Encounter, each player is the leader of an alien race. On a player's turn, he or she becomes the offense. The offense encounters another player on a planet by moving a group of his or her ships through the hyperspace gate to that planet. The offense draws from the destiny deck which contains colors, wilds and specials. He or she then takes the hyperspace gate and points at one planet in the system indicated by the drawn destiny card. The offense vs. the defenses ships are in the encounter and both sides are able to invite allies, play an encounter card as well as special cards to try and tip the encounter in their favor.

The object of the game is to establish colonies in other players' planetary systems. Players take turns trying to establish colonies. The winner(s) are the first player(s) to have five colonies on any planets outside his or her home system. A player does not need to have colonies in all of the systems, just colonies on five planets outside his or her home system. These colonies may all be in one system or scattered over multiple systems. The players must use force, cunning, and diplomacy to ensure their victory.