Dice Rolling

Yggdrasil is a co-operative game in which players are different gods of the Norse mythology: Odin, Thor, Tyr, Frey, Heimdall and Frejya. Monsters, the wolf Fenrir, the huge serpent Jormungand, the Fire Giant Surt, the Goddess of the Dead Hel, the traitor Loki and the cosmic dragon Nidhogg are moving forward in Asgard inescapably and announce the impending coming of chaos and destruction on the world tree Yggdrasil. Together the players have to resist to the impending coming of the Evil forces in Asgard, the gods' world.

Game flow
During his turn, the active player first draws an Enemy card, corresponding to one of the six Evil creatures. The corresponding counter is moved one space forward in Asgard and the associated effect applies. Then the active player performs three different actions among the nine at his disposal in order to resist to the advance:

Ask for the Elves' help
Get a Weapon from the Dwarves
Send the Valkyries looking for Vikings' souls on the mankind world Midgard
Fight the Giants and try to gather the parts of a magic rune
Negotiate with the Vanir
Get rid of the Fire Giants who invade Midgard
Get the Vikings back from Hel's world
Exchange forces with another god
Fight against the Enemies in Asgard

Each player, depending on the god he plays, has a specific power that allows him to perform some actions better. All of these actions have to be used in the right moment or the victory will be unreachable. The players will need cleverness, calm and team spirit to challenge the game.

"Now the trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are – but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle..."
– John F. Kennedy

In 1945, unlikely allies toppled Hitler's war machine, while humanity's most devastating weapons forced the Japanese Empire to its knees in a storm of fire. Where once there stood many great powers, there then stood only two. The world had scant months to sigh its collective relief before a new conflict threatened. Unlike the titanic struggles of the preceding decades, this conflict would be waged not primarily by soldiers and tanks, but by spies and politicians, scientists and intellectuals, artists and traitors. Twilight Struggle is a two-player game simulating the forty-five year dance of intrigue, prestige, and occasional flares of warfare between the Soviet Union and the United States. The entire world is the stage on which these two titans fight to make the world safe for their own ideologies and ways of life. The game begins amidst the ruins of Europe as the two new "superpowers" scramble over the wreckage of the Second World War, and ends in 1989, when only the United States remained standing.

Twilight Struggle inherits its fundamental systems from the card-driven classics We the People and Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage. It is a quick-playing, low-complexity game in that tradition. The game map is a world map of the period, whereon players move units and exert influence in attempts to gain allies and control for their superpower. As with GMT's other card-driven games, decision-making is a challenge; how to best use one's cards and units given consistently limited resources?

Twilight Struggle's Event cards add detail and flavor to the game. They cover a vast array of historical happenings, from the Arab-Israeli conflicts of 1948 and 1967, to Vietnam and the U.S. peace movement, to the Cuban Missile Crisis and other such incidents that brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation. Subsystems capture the prestige-laden Space Race as well as nuclear tensions, with the possibility of game-ending nuclear war.

A deluxe edition, published in 2009 includes the following changes from the basic game:

Mounted map with revised graphics
Two double-thick counter sheets with 260 counters
Deck of 110 event cards (increased from 103)
Revised rules and player aid cards
Revised at start setup and text change for card #98 Aldrich Ames

Upgrade kit for the owners of the previous version includes the following:

Mounted Map with revised graphics
New card decks
Updated Rules & Charts

There are also the deluxe mounted map and deluxe euro-style countersheet upgrades.

Components:

228 full colour counters (260 in the 2009 Deluxe edition)
22"x34" full colour cardboard map (mounted map with revised graphics in the 2009 Deluxe edition)
103 event cards (110 in the 2009 Deluxe edition)
2 six-sided dice
1 24-page rulebook
2 full colour player aid cards

TIME SCALE: approx. 3-5 years per turn
MAP SCALE: Point-to-point system
UNIT SCALE: Influence markers
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1 - 2

DESIGNER: Ananda Gupta & Jason Matthews
MAP, CARD, & COUNTER ART: Mark Simonitch

The basic game play of Tsuro of the Seas resembles that of Tom McMurchie's Tsuro: Players each have a ship that they want to sail — that is, keep on the game board — as long as possible. Whoever stays on the board the longest wins the game.

Each turn players add "wake" tiles to the 7×7 game board; each tile has two "wake connections" on each edge, and as the tiles are placed on the board, they create a connected network of paths. If a wake is placed in front of a ship, that ship then sails to the end of the wake. If the ship goes off the board, that player is out of the game.

What's new in Tsuro of the Seas are daikaiju tiles, representing sea monsters and other creatures of the deep. Notably, daikaiju can move: each tile has five arrows, four for moving in each of the cardinal directions and another one for rotation. On the active player's turn, he rolls two six-sided dice; on a sum of 6, 7, or 8, the daikaiju will move, while on any other sum they'll stay in place. To determine which direction the daikaiju tiles move, the player then makes a second roll, this time with a single die. On 1-5 in the second roll, each daikaiju moves according to its matching arrow. On a 6 in the second roll, a new daikaiju tile is added to the board.

If a daikaiju tile hits a wake tile, a ship, or another daikaiju tile, the object hit is removed from the game. Another way to be ousted! The more daikaiju tiles on the game board, the faster players will find themselves trying to breathe water...

Publisher's Description

There comes a time in every munchkin's career when he's taken on more than he can handle, bitten off more than he can chew, gotten in over his head. It's time for - the Narrow S Cape.

With 112 cards to enhance your Super Munchkin game, The Narrow S Cape is much more than just this season's favorite fashion accessory! It teems with new villains like the contemptible Cheese Wiz, Gothzilla (with earthquake-causing platform boot action!), and the Ratwoman. And lest you feel overwhelmed by villainy, this expansion also features new items, new Powers and a new Class: the Brain!

Wield the Slide Rule and Power Ring against Sister Blister! Tackle Tackyman with the Trampoline! Endure the Two-Hour Monolog because you were Raised By Armadillos! And flee from Shaenon K. Garrity's fearsome Foot and the unfortunate, mind-controlled Too Much Coffee Man!

Super Munchkin 2 - The Narrow S Cape... the ultimate expansion for the bestselling Munchkin series.

Other

Part of the Munchkin series

Publisher's Description

Fly through the city. Smash the villains. Backstab your teammates and grab their gadgets.

Munchkin has parodied the classic dungeon, the kung-fu warrior, the space epic, and the creatures of the night. Now, it's the superheroes' turn!

Be a Mutant, an Exotic, a Mystic, or a Techno. The higher your Level, the more Powers you can have. Battle dastardly masterminds, devastating monsters, and invading aliens from the next dimension - from the wimpy Triplicate Twit all the way up to Big Ol' Planet Eater Guy himself - and TAKE THEIR STUFF! With the Aura Helmet, the Telezapinator, and the (jet-powered) Pogo Stick, no foe can stand before you.

Super Munchkin is a stand-alone game, which (of course) can be combined with other Munchkin games. Designed by Steve Jackson (I) and illustrated by John Kovalic, this one is destined to RULE THE WORLD! Mwahahaha!

Other

Part of the Munchkin series

Munchkin is a satirical card game based on the clichés and oddities of Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games. Each player starts at level 1 and the winner is the first player to reach level 10. Players can acquire familiar D&D style character classes during the game which determine to some extent the cards they can play.

There are two types of cards - treasure and encounters. Each turn the current players 'kicks down the door' - drawing an encounter card from the deck. Usually this will involve battling a monster. Monsters have their own levels and players must try and overcome it using the levels, weapons and powers they have acquired during the game or run away. Other players can chose to help the player or hinder by adding extra monsters to the encounter. Defeating a monster will usually result in drawing treasure cards and acquiring levels. Being defeated by a monster results in "bad stuff" which usually involves losing levels and treasure.