partnerships

The Battle at Kemble's Cascade is a board game adaptation of a classic shoot 'em up video game. In the game, which is played out on a scrolling space backdrop, the players take on the roles of brave space pilots sweeping around in nimble yet powerful fighters, searching the asteroid clusters for universal glory and ancient technology. Players compete to obtain the most glory, with glory resulting from carrying out missions, finding lost treasure in asteroid clusters, and destroying alien entities, not to mention other players.

In the game, players fly through an ever-scrolling space setting, which is represented by rows of cards. Each turn, the bottom row is removed and a new row is added to the top. Players move their spaceships and resolve effects continuously, performing actions such as collecting power-ups and money, fighting alien cruisers and titans, blocking and shooting other players, and dodging asteroids and black holes. The players need to balance the use of their ships' energy as it's used for both absorbing enemy fire and boosting their movement speed and fire rate.

The game includes missions and achievements as well as a mechanism called "threat level" to keep everyone in suspense throughout the whole game. Threat allows players to enjoy the satisfaction of both shooting wildly at each other and dodging the hundreds of bullets raining down from enemy fighters and other players.

All player ships are fully upgradeable with four different weapon classes, engines, shields and more. Each player must buy the upgrades and navigate the path that best fits his chosen strategy in order to successfully complete his missions and attain the most glory.

In Sidibaba, players take on the role of Sidibaba and his friends who are searching for hidden treasure in a cave. One of the players (the moderator and also the Leader of the thieves) has a map of the maze and helps guide the other players by providing visions (using tiles) of what lies in front of Sidibaba and his friends, such as a corridor with branching tunnels. After discussion amongst themselves, the other players must decide which way to take, and which of their special powers to use to move along the track; if they cannot agree, then they must vote.

Unfortunately for the Sidibaba and his friends, the Leader of the thieves (the game moderator) knows that Sidibaba and his friends are in his cave and are after his treasure. Sidibaba and his friends win if they manage to get the treasure and get out of the cave before their oil lamps go out. The leader of the thieves wins if Sidibaba and his friends don't get out of the caves in time, or when he manages to catch Sidibaba and his friends when they don't have a spare oil lamp left. As a result, each camp has its own objectives and its own mode of operation.

Sidibaba is a real-time game in which players have a limited amount of time to negotiate or else they'll watch their torches go out one by one, eventually leaving them lost in the dark.

Sidibaba was originally designed as Theseus, with the players trying to outwit the Minotaur in its maze.

The king is holding a great banquet for all the nobles in the realm so that they can bathe in his splendour. Artists and troubadours will bring the necessary entertainment. It is meant to be a feast that will long be remembered!

The guests attending the feast hall feel the same, for in the corners of the castle deadly plots are being developed. The guests are divided into two factions, with both planning to "dismiss" the king. One faction plans to smuggle a dagger into the feast hall to "open the king's heart to the realm" at the right time, while the other faction hopes to give the king "renewed motivation" with a poisoned drink.

In The Last Banquet, each player is a guest at the feast and needs to help his faction reach its goal and ensure that this will truly be the king's last banquet. The game includes 25 role cards, each portraying a person on the front and listing that person's skills on the back. In addition to "The Last Banquet", several other scenarios are provided in the rules that can be played with each of the roles. (GameHeads' Oliver Wolf notes, "Playing time ranges from 30 minutes up to 90 minutes or more, with more people tending to need more time to play." Also, some scenarios involve more than two factions.) Obstacle cards provide challenges for players to overcome.

When a faction succeeds in its goal, all players who belong to that faction win the game.

You and your fellow samurai companions are the only standing obstacle between one frightened village and a full horde of blood-thirsty villains. The fight seems unfair as the seven of you might not seem to measure up to the dozens of enemies who want to slice you to pieces — but this comparison doesn't take into account your strong combat skills and an efficient team spirit that binds your samurai squad enough to face the threat. Above all else, when everything seems desperate and lost, your enemies will discover that inside each of you lies a true beast, a warrior spirit ready to unleash its full power!

Samurai Spirit is a co-operative game in which each player is a fierce samurai defending a village surrounded by a horde of bandits. The game plays out over three turns during which each player takes turns drawing bandit cards, then choosing whether they want to fight the bandit, defend the village, or let the bandit pass in order to help the other samurai.

The challenge of the game consists of balancing your choices: Should you fight each enemy to quickly reach your beast capacities, while also coming closer to the death and risking further loss by not defending the village sufficiently? Should you mainly defend or help the other samurai, taking the risk of remaining human too long and therefore weaker, when you know that weakness will be a major problem when facing the lieutenant and the villain bosses? Each enemy presents a tough choice to you, your team, and ultimately the whole village! Each turn ends with farms and fences being destroyed, and since those aren't unlimited, you must do what's necessary to end the game with at least one undamaged farm and enough farmers to tend it. Do you have what it takes to stand against evil and become a true hero?

Fight with courage, smartly assist your teammates, defend the poor villagers, turn into a savage beast, and wreak havoc on the enemy lines — all of this is up to you! Ultimately it would be your honor to chose to die in a ultimate sacrifice in order to save the village. All of this is what makes the true samurai spirit!

In Know It or Blow It, your team will test its knowledge about fun facts like the three primary colors, five senses, or Santa's eight reindeer. The best part is you don't have to know it all! For each round, a team captain picks the order that teammates will respond. If you know an answer, great! If you're not absolutely, positively sure, you can stop rather than risk your team's points. But if you answer incorrectly and blow it, your team loses its points for the round. Get ready to show off your knowledge in this trivia game for teams.