Strategy Games

Schwarzer Freitag is a stock trading game with a built-in bubble to explode. The players are buying shares on a growing stock market, but at one time in the game the prices will crash. The players try to find out the right time to sell their shares and buy gold and silver (these are the victory points), before the market crashes.

The actions of all players change the probability of the crash. When they start selling, the probability of the crash will get higher. If they only buy shares then the crash will come later.

To win the game, you have to have a close look at what the others do to be in the position to sell the highest share at the right time, to get the most money. But the silver/gold price will rise too, and you can also win by buying silver/gold early in the game.

This game is the first game in the Freitag-Projekt:

Freitag(Friday) is a game project started on Friday 24th of October in Essen. I, Friedemann Friese, will work on that project for the next Five years on every Friday. I will work Five, Fifteen,... minutes (In German twenty-five, thirty-five,.. starts with an F, too) up to Fifteen hours on that project, but only Fridays.

The game will be published in Five years on the Friday of Spiel '13 in Essen. It will not be shown on Wednesday or Thursday.

I have a blog (by now only in German) on my website, where I show my work on that project.

By now I really don't know what will happen, but I have a lot of time......

Now it happened that the first game is ready and I found a company for publishing (the company is very interested, but it is not totally sure by now)

I will add the new second game to the database.

Lost Legends is a fantasy card game by Mike Elliott that combines a streamlined Euro game design and card drafting with an interesting fantasy theme and battle mechanic. Players take on the role of heroes trying to assemble an arsenal of equipment in order to vanquish a series of monsters that they will encounter.

The game begins with all players choosing one of five heroes each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Each player fights their own monster; this is not a cooperative game. The monster each hero will likely face is revealed to them before players draft cards for their equipment. An interesting aspect in this game is you may, if the conditions are right, evade a monster in front of you, and pass it to the hero next to you. But be aware if you do this you have to fight the monster you draw next!

Players then select an equipment card drafted from a hand of cards, and pass the remainder of the hand to your left to prepare for battle with the monster in front of them. The equipment draft continues in this manner until only one card is left in each hand, which is discarded. Players then compare their drafted equipment to their monster to determine the result of the battle! The game consists of 3 levels filled with monsters to slay and new equipment to pick up.

Players need Legend Points to win the game! These come in the form of trophies awarded for most monsters as well as sets of monsters slain. Can you defeat the monsters thrown in your path to glory and become the most Legendary?

The peaks of Snowdonia rise before you, encased in mist, their summits barely visible. The highest is Snowdon (Wyddfa) herself at 1,085 metres. The year is 1894, and the Snowdon Mountain Tramroad and Hotels Company Limited has been formed to build a branch line from Llanberis to the summit. You can scarcely believe it's possible!

In Snowdonia players represent work gangs providing labour for the construction of the Snowdon Mountain Railway. Unlike other train games you will have to excavate your way up a mountain side, as well as make and lay the track, construct viaducts and stations. All this in competition with the weather of the Welsh mountains (and the game itself)!

You may be assisted by a train (though that's not always best) and you'll be able to collect essential materials from the Stock Yard. You will obtain special work contracts that give you bonuses.

Can you contribute more than the other players to the magnificence of the Snowdon Mountain Railway?

Stefan Feld's 3rd game by Alea is Im Jahr des Drachen (In the Year of the Dragon).

Players take on the role of Chinese rulers around the year 1000. The game plays out in twelve rounds, with each round representing one month in a year that seems to go from bad to worse. Disease, drought, and attacks from the Mongols may claim lives, but make sure you have enough money to offer a tribute to the Emperor.

The game play is easier than it may appear. Every player has a set of "person" cards. Each round, you choose one action (most of which call on your workers' abilities) help you prepare for the months ahead. Then you play one person card, recruiting that person and placing him into one of your palaces. Each person brings different skills and abilities to help you ride out the year. (Farmers help you gain rice to survive a drought month, Tax Collectors raise money, etc.) At the end of each round, that month's event is triggered, which may cost you some of your workers, some money, or give you points.

Careful planning is the key to surviving "the year of the dragon," but survival alone may not win you the game.

From the back of the box:
Akhenaton, Pharoah of Upper & Lower Egypt, God among men, all powerful sovereign, he trembles before no-one. There is, however, one mistake that even an immortal king cannot afford to make: forgetting his wedding anniversary. Especially when his wife is the exquisite Nefertiti.
Alas, the powerful monarch has almost made such an unforgivable blunder, remembering the event a mere two days before it is to take place. Now, he must find a veritable shower of queenly gifts.
The task of finding beautiful & original gifts falls upon his councilors - YOU!
It's time to play! Send you servants to the four corners of Egypt, from Gizeh to Abou Simbel & gather up the most impressive objects the realm has to offer. If your gifts are noteworthy and please Nefertiti, there is no doubt that the Pharaoh will reward you most generously.