Tile Placement

Based on the novel by Frank Schätzing, continuing the Kosmos line of literature-based games. The world is facing an ecological catastrophe caused by previously unknown marine life forms. Each player represents a nation sending their scientists out to confront the threat.

The action cards form the core of the game. For each round, the cards are shuffled and placed in a row. Each player in turn order takes the leftmost card from the row, until there are no more cards left. Instead of the leftmost card, players can also buy a different card by paying with victory points.

At the end of each round, players score points according to the sizes of their largest research networks. At the end of the game, extra points are given out based on whether research stations are connected to the center of the game board.

Description from BoardgameNews.com:

The Gonzaga family ruled part of northern Italy for nearly five hundred years, losing control to the Hapsburgs from Austria in 1708. During their reign, two daughters of the House of Gonzaga married Holy Roman Emperors. In Gonzaga, players must get into the expansionist spirit of the times and build fiefdoms across Europe to stake a claim on harbors and cities, while also trying to complete secret missions. The game lasts 7-12 rounds, and players are competing in some of six regions in Europe. (The number of regions and the specific regions vary based on the number of players and the scenario tile drawn at the start of the game.)

A round starts with each player drawing a fief card from their individual deck; each fief card depicts one of twelve fiefs: plastic components comprising multiple hexagonal loops with castles on some of these loops. Each player then secretly chooses both a region card and an action card, then reveals them simultaneously. Part of the fief (but not all of it) must lie in the chosen region, and the action card determines whether a player must play the fief on one or more harbors, on one or more cities, on open land, or on both harbors and cities. With this last action – the alliance card – a player can alternatively place one or two of six individual rings on the board, even on spaces that another player has already claimed with a fief. You score points for covering cities and harbors, for connecting at least three harbors in a sea, and for setting aside your fief as a donation to the church. The cards you play are set aside for the next turn, thereby forcing you to switch regions and actions as you place fiefs.

The game ends either after twelve rounds or after a trigger point based on the cities and harbors not covered. The player with the most connected fiefs, including the individual rings, scores a bonus, then players reveal their hidden objectives and score based on the number of target cities they covered.

A rich new world has opened up. Resources are plentiful, the economy is booming, and the capital city of this new world is expanding like never before! Even though many corporations scramble to stake a claim in the exploding prosperity, only one can claim ownership! Who will take over the Infinite City?

Will you place the capital next to the port, claiming both as your own? Will you use the transit station to move another player’s military base out of the way, or place your embassy to steal his temple? Will you try for a greater area under your control, or move to capture key buildings?

Infinite City is a standalone tile game in which players become the leaders of corporations building an ever-sprawling city, maneuvering to control the largest districts while holding on to the most valuable buildings.

Infinite City uses tiles to represent buildings, and colored pegs to represent control by players. The tiles are mixed, five tiles are dealt to each player, and five tiles are placed face down in the shape of a cross at the center of the play area. On their turns, players play a tile face up adjacent to one of the five starting tiles or a previously played tile, play one of their colored pegs on the tile, and follow the instructions on the tile. These instructions may lead to playing additional tiles, drawing tiles, moving tiles previously played, turning face down tiles face up, taking tiles from opponents, preventing actions or even exchanging hands of tiles with other players. When players finish their turns, if they have less than five tiles in their hands, they draw additional tiles so that they end their turn with at least five tiles.

The game ends when one player places the last of his colored pegs, or the fifth Power Station tile is played. Each player is awarded points for contiguous groups of at least three tiles controlled by him at a rate of one point per tile. Some tiles have a point value number in the corner; players receive the number of points indicated for such tiles that they control. Also, some tiles have silver rings; the player controlling the most of these receives one point per such tile.

The player with the most points wins.

Granada – many artisans, traders and entire families have settled at the foot of the Sierra Nevada because the Palace of Alhambra promises all people work, contracts and above all prosperity.
(From the publisher's blurb.)

Granada is new member of the Alhambra family with a more challenging character: in this standalone game the players develop the city of Granada next to Sierra Nevada, where the famous Alhambra stands, by buying building tiles to construct the city which will earn the most victory points. Building tiles now have two sides and there are new building types for which the value is set during the game.

Link to Trailer http://www.queen-games.de/index.php?id=2537----2

Play Differences from Alhambra
Alhambra advanced. Play is the same: buy a building tile, take money or remodel. If you buy a tile for the exact amount, you can take another action, same as in Alhambra. The differences: new building types, building values are dynamic, two-sided tiles, and moats instead of walls.

There are 9 building types in Granada. Unlike Alhambra, the buildings do not have a set value. Instead, building value is determined by the count of that type of building in all players' cities times a multiplier. As in Alhambra, there are 3 scoring rounds during which each building type is examined and points awarded for the player with the majority of that type of building. In the first scoring round, A, only the player with the most tiles of a particular building type scores for that building type (1 times the total count). In the second scoring round, B, the top 2 players score (2 times the total count and 1 times the total count respectively), and in the final round, the top 3 score (3x, 2x, and 1x the total count of that building type). Scoring for a "Beginners Game" is a little different.

There are no ties in Granada: points are never divided like in Alhambra. In the case of two players having the same number of tiles of a particular type in their cities, the player with the highest valued tile of that type wins, and the other player takes next place. So, in Granada, it pays to buy the more expensive buildings.

For example: When the A round-scoring card is turned up, Cindy has 2 Schools, Diana has 2, Tim has 1, Tina and Bailey each have 0, for a total of 5 Schools currently in cities. Cindy's highest School is a 10, Diana's is a 7. So, in round A, Cindy would score 1 x 5 = 5 points.

When the B round-scoring card is turned up, the count for Schools is: Cindy 2, Diana 3, Tim 1, Tina and Bailey 0 each for a total of 6 Schools. So, Diana scores 2 x 6 = 12 points and Cindy scores 1 x 6 = 6 points.

In the final round, the School count is Cindy 2, Diana 3, Tim 1, Tina 2, Bailey 0 for a total of 8 Schools in cities. Cindy's highest School is a 10, Tina's is a 4. So, Diana scores 3 x 8 = 24 points, Cindy score 2 x 8 = 16 points and Tina score 1 x 8 = 8 points.

Another difference in Granada is that the tiles are two-sided: on one side an even-numbered building of some type, on the other a different, odd-numbered building valued exactly one higher. The configuration of the buildings on both sides is identical in terms of moat placement or lack thereof on each side. When purchasing a building, a player can immediately place the building, as is, into her city or may flip it to the other side and place it in her supply for later placement during a remodel action.

The Building Market is initially filled with tiles even-side up. The next time the market is filled, the odd side will be placed up, then even, then odd, etc. A handy toggle feature is provided on the board near the Building Market to facilitate this.

The last difference between Alhambra and Granada, moats instead of walls, is really just a difference in artwork. As in Alhambra, during each scoring round, each player scores points for her longest continuous moat, instead of wall, surrounding her city. The rules are the same regarding tile placement: must be able to trace an unbroken path back to the city's center, moat can touch moat, etc. In games I've played, players have often commented that it seems to be harder to build with the moat tiles of Granada than with the wall tiles of Alhambra. Just one more way to make Granada an advanced version of Alhambra?

In Cathedral, each player has a set of pieces of a different color. The pieces are in the shapes of buildings, covering from one to five square units. The first player takes the single neutral Cathedral piece and places it onto the board. Players then alternate placing one of their buildings onto the board until neither player can place another building. Players capture territory by surrounding areas that are occupied by at most one opponent or neutral building. A captured piece is removed and captured territory becomes off-limits to the opponent. The player with the fewest 'square units' of buildings that can't be placed wins.