variable player powers

The dragon has been asleep for many long years. In that time, the cave under which it slumbered has changed greatly…Goblins and strange monsters have filled its gloomy depths and there are whispers that the cave itself has begun thinking, shifting, and growing evermore dangerous.

Still, stories of peril rarely overshadow the rumors of riches. And riches there may be… For where a dragon slumbers, there also lies a fiercely guarded treasure. Fortunately for the slumbering beast, malevolent crystals fill the cave’s rooms with spectral light, hiding the entrance to the immeasurable treasure trove. Many have given their lives to the search and over the years the rumors have faded to legend.

But the most courageous adventurers will not be discouraged by bloodshed. On this day, a knight steps into the darkness, her gloved hand gripping the hilt of her sword. Her years of quests--all of the victories and defeats--have led to this one final adventure. Knowing the kingdom can never truly be at peace with the dragon beneath the cave, she has come to make a final stand. Little does she know that she will awake everything that slumbers in the shadows… and begin the final battle in the darkness.

Enter the world of Vast: The Crystal Caverns!

Vast takes you and your friends into the torch light of a classic cave-crawling adventure, built on the concept of total asymmetry. Gone are days of the merry band of travelers fighting off evil. In Vast, you will become part of a new legend... Any part you wish!

Play as the classic, daring Knight, the chaotic Goblin horde, the colossal, greedy Dragon, or even the Cave itself — powerful, brooding, and intent on crushing the living things that dare to disturb its gloomy depths. Each role has its own powers, pieces, and paths to victory...and there can be only one winner.

As the ultimate asymmetric board game, Vast: The Crystal Caverns provides a limitless adventure, playable again and again as you and your friends explore the four different roles in different combinations. Play one-on-one in a race to the death between the Knight and the Goblins, or add in the Dragon and the Cave for deeper and more epic experiences, different every time.

Altiplano, a bag-building game along the lines of Orléans set in the South American highlands of the Andes — the Altiplano — is not a simple game, presenting players with new challenges time and again. There are various ways to reach the goal, so the game remains appealing to try out new options and strategies, but success or failure also depends on whether your opponents let you do as you like or thwart the strategy you are pursuing. The competition for the individual types of goods is considerable — as is the fun in snatching a coveted extension card from under another player's nose!

At the start of the game, players have access only to certain resources and goods, due to the different role tiles that each player receives that provide them. At the market, however, a player can acquire additional production sites that give new options. The numerous goods — such as fish, alpaca, cacao, silver, or corn — all have their own characteristics and places where they can be used. Whereas silver makes you rich, fish can be exchanged for other goods, and alpaca give you wool that you can then make into cloth.

Aside from building up an effective production, you must deliver the right goods at the right time, develop the road in good time, and store your goods cleverly enough to fill the most valuable rows with them. Often, a good warehouseperson is more relevant in the end than the best producer.

Description from the publisher:

The shadow of Bhaal has come over Baldur's Gate, summoning monsters and other horrors from the darkness!

As you build and explore the iconic city's dark alleys and deadly catacombs, you must work with your fellow adventurers to survive the terrors ahead. That is, until some horrific evil turns one — or possibly more — of you against each other. Was it a mind flayer's psionic blast or the whisperings of a deranged ghost that caused your allies to turn traitor? You have no choice but to keep your enemies close!

Based on the award-winning Betrayal at House on the Hill board game, in Betrayal at Baldur's Gate you'll return to Baldur's Gate again and again thanks to the fifty included scenarios only to discover it's never the same game twice.

Can you and your party survive the madness, or will you succumb to the mayhem and split (or slaughter!) the party?

It is the year 2849, one millennium after the Gold Rush, and the mining of raw materials has reached a whole new level. Humankind has successfully tested the first Stellar Mirror and harnessed enough power from a Pulsar to open the first space gate.
A New Era has just begun...

Draft dice to explore the universe in Pulsar 2849. Each round, roll dice based on the number of players, sort them based on their values, then draft dice to take actions, such as adding another spaceship to your fleet or visiting (or flying through) an unexplored star system or tagging a pulsar with one of your identity rings or advancing on your personal tech track, which differs from those of other players. At the end of the round, the turn marker advances based on the dice rolled that turn, and when the marker reaches the end of the track, the game ends.

Players score points each round based on what they've discovered and explored, and everyone has hidden goals that they want to achieve, while also trying to claim the right to public goals that supply additional endgame scoring.

The throne to the Kingdom of Aurum lies unclaimed. Six great houses vie for control of the land in an ongoing dispute of title, territory, and birthright. Embroiled in conflict, the lords and ladies lock eyes on the crown as they fight to contend with a great plague that has now turned upon the people, ravaging the kingdom for which they war.

In Cutthroat Kingdoms, you take on the role of a leading lord or lady of one of the six eminent Houses in the Kingdom of Aurum — a grim fantasy world fraught with danger, intrigue, and plague. You must use your armies to claim territories, gather wealth, recruit hirelings, and hire mercenaries as you pursue your nefarious plots and jockey for power. Political intrigue and assassinations abound, and powerful strategic alliances are offset by bloody conflicts. Most importantly, will you strive for domination alone, or tie your fortunes to another house through a well-placed political marriage?

Cutthroat Kingdoms is a competitive game that features marriage-alliance team mechanisms in which strategic planning and decisive military moves can swing the course of the Kingdom. Changing territories and events make each game unique. Open negotiation, deal-making, and tabletalk are all encouraged — nay, necessary to win!