New Game Round-up: Adventures with The Witcher, in the Rocket Patrol and Through Evolutionary History

The Witcher Adventure Game takes players on a journey across the world of The Witcher, a detailed world, rich in lore and characters, fleshed out by Andrzej Sapkowski's famous series of novels, and honed by The Witcher video game trilogy.

Players assume the roles of four distinct characters from this series: Geralt of Rivia, monster slayer; Triss Merigold, cunning sorceress; Yarpen Zigrin, dwarven warrior; and Dandelion, roguish bard. Each character has unique skills and multiple ways of overcoming obstacles, but you decide what to do during the game: Do you fight your way to victory, call on your charm, or try your hand at diplomacy? You can bring enemies around to your point of view with a sword as Geralt - or bribe them with gold and threaten to call on powerful friends as Dandelion. If a situation calls for strength in numbers, Yarpen has his own fellowship of dwarves to command, and Triss can rely on her expert skill with magic to save the day.

Each character has its own deck of Development Cards, so each time you play you can discover something new by trying out varied characters and experimenting with different builds. For example, when playing as Geralt of Rivia, the main hero of the Witcher franchise, you can develop your character either by specializing in brewing and utilizing combat Elixirs, or else by growing your ability to cast powerful Witcher Signs.

A variety of quests invite players to hunt monsters, earn gold and interact with the characters they meet in a web of alliances and treachery. Decide whether you’ll help the other players or look after your own interests first, and keep an eye on the progress of your friends while you carefully work your way towards victory.

Space Cadets: Away Missions (Adventures in the Rocket Patrol) is a co-operative, man-to-man combat action game for 1-6 players set during the bygone Golden Age of science fiction.

In this game, players take on the roles of adventurous human spacemen who explore UFOs, acquire Alien technology and fight hostile extraterrestrials. Each turn, spacemen have three action points to spend on activities such as firing their atomic rifles, analyzing exotic equipment, or subduing the malicious Brain-in-a-Jar. When the spacemen are finished, the aliens take their turns by following simple movement and combat protocols; seven types of hostile aliens threaten the players, from the repulsive mind leeches to the rampaging titanic sentinels.

Space Cadets: Away Missions contains fifteen scenarios linked in a campaign story. Each mission features different combinations of aliens on different spaceships, with hexagonal map tiles arranged to form flying saucers, rocket ships, space stations, etc. Cooperation, tactical planning and good dice are essential if the spacemen hope to overcome the relentless horde of little green men.

On a turn, a category card is revealed, e.g., "on the beach" or "at the airport"; each card shows a points multiplier and a few dice icons. Someone rolls these dice, then everyone tries to be the first to come up with a word that fits the category and falls within the restriction of the dice (as not all dice will be rolled each time). The number on the syllable die indicates how many syllables the word must be; the forbidden die shows which letter cannot be used in the answer; and the two letter dice show a letter that should be used in the answer along with a point value.

Whoever comes up with a valid word first scores the sum of the letter values for each appropriate letter in her answer times the points multiplier on the card, up to a maximum of ten points. If the answerer chooses an inappropriate word — or a majority of players vote down the word for being off-category — the answerer loses three points. After all 25 category cards have been played, the player with the most points wins.