New Game Round-up for Spiel 2013: Cyclades Meets Kemet, Rolling for Your CV & Kosmos' Line-up for Late 2013

In Kashgar: Händler der Seidenstraße, the players trade different spices that are coming over the silk road from Asia to Europe. Each player has control over three trading families. In the beginning, each family consists of three cards that are spread out vertically so that the top part of each card is visible; each card stands for a family member with different abilities.

On his turn, a player performs only one action, choosing one of the cards on top of the three families and executing the action shown on that card. Then the card is put at the back of its family. To use the same family member again, a player must first use all the other cards on top of that family row.

These actions can influence the player's stock of spice, gold and mules. To keep track of that stock, each player has his own board with wooden markers that are moved accordingly. Actions can also bring new members to the family and can enable the player to fulfill one of six delivery request cards from the middle of the table. Finally are actions that mix things up a bit, such as by getting rid of a family member or even influencing other players' families.

The game ends when one player has earned a certain number of points by fulfilling delivery request cards.

The core mechanism of Kashgar could be called "open deck-building". The game plays quickly with little downtime. After having learned the different actions of the cards, players can start trying out different strategies and combinations of family members, family sizes, etc.

From the oasis city of Palmyra, a first-century Roman province, Caesar wants to expand his sphere of influence. Under his orders, you are to send out your army to annex new lands and your censors to collect taxes. The player who fulfills these orders the best will become the new governor of the province of Palmyra. From time to time, when Caesar is especially impressed by your development, he may provide you with extra support.

Palmyra is a tactical tile-laying game with few rules and high tactical choices. By placing new land tiles and moving your army and censor, you earn new tiles and coins for the Roman Empire. The most important thing is to not be too greedy when collecting taxes; otherwise future income may become sparse. Additionally, don't let tiles placed by your opponents cut you off, or else you'll be forced to lose valuable time. When all of the 120 coins are collected, the game ends, and whoever has collected the most coins wins.

"CV" means curriculum vitae – your resume – and in the dice and card game CV you will lead a character through his entire life, making many choices about friends, relations, jobs and activities.

Gameplay is built around the Yahtzee-style dice rolling and re-rolling system. On their dice, players are trying to roll sets of symbols that allow them to acquire cards; each round these cards give benefits of some kind, such as new symbols and special abilities. At the end of the game, each kind of card scores points for the player.