New Game Round-up: Summoning New Ways for War, Riding and Robbing the Rails & Dining Anew on Old Games

Summoner Wars is a fast-playing, action-packed 2-4 player card game. Players take on the role of Summoners: powerful beings who harness the power of mysterious Summoning Stones to lead their race to conquest on the war-torn planet of Itharia. These Summoners wield terrible magic on the battlefield, freezing their foes in place, draining their enemies of power, and even bringing rains of fire down from the heavens. But most notoriously, they summon their great race's hordes of warriors to the battlefield, to clash in the never-ending struggle for supremacy.

Summoner Wars: Alliances Master Set, a big box starter set for Summoner Wars akin to the Summoner Wars Master Set, features eight complete faction decks and can be played on its own or combined with other Summoner Wars products. All sixteen factions in the SW world are represented as each new summoner is a hybrid of two existing factions, blending the themes of the two factions and expanding deck-building possibilities.

On the 11th of July, 1899 at 10 a.m., the Union Pacific Express has left Folsom, New Mexico, with 47 passengers on board. After a few minutes, gunfire and hurrying footsteps on the roof can be heard. Heavily armed bandits have come to rob honest citizens of their wallets and jewels. Will they succeed in stealing the suitcase holding the Nice Valley Coal Company's weekly pay, despite it having been placed under the supervision of Marshal Samuel Ford? Will these bandits be able to work together, despite only the richest one of them coming out on top?

In Colt Express, you play a bandit robbing a train. Your goal is to become the richest outlaw of the Old West. The game consists of five rounds, and each round has two phases:

• Phase 1: Programming Each player plays 2-5 action cards on a common pile, face up or face down depending on the type of the round.

• Phase 2: Action The action cards are performed in the order they have been played. Then comes confusion as a player's best laid plans may not pan out due to mistakes and oversights!

The game takes place in a 3D train in which the bandits can move from one car to another, run on the roof, punch the other bandits, shoot them, rob the passengers, or draw the Marshal out of position.