/pic1082879.jpg)
Quote:
Objective/Scoring: Players use "Chronicle cards" to proclaim their accomplishments in one of six categories. [If you don't write about your achievements for posterity, your civ will be forgotten!] The more grandiose your achievements, the more points you'll get, but the greater your "heritage" must be. Chronicles you score in this round lead to heritage, representing your "legacy".
Many more details about the game — which is still under development, mind you — in that GeekList link above and Warrender's blog devoted to the design.• Designer of The Golden Ages Luigi Ferrini notes that a small promo not finished in time for release at Spiel 2014 is being prepared and a large expansion is always in the works.
• Designer Alban Viard expects to have Small City — in which players are simultaneously all Mayor and trying to get re-elected on a solo basis — ready between mid-2015 and Spiel 2015 in October.
/pic2359426.jpg)
Quote:
The Grasshopper & the Ant is the fourth title in Purple Brain Games' "Tales & Games" series, each of which comes packaged in a book-shaped box. In this game, players take turns playing the part of the industrious ants and the grasshopper content to sponge off the labor of the ants.
The Grasshopper & the Ant includes two ways to play, but the heart of both is the same. At the start of the game, lay out 16 (of the 48) path cards in a 4x4 grid; each path card shows one of four types of landscapes. The ant player places six ants on these cards, one ant per card, with the ants forming a chain (as in real life), then secretly chooses one type of terrain on which at least one ant stands. The grasshopper player then stands with one of the ants, and if the grasshopper chose the same landscape as the ant player, the grasshopper takes all the path cards of this type on which an ant stands; if the grasshopper chose incorrectly, then the ant player takes these path cards. Either way, you then refill the 4x4 grid. The ant player keeps playing until she finally wins path cards, then the next player in clockwise order controls the ants. (In winter mode, the third and fourth players control red ants and receive a random path card if they match the choice of the ant player.)
In autumn mode, players score path cards immediately, with each type being tracked independently; path cards that feature insects are saved for a endgame bonus. As soon as a player maxes out two scoring tracks, the game ends and whoever has the most points wins.
In winter mode, players keep the path cards they collect in order to buy provision cards (worth one victory point), which cost particular combinations of path types. In this mode, when you win a path card that features an insect, you can claim another card in the grid that features the same insect. Collect both provision cards of the same type, and you score a bonus VP. The first player to collect 4 VPs wins.
The Grasshopper & the Ant includes two ways to play, but the heart of both is the same. At the start of the game, lay out 16 (of the 48) path cards in a 4x4 grid; each path card shows one of four types of landscapes. The ant player places six ants on these cards, one ant per card, with the ants forming a chain (as in real life), then secretly chooses one type of terrain on which at least one ant stands. The grasshopper player then stands with one of the ants, and if the grasshopper chose the same landscape as the ant player, the grasshopper takes all the path cards of this type on which an ant stands; if the grasshopper chose incorrectly, then the ant player takes these path cards. Either way, you then refill the 4x4 grid. The ant player keeps playing until she finally wins path cards, then the next player in clockwise order controls the ants. (In winter mode, the third and fourth players control red ants and receive a random path card if they match the choice of the ant player.)
In autumn mode, players score path cards immediately, with each type being tracked independently; path cards that feature insects are saved for a endgame bonus. As soon as a player maxes out two scoring tracks, the game ends and whoever has the most points wins.
In winter mode, players keep the path cards they collect in order to buy provision cards (worth one victory point), which cost particular combinations of path types. In this mode, when you win a path card that features an insect, you can claim another card in the grid that features the same insect. Collect both provision cards of the same type, and you score a bonus VP. The first player to collect 4 VPs wins.
:strip_icc()/pic2359427.jpg)
/pic2359273.jpg)
Quote:
Set in the fantastic steampunk The World of Smog created by Panache Animation, On Her Majesty's Service is a stylish board game for two to four competing players. You'll need to navigate the rotating tiles that make up the game board, trading Ethers and Artefacts in order to fulfill the quest set by Queen Victoria, all the while dealing with the Agents of the Shadow Master.
• The other game mentioned in Gus' preview is Starfighter from Ystari Games and designer Stéphane Boudin, with this title being a two-player-only space combat card game (with no miniatures) that's due out in the first half of 2015. (Bonus Geekgold awaits those who don't do the thing they perhaps feel compelled to do.)I know nothing else at the moment, but rules in French for Boudin's "Space Squadron" prototype are available online (PDF). Ideally I can check out the game at Spielwarenmesse at the end of January, then let you know more about its final version. For now, here's the cover artwork as shown on artist Arnaud Demaegd's blog:
Sweeeeeeeeet...
/pic1442789.jpg)
/pic1589604.jpg)
/pic2353279.jpg)
/pic2299556.jpg)
/pic1786212.png)
