Here's an overview from the publisher of what you can expect:
Andrew Carnegie was also a benefactor and philanthropist; upon his death in 1919, more than $350 million of his wealth was bequeathed to various foundations, with another $30 million going to various charities. His endowments created nearly 2,500 free public libraries that bear his name: the Carnegie Libraries.
In Carnegie, you recruit and manage employees, expand your business, invest in real estate, produce and sell goods, and create transport chains across the United States; you may even work with important personalities of the era. Perhaps you will even become an illustrious benefactor who contributes to the greatness of their country through deeds and generosity!
The game takes place over twenty rounds, with players each having one turn per round. On each turn, the active player chooses one of four actions, which the other players may follow.
The goal of the game is to build the most prestigious company, as symbolized by victory points.
I had an opportunity to play a game of Carnegie in Tabletop Simulator with Steph and Matthew from BGG, then I played a half game a few days later on BGA with friends who were interested in checking it out. The only reason we didn't finish my second game was because we started late and a couple of people had to bow out early to get some sleep. Of course I was doing wayyyy better my second game and didn't want it to end.
From my wee bit of experience playing Carnegie, I really dig it. There are some interesting mechanisms that all work together smoothly and make it feel fresh. I find the elegance of Carnegie's design to be reminiscent of the What's Your Game? releases I love, such as Nippon and Madeira. One of my friends was noticing some Troyes and Black Angel influence as well.
Carnegie is packed with lots of awesome decisions and rewarding moments with the way the income events work and how you manage your workers on your player board and on the game board. It really makes you think and plan, but it didn't burn my brain too hard where I felt drained after. In fact, I couldn't stop thinking about it the next day and wondering what I would do differently in future games, considering I made some mistakes that jammed me up my last few rounds of my first game. I'm looking forward to digging into this one more and would recommend checking it out if you're a fan of medium-heavy euros.
• Flowar is a new flower business-themed worker placement, hand-management game for 1-4 players that plays in 40-90 minutes, and is targeted for a 2021 release from the Llama Dice design-duo, Isra C. and Shei S. and Spanish publisher Ediciones Primigenio.
Not a whole lot of details are out yet, but the brief description below from the publisher — and knowing Isra C. and Shei S. were also the design team behind The Red Cathedral and 1987 Channel Tunnel — already gets me excited to check it out:
The four days prior to St. Valentine's Day are busy in the market, so go to buy — whether expensive but early, or cheap but too late — the flowers that will fulfill the contracts you've already taken. Manage your workers and don't send too many of them to the unemployment queue because they will go on strike! Be careful with your reputation as it will influence on your stock value!
In this worker placement and management game, you represent a flower businessman that will work with companies trying to raise their stock value the four days prior to St. Valentine's Day.
In 60-90 minutes, 1-5 players compete as superstitious stock traders in an Ancient Japanese-inspired world illustrated by Fitzsimons. In more detail:
In this alternate universe, China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome have been attracted to a lucrative stock-market on Oki island in ancient Japan. Besides stocks, you may also try to succeed at having other players honor your Gods and harnessing their powers, or dabbling with products like sake (linked to the price of rice), or helping islanders by giving them home-loans for the best locations, or even trying your luck with tea-leaves at the geisha house, among other things.
Traditionally stock market games have unfriendly take-that elements, but Banker of the Gods doesn't.
Targeted for a 2021 Kickstarter launch, Hegemony will be the first release from Cyprus-based start-up gaming company Hegemonic Project Games, whose vision is to inspire gamers and non-gamers to learn more about the politico-economic dynamics of their societies playfully. Hegemony plays in 90-180 minutes and puts 2-4 players in the role of different citizen classes in a fictional state who are competing to lead their class better than their opponents, as described here below by the publisher:
Amidst all this chaos, the only person who can provide guidance is...you. Will you take the side of the working class and fight for social reforms? Or will you stand with the corporations and the free market? Will you help the government try to keep it all together, or will you try to enforce your agenda no matter the cost to the country?
Hegemony is an asymmetric politico-economic card-driven board game for 2-4 players that puts you in the role of one of the socio-economic groups in a fictional state: The Working Class, the Middle Class, the Capitalist Class and the State itself.
The Working class controls the workers. They work in companies, earning money which they spend to cover their basic needs: Food, health, education and if possible, entertainment. They can apply a lot of political pressure, and they can also form unions to increase their influence.
The Capitalist class controls the companies. Workers work there, and the Capitalist sells the goods/services produced. Deals can also be made with foreign states, and pressure is also applied to the State when it comes to matters like taxation and tariffs. The goal of the Capitalist is very clear: Maximize the profit!
The Middle class combines elements from both the Working class and the Capitalist. It has workers who can work in the Capitalist's companies, but it can also build companies of its own, yet smaller. It also struggles to cover the basic needs like food, health and education, while trying to keep a balance between producing, selling and consuming.
Finally the State is trying to keep everyone happy, providing benefits and subsidies when needed but trying also to maintain a steady income through taxes to avoid going into debt. At the same time, it has to deal with a constant flux of events requiring immediate attention or face grave consequences.
While players have their own separate goals, they are all limited by a series of policies that affect most of their actions, like Taxation, Labor Market, Foreign Trade etc. Voting on those policies and using their influence to change them is also very important.
Through careful planning, strategic actions and political maneuvering, you will do your best to increase the power of your class and carry out your agenda. Will you be the one to lead your class to victory?
Hegemony is heavily based on actual academic principles such as Social-Democracy, Neoliberalism, Nationalism, and Globalism, and it allows players to see their real world applications through engaging gameplay. There are many ways to achieve hegemony: Which one will you take?