GAMES

QUICK LINKS:
HOME
MEMBERSHIP
SUBMISSIONS

MORE NEWS:
Collectible Game
Role-Playing Game
Electronic Game
Tabletop Games
Other

Submit news stories to news@nggnet.com

 

Tabletop/Traditional Game News

Rio Grande Games News For September
"The summer is done and so are most on the conventions. We have only Essen to look forward to in October. We still plan to release the following in September: Bausack, Sac Noir, Bamboleo, Alhambra, Alhambra: the Vizor’s Favor (the first Alhambra expansion), Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Expansion, Flandern, and Carcassonne: Inns & Cathedrals. In October, we will release Dragonriders, Oltre Mare, Metro, Clans, Techno Witches, Caylus, Pünct, Ark, Euphrates & Tigris Card Game, Power Grid: France/Italy, and Carcassonne: the River II. El Grande and Goa have been delayed, but will release in November or December. Also, in November, we will have The difference between Women & Men, Ys, and Friedrich.

As mentioned in our previous newsletters, we have acquired a small supply of Power Grid replacement decks for you completists out there. These decks have have the new version of power plant 29. We have offered them at the conventions we visited this summer, and will bring what we have left to Essen. They can be obtained by donating €5.00 to Heifer International (www.heifer.org). We will collect the donations and send all monies collected (we keep no portion of the €5.00) to Heifer so they can send animals to needing families around the world. At Gencon and CHITAG, you donated $200, enough (with a little added on our own) to send enough to Heifer for a ducks, geese, chickens, rabbits, and a goat."

Caylus
1289. To strengthen the borders of the Kingdom of France, King Philip the Fair decided to have a new castle built. For the time being, Caylus is but a humble village, but soon, workers and craftsmen will be flocking by the cartload, attracted by the great prospects. Around the building site, a city is slowly rising up… The players embody master builders. By building the King’s castle and developing the city around it, they earn prestige points and gain the King’s favor. When the castle is finished, the player with the most prestige wins!
$49.95; RIO281; 6 per case; 2-5 players, aged 10 +; length 90 minutes; author: William Attia.

Euphrates & Tigris Card Game
The fruitful region between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers has long been an area of conflict. It is no different now and was not different 5000 years ago. Neighboring rulers are constantly scheming and fighting, always looking for the upper hand in the region. Those with cunning, and a little luck can become famous; those without that, infamous or unknown to history. By taking his excellent board game to a card format, Reiner Knizia has simplified some aspects of the game, but it remains Knizia and Euphrates & Tigris! And with 200 cards and 16 wooden discs, it is more than just a card game!
$44.95; RIO133; 6 per case; 2-4 players, aged 12 +; length: 60 minutes; authors: Kramer & Kiesling.

Oltre Mare
The Mediterranean Sea is the lifeline for merchants living in the lands on its shores. In Oltre Mare, players represent competing merchant families plying their trade throughout the region. As the players move their ships from port to port, they try to load and deliver large cargos of the seven major trading goods of the day: spices, silk, silver, sugar, wine, wood, and corn. With experience, each has learned what the market limit for each good is, and will try to fill his ship with just this much of each cargo type to gain the most from his investments. Of course, players must always be on the lookout for pirates, who will board careless ships, stealing both cargos and reputations. The most successful player will earn the most money - you are merchants, after all), and win the game!
$39.95; RIO275; 6 per case; 2-5 players, aged 10 +; length: 60 minutes; author: Emanuele Ornella.

Dragonriders
Climb aboard your trusty steed and lift off for the race of your life! The players race their dragons on a course in a deep and winding canyon. You have some magic to use to aid your cause, or hinder your opponents, but the real test is your skill at maneuvering your dragon through the course to reach the finish line ahead of the others. Players choose their speeds on each round secretly, but then must move at that speed, even if other dragons or canyon walls are in the way.
The movement system gives players more maneuverability at lower speeds than at higher, so you cannot turn your dragon on a dime unless you are going very slowly - an important consideration in those hairpin turns!
The track is made of two-sided tiles, so players can design their own races and change them every race to keep things fun and exciting!
$49.95; RIO276; 2-6 players, aged 10 +; length: 60 minutes; authors: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede & Jean de Poel.

Techno Witches
Modern witches and wizards no longer ride simple flying brooms. They have now entered the modern age of technology and ride jet-powered sweeping machines! But, these new machines must be filled before each flight with magic dust. Using their magic books, players plan their flights - 1 to 5 stages at a time. And so it goes: full power, sharp right turn, gentle left turn, “watch out - magic castle straight ahead” - full break and back-up, and here comes another witch!Players start with simple courses, but after they graduate from “flight school”, they can move onto more demanding flying adventures. Experienced fliers compete to capture and fly with the cat, but the most dangerous and challenging adventure is the chase of the technophobe with his traditional broom! Win that one and you have something to brag about! Whatever you do - enjoy the flight!
$29.95; RIO266; 2-4 players, aged 10 +; length: 30-50 minutes; author: Heinrich Glumpler.

Ark
Noah is tearing out his beard. Clouds are gathering and the rain could come anytime. The weather forecast is not good. Players help Noah fill the ark to win.
$19.95; RIO282; 3-5 players, aged 8 +; length: 45 minutes; author: Frank Nestel.

www.riograndegames.com

09-11-2005

DVG Update: Site Updates & Hornet Leader II
Dan Verssen Games just launched an update to their site at www.dvg.com

There are several additions including the solitaire game Hornet Leader
II. For those of you who remember the award-winning table game
published by GMT a while back, this is a very worthy upgrade.

In Hornet Leader II the player gets to command a squadron of FA-18
Hornets to fly missions against a wide variety of targets. Each mission
fits into an overall campaign.

Hornet Leader II improves upon the original with a streamlined rule
system and a vast reduction in die rolls, modifiers, and procedures.

By releasing games in Vassal format, DVG hopes to overcome one of the
largest problems facing tabletop gamers today; being able to find an
opponent. By releasing games in Vassal format, players can play anyone,
anywhere, at anytime through the internet.

Vassal and PDF downloads are now available for all the DVG games. This
includes: Special Forces, Earth Gone Mad, Star Force Terra, and now,
Hornet Leader II. There is a buy option to purchase both the Vassal and
PDF versions at the same time at a discount.

Vassal allows the player to play tabletop card and board games in
real-time through the internet. Each game must be purchased, but the
online use of Vassal is free.

All the games have a free-play mode that allows players to try before
they buy. If the player downloads the free-play mode and likes the
game, he can then purchase it.

www.dvg.com

06-25-2005

Rio Grande News: Late June Edition
Looking for news regarding the comings and goings of the Rio Grande gang? Well, here's there latest news:

We have been preparing for Origns (and the other conventions that we are scheduled to attend this summer). We have arranged to release quite a few games at Origins, so stop by our booth (1001) and them that out if you are in Columbus next week. We will release: Palazzo, Tikal, Torres, and the following games from Queen Games: Industria, Lucky Loop, Indus, Rat Hot, Turbo Taxi, Roma, Architacton, and Inka. We still expect to have That’s Life (the multi-lingual version of Verflixxt!), Fjords, Tichu, Tamsk, Trans America, and Carcassonne: King & Scout later in July. Also in July, we will release three more games from Queen: Alhambra, Flandern, and Alhambra: the Vizor’s Favor.
As mentioned in my previous newsletter, we have acquired a small supply of Power Grid replacement decks for you completists out there. These decks have have the new version of power plant 29. I will have them at several conventions this summer (Origins, Dexcon, WBC, Gencon, and CHITAG), as long as the supply lasts. They can only be obtained by donating $5.00 to Heifer International (www.heifer.org). I will collect the donations and, at the end of the convention season, send all monies collected (I keep no portion of the $5.00) to Heifer so they can send animals to needing families around the world.
I expect many of you will be going to conventions this summer, so travel safely and stop by if you visit a convention where we are.
As mentioned earlier, we will no longer distribute Phalanx games. Phalanx has arranged with Mayfair Games to distribute their games in the US.

Tikal
Each player is the director of an expedition intent on exploring Tikal in search of the secret paths that lead to the temples and precious treasures that have remained hidden for over 1000 years. A player receives points during four scoring rounds for eac h recovered treasure and for each temple that he controls. But, both temples and treasures can change hands. The expedition that earns the most points exploring Tikal wins the game.
$44.95; RIO132; 6 per case; 2-4 players, aged 10 +; length 75-90 minutes; authors: Kramer & Kiesling.

Torres
A series of devastating tornadoes in the recent war has left all the king's castles in ruin. His sons will rebuild his castles and he promises the throne to the one who can rebuild the tallest and largest castles. Two or more princes may work together on a castle. The king will tour the castles to judge the progress of each son. After his the third tour, he will choose his successor.
$44.95; RIO133; 6 per case; 2-4 players, aged 12 +; length: 60 minutes; authors: Kramer & Kiesling.


Industria
Keeping track of things and intelligent planning make you the most successful industrial magnate! From the brick factory to the robot shop, you steer your dynasty through 5 epochs in this exciting auction game.Each round another player is the auctioneer and auctions factories. These bring victory points and supply raw materials. The auctioneer has the choice: accept the highest bid and take the money, or take the factory free of charge. But if they choose the latter, then it's the next player's turn.Place your markers on the gameboard and build your empire. That costs money and raw materials, which are scarce, so it's worth it to manage them well. Connected factories bring valuable bonus points. The possibility of getting additional bonus points makes the game exciting right to the very end.

$34.95; RIO041; 6 per case; 3-4 players, aged 10 +; length: 60 minutes; author: Michael Schacht.

Lucky Loop
Loop and turn, dive and roll -- execute four flight programs using these four maneuvers. Roll the dice and bank around your fellow players. The high point? You alone determine the requirements of your programs.Each maneuver is played as a card with its own degree of difficulty. The higher this value, the harder it is to roll success; but then of course, success will be worth more points. After four programs comes the crucial free-form segment, which is exciting up to the very end.

$34.95; RIO042; 6 per case; 2-6 players, aged 8 +; length: 45-60 minutes; authosr: K Hartwig & W. Panning.

Indus

An exciting, easy-to-play game for all the family.There are fascinating secrets hidden in the fertile valley of the River Indus – discover artefacts from the ancient Harappa culture.Each game is different as the board can be put together in a variety of ways to produce different excavation sites.

$34.95; RIO045; 6 per case; 2-4 players, aged 8 +; length: 45-60 minutes; author: Wolfgang Panning

Palazzo

Who will build the most magnificent palace? In the game of Palazzo, set in the age of the late renaissance, the players slip on the roles of wealthy landowners, who compete against each other to build the most valuable palaces.
As their constructions grow, the players must choose from the available palace modules from the quarries, so they can add to their palaces. Of course, none of this building can be done without money, so sometimes a players must take time out to earn some money so he can afford to continue his building projects.

$29.95; RIO272; 6 per case; 2-4 players, aged 10 +; length: 45 minutes; author: Reiner Knizia..

 

04-02-2005

Rio Grande News: In print, On Its Way & More
Looking for news regarding the comings and goings of the Rio Grande gang? Well, here's there latest news:

We have done so well with the four well-known multi-lingual games from Zoch: Bamboleo, Bausack, Sac Noir, and Hamster Roll, that we are already out of Sac Noir. We do expect more in the near future. See the games section on our website (www.riograndegames.com) for more information on these unique games.

Shadow of the Emperor, Gone Fishing!, Carcassonne: the Princess & the Dragon, and Australia have recently released and should be in stores now or in the near future. Later this month, we will release Pickomino, Carcassonne: the Count, Carcassonne: the City, and Power Grid.

In May, we will release Carcassonne: King & Scout, Torres, Tikal, Louis XIV, Tower of Babel, Manila, and Fjords. Three new Phalanx games: World War I, Alexander the Great, and Go West, a new Reiner Knizia/Alea game: Palazzo, and a European version of Transamerica called Transeuropa , and the return (at last!) of Tamsk will be released in late May.
The new game from James Ernest and Mike Selinker called Gloria Mundi will release in early summer, perhaps in time for Origins. Finally, I am still working on the schedule for Revolution and hope to have more information later this month. Power Grid: Italy/France will release in October.

Shadow of the Emperor
Germany in the late middle ages! It is a time of flourishing cities, influential bishops, the powerful popes, and a pompous aristocracy. In such a volatile climate, no dynasty can remain in power for long.
Several aristocratic families seek to acquire the crown of the emporer. But this decision lies in the hands of the seven elector. 2–4 emporer candidates use their knights and cities, marry their barons, and work to influence the electors.
But all efforts are useless if the candidate is not elected to be emporer. But, in the shadow of the properly elected emporer, are always those who want to displace him and become the new emporer.


$27.95; RIO256; 6 per case; 2-4 players, aged 12 +; length 90 minutes; author: Ralf Burkert.


Carcassonne: the Princess & the Dragon
In this expansion for the prize-winning Carcassonne, we move into the realm of fantasy.The land around Carcassonne is being visited by a dragon, making life very difficult for the followers. Brave heroes venture forth to face the danger, but without the aid of the fairies, their chances are not good.In the city, the princess seeks help from the knights, and farmers build secret passages to move about undetected by the dragon.We hope you enjoy this special trip into the land of Carcassonne!

$12.95; RIO267; 12 per case; 2-6 players, aged 8 +; length: 60 minutes; author: Klaus-Jürgen Wrede.

Australia
Australia – the fifth and smallest continent at the beginning of the 1920s. The economic crisis is yet to come – Australia is booming. Industrial modernisation and development are pursued with vigour to help the economy “down under” progress. At the same time, the government is arranging for countless National Parks to be set up and are initiating numerous projects to support the natural environment.
Every player leads a troop of rangers who have been assigned the task, by the government, of carrying out various conservation and industrialisation projects.The most successful player wins the game.

$39.95; RIO039; 6 per case; 2-5 players, aged 10 +; length: 75 minutes; authors: Wolfgang Kramer & Michael Kiesling.

Gone Fishing!
Who is the best angler?
One player takes the role of the two anglers and tries to catch as many fish as possible. The other player takes the role of the fish and with bluff and skill tries to hinder the anglers from catching fish. The angler player decides where to fish, but must do so in the dark (that is, he cannot really see where the fish are), as the fish cards are placed face down. Because of this, he does not know whether he is catching a fish or garbage. Also, when he is lucky enough to catch a fish, he will not know until he lands it how valuable it is. With clever movement of his fish, the fish player tries to get garbage and small fish onto the anglers hooks.

After one game, the players switch roles. After two games, the player with the most points is the winner.

$22.95; RIO265; 10 per case; 2 players, aged 10 +; length: 40 minutes; author: Michael Rieneck.
 

04-02-2005

“War of the Ring” receives Origins Awards Nomination
War of the Ring received an Origins Awards Nomination for 2004 Best Boardgame recently, and the creators really wanted you to know. Here's their announcement:

The epic board game inspired on the Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy,
created by Nexus Editrice and published in English by Fantasy Flight Games,
was selected as one of the 5 top boardgames released last year

Nexus Editrice, one of the leading games publisher in Italy, and Fantasy Flight Games, its partner in the english spoken markets, are proud to announce the nomination of the game “War of the Ring” in the “Best Boardgame” category at the 31st Annual Origins Awards. Released last September, in 8 different languages (English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Greek) and a 70,000 copies’ first edition, the game has been already reprinted and was the winner of the Best of Show award at Lucca Comics and Games 2004, the biggest trade fair of the italian games market.

The 31st Annual Origins Awards winners will be announced during Origins, one of the most important international game shows, that takes place every year a Columbus, Ohio. The Origins Awards ceremony is scheduled for next July, 2.

“We are very pleased for this nomination, as the Origins Awards are one of the more prestigious international recognition in the market, truly the ‘Oscar of the games industry’”, said Roberto di Meglio, Nexus Editrice’s CEO and one of the “War of the Ring” authors.

After the outstanding debut in the 8 languages it was published at first, this year the game is going to be published in Russian and Chinese/Cantonese languages. Besides that, Nexus Editrice and its international partners are working in the development of the first expansion to the game. Called “War of the Ring: Battles of the Third Age”, it will introduce new armies and figures (as Ents, Balrogs, Siege Towers, catapults, Orc archers and much more) and allow to re-fight the battles of Helm’s Deep and Minas Tirith. With new rules, the expansion set will move the game from the grand-strategy to the tactical scale. Battles of the Third Age will be released next October.


War of the Ring boardgame
“War of the Ring”, based on "The Lord of the Rings", the trilogy by J.R.R.Tolkien, was published under license from Tolkien Enterprise/Sophisticated Games. It’s an epic boardgame for 2 to 4 players that includes a huge colour map of Middle-Earth, over 200 plastic model to represent the characters and armies, 110 cards and special dices. All of this allow players to immerse themselves in J.R.R.Tolkien’s classic history, controlling the Free People’s forces or the dreadful minions and armies of Sauron.

The original illustrations were created by John Howe, one of the more famous Tolkien’s illustrators, who has worked in the conceptual design for the movies trilogy directed by Peter Jackson. An international team has partecipated to the creation’s process of this game. Beside John Howe, many other italian and foreign artists have contributed. The final production was cared by Nexus Editrice for all the eight international editions, with a big and tight co-production with its partners for the simultaneous release worldwide – Fantasy Flight Games (English), Tilsit Éditions (French), Phalanx Games B.V. (German), Fantasy Shop (Greek), Devir Iberia (Spanish) and Devir Livraria (Portuguese).

For additional information about the game visit www.warofthering.it and www.fantasyflightgames.com. 

04-02-2005

FJGaming Releases 3rd Choose & Move Game: Ship Of The Line!
FJGaming is proud to announce the release of the third product in its Choose and Move series, Ship of the Line!

Ship of the Line will enable you to play out sea battles of the age of fighting sail quickly and easily. The game is for two or more players and most games will take under an hour to finish

02-20-2005

Boardgame Players Association: News & Nominees
For all of you board game enthusiasts out there, I've decided that it's time to post their newsletters here in the news. So, without further ado, here's the goods:

WINTER ACTIVATION MEETING: WAM III set new participation records with all  five events drawing over 16 players despite threatening weather on Sunday morning which cut some trips short. The winners were Marvin Birnbaum in Paths of Glory and We The People as the original Caesar got a legup on the 2005 standings, Tom Drueding in Wilderness War, James Pei in For the People, and Chris Byrd in Hannibal. The latter two successfully defended their WBC championships while adding to their laurels at WAM. For details, see http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/wam05.htm.

ENLIGHTENMENT VIII: The BPA's oldest mini-con is set for its eighth
meeting of dedicated Age of Renaissance play at Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn March 18th - 20th. The action begins Friday night at 6 PM and continues with two more rounds on Saturday at 10 AM and 5 PM. A fourth round will be played Sunday morning. The winner for the weekend will be that player with the highest total for any three of the four rounds. Hotel Reservations for our group rate and pre-reg have been extended till March 4th so register now. See http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/aor05ann.htm for more details.

ANNUAL GM CALL TO ARMS: The Orphans Page has been updated to reflect eligible events and current GM commitments with their initial requested times. There are 14 Century, 10 Trial, and 11 Junior event slots open; those events will be replaced by alternates with GM commitments unless a GM commits by Feb. 28th. GM commitments must be made by current members. See http://www.boardgamers.org/wbc/orphans.htm for the full list.

The WBC Eurogames discussion board has been created and several GMs have joined and begun cooperating. All GMs and prospective GMs of Euros (those games in the genre of Puerto Rico, Al Hambre, Amun Re etc.) are invited to join the group at WBCEurogames@yahoogroups.com. This attempt to better co-ordinate scheduling for a Euros track to minimize conflicts with similar games is voluntary but encouraged. Those GMs who have already submitted event forms are free to change the requested times accordingly anytime before the Feb 28th deadline.

LANCASTER RESERVATIONS: A new travel and accommodations page is available on our site pertaining to this year's WBC. Reservation information can be found at http://www.boardgamers.org/hotellan.htm

MEDALS COUNT: The BPA Medals page has been updated to include new photos and totals. Check out the virtual history tour of WBC at http://www.boardgamers.org/medals.htm. And for those who haven't yet
broken into the Wood ranks yet, check out the new BPA Laurels listing at
http://www.boardgamers.org/l_sums.htm

BoD NOMINATIONS: All BPA members are hereby notified of their right to nominate members for the three Board seats whose terms expire at the next WBC. To appear on the ballot, a member must be nominated in writing by at least three members; one of which must be himself/herself. Nominations must be signed and received at BPA, 1541 Redfield Rd, Bel Air, MD 21015 no later than February 28th to be eligible for election in that year.

When contemplating nominations, members are urged to consider that the  BPA conducts most of its business by email and needs Board members who are able and willing to offer their time and skills to the organization  in a timely manner. Board members should be considered more for their
ability to contribute to the running of a successful company than for
their attachment to any particular game or group.

Besides forwarding a signed nomination for himself/herself, each nominee should submit by March 1st a statement not to exceed 100 words summarizing what they can contribute in service to the Board of Directors of the BPA. The nomination form is on line at http://www.boardgamers.org/bpanom.htm.

02-20-2005