Z-Man Games Press Release - Glass Road – Z-Man upcoming game

From the Z-Man Games Website

Glass Road – Z-Man upcoming game

Glass Road is the new game from designer Uwe Rosenberg, creator of Agricola, Ora & Labora, Babel, and many other fantastic games! Oh yeah, and it is also a game from the same people that brought us Terra Mystica: Feuerland Spiele! So this game is going to be epic! When is it coming? It will be premiering at Essen this fall and will be released worldwide shortly after. What is it about? Glass Road commemorates of the 700 year old tradition of glass making in the Bavarian Forest. You must skillfully manage your glass and brick production in order to build the right structures that help you to keep your business flowing. Cut the forest to keep the fires burning in the ovens, spread and remove ponds, pits and forests to supply yourself with the items you need. There are 15 specialists at you side to carry out your orders... Although the game features some typical Uwe-elements, it is not a typical "Rosenberg". Since you are forced to play a specialist card when somebody else plays it, you have to deal with chance. Flexibility is the key. While it is a 1-4 player game, it is still a great game to play when you are only 2! Here is a glimpse of what the game looks like. (In German, but it still gives you a idea!)

After Action Report – Thursday Night Gaming @ Paradise Perks, June 27, 2013

The crowds are back at Paradise Perks this week.  There were around 30 people attending with up to six tables with active games at any given time.

I managed to play 3 games this time two of them were new games for me and the third was one I played before.

I started out with a card game called Biblios.  In Biblios the players are abbots of medieval monasteries trying to develop the best library of sacred books by having the best scriptorium around.

Biblios is a set taking game.  There are five suits of card that players are competing for the value of the suits in victory points are the same at the beginning of the game are equal at 3 points each, but can be changed upward or downward by specific cards during the course of the game.  There also cash cards in the game as well.

The game is played in two stages.  First is the donation stage where the players draw cards from the deck.  The number of cards is determined by the number of players plus one.  The player draws the cards one by one and disposes of them in the following manner.  One goes to their hand one goes to the Auction pile, and the others go to the table for the other players to choose from.

When the deck is exhausted the auction stage begins.  The cards in the deck that was being built during the donation phase are turned over one by one and auctioned off to the players using the money they got during the donation phase.  At the end of the auction phase the players then determine who has the highest value in the suits to get the points for that suit.  The one with the most points wins.

I started the game focused a little too much on money and not getting the cards that would get me points in the end.  After we went around the table once the goal of the game finally clicked for me and I started taking all the blue cards I could, if not that color than another one.  At one point the value of the orange cards was pushed down to one and I was getting stuck with those cards when I was drafting from the table hoping the I would be able to elevate the value of that color by the end of the game.  The auction did not help me much as I was not able to overcome the dominance of the other players in the colors that I was not focused on.  I managed to take second place in the game by take both blue and orange.

The second game I played was Starfarers of Catan.

Starfarer of Catan is set in the far future.  The players are competing for the position of Ambassador to the Galactic Council.  In order to win the position they must expand the influence of their colonies by setting up new outpost colonies, upgrade those colonies into spaceports, and develop trade relations with neighboring alien races.

The framework of the game follows the basic format of Settlers of Catan.  The players set up colonies on planets that have been assigned number values.  When the number of the assigned planet is rolled on two six-sided dice, anyone that has a colony or spaceport on that planet gets the resource.  The resources can be used to trade with the other players or build things.

Now here are the differences from Settlers of Catan.  The board an actual board with fixed locations instead of hex pieces which are fit together to create a board.  Players build a colony then move it into its final position on the board using transport ships.  The entire concept of a mother ship that is used as a template for the players transports that can be upgraded using resources to improve the performance of the players’ transports.  There is also an entire mechanic added to the game round moving ships around the board.

I performed miserably at this game.  During the game I was able to establish one colony, which I turned into a spaceport and one trading post.  The winner of the game got so far ahead so early on in the game, none of the other players managed to get close to him.  I had the honor of coming in last.

The last game of the night was Haggis.  Haggis is a trick taking game.  The deck has five suits all of which have ten cards numbered one to ten. And the players start the round with a jack, king, and queen of no suit that can be used as wild cards during that round.  The tricks are played as sets and runs.  For example it a player puts out three of a kind then the other players must put out three of a kind that is higher in value.  The player who puts out the highest set of three cards wins the trick after all the other players pass.  The round ends one all but one player is out of cards.

We played the game to 100 points which consisted of two rounds.  I managed to get a mess of cards in both rounds and did not go out in either of the rounds, but the tricks I took wound up being with a few points so I came in second in the game.

Now for my standings for this event:

Game	No. of Plays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	Avg.
Biblios	1	-	1	-	-	-	-		2.00
Starfarers of Catan	1	-	-	-	1	-			4.00
Haggis	1	-	1	-	-	-	-		2.00
Totals	3	-	2	-	1	-	-	-	2.67

Z-Man Games Press Release - Pandemic Scenario 1: Isolation

From the Z-Man Games Website

Pandemic Scenario 1: Isolation

June 27 2013 Pandemic fans rejoice! Today, we reveal to you the first of many FREE scenarios for Pandemic. Matt Leacock has thought long and hard about how he could add a new dimension to the game. And Isolation is the first scenario he has to offer. The Isolation scenario will change some basic rules in the game, as well as give you a starting situation that you will have to deal with. Cubes in specific places, specific role and player cards in hand at the beginning of the game. There is also something that will change your entire way of playing the game...but we will let you discover what it is by reading the scenario! We hope you like it! GET IT HERE!

Mayfair Games Press Release - Coming to Gen Con 2013: The Big Game

From the Mayfair Games Website

Coming to Gen Con 2013: The Big Game

Catan® Just Got Bigger

Prepare! Be a part of something that has never been done before! Never even attempted!
Make history!  Come set a world record for most people playing in the same board game. What’s the biggest game of Catan® you can imagine? Picture it in your head. At Gen Con this year you have the chance to play in The Big Game ™.
What is The Big Game? It’s a 1000 player game of The Settlers of Catan® played from start to the finish of 62 turns. Even better, judges from the Guinness Book of World Records will be on hand to make it official as we break the record for the largest Settlers of Catan® game of all time.
Admission price for The Big Game is $10. But the rewards far outweigh the cost and you’ll be part of history! Each player participating in the event will receive special limited edition “Big Game” Settlers of Catan® card deck, one limited edition single player set of Settlers of Catan® and Seafarers™ wood in one of 6 unique colors specially chosen for the occasion, and each player at the event will take home a Big Game™ map special designed and printed for this event.
But wait, there’s more: one of those special decks will contain a Golden Ticket! The player with the Golden Ticket will win a 10^th anniversary 3-D Catan® game, the Treasure Chest edition, an exceedingly rare, priceless item.
The Big Game™ will be held at J.W. Marriott’s White River Ballroom. Check-in is at 5:30 pm and the event lasts until a winner is crowned. Food and drink are available for purchase at the venue. So join us at Gen Con 2013 and become part of history. Years from now when people talk about The Big Game, you can say- and prove- that you were there. 

 

Steve Jackson Games Acquires Haywire Group's Chupacabra: Survive the Night

From the Steve Jackson Games Website

Steve Jackson Games Acquires Haywire Group's Chupacabra: Survive the Night

Steve Jackson Games' catalog of dice games grows this fall with the release of Chupacabra: Survive the Night. The Chupacabra is a bloodsucking monster from Latin American folklore. It feeds in darkness, and no one can say quite what it looks like! Perhaps those who see it clearly do not survive the night . . .
Originally published by Haywire Group, Chupacabra is a fast-playing game with 24 custom six-sided glow-in-the-dark dice. The Chupacabras you roll can attack your opponents' herds and flocks . . . while the animals you roll may be attacked by enemy Chupacabras. The winner is the player who collects all the dice.
Each copy of Chupacabra: Survive the Night supports up to four players, and multiple sets may be combined for more players!

About Steve Jackson Games

Steve Jackson Games, based in Austin, Texas, has been publishing games, game books, and magazines since 1980. Its best-selling game is Munchkin, with well over 3 million copies of the games and supplements in print worldwide. Other top sellers are GURPS (the Generic Universal RolePlaying System), Zombie Dice, and Illuminati. Past hits have included Car Wars and Toon. Steve's very first game, Ogre, originally released in 1977, drew almost a million dollars' worth of Kickstarter support in 2012 for a super-deluxe edition to be released in the fall of 2013.
The company news page, the Daily Illuminator (sjgames.com/ill/), is the oldest continuously running blog on the Internet.
For more about Steve Jackson Games, visit us at www.sjgames.com.

About Haywire Group

The Haywire Group is an award-winning game company based in Springfield, MA known for their unique and humor-infused board games including the Dicecapades! series, Flickin' Chicken and a variety of preschool, educational and family games.

A New Start for Z-Man Games

From the Z-Man Games Website

A new start for Z-Man Games

New website, new offices, new look! When Z-Man Games does something, we do it big! Welcome to the new and improved Z-Man Games website! We have been working very hard to make this new website a possibility. Let’s explain a little what we have done with the website and how you can find things. Home Page The new home page has, as you have noticed, many new features. You have the 4 top stories at the top of the page, just click on the one you want to read! If you want to look at older stories, just click on the All News section! There are also the “New Releases” and “Best Sellers” sections where you can check out what’s new and what’s hot! At the bottom of the page, you have three new sections: Events; Articles; and Videos. The Event list will be updated constantly with places our games will be featured. If you are featuring one or more Z-Man Games at an event, please let us know and we will add it to the list! The Articles section houses interviews we have conducted with game designers, illustrators or the original publisher of a game. They will allow you to get a more in depth look at some of the games we have in our collection. The Video section houses all of the videos from our You Tube channel. Now you can check them out directly from the website. New online store The new Z-Man website has a new and improved online store! You can now search for game by Category, by alphabetical order, by price, by age, or by Name (in the search engine on the top right corner of any page). The store now ships worldwide! It is easy to see which games are Out of Stock and which games are for Preorder! Take a look around, you will find some information about all the games in our collection! Find a store Our new store locator will help you find the stores closest to you! All you need to do is but I your postal/Zip code and voila! The 10 stores nearest to you will pop up! Contact us The new contact us section has been made much clearer than it was on the old website. There are now detailed descriptions of which e-mail to send your request to, depending on what the request is. This will help accelerate response time and help us help you faster! Finally, if you want to take a look at our new offices, you can check out the photo album HERE!

Magic 2014 - Duels of the Planeswalkers Available Today

From the Wizards of the Coast Website

MAGIC 2014 - DUELS OF THE PLANESWALKERS AVAILABLE TODAY

Latest Installment in Hit Franchise Launches for First Time on Android

Wizards of the Coast today launched Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers on PlayStation Network, iPad and, for the first time ever, on Android tablet via Google Play and the Amazon App Store. Magic 2014, which will also release on Xbox LIVE Arcade and PC via Steam tomorrow, challenges players to “Ignite Your Spark” and help Planeswalker Chandra Nalaar in a quest for revenge as they track down a manipulative and dangerous Planeswalker foe. An engaging storyline and strong integration with the Magic 2014 - Core Set ties the experience together for players, culminating in an end-of-summer Magic Celebration on September 7, 2013 that brings all Magic fans together in stores across the world.

Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers builds on the success of previous games in the franchise and adds all new features including 10 brand new decks, 15 new encounters, 10 new puzzle challenges, and an all-new Sealed Play mode, allowing players to open booster packs and build decks to play against the AI and other players.  Magic 2014 players will get the first look at cards from the Magic 2014 - Core Set, including the highly anticipated Slivers cards, creating even more seamless integration between the online and offline games. Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers is priced competitively at MSRP 800 MS Points for Xbox LIVE or MSRP $9.99 on all other platforms. Prices may vary by platform and region.

Magic: The Gathering is the first and most widely played Trading Card Game with more than 12 million players and fans worldwide.  Visit MagicTheGathering.com for more information and follow Magic on Facebook and Twitter.

Magic 2014 – Duels of the Planeswalkers is developed by Stainless Games   Ltd , a privately owned company based on the South Coast of the UK which has been the developer for Duels of the Planeswalkers since its inception as a digital product.

Game Review – Martian Rails

Martian Rails
Number of Players	2 - 6
Play Time	240 minutes
Ages	10 years and up

Martian Rails is another of the Empire Builder family of games.  It is set on a version of Mars that is a mash up of most of the famous science fiction and fantasy versions of Mars.  Things like Green Martians, Red Martian, and Thoats from Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hinkston’s Creek from Bradbury, and Soylent Red from the movie Soylent Green all make an appearance in this game.

Martian Rails is consistent with the rest of the Empire Builder family in the way that the game is played, which should not come as a surprise.  The players are owners of railroad in a fiction version of Mars.  They start the game with 60 dollars.  In order to win they need to build track into six of the seven major cities and have 250 dollars.  In order to gain more money so that they can build track and get the money needed for victory, the players get a set of demand cards which have three delivery contracts on them each for a total of nine delivery options.  The delivery contract show an item demanded and they amount of money that will be paid to the player upon the delivery of that item to the city that has the demand.  Once one of the three deliveries is made from a card it is discarded and a new demand card is drawn.

In order to move between cities, the players must build track.  Track costs a certain amount per space or milepost to build.  The costs are one dollar for clear or desert mile post, two dollars for forest or mountain milepost, three dollars for jungle milepost, and five dollars for alpine milepost.  It costs an additional two dollars to cross a canal/river.

The player can also use their money to upgrade their train so that it can carry more loads and go faster.  Like in Iron Dragon and Lunar Rails, the cost to upgrade a train is 10 dollars per step.  The players start with trains that can carry two loads and move 10 spaces.  During the course of a game they may upgrade their train so that it can at a maximum carry three loads and move 16 spaces.

Martian Rails also features a wrap around board where the players can for example build off the left side of the board and continue building from the edge of the right side.

Martian Rails has the features that I like about the Empire Builder system.  The way that it allows players to build the track that they want as long as some basic rules are followed and deciding how to maximize the return on a set of cards for example.

I do disagree with the game’s stated playing time of 240 minutes.  This game is no more complex than most of the Empire Builder family of games and even the one that adds the most options, Iron Dragon, has a stated playing time of only 180 minutes.  A playing time of 180 minutes which is the standard for the rest of the games in the system would be more consistent with what I have experienced in playing the game.

Martian Rails in an enjoyable game.  If you like the Empire Builder system this game should be on your playlist.   It is in interesting diversion from the games that are based in the real world and it is a much more forgiving game that Iron Dragon or Lunar Rails.  That being said if you are new to the Empire Builder family of games, it is not one that you should try as your first game.  You would be better off trying the real world game with the geography that you are most familiar with to become familiar with the system before playing Martian Rails so you do not struggle with learning both the board and the system.