Galilean Moons

4 players

Players represent corporations exploiting the resources on the Galilean moons. The corporations team up to dominate all trade on the moons, but the treacherous businessmen often re-form teams to suit their short or long-term goals.

(500 words == not enough. I hope this gets the idea across.)

Mechanisms:

• Worker placement
• Economy management culminating in colonization and finally combat technology
• Two teams of two players, with a mechanic for re-forming teams. The players initiating team re-alignment pay an opportunity cost to do so.
• Team members, and potential team members, MAY NOT discuss strategy. Actions that need support must be played just with the hope that your teammate sees the need, can, and is willing to help.
• Action cards are color-coded. The more action cards of one color that a team plays in a turn (called the Action Color Count, or ACC) the more effective and valuable the cards are. (This provides an incentive to switch teams — if two players have each played three red action cards, then by re-forming the teams to be together, all their cards will be significantly more effective.) Each player has a hand of action cards which define what actions he can take, enough to have some flexibility but still somewhat limiting. Hands are replenished each turn.
• Each of the four moons has a primary resource, and owning at least one colony on a moon provides a small benefit related to it. However, if the team owns all the colonies on a moon, they gain a larger benefit.

All actions are performed via worker placement, where a turn consists of two phases: the placement phase where you declare actions and then the action resolution phase where potentially competing actions are resolved. Most placements require an action card to be played simultaneously. These are placed face up. Some sample actions: - Mine Ore: The card and the worker location determine what is available. ACC determines amount mined. - Purchase Supplies / Weapons: The card and the worker location determine what is available. ACC determines price. - Establish Colony: ACC determines cost and/or size and defenses. - Attack existing colony: Card defines attack strength based on resources spent. ACC reduces cost. Also used to strengthen a teammate's attack.

One of the worker placement locations, which is always available and does not include an action card played, is the "Switch Teams" location. If a player uses one of his workers in that location, any other player (including his current team member) can use a worker to team up with him. The other two players are automatically stuck together. Note that there is a noticeable opportunity cost to initiating team changing. You have used two of the new team's workers, AND you have reduced the number of action cards that the team is playing in that turn, diminishing the team's ACC values. If you spend a worker to 'Switch Teams' and no one responds, the teams remain, your teammate is probably annoyed, and you've wasted the worker.

Bôsen

Intro:

2 teams of 2-4 players each - about 45 min.

"After dishonorable murder of Frog Clan Samurai, Frog Clan Shogun suspects Dragon Clan responsible and wages war across Japan in honor of fallen."

Contents:

• Deck of 50 Cards
• Game Board of 30 hexagonal territories. 5 are strongholds.
• 100 Black Units
• 100 Yellow Units

Deck includes Diplomacy, War and Recruitment cards in varying quantities. Some cards have effects that resolve when played.

Setup:

Players chose a team; each team must be equal in number. Teams collect colored cubes and elect a beginning Daimyo. Each player is dealt 3 cards from the deck. Daimyo’s choose 1 stronghold and places 5 of his team’s units into that hex.

Round:

Choosing discipline

Players will play 1 card from hand face down. When all players have played a card, cards are revealed. Discipline of the team is the discipline that the majority of players have revealed. Example: Players A and B both revealed War; Player C revealed Recruitment, the team’s chosen discipline is War. If no team member’s revealed cards match, no discipline is chosen.

Deciding Dominance

With discipline chosen, the team with the winning discipline in the below deadlock receives Dominance and continues to action phase. The other team doesn't get an action phase.

DEADLOCK: WAR beats DEMOCRACY beats RECRUITMENT beats WAR

If both teams have the same discipline, no team gains Dominance and play goes to Bushido Phase.

Action Phase

With Dominance chosen, Daimyo will take actions according to the team’s chosen discipline. - WAR – Move 1 unit from any team owned stronghold onto a territory hex not owned by team. Territory MUST be adjacent to a territory owned by team. Any units on this territory are removed. This hex is now owned by team. - RECRUITMENT – Place units on 1 stronghold equal to amount of strongholds held by team + 1. Strongholds cannot exceed 5 Units. - DEMOCRACY – Move Daimyo token of other team to another player. Remove 1 unit from a stronghold owned by other team. Draw 1 extra card during Bushido phase.

When actions of the Daimyo are complete, other members of the team resolve effects on cards they played. Cards from both teams are placed into discard pile and play moves to Bushido phase.

Bushido Phase

All players will hand 1 card from their hand to their team’s Daimyo. Daimyo’s take those cards and 1 from their own hand to create a Bushido hand. Daimyo's draw cards into the Bushido hand equal to the amount of team members, including himself. Daimyo will draw another card into Bushido hand for each stronghold team controls plus any bonus cards from action phase. The Daimyo will look through this newly created Bushido hand and give 2 cards to each player on team, including himself. All other cards are discarded into discard pile. Discard pile is shuffled into draw deck and play moves to another round.

End:

Team that controls 3 of 5 strongholds wins.

Shugo Daimyo

A 4 or 6-player area control boardgame set in Feudal Japan. Each team are advisors to a Shugo Daimyo, a powerful leader during a time of political upheaval. While the Shogun does not allow open war, you will manipulate various regions to dominate the provinces in the region.

Equipment:

A board with 10 provinces (in 5 colors)
A deck of 60 cards (in five colors and one of four character types)
Character tiles (4 types) in either team color
One Daimyo marker for each team
One Starting Player Token

There are two teams in the game, each consisting of half of the players. Players should sit in an alternating fashion. This game is played in four rounds, and one endgame scoring. Randomly assign the starting player token to one player. Players are not allowed to advise other players (especially teammates) during the game.

In each round:

The Planning Phase:

1) At the beginning of the game or when the deck runs out, shuffle the discards to make a new deck.

2) Deal a hand of cards to each player (6 with four players, 5 with six players)

3) One at a time beginning with the starting player, each player selects one card from their hand and places it in front of them either face up or face down (their choice) until all players have placed a card.

4) All players pass the cards they did not select to the player on their left.

5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all players have only one card remaining, which is discarded. New cards should always go to the right of previously selected cards so that other players know the order of cards picked.

The Execution Phase:

1) One at a time beginning with the starting player, each player selects a card from those in front of them or a teammate (revealing face down cards) and moves their team's Daimyo marker to any adjacent province except one occupied by the opposing Daimyo. If the card matches the color of the destination province, the player also places a token marker of their team color in the province, as indicated by the card (soldier, monk, assassin, or farmer)

2) If you now have more of the placed token type in the province than the opponents, you may remove one appropriate opposing token if it exists in the province: soldiers remove assassins, monks remove soldiers, assassins remove monks. Farmers do not remove tokens.

3) After players have used all cards, proceed to the next round.

4) You are allowed to leave your Daimyo in place, but must still select and discard a card and may not place or remove any tokens.

After four rounds, score as follows:

In each province:

A team scores one point for each majority in a marker. If a team has at least one soldier, assassin, and monk in the province, score points equal to all farmers.

The team with the most points wins.

PREMISE
The game takes place in the 1920’s, during the Prohibition in the United States, when a nationwide constitutional ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages took place.

COMPONENTS
A game board with 75 areas (51 of which are numbered and 24 named – some after famous bars and clubs of the time) linked in various routes/roads, 4 supply areas, two police stations/prisons areas (one on the east side and one on the west) and two money lending/loan shark areas.

24 destination cards (1 for every named area on the board),
12 supply cards (3x4 supply areas),
2 policemen (1 pawn each),
3 road blocks for each policeman (3 blue and 3 red cubes)
2 bootleggers (no pawns as they move secretly on the board, by noting their position secretly on paper)
Sheets of paper and pencils (where the bootleggers write their positions)
50 white cubes (each representing $100)
20x alcohol signs (for controlling supplied areas/bars, clubs etc.)
20x police budges (for controlling supplied areas/bars, clubs etc.)
75 action cards as follows (if the pile runs out you reshuffle them back to a pile):
10x Show to one police man (at the end of your round) the position you were two steps back
5x you got a tip and bypass a road block (hold the card until you use it and then announce it without stating your exact position)
10x move one area back
10x move one extra area forward
5x you gain $200
5x you gain $100
5x you lose $200
5x you lose $100
10x go to area … (e.g. Go to area 68)
5x keep your money even if you go to jail (you manage to hide them before get arrested)
5x your informant in the police force warns you of an imminent raid (avoid the next police raid in one of your supplied/gained areas. Keep that card secret until needed, i.e. when police raid comes, you keep the area with no fight)
1x die (with 4 ‘bottle’ and 2 ‘badge’ signs)

GAME STRUCTURE

The game is played in a series of rounds between the policemen and the bootleggers. Purpose of bootleggers’ team is to supply the named areas of the board (bars, clubs and storage units) with alcohol taken from the supply areas (Atlantic City port-East, Canadian border – North, Mexican border – South and illegal factory - West).

The policemen target is to catch the bootleggers or block them on their route to their mission as well as raid the suspected bars and clubs and clear that area of the illegal alcohol.
Each round of the game consists of firstly 3 actions of both the bootleggers simultaneously, and then the same for both policemen. No communication is allowed between teams.
The game ends when one of the two piles of destination cards runs out (see set up). The team with the most named territories under their control wins.

SET UP
Before the game begins each bootlegger takes one destination card at random, looks at it and then puts it back. That will be their starting position on the board. Shuffle the supply cards and take two out of the game without looking at them. Shuffle the destination cards and take four out of the game without looking at them. Then, split them into two piles (10 each). One pile is designated as ‘intermediary station’ and the other one as ‘final destination’. Now we have three piles of hidden cards. Each bootlegger takes one supply, one intermediary station and one final destination card. That is the mission he will have to complete in secret. Then, each bootlegger takes $500, and each policeman 3 road blocks.

GAME PLAY
The bootleggers start first and then the policemen go.
Each bootlegger takes his 3 moves on the board through the roads connecting the areas moving:
Firstly, to the supply area written on the supply card in order to buy the alcohol. He pays the price written on the board on each supply area from the money in his possession and takes one sign of alcohol. Two supply areas are marked with $200 purchase cost and the other two with $300. The physical actions of the purchase are made after the end of the each round (e.g. after the policemen had their moves). This gives a hint to the policemen for the bootleggers’ whereabouts.

Secondly, towards the intermediary station written on the intermediary station card. The bootlegger sells his alcohol there and receives the price written on the board on each named area (from $100 to $400). The alcohol sign is then placed on that area. This also alerts the policemen. The physical actions of the sale are made after the end of each round.

Lastly, towards the final destination written on the final destination card. (as the above step).
After the mission is finished the bootlegger takes three fresh cards from the piles and begins his new mission from his last position.

At the end of each bootleggers play they take one action card each. After looking at the card if any action is required is effective immediately unless it is for future use by the bootlegger. In any case they put the cards face down in front of them.

When a bootlegger has no money to complete his mission the only way to get money is to move through the board to the money lenders and borrow money. ($300 each time they run out of money).
The policemen also have a total of three moves but also each has 3 road blocks at their disposal. Each turn they are allowed to move up to 3 steps and/or put on the board or move around the board up to 2 road blocks (e.g. move 2 steps and put/move 1 road block). Their aim is to estimate the position of the bootleggers and catch them, by placing the road block or their pawn on their actual position, or block their road to their next target area. When a bootlegger is caught carrying the merchandise he is taken to the prison (police station of the policeman who caught him) for one round unless he can bribe the policeman with $200 if he has the needed money. The bootlegger announces the fact that he is caught at the end of the round, but not the position he was caught in if he bribes. If taken to prison he loses his current mission, money and merchandise, and gets a new mission starting from any area connected to the prison and $300 if he lost his money. If he is caught while he is not carrying any merchandise (e.g. on the way to the supply area or the money lender) he is not taken to prison nor can he bribe but merely announces his position, at the end of the round.

Policemen can also raid (by moving their pawn to the specific named areas) the areas that the bootleggers supplied with alcohol and ‘fight’ with the bootleggers for the control of that area. The fight is made (unless a relevant card is held by the bootlegger that marked that area) by the policeman rolling the die (which has 4 bottle signs and 2 police budges). The ‘bottle signs’ keeps the area under the bootleggers’ control and the budge signs bring the area under the police control. If the bootlegger wins, the area remains under his control. The areas which are rated and lost cannot be rated again by the same policeman. If police wins, the area is marked with a police badge.