Board Game Posts

Manuel Da Maia (the Builder)

(1677 -1768) Manuel da Maia was the kingdom's master builder.

He had the responsibility of choosing, approving, and managing every new architectural project in the city.

He also chose the architects and engineering teams involved in the projects. He immediately recruited two chief architects to rebuild Lisboa:

Architect Eugénio dos Santos, who was the main architect behind downtown projects and the Praça do Comércio, one of the most important works of Lisboa.

Architect Carlos Mardel, who was also the main architect of Ribeira das Naus, used to build the Ships headed for Brazil, and is credited for the Rossio and many other city projects since. …

Game Board

The center of La Granja's game board depicts Esporles' market place. It consists of hexagonal market spaces, where each space has a number (value) between 2 and 6. Market spaces featuring an "X" cannot be entered in a 2- or 3-player game.

Six craft buildings are located at the edge of the market. Four different rows of symbols (one per player) are assigned to each craft building. Each player may deliver farm goods or trade commodities to each craft building as denoted by the symbols. Craft markers are stacked on their respective spaces next to the symbol rows. …

In Kingdoms, players try to collect the most gold by establishing castles in the richest regions of the realm while avoiding hazards like dragons, swamps, and trolls.

Components

Each copy of Kingdoms contains the following:

• 40 Plastic Castles
• 1 Game Board
• 64 Cardboard Tokens
• 12 Resource Tiles
• 6 Hazard Tiles
• 2 Mountain Tiles
• 1 Dragon Tile
• 1 Gold Mine Tile
• 1 Wizard Tile
• Rulebook

Object of the Game

The object of Kingdoms is to collect the most gold over three rounds by placing castles on the board in the same rows or columns as valuable resource tiles. …

Rivaling sheep herds are battling it out to control the most space of Farmer Pat's pastures. Watch out for sneaky sheep and plan your moves carefully to advance your herd and fence out the foe. Conquer the most pastures to win this fast-moving strategy game. Remember, the grass is always greener for strategic sheep!

Components

• 16 Pasture Boards (Each hexagon represents one pasture)
• 64 Sheep Tokens (16 of each color)

Setup

1. Each player takes 16 sheep tokens of the same color and stacks them all into one sheep stack. …

Q: How many cards can I play during my turn?

A: As many as you are capable of playing from your hand.

Q: Do I have to play a Gub when I draw one?

A: No, the only cards that must be played immediately when they are drawn are Event cards. Keeping Gubs in your hand can be a valuable strategy, but don't forget that your hand is not safe! Certain cards can cause you to lose it.

Q: How do I play the Cricket Song?

A: This card can be confusing to new players who are not yet familiar with all the different types of cards in the deck. Basically, this is a Wild card that can be used as any Hazard, Tool, or In- terrupt card that is discarded immediately. It cannot be an Event, Gub, Barricade, or Trap card. …

In La Granja, 1-4 players control small farms by the Alpich pond near the village of Esporles on the island of Majorca

During the course of the game, players develop their farms and deliver goods to the village as they vie to earn the title of La Granjafor their country estate. Timing is critical!

La Granjais a fascinating game that requires careful planning. Successful players must learn to cope with the vagaries of the dice and cards.

Components

Each copy of La Granja contains: …

Object of the Game

The object of Hive: Venom is the same as Hive: Original except you can win by either surrounding your opponent's Queen Bee or Queen Wasp.

Setup

Each player takes all 14 pieces of one colour and places them any side up in front of them.

Game Play

Each of the original Hive pieces has a Hive: Venom piece on the reverse side.

The rules are exactly the same as the original Hive except a player can either choose to place, move or flip a piece. You can choose which side to play face up except with the Queen Bee which must always be placed facing up. …

2-player Changes

To allow for a more dynamic and exciting 2-player experience, between each player's turn they add a Vehicle card to a random Worm.

This extra Distraction may cause a Worm to attack or potentially disrupt a player's perfect plans. Each turn will have a new 4th step: Roll for a Worm.

Roll for a Worm

After you have completed your normal turn, and before resolving Worm attacks, roll 1 coordinate die.

The Terror zone is marked with 3 sets of numbers that indicate which Worm is affected by the roll (1-2, 3-4, 5-6). …

Mushroom

Fish

Ruit

Rope

Clay Pot

Paper

Ore

Amethyst

Village Points: The player with the most village points at the end of the game is the winner. A card with this symbol would give 3 extra village points.

Coins: Coins are used to purchase build- ings and train new villagers. They can also be used in some encounters

Beds: For each bed symbol on a card a player owns, he may move one villager from "injured" to "exhausted" OR "exhaust- ed" to "ready" on his player board. …

The solo game differs only in a few aspects from the multiplayer game. Each game takes about 15 minutes. For a particularly exciting challenge, you can play up to three successive games.

Setup

Shuffle the 6 Forest Floors and take 1 Forest Floor and 1 Backpack. Return the remaining Forest Floors, Backpacks, the start player marker, and the Bush to the box. You will not need them for your solo game(s).

Flip the two game board halves to the solo game side and place them next to each other in the middle of the table. Randomly split up the Leaf tiles into 3 stacks of 25 tiles. …