New & Upcoming Games – November 2016

October saw the arrival of Betrayal at House on the Hill: Widow’s Walk, King of New York: Power Up!, Legendary: Deadpool, and Seafall: A Legacy Game among others. November 2016 looks to be no less exciting. If you see a game you want, just give us a call. We can hold it for you if it’s in stock or give you a call when it arrives.

First up is a new Ticket to Ride, one of my favorite games of all time – in all its lovely flavors.

Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails (In Stock Now!)

Ticket to Ride Rails & Sails is the new installment in the best-selling train adventure series Ticket to Ride. Players collect cards of various types (trains and ships) that enable them to claim railway and sea routes on a nicely illustrated double-sided board, featuring The World map on one side and The Great Lakes of North America on the other.

About The World: All over the world, railroad tracks bridge countries and continents, and journeys that would take weeks can now be completed in a matter of days. Seas are no longer obstacles: huge steamers carrying hundreds of passengers sail across the oceans. From Los Angeles to Sydney, from Murmansk to Dar Es Salaam, Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails takes you on a railroad adventure across the entire globe. Note from designer Alan Moon:

“Since our planet is about 70% water, when I started thinking about doing a world map for Ticket to Ride, it just seemed natural to add ships to the game. As I started laying the routes, it also became obvious that I would need some way to accommodate the longer ship routes. The double ship cards were the simple answer. To balance these powerful cards, I decided to put all the Wild Cards in the train deck.

It was tough to figure out what the optimal mix of ships and trains was in the game. That led to the rules allowing players to choose their own mix of ships and trains at the start. Combining all of these elements created a game that has some fairly diverse strategies and what I hope is a totally refreshing Ticket to Ride experience.

Elegantly simple and fast to learn, it takes the Ticket to Ride series to the next level! Veteran railroaders as well as family and friends will be delighted to set sail to the new horizons of Ticket to Ride. All aboard, and get ready for an unforgettable journey!

Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails is a stand-alone game that supports 2 to 5 players ages 10 and up and takes approximately 90-120 minutes to play.

Contents: 1 double-sided game board featuring 2 Maps: the World and the Great Lakes of North America; 165 plastic trains; 250 plastic ships; 15 harbors; 5 scoring markers; 140 Travel cards (Train, Ship, Double Ship and Wild); and 120 Ticket cards (65 for the World map and 55 for the Great Lakes map).

Dragon Rapid Fire: The Fire Crystals (In Stock Now!)

Here’s a game for the younger set: Dragon Rapid Fire: The Fire Crystals.

Rapid Fire and his three dragon friends Flying Spark, Silver Flash and Fire Trail are very excited, as the flying competition through Dragon Valley is about to begin. But the flight to the big volcano is tricky. Now and again a treacherous whirlwind sweeps through the valley and forces the dragons to take a different path. They also need to keep an eye out for fire crystals on their path. It‘s not necessarily the fastest dragon who will win, but rather the one who has collected the most crystals. A fast-paced dice race game for 2-4 players, ages 3-99.

7 Wonders: Duel – Pantheon Expansion (In Stock Now!)

Add a divine element to your games of 7 Wonders Duel with the Pantheon expansion! Pantheon enables you to recruit deities from five different ancient Mediterranean cultures to become patrons of your developing city. Each god or goddess offers a powerful blessing such as fabulous wealth, military fortitude, or the means to thwart your opponent’s plans. Grand Temple cards make the game’s final Age intensely competitive by offering unprecedented points to you if you devote your city to divine concerns, and two new Wonders offer pathways towards victory by courting the favor of the gods.

Contents: Pantheon board, 15 Divinity cards, five grand temple cards, and one Gate card, 2 Wonder cards, 17 tokens, 1 Minerva pawn, score notepad, rulebook, game aid. 7 Wonders: Duel is a 2-player game for ages 10 and up that plays in about 30 minutes.

Five Tribes: The Thieves of Naqala Expansion (In Stock Now!)

Naqala is now a prosperous place. Gaining the favors of the different Tribes was not that easy… but your rivals are not so easily discouraged. Some Tribes now abandon your cause and rally to your rivals instead; and soon it turns out that they follow influential leaders that your rivals hired against you. Yet every man has his price, and you could return the favor to your rivals… should you have what it takes to recruit the Thieves of Naqala.

Add some treachery to your Five Tribes games with the merciless characters of this mini-expansion! The Thieves of Naqala are not as powerful as Djinns, but they can be a real thorn in your opponents’ sides.

Five Tribes: Thieves of Naqala is a mini-expansion for Five Tribes. It can be played alone with the base game or in conjunction with Five Tribes: Artisans of Naqala.

Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne (In Stock Now!)

In Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne, which uses the game system from Cosmic Encounter, you and your friends each command one of the Great Houses of Westeros, pitting iconic characters against each other in epic battles and schemes. Negotiate, bluff, forge alliances, threaten your rivals – use every tool at your disposal to spread your influence, establish supremacy, and claim the ultimate prize: the Iron Throne!

Each turn centers around the resolution of a quickly-resolved encounter between two players which can result in hostilities, startling conquests, and the spread of influence, or the formation of temporary alliances. Although only two players in any encounter will be the active players, your friends might offer you their support – or turn around and offer it to someone else.

There’s more to the encounters of The Iron Throne than the initial jostling for power – even with all the alliances and betrayals it can entail. There are schemes within schemes, along with the bluffs, negotiations, and hidden information that color these encounters as the active players discuss the House cards they intend to play. Of course, there’s a very good chance that one or both of them may be lying, but they can offer, and even agree, to a truce. Or they can bid cards from their hands, hoping to win hostilities with the higher total power.

In the event of a truce, the active players discuss what they may give each other in order to maintain the peace. In the event of hostilities, however, one side will win, and the other will suffer. You might seize influence or take hostages, or you may even have your characters put to the sword. Win enough of these encounters, though – and find the right ones to lose – and you might find yourself in position to seize the Iron Throne.

Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne supports 3 to 5 players ages 18 and up and plays in 30 to 60 minutes.

Eight Epics (In Stock Now!)

Eight Epics is the newest game from Seiji Kani, designer of Love Letter. A cooperative dice game for up to 8 players that’s also playable solo, Eight Epics features a short playtime and expansion content not included in the original Japanese release.

In Eight Epics, the world is on the brink of destruction.  Eight cataclysmic threats have unleashed their powers onto the world, threatening to completely annihilate it. But hope still remains as eight Avatars of Hope – that’s you! – stand relentlessly against the waves of destruction. You must overcome unprecedented crises using the powers available to you along with your dice rolls. Your capacity for heroics is finite, however, so you need to prevent the disaster before you run out of life. The fate of the world lies in the balance. Will you overcome these threats and save the world, or will you all perish in vain?

Eight Epics accommodates up to 8 players ages 10 and up and plays in 15 to 60 minutes.

Love Letter Premium (some time in November)

Love Letter Premium is designed for the person who loves Love Letter. It is presented in a deluxe box with a magnetic clasp featuring a special red velvet tray for storage. Inside you’ll find tarot-sized cards and sleeves for both the classic Love Letter card set and an all new extension to the game that enables play for up to 8 players. Special heart-shaped Affection Tokens are also included.

Love Letter™ Premium is a game of risk, deduction, and luck for 2-8 players.

Star Trek: Ascendancy (In Stock Now!)

Boldly go where no one has gone before. In Star Trek™: Ascendancy, you control the great civilizations of the Galaxy, striking out from your home worlds to expand your influence and grow your civilization.  Will you journey for peace and exploration or will you travel the path of conquest and exploitation?  Command starships, establish space lanes, construct starbases, and bring other systems under your banner. With more than 200 plastic miniatures and 30 star systems representing some of the Star Trek™ Galaxy’s most notable planets and locations, Star Trek™: Ascendancy puts the fate of the Galaxy in your hands.

The great unknown lies before you: with experience a new adventure as your ships explore new space systems, encounter new life forms and new civilizations, make wondrous discoveries, and face challenging obstacles – all drawn from the vast 50-year history of Star Trek™.  Will you brave the hazards of Rura Penthe to harvest vital resources, race to develop Sherman’s Planet before your rivals stake their claim, or explore the mysteries of the Mutara Nebula on an ever-growing, adaptive map of the Galaxy?  With an infinite combination of planets and interstellar phenomena, no two games of Star Trek™: Ascendancy will ever play the same!

The competition for supremacy will widen even more later this year with the introduction of two player expansion sets: the Cardassian Union and Ferengi Alliance. The Star Trek™: Ascendancy base game supports 3 players, ages 14 and up and plays in 90 to 180 minutes. Player expansion sets allow you to add more players to the game.