Basilica
Lukasz M. Pogoda; rebel.pl; 2; 45
Duel of master masons. Tile and pawn placement with majority control.
Likely
Carcassonne-derived.
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Twentieth Century
aka 20.Jahrhundert
Vladimír Suchý Czech Games Edition; 3-5; 75-120
Actually the heart of this game are thirty or so auctions;
the tile placement is fairly obvious.
Each player represents a country which begins as just a single
tile smaller than one finds in
Carcassonne,
having no special powers per se, and tries to develop it
so as to be economically healthy and yet free of garbage and pollution.
But acquiring tiles generates garbage and unless you spend a lot of
technology a turn you're probably going to gain more garbage and also some
pollution. Tile placement is followed by occupation of the cities
on the tile. Each occupied city generates one or more of
money, technology or pollution reduction. Cities are connected by
railroads and if you buy a locomotive you can relocate a citizen a
turn to change your emphases. Besides the land tiles there are also
technology tiles which are sort of like attachments because they only work
when they attach to a working city of the same type. They do not
take people of their own. Tiles are semi-programmed so as to get
better and better, but costs are guaranteed to always increase as well.
Includes 45 land tiles, 30 technology tiles and 5 personal tracking
boards. The coolest bits are the gray translucent plastic cubes which,
however, represent garbage.
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Two by Two
Rob Bartel; Valley Games; 2-4; 45
Floodwaters are rising so players move their boats
around trying to find the most matched pairs of animals to put into
their boats, except that rare animals will be worth more
points than others. Animals start the game as face down
tiles and get turned up only when the waters come adjacent
to them, water spreading as a consequence of player
placement of water tiles. Part of the reason players want to
do this is that they get points for it, directly, and the
more water tiles each new one touches, the more earned.
On the other hand it might be more useful to place a water
tile so as to reveal the largest number of animals. It is
allowed to place water tiles on animals, which drowns them.
[more]
Vicious Fishes
Tom Vasel; nestorgames; 2-6; 30
Tile placement of fish in "Johnson's pond", an 8x8 square
grid.
There are 54 fish tiles in six colors plus six two-colored
fish and four rock tiles. There are also two mission tiles,
each of which shows three colors. Racks are provided to
store the five fish in each player's hand. Each player's
mission, i.e. the colors he supports, is drawn and kept
secretly. Fish attack when placed and are directional, most
of them attacking out of the side having the mouth, but some
like the crab attacking on either side and the octopus in
all eight directions. Conflict is resolved by adding
together all of the attack numbers bearing on a fish and
subtracting its defense value. A won battle puts a fish bone
tile in the loser's space and gets a point for the color of
the last attacker. Also scoring are fish that are completely
surrounded but nevertheless survive. At the end players
add together the points of the two of their colors that
performed best to discover their final score.
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