booyakajuice

Trans-Siberian Railroad

2020-12-27T00:13:12-05:00

Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 36.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Rio Grande Games
Players	3-5
Playing Time	60 mins
Additional Info	180205/trans-siberian-railroad http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/180205/trans-siberian-railroad/forums/63

In the late 19th century, the Russian government commissioned a project to build a railroad that would connect Moscow in the west with Vladivostok in the east. You and your fellow players are buying shares of the railroads that will expand across Russia, attempting to enrich yourself along the way and not lose control of railroads to the Tsar!

Trans-Siberian Railroad — originally one of three titles in Winsome Games' 2015 Essen Set — shares some similarities with older Winsome titles in which the rail network is already printed on the board and individual railroad companies purchase the links that are printed. Four companies (Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow) are active at the start of the game, with one share of each company auctioned to the players in that order to provide starting capital for those companies. The winner of each auction chooses an unoccupied link from Moscow to another city; each link has a value listed in it, and the railroad's initial income is set to this value.

Once the game begins, on a turn you can:

• Buy stock, specifically one share in one company or one share each in two different companies; the money paid is placed in the railroad's treasury, and when you buy two shares, you must pay an additional $4 to one of the two companies.

• Build links, specifically one link, two links, or one external link (i.e. to a location on Russia's border) — but only if the railroad is public (i.e., at least two shares have been purchased) and you hold at least as many shares in that railroad as each other player. (If a railroad has had only one share of stock purchased, it is private.) You can build direct links that extend that railroad's existing network or you can jump another railroad's links to extend the network in a more convoluted way. When you build two links, the second link must start from where the first link built that turn ended. The cost to build an internal link is $4, and if you jump another railroad's links, you must pay $2 to that railroad's treasury; the cost to build an external link is $8, plus $4 to each railroad per link you jumped.

When you build a link, the value of that link — 2-6 — is added to that railroad's income. Each time a railroad's income marker lands on or passes over a black mark on the income track, that railroad's stock value is bumped up one level. Additionally, when you build two links or an external link, that railroad's stock value is bumped up one level.

• Pass.

When you buy two shares, build two links, build one external link, or pass, you move the timing token one space on the timing track. When this token reaches the end of the track, each railroad pays dividends to those who hold stock in it, with the railroad's income being divided by the number of shares owned, then rounded up. If Red has $11 income and you own two shares and another player owns one, then you receive $8 and the other player $4.

After paying out dividends (and re-setting the timing token to 0), if any railroad has a stock value of at least $48, then the game enters phase 2, which starts with an auction for a share of the black and white railroads, with the winner of each auction claiming any one non-external link for that railroad that connects to another railroad's network.

In phase 2, once you pay out dividends, you check to see whether any railroad's stock value is equal to or less than the nationalization value, which starts at $24 and which increases after each dividend payout in phase 1, each failure to auction a railroad's share at the start of either phase, and each dividend payout in phase 2 during which no railroads were nationalized. If a railroad's stock value isn't higher than the nationalization value, that railroad is nationalized, with each owner of its stock getting one final dividend payment, after which all shares of that railroad are removed from the game. Once all nationalizations are complete, the nationalization value is increased three levels for each nationalization that took place.

If at this point any railroad has a stock value of $75 or the dividend marker has reached the end of the track, the game ends; otherwise players continue playing. When the game ends, players sum the value of the stocks they hold in public railroads with any money they have on hand. The player with the most money wins.

The Vote: Suffrage and Suppression in America

2020-11-16T20:30:05-05:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 79.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playing Time	90-120 mins
Additional Info	312626/vote-suffrage-and-suppression-america http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/312626/vote-suffrage-and-suppression-america/forums/63

The Vote: Suffrage and Suppression in America is a game about voting rights in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One player, called Equality, advocates for the passage of two amendments to the constitution. The seventeenth amendment transforms the Senate into an elected body, while the nineteenth secures the rights of women to vote. The opposing player, called Supremacy, not only opposes this, but also seeks to entrench racist methods of voter suppression, intimidation, and discrimination — structures that will still be in place after the game ends and for decades longer. Equality's victory will be incomplete; it still remains incomplete today.

This game is something of a companion piece to the same designer's 2018 release, This Guilty Land. It shares many of the same mechanical features: Cards are dealt into and played from a face-up events display, with the function of the card depending upon its type rather than a one-off event. Once used, cards can be taken into a reserve, forming a sort of permanent hand that can be used to act and react. Cards are drawn and kept in reserve according to a player's organizational capacity, which is increased over the course of the game through play of an organization card.

Special attention is paid this time around to the tension between federal and state politics. It is through legislative victories at the local level that Equality will make passage of its amendments inevitable. Supremacy not only will attempt to oppose these gains, but can even reverse them through judicious intervention of the Supreme Court. Two elements that separate this game from its predecessor are the presence of passive abilities that trigger when a card in reserve remains face-up at the end of a turn and the use of region cards to perform free "bonus" actions.

If This Guilty Land was about systems that broke in the face of a clear moral evil, then The Vote sees those same systems functioning as intended. Equality can achieve its aims within the system, but so can Supremacy, making the game one of both triumphs and failures.

—description from the publisher

Aurelian, Restorer of the World

2020-10-30T15:28:41-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 72.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	1
Playtime	60 mins
Additional Info	320881/aurelian-restorer-world http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/320881/aurelian-restorer-world/forums/63

The Roman Empire is broken. The crisis of the third century - a decades-long fever dream of civil war, plague, and economic ruin - stretched it thinner and thinner, until finally, inevitably, it splintered. The Palmyrene Empire to the east, the Gallic Empire to the west, and sandwiched between them, the remnants of the Roman Empire. Deprived of its richest provinces and stuck in a series of endless wars along the frontier, it seemed destined, at last, to fall. But in 270, when the emperor died, troops along the Danube did what troops along the Danube always did, and demanded that their commander take the purple. His name was Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, and over the course of his short reign, he would do the impossible: he would put this broken world back together again.

Aurelian, Restorer of the World is a solitaire game from Tom Russell, the designer of Agricola, Master of Britain and Charlemagne, Master of Europe. Like those titles, three cups are used to represent shifting attitudes toward Aurelian's rule; actions you take will move chits from one cup to another. This game is shorter and faster than the two previous games, lasting a maximum of six turns. It's also more difficult. Beyond marching around the map, quelling revolts, and smacking down usurpers, you must manage monies, maintain a strong defensive line along the Danube, make war against Germanic tribes, build up city defenses, and spread the cult of Sol Invictus. You do not have nearly enough time or resources to do all of these things equally well, and will need to make hard choices. If you succeed, you will earn the title afforded to Aurelian by the senate: Restitutor Orbis, "Restorer of the World".

—description from the publisher

The Field of the Cloth of Gold

2020-08-29T16:41:59-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 49.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	20 mins
Suggested Age	10 and up
Additional Info	309752/field-cloth-gold http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/309752/field-cloth-gold/forums/63

In June 1520, at Balinghem, there met the young and glorious Kings of England and of France in a grand and splendid celebration of their mutual friendship and admiration. There were great feasts and opulent amusements, conspicuous expressions of deepest and sincerest piety, and fierce tournaments. Each King outshone the other in turn, so that the world might be astounded at the wealth and power of each kingdom. So many tents and raiments were made of precious cloth of gold, that the field is so named.

This game was created to commemorate the five hundredth anniversary of the world’s most famous three-week party, in which King Henry VIII of England, and Francis I of France, spent ridiculous amounts of money and resources to peacock at each other. Through smiles made of gritted teeth, the game’s two players will express friendship: each action they take will give their opponent a tile that they might use to score. Scoring usually entails removing the tile from the game, so each player must take care to maximize their scoring opportunities while either denying them to their rival, or forcing their rival to score before they’re ready. Once the game is underway, players are generally given only two options, and both of those options are usually painful - even and sometimes especially when they score you points.

A sort of subversion of the point salad paradigm, The Field of the Cloth of Gold harkens back to the feel of the classic German games of the 1990s: simple, elegant, austere, and politely vicious.

—description from the publisher

Dinosaur Table Battles

2020-07-07T14:07:28-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 59.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playing Time	30-45 mins
Expansions	More Dinosaurs, Please
Honors	2020 Charles S. Roberts Best SciFi Fantasy Board Wargame Winner 2020 Charles S. Roberts Best SciFi Fantasy Board Wargame Nominee
Additional Info	305221/dinosaur-table-battles http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/305221/dinosaur-table-battles/forums/63

Dinosaurs, everybody!

This is a game about dinosaurs fighting each other for some reason. Well, I know the reason: the reason is that Mary said she wanted a "dinosaur version" of Table Battles, and she reminded Tom about it maybe once or twice, and so he made it.

Like the original Table Battles game - which apparently is going to be called Human Table Battles from now on - players roll dice and then assign them to cards representing their fighting forces. Removing the dice will trigger an Attack, but that Attack might be Reacted to - Absorbed, Blocked, or Countered - if the opposing player removes dice from a card with a Reaction. The trick is, if you can React, you must React, and if you do React, you don't get to Attack on your next turn. Mastering tempo is key to your success.

The thing about this game though is that it has dinosaurs, and dinosaurs are pretty big guys and gals. So big, in fact, that each dino spans two or three cards, giving them an assortment of Attacks, Reactions, and rule-breaking Special Abilities. Players will draft a team of dinosaurs, creating unique synergies to be exploited and disadvantages to be mitigated. There are over 900,000 different matches possible, and while that might not be enough to keep you occupied for 200 million years, it's probably close enough.

—description from the publisher

Table Battles: English Civil War

2019-09-11T11:59:17-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 42.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	15-20 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up
Expansions	Table Battles

This fourth expansion to Table Battles is on a topic folks have been asking for since the base game was released: the English Civil War. The six battles in this set are Edgehill, both battles of Newbury, Naseby, Tippermuir, and Aldearn. New features of this set include some Absorb/Counterattack reactions that reduce hits by the number of dice on the card, and a Tactical Victory condition that allows a player to win by wearing down the opposition rather than routing them.

—description from the publisher

The Soo Line

2019-07-29T10:18:34-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 62.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	3-5
Playtime	45 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Accessory	Money Chips
Honors	2018 Golden Geek Best Print & Play Board Game Nominee
Additional Info	262621/soo-line http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/262621/soo-line/forums/63

THE SOO LINE is a train game set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. As in many such games, the players invest in railroad companies, building track to increase the company’s income and paying dividends to the shareholders. And as in several of Tom Russell’s railroad games, track-leasing and cooperation is required to get past high build costs, strict hex limits, and tight cube supplies.

Here’s the thing, though: this is a weird game. For one thing, there are only three railroads to invest in, and the majority shareholder makes all decisions when a company operates. This means that when playing with four or five, some players will not be running companies themselves, and will need to rely on savvy investments to stay competitive. Included in these investments are five Private Companies. Privates are seeded with goods at the start of the game and pay a fixed income each round, and each time a railroad delivers goods. Once their goods are gone, the Private closes and the owner derives no further benefit.

If a railroad withholds money instead of paying dividends, its share value drops, sometimes drastically. Given enough time, the stock values for all three railroads will tank - the trick is to end the game before that happens, and when you have the most valuable portfolio. As is usually the case in these kinds of things, the winner is the player with the most money - cash on hand plus the value of your stocks. (Note, however, that no play money is provided. If you don’t have poker chips, greenbacks will do in a pinch and make the game very interesting.)

Also, there is a cat on the priority deal card.

Irish Gauge (Second Printing)

2019-05-02T17:03:03-04:00

Vendor: Capstone Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 41.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Capstone Games
Players	3-5
Playtime	60 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	161882/irish-gauge http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161882/irish-gauge/forums/63

Irish Gauge — one of three titles in Winsome Games 2014 Essen Set — is played on a map of Ireland and is similar in style to many of the stock-based, cube-rail games released by Winsome Games since 2007.

On each player's turn, they can either place a share of one of five companies up for auction, build track (represented by cubes) in one of these five companies, upgrade a town to a city, or call for dividends. The dividends are paid out to shareholders of certain railroads based on how many cities/towns they connect to and how many shares of this company have been issued. The upgrade and dividend actions also affect game length and the likelihood of further dividends for each company. The game ends when a certain condition is met at the end of a player's turn, and the player with the highest sum of money and stock value at the end of this turn wins.

The Grunwald Swords

2019-04-03T17:19:27-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 52.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	60-120 mins
Suggested Age	14 and up
Additional Info	206464/grunwald-swords http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/206464/grunwald-swords/forums/63

Description from the publisher:

The Battle of Grunwald (15 July 1410) was one of the biggest, and most decisive, engagements of the middle ages. The myth of Teutonic invulnerability - already wobbly after the Battle on the Ice - was shattered by the combined might of Poland, Lithuania, and their allies. Though both sides fielded some infantry, and the Teutonic Order some cannon, cavalry predominated. The sudden withdrawal of the Lithuanian forces left the Poles vulnerable, and their dramatic re-entry onto the battlefield may have been decisive in turning the tide against the Germans. Poland is still immensely proud of their victory over six hundred years later, and the Germans were still feeling sore about it into the twentieth century.

This first title in the revamped SHIELDS & SWORDS II series lets two players refight this dynamic and exciting battle. With lots of horsies on both sides, it's a tense contest of maneuver and tempo. The Teutonic Player must protect his camp at all costs, and use every opportunity to slow the enemy's headlong advance. But blocking him here can open a hole over there - knowing where and when to leave a hole is key. His opponent must decide when to remove the Lithuanians from the battlefield, and when to bring them back on - there's a right time and wrong time for both, but in each case it's heavily contextual and dependent on the current game state, on his own strategy, and on his opponent's. The result is an unusually replayable medieval battle game that you, your friends, and your family can revisit again and again.

The SHIELDS & SWORDS II series builds on, and improves, the Shields & Swords series of games (We Happy Few, Stamford Bridge, A Hill Near Hastings, and Our Royal Bones), with a greater variety of unit types, revised suppression rules, and a new D8-based CRT.

Table Battles: Gettysburg

2019-03-20T12:19:49-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 42.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	15-20 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up
Expansions	Table Battles

This third expansion to the popular Table Battles series focuses its attention on a single day: 2 July 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Famous engagements from throughout the attack each get their own scenario - Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard, Cemetery Ridge, and Culp's Hill - while a final scenario zooms out for a "big picture" view of the whole thing. These battles were hard-fought, stubborn, and bloody affairs, often without any decisive result, ending only when both sides were too exhausted to fight any further. That's reflected here, and so it's significantly harder to get a decisive result, and you're more likely to see epic slugfests in which you win only because the other side collapsed an eye-blink sooner.

Charlemagne, Master of Europe

2018-12-17T16:58:58-05:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 77.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	1
Playtime	180 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Accessories	Charlemagne, Master of Europe - Canvas Map
Additional Info	232924/charlemagne-master-europe http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/232924/charlemagne-master-europe/forums/63

Description from the publisher:

At the age of twenty-nine, Charles I became sole ruler of the Frankish Empire. What he did with that power over the course of the next forty-plus years is the stuff of legend. His unparalleled achievements in warfare, diplomacy, administration, and culture led to the sobriquet Carolus Magnus: Charles the Great: Charlemagne, King of the Franks and of the Lombards, and Emperor of the Romans.

In this solitaire strategy game, you assume the Frankish throne, and seek to duplicate - or exceed - Charlemagne's singular genius, while hopefully avoiding some of his mistakes, such as the famous defeat at Roncevaux (immortalized in the Song of Roland). As you conquer new territory and incorporate it into your empire, you'll need to contend with rebels and palace intriguers. Building public works and patronizing the Carolingian Renaissance will increase your prestige and wealth. Along the way you'll need to win the support of the papacy, buy off Viking marauders, convert the pagans in Saxony, contend with incursions from Al-Andalus, build a powerful army, and maintain detente with the Byzantine Empire.

Gamers who are familiar with the game Agricola, Master of Britain will find many similarities between it and Charlemagne: Master of Europe, though this is a longer and more complex game, with its own nuances. The core mechanism of cup adjustments is of course alive and well. Chits representing enemy units reside in one of three cups representing how they feel about your rule: Friendly, Unfriendly, or Hostile. Chits are drawn from the hostile cup and placed on the map, manifesting themselves as overt challenges to your rule. Every action you take will subtly change their stance, blindly moving chits from one cup to another.

This Guilty Land

2018-12-17T16:58:37-05:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 89.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	45 mins
Additional Info	250488/guilty-land http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/250488/guilty-land/forums/63

This Guilty Land is a game about the political struggle over slavery in the United States in the decades prior to the American Civil War. The two players each represent an abstract idea - Justice and Oppression - while a third, non-player faction, Compromise, both helps and hinders them while seeking, insidiously, to maintain the untenable and abhorrent status quo.

This is a card-driven game, but it's a rather atypical variation on that form. An Events Display contains cards belonging to both players and is public information. Cards played from the Events Display have effects depending on the type of card, and many cards can be placed into a player's Reserve, where they can be used throughout the game to take other sorts of actions. The size of one's Reserve is limited to the player's Organizational Capacity. This Capacity can be increased over the course of the game and also influences the strength of a player's actions, the minimum number of their cards drawn into the Display, and victory point opportunities.

The game is asymmetrical in that each player's mix of cards within the deck either play to their strengths or emphasize their weaknesses. Like many of Mr. Russell's games, it is about deadlock, with each side countering the other until one of them blinks. Advantages multiply over time and a single mistake might make your position irrecoverable. Tempo and momentum are terribly important because, at its heart, this is a racing game.

Both players score victory points for passing laws and forming political parties, and Justice scores victory points for growing support for their cause. Assuming neither player wins an instant victory by dominating the laws or reducing their opponents support to zero, the game ends when either the supply of victory points or the deck of cards is exhausted, and the player with the highest score wins.

When the game ends, the American Civil War begins: the game's argument is that the Civil War was both inevitable and necessary, and through its mechanisms, the game seeks to illustrate why that is the case while still providing a deep and engaging play experience.

-description from publisher

The Great Heathen Army

2018-04-07T02:32:34-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 82.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	60 mins
Suggested Age	16 and up
Additional Info	243940/great-heathen-army http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/243940/great-heathen-army/forums/63

The fourth game in the Shields & Swords II series is also the largest, with more scenarios than the previous three games combined. The theme this time is the "mycel heathen here": the terrifying host of Vikings that landed in England not to loot and pillage, but to conquer. They were steadfastly resisted by Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, and three of Alfie's most famous battles are included. His descendents fought off Viking encroachments with varying degrees of success, until the victory of Canute in 1016. The battles are as follows:

Ashdown 871 - King Aethelred and his kid brother Alfred each command half of the army on either side of a causeway, squaring off against a Viking army likewise split in two. Basically two small battles fought side-by-side.

Marden 871 - The Saxons are favored to win until exhaustion sets in, giving the Vikings the chance to turn the tables.

Cynwit 878 - Vastly outnumbered Saxons leave their fort to launch a surprise attack against Viking besiegers; historically, the Saxons won the day and the Vikings were wiped out.

Ethandun 878 - Alfred's decisive victory over the Vikings. A big long battle with horsies and archers on both sides.

Wednesfield 910 - Vikings try to make their way across a river and to safety when they're attacked by the ferocious Aethelflaed of Mercia and her less-awesome baby brother, Edward the Elder.

Corbridge 918 - Constantine II, King of Scotland, defeats three Viking columns one after the other, when a hidden fourth column launches a sneak attack just before nightfall.

Maldon 991 - The story of Byhrtnoth and his "ofermode", which turned an easy victory into a defeat and a bloodbath. Didn't help that half his army ran away.

Assandun 1016 - A pre-game bid for the loyalty of the scheming Eadric Streona may prove decisive in this final clash between Canute the Great and Edmund Ironside.

Battles on the Ice

2018-04-05T23:43:26-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 57.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	60-90 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up
Additional Info	223590/battles-ice http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/223590/battles-ice/forums/63

Description from the publisher:

The third game in the Shields & Swords II series tackles two unusual engagements. In both battles, the "invincible" Livonian Order - an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Knights - met their enemies atop a frozen body of water, and in both cases, they suffered a humiliating defeat.

The 1242 battle at Lake Peipus was immortalized in Sergei Eisenstein's rousing film "Alexander Nevsky", and is probably the first thing most folks think of when they hear "Battle on the Ice". This battle should have been a cakewalk for the Livonians, as their elite, well-armed, ruthless cavalry were facing a feudal army of peasants. But Nevsky exhibited sound tactical judgment, and a deployment of his own cavalry at just the right time turned the tide decisively in his favor. Similar to THE GRUNWALD SWORDS or S&S I game OUR ROYAL BONES, this battle allows the Novgorod Player to choose the exact moment to bring in his horse archers (making their first appearance in the S&S II series). The longer he waits, the more VP he'll score, but the greater the chance that it'll be too late.

The 1270 Battle of Karuse, fought on the frozen Baltic Sea, is a bit more obscure, but quite possibly more interesting. This time around it's the Livonians and their allies against a Lithuanian Army under Grand Duke Traidenis. The Lithuanians use sleds as a defensive barrier, and use hit-and-run tactics to unhorse the bold brothers. Special rules for unhorsing, dismounting, and charging the sleds give this one a lot of nuance.

Both battles see a force that's strong in cavalry brought low by a force that's predominantly fighting on foot. Semi-random force pools utilized in each battle provide additional replayability. As always, the core S&S II system - easy to learn, teach, and play - allows for a fun, fast, streamlined medieval experience.

Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777

2018-04-05T23:42:51-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 71.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	150-180 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Honors	2017 Golden Geek Best Wargame Nominee
Accessory	Supply Lines of the American Revolution - Canvas Map
Additional Info	120265/supply-lines-american-revolution-northern-theater http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/120265/supply-lines-american-revolution-northern-theater/forums/63

"Supply Lines of the American Revolution: The Northern Theater, 1775-1777" is a two-player game of supply, logistics, and deceit set during the first three years of the American Revolutionary War. One player, called the Patriot Player, controls the forces and destiny of the rebellious Americans; the other, the Crown Player, seeks to bring the rebels to their senses. The exact Victory Conditions of the game may vary depending on which historical events the players choose to re-enact.

Many aspects of warfare have been abstracted to focus squarely on issues of supply: protecting, moving, capturing, and effectively using it to further your goals and frustrate those of your opponent. Supplies come in two flavors, and are represented on-board by wooden cubes. Food Supply is expended to move your units, and War Supply to fight.

There is no hidden information, other than what your opponent intends to do, but flexible movement rules allow for considerable bluffing and misdirection. The game rewards boldness but also punishes the slightest error-- that is, if your opponent is clever enough to capitalize on it.

For-Ex

2018-04-05T23:42:17-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 104.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2-6
Playtime	90 mins
Suggested Age	12 and up
Additional Info	227605/ex http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/227605/ex/forums/63

FOR-EX is the game of currency trading. An opaque, nerdy, butterfly-effect game, players take on the roles of international financiers who trade and manipulate currency values. Each of the game's several currencies only has value relative to one another, and these fluctuate according to player investments and divestments.

Players primarily make money by making long-term contracts to trade an amount of currency X for its equivalent in currency Y. Those contracts will be resolved several turns hence, during which time the exchange rate may have changed. But the contract is resolved according to the original, agreed-upon rate, enabling players to make profit. Players can (and should) make contracts promising money they don't yet have, and may use the resultant loans to give them a temporary leg-up (provided that they think they can make up the difference before the loan comes due).

Once the game begins, there is zero randomness; every subtle, lovely tweak to the game state is the net result of the decisions each player makes. The game concludes when a player goes bankrupt, or when the last dividend has been paid. At that point, all monies are converted to the single strongest currency, and the player with the most money of that type wins.

Table Battles (Second Edition)

2018-04-05T23:41:37-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 61.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	2
Playtime	15-20 mins
Suggested Age	8 and up
Expansions	Table Battles: Age of Alexander Table Battles: Wars of the Roses Table Battles: Gettysburg Table Battles: English Civil War Table Battles: The Grand Alliance Table Battles: Doomed
Additional Info	230650/table-battles http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/230650/table-battles/forums/63

Description from the publisher:

The Table Battles system is a light battle game that recreates battles throughout human history with broad strokes and an emphasis on playability. Players roll and allocate dice to Unit cards, with each card accepting specific die results or dice combinations. On a later turn, those dice are removed to activate the Unit and attack an enemy formation, removing wooden pieces assigned to the formation in question. But the enemy may be able to screen the attack (cancelling it), counterattacking (inflicting extra losses on the attacker), or absorb it via a strategic reserve. In fact, in most cases, the enemy MUST do so if they're able to. The result is a tense cat-and-mouse game in which both players make feints and counterfeints, looking for an advantage and acting decisively once it presents itself.

In this base game, there are eight different scenarios and 84 different formations. The battles included are:

Bosworth, 1485
Ivry, 1590
White Mountain, 1620
Marston Moor, 1644
Battle of the Dunes, 1685
Malplaquet, 1705
Plains of Abraham, 1759
Brooklyn Heights, 1776

Agricola, Master of Britain

2018-04-05T23:40:47-04:00

Vendor: Hollandspiele
Type: Board Games
Price: 57.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Hollandspiele
Players	1
Playtime	60-90 mins
Suggested Age	14 and up
Additional Info	206805/agricola-master-britain http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/206805/agricola-master-britain/forums/63

It is the year of Vespasian and Titus - the sixth such ordinary consulship that Titus shared with his Imperial father. The civil war of a decade ago is but a memory, and the Flavians have restored peace and order to all corners of the empire, save one. The people of Brittania remain fiercely resistant to the will of their Roman masters, and the emperor has charged YOU with the seemingly impossible task of bringing them to heel.

Agricola, Master of Britain is a solitaire game of governance and conquest. To master the delicate political situation, you will need the right blend of military force, administration, bribery, and diplomacy. Every action you take matters, changing how the native populace feels about you and your rule. But you'll never know exactly who's with you or against you, because the game tracks this "under the hood", or, more precisely, "in the cup".

Three chit-pull cups (Friendly, Unfriendly, and Hostile) represent the allegiances of the units contained within those cups. After each action you take, one or more of these units are blindly moved from one cup to another. You'll have a general idea of "I'm really cheesing them off" or "I should have a lot of friendlies available for recruitment", but until you pull a chit, you won't know who your friends really are, or where the next rebellion will spring up. This isn't totally random: certain tribes naturally skew more in one direction or the other, and taking actions to stabilize a region after it's been pacified will diminish the chances of revolt there.

Building the right armies, and taking the right actions at the right time is key to your success. But the Flavians - and particularly the hated Domitian - expect greater and greater results with each campaign season. You'll need to meet and exceed them if you want to duplicate Agricola's achievement.

Northern Pacific

2018-03-21T01:39:29-04:00

Vendor: Rio Grande Games
Type: Board Games
Price: 32.95

Designer	Tom Russell
Publisher	Rio Grande Games
Players	3-5
Playtime	20 mins
Suggested Age	7 and up
Additional Info	138704/northern-pacific http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/138704/northern-pacific/forums/63

Northern Pacific is a luck-free railroad-building game for 3-5 players that lasts about twenty minutes. This game is in the genre of Iron Road/TransAmerica and SNCF/Paris Connection.

Players start the game with one large investment cube and three small investment cubes in hand. The game board shows the United States from Minnesota to Washington; game play starts in Minneapolis/St. Paul. On a turn, a player either places one of their cubes in a city (other than Seattle) that hasn't yet been reached by the train or builds track. If they build track, they choose one of the railroad lines exiting the city where the train is currently located and place a locomotive on it to show the current endpoint of the railroad line. Track has directional arrows on it, and a new train line can never move against the arrows or back to a city that the railroad has already visited.

When the railroad visits a city where players have placed investment cubes, they retrieve those cubes and take additional cubes from the supply: one new cube if they had a small cube in the city and two new cubes if they had a large cube.

When the railroad reaches Seattle, the round ends. Players tally the number of cubes in hand and records this number on the "good investments" track; they record the number of their cubes still on the game board on the "bad investments" track. They then reset the board as at the start of the game, then begin a new round. After three rounds, whoever has made the most good investments wins; if players are tied, then the tied player who has made the fewest bad investments wins.

You can play a single round of the game to determine a winner, if desired, or you can play new rounds with no recorded score, with a player winning the game if they win two rounds.