Australia: On the alternative continent with z, the old men are up to mischief
Photo: DER SPIEGELAustralia: build tracks, kill monsters
The game idea sounds completely crazy: a train game, but with military strategy and horror monsters - is it still possible? The answer is: yes! And how! In the outback of alternative Australia (with z, really) there are the terrible old men devised by horror writer HP Lovecraft. To fight them, you need railroads and farms, raw materials, allies and military units. For every action you pay in units of time - and time is short.
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Schwerkraft-Verlag AuZtralien
Inventor: Martin Wallace
Publisher: Schwerkraft-Verlag
Inventor: Martin Wallace
Publisher: Schwerkraft-Verlag
From € 60.00
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Product reviews are purely editorial and independent. Via the so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when making a purchase. More information hereIn this beautiful game, Martin Wallace brings innovative mechanisms to the board - from set-up tiles, with which the game board is repeatedly equipped, to the battle card deck, which also coordinates the monster movement. The players compete against each other, but the old ones can win too - they have their own moves and also collect victory points; if you only try to harm your fellow players, you will quickly find yourself under the wheels. The back of the board offers new challenges. Some publishers would have made their own extension out of it.
Playing time: 30 to 120 minutes, one to four players, ages 14+
For whom: People who can't choose between railroad, military and horror games. Why not all at once?
Hands off: plausibility purists and pacifists, pure lone fighters and pure team players.
Asia: Gùgōng - gifts for minions
In 16th century China, corruption was not a problem at all. At least not if you had the right gifts for the officials. They then gave back small symbolic gifts - so the shape was preserved. In Gùgōng ("Forbidden City") you swap your hand cards for cards of inferior value in order to advance on seven action spaces, place servants and try to improve your intrigue value. Many secondary mechanisms ensure a good balance and strategic options.
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Game Brewer 49039 - Gugong
Inventors: Andreas Steding, Andreas Resch
Editor: Game Brewer
Inventors: Andreas Steding, Andreas Resch
Editor: Game Brewer
From € 46.89
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Product reviews are purely editorial and independent. Via the so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when making a purchase. More information hereGùgōng was initially financed in 2018 on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, which is constantly raising the industry standard: Opulence is a requirement for employment here. The game plan measures an impressive 56 by 72 centimeters - plenty of colorful space for lustful optimization mania. Almost every card has a special offer, as does every field; you can collect travel tiles, buy jade, help build the wall, let ships sail or finance decrees, but you will never manage everything. After four rounds, the player with the most victory points wins - if he has made it to the emperor on the palace track, otherwise all bribes were in vain. This year an extension (Pànjūn) should come onto the market.
Playing time: one to one and a half hours, one to five players, ages 12 and up.
For whom: planners, schemers, optimizers and friends of many strategic options
Hands off: dice addicts, adventurers and option paralytics
South America: Altiplano - Bagbuilder with the risk of addiction
"Bagbuilder" are games in which you collect your resources in an opaque bag and draw a certain number from them before your turn. Because all the tiles feel the same, you don't know whether you will get fish, llamas, wood or stones - you can use everything, but not everything equally well. It's like rolling the dice, only much better.
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dlp games DLP01014 Altiplano, game
Inventor: Reiner Stockhausen
Publisher: dlp games
Inventor: Reiner Stockhausen
Publisher: dlp games
From € 37.87
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Product reviews are purely editorial and independent. Via the so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when making a purchase. More information hereAltiplano thematically leads to the Peruvian plateau, where we try to equip our warehouse, fulfill orders, push ahead with road construction and get tickets that are worth winning. The game is played on seven small game boards, each of which allows a type of action, and your own individual action board, which you can also expand. The material is pretty: The starting player receives a stacked alpaca, and you collect your own goods in a small cardboard box before they go into the bag. Because at the beginning of a round everyone can ponder which actions they want to take where, the game goes on quickly.
Playing time: one to two hours, two to five players, ages 12 and up
For whom: peaceful planners, alpaca friends, constructive collectors
Hands off: Action fans, alpaca allergy sufferers, highly interaction-driven gamers
Europe: Orléans - with wine, cheese and brocade through France
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dlp games Unknown CK009 - Orléans, strategy game
Inventor: Reiner Stockhausen
Editor: PRLF5
Inventor: Reiner Stockhausen
Editor: PRLF5
From € 44.71
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Product reviews are purely editorial and independent. Via the so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when making a purchase. More information hereLike Altiplano, its predecessor Orléans also comes from successful author Reiner Stockhausen. He granted the game several expansions, including a cooperative variant and a campaign game in which the rules change from round to round. Frequent gamers can spend evenings discussing whether Altiplano is the better Orléans: after all, the chance factor is reduced by only throwing tiles back into the bag when it is empty. Or whether the classic is better because Orléans offers more tactical options: With your own playing figure you drive over a medieval map of France, collect resources, build offices and recruit your followers. Monks, farmers, knights, traders, scholars and craftsmen all get into the sack - and are placed on their own tableau. Those who like bagbuilders cannot avoid either of the two games.
Playing time: depending on the variant from 90 minutes, for two to four (with extension five) players from 12 years
For whom: Soldiers of fortune who never give up hope that the next handle in the bag could finally bring the breakthrough, planning artists
Hands off: Interaction addicts (most of the time everyone works alone in quiet pleasure), strategically less gifted
North America: Parks is a festival for aesthetes
The new park is considered by gamers to be the ideal "gateway game", with which one can convince previous non-gamers to spend the evening at the gaming table. This is mainly due to the fact that parks are gorgeous: The illustrations from 59 national parks in the USA, each more breathtaking than the other, come from different artists. (You can also see your work on the following Instagram account "Fiftynineparks".) The starting player marker is made of heavy metal, the animal figures all have the same joker function, are all different, each a different animal native to the parks.
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Tierra del Fuego Games FEU63570 Parks
Inventor: Henry Audubon
Publisher: Tierra del Fuego Games
Inventor: Henry Audubon
Publisher: Tierra del Fuego Games
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Product reviews are purely editorial and independent. Via the so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when making a purchase. More information hereEach player walks with two figurines on a hiking trail and tries to get hold of extras, photos and parking cards. If you rush through nature too hastily, you will notice less than someone who takes your time - this is thematically coherent. The rules are learned quickly, but strategically not trivial. In November, the "Nightfall" expansion will be launched on the German market as "Sternstunden". The modular structure always offers new incentives to play.
Playing time: 40 to 70 minutes, one to five players, ages 10+
For whom: design lovers, art lovers, non-players who are to be converted, missionaries who are frequent players
Hands off: card knockers, party players, fighters
Antarctica: mountains of madness - on the peaks of madness
An expedition to the icy continent discovers relics that drive you crazy - and still has to recover them. The game is based on the horror story "Berge des Wahnsinns" by HP Lovecraft, but that is interpreted very freely - there are a few quotes from the book, the rest is great fun.
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IELLO 514326 Mountains of Madness Game
Inventors: Rob Daviau, Miguel Coimbra
Editor: iello
Inventors: Rob Daviau, Miguel Coimbra
Editor: iello
From € 36.95
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Product reviews are purely editorial and independent. Via the so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when making a purchase. More information hereWith a small airplane figure, the players explore the mountains together and have to solve tasks - while under time pressure, they have to agree on their cards in hand without being allowed to show them to the others. A hindrance: the mad cards that make communication difficult - you can be forced to shout out loud every time the word "box" is mentioned (and it will fall!), Or (very irritating) whenever someone says a number calling out the next higher - or compulsively "Are you sure?" to ask until someone finally answers in the affirmative.
Because everyone is a leader at some point, the problem of many cooperative games is thwarted that only one usurps the leadership. A couple of blank cards for your own crazy ideas are also included.
Playing time: around one hour, three to five team-oriented players, ages 12 and up
For whom: mentally stable extroverts, introverts who want to try out a bit what it's like to be an extrovert
Hands off: people who struggle with tics or compulsions and don't find it funny to turn them into a game
Africa: Bumúntú - tactics with flamingo, zebra and rhinoceros
Games that are themed in Africa and have nothing to do with safaris, pyramids or colonization are rare. With Bumúntú ("civilization" in the West African Kikongo language), Tim Blank has succeeded in creating a lively tactical collecting and running game that impresses with its beautiful material and does not require a pith helmet graphic.
Eight out of ten African animal species cavort on the chessboard-sized game board per round. Each animal allows a certain type of locomotion, the players collect stones that are as valuable as possible while strolling across the field - and try to use a second map to influence the animals' favored order in their own way. If you make sure to collect a few bananas, you will get further.
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Pegasus Games 57450G - Bumúntú
Inventor: Tim Blank
Publisher: Pegasus Games
Inventor: Tim Blank
Publisher: Pegasus Games
From € 32.91
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Product reviews are purely editorial and independent. Via the so-called affiliate links above, we usually receive a commission from the dealer when making a purchase. More information herePlaying time: 20 to 40 minutes, two to five players, ages eight and up
For whom: haptic-loving material fetishists and movement strategists
Hands off: Topical freaks who want to discuss how the flamingo really moves
