Area Movement

From the Publisher's site

Take on the role of a chivalrous paladin or a wise shaman, a holy priest or a vile warlock, a mighty mage or a crafty rogue. Play as a savage orc, a mighty tauren, a tribal troll, or one of the Forsaken undead; become an ingenious gnome, a doughty dwarf, a mysterious Night Elf, or a noble human.

Based on the popular World of Warcraft Massively Multiplayer Online Game from Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft: the Board Game invites the players to choose from 16 characters, drawn from the eight races and nine character classes of the Warcraft universe, and take up arms for the glory of the Horde ... or the Alliance. Travel across Lordaeron, vanquish monsters, gain experience and power, and earn honor for your faction.

World of Warcraft: the Board Game is a team-based fantasy adventure. The Horde and the Alliance factions must compete to be the first to defeat the invincible Overlord – be it the lich-king Kel'Thuzad, the dragon Nefarian, or the demon Kazzak – or, failing that, to be the last faction standing when it comes to all-out war!

Game description from the publisher:

It's Spring 1942, and the world is at war. Five major powers struggle for supremacy: Germany and Japan are aligned against the great alliance of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States.

Designed for 2-5 players, Axis & Allies: 1942 takes place at the historical high-water mark of Axis expansion. Controlling one of the Axis or Allied powers, players command both their country's military forces and its war-time economy, with the chance to plan attacks, marshal forces into embattled territories, and resolve conflicts. Victory will go to the side that conquers its opponents on the field of battle and liberates or occupies the greatest cities of the world. Change the course of history in a few short hours!

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The second edition of Axis & Allies: 1942 features an expanded game board (40"x26"), a change to the unit set-up, five new sculpts (UK artillery, submarine & destroyer units; German artillery; a Russian submarine; and antiaircraft artillery), and a few rules changes, e.g., AA-Guns have been replaced by AAA Guns, ICs have integrated air defense against strategic bombing raids, and Honolulu is now a victory city.

Get ready to enter the poor and dreary Whitechapel district in London 1888 – the scene of the mysterious Jack the Ripper murders – with its crowded and smelly alleys, hawkers, shouting merchants, dirty children covered in rags who run through the crowd and beg for money, and prostitutes – called "the wretched" – on every street corner.

The board game Letters from Whitechapel, which plays in 90-150 minutes, takes the players right there. One player plays Jack the Ripper, and his goal is to take five victims before being caught. The other players are police detectives who must cooperate to catch Jack the Ripper before the end of the game. The game board represents the Whitechapel area at the time of Jack the Ripper and is marked with 199 numbered circles linked together by dotted lines. During play, Jack the Ripper, the Policemen, and the Wretched are moved along the dotted lines that represent Whitechapel's streets. Jack the Ripper moves stealthily between numbered circles, while policemen move on their patrols between crossings, and the Wretched wander alone between the numbered circles.

Italy, late Middle Ages. The fabric merchants need to write down their contracts in a language that everyone can understand and the literates are looking for an alternative to the elite of the traditional Latin language. So, the Volgare, the language spoken by the common people, taken from the dialects spoken in the various Italian regions, starts to gain relevance.
During this period, Francesco D’Assisi writes his famous Canticle of the Sun and Dante writes the Divine Comedy both written in Volgare.

The players will have to do their part in the creation of this new language! But who will provide them the proper knowledge to understand the manuscripts in the different dialects? Who will succeed to uncover the secrets of the books inside the Papal Library? Who will embrace the religious life and who will remain a merchant? Some of the players can become a famous banker, someone else can climb the church’s hierarchy to be the next Pope! But in the end, who will be the most appreciated and respected for his status and his culture?

The aim of the game is to obtain more Volgare points. The players will gain VP from reading manuscripts, looking for important documents like the Canticle of the Sun or "The Riddle from Verona". Players can also gain VP by improving their social status, for example, if the merchant become a banker or the Friar becomes a Benedictine Monk or the Cardinal becomes Camerlengo or Pope.
Moreover, VP can be gotten with money and with the support of Politicians, Noblemen, Abbesses, and of the Amanuensis.

Philippe Keyaerts scored gold with Small World, a new version of his Vinci that was released by Days of Wonder in 2009 to great acclaim and numerous awards. With Olympos, coming from French publisher Ystari Games, Keyaerts has another go at the simplified civilization game. The playing time for Olympos is only 60-90 minutes for 3-5 players, but says Ystari's Cyril Demaegd, "Even if it's a short game, it's a gamer's game."

Players take actions based on their position on a time track, along the lines of Peter Prinz' Thebes. (Says Demaegd, "This is mainly a coincidence because Philippe designed this game years ago.") By spending time, players take actions, with the choices being expansion or development. Expanding brings new settlers onto the game board, which depicts Greece and Atlantis, which lets you conquer territories and thereby acquire resources.

Development takes place on the game's discovery board, with players either buying new scientific discoveries – such as medicine or phalanxes – or building architectural wonders. Each discovery brings you new powers, such as an upgrade in military strength due to the phalanx, and each wonder earns you points.

A player's piety is measured by discoveries, and the most pious player might be rewarded during the game by one of the nine gods included. Similarly, the less pious players might be punished by those same gods.

The replayability of Olympos is huge, says Demaegd, as the discovery board and gods in play will be different each game, not to mention the territories you're able to conquer.