Card Game

Wizard's Gambit

"Join the Convocation of Wizards in battle against the ancient enemy - The Fallen! Do you have what it takes to become the next Grand Siege Magus?"

In Wizard’s Gambit, players become wizards who take turns placing Magical Components on Spells in a common Spell Pool in the center of the play area.

When all of the required Magical Components have been placed on a given Spell, the wizard who completed that Spell claims it as their own, creating a Spell Book face up in front of them. Once the Spell is added to their Spell Book, a wizard may immediately apply the effects of the Spell, giving him more power to defeat his competitors.

Wizards can further affect the course of play by casting Incantation cards during their turn, which can provide advantages in playing the game. Additionally, wizards can invoke the highest power, the Wizard’s Gambit, to thwart other wizard competitors and increase their chance of claiming powerful Spells for their own.

Each Spell has a point value, which adds up cumulatively to represent their Spell Book’s score. The first wizard to reach a Spell point total of ten (10) points wins the game and is proclaimed Grand Siege Magus.

Wizard's Gambit is a light-hearted game for the casual gamer and for family play.

Caligula

It is the year 41 AD. The emperor Caligula has finally gone too far. An occasional political assassination you can understand, but his personal habits are too much to bear! It’s time that somebody step in and deal with the madman before it’s too late. And if you should happen to profit at the same time you rescue the Republic, well, who could complain about that?

Caligula puts you and your friends in the togas of the true powers in Imperial Rome: the guys holding the knives! Send your legates throughout the empire to further your own plans and seize valuable opportunities. Keep a wary eye on your rivals and make them pay dear for their gains. Marshal your resources with care, and when the moment is right, strike! Secure your favorite on the throne, and all the wealth and glory of Rome will be yours for the taking!

Caligula is the first game by Italian designer Pierluca Zizzi, and the sixth title from the up-and-coming young publisher Post Scriptum. ElfinWerks is pleased to be able to bring this exciting game of plots and politics to America. Do you have the savvy to navigate the treacherous politics of the Eternal City? Or will your rivals leave you banished from the halls of power? Take up your knives for the Republic (And for yourself!) in Caligula!

Dragonheart

Description from BoardgameNews.com:

Dragons, knights, trolls, princesses, dwarves, and other fantasy characters make up the world of Drachenherz. Dragons are searching for treasure, of course, but they're being pursued by dragon hunters, and those are the two sides that face off in this game. On a turn, a player plays one or more cards with the same motif, then refills his hand to five cards. The cards are always played onto the part of the gameboard that has the same motif. By laying out cards, one collects point cards that are already present. This is how a dragon collects treasure cards – but the third dragon hunter defeats the dragon, while a second knight protects the princess. Other combinations await the players, and whoever collects the most points wins.

Drachenherz is part of the Kosmos two-player series.

Online Play

Yucata (turn-based)
Board Game Arena (real-time)
BrettspielWelt (real-time)

Golden Gate

Open up that Golden Gate! Its up to your wits, and a little bit of luck, to make the right plays and pile up the points.

Set down cards in number order. A yellow card means you take a chip out of the Golden Gate. Here’s where you show off your skills…can you place them at the right times to get the best chips? Or will the opportunity pass you by? And don’t get stuck with red cards, or you’ll lose chips.

It’s a fast, friendly showdown for the gold with the fine craftsmanship and colorful designs you’ve come to expect from Blue Orange Games.

Last Will

In his last will, your rich uncle stated that all of his millions will go to the nephew who can enjoy money the most. How to find out which nephew should be rich? You will each be given a large amount of money and whoever can spend it first will be the rightful heir. Visit the most exclusive theatres or eat in the most expensive restaurants. Buy old properties for the price of new ones and sell them as ruins. Host a huge party in your mansion or on your private boat. Spend like your life would depend on it. Spend to become rich! If you're the first to run through the money on hand, you'll receive the rest of his inheritance – oh, and win the game.

In Last Will, each player starts with a certain amount of money, an individual player board, two errand boys and two cards in some combination of properties and helpers. At the start of each round, lay out cards from the appropriate decks on the offering boards; the four regular decks are properties, companions, events, helpers and expenses, with special cards forming a deck of their own. The particular mix of cards varies by round and by the number of players.

Each player then chooses a plan for the round, with each plan indicating the number of cards the player draws (drawn immediately from the four regular decks in any combination), how many errand boys he can use later (one or two), the number of actions available to him that round, and his spot in the playing order that round. In the playing order for that round, players then take turns choosing an action with their errand boy(s), with those actions being:

Take a card on display and add it to your hand.
Draw a card from any regular deck – This can be chosen only once by each player.
Visit the opera and spend $2.
Adjust the value modifiers in the property market.
Take a player board extension, thereby giving you room to play more cards.

Players then take actions in the playing order for that round, with each player having as many actions as indicated on his plan. Actions let you play one-time events (which have a cost, possibly variable); helpers and recurring expenses (which are placed on your individual player board); and properties (which cost money and may depreciate over time). You can often play companions with events or recurring expenses – of course you should bring a date to the opera or a horse on your yacht! – to increase their cost. You can also use actions to activate cards on your player board, possibly with one or more companions and always with the goal of spending money. Helpers and special cards can provide you with unique powers to further boost your profligacy.

At the end of each round, you must discard down to two cards in hand, and properties that can depreciate do so; this is good as a player cannot go bankrupt if he owns properties, and the only way to get rid of properties is to sell them, which regretably puts money back in your hands unless the depreciation was intense or you manipulate the market.

If a player has no money and no properties, he declares bankruptcy and the game ends at the conclusion of that round; otherwise the game ends after seven rounds. The player who has the least money (or even who is most in debt) wins.