Hand Management

Viticulture

In Viticulture, the players find themselves in the roles of people in rustic, pre-modern Tuscany who have inherited meager vineyards. They have a few plots of land, an old crushpad, a tiny cellar, and three workers. They each have a dream of being the first to call their winery a true success.

The players are in the position of determining how they want to allocate their workers throughout the year. Every season is different on a vineyard, so the workers have different tasks they can take care of in the summer and winter. There's competition over those tasks, and often the first worker to get to the job has an advantage over subsequent workers.

Fortunately for the players, people love to visit wineries, and it just so happens that many of those visitors are willing to help out around the vineyard when they visit as long as you assign a worker to take care of them. Their visits (in the form of cards) are brief but can be very helpful.

Using those workers and visitors, players can expand their vineyards by building structures and planting vines (vine cards) and filling wine orders (wine order cards), players work towards the goal of running the most successful winery in Tuscany.

Urbania

Game description from the publisher:
In Urbania the city center has seen glory in its past. But the future calls to you for renewal! Build the new city upon the old, and forge ahead with progress, hammering new profits from those old foundations! Plan a new landscape and garner power and prestige to yourself!

TPOC: The Politics of Cannibals

Welcome to the cannibal village of Tpoc!

Disaster befalls the village when the latest chief of the village has died! Play the role of an ambitious young cannibal who wants to become the next chieftain by finding out the issues that are the most important to the members of the tribe. You need to both convince the majority that you have their best interests in mind, and serve those who support your rivals at your next meal. Once all the villagers who will be on the tribal counsel are identified, they will hold a vote for the next chieftain of Tpoc. Finally you will learn if the villagers will raise you to the position you deserve.., or if you have fallen out of favor, and into flavor!

TPOC (The Politics of Cannibals) is a card and tile driven game for 3 - 5 players. You will play cards from your hand to the table before you to show your political "Platform." As the game progresses, tiles will be drawn from a bag to indicate how certain members of the tribe feel on one of 6 different issues such as (Religion, Farming, Labor, Trade, Cultural Identity, and Warfare.) Does a villager dare to challenge you? throw them into the POT! Each player must also be aware that at any time, one of the leaders of these six areas may decide to endorse the strongest candidate in their given area.
At game end, the player whose platform cards best match the tiles in play wins the game.

Lyssan

It is an empire of changing flags. The old crown fell, and many stepped forward to claim it. That was two centuries ago.

Now the barons and the princes swear loyalty to whichever claimant-emperor garrisons the nearest army today. The clergy sell their sermons for the highest bidder, and spies whisper promises to mercenary generals.

You are the one true ruler of the broken Empire of Lyssan, and it's up to you to put the pretenders (the other players) in their place before their endless squabbling tears your nation apart. You (and others) will attempt to take control by using castles, knights, nobles, priests, and spies:

Knights hold territory and fight masterfully.
Nobles hold territory, support priests, and fight poorly.
Castles hold territory, spawn new units, and protect knights and nobles.
Priests manipulate influence and support spies.
Spies assassinate priests and other spies, and have the devastating power to steal other players' court cards.

Lyssan is an intense board game of strategy, cooperation, and betrayal for two to four players. The winner is the player who claims the most trophies, and each trophy can only be claimed by a single player. One trophy card might call for the player to control the most mines, the next to have most spies deployed, and the next to have the most sophisticated court. An upcoming trophy is revealed each turn, requiring strength, cunning, and adaptability to win.

Lyssan combines tightly designed euro-style rules with the interactivity and flavor of an epic wargame. Lyssan has slim rules comparable to many family friendly games. Yet the play is as rich and interactive as the crunchiest, most grognard-friendly wargames. And Lyssan plays fast. A typical game of Lyssan runs a full hour quicker than comparable games.

Lyssan combines:
A map to be conquered (like Risk)...
...with a few different unit types that act a few different ways each (like Chess or Diplomacy) ...
...with cards that let players pull off devastating surprise moves or permanently improve their abilities. To play one card, you discard others. (Like Race for the Galaxy) These cards can be very powerful, but they can also be stolen by spies. The whole landscape of the game can change in the blink of an eye as ownership of a card changes hands. Get one of your spies into a rival's castle, and you can take over his improvements or turn his own followers against him.

All interrupting effects have been stripped out of the game, so each player can complete their turn quickly, without waiting for the others. The game has been designed from the start to allow timed play, like a tournament chess match. This is good for players who want extra-brisk play, or who just have one slowpoke at the table who needs to be reined in.