variable player powers

In the land of Terra Mystica dwell 14 different peoples in seven landscapes, and each group is bound to its own home environment, so to develop and grow, they must terraform neighboring landscapes into their home environments in competition with the other groups.

Terra Mystica is a game with very little luck that rewards strategic planning. Each player governs one of the 14 groups. With subtlety and craft, the player must attempt to rule as great an area as possible and to develop that group's skills. There are also four religious cults in which you can progress. To do all that, each group has special skills and abilities.

Taking turns, the players execute their actions on the resources they have at their disposal. Different buildings allow players to develop different resources. Dwellings allow for more workers. Trading houses allow players to make money. Strongholds unlock a group's special ability, and temples allow you to develop religion and your terraforming and seafaring skills. Buildings can be upgraded: Dwellings can be developed into trading houses; trading houses can be developed into strongholds or temples; one temple can be upgraded to become a sanctuary. Each group must also develop its terraforming skill and its skill with boats to use the rivers. The groups in question, along with their home landscape, are:

Desert (Fakirs, Nomads)
Plains (Halflings, Cultists)
Swamp (Alchemists, Darklings)
Lake (Mermaids, Swarmlings)
Forest (Witches, Auren)
Mountain (Dwarves, Engineers)
Wasteland (Giants, Chaos Magicians)

Proximity to other groups is a double-edged sword in Terra Mystica. Being close to other groups gives you extra power, but it also means that expanding is more difficult...

Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster is a fast-paced tactical miniatures game for two players. Survival horror at its finest, game play is fast and bloody, creating urgency and claustrophobic terror as the Vanguard fight for their lives against an unrelenting Strain.

Battle for Alabaster is a survival horror themed tactical science fiction miniatures game from Studio McVey. Pitting the stalwart Vanguard and the horrific Strain against one another in a miniatures board-game for two players, Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster is exciting and easy to learn and calls to miniature enthusiasts, hobbyists and gamers everywhere.

Featuring an innovative one-roll resolution system, and reactive game-play turn that keeps all players always on alert and ready for action, as well as infection and mutation game mechanisms, the game is unique and revolutionary. Featuring beautiful models from some of the most talented sculptors in the industry, the furious action and deep tactical play in Battle for Alabaster marry the best of board game and miniature design!

Dust is a strategy board game of conquest and control. Seize power sources and capitals, develop your infrastructure, and build and wield vast, high-tech armies in your bid for global domination.

Players will probably recognize the map as that of Earth, but what they will not see are any borders or nations. In the world of Dust, the unending war and the new technologies have altered the political face of Earth beyond all recognition.

At the beginning of each turn, players select a card from their hand. This card represents their strategy for the coming turn and to a large extent dictates the actions a player can take.

During their production phase, players spend production points to buy additional factories and units. Each individual unit type has its own unique statistics and effects, so players have to carefully consider the composition of their armies.

In combat, players alternate rolling dice and destroying units until one side has been eliminated (either due to casualties or retreats) or a cease-fire is declared.

At the end of each game round, players score victory points for power sources, capitals, and majorities they control. The player who controls the most land areas earns bonus victory points, as does the player who controls the most sea areas and the player who controls the most production centers. The first player to amass a set number of victory points while also controlling a capital is the winner.

Only once a player has amassed at least half the victory points required to win can he or she attack an enemy capital. Once the war has been so escalated, however, then all players are free to attack capitals.

Dust English Rules http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/Dust/Dust_Rulebook_Prem_En...
Backstage http://www.kaleidosgames.com

Build a galactic empire... In the depths of space, the alien races of the Cosmos vie with each other for control of the universe. Alliances form and shift from moment to moment, while cataclysmic battles send starships screaming into the warp. Players choose from dozens of alien races, each with its own unique power to further its efforts to build an empire that spans the galaxy.

Many classic aliens from earlier editions of this beloved game return, such as the Oracle, the Loser, and the Clone. Newly discovered aliens also join the fray, including Remora, Mite, and Tick-Tock. This classic game of alien politics returns from the warp once more.

In Cosmic Encounter, each player is the leader of an alien race. On a player's turn, he or she becomes the offense. The offense encounters another player on a planet by moving a group of his or her ships through the hyperspace gate to that planet. The offense draws from the destiny deck which contains colors, wilds and specials. He or she then takes the hyperspace gate and points at one planet in the system indicated by the drawn destiny card. The offense vs. the defenses ships are in the encounter and both sides are able to invite allies, play an encounter card as well as special cards to try and tip the encounter in their favor.

The object of the game is to establish colonies in other players' planetary systems. Players take turns trying to establish colonies. The winner(s) are the first player(s) to have five colonies on any planets outside his or her home system. A player does not need to have colonies in all of the systems, just colonies on five planets outside his or her home system. These colonies may all be in one system or scattered over multiple systems. The players must use force, cunning, and diplomacy to ensure their victory.

From Pyramid's Industry News, October 10, 2003:

Ideology is a 2-5 player game where each player symbolizes one of the 20th Century's most powerful Ideologies -- Capitalism, Islamic Fundamentalism, Imperialism, Communism, or Fascism. Starting with one global region completely under its sway, each Ideology attempts to influence and control the independent regions of the earth.

Each Ideology will use economic, cultural, and military influence to bring countries under control. If a player has influence in a country in which you have influence, you can both engage in economic, cultural, and military conflict (depending on your diplomatic stance toward each other) to knock out your opponent's influence. You can also purchase Advancements like Propaganda, Tactics, etc. to make it harder for an opponent to conflict you or to make it easier for you to influence a country.

The goal is to posses a Global Influence of 12 or more.

Components:
12" × 24" color world paper map (used as reference mostly.Deleted from the second edition)
5 Ideology cards
43 Region cards
225 Influence cards
85 Advancement cards
125+ counters