Worker Placement

It is the late 26th century. Earth is recovering from a catastrophic explosion that exterminated the majority of the population centuries ago and made most of the surface uninhabitable due to unearthly weather conditions. The surviving humans organized along four radically different ideologies, called Paths, to rebuild the world as they see fit: Harmony, Dominance, Progress, and Salvation. Followers of the four Paths live in a fragile peace, but in almost complete isolation next to each other. Their only meeting point is the last major city on Earth, now just known as the Capital.

By powering up the mysterious Time Rifts that opened in the wake of the cataclysm, each Path is able to reach back to specific moments in their past. Doing so can greatly speed up their progress, but too much meddling may endanger the time-space continuum. But progress is more important than ever before: if the mysterious message arriving through the Time Rift is to be believed, an even more terrible cataclysm is looming on the horizon: an asteroid bearing the mysterious substance called Neutronium is heading towards Earth. Even stranger, the scientists show that the energy signature of the asteroid matches the explosion centuries ago...

Anachrony features a unique two-tiered worker placement system. To travel to the Capital or venture out to the devastated areas for resources, players need not only various specialists (Engineers, Scientists, Administrators, and Geniuses) but also Exosuits to protect and enhance them — and both are in short supply.

The game is played in 4-7 turns, depending on the time when the looming cataclysm occurs — unless, of course, it is averted! The elapsed turns are measured on a dynamic timeline. By powering up the Time Rifts, players can reach back to earlier turns to supply their past "self" with resources. Each Path has a vastly different objective that rewards it with a massive amount of victory points when achieved. The Paths' settlements will survive the impact, but the Capital will not. Whichever Path manages to collect most points will be the new seat for the Capital, thus the most important force left on the planet...

Build a better future underground in Fallout Shelter: The Board Game, a post-nuclear worker-placement board game for two to four players. Based on the hit mobile game from Bethesda Softworks, Fallout Shelter sees you take on the role of a vault officer fostering happiness among the citizens of your vault. With the election of a new Overseer looming, the officer who can gain the most happiness among the dwellers is sure to lock up the election and attain victory.

As an officer, you'll have to direct your dwellers to where they'll spend their time in the vault, whether it's spending some time relaxing in the lounge, gathering vital resources like food in the community gardens, or battling a radroach infestation in the game room. The choice is always yours, but remember, you'll have to balance happiness and efficiency to lead your people to a brighter future underground!

—description from the publisher

In Topiary, players try to position their visitors on the outer edge of a beautiful topiary garden in order to give them the best view possible. Visitors can see the closest topiary sculpture to them and any behind that, in the same sight line, that are larger. You can score bonus points for visitors who see multiple topiary sculptures of the same type. Players slowly fill in the garden by adding tiles until everyone has placed all their visitors.

The journeys of Marco Polo continue in Marco Polo II: In the Service of the Khan, an epic follow-up to The Voyages of Marco Polo. After traveling to Beijing, your travels now take you back to the West in the service of the Khan, sending you to the farthest reaches of his empire in search of wealth and fame.

Marco Polo II is a standalone game based on The Voyages of Marco Polo, and you don't need the original game to play this one. This new journey will present unique challenges, with new and different actions, new scoring rules, and a new good: rare and valuable Chinese jade.

Retread old paths with renewed purpose, or find new ones as you explore farther west, continuing to build the immortal legacy of Marco Polo!

—description from the publisher

The Space Race was a lie.

Look, it's not that the moon landing was faked. It happened. Neil hates the conspiracy theories. The lie is that we ever wanted to go to the moon. We needed a spectacle to show the people. To justify the massive budgets. The agencies.

Neil stepped on a rock 239,000 miles from Earth. Big deal. I stepped on an exoplanet circling Ursae Majoris 18 months earlier. It's a one-way trip -- so there ain't any going home.

No ticker tape parade for me, but that's ok. I'm here for my country. See, the Russians beat us here by a few months. Japanese showed up a few weeks after us. We'll colonize this planet for America. Because there isn't a choice...

Godspeed is a mid-weight worker placement game of extra-terrestrial colonization for 2-5 players with a 60-90 minute playtime. -- From the back of the box

In Godspeed, players play as scientists from one of 5 nations: the USA, Japan, Soviet Union, the European Nations, or India. The game is played in 10 rounds, each with four phases.

High Council Phase -- This is a negotiation phase where Nations will convene to decide how they will respond to an event occurring back on Earth or on the Exoplanet. The top card is drawn from the High Council deck. Nations then decide to respond to the event by assigning the specified Team Member to the event, keeping them from use during the rest of the round. If all Nations respond then everyone gets the bonus. If not, there's a penalty for those that ignored it.
Supply Depot Phase -- This is an auction phase where Nations bid on Supply Depot cards or the first player marker. Players choose cards in the order of their bids. The player with the highest bid may take a second delivery.
Action Phase -- This is a worker placement phase. Nations place Team Members in Action Spaces to take various actions and earn prestige.
Resolution Phase -- In this phase, the Nations produce new resources and return their Team Members home.

Points -- Prestige is gained on 4 tracks (Defense, Exploration, Commerce, and Infrastructure) and your position on these tracks gains you points at the end of the game. You may also gain points by achieving Civilization Milestones (only 1 Nation may claim each Milestone), completing Lunar Season scoring cards (any number of Nations may complete these), building ancient XenoRelics, completing special objective cards, and for left over resources.

The Nation with the most victory points wins.