New Releases 30 June 2008

By far the most deluxe western ever produced, this leathered hardcover rides into town with 400 full color pages crammed with beautiful period artwork! Yes, the Aces & Eights: Shattered Frontier RPG is the highest quality, most complete western ever marketed in the adventure game industry. Just be sure to keep plenty of tissue nearby - the drool-factor on this product is through the roof!

First, there’s the innovative and visual Shot Clock game aids, which eliminate the abstraction and complexity of other RPGs – a player can actually see the cover, position and location of his or her target! Of course, the Shot Clock game aids aren’t the only innovation in the Aces & Eights game. For instance, the game has a new poker chip-based brawling system that solves the problem of “temporary” damage; characters actually become winded, tired or knocked senseless in the fight. The realistically deadly combat supports an overall game system that rewards characters for pursuing professions, giving players the in-game incentives to do much more than follow the outlaw trail.

In addition, the Aces & Eights RPG is the first western to not just allow, but focus on, the rest of the major western movie adventures beyond the gunfight. Prospecting, cattle drives, frontier justice, and so on, all have a complete “mini game” system tailored for that type of adventure. In fact, the Aces & Eights game has over two score available professions covering the full range of possibilities in the Wild West! With no levels or classes (and only gaining experience in skills used), characters can change professions at will, just like the Old West!

The full-color maps and 25 pages of history provide such details as minor politicians and military officers (based on real historical figures), making the background spring to life like no other game has. And with the USA, CSA, Republic of Texas, Deseret, Mexico, France, England and dozens of Indian nations all vying for control of this alternate history setting, the Shattered Frontier is far wilder than the historical Wild West ever was!

Whether you prefer simple shoot-'em-ups or on-going campaigns, this is the western RPG you simply can’t afford to miss!

This 54-card deck recreates historic 19th century playing cards of the Wild West, right down to the smudges and grime from long use – gritty realism at its finest! This deck is a perfect companion to the Aces & Eights RPG, where you often use a deck of cards to determine random outcomes. Of course, whether you use this vintage deck for faro, poker, or any other game, you'll see that it offers a period feel no other playing cards can match!

Agricola is a turn-based game. There are 14 game turns plus 6 harvest phases (after turn 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 14). Each player starts with two playing tokens (farmer and wife) and thus can take two actions per turn. There are multiple options, and while the game progresses, you'll have more and more: first thing in a turn, a new action card is flipped over.

Problem: Each action can be taken just once per turn, so it's important to do some things with high preference. Each player also starts with a hand of 7 Occupation cards (of more than 160 total) and 7 Minor Improvement cards (of more than 140 total) that he may use during the game if they fit in his/her strategy. This amounts to countless strategies, some depending on your card hand. Sometimes it's a good choice to stay on course, sometimes you better react on what your opponents do.

Agricola can also be played without cards (family game) and can even be played solo.

Contents: 360 cards, over 300 wooden components, 50+ tiles, 9 boards, tokens, scoring pad.

The brand new Citadel Washes have been developed specifically for use on Citadel miniatures. The unique flow properties of the new washes means they are easy to control and will naturally run into recesses, shading your models. This box set contains all 8 of the Citadel Washes in the current range. Each pot contains 12ml of Citadel wash.

Head chef Russell Uppermeal has won the award for the 'Most Ridiculously Expensive Meal' for his battered oysters in unicorn sauce. But .. before he can celebrate he is found dead . .. sawn into pieces! Host your own party to find out who carved up Russell!

The classic vertical checkers game now comes in awesome, hand-held form! Choose between two different games and three different skill levels. Features electronic sound effects and automatic scoring and shut-off!

Fans of the classic ?find a word? game will love this electronic Boggle. Two variations of the game are offered, timed and untimed. You can play against the computer, or challenge a friend. After you have completed a match, the computer will give you a list of the words you have missed.

Forget pieces of paper and pens ? for word game fans, hangman has gone electronic! With sound effects and automatic scoring, once you start playing, you won?t be able to stop.

Now you can take America's favourite dice game with you anywhere you go! This hand-held electronic version features automatic scoring and shut-off, high score display and fun sound effects!

The HMS Titanium is due to launch from New York on it’s maiden voyage and the specially invited passengers prepare to celebrate. But before the first cork can be popped, disaster strikes. Captain E Slost is found overboard, floating on an iceberg with a bullet in his chest. Host your own party to find out who put the Captain on ice!

Néfertiti is set in ancient Egypt, when lords wanted to get favors from the pharaoh, Akhénaton. Hence each player must gain prestige points by sending servitors to the most remote places of Egypt to find the most magnificent presents.

A high society murder mystery set in the cut-throat world of plastic surgery! Ryan O’Plasty, esteemed nose reconstruction specialist, is celebrating his promotion to partner at the prestigious Cuttendash Clinic in Los Angeles. But not all of the invited guests are as happy as he is and before he can say “chin chin” he is found dead in the dentist’s chair, asphyxiated with laughing gas. Host your own party to find out who gave him his last laugh!

Barbarian is a tactical simulation of combat between the armies of Rome and her early barbarian foes, the Samnites and Gauls, from 315-200 B.C. To play Barbarian, you will need the game SPQR for maps, basic rules, and some counters. Barbarian can also be played with the Simple Great Battles of History Rules.

As Rome strove to conquer the Italian peninsula in the Fourth and Third Centuries BCE, her most formidable opponents were not the advanced Etruscans, nor the crafty Greeks. Instead, it was the barbarian tribes that nearly overcame Rome: the savage warriors of Cisalpine Gaul and the fierce hill tribe fighters of Samnium.

The nimble mountain warriors of Samnium taught the Romans the advantages of a more flexible formation over the ponderous phalanx. After suffering a sharp reverse at Lautulae, 315, the Romans recovered and dealt a counterstroke at Tifernum, 297 in two battles representative of the many fierce fights between these implacable foes. The political genius of the Samnite general Gellius Aegnatius welded former foes Samnium, Etruria, Umbria and the Gauls into a grand coalition that nearly broke the power of Republican Rome at Sentinum, 295. This battle, more than any other, decided the fate of Italy.

Even as the Samnites and their peninsular allies were subdued, the Gauls arose to carry on the struggle. Calling on reinforcements from across the Alps, the Gauls invaded Italy in 225 and only by a stroke of fortune was this army trapped between two Roman consular armies at Telamon. The battle that followed was one of the most unusual in all of military history, with the Gauls fighting in desperation in two opposite directions, as Roman armies closed in from north and south. Finally, just after Rome had withstood Hannibal’s devastating invasion, Hamilcar, a die-hard Carthaginian officer, raised the Gallic tribes for one last great battle at Cremona, 200. In the end, Rome emerged victorious and dominated the Italian peninsula from the straits of Messina to the Alps.

14 Battles! 5 doublesided maps. 6 counter sheets. Rules for SPQR and Modules.

Battles (and the modules they appeared in originally):

Fiction:

Questions from your favourite Disney-Pixar films are included - Bugs Life, Toy story 1 and 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. Test your knowledge of their story lines, their characters, their locations and more!

You can take this handy wedge anywhere. Or, if you prefer, you can use these 600 questions with your Trivial Pursuit™ board game.

Includes: 100 question cards, 2 rules cards and 1 Trivial Pursuit™ die.

It's time to settle the score once and for all...bring it on! If you're a man's man - or even a blokey girl - then answer questions from the Guys wedge. That's everything about boys toys, action films, blokey sports, music, TV and of course hot babes! If you're a girly girl - or a bloke - then answer questions from the Girls wedge. That's everything about chick flicks, chick lit, fashion, girly music, TV and of course hot hunks! May the better sex win!

Barbarossa is a two-player, low-to-intermediate complexity, strategic-level simulation of the entire Russo-German War designed by Ty Bomba. The game was originally designed and published by James F. Dunnigan back in 1969. This new edition is an extensive redesign.

The German player begins on the offensive, attempting to win the game by seizing key areas on map. The Soviet player is at first primarily on the defensive, but the situation requires he halt his opponent's push to the east and then, in turn, launch a series of counter-offensives that will eventually move the Red Army to Berlin and the heart of Europe. The game may end sooner than the historic termination time if the German player is able to do significantly better than his historic counterparts by advancing so quickly he causes the overall political, social, economic and military collapse of the Soviet Union. Likewise, if the Soviet player is able to carry out his strategic comeback more efficiently than did his historic counterparts during the second half of the real war, the game may again terminate earlier than it did historically.