Conflict-Free Games 15 - Shut Up & Sit Down

Sentinels of the Multiverse

Welcome to the fictional comic book world of Sentinel Comics, where powerful heroes fight dastardly villains to protect the entire Multiverse!

Sentinels of the Multiverse is a cooperative game in which players control heroes with powers and abilities in the form of cards. Two to five players control three to five heroes who must work together to defeat the villains and survive the dangerous environments in which the battles take place.

Ultimately, either the heroes will successfully defeat the villains and foil their plans, or the villains will triumph, and the heroes will be forced to regroup to fight another day.

In Tales of the Arabian Nights, you are the hero or heroine in a story of adventure and wonder just like those told by Scheherazade to her spellbound sultan! You will travel the land seeking your own destiny and fortune. You will learn stories and gain wisdom to share with others. Will you be the first to fulfill your destiny? The next Tale is yours to tell! There is, of course, a winner in Tales of the Arabian Nights, but the point of the game is less to see who wins and more to enjoy the unfolding and telling of a great story!

In this new edition of the groundbreaking storytelling game, you enter the lands of the Arabian Nights alongside Sindbad, Ali Baba, and the other legendary heroes of the tales. Travel the world encountering imprisoned princesses, powerful ‘efreets, evil viziers, and such marvels as the Magnetic Mountain and the fabled Elephant’s Graveyard.

Choose your actions carefully and the skills you possess will reward you: become beloved, wealthy, mighty – even become sultan of a great land. Choose foolishly, however, and become a beggar, or be cursed with a beast’s form or become insane from terror! YOU will bring to life the stories of the inestimable Book of Tales in this vastly replayable board game with over 2002 tales that will challenge, amuse, astound and spellbind you for years to come.

In Pandemic, several virulent diseases have broken out simultaneously all over the world! The players are disease-fighting specialists whose mission is to treat disease hotspots while researching cures for each of four plagues before they get out of hand.

The game board depicts several major population centers on Earth. On each turn, a player can use up to four actions to travel between cities, treat infected populaces, discover a cure, or build a research station. A deck of cards provides the players with these abilities, but sprinkled throughout this deck are Epidemic! cards that accelerate and intensify the diseases’ activity. A second, separate deck of cards controls the “normal” spread of the infections.

Taking a unique role within the team, players must plan their strategy to mesh with their specialists’ strengths in order to conquer the diseases. For example, the Operations Expert can build research stations which are needed to find cures for the diseases and which allow for greater mobility between cities; the Scientist needs only four cards of a particular disease to cure it instead of the normal five—but the diseases are spreading quickly and time is running out. If one or more diseases spreads beyond recovery or if too much time elapses, the players all lose. If they cure the four diseases, they all win!

It”s your lifelong dream – to join the Star Patrol and be part of the crew of an interstellar Starship. You”ve worked hard, graduated from the Academy, and received your first assignment as part of a team of young recruits, confident in your training and ready to be put to the test.

Nothing can possibly go wrong…

You”ve been prepared for anything…

You are the Space Cadets.

Space Cadets is the highly-anticipated cooperative game from the famous Engelstein Design Family (Brian, Sydney, and Geoff Engelstein). It is your first voyage aboard one of the best starships in Star Patrol. Taking control of one of the bridge stations, you are sure that this mission will be an easy one…where nothing can go wrong… yeah… right…

Welcome to the Tokaido, the legendary East Sea Road connecting Kyoto to Edo. Here you will begin an extraordinary journey during which you will discover a thousand marvels for the first time.

Be sure to take the time to contemplate the sumptuous vistas before you: the majestic mountains, peaceful coastland, and vast rice paddies… Let the brushstrokes of nature be an anchor for your memories.

Appreciate the beneficial stopovers that punctuate your path, the restorative tranquility of the hot springs, and the countless culinary delicacies that will astonish your palate.

Bundle together with your belongings delightfully unexpected souvenirs, from the most modest to the most sophisticated, that you gather from surprising encounters that may change the course of your travels.

Time will be your best means to remain clear-sighted, methodical, and patient so that you don’t miss anything on this unique route but instead can fully savor the experience the Tokaido has to offer!

Space Alert is a team survival game. Players take on the role of a crew of space explorers sent out through hyperspace to survey a dangerous sector of the Galaxy.The spaceship automatically maps the sector in 10 minutes. The crew’s task is to defend the ship until the mission is complete. Ifthey succeed, the ship brings back valuable data. If they fail… it is time to train a new crew.

Space Alert is not a typical board game. Players do not compete against each other. Instead, they work together against the challenge presented by the game. The difficulty of this challenge can be chosen by the players themselves. Completing the most difficult missions requires close teamwork. I have learned that the labels on some of the CDs have been switched. The information on the two discs is correct, just the labels are switched.

Each age has its special challenges. The stone age was shaped by the emergence of agriculture, the processing of useful resources, and by the building of simple huts. Trade begins and grows and civilization takes root and spreads. In addition, traditional abilities like skillful hunting are in demand, in order to be able to nourish the growing population.

The goal of the players is to master all these challenges. There are many ways to do so, so everyone can work to achieve his goal in his own way.

Find your own way and learn at the end whether it was the best way.

Horrific monsters and spectral presences lurk in manors, crypts, schools, monasteries, and derelict buildings near Arkham, Massachusetts. Some spin dark conspiracies while others wait for hapless victims to devour or drive insane. It’s up to a handful of brave investigators to explore these cursed places and uncover the truth about the living nightmares within.

Designed by Corey Konieczka, Mansions of Madness is a macabre game of horror, insanity, and mystery for two to five players. Each game takes place within a pre-designed story that provides players with a unique map and several combinations of plot threads. These threads affect the monsters that investigators may encounter, the clues they need to find, and which climactic story ending they will ultimately experience. One player takes on the role of the keeper, controlling the monsters and other malicious powers within the story. The other players take on the role of investigators, searching for answers while struggling to survive with their minds intact.

Do you dare enter the Mansions of Madness?

Life in the village is hard – but life here also allows the inhabitants to grow and prosper as they please. One villager might want to become a friar. Another might feel ambitious and strive for a career in public office. A third one might want to seek his luck in distant lands.

Each player will take the reins of a family and have them find fame and glory in many different ways. There is one thing you must not forget, however: Time will not stop for anyone and with time people will vanish. Those who will find themselves immortalized in the village chronicles will bring honor to their family and be one step closer to victory.

Village is a game full of tactical challenges. A smart and unique new action mechanism is responsible for keeping turns short and yet still tactically rich and full of difficult decisions. Also unique is the way this game deals with the delicate subject of death; as a natural and perpetual part of life in the village, thoughts of death will keep you focused on smart time-management.

The Cave is a board game in which players take on the roles of speleologist teams, who are going to explore a newly discovered cave. Players start from a base and explore a cave tunnel after a tunnel, effectively building the cave (the board). They have to overcome steep descents, underworld lakes and very narrow passages. They will be given a chance to admire wonders of the underground like halls full of stalactites.

To make it all possible they must take right supplies with them, like ropes, oxygen and batteries. Many times they will have to go back to the base to plan a next move and replenish resources. When the cave is fully explored, the player, who made the biggest effort in the most spectacular way, wins the game.

Each turn players have five action points to use for moving, discovering new cave tiles, exploring them, and packing their backpacks when they go back to the starting base. They need ropes for descents, oxygen to explore underwater parts, and a camera to photograph underground wonders. Planning what to take with them is one of the most important things in the game. Each turn that their pawn is not in the starting base, players must use (i.e., throw out) one basic supply from their backpack; these costs, along with the expenditure of other supplies during exploration, forces them to return to the starting base a few times during the game. To keep them from having to carry everything, though, players can raise a camp somewhere in the tunnels where they can store some of the equipment.

The cave differs every game, so players have to be prepared for everything or they will lose time. Players earn points for exploring different tiles: underwater, wondrous, descents, and so on – but to win they’ll need to acquire bonus prizes for exploring the most tiles of each type. This make decision-making during trips very difficult.

When the cave is fully explored, the player who made the biggest effort in the most spectacular way wins the game.

Sentinels of the Multiverse

Tales of the Arabian Nights

Pandemic

Space Cadets

Tokaido

Space Alert

Stone Age

Mansions of Madness

Village

The Cave

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