Boulder Games Newsletter

21 November 2008

Just in, but not for long: In the tradition of Formula De and Mississippi Queen, Cwali's big hit at Essen, Powerboats, is a fast and fun racing game.

Rio Grande's Lost Cities Board Game is sort of the English version of the 2008 Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), Keltis. In Royal Palace, players place servants in the rooms of the palace and then collect gold and royal seals or perform actions based on the locations of the servants.

We are happy to participate in BoardGameGeek's Secret Santa program. See our post to the Secret Santa thread to find out what we offer and see the info below.

GMT's Chandragupta, simulates the great battles of the Mauryan Empire — including Kalinga, the battle that changed Asoka the Great.

Note: If you find a game mentioned on this page for a lower price and in stock at another Internet retailer's site and send us an email when you order it from us, we will refund the difference by check with the order or the difference plus $2 by coupon.

On the heels of the hugely successful Pandemic comes another cooperative game that may be even better! Asmodee's Ghost Stories keeps the tension high as players have to work together to have a slim chance of surviving. We imported Formula De in the early 90's and it was a huge success! Strangely enough, some of the most enthusiastic players of Formula De were customers who usually bought only Advanced Squad Leader modules.

If you like Carcassonne, you'll probably like Elfinwerk's Lungarno. Comuni is set in the very interesting Twelfth Century when what is now Italy was a boot-full of city states called "comuni".

The game in World at War #3 is a redesign of SPI's Big Red One.

Munchking Quest is the long-awaited boardgame version of Steve Jackson's big hit—Munchkin.

Fantasy Flight's BattleStar Galactica puts players in the role of one of the their favorite characters from the show, all fighting for the survival of the human race—except one traitor.

Academy's Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear is a tactical-level wargame that is the best synthesis of wargaming and Euro-gaming so far. The Swamp Mapboard is the first expansion for Awakening the Bear.

On Sale: Talisman (slight box damage), Kingsburg, Death Wears White, Vineta, Magnet.

Rio Grande's Leader 1 does a great job of simulating the tactics and teamwork needed to win a cycling race. It's a good game even for gamers who don't follow the Yellow Jersey. The Catapult makes Carcassonne a dexterity game! Strozzi is the third Medici/Strozzi game. In Sylla, players take the role of Roman senators in their quest for glory. The Three Commandments is a party game that is also a brain-burner of a deduction game.

Avalanche Press' Arctic Convoy takes the Second World War at Sea series to the Norwegian and Barents Seas. In Hannibal at Bay, players fight it out with legions, phalanxes, cavalry and elephants.

SHIPPING DISCOUNTS: Orders over $125 get all the shipping charges refunded by coupon. More info near the end of this newsletter.

Fantasy Flight is bringing back Cosmic Encounter, a game that was a breakthrough for boardgaming in 1977 and now a game that has stood the test of time. Black Sheep is a Knizia game about corralling livestock. Tomb of Ice is the fourth expansion for Decent: Journeys in the Dark.

Worthington's French & Indian War adds that war to Hold the Line.

The main game in Vae Victis #83 is Medina de Rio Seco 1808. It is a Jours de Gloire series game. A bonus solitaire game, Somosierra 1808, is of the same series.

In Playroom's Ilium, players dig for artifacts in ancient Troy.

In the Bucephalus' Suicide Bomber Card Game is sort of like a tactical version of that old beer-and-pretzels game of mass destruction, Nuclear War. With the party game Rorschach, players pick the one inkblot card from those on a table that they think matches a question such as "Which of those blots is the hardest?".

Avalon Hill's Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition has a big board and adds Italy and the cruiser.

GMT's Unhappy King Charles uses the We the People system to simulate the convoluted power struggle of mid 17th Century England. Combat Commander: Pacific is a stand-alone game that takes the Combat Commander series to the Pacific. Combat Commander: Stalingrad is eleven scenarios set in the biggest urban battle of all time. Fields of Fire is a tactical solo game in the tradition of Ambush! that lets you re-fight the battles of the Ninth Infantry Regiment in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. C3i #21 is full of maps, counters, scenarios, and articles supporting some of the best wargames on the planet.

Valley Games' Municipium is Reiner Knizia's newest big box game. Supernova is the Oklahoma land rush in space—with war. Titan is an Avalon Hill classic that still has a loyal following—deservedly so because it is a great game! Hopefully, Valley Games has done justice to this new edition.

Z-Man's Neuroshima Hex, winner of Best Polish Game of 2006, is a fast-playing, tactical wargame set in a post-apocalyptic world. Baby Blitz and Early Nights are expansions for Duel in the Dark. In Genji, your goal is to increase your reputation at court by secretly winning hearts by writing love poetry. Wasabi is a light and fast game where you compete against other players to assemble your sushi dishes.

Asmodee's Hurry Cup is a racing game that calls for quick reflexes.

GMT's Kiev to Rostov is the long awaited fifth game in Vance von Borries' award-winning East Front series. Pursuit of Glory takes Ted Raicer's masterpiece, Paths of Glory, to the Near East. The thirteenth game in Mark Herman and Richard Berg's celebrated Great Battles of History series,

Mayday's Animeeples Set #1 is wooden sheep, pigs, and cows for Agricola and other games.

The main game in the ATO 2008 Annual simulates the multiple operations to neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul without invading the island.

Ferti's Siam Deluxe is more than twice the size of the standard version.

Vainglorious' Cambria is a clever, quick-and-easy game with an interesting theme.

In Smartass' Battlefields of Olympus, armies clash to win the favor of the gods.

Rio Grande's Saint Petersburg Expansion adds two expansions to the original game. Mago Magino is a roll-and-move kids game with a push-your-luck mechanic that makes for hard choices. Zooloretto XXL adds just what is needed for those who cannot get enough Zooloretto. Power Grid China & Korea has been reprinted.

Fantasy Flight's Red November is a frantic game of survival on a gnomish submarine.

Z-Man's Middle Kingdom is a fast-plaing card game set in China during the power struggles after the collapse of the Han Dynasty.

Sierra Madre's Kriegbot covers future wars fought by warbots on worlds far too hostile for humans.

Asmodee's Mr. Jack Expansion is a bit pricey but a well-done expansion for Mr. Jack. The new characters make the game much better and it wasn't that bad of a game to start with.

Rio Grande's Dominion is a fast-playing, addictive game that borrows the best elements of collectable card games (but, of course, isn't one). It's already creating a buzz and may be the game that unseats Agricola. The Gathering Storm finally shipped. This is an expansion for one of 2007's best games, Race for the Galaxy. Cult, War, and Creativity is a tiny, new expansion for Carcassonne that includes Jay Tummelson's war tiles.

Carolina Rebels is the first game in Lock n’ Load’s Flintlock series. This series uses a tactical system designed by the Pope of Wargaming, Richard Berg (Berg, not Borg) to cover small battles of the American Revolution, French and Indian Wars, and other conflicts of the period.

Fiery Dragon's Konarmiya simulates the Russo-Polish War during the summer of 1920.

Critical Hit’s Total Axis Pack 2 is twelve new ASL scenarios covering action from Slovakia to China. Retro Pak 1 brings back some oldies that have been tweaked a bit.

Devir's 2 de Mayo isn't a wargame, but is a historical simulation. It's a Euro-game with a stong, original theme.

Elfinwerk's award-winning game, Kingsburg, has been reprinted by Fantasy Flight. The first installment in Fantasy Flight's Epic Adventures for BattleLore introduces the biggest, badest Troll you've ever seen. Ingenious is back in print. The Black Goat of the Woods is the newest expansion for Arkham Horror.

Decision's Highway to the Reich is a reprint of SPI's monster tactical sim of Operation Market-Garden.

Gen 42's Army of Frogs is an easy, quick-playing tile-laying game.

Reiver's It's Alive! is a set collection and auction game for mad scientists wanting to create life.

Don't let the great box art make you think Twilight Creation's Cthulhu Rising will have you trying to summon Cthulhu or prevent his followers from doing so. It's an abstract strategy game with the theme just pasted on. In Bump in the Night, each player controls a group of six bogeymen terrorizing people in a haunted house.

Flying Frog's A Touch of Evil is sort of an easier, faster-playing Arkham Horror.

Phalanx's The Dutch Golden Age has players trying to amass victory points in culture, trade, art, etc.

Z-Man's Magnet is a game of coordinated action and secret identity. Chinatown is another edition of this great wheeling-and-dealing game. Agricola is the biggest hit of the last few years.

Strategy & Tactics #253 is the third edition of an old SPI game, greatly revamped by Ty Bomba using information about the Battle of Kursk that the Russians released in the late '90's.

Games for the World's The World Cup Game Expansion #4 covers the 1974, 1978, 1982, and 1994 World Cup Finals.

In the city of Vineta on the island of Waka-Waka, some poor soul has infuriated the gods by breaking a precious relic.

Minden's Panzer Digest #4 contains three games.

Critical Hit's Dien Bien Phu is an ATS simulation of this battle between the Viet Minh and French paratroopers.

Alderac's Tomb pits opponents against one another in a fast paced board game of monsters, traps, and treasures.

Drei Magier's Cockroach Salad is a fast reaction/memory game that is a fun-filled filler.

Decision's Flying Circus lets you take to the sky over the trenches of World War I to engage in one-on-one duels and multi-aircraft dogfights. Flying Circus Deluxe adds bombers, and campaigns. Lightning: War on Poland depicts the German blitzkrieg against Poland.

DVG's Modern Naval Battles: Global Warfare is a redesign and revamp of the original 1989 game and its expansions.

Express is the English edition of Reiner Knizia's popular word card game.

In Goldsieber's Pecunia Non Olet, players run public latrines in ancient Rome.

Firefight's Zolfaqar's Blow is a look at could happen if Iran decides to take on the US in the Straits of Hormuz.

Late in 1983 the US and the Soviet Union may have come even closer to war than during the Cuban crisis. Schutze Games' First Strike covers this might-have-been war. Illusionary Fortress simulates the Japanese assault on the "back door" of Britain's great Asian fortress of Singapore in February 1942.

Bounding Fire's Into the Rubble is an ASL scenario pack covering fighting in city ruins and railroad yards from 1938 to 1945.

In Twilight Creations's Humans, you switch sides.

Rio Grande's New World takes Carcassonne to the east coast of North America and the westward expansion of the United States.

In Truant's Zombiaki one player is trying to get through a barricade to eat some brain and the other player is trying to survive until the sun comes up.

In Three Crown's With Sword and Shield players are knights fighting in jousts and melees.

The game in Vae Victis #82, Târgu-Frumos, simulates fighting in the Ukraine in 1944. This issue includes an ASL scenario and lots reviews and articles.

Z-Man's Heads of State is a game of nobles rising to power and being replaced through assassination and duels.

Columbia's Texas Glory is a block game simulation of the war between the Mexicans and the Texans.

SECRET SANTA

First of all, you and the recipient must be members of BGG and the order can't be shipped to you. Immediately after placing the order send an email to BoulderGames@bouldergames.com telling us that order # whatever is a Secret Santa Order and include any short message you want on the card.

BACK IN STOCK

Marne 1918: Friedenstrum.... Kutschfahrt zum Teufelsberg.... Price of Freedom.... War in the Pacific.... War in the Pacific Expansion.... Lords of the Sierra Madre.... Lords of the Renaissance.... Glory to Rome.... King in Yellow.... Robo Rally....

PRICE MATCHING

If you find a game mentioned on this page for a lower price and in stock at another Internet retailer's site and send us an email when you order it from us, we will refund the difference by check with the order or the difference plus $2 by coupon (our choice).

SHIPPING KICKBACKS

All orders shipped by Standard Ground UPS for a subtotal over $125 will generate a Kickback Coupon equal to the shipping charge. All other shipping methods (mainly international) generate a Kickback Coupon for 15% of the shipping if the subtotal is over $250. All Kickback Coupons are coupons that can be used on any new order placed within 6 months.

PRE-ORDERS

Early pre-orders get the best deals. Usually, when we make a game available for pre-ordering, we offer our lowest sale price to the first 6 to 24 pre-ordered. Of course, even after we take if off sale, our price will still be the lowest or we will match any lower price (see Price-Matching above) and give you an extra couple of bucks off for good measure. Can't beat that, now, can you?

IN STOCK NOTIFICATION

If you’re anxiously awaiting a new game, or for us to restock a game, we are always happy to put you on a list to be notified by e-mail when that game comes in or is close enough to be available for pre-order. There is never any commitment to buy the game. It’s not an order, and we won’t hold the game for you. Just send an e-mail to bouldergames@bouldergames.com.