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W. Eric Martin
United States
Apex
North Carolina
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All credit for the following Nürnberg 2011 report goes to
Rob Harris
United Kingdom
Surbiton
Surrey / London
who contacted me prior to Nürnberg 2011 to see which companies I'd be interested in hearing more about while he was at the show. I said Queen Games and HiG's Pantheon, and that's what Rob sent me. Kudos, Rob! Now, on to the report, which I've edited due to Rob having typed on a phone while being sleep-deprived...
First, let's take a look at the Queen Games line-up for 2011. These are all 2011 releases without specific release dates, and yes, the descriptions are sketchy for many of these. This is a start, though, and we'll build from here. The titles are:
• Fresco: The Glaziers, which was released in January 2011 in North America and is also available in Europe. This expansion box consists of modules 4-6 for the Spiel des Jahres-nominated Fresco, with players being able to mix-and-match these modules with any in the base game, in addition to using them individually. (2-4 players, 10+, 60-90 minutes)
• German Railways (1832-1872), a new edition of Winsome Games' Preußische Ostbahn, a railway game through German history. (3-5 players, 12+, 60 minutes)
• Kairo, in which players build a stall in Cairo's bustling marketplace in order to attract customers and sell wares. (2-4 players, 10+, 60 minutes) (Interesting to think that this game is still on display given all that's happening in Egypt generally, and Cairo in particular, this past week. —WEM)
• Lancaster, with players as English lords who are supporting the King during his conflict with France, while simultaneously trying to build castles for themselves nad increase their influence in Parliament. (2-5 players, 10+, 60 minutes)
• Res Publica, a trading game from Reiner Knizia that's been published previously by Queen Games and others. This will be a new version of the game, with new artwork and some rule changes. (3-5 players, 10+, 30 minutes)
• Show Manager, a new version of this set-collecting game (with new artwork) in which players are directors who need to assemble a good set of actors in order to put on four plays. (2-6 players, 10+, 60 minutes)
• Thebes: The Card Game - The Tomb Raiders, a card game based on the Peter Prinz board game Thebes (2-4 players, 10+, 30 minutes)
As for Hans im Glück's Pantheon, the game is credited to Michael Tummelhofer, who is in reality HiG games editor Bernd Brunnhofer, designer of the highly-rated Saint Petersburg and Stone Age.
In Pantheon, players enact the comings and goings of various peoples in the Mediterranean: Egyptians, Romans, Iberians, Germans, etc. They accumulate as many raw materials as possible to build monuments to the gods, but the ways of the gods are unpredictable.
On a turn, a player has a number of options. He can choose to travel with his people by using the big wooden footprint piece, then smaller footpints to mark their path and block other players. He can buy materials to worship the gods: dancers, farm produce, impressive temples, or prayers. He can use these offerings to take a god token, which may grant him special abilities as well as victory points. Finally, he may build monuments that are worth victory points at the end of the game. The game lasts six rounds with two scoring periods.
HiG expects Pantheon to be ready for Spiel 2011 in October March 2011 (as corrected by HiG's Tom Hilgert in this comment below). To further whet your appetite, here are two pictures of the Pantheon game board, one blank and another during play:
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