Monday, January 4, 2016

Some of Our Favorite 2015 Games of the Week

By Margaret Duncan, Ed.D.

The Histocrats support the idea of incorporating board-games into your personal life as well as in the classroom.  As part of our gaming initiative, we recommend history centric games that are fun to play each week to all of our followers.  The selected games receive our “Game of the Week” distinction.  The following are some of our favorite games we played in 2015. 

Shadows Over Camelot, Days of Wonder
A lone swallow flies across the grey skies of Cornwall. The forces of evil are gathering around Camelot. The Black Knight was sighted atop a desolate ridge; a scheming Morgan plots her revenge; the Saxon troops are on the move; and acres of timber are being felled for the siege engines. And yet Lancelot has all but vanished, with Excalibur yet to be recovered. Will you, young squire, come forth and pledge allegiance to your fellow Knights of the Round Table.  Players work together to defeat the forces closing in on Camelot. But beware, players must be vigilant for a traitor in their midst who is biding his time-secretly sowing the seeds of havoc and destruction. Yet too much suspicion will undermine the knight's efforts to protect the kingdom. These are dangerous times indeed.

Jaipur, Asmodee
My kingdom for a camel! Work hard, earn more than your opponent and become the official merchant of the Maharaja. At the beginning of the game, three camel cards and two merchandise cards are on the table between the players, who already have five cards in hand. On your turn, you can take some cards or sell some. Each time that you take cards, you can take one or more, however if you decide to take more, then you will have to trade in the same amount of cards from your hand that you take. If you decide to take all camel cards, then they can be used later to trade. You can sell all the merchandise that you want, as long as they are all the same type. For each sale, you will receive tokens with various point values. At the end of the game, the player who has the majority of the camels also wins points.

Machi Koro, IDW Games
You've just been elected Mayor.  Congrats! Unfortunately the citizens have some pretty big demands: jobs, a theme park, a couple of cheese factories and maybe even a radio tower.  A tough proposition since the city currently consists of a wheat field, a bakery and a single die. Armed only with your trusty die and a dream, you must grow Machi Koro into the largest city in the region. 

7 Wonders, Asmodee
In 7 Wonders, you lead an ancient civilization as it rises from its barbaric roots to become a world power. Lead your troops to a military victory or create a nation of artisans and philosophers. Establish a powerful merchant state or master the mysteries of science and technology. Build an architectural wonder that will fascinate for eons to come, and rule the most powerful civilization on Earth!

Metro, Rio Grande Games
The eve of the 1900 World’s Fair is approaching, and excavations are taking place across the city. Bizarre-looking scaffolds arise everywhere. Tunnels are built in the streets to later be covered with earth. Take part in the construction of the Paris Metro. Each player works to complete a set of lines across Paris and scores points based on the length of the lines, after all, we want to show the tourists as much of our fine city as possible. When you complete your lines, you tally your points and the player with the most points when the fair opens, is the winner.

Vikings Board Game, Z-Man Games
You are the leader of a clan of Vikings. You are tasked with the scouting and settling of undiscovered islands off the coast of the mainland. To expand your territories and clan, you will need to master the game's clever rotating wheel. The price for islands and Vikings will change as players acquire more of them. The game will be tense until the end and you will need to protect your islands against the ships that sail on the horizon. Are you the leader whose clan will rise above the others?

Lady Alice, Hurrican / Asmodee
Lady Alice is a game of intrigue, flair, bluffing, and mischief.  The players are the Baker Street Kids, children under the tutelage of Sherlock Holmes who must deduce the culprit behind the kidnapping of Henry Morton Stanley as well as the time and place the kidnapping occurred and which object was stolen at the same time.

Lanterns, Renegade Game Studios
The harvest is in, and now it's time to celebrate! Lanterns: The Harvest Festival is a tile-- placement game set in imperial China. Place tiles, adorn the palace lake, and dedicate lanterns in this fast paced board game. Players act as artisans decorating the palace lake with floating lanterns. The artisan who earns the most honor before the festival arrives wins the game.

Moonshot The Game, Limited Edition
This board game is part of a Limited First Edition series, dedicated to the crews of Apollo I and the Challenger Space Shuttle, with a gold-colored sticker on the front of the box signed by game designer Van Overbay. "Moonshot The Game" puts you in command as you develop rockets, launch spacecraft, avoid hazards and earn mission patches in a thrilling race to be the first player to land on the Moon.  The game combines the strategy of a classic board game with the tactics of a collectible card game. 

Axis & Allies 1942, Wizards of the Coast
It’s spring 1942, and the world is at war. Five major powers struggle for supremacy: Germany and Japan are aligned against the great alliance of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Controlling one of the Axis or Allied powers, players will command both their country’s military forces and its war-time economy, with the chance to plan attacks, marshal forces into embattled territories, and resolve conflicts. Victory will go to the side that conquers its opponents on the field of battle and liberates or occupies the greatest cities of the world. Change the course of history in a few short hours!

*All product descriptions are from the manufacturer

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