BOARD & CARD GAMES
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Exclusive KRAKEN Demo with the Designer

Cthulhu Wars

Designer: Sandy Petersen
Host: Sandy Petersen

Cthulhu Wars is a fun, competitive strategy game in which 3 to 5 players produce cultists and monsters, build mystic gates and awaken Great Old Ones. The players earn spellbooks, try to destroy their enemies, and capture their bases. Each faction has its own unique set of monsters, spells, and its own Great Old One(s). The game features over 60 highly detailed monster miniatures!


The prototype of Cthulhu Wars with miniatures at the Messe SPIEL' 13 in Essen.
Picture by Gato.

Exclusive KRAKEN Demo & Playtest with the Designer

Gods War

Designer: Sandy Petersen
Hosts: Sandy Petersen & Jeff Richard

Gods War is a competitive strategy game based on the vigorous mythic realm of Glorantha in which 3 to 5 players summon minions and gods, build temples and shrines, and cast spells. The players go on heroquests, gather mystic runes, try to destroy their enemies, and capture their territory. Each faction has its own unique set of spells, mortal units and immortal gods.

Axis & Allies: Classic

Designer: Larry Harris
Hosts: Peter & Fabian

1942, the world is at war! Come and battle out WWII with General Peter von Küsell and Feldmarschall Fabian von Küchler. Playing Axis & Allies has become another KRAKEN tradition. Will the Schloss management prevail again against the overwhelming forces of THE KRAKEN team? The game will be set-up and then be run all KRAKEN. Turns will played in the gaming breaks. Yeah, that is how we roll.

Eldritch Horror

Designer: Corey Konieczka & Nikki Valens
Host: Simon Wray

Eldritch Horror is a co-operative game of terror & adventure in which 1-8 adventurers race around the globe solving mysteries, gathering clues and battling dark denizens of the Cthulhu Mythos in order to save the world from an ancient and unspeakable evil. This is a challenging game set in the much-loved Lovecraft world that Krakeneers will be familiar with. Although reasonably complex, the rules are well written and clearly presented, allowing new players to get playing quickly. The gameplay is smooth and analysis-paralysis is kept to a minimum. It scales well from 1 to 8 players, but the sweet spot is 4-5. The version I'll bring should include the soon-to-be-released Forsaken Lore expansion and I've re-engineered my box to allow for quick set-up and pack-away.

Lords of Waterdeep

Designer: Peter Lee & Rodney Thompson
Host: Simon Wray

Lords of Waterdeep is a competitive worker-placement game set in the dungeons and dragons universe. I brought this to THE KRAKEN 2012 and it was reasonably well received. It's both quick to learn and the gameplay goes round quite quickly. The setting is familiar to most gamers and one-time players will easily be able to teach others how to play. Since the last KRAKEN, the Scoundrels of Skullport expansion has been released and added some excellent new options for players to explore.

Poker

Designer: The French
Dealer: Fork

Sit down at the poker table with THE KRAKEN team. Can you deal with what you have been dealt? Who will take the jackpot this time? Cards, pokerchips and table provided - alas handguns, summoned monsters and befuddle spells are prohibited. We play for sanity not money, by the way.

Rules: (Texas Hold'em)


Do not let the looks fool you. Evil Nolte always plays a foul hand.


Nothing more relaxing then a round of poker after battling the Mythos all day.

Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga

Designer: Steve Kendall & Phil Kendall
Host: Simon Wray

Fire & Axe: A Viking Saga is a game spanning the time of the Viking Sagas. The epic journeys that led Norsemen to raid, trade and settle over the known and unknown territories of the northern hemisphere. You command your warriors and map out your strategy - only the strongest, most courageous and luckiest will triumph. Players spend action-points to load their longboats with crew and goods, then decide where to put to sea and whether they will raid, trade or settle at the many towns and settlements throughout the Viking world.

Mundus Novus

Designer: Bruno Cathala & Serge Laget
Host: Simon Wray

In Mundus Novus, you will be trading commodities, enlisting the aid of famous conquistadors, hiring extra Caravels to carry more goods, building warehouses and more, all with the goal of earning 75 Doubloons or creating the 'perfect combination' of goods to become the best merchant at the table. Gameplay involves a good auction mechanic and the trade cards can be used in different ways in your quest for victory. It's important to watch just how the other players are looking to win the game as victory can come quickly. Mundus Novus is a straightforward but engaging game, equally good with 3 or 4 but scales well to 5 and 6 players.

Coppertown

Designer: Turkka Loimisto
Host: Topi Pitkänen

Coppertown is a Glorantha board game in the style of 'Dragon Pass' for 2-6 players and will last about 4 hours. Each player controls local clan that delivers copper to Coppertown. Or raids other players. Or explores the mythic landscape for magic. Or performs heroquests...

Camel Up

Designer: Steffen Bogen
Host: Pummel

Camel Up is this years winner of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres award for the best board game 2014 and it is distributed by Pegasus Spiele. Huzzah! Congrats! In 'Camel Up', up to eight players bet on five racing camels, trying to suss out which will place first and second in a quick race around a pyramid. The earlier you place your bet, the more you can win - should you guess correctly, of course. Camels don't run neatly, however, sometimes landing on top of another one and being carried toward the finish line. Who's going to run when? That all depends on how the dice come out of the pyramid dice shaker, which releases one die at a time when players pause from their bets long enough to see who's actually moving!

Istanbul

Designer: Rüdiger Dorn
Host: Pummel

More power to Pegasus Spiele! Istanbul, published by Pegasus Spiele, won the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres award for board games 2014. Hooray! In 'Istanbul', you lead a group of one merchant and four assistants through 16 locations in the bazaar. At each such location, you can carry out a specific action. The challenge, though, is that to take an action, you must move your merchant and an assistant there, then leave the assistant behind (to handle all the details while you focus on larger matters). If you want to use that assistant again later, your merchant must return to that location to pick him up. Thus, you must plan ahead carefully to avoid being left with no assistants and thus unable to do anything...

HNEFATAFL

Designers: The Vikings (most likely)
Host: Fabianozoth

Hnefatafl, also known as The Viking Game, The King's Table or simply Tafl, is one of the rare breed of games with two unequal sides. The defending side comprises twelve soldiers and a king, who start the game in a cross formation in the center of the board. Their objective is for the king to escape by reaching any of the four corner squares. The attackers comprise 24 soldiers positioned in four groups of 6 around the perimeter of the board. All pieces move like the Rook in chess and pieces are taken by 'sandwiching' i.e. moving your piece so that an opponent's piece is trapped horizontally or vertically between two of yours.


Picture by Dave Gruehn

THE KRAKEN Games Library

Designers: Many
Hosts: THE KRAKEN Team & You

Here are the games that THE KRAKEN team will bring. Feel free to bring games of yours that are not already on this list to avoid excess luggage: Diplomacy, Dragon Pass, Cosmic Encounter + Expansion, Zombie Dice, Dixit + Expansions, C&C Ancients, A Game of Thrones + Expansions, Hammer of the Scots, Blood Bowl, Battles of Westeros, 7 Wonders, King of Tokyo, Brügge, Godzilla Kaiju, Hanabi, Quixx, Pandemie, Forbidden Island, Carcassonne, Zombicide, Ascension, Robinson, Arkham Horror + all Expansions, Eclipse, Trumpet and other games that won the 'Spiel des Jahres' award in former years.