I'll be at PrezCon

I'll be at PrezCon next weekend, thought I'd describe some of the games I've been working on, which I'll have there to discuss or play.

Eurasia--a cross between Vinci and History of the World with a little Britannia thrown in. Rise and fall of 80 historical empires, no dice, played on a a 46 area map of Eurasia (surprise!). 90 minutes or more if lots of players (2-6). Works really well. Event cards optional. There's an option to use dice.

The Rise and Fall of Assyria: History of the Ancient Near East. Sargon to the Persians. Uses many of the systems of Eurasia but much less free-form, all 28 nations must be played in roughly historical order. There's a version that, like Britannia, assigns each nation to a particular player and turn of appearance. 2 hours plus if you play the whole game, 90 minutes for shorter version. 2-6 players.

Dominance of the Old World--While Dominance is intended to be a Risk replacement, it doesn't have Risk's "purity". Risk is all about attack-attack-attack. Dominance is more about strategy, and there are things you can can that aren't just attack.

Fills the same niche as Risk in who can play, but much shorter, little chance, little downtime, no player elimination, and many fewer pieces.

No dice, but there are event cards.

Played on a map of Europe and the Med, 25 land areas, 6 sea areas. 2-6 players. 90 minutes.

Barbaria--history of Europe 406-1250, something like Britannia but much shorter, streamlined. While the first play of the shorter version takes over 3 hours, it has been played in 1:40. 33 land areas, Europe and the Mediterranean. There are actually two versions, the first (6 turns) uses "picture dice", essentially you need two hits to kill an army.; second, longer (11 turns), uses battle cards and no dice. This is the natural successor to Britannia. The problem, as always, is the damn balance.

Zombie Escape--This is a game played with cards, the cards providing the board, the "pieces", and the events and occurrences. 110 cards and one die required.

Young people (and some older ones) love zombies for some reason. This game is about escaping from a reform school building that has become overrun with zombies. Each player is a character (described on a card) with varying capabilities. As they try to escape, characters come across zombies, potential weapons, and other useful items (such as fire extinguishers).

There is no player elimination: if you lose a fight, you just retreat back toward the starting location.

Whoever finds a door to the outside, and manages to get it open (they're all locked), wins the game.

About 45 minutes for five players, works with almost any number of players up to nine or ten.

Party Nominee--a "political" game with cards, though not a traditional cardgame, but not like Zombie Escape, either. Uses one deck of cards and play money (coins). Under an hour. 2-6 players.