Arcane Wonders is coming to Spiel! Come visit us in Hall 2 (2E120) for an early look at our upcoming releases World Wonders and Age of Wonders: Planetfall, as well as our new releases Neotopia, Furnace: Interbellumand GAP! We will also be running limited demos of Call of Duty: The Board Game.

We will have limited copies Age of Wonders: Planetfall available at booth 2E120! Age of Wonders: Planetfall is coming to retail later this year, so this will also be an opportunity for you to get an early copy.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a game of resource management and set collection for 2-6 players in the form of an open draft. Explore seven planets, compete with your opponents for access to valuable resources and technology, battling hostile units, and seizing landmarks. Each of the six double-sided faction boards has its own unique player power and starting stats, and there are eight possible sets of end-game scoring conditions. This ensures replayability, since every game will play out differently depending on the factions and scoring conditions in play.

In each round of Age of Wonders: Planetfall, players select a card from the current planet and place their player token on it. Once all tokens have been placed, the cards are resolved from left to right and top to bottom. As cards are resolved, the player tokens are returned to the turn tracker, determining the player order for the following round.

Cards get less expensive (and also offer greater rewards) the further down the board they are, however this comes at the price of going later in turn order the following round.

Pickup cards give you the opportunity to gain an immediate Energy boost, and some will give you the option to forgo this reward in return for an ongoing Energy income at the beginning of each planet.

Use your Strength and Energy to explore landmarks, research new technologies and defeat enemy units.

Landmarks will give you immediate victory points and can also earn even more points if you can find the same landmark on a future planet.

Technologies typically award a small victory point bonus, and always provide an ongoing ability that lasts for the rest of the game.

Unit cards will give you immediate bonuses such as strength or energy (depending on whether you fight or resolve things diplomatically) as well as victory points and experience points.

Experience is the one resource that can never be spent. It serves as a threshold requirement for taking certain actions. Sometimes you can overcome your lack of experience with strength, and sometimes you cannot.

Finally, the Operations spaces will give you a chance to regain some Strength, purchase victory points (limited by the number of the current planet) and earn experience.

Plan your growth to balance the costs of the cards you need with the importance of going early in the next round. Use your unique player power to your best advantage and watch for the opportunity to buy technology cards that will work particularly well for your character. On later planets you will find technology cards that offer end game scoring bonuses in addition to the three shared end game scoring conditions.

Will you focus on gaining victory points through conquest during the game? Or will you plan around the end game scoring opportunities to increase your victory points? May the best explorer win!