The definitive roll and write train game

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America, shortly after the first transcontinental junction in 1869.
Railroads are developing all over the vast expanses of the wild west, and business is booming. It is a time of adventure, progress, and opportunity. The transcontinental junction was a great milestone in American history, a first step that reshaped a whole continent.
In SteamRollers you are a railroad entrepreneur building a network of tracks and a fleet of train engines to secure freight delivery contracts before your opponents.

The central board has a map with the goods available for delivery. You have a personal play sheet with the same map, on which you draw your rail network and keep track of your engine fleet. When you make a delivery, the goods are removed from the central board and you earn points for cities and towns crossed. Once three cities on the central board have been emptied from available goods, the game ends. You then collect points for your deliveries, your engines, your network, and a few bonuses.

SteamRollers is a fast and fun roll and write game. The active player rolls all the dice, then in turn each player picks a dice and uses it to either draw rail, improve his engine, do research, or make a delivery. Once each player has picked and used a dice, the next players rolls the all dice and so on.

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The central board has the goods goods available for delivery, and each player has a play sheet.

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The dice are rolled, and in turn each player uses one of the dice

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You can use a dice to draw rails on your play sheet. The white dice determines the region, the black dice the kind of rails you can draw.

You can use a dice to improve your engine. The number indicates the box you can check. The number of checked boxes is your engine power. In this example, the white dice is a 2, and that checkbox is free. The engine now has a power of 3.

You can use a dice to make a delivery. The number indicates the source of the delivery, and the cube colour indicates the destination city.

In the example, we deliver a cube from region 1 (yellow). It's a blue cube so it must be delivered to city 5 (blue). There are three steps to cross (city 4, town and city 1), so we need an engine power of at least 3 to make this delivery. Each step earns the player one point, so this delivery is worth 3 points.
Then a second delivery, a yellow cube from region 2 to region 1, also for 3 points.

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Click here to download the player pads file - to print more player pads yourself

FRENCH VIDEO REVIEWS:

The team behind SteamRollers :

Currently I'm working as a programmer in Brussels. One of the great thing about Brussels is its vibrant board gaming community. Several times a week, I get to play great games with great people. One of my favorite genres are train games like for example Age of Steam, which was a big inspiration for SteamRollers. This is my first game design to find a publisher but hopefully it’ll be the first of many.

Benjamin started for publisher Editions Dupuis on the Alter Ego series, for six albums between 2011 and 2014. These were very well received and Benjamin was offered to work on the new season of Michel Vaillant, where he specializes on the cars and backgrounds. Benjamin is now considered a reference artist in realistic European comic strips, and gladly accepted the opportunity to explore a different setting and medium for SteamRollers.

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 After a few moments, you come to your senses. The nausea and splitting headache are now familiar, as is the smell of the cryostasis coolant that just was drained from your Pod. Around you, other crewmembers are awakening.
But wait... what is this place? This is not the Waking Room of the ship you were put to sleep! What happened ? Could it be that our transport was hijacked by organ traffickers and our cryotubes stored here ?
As the rest of the humans awaken, the central computer broadcasts a message on the P.A. system: "Station Argo central systems. Xeno presence detected. All personnel proceed immediately to Escape Pods."
The lights change colour to further stress the emergency.
First, the location change, now Aliens ?What the...

- "Chief, where are we ?"

Your team has awoken, and is reporting to you.

- "Don't know, don't care. You heard this. Let's find the Escape Pods and leave this place, stat!"

Lead your team to the safety of the escape pods and leave station Argo before the Aliens kill you!

Push the others to make way in the cramped corridors, and use Astronauts from other teams to slow down the Aliens. Be careful however because if too many die, everyone will lose!

Argo is a tile-laying space station crawler, with lots of puzzle aspects, and a "not-cooperative but you have to behave" aspect that makes it unique in its genre.

Playing Argo is easy:

1) First, you move one Alien

If the Alien kills an Astronaut, you gain one point.

The dead Astronauts are placed on the Alien score track.
In this example, the Aliens have killed 2 Astronauts, and have 5 points.

2) Then you place a new tile or shuttle into play.

If it has a red Alien head, it comes with a new Alien on it.

3) Then, you move your Astronauts. If there is no room, you PUSH other Astronauts!

You can make up to two moves with different Astronauts each turn.
The active player makes all decisions and gets all benefits : push your opponent Grunts to kill Aliens, and get the points for yourself! Push their other Astronauts on Aliens to kill them, and score points!
Rooms also can be activated for special effects. Corridors hold one Astronaut, rooms 2.

4) As soon as two Astronauts are in a shuttle, it leaves station Argo.

You gain points for your seat (2 for Yellow, 3 for Green). Last aboard gets most points! Chief doubles the points, so Yellow scores 4.

5) When all shuttles are gone, the player with the most points win ONLY IF the Aliens don't have more points.

If Aliens have more points than the player with most points, everybody loses!

BE SURE TO WATCH THE GAME VIDEO BELOW!
This is the best way to know how Argo plays!

http://www.trictrac.tv/video/Argo_The_Game

2-4 players, 40min, 13+

In Argo, you lead a team of Astronauts to the Escape Pods. However players also control the Aliens, and the seats in the Escape Pods are limited, so unpleasant things will happen. The pushing action in the cramped confines of Station Argo make for a puzzling challenge as you strategically plan your moves. There is no room for luck in Argo.

You earn points by placing your Astronauts in the escape pods Pods and by killing other Astronauts with the Aliens. However, the Aliens also get points each time an Astronaut dies, and if you use them too aggressively the Aliens will win the game!

Here are a few pictures of the components :
All pictures are from a prototype version or 3D renderings, not actual game components.

The box size is 30x30x7Cm, a large box is required to accommodate all the components!

Here's what the game looks like during play. (Only part of the components are shown on this image, there is much more in the box.)

 Click here to download the multilingual rulesbook (En Fr De Nl Es It - updated 14.11.2016) 

http://www.flatlinedgames.com/sites/default/files/games/argo/rules/argo_rules_multi_EnDeFrNlEsIt_01-web.pdf

Here is a presentation of the game with Mr Jamie from TricTrac

http://www.trictrac.tv/video/Argo_the_How_and_What

Here is a full 2p game with Mr Jamie from TricTrac:

http://www.trictrac.tv/video/Argo_The_Game

 https://youtu.be/SirMw-4C_JU

Argo Kickstarter campaign Participating retailers :

• EGDGames http://www.egdgames.com Spain
• Isle of Games http://www.isleofgamesaz.com USA
• Game Depository http://gamedepository.com New Zealand
• La case départ http://www.casedepart.be Belgium
• Lolipop http://www.lolipop.be Belgium
• Jeux Descartes Bordeaux http://www.69rtc.com France
• Variantes http://www.variantes.com France
• Dedale https://www.dedale.be Belgique
• Jeux Descartes Lyon https://www.facebook.com/JeuxDescartesLyon/ France

STEAMROLLERS: LIMITED Essen 2015 PRINT RUN

SteamRollers is a new game by Mark Gerrits for 2-5 players, with a duration of 30 minutes.

SteamRollers is a dice drafting game take on the classic 'train game' scenario: build a network of railroads, improve your engines, and deliver goods in the cities for points.

In Steam Rollers, players take turns drafting dice from a common pool to build a network of railroads on their individual map. They can also use dice to improve their engines or buy special powers, and finally they can use them to deliver goods from city to city in exchange for victory points.

Each player has a personal map on which they draw their railroads using a pen or pencil. The game features variable starting configurations for high replayability, and is simple enough that you don't need an engineering degree to enjoy it. Being fast and dice-based, it's also quite addictive.

Components : 1 game box, 1 game board, 1 setup player aid, 200 individual player maps (2 pads x 50 sheets), 50 wooden cubes, 6 dice, 1 rulesbook (FrNlEnDe). Pens not included.

Here is a video presentation of the game by author Mark Gerrits :

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE STEAMROLLERS RULES.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF COLOR AND LOW-INK STEAM ROLLERS PLAY PAD PDF in case you've already used the 200 play pads provided.

Goal of the game

There are 6 sets of missions : Fetch food, Steal animals, Steal riches, Steal weapons, Scout places and Bring messages to and from characters. The first player who has collected 7 Mission cards of the same kind (same icon) at the end of a player turn wins the game.

Robin revisits the Happy Families classic game with a clever movement and trade system that keeps all players engaged during the whole game.

Please note that Robin features high quality 100% plastic cards. These cards handle lightly, and are very resistant compared to paper cards. They also shuffle very well, and can safely be used without protective sleeves.

Robin is a fun, past-paced, action-packed game for the whole family.

Rules :

• Download the rules booklet (PDF, 4.5Mb)

Articles :

We published a 5-part making of article that explains in detail the creative and development process behind Robin :

• part 1 - From Porto Seguro to Robin
• part 2 - Game development and playtesting
• part 3 - An interview with Frederic moyersoen
• part 4 - Graphic design
• part 5 - Quentin Ghion's illustrator diary

Video Reviews :

• Tom Vasel (the Dice Tower) :
  
• Marco Arnaudo (2D6.org)
  
• Tric Trac french review on trictrac.tv
  
• Ludovox review in french
  

Links

• Boardgame Geek : http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160434/robin

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"The Dragons! The Dragons are coming!"

The massive and leathery creatures were already descending on Esirien, shrieking and clawing at the troops massed on the city walls.

"My Lord, they are heading to the Dungeon"

"The wizard Helmond will organize the defence on the dungeon district, send the horsemen there to help them."

"Yes, Mylord."

As the officer dispatched the reinforcements to the dungeon district, the city leader gestured to the infantry guarding the city grounds to stay in place and be ready for the attacks. On the other towers, archers were awaiting, arrows unquivered, ready to fire.

Over the river walls a column of whirling wind and water suddenly rose, blocking the Dragon's path.

The flying monsters turned around and headed to the city grounds. A cloud of arrows formed around them as they crossed the river, and a moment later they had landed and were breathing fire on the old temple.

"Call back the horsemen!" yelled the city leader as he ran downstairs to the huge creatures, sword at the ready for onslaught...

Dragon Rage is an introductory wargame set in a fantasy world.

Dragons and other monsters attack walled cities, trying to destroy as much of the city building as they can while the city garrison fights back. Controls the invading monsters or the city forces in a mercyless struggle!

The basic game scenario has two Dragons attacking the seaside city of Esirien. The defender controls a small militia that defends the city. All troops are represented by counters on the game board's hex grid. During each game turn, each player may move some or all all his units and then fight the enemies within attack range. The humans have a local hero which has special powers, as well as a wizard that can cast spells. The dragons are very resilient and can breathe fire, destructing men and buildings in a blazing roar.

Combat is resolved trough a dice roll on a combat resolution table, cross-referencing the attacking and defending unit's strength.

Dragon Rage is a good introduction to the world of wargames : There are few units on both sides, making the game simple to learn and fast-paced. It will introduce you to key wargaming concepts such as tactical movement on an hexagon grid, units statistics printed on the counters, use of a combat resolution table, attack-to-defense ratios, terrain modifiers, reinforcements, and special abilities.

The 16 pages Game Manual has been written specifically to introduce you to the game. Its structure follows the game turn sequence so it can be used as you discover the game, playing each game phase as you read trough the manual.

Once you have mastered the game key concepts and basic scenario, you'll want to proceed to the advanced game.

The 32 pages Rules Reference manual contains all rules from the Game Manual, plus all optional and extended rules. It is organized by themes, allowing for fast reference during gameplay. Game rules are available in English, French, German or Spanish.

The extended rules introduce several scenarios for Esirien, replacing the attacking Dragons by Roc birds, Giants, Orcs and Goblins, Land Wurms, Dinosaurus, and other creatures.

They also introduce Nurkott, an Orc oppidum on the other side of the game board. In Nurkott, orcs defend their settlement against all kinds of monsters and human assaults.

The optional rules introduce new units such as human catapults and ballistas or the princess Elowyn, new spells for Elementals, rules for creating point-based scenarios, tournament rules, and campaign rules allowing to link several scenarios over time. They make Dragon Rage a complete gaming system that will provide you with hours of tactical pleasure as you explore the many options the game has to offer.

About the re-edition of Dragon Rage

As some of you already know, Dragon Rage is a reprint of an older game : Dragon Rage was first published in 1982 by Dwarfstar, an imprint of Heritage Models. Dwarfstar had financial problems, and went bankrupt shortly after the release of Dragon Rage (for reasons unrelated to the game). The result was that Dragon Rage disappeared from the market, and was never republished, to the author and the game fan's dismay.

Now, almost 30 years after the original edition, Flatlined games is proud and happy to bring this classic back on the market in a completely revised and improved edition.

The board maps for Esirien and Nurkott have been designed using Profantasy software (http://www.profantasy.com) Campaign Cartographer 3 and City Designer 3. Their software produces professional results that are both pleasing to the eye and consistent in style and detail level and the new edition of Dragon Rage would not have been possible without it.

Where the old edition had an unmounted, paper-thin game board the new edition features a thick cardboard mounted board, with a linen-touch coating.

The counters for Dragon Rage have been completely redesigned for this new edition. On the reverse side, we have created high quality versions of the original game counters. This will please those of you who are familiar to the 1982 edition, and have grown fond of the silhouette style that was de rigueur at the time.

The front side of the counters introduces new art, with illustrations from Lionel Liron. They bring the game up to date for the current crowd of gamers.

The new counters are also bigger than the old edition's, thicker, with rounded corners, and of course they have that nice linen finish that you have grown fond of.

The new edition also introduce player aids for easy tracking of the monsters wounds and statistics during play. No-one wants to check small square boxes on a black-and-white sheet of paper anymore!

Box contents

Each game box contains the following :

• Double-sided mounted game board : The walled city of Esirien, and Nurkott - an Orc oppidum

• 213 thick, die cut, full color counters and markers.

• One 16 pages Game Manual with simplified rules to teach you the game. (English, French, Spanish or German)

• One 36 pages Rules Reference Manual with extended rules, including 12 scenarios ( 6 for each map ), tournament rules, campaign rules to play several linked scenarios, and additional rules to make your own scenarios. (English, French, Spanish or German)

• 4 monster charts to track the damage done to the Dragons, Rocs, Wurms, Giants and other monsters.

• 1 Player aid with summaries for spells and Dragon combat. (English only)

• 2 plastic six-sided dice (2d6)

• 4 Plastic bags for components storage

• Hours of tactical fun!

Game rules

Feel free to download and read the games rules. This is the best way to assess whether Dragon Rage is a game for you and your fellow gamers!

Click on the links hereunder to download the game rules in PDF format. You will require Adobe Acrobat or a pdf-capable viewer to read these documents.

English

• Game Manual

• Rules Reference

• Player aid in English 

• Easter Special

• Halloween special

French

• Game Manual

• Rules Reference

• Player aid in French 

• Easter Special

• Halloween special

German

• Game Manual

• Rules Reference

Spanish

• Game Manual

• Rules Reference

Dragon Rage on the web

Trictrac.net Dragon Rage page (french)

BoardgameGeek.com Dragon Rage page

Facebook Dragon Rage page

BGG Video

The nice folks at http://www.boardgamegeek.com have put online this nice video :

Marco Arnaudo posted a nice video review of Dragon rage on http://www.2d6.org/2011/11/dragons-rage/

Thanks Marco!

Support and questions

Please ask your questions on the Boardgame Geek forums for the game, we'll reply there.