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International Toy Fair Nuremberg 2008
Internationale Spielwarenmesse Nürnberg 2008
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Kosmos
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Players will have to strike the iron when it is hot! It is all about welding swords in this game, and deliver them to the castle to earn the points for them.
All players have their own set of tiles that they can place on the board as one of their actions in a turn. Moving a pawn along the road costs a card; these cards also act as fight cards when duelling. When a player lands on a tile of his own, this action is free, otherwise he will have to pay the owner for it with a card.
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The tiles function as shops: here the players can buy iron or jewels, or improve their duel skills.
When a player has placed three of his pawns in the castle the game ends. The player with the most points wins.
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Toledo, Martin Wallace, Kosmos, 2008 - 2 to 4 players, 10 years and up, 45 to 60 minutes
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'Lost Cities' for up to four players!
Each player still plays a card and moves his token one step. The start of each track gives minus points for the first three positions; from there on players score.
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Players have one larger token that scores double points at game end; this is the substitution for the hands cards in 'Lost Cities'.
Sometimes players earn immediate points when they land on a specific field. An other option is the ability to play two cards in a row.
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Each colour has a value from one to ten that is twice in the card deck.
When five tokens have reached a minimal position of six fields, the game ends immediately; after this the (minus) points are awarded.

The box graphics has a strong charisma with an unusual but appealing fluorescent green colour.
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Keltis, Reiner Knizia, Kosmos, 2008 - 2 to 4 players, 10 years and up, 30 minutes
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'Voyage to the centre of the earth', the famous book by Jules Verne, has been transferred into a board game by Kosmos and author Rüdiger Dorn.
In three phases, players guide all three researchers through the dark cave of the dead volcano, across the lake, and over the lava of the active volcano back to the surface.
Players begin with some researcher and equipment cards, and during the game will collect fossiles that have different point values.
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In a turn, a player may collect three researcher and/or equipment cards, or move one of the researchers by playing the matching card. Some fields require the use of special equipment; the card is used and must be discarded. Several squares count as discoveries; if a player ends his move here, he may collect fossiles, but this costs cards too.
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As soon as a player has moved one of the researcher pawns onto the destination square of the first phase, all three researchers are put on the raft. All players must have collected enough water during this phase, otherwise they will lose some of the collected fossiles.
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x At the lake, there are some events players will encounter, some of them positive, some negative.
The third and very short phase leads the players to the surface with the use of drawing cards.
'Reise zum Mittelpunkt der Erde' seems to be a nice 'family plus' game, with moody graphics by Franz Vohwinkel.
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Reise zum Mittelpunkt der Erde, Rüdiger Dorn, Kosmos, 2008 - 2 to 4 players, 10 years and up, 70 minutes
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In 'Im Reich der Wüstensöhne' (Empire of the desert sons) the 'Entdecker' go desert!
This time players have camels with which they explore the desert in search for oases and valuable goods.
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x Players also have five wooden cylinders of varying heightt, and a personal caravan board on which they store the collected wares.
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On a 'rumour' board players may influence the value of the wares, by placing 'ear' chits that have a value of -2 to +2. x
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x Movement resembles the basic 'Entdecker' game. Oases are scored by looking at the highest cylinder. That player must pay with water in order to qualify for the revenue.
At game end, when all tiles are taken from the fifth stack, the value of the wares are added, after any adjustions from the 'rumour' board.
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Im Reich der Wüstensohne, Klaus Teuber, Kosmos, 2008 - 2 to 4 players, 10 years and up, 50 to 60 minutes
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