Coffee Haus Games showed off three games, at Gen Con, which are coming to the U.S. later this year. On the agenda are Italian game Sheepland, French design Vanuatu, and German release Siberia. Siberia should be available shortly (if not already) and the other two titles are slated for September.
From Coffee Haus:
Siberia
Siberia has a reputation for being a land of vast resources, and players are going to do their best to exploit those resources and convert them into as much loot as possible.To set up the game, place two different resources at random on each area in Siberia, place the remaining resources on their supply spaces, draw four of the 20 investment tiles from the bag and lay them on the game board, give each player his own playing panel and workers/salesmen, then place all the action counters in the bag.Siberia lasts an unspecified number of rounds. Each round consists of two phases: (1) drawing and placing action counters and (2) performing actions. In the first phase, all players draw six action counters from the bag, then place them on their individual playing panels. Most action counters show both a resource (five types possible) and a person (four types), while managers are on counters of their own. Each playing panel has columns for the five types of resources and the five types of workers, with space for two counters in each column. Players can also allocate counters to the ‘research facility’ below their panel.In the second phase, players take actions one at a time until everyone has no actions remaining or passes. A resource or worker action can be taken only if both spaces are filled in the appropriate column when a player takes an action, he removes all action counters in the column, returns them to the bag, then takes the action. The ‘research facility’ action must be carried out first, with the player taking the designated resources from the supply and placing one resource in any location that doesn’t already have that resource available. The worker actions allow a player to place a salesman in a stock exchange, place a worker in Vladivostok, move workers up to three spaces, move a manager to any action space, or claim an investment tile each investment tile corresponds to a particular resource or worker action and is placed on the player panel permanently, allowing the player to take this action more easily in the future since the column is always half-filled. Each resource action allows a player to remove that resource from all areas where he has a worker, then immediately sell them on one of the stock exchanges where he has a salesman.A player can keep up to ten action counters on his playing panel at the end of a round, allowing him to prepare for and build up actions for future rounds. The game ends at the end of any round in which three of the five resources have no supply remaining or eight areas have had all their resources removed. (Once an area is exhausted, nothing can be placed in it for the remainder of the game.) The player who has the most money wins.
For two to four players with a game time of 60 minutes. MSRP is $70.
Sheepland
Sheepland is set on the beautiful island of the same name, where for centuries the population has taken care of sheep. While inexplicably working in the same field, two to four shepherds try to move sheep into the right areas to score points. During a turn, you must take three actions, chosen from these possibilities:
Move your shepherd
Move one sheep
Buy one terrain tile
You must move your shepherd at least once during your turn, and you can’t take the same action twice in a row without moving the shepherd between.
For two to four players with a game time of 30 minutes. MSRP $50
Sheepland will be available September 30th
Vanuatu
In ‘Vanuatu’, you are a Vanuatuan who wants to prosper during the eight turns of the game.In order to prosper, you have to manage with natural resources, rare items, vatus (local currency) and tourists. To earn money or prosperity points, you may also draw on the sand*, carry tourists all over Vanuatu islands or trade cargo with foreign countries. On each turn, the archipelago expands and you have to program your actions with five tokens. You put one or more of them on the chosen action places and, on your turn, you will only be able to play an action if you have the majority on its place.It means that you sometimes have to wait for other players to remove their tokens by playing their actions. If you are not majority anywhere, you have to remove all your tokens from an action and give up hope of playing this action.A good programmation strategy lets you block other players : for example, they wont be able to sell fishes if they havent caught them first … order matters !Islands and sea resources are rare … be quick and take them first !There is no such thing as a rich Vanuatuan : when you reach 10 vatus, they automatically transform into 5 prosperity points and again, you are poor.Life is hard, but you may encounter ten men to help you (cards) : on each turn you choose one of them to raise your benefits from an action. But again, being the first player lets you choose before the others.In short terms, ‘Vanuatu’ is a strategy game of programming and majority featuring development, blocking and a lot of interaction between players. (*) Sand Drawing in Vanuatu belongs to the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity of the UNESCO.
For three to five players with game time clocking in around 90 minutes. MSRP $60.
Vanuatu should be on shelves sometime in September.
Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...
