Dominant Species...

[Agamon]

I have played ASL, just not a fan. Dabbled in C+C, too. But, I will give you that I'm not a wargamer, that is true. But I know of GMT....

I will second that Twilight Struggle is a great game. One of my favorites. Other games that play similar to it, Hannibal: Carthage vs Rome and 1960: The Making of a President, are both great games, too. Awesome mechanic.

I have this game (DS) on order, it's waiting for Merchants & Maruaders to come in later this month. Man, I've been waiting for that one since back when they were going to call it Age of Piracy.

 

[Realmjumper]

I recently played this game over at Sunshine Adventure Gaming in Miami, FL. Let's just say whne the game was over I was very happy about this game. It is definitely one of the best games I've played this year alongside Alien Frontiers.

Basically everyone is one species wether birds or mamalls. You get elements like Sun or Water. It' sreally complicated to explain but once you start playing it you see it's not hard at all. Easy to learn hard to master though is true for this game.

On the board there are many variables that determine score but overall you want to try and spread out as much as you can while fighting over territory. Towards the end whoever is spread out more is more likely to get more points when it comes time to score.

There are cards that people can use also during the game. There is also a Survival card for whoever is living with more of his species on a Tundra per turn.

Overall though I'm sorry I can't really explain how the game is but it's well worth checking out. Just make sure you have people who are willing to try it within the 2-4 hour time limit.

 

[Jhaelen]

Thematically, this reminds me of the 'Sim Earth' computer game - one of my all-time favorites. They really should re-release an updated version that utilizes some of a modern system's computing power and improved graphics.

 

[Zinegata]

I've played this game twice. It's pretty good.I would consider the game to be a rather elegant hybrid between a Euro and an American conflict game. The primary mechanic is worker placement, similar to Euros such as Agricola and Stone Age, but the meat of the game revolves around area control by having either the most (or most adapable) species in one location.Plus, the game has the equivalent of "nukes", in the form of the Ice Age glaciers spreading all over the world and wiping out most life on the hexes it spreads on .I can't really comment on the balance yet though, albeit the playstyle of each type of animal is remarkably different despite having relatively few differences mechanically.