Passport Games has announced it will release Andrei Novac’s Versailles and Progress: Evolution of Technology, and that it has made a deal to bring all of Argentum Verlag’s games to the U.S., including Hansa Tuetonica.
 
Designed by Andrei Novac (Praetor, Warriors & Traders, Exodus:  Proxima Centouri), Versailles is a tile placement game where players take the role of architects and interior designers working to build the palace and gardens of Louis XIV’s Versailles. 
 
The box contains:  a game board, 40 palace tiles, 30 decoration tokens, 10 double movement tokens, 45 worker miniatures, 5 activation markers, 20 technology/scoring markers, 90 resource cubes, a King pawn and rules.  The game is for 2-5 players, ages 12 and up, and plays in 45-75 minutes. MSRP is $55.00. Release is planned for January.
 
Progress: Evolution of Technology is a civilization-building card game, also designed by Novac along with Agnieszka Kopera.  Players guide their nation’s research efforts through a maze of technologies, progressing through various ages of human development, from Antiquity through the Industrial Revolution.
 
The box contains:  184 technology cards, 56 knowledge tokens, 11 age tokens, 5 player boards, 1 power board, double-sided, 100 wooden markers, 5 info cards, 5 summary sheets (tech trees).  The game is for 1-5 players, ages 12 and up, and plays in 90 minutes.  MSRP is $59.00.  Release is planned for January.
 
Hansa Teutonica is an award-winning game designed by Andreas Steding, which was previously released in North America by Z-Man Games (see "Z-Man To Release Five Games").  Players are members of the Hanseatic League, a medieval alliance between merchant guilds in Germany during the medieval era.  The network building game has players attempting to build and improve trading routes, through as many cities as possible, while improving skills to become more efficient traders.
 
The box contains:  a two-sided gameboard, 5 panels, 16 bonus markers,  135 traders (wooden cubes), 20 merchants (wooden discs), 12 officers, 1 "Completed Cities" counter, 1 pawn and 4 soldiers.  The game is for 2-5 players, ages 12 and up, and plays in 40-90 minutes. MSRP is $50.00. Release is planned for February.
 
Passport Games recently finalized a deal to bring all of Argentum Verlag’s games to the U.S., including the new Hansa Teutonica: Britannia Expansion released at Essen.