Dawning Empire

Dawning Empire is a multi-player fantasy wargame. The map shows an imaginary continent with the usual terrain features. Unusually, players choose their home kingdoms secretly using small replicas of the map - there are rules for players who overlap contesting the disputed area. Cities of the (presumably dying) Old Empire are placed randomly on the map.

After initial placement the mechanics are mostly standard, with a certain amount of chrome. Every player chooses a race, which affects how well they fight in different types of terrain. Players can annex land by decree in addition to conquering it. Old Empire units can appear and attack the players, but their cities conceal treasures (and a dragon, and a plague). There is a deck of event cards to inject a bit of chaos (in addition to combat and encounter dice rolls).

The object of the game is to either eliminate all other players or obtain the most victory points within a time limit.