CMON has three board game releases for you this month as we drift through the end of May and into June, just in time for the UK Games Expo!

I've been lucky enough to sit down with two of these games, both of which were a lot of fun to play and very different. The first of these is Way Of The Panda which we talked about a couple of weeks ago in the news.

"In Way of the Panda, players take on the role of the leader of one of the four Panda Clans. Using their Monk, Warrior, and Governor, they will move around the map board, defeating ninjas as they go. When the roadways around a city have been cleared of threats, players can start to construct great buildings.

Defeating ninjas and erecting buildings will bring prestige to their Clan. The player with the most prestige at the end of the game takes their place at the right hand of the Emperor."

A Classic With A Twist

We then move onto a much more contemplative game with Dragon Castle. Heavily influenced by Mahjong, the game takes many of the mechanics from that tried and tested classic and reinvents them for a game that works just as well with two players as it does with four.

"As the Dragon Castle crumbles, opportunistic lords seek to lure people to their realm. By constructing a new palace from the ruins of the old, they hope to become the new centre of power. In Dragon Castle, you take on the role of one of the lords.

You will have to use all of your cunning to build a castle that will inspire people to move to your realm. Each turn, you can collect tiles from the ruins and add them to your construction. As you place sets of the same type of tiles together, you’ll be able to consolidate them, earning points and allowing for the addition of Shrines. You may need to call in some help with your efforts. Spirit and Dragon cards can be used to give you an advantage when you need it most. Tap into tradition to build the castle of the future."

Intrigue & Manipulation

We then look towards the third game which I hadn't heard much about. Here we have Council Of 4...

"In Council of 4, players act as wealthy merchants, each one looking to form their own trade empire across the three kingdoms. However, each city in these kingdoms is ruled by a Council that isn’t willing to just let just anyone set up shop. Players must gain sales rights by manipulating the people sitting on the various city Councils.

Doing so will allow them to get the contracts they need to make a sale. By connecting cities where they have influence, they create networks and score points. If the Councils prove troublesome, players can always look to gain the favour of the Queen, herself, and gain sales rights that way."

An interesting sounding game which looks to step further into the realm of the Euro game. Many of the game from this month's releases seem to be going that way too but with the typical CMON flare as they add plenty of plastic and a very nice set of quality components.

Watch out for these at UK Games Expo!