Leader 1 – Details on Ghenos’ New Racing Game

Ghenos Games, along with Blackrock Editions, will release a new bike racing game in July 2008 called Leader 1. “New” might be an odd word in this case as designers Alain Ollier and Christophe Leclercq have been developing the game for 16 years, but since it’s only now coming out in print, new it is!

Leader 1 is for 2-10 players and includes five teams of three riders, along with 21 route hexagons that let you create different tracks each time you play. The color of the route shows you the type of terrain: green is flat ground, orange is a gentle rise, red is mountainous terrain, and black is a descent.

All riders – which come in leader, climber and rouleur varities – start the race as part of the peloton, or pack, and have the same amount of energy. Each turn you’ll move your riders based on their characteristics and the amount of energy you want to spend. Break away at the right moment and you can slipstream to save energy for the future. All movement is controlled by the players, not dice or cards, so good planning and temporary alliances can propel to the finish line before anyone else.

The game will include rules in Italian, English, German, French, Spanish and Dutch, and be distributed by Blackrock Editions in France and Ghenos elsewhere. Given Ghenos’ association with Rio Grande, Anna Genovese at Ghenos thinks it’s likely that Jay will distribute Leader 1 in the U.S. “We are sure that it will become very popular due to the game mechanisms,” she says, “and we hope that in U.S. it will go very well since your country is Lance Armstrong country.”

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