While Kickstarter and crowdfunding in general has allowed a lot of small designers and independent publishers a chance to fulfil their dream and turn their ideas into products, it has also taken on a life of its own. After the initial rush, there seems to have been an extended period where games were mostly sold …
Read more “Review of Tiwanaku – The Game That Should Not Work”
I recently saw a video by the Board Game Garden and thought man, that’s the most solid recommendation list for solo board games I’ve seen in a long while. I like to play solo from time to time so I read a lot of those lists and are usually pretty disappointed. Most contain a lot …
From time to time, I like to acquire a game for no other reason than to see what the buzz is. Throwing caution to the wind, not going into extensive research, and deciding to just try a game out myself. What’s the worst thing that can happen? I sell it off again and gain in …
Read more “Review of Shogun no Katana – Japanese Baroqueness”
There are many aspects in modern board gaming that I personally don’t really care for. For example, I like the card-engine-building of Terraforming Mars or Ark Nova just fine, but they don’t get me excited. I can appreciate the maximum-turn-extending of an Imperial Settlers or Everdell mechanically, but they don’t make me seek out similar …
Read more “First Impressions of Lands of Galzyr – How Fun Can a Sandbox Be Without Moulds?”
This is part 2 of an interview with Ryan Laukat about Sleeping Gods. The full interview was almost 2 hours long, so I had to edit it down to a readable length and split into two parts. If you haven’t read part 1, you should definitely start there! Where we left off, Ryan and I …
Read more “Origin Stories: Sleeping Gods – An Interview with Designer Ryan Laukat – Part 2”
For the second instalment in this series, I’m very fortunate that Ryan Laukat, arguably one of the most fascinating designers in board gaming today, was kind enough to sit down with me and talk about Sleeping Gods. The full interview was almost 2 hours long, so I had to edit it down to a readable …
Read more “Origin Stories: Sleeping Gods – An Interview with Designer Ryan Laukat – Part 1”
I’m not the biggest fan of roll-and-writes, but I’ve played my fair share of them. From simple ones like Railroad Inc or Saint Malo over combotastic ones like Ganz Schön Clever to more complex ones like Troyes Dice, Welcome to the Moon or Hadrian’s Wall. At some point, I got rid of all of them. …
Read more “Review of On Tour – Why Some Roll-and-Writes Work While Others Don’t”
I like interesting use of dice. Grand Austria Hotel is one of my favourite games ever, Castles of Burgundy used to be at some point. I really enjoy Troyes, even if my friends don’t want to play it with me, and I enjoyed Woodcraft to name a more recent title. So when I heard of …
It only takes a quick look to realise there is something different about Oros: its art style lies between the abstract or painterly detailed art of most games, the box is a bit bigger than usual (approximately 1.5x Ticket-to-Ride-boxes), the mood is unusually cheerful for a game about demigods, reminding me of an animated movie …
Read more “First Impressions of Oros – A Fresh Breeze That Moves Mountains”
Splendor is one of those games that feel like they have been around forever, like Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne. Easy to teach, nice production, great flow, maybe a bit bland after repeated plays but always good to have in a collection. While not the deepest game, there is a nice meta game of seeing …
Read more “First Impressions of Splendor Duel – Smaller Box, Bigger Game?”