I’ve written before how difficult it was to get a copy of Sky Team at Essen this year: it’s not out in Europe yet, there was a lot of interest in it leading to queues forming within minutes of the fair opening, and the publisher Le Scorpion Masqué had only a limited quantity on sale …
Ever since discovering John Company Second Edition and Carnegie, I’ve become interested in board games that have some historical foundation. While Carnegie was merely inspired by the name-giving philanthropist and has little resemblance of the actual, complex and controversial person that was Andrew Carnegie, both games inspired me to buy books on their topics and …
Read more “First Impressions of Votes for Women – Board Games as a Medium to Tell History”
I would venture to say that Vladimír Suchý and Delicious Games have cracked the code for SPIEL Essen. Same as with Woodcraft the previous year, they had managed to create a high level of anticipation for their new game Evacuation before the fair even started. But many other publishers managed to do that part as …
Read more “First Impressions of Evacuation – When a Single Cube Was All You Needed”
The other day, while I was playing Barcelona, I was wondering: what made me fall in love with games like Grand Austria Hotel, Suburbia and or more recently La Granja. They don’t have the most mechanical perfect designs. They have artwork I enjoy a lot, but they are no artistical masterpieces I would frame and …
Read more “First Impressions of Barcelona – Putting the Charm Back Into Euros”
I have the feeling I need to preface this one with a huge disclaimer: More than any other game I can think of, Mr President is first and foremost a interesting challenge. It’s a challenge to learn, a challenge to play, a challenge to write about. And I’m not even sure I’m the right person …
Do you know the feeling when you play a game and wonder “why on earth did I buy this”? Not in a bad way, just seriously asking yourself what made you do it. On paper, For Northwood is a 1p-only (so far so interesting), trick-taking game (not particular exciting stuff) with art that could be …
Read more “First Impressions of For Northwood – Trick Taking for One?”
Mosaic has been out for a while now, so in a sense I guess I’m kind of late to the party. This is another Kickstarter game where I held out on backing it, despite the gorgeous artwork, that enticing mosaic map and the allure of a civilisation game that wouldn’t take a whole day to …
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 Galyzr – How Fun Can a Sandbox Be Without Moulds?”
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?”