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”
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 …
I have to admit, this one is a tricky one to write as I was looking forward to Encyclopedia for quite some time. While I’m usually more attracted by mid-to-heavy games, interesting use of dice is always something that gets my attention. The fact that a number of YouTubers were very positive in their previews …
Read more “Review of Encyclopedia – The Power of Expectations”
I’ve been playing Curious Cargo a lot in the last two weeks. And I mean a lot a lot. There are some games that immediately trigger something in my brain to go “yeeees” and make it difficult to stop wanting to play it. I’m thinking of games like SET or Ricochet Robots, games that most of my friends …
Read more “Review of Curious Cargo – A (Solo) Knife Fight in a Phone Booth”
What does it take for a game to stay in your collection? A clever, unique mechanism? Nice graphics? Accessibility? The downside of collecting board games and the shear volume of games being published nowadays is that it gets tough for a new game to be brought to the table, let alone get repeated plays. Take Cellulose: …
Read more “Review of Furnace – Does a Clever Twist Make a Game?”
A friend of mine once commented that to the uninitiated, it must seem completely ridiculous we are playing board games for fun. We were fretting over some heavy euro, probably the original Caylus or something similar. Everyone around the table could be seen mildly frustrated that they were missing that one resource they needed or living in …
Read more “Review of Burgle Bros 2 – Let’s Have a Ridiculous Good Time”
In the last couple of years, automa design has made great advancements. From simple cleanup/blocker-automas that more or less at random remove tiles from the board or block action spaces without much intent (e.g. Messina 1347) to pace makers with intent (e.g. Jean in Maracaibo), from priority-automas that try to find the first of their desires that …
Read more “Review of Concordia Solitaria – The (almost?) Perfect Automa”
To say that I have been fascinated with Red Rising for a long time would be an understatement. I cannot remember when or where I first heard of it but despite not knowing Fantasy Realms, there was something that immediately appealed to me. The lush production, the to me unknown franchise it was based on, etc. But something …
Read more “Review of Red Rising – Case Study of a Passion Project”
There is an interesting intersection at which story telling and board games meet. Sometimes they strengthen each other, forming a cohesive experience, sometimes one tries to hide the flaws in the other. I always enjoyed games that have some light story aspect to them to propel the action forward and give me a reason to …
Read more “First Impressions of Now or Never – It’s Not Only About You, It’s About The World!”