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Pride Of Ninja WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 3-5 You’ll like this if you like: Deck-building Published by: Ninja Star Games Designed by: Muneyuki Yokouchi (横内宗幸) This is a free review copy. See our review policy here Silent moves, loud consequences There’s something immediately appealing about Pride of Ninja. Not just the theme, but the promise of outthinking your opponents with hidden information, clever drafting, and just a touch of chaos. After a few plays, what stands out most is how deceptively simple it feels at first… and how quickly that illusion disappears. This is not just a light drafting filler. It is a tight, tactical knife fight in a very small box. One early game summed it up perfectly. I stacked what I thought was a flawless ninja engine, feeling very pleased with myself… only to reveal everything and realise I had the most ninjas without hitting the safe threshold. Instantly slain. Back to zero. Everyone else quietly scooped up points while I sat there wondering where it all went wrong. That moment right there is Pride of Ninja in a nutshell. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How to set up Choose either the blue deck or the red deck, depending on how wild you want the experience to be. The blue deck is cleaner and more controlled, while the red deck introduces more risk and player interaction. Remove specific cards based on the number of players to tighten the experience, then shuffle your chosen deck and deal seven cards to each player. Six in a five player game which is then topped up to seven with one of the special black zero cards which is immediately placed face down in front of each player so they have six in their hands. Each player takes a temporary point tracker and tokens in their chosen colour, and sets their victory points to zero. Place the slain tokens within reach, and you are ready to begin. How to play Each round, players draft one card at a time, selecting a card and passing the rest to the player next to them until all cards have been chosen. As you draft, you build a tableau of four cards in the front row and three in the back row. One will already be in your back row in a six-player game. The front row is where cards are placed face up, showing your intentions, while the back row is hidden, keeping your plans secret. Each time you choose a card, place it face down in front of you. Then, when all players have chosen, on the count of three, either reveal your chosen card and slide it to the front row, or keep it hidden and place it into the back. Once all cards are placed, the hidden cards are revealed and everything resolves in initiative order. Cards grant temporary points, manipulate other players, or potentially get you slain. If you are slain, your temporary points reset to zero for that round, which can be a brutal setback. At the end of the round, any remaining temporary points convert into victory points. Track this on the main score board. The game continues over multiple rounds until someone reaches the target score of 20 points, or 15 in a five player game. If no one reaches that score, shuffle up and deal them out again. What it feels like to play Every decision sits in that uncomfortable space between logic and instinct. You are watching what others draft, trying to remember what is still in circulation, and guessing what might be hiding in those face down rows. Do you play conservatively, or push your luck for a bigger payoff? The reveal phase is the highlight every time. Cards flip, plans collide, and someone at the table almost always groans as their strategy unravels. In one game, a perfectly timed Shogun turned a disaster round into a huge swing, simply because enough players had been slain at the right moment. It felt clever, lucky, and slightly unfair all at once. Over time, the game shifts. You stop just playing the cards and start playing the people. You learn who pushes too far, who plays safe, and who likes to bluff. That evolving meta is what gives Pride of Ninja its staying power. Pros Tight, interactive drafting with meaningful decisions every turn Strong player interaction with bluffing and prediction at its core Two distinct decks that genuinely change how the game feels Cons Getting slain can feel harsh, especially for newer players Some light memory and card tracking can give experienced players an edge Visual clarity and readability may be an issue at a distance before you get used to the cards Final thoughts Pride of Ninja is a clever little game that punches well above its weight. It looks simple, plays quickly, but delivers a surprising amount of tension, interaction, and table talk. It will not be for everyone, especially those who dislike swingy outcomes or direct interaction, but for the right group it creates exactly the kind of memorable moments you want from a small box game. Just do not get too comfortable. In this game, confidence is often the first step to getting completely cut down.

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. Find out more here . More than a book. A world waiting to be played Some books tell you about a world. Others quietly invite you to build one. Zoologist’s Primer: Birds  sits firmly in the second camp, even from the limited preview I’ve had in front of me. This is not a traditional RPG book. It is not a rulebook, and it is not trying to be. Instead, it feels like something far more interesting. A beautifully presented field guide that blends real-world ornithology with folklore, magic, and just enough narrative spark to get your imagination doing most of the heavy lifting. Even in a small sample, you can see exactly what it is trying to be, and more importantly, who it is for. One page you are reading about albatross migration patterns and their incredible ability to glide for months. The next, you are being told they carry the souls of drowned sailors and will curse you if harmed. That balance, between fact and fantasy, is where this book really finds its voice. You dip into it rather than read it cover to cover. Each entry stands on its own, so you can jump straight to a bird that catches your interest. Whether you are preparing a DnD session, writing a story, or just browsing, it works best as a reference you return to again and again rather than something you power through. Each bird follows a consistent and thoughtful structure. You get a grounding in real biology first, with clear descriptions, habitat, behaviour, and lifecycle. Then, just as you settle into that scientific rhythm, the book pivots into folklore and magical properties. That is where the real value lies for game masters and world-builders. Each creature becomes more than a bird. It becomes a narrative device tied to magic, folk lore, and real-world ornithology. A blue jay is not just noisy and territorial, it becomes a trickster figure tied to deals, deception, and confidence. Even from this preview copy you can immediately see how easily these entries translate into encounters, plot hooks, or character inspiration. Zoologist's Primer feels like something that could exist inside the world it is describing. The tone walks a clever line between academic and playful, never taking itself too seriously, but never losing credibility either. There is a genuine sense of curiosity running through it, like it was written by people who simply enjoy these subjects and want you to enjoy them too. Even in a limited preview, the presentation is striking. Clean layout, strong visual identity, and a clear effort to make this feel like a premium, tactile object rather than just another PDF or reference guide. I would love to see the final printed version. There is also a quiet confidence in how little it explains. It does not spoon-feed mechanics or tell you exactly how to use everything. Instead, it trusts you to take what is there and run with it. That makes it far more flexible, but also means it will appeal more to creative players than those looking for rigid systems. Pros Unique blend of real-world science, folklore, and fantasy Strong structure makes each entry easy to use and adapt Inspires ideas immediately for RPGs, writing, and world-building Cons I will wait to see the final version, but I like what I see! Final thoughts Based on this preview, Zoologist’s Primer: Birds  feels like a tool that I as a DM would very much like to use. It gives you just enough to spark ideas, then steps back and lets you build something of your own. It will not be for everyone. If you want more traditional monsters then this is not it. But if you like crafting encounters with more real-world animals, or adding flavour to your games in a way that feels grounded yet magical, there is a lot to be excited about here. Even in a small sample, it is clear this is something made with care, curiosity, and a genuine love for the subject. And if the rest of the book delivers on what this preview promises, this could end up being the kind of resource that quietly lives on your shelf… and somehow finds its way into every game you run. You can find out more about this here .

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. Find out more here . We recently previewed The Secret Valley , a lovely compact spatial card game that is coming to Kickstarter soon. Well, with that release, another game from the same publisher and designer is being crowdfunded at the same time. The Lost Island. The Lost Island is a classic looking and playing roll and write that first published in 2021, but is now seeing a more widespread release. The game plays incredibly simply and fast. Give each player a playing sheet and a pencil. All players must decide to play on either side A or B, but they must all use the same side. Next, place the three dice down in the middle. Now, choose four scoring cards to use. Then have each player decide how they want to draw each of the five different territories in the game by sketching their chosen shape in the space for each on the right of the player sheet. Set up is done! The first player now rolls all three dice. They then choose one of the five territories that all players will now draw. They cross off their chosen territory on their game sheet. Only they do this. They then choose one of the rolled dice. This determines how many of the chosen territory they draw on their player sheet. They can draw the first territory anywhere on their sheet, but any additional ones drawn that round must touch another drawn that round. The other players then do the same, but with one of the two remaining dice, drawing that many of the same territory. Each player can choose any of the remaining two dice, even the same one if they wish. The lead player then moves round one space, and the three dice are rolled again. Each territory can only be selected by the lead player once in a four player game. So four times in total across the game, as each player can choose it once. In a three player game there are two uses each. And in a two player game there are three uses each. You will be drawing the territories based on the cards you chose during set up, and their specific scoring conditions. Points are awarded based on each territory’s alignment and placement with others, the size of groupings, or connections on the map, etc. All the standard scoring you would expect from this sort of spatial puzzle. But the combination of the four cards chosen, from a possible 12, means there is a huge amount of variation in how the game can play out, and the tactics you need to employ. The game continues until either the active player runs out of uses of any available territory, or one or more players cannot draw the number of territories selected due to their player sheet running out of space. Players then score for each of the four chosen scoring cards, and the highest score wins. On the player sheets, there are a few icons that affect the game. On side A, there are six spaces that let you mark off a plus or minus one modifier. When you draw any territory in one of these, mark off one of the spaces shown on the bottom left. Then, on any later turn, you can reduce or increase any die by one or more by crossing off the appropriate number of spaces. There is also one question mark in the centre space. When you draw any territory in this space, you immediately score your current lowest scoring card from the four in play. This is a little laborious, as you need to work out all four scores and then take the lowest. But it is a good opportunity to see where you stand and whether you need to adjust your strategy. The point at which you choose to cover this central space is up to you, but the later you leave it, the higher you are likely to score. On side B, there are two of these question marks. There are also eight exclamation marks. Whenever you are about to draw in one of these spaces, you can ignore the chosen territory from the lead player that turn, and instead draw any territory you wish. The solo game works in the same way, with one small change. You roll three dice and pick one to draw that many of any chosen territory. You can draw each territory three times. Then, roll the remaining two dice. You must use one die to determine the territory type. You will notice each territory on your player sheet is marked one to six. The second die then determines how many of that territory you draw. You can choose which die does which, unless of course you roll a double. The Lost Island is one of those roll and writes that knows exactly what it is doing. It's quick to teach, quick to play, and gets straight into the puzzle without any faff. What stands out immediately is how clean the turn structure feels. Roll, choose, draw, move on. There is almost no downtime, even at higher player counts, and that keeps everyone engaged from start to finish. It is not trying to reinvent the genre, but it absolutely delivers a smooth, satisfying loop. What really carries it, though, is the scoring card variety. Across a couple of plays, the feel of the game shifted noticeably depending on what cards came out. One game had me tightly clustering shapes to chase adjacency bonuses, while another had me spreading out more cautiously to avoid blocking future placements. That moment halfway through, where you realise one scoring card is lagging badly and you need to pivot, is where the game finds its tension. Who it is for and how it scales This is very much a “bring it anywhere” kind of game. It works across two to four players without much drop-off, and the shared turn structure means everyone stays involved. It is particularly good for groups that enjoy spatial puzzles but do not want heavy rules overhead. The solo mode also deserves a nod. It keeps the core decision space intact with a clever dice tweak, rather than feeling like an afterthought. That said, if you are looking for something deeply strategic or wildly innovative, this may feel a bit familiar. It sits comfortably alongside other roll and writes rather than trying to outdo them. The icon spaces and modifiers add some spice, but the core experience is still rooted in well-trodden territory. Where it shines and where it stumbles Pros: Fast, clean gameplay with almost no downtime Strong variability from scoring card combinations Accessible rules with a satisfying spatial puzzle Cons: Does not push the genre in new directions Scoring triggers can briefly interrupt the flow Can feel a bit samey across repeated plays without card variety Final thoughts The Lost Island is a confident, well-executed roll and write that does all the fundamentals right. It is easy to get to the table, easy to teach, and offers just enough tactical flexibility to keep things interesting across multiple plays. It will not replace your heavier puzzlers, but it absolutely earns its place as a reliable, portable option that you can pull out with almost any group. Sometimes you do not need to discover new lands, just enjoy mapping the ones you already know. Deep huh!?

Flora Funga WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count:2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Games like Cascadia, but wish they were simpler! Published by: Outset Media Designed by: Kedric Winks This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Two games, one box… but do both land? Flora Funga is one of those games that quietly wins you over before the first turn. The magnetic lid unfolds into the board, everything has its own compartment, and it all feels considered. It presents itself as a light, nature-themed tile layer. Two games in one box. Simple. Place pieces, complete patterns, score or win. But very quickly, you realise it is not just about placing tiles. It is about timing, disruption, and adapting to a board that never quite sits still. Like a real garden I suppose. Getting it to the table Setup is clean and quick, which suits the weight of both games perfectly. Layout the board, which is the game box, and place out the pieces for your chosen game. In Flora , each player drafts eight mission cards using a pick-and-pass system. These cards show specific dandelion patterns you need to create. Everyone takes their pieces, place one Bee token on the start of the pebble track on the left and you are ready to begin. In Funga , players are dealt mission cards and a special power each. You take your mushroom tokens, and that is essentially it. The box does a lot of the work for you. Open, unfold, play. How it plays Flora is built around the lifecycle of a dandelion. You start with the plant, then add buds, then flowers, and finally seed heads. Everything must be built in that order. Your mission cards ask for specific combinations, for example, four buds, or a mix of flowers and seed heads on the same plant. On your turn, you place a single piece onto the shared board, trying to complete your patterns while inevitably affecting everyone else. You can take any piece and place it anywhere. But you must start with a plant. Buds can only go on plants, up to five in total. Flowers can only go on buds, and seeds can only go on flowers. When you complete one of your cards, reveal that card so the other player can check it. After each player's turn, move the Bee token along the pebble track. When it reaches the second row, players now take two actions. When it reaches the third track, all players now take three actions. When a player reveals their eighth and final card, they win and the game is over. If the Bee token reaches the end of the track before this happens, the player with the most completed missions wins. You will spend turns setting something up, only for another player to either disrupt it or accidentally complete it for you. The more players involved, the more the board shifts between your turns. Plans rarely survive intact, and that is where the game finds its tension. In one game, I had been slowly building towards a specific pattern, stacking buds carefully and waiting for the right moment. Before I could act, another player added the final piece I needed without realising, handing me the completion. It felt like stealing a goal you did not earn, but in a good way. Equally, I do this a lot for the other players too, and its a little frustrating! Funga takes a different approach. Instead of racing to clear missions, you are scoring points by building mushroom patterns across the board. You can see what others are aiming for, which introduces more direct interaction. Blocking becomes part of the game. Special powers add variety, sometimes giving you ways to hide information or shift the board state. Each player will have a Bee token in their chosen colour, and they will place it at the start of the pebble scoring track. All players will take one special power at random and four mission cards, shuffled and dealt at random. All players will look at their cards and discard one, keeping the remaining three. They will now take turns to take one mushroom piece and add it anywhere on the board. You can place any mushroom wherever you wish, but you cannot move any previously placed mushrooms. There are five different types of mushrooms, and each player will have three mission cards that score each time a specific configuration of the mushrooms appears anywhere on the board. The game continues until the final mushroom piece is placed. How it feels Both games are very light, but there is something quite absorbing about them. You are always working towards something, always one move away from completing a card or pattern. There is a small but consistent buzz when things come together. Flora, for me, is the standout. At two players, it finds a really nice rhythm. You can plan just enough, react just enough, and feel like your decisions matter. With more players, the game becomes more unpredictable. The board can change dramatically before your next turn, which some will enjoy, but I found it slightly dilutes the control. But certainly not the fun! Funga leans more into specific strategy. You are more aware of what others are doing, and there is more deliberate disruption. It looks great and plays quickly, but it did not quite land as cleanly for us. Tracking scoring can feel a bit fiddly, and some combinations of missions and powers can create uneven games. Some are a lot easier than others, and the points awarded to some seems a little unbalanced. That said, the powers themselves are fun. There are plenty included, and we preferred taking two from a choice of four rather than just one from one. Not official rules, but it gave the game a bit more life and control. What stands out The production is excellent throughout. The magnetic board is not just a gimmick, it genuinely makes setup and teardown easier. The internal storage is well designed, and everything feels like it has its place. Both games also manage to feel visually distinct despite sharing the same system, which is not easy to do. Pros Strong production with a smart, functional box design Satisfying pattern-building with constant interaction Two genuinely different experiences in one package Cons Board state can shift heavily between turns at higher player counts Scoring and tracking in Funga can feel slightly fiddly Some variability in balance depending on missions and powers Final thoughts Flora Funga is a clever package that offers more than it first appears. Flora is a light but absorbing puzzle that balances planning with just enough chaos to keep things interesting. Funga adds variety and a sharper edge, but can be a little unbalanced. What this package does well is give you choice. Two games, both quick, both easy to table, both visually appealing. You may find yourself favouring one over the other, but having both in the same box feels like genuine value.

INKtentions WBG Score:  8 Player Count:  2-4 You’ll like this if you like:  Action Queue games with an Octopus theme Published by:   MaKa Games, LLC Designed by:   Matthew Kambic This is a review copy. See our review policy here Eight arms, zero trust INKtentions wastes no time telling you what kind of game it is. This is bluffing, pure and simple, wrapped in a playful ocean theme and delivered at a pace that keeps everyone leaning forward. You are not here to optimise quietly. You are here to mislead, second-guess, and occasionally ruin someone’s round with a perfectly timed shark. It feels light, but there is just enough bite in the decisions to keep it interesting. Quick, colourful, and slightly chaotic There is an immediate charm to INKtentions. The theme is fun and works perfectly with the mechanics. The idea of octopuses outmanoeuvring each other for food lands instantly. More importantly, the game signals its tone early. This is not a serious, heads-down strategy experience. It is interactive, a little unpredictable, and designed to create moments where everyone reacts at once. Setup: familiar with a twist Setup is refreshingly straightforward. Each player gets the same deck of eight cards in the colour of their choice, representing their “arms”, and you will play seven of them each round. Food tiles are laid out into separate scoring piles, each with its own scoring rules. Depending on player count, each pile has a cap on how many cards can be played to it. These are placed around the five Arm Head cards. There is a small amount of variety introduced through food types and the Octobility tiles. Take five food types from the seven available, or four for a two player game. Place one Minnow tile under each pile of tiles. Take one Octobility tile per player. Within a few minutes, you are ready to go. It is the kind of setup you can explain the rules while doing it, which always helps get a game moving quickly. How to play: simple actions, sneaky outcomes On your turn, you play one card. Cards are placed as an extension of one of the Octopus's arms, building out from each food pile. That is it. The twist is that most cards are placed face down next to a food pile, meaning nobody knows exactly what is building there until the end of the round. Over the course of the round, players are quietly shaping multiple piles at once. You might be genuinely chasing a food type, or you might be baiting others into overcommitting. Some cards help you score, like hunt cards. Others disrupt, like sharks removing nearby hunts. A few add tactical spice, such as punch cards that move cards around. Once everyone has played their cards, the reveal happens. Cards are flipped and resolved in order. This is where the game shines. Plans succeed, backfire, or collapse entirely in a way that feels dramatic but still understandable. Any Hunts not next to Sharks gain the player that placed that card one Food tile from that row. Any Sharks present next to any Hunts, it could be your own, remove those Hunt cards for the round. And cards could have moved about during the round with Punch cards and various Octobility cards affecting the layout and card placement. So the above may turn to something like the below. You can see there was a lot of successful hunting in the row running horizontally to the right of the Octopus, but in the row running down the Sharks reigned supreme. But the Hide & Hunt card is immune to Sharks, so it gains one food token. The game continues until a Minnow tile is revealed. Play one final round, and then players total their food based on a variety of scoring systems. Some reward sets like the Krill and the Lobster. Some depend on what everyone else collected like the Shellfish. Each bring their own unique scoring mechanic. It keeps priorities shifting throughout the game and each game feeling a little differnet to the last. Where it works: tension in every tiny decision The best thing INKtentions does is make small decisions feel meaningful. You are constantly asking yourself whether to commit, bluff, or interfere. Even placing a single card can swing a pile from safe to disastrous. For all players! Everyone has access to the same tools, which means the game is less about luck of the draw and more about how you use what you have. Reading the table becomes just as important as playing your own cards. There is also a nice rhythm to it. Turns are quick, reveals are exciting, and rounds reset cleanly. It keeps the energy high without overstaying its welcome. Where it creaks: chaos cuts both ways The same hidden information that makes the game fun can also make it feel swingy. Sometimes your plan falls apart not because you misplayed, but because someone else made a move you could not reasonably predict. You need to find those moments funny and entertaining. Not annoying. There is also limited long-term planning. You can aim for certain food types, but the evolving board state means you are often reacting rather than executing a clear strategy. For some players, that is the appeal. For others, it may feel a bit too loose. Who should play it This is ideal for groups that enjoy interaction, bluffing, and a bit of playful conflict. It works best at three or four players, where the mind games have room to develop. It is less suited to players who prefer control, deep planning, or minimal randomness. If you want to map out a perfect strategy five turns ahead, this is not that game. It's worth noting that this is the base game. The expansion takes out one SHARK card and adds one EEL and one INK. The EEL only targets HIDE & HUNT; so nothing is safe. The HUNT are safe to EEL and still vulnerable to SHARKS. The INK upgrades any touching HUNT into a HIDE & HUNT. Therefore, it becomes more complex! The designer explained that is why it is not included in the base game.  Pros Fast, interactive gameplay with constant engagement Identical deck keeps things fair and skill-focused. Varied scoring adds interesting decisions each round Cons Can feel unpredictable or swingy at times Limited ability to plan long-term strategies Some outcomes depend heavily on opponents’ hidden plays Final word INKtentions succeeds by knowing exactly what it is. It is not trying to be the deepest game on your shelf. It is trying to create moments, laughs, and just enough tension to keep everyone guessing. And it does that well. You will bluff, you will get caught out, and you will immediately want another round to prove you saw it coming all along. Turns out, eight arms are great for chaos, but not so great for keeping secrets under wraps.

After spending time with Flockers   and seeing how it quietly builds into something far more thoughtful than it first appears, I was keen to hear from designer Mark Swanson about where it all came from. In my review , I talked about the importance of timing, preparation, and those big payoff moments when everything finally clicks. It turns out that was very much by design. So I caught up with Mark to dig into the inspiration behind the game, the thinking that shaped it, and what he hopes players take away from it. Hi Mark, thanks for talking with us. We love the game. What was your inspiration for making Flockers? Thanks, Jim. I really appreciate that! Truth be told, part of the inspiration came from something a little unexpected. I’ve always been fascinated by how sled dog teams in races like the Iditarod rely on a lead dog to navigate and set the pace, but that role is so mentally demanding that mushers often rotate dogs through that position. There’s something really compelling about that shared responsibility, but also a bit sobering when you realize how taxing it can be. That got me thinking about other species that travel long distances together, and particularly ones that shift roles dynamically. Migrating geese felt like a perfect fit, constantly adjusting formation, conserving energy, and working as a system. From there, the design followed naturally. I wanted to capture that balance between movement, preparation, and sustainability in a clean, tactical way where timing - not just speed - drives success. Well, that certainly comes across when you play Flockers. Who do you think this game is for? I think Flockers is for players who enjoy thoughtful decisions without a heavy rules burden. Certainly, it will resonate with people who love birds and nature, but mechanically it’s really for players who like weighing trade-offs. Do I move now, or prepare for something better later? Do I push forward, or make sure I can sustain that momentum? It’s approachable enough for newer players, but there’s a satisfying layer for more experienced gamers who enjoy refining their strategy over multiple plays. Folks can learn more about Flockers on Gamefound . All your games play very differently. What do you think is the common link with a Mark Swanson game? That’s a great question—and you’re right, they do play very differently on the surface. For me, games are a bit like novels. Some are about the scenic journey, where you’re exploring systems and possibilities. Others are about rising tension and payoff, building toward something and then executing at just the right moment. The common thread in my games is trying to marry those ideas with strong integration between theme and mechanics. I want players to feel like the decisions they’re making belong in that world. Whether it’s a large sandbox like Feudum or something more distilled like Flockers, I’m always focused on meaningful choices and giving players multiple paths to shape their experience. Playing Flockers gets better and better with each game. How do you think a game like Flockers can stand out in this fast-paced, "first impression" world we live in? The “first impression” world is definitely inescapable—and honestly, it’s the first step in the engagement cycle. The art draws you in. The story immerses you. The components and production value give you that tactile connection. But ultimately, it’s the mechanics that have to deliver a satisfying puzzle. If those elements are working together, the game starts to reveal more over time. With Flockers, the first play teaches the system, but later plays start to highlight timing, efficiency, and how small decisions compound. That’s where replay value comes from, and I think that’s what gives a game a longer shelf life in a crowded market. I agree. Its just getting people beyond those first few plays! What plans do you have for games after Flockers? Anything exciting you are working on? I’m always working on something in the background—haha. Right now, I have three projects in development. FIR is a worker placement game about timbermen in the late 1800s, focused on resource management and building out a working system over time. Forelords is a dueling card battle set in a dystopian world, where players develop their biomes, gather resources, and deploy forces across a tactical grid. And Fleck is a lighter, gladiator-themed trick-taking game where players secretly commit weapon cards, build strength through shards and amulets, and battle it out over a series of escalating rounds. They’re all very different experiences, but they each explore systems, tension, and meaningful decision-making in their own way. If folks are interested, they can see what Odd Bird is up to at www.oddbirdgames.com OK< I have to ask! How come all your games begin with F? Well, I’ve always loved alliteration in poetry, so after Feudum, it just became a fun, quirky thing to continue. Of course, people are quick to point out the comparison to Friedemann Friese—and I swear that part was completely coincidental! My first reaction was, “Wait, Power Grid starts with a P...” until someone reminded me it was originally titled Funkenschlag, which roughly translates to “flying sparks” in German. At that point, I figured—okay, maybe I’m not as original as I thought... but I’m committed now. : ) If Flockers  feels like your flavour of fun, this is firmly one to follow. It is a finely fashioned framework that unfolds further with every foray, fostering focus, foresight, and fairly fearless decision-making in a fashion that feels genuinely fulfilling. You can find the campaign for this game  here , and if you favour lighter fare with a fair bit of finesse beneath the façade, it is fully worth flicking through while the opportunity is still fresh.

Dominion: Second Edition WBG Score: 7 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Deck-building  Published by: Rio Grande Games Designed by: Donald X. Vaccarino This is a free review copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey Dominion was first released in 2008 and this second edition was released 8 years later in 2016. Countless numbers of people have played this over the years and it’s still being played as much today as it was back then.  Box art generated with Photoshop as we have the big box and wanted to show the original box! It’s got 16 big expansions at the time of writing and a ton of other promos and up-date packs. So it’s safe to say that Dominion is kind of a big deal…people know it…it has many leather bound books and….no, sorry, that’s Ron Burgundy. With all that said, the question remains. How the hell do you review a game with this kind of legacy!? What else can I say that hasn't already been said over the last 18 years? Because surely at this point, reviewing this old of a game that’s this well known in the hobby would be like me saying to people  “hey have you heard of this David Attenborough guy? He’s pretty good at nature documentaries and you should check him out”. Well, whatever I say I should probably start with the rules right? How to Dominate To set up, make up a deck of cards for each player containing 7 coins and 3 estate cards. Place out the rest of the coin cards of 1, 2 and 3 denominations in their stacks and do the same with the rest of the Estate cards as well as the Duchy, Province and Curse cards but for these set out a certain amount depending on player count. These cards are worth 1, 3, 6 and -1 points. Then choose 10 kingdom decks and place these on the table. You can either choose these by personal preference, use the pre-set list or pick them at random. Each deck comes with a randomizer card and you separate all of these into one deck which you can then shuffle and draw ten at random to choose your setup. Each player then shuffles their deck and draws a hand of five cards.  On your turn you play cards in your hand following the three phrases of the game. First, the action step. You can play one action card from your hand. Action cards are usually the kingdom cards in your hand. These will do a large variety of things like giving you additional money, options to buy more cards on a turn, letting you draw cards from your deck and even giving you more actions so you can play other action cards from your hand. Once the action phase is over you go onto the buy phase. You add together all the money cards in your hand and add on any money you may have gotten from action cards. You can now buy 1 new card from the supply. Some action cards will let you buy more than this when you play them. Pay the money cost on the card and add it to your discard pile. Next is the clean up phase. Put all played cards and cards left in your hand into your discard pile and draw a new hand of five cards. When your draw pile has run out then shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck.  The game will end when three of any piles of cards are empty or all of the 6 point province cards have run out. Then total up all the points on cards in your deck and minus points for any curse cards you have. The player with the most points wins. My relationship with Deck-builders I’ve said many times across my reviews that standard, card only deck builders don’t really do it for me. They usually have some kind of battle mechanic and I find them to be a bit anticlimactic for the most part I don’t really enjoy them (there is the odd exception) Even though I knew Dominion was a fight for points rather than attacking your opponents, the card only aspect still put me off trying it even when I’ve had the opportunity on a couple of occasions. Then I was sent a copy by Rio Grande and I figured that if it was on the shelf it'd be rude not to give it a try. As with everything I went in with an open mind but honestly, I kinda expected to be more on the negative side given my previous experience. Add to that the fact that my history with designer Donald X Vaccarino's games has been mixed. I have to say though, I was presently surprised by it! The evolution of a deck.  From the very first read of the rules the game categorically tells you that you're limited with what you can do on your turn. However, as you set out the kingdom cards they whisper to you “don’t worry, we’re gonna let you break those rules in so many ways that you’ll feel like you're cheating.” Regardless of that, those first few hands still feel a bit underwhelming (which is generally true for deck-builders since your starting hands are the barest of bare bones.) even with those first couple of kingdom cards drip feeding and even with the odd little bonus here and there it still feels like buying those expensive cards is going to be almost impossible. As your deck builds that impossibility melts away and before you know it those early stunted hands make way for some epic combos. One minute you're drawing your hand of five cards and only playing with those. Next you’ll be drawing cards and chaining actions as quickly as your drunken family joining the end of a conga line and boy is it satisfying, the cards not the conga, no one wants to be the one behind drunk auntie Pat, you’re basically in charge of holding her upright!  Each card gives that little dopamine hit as you draw another card, which could give you another action, which you can play to draw another card and each of those other cards have given you extra money to spend and even another buy action. It’s actually satisfying as you finish up your turn knowing you’ve done so much. Those big combos aren’t always going to trigger though and in fact, having those big chains of cards may not be your style of play. Fortunately that isn’t the only way to play Dominion. There are plenty of play styles to lean into and the game absolutely lets you because of its replayability. The game comes with 26 kingdoms and that gives room for a decent amount to mix and match each game and each combination will give you a chance to experiment and explore different strategies. The rulebook will give some recommended combos or you could just throw caution to the wind and randomly put together your own. Just make sure that if you have got attack cards then maybe have some reaction cards to help counteract the effects, otherwise you're sure to get those agents of chaos who like to snap all those cards up and just go on an all out attack and it’s not fun being on the constant receiving end. Will all of those combinations be balanced or fun? I’m going to say, probably not. Maybe you want to play Dominion but don’t want to put the time or even have the time to experiment with different combos and just want to play with the good ones. Don't worry because I'm sure there are enough seasoned Dominion players out there that can tell you the good stuff. In fact the big advantage of a game that has been around this long is the vast amount of information and community there is about it. Players have put countless hours into the game and there are going to be so many knowledgeable people out there who have probably compiled lists of the best and worst combos. Of course these are all subjective but if there's a way you avoid those bad games because some heroes out there have done the work for you then all the better. A game of two halves. As you start a game of dominion it’s all about building up your deck, getting those optimal combinations set up and really building that engine. You find yourself focused making sure you get exactly what works for your game into your hand. That is until you see people starting to reach for the odd point card, it may be now and then  and you may think nothing of it. But then you catch them going for that sneaky 6 point province. You might even notice that one or two of those decks are getting low. Now the game becomes a race. Now everyone is scrabbling for points. Every turn people are gonna be desperate for coins and just hoping that the engines they built in the first half are going to pay off and more importantly, if it’s going to hold up under the weight of all the points cards that are now clogging up their deck . It’s honestly like the standoff from reservoir dogs, just less violence. Everyone is just waiting for that perfect time to pull the trigger on the end game but one wants to be the one to do it unless they know they can consistently score points until the end of the game. It's that lovely balance of timing. Go all in too soon and you may be floundering towards the end, unable to score the bigger cards. Go too late and the bulk of the good points will have been snapped up.  Everyday I’m shuffling. Are you good at shuffling? Have you never shuffled a deck of cards before? Are you ok at it but need improvement? Well then worry not because Dominion is not just a board game, it’s a card shuffling crash course in a box. In one easy payment you can get all the shuffle training you’ll ever need! Depending on your play style it can be all too easy to burn through your deck in a couple of turns with a combination of +1 cards and +1 action cards cycling through your hand. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing to happen because you can cycle through to your really good cards even quicker and even accumulate a decent amount of money on a turn. The downside is that you’ll be shuffling your deck….a lot! For some this is a moot point and is barely worth bringing up because they don’t mind that aspect. For others it could feel like a chore that gets in the way of an otherwise fun game. I love shuffling cards. I'm the sort of person who, when asked to shuffle, will keep going until I'm told to stop, but I think even I get to a point during games of Dominion where I could do without shuffling my cards anymore.   Like most deck-builders, hands can turn into a luck fest. Even with some great cards in your deck and the potential to trash cards it's still possible to get late in the game and draw a hand of cards that resemble those of a starting hand. Now you could argue that with optimal play you could avoid this but during your early games (especially if you've not played a deck builder before) it can be all too easy to have a bad hand of cards and if that hand comes out in the last gasp for points then if can feel a bit crummy.  After enough plays, I felt the turns in Dominion really speed up, even if I’ve got that long chain of actions. This isn’t a bad thing by any means and one reason people love this game is because of how quick they can get through a game. However I can’t help feeling that a part of that is because I started to go into autopilot. You start to learn what cards do at a glance so you play them and react so quickly to them it’s like you are not really taking the game in. How you feel about that may sway your decision on if this game is for you. I know a lot of people love Dominion for that very reason but for me personally, when I play a game I like to be engaged on every turn and I increasingly felt like I was just going through the motions and I found myself not enjoying it quite as much as I did when I first started to discover it.  Indiana Jones and the original deck builder. It’s been 18 years and I have to say that Dominion still holds up. In a market full of games that have taken great leaps to innovate on Dominions foundation it’d be so easy to write Dominion off as a relic of the time and label it as “a good start.” But just like Harrison Ford refusing to let go of Indiana Jones, Dominion refuses to let go of its relevance. Unlike Harrison Ford though Dominion rightly proves why it shouldn’t stop. It’s still just as fun and approachable today than I imagine it was when it first came out. So the question is, has this journey back to the start of deckbuilding changed my mind on the genre? Am I now a fan of dominion? No and probably not? This “points”. style of deck builders has certainly taken a step in the right direction. So much so that I may actually look twice at something like this in the future. In terms of being a fan? Well, not quite. I’ve certainly had fun with my plays of Dominion and I can see why this game had the impact it did. For me, it’s not managed to make that leap over my own personal hurdles for me to consider it collection worthy. I’ll still play Dominion if it’s put on the table and I’ll still enjoy that time playing it but I might have to be in the right mood before I suggest it. If you're a fan of deck-builders, regardless of how many you’ve played and how many different types you’ve played, Dominion is still absolutely worth your consideration. It’s simple to pick up and play but offers so much more depth, strategy and replayability than I thought was possible, and that’s just the base game alone. Right, I’m off to take Dominion down to the pub for its first legal drink and let it get a tattoo. It is 18 after all.

Tatsumi WBG Score:  8 Player Count:  1-4 You’ll like this if you like:   Azul , Splendor , Harmonies Published by:   Adam's Apple Games, LLC Designed by:   Jeremy Rozenhart This is a review copy. See our review policy here Tatsumi is one of those games that immediately demands attention. A striking central tray filled with stacked rings, colourful wooden dragons circling a shared board, and the promise of a tactile, flowing puzzle. It looks like something fresh. And in many ways, it is. But once you get past that initial wow factor, Tatsumi reveals itself as something more familiar, and occasionally more demanding, than it first appears. But in all the good ways. At its heart, this is a spatial optimisation puzzle. You are not just collecting resources. You are constantly balancing timing, positioning, and opportunity, all while the board shifts under your feet. It sits comfortably alongside games like Azul or Cascadia, but with an extra layer of movement and timing that gives it its own identity. How to set up and play Setup is quick but visually impressive. The central “seaboard” is filled with stacks of coloured rings arranged across a five by five grid, sunk into perfectly fitting holes. This stores away full in the box, so simply lift out and place onto the table. You will need to remove a few rings for lower player counts, but this takes just a few seconds. There are four different colours and they will be randomly distributed into the multiple holes. So if any fell out in the box, simply place them randomly back in. They slide in very easily. Four shrine cards are then placed around the edges from a shuffled deck, one from each of the four different types. This defines how players will score in that game. Each player now takes a dragon, dragon card, an island board, scoring aid, and a set of scales in their chosen colour. You can play with the basic setups for a cleaner experience recommended for game one, or flip boards and dragons cards for asymmetric powers. Finally, place out the Sand Dollar tokens and you are now ready to play. It all takes just a few moments. On your turn, you will always perform two actions. One is mandatory: you must move your dragon in a straight line across the board, as far as you like, without crossing another player. When you leave a space, you take the top ring from that location. The ring is added to one of the three spaces located on the side of your board. Your second action is a choice. You can either gather additional rings from nearby spaces, or you can offer rings at a shrine to score points and place them onto your personal island board. When you gather, you will be thinking about where you want to move to, so you are close to the coloured rings you need to take. Your gather power will depend on if you are playing the basic or asymmetric version. The basic is any orthogonal space. The asymmetric opens it up to a few more interesting options depending on which dragon you are playing as. Again, the rings you take are placed into the spaces for them next to your personal player mat. There are three spaces, and each space can hold up to three of any one colour. When you offer, you need to be in one of the middle three spaces on the edge of the board, next to the offer tile you want to use. They will show what colour and quantity of tiles are needed to successfully offer at this space. If you have the amount of rings in your possession, you can move them from the side of the board onto your main board. That placement matters. Rings score immediately based on where they sit, but also contribute to end-game scoring patterns depending on how you arrange them. You must place the first ring on one of the spaces with an elemental logo on, the Elemental Rift spaces, and match the colour of the rings to the icon on the mat. Any other rings placed later in the turn or game can be placed anywhere, as long as they are touching at least one other previously placed ring. But the Elemental Rift spaces must always have a ring matching their symbol. You will then score points from zero to four, based on the number of different coloured rings you have placed in the Elemental Rift spaces. Next, check the shrine card you are using. Does it show its scale symbol? Each card has one on one side. If so, then you can place one of your scale tokens onto the scoring tile next to this. There are multiple scoring tiles in the game, and four would have been placed at random during setup. They offer additional scoring potential based on various placement of tiles, etc. Then, flip the shrine card over to the other side, which will show a different configuration of rings now needed to satisfy this shrine card for the next time it is used. Play continues as the board gradually empties. When a reserve empties of rings, you will fill it with a Sand Dollar token. The end game is is triggered either by the final token being used, or if a player fills their personal player board with rings. Final scoring is now applied. The blue rings score you two points for every ring in your largest group. The Red get you five points for every group you have in a set of at least three. The yellow score two points for each individual group of yellows. And the Black get you scaling points for each other unique colour adjacent to them. Tally up your final points, and unsurprisingly, most points wins. What it feels like to play Tatsumi is at its best when you treat it as a flowing, tactical puzzle rather than a long-term strategy game. Every turn presents a small but meaningful decision. Where do you move? What do you take? Do you score now or wait? But it is so fast! It will shock you how quick this game moves. Its not like one of those classic euros where you crave just one more turn, I always end wanting at least ten more turns! In most games you could find yourself in a situation when you have lined up what feels like a perfect turn. Move across the board, collect the exact rings you need, ready to land next to a shrine to score big on your next turn. Except someone gets there first, flips the shrine, meaning the requirements for that particular shrine change, and suddenly your entire plan needs reworking. That happens a lot. The board state is constantly shifting, and your plans rarely survive contact with other players. Available rings go. Shrines flip. And the game ends, fast! That creates a very reactive experience. You are not building towards a long, carefully plotted strategy. You are adapting. Adjusting. Making the best move available right now. For some players, that keeps the game dynamic and engaging. For others, it can feel like the game resists deeper planning. There is also a real mental load here. The rules are straightforward, but the decisions are not. You are constantly juggling position, resources, scoring options, and timing. It is easy to drift into overthinking, especially as your player board fills and scoring possibilities tighten. But options are limited each turn, it just depends on how far forward people try to plan. But with the ever changing game state, this is not really advised or in truth, possible. With the right group, this feels like a satisfying puzzle. With the wrong one, it can feel abrupt and chaotic. Interaction sits in an interesting space. It is not direct or aggressive, but it is always present. Players inadvertently block paths, take key rings from other players, and flip shrines at the worst possible moment. At higher player counts, this becomes more pronounced, with the board feeling tighter and more contested. At lower counts, the puzzle opens up but loses some of that tension. Although it is easier to predict your opponent's next move in lower player counts, so blocking can become more planned than accidental! There is a lot of variety with the four asymmetric dragons, the six different game boards, five different scoring options for each of the four types across -16 scoring cards in total, and the advanced Weather mode, as seen above. The Weather is used all the time in solo mode, and when you want more variation in multiplayer mode. Two are chosen at random during set up, and one card is flipped to the minor side, the other to the major. Even more variation The cards are triggered through the game as play advances and the cards affect all players. The production of this game is a huge strength. The central ring tray looks fantastic and helps structure the game state neatly. It makes setup and teardown a breeze! And I think it looks stunning on the table. It is easily visible from all angles and offers a glimpse into what is to come, considering the box is transparent. Some planning then! The height of it can block the important text on the cards around it, though. But I found you need to read this out at the start and ensure all players understand them before you begin, so you won't be looking at them too often during the game, just a quick refresher. But the obstruction caused by the tray is a little annoying when you want those brief looks. Pros Engaging tactical puzzle with constant decision-making Strong table presence with eye-catching components Good variability through asymmetric options and scoring setups Cons Can feel reactive rather than strategically deep Visual design sometimes impacts readability and clarity in a small way Games are fast, maybe too fast! Tatsumi is a good game that sometimes feels like it is reaching for greatness. There is a clever system here, a satisfying flow of decisions, and enough variety to keep it interesting across multiple plays. If you enjoy thoughtful, tactical abstracts with a strong visual presence, there is a lot to like. Sometimes it soars, sometimes it circles, and it is always interesting to play. And at the end of the day, even if your plan falls apart, at least you got to fly a cool looking dragon while doing it.

Wispwood WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Cascadia , Sagrada Published by: CGE Designed by: Reed Ambrose This is a review copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey There are many things that can be described using the term Wisp. The game Wispwood is of course referring to the will-o-the-wisps that emerge in the forest to conceal or reveal paths. It conjures such lovely ethereal images in the mind. Unfortunately for this reviewer the closest definition of a wisp I get is the last few wisps of hair that are clinging on to head for dear life. The only similarity of course is that both the wisps and my head both glow in the light! How to go for a wisp in the woods Fit together the wisp board in a random order and populate it with 8 wisps. Then shuffle and draw 1 card from each objective type and put them face up for everyone to see. Give each player a face down tree tile and a cat token on top of it. Place the rest of the tree tokens in face down piles. On your turn you’ll take one of the wisps from the board. When you do you’ll look at the two shapes on either side of it, choose one and take enough face down tree tokens to be able to make that shape in front of you including the wisp tile you just took. You’ll then place that shape in front of you. You can rotate the shape anyway you need and the wisp tile can go anywhere in that shape. The shape can go anywhere as long as at least one side of a tile is fully touching another one you’ve already placed. Here’s the real restrictions though. In the first round you can only make up a 4x4 grid, the second round a 5x5 and the third a 6x6. You also have to be aware of the scoring cards on the table as each type of wisp and the tree tiles will have their own scoring conditions. The Witch objective card is the only one that will dictate where it’s Wisp MUST be placed and generally it’s to do with its vicinity to the cat token.  At the start of your turn you have the option of using your cat token. You can flip it to either replace and refill all of the wisps on the board or you can use it to take a wisp but choose any shape around the board. You then take your turn as normal.  As an alternative to taking a wisp you can take a tree action. Here you simply take one, two or three face down tree tiles and place them in any empty spaces on your board. This is good for filling in those odd spaces. This action will also let you refresh your cat token for you to use in a future turn. The round will end when one person has completely filled their grid. At which point play goes round until it goes back to the first player. Players will now score each objective card. These are all different for each type of wisp, Once scoring is done players will then have the option of moving their cat token to another face down tree tile. Then everyone removes all of their tree tiles from their grid leaving the wisps where they were. The main board stays in the same state as it was and play starts again only this time players can now build out to a 5x5 grid and in the third round a 6x6 grid. The game ends after three rounds and the player with the most points wins.  Is it a wood or a forest? As seems to be the trend these days, Wispwood is one of those lovely, puzzly games that has a deceptively pretty theme wrapped around it so as to entice gamers like a moth to a flame. It pulls you in with its neon looking wisps (which apparently look good under a blacklight) and oddly included cats and then smacks you in the face with a different kind of polyomino puzzle. It’s one that all at once feels really tight but also really freeing in how it works and the choices it presents to you. With a regular polyomino game you get your shape. “there it is, this is how we printed it, you figure it out” In Wispwood the fact that you can put your wisp anywhere in that shape is huge. It may not seem like it at the time but that freedom can make all the difference between a big score and no score at all for that placement and all because you can move that wisp one square as opposed to a set place in a tile. With five objective cards out on the table you’ll need that freedom. These cards come in two difficulty levels and I would highly recommend choosing cards with just the one paw on for your first games. My advice would be to choose the ones that everyone can understand without too much trouble. This also helps for scoring as well.  Whatever you choose there’s going to be so many ways to score and so much to take into consideration when building out your grid. It can quite easily lead to players frantically looking back and forth from their grid, to the objectives and to the display of wisps and back to their grid again. Yep the chance for neck pain is high in this one which is exactly why I'm lobbying to have pots of Tiger Balm to be added to each copy (other muscle soothing brands are available and we at What Board Game are not sponsored by Tiger Balm… yet?) The game does say you can pick your objective cards at random. Personally I’d hand pick them because some of them can be tricky to get your head round, even for seasoned players and too many of these types of objectives in play at the same time could cause players to be laying in crumpled heaps of the floor by the end of the game.  The one advantage of so many objectives is that at least you’ve got some choice and can pivot strategies if a particular type of wisp isn’t coming out. The game has also thrown in a couple of safeguards to stop thing becoming too stale. Being able to swap out wisps when there’s only one type left can be a blessed relief. There's also a handy Mitigation Kitten you can use (that's not what its called in the rules but I just thought of it and i'm also going to lobby for that to be added to the rules…..in exchange for royalties obviously) Your cat is a great tool to help with any problematic situations you may find yourself in……if you’ve remembered to refresh it that is. Not having it available when you really need it can be, oh lets call it frustrating.  One thing I really appreciate in Wispwood is the way they’ve incorporated what could have been seen as a dead turn in a lot of games, into something that’s worth doing. Tree turns are not the “well I suppose I’ll have to do this then” that they could easily have been. Not only does it bring your kitty out of hiding (why does that sentence feel weird) but it goes towards filling your grid, which gives you extra points if you do. Not only that but they’ve made tree tiles an objective. It’s a simple fix that’s gives meaning to something that could have easily been seen as “negative space”, I’ll be honest, I do kinda forget the tree scoring objective but the fact that I can do that, still have them score, something and not feel like its effected my game is a bonus. It’s a fiddly Forrest…..or wood? There can be a fiddliness to Wispwood, but with some fixes, it can be toned down. First, this isn’t just a spatial puzzle; it can be a dexterity game as well. Since you need to remove any tree tiles on your board at the end of each round, it can feel a bit nerve-wracking as you try not to flick your wisps across the table like you're playing a game of ice cool. This is escalated if you use the provided grid template properly, which keeps everything tight together. My advice: spread the grid out a bit and save some room for your fingers. While we’re on the subject of advice, I’d say get yourself a cloth bag for the tree tiles. Mixing up the tree tiles during setup and then flipping the resulting mess face down and putting them in piles I found to be a pain, unless everyone else is chipping in. I know you’ll sometimes see what is on the flip side of a tile as you pull it out to use as a tree tile. There are so many tree tiles that unless you’ve got someone counting every wisp that comes out and calculating the odds, I don’t think that will matter too much, plus it’ll make setup a lot quicker, especially if you’re playing solo.  Let's talk about scoring, which can cause the biggest amount of fiddliness. There's five objective and multiple different objective cards for each wisp and varying difficulty.. That means that scoring can get convoluted and confusing.  So much so that it's easy for people to miscalculate their scores. I know that's the case because of the app!. CGE have released a scoring app for Wispwood and it is a god send. Not least because it speeds the scoring phase up exponentially. You select all the objective cards you're using, the app accesses your camera which you hold over your grid and it sees where everything is and it scores for you. I know people make mistakes because they've tried to score their grid (and were unsure they got it right) so I checked with the app and they'd missed a few points from their score. So it's worth getting to speed the game up. At the time of writing it's not perfect since it can only score one player's grids. So if you want to do everyone then you need to keep flicking back and forth. It’s still quicker and more accurate than manual scoring though. Hopefully they'll have an update to change that soon. I’m not letting the integration of the app affect my score here purely because I know not everybody will use the app.  Wispwood can easily sit in the pantheon of games that you’ll happily pull out to teach new gamers, but with that decent array of goal cards and the varying difficulty I can easily see this one holding up to the longevity that others like Cascadia have had. Right, I’m off to have a lie down. I’ve just spent the last few hours following wisps round the woods, trying to find my cat. Then I realised that I don’t own a cat!

Estate: Raise The Realm WBG Score:  8 Player Count:  3-6 You’ll like this if you like:  Everdell - but you want more castles! Published by:   Grod Games LLC. Designed by:   Devon Grodkiewicz , Kathryn Hah n This is a review copy. See our review policy here A quiet engine with sharp edges Estate: Raise the Realm is not here to reinvent anything. It is here to take a set of very well-understood ideas, worker placement, tableau building, card combos, and make them run cleaner, tighter, and faster than you expect. Think of it less like a sprawling medieval epic and more like a well-run city after a crisis. Everything matters, nothing is wasted, and if you fall behind, it is because you chose the wrong moment to act. Where it begins: bricks, boards, and early intent Setup is a breeze. The central board goes down, era cards are seeded with a mix of positive and negative effects, three positive, two negative and ensure you always start with one positive. Four gather tiles are randomly selected, one for each level, and unique resource spaces are primed for your game. Each player takes a leader mat, workers, cubes for their tracks, and then builds their starting tableau using leader-specific cards based on their chosen leader mat. That last bit is important. You do not start from nothing. Your opening cards immediately remove cubes from your tracks, which means your engine already has a direction before the first worker is even placed. It is a clever way of skipping the usual slow ramp-up and getting you into meaningful decisions almost immediately. Finally deal each player five cards, and run a quick draft, then each player chooses a secret end-game scoring objective from two choices and you are now ready to begin. The game unfolds over five eras. At the start of each, an event card is revealed. This is part weather system, part economic policy shift. Sometimes helpful, sometimes disruptive, always something you have to account for. Each one also introduces a shared objective for that era, giving everyone a short-term race layered over their longer-term plans. From there, the structure is beautifully simple. Players take turns placing workers one at a time until they are gone. On your turn, you choose one of four actions: expand, produce, draw, or gather. That is it. The entire game lives inside those four verbs. Produce is where your engine pays you back. You activate a number of production cards based on how far you have advanced that track. Early on, it feels modest. Later, it can feel like flipping a switch and watching your whole system fire at once. I had one game where I delayed production at the start when it was weak, only to unleash it in a single turn that flooded me with resources and cards. It felt less like optimization and more like timing a market entry perfectly, and took the other players who had activated their production more frequently by surprise! Draw feeds the machine. You pull cards either from the open market or blind from the deck, based on your draw track. There is no hand limit, which sounds generous, but the real challenge is not collecting cards. It is knowing which ones actually matter before the game moves past you. Gather is where the shared tension lives. Workers go to the central board to claim resources, recruit more workers, or unlock stronger actions as your gather track improves. The resource spaces are particularly good. Leave them alone and they build up over era's. Take them too early and you feel inefficient. Leave them too long and someone else cashes in. It is the board’s way of quietly asking, “Are you sure now is the right time?” There are also four unique spaces to your game, based on the tiles you chose at set up. These all can only be accessed by one worker per era, so get in quick to the ones you really need! But you can only go to the levels you have opened by playing cards with the Gather icon on. Expand is the engine room. You pay resources to play a card from your hand into your tableau. Every card belongs to one of your three tracks, and placing it removes a cube from that track. This is where the game quietly does something clever. Playing a card does not just give you an ability. It permanently upgrades one of your actions. You are not just building wide, you are building sharper. Where Estate Sings! Layered on top of this are leader abilities, usable once per era, and the constant pull of era objectives. By the end of the fifth era, you tally points from cards, resources, tucked cards, objectives, and secrets. It is a lot of inputs, but it resolves cleanly. What stands out most is pace. This game moves. Turns are quick, decisions are meaningful, and you rarely sit waiting for someone else to finish a ten-step combo. It understands that tension does not come from length, it comes from timing. The track system is the star. It ties everything together. Every card you play is not just a new effect; it is a permanent upgrade to your capabilities. That creates a constant push and pull. It is the same decision you see in real-world businesses: reinvest profits for growth or take the return now. The game never lets you fully optimize both. It's a lovely decision each time. There is also a nice edge to the design. Era effects are not always friendly. Some rounds will disrupt your plans. I liked this. It stops the game from becoming a pure optimization puzzle and introduces moments where you have to adapt rather than execute. Sometimes even pausing the cards you were going to play, or actions you were going to take for the next era when the timing will suit you better. Re-plan, adjust, and adapt your strategy. You cannot noodle out all your turns from the start. Where it creaks The biggest issue is not the game itself, but how it presents itself. There is a familiarity factor. This game absolutely wears its influences. If you have played Wingspan or Everdell, you will recognise the DNA immediately. For some, that is a strength. It makes the game approachable. For others, it may feel like it is borrowing more than innovating. And finally, card knowledge matters. The deck is large, and understanding what is possible takes a couple of plays. Early games can feel reactive rather than deliberate, simply because you do not yet know what you are aiming toward. In one game, this is how many cards we saw in a two-player game; to the right is the rest of the deck. You will get through a lot of cards and have a lot of choices. So, knowing what to get is important. Who should step into this world This is a sweet spot game. If you like tableau builders but do not always want a two-hour commitment, this fits beautifully. It is particularly strong as a weeknight game, something with enough depth to be satisfying but light enough to get played regularly. It is also a great step-up game. If someone is moving on from gateway titles and wants more decision space without being overwhelmed, this is an excellent bridge. Less ideal for players who want perfect information, long-term planning, or something that feels completely original. It is not trying to be that. Pros Fast, focused tableau builder with real decision tension. Excellent track system that links card play to action strength Decent replayability from asymmetry, deck variety, and era objectives Cons Card familiarity heavily impacts early plays Feels mechanically familiar to seasoned players of similar games Final word Estate: Raise the Realm is a confident, disciplined design. It does not try to be everything. It takes a proven formula, trims it down, sharpens the edges, and delivers it in a way that respects both your time and your intelligence. It will not replace the giants it draws inspiration from, but it does not need to. It earns its place by being the one you can get played on a Tuesday night without hesitation. And in a hobby full of games that demand your whole evening, that might be the smartest move of all.

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. Find out more here Flockers is one of those games that quietly reshapes your expectations after the first few turns. You sit down thinking it is a light race across a line of terrain cards. Simple. Play birds, move forward, win. But very quickly, you realise the game is not asking how fast you can go. It is asking when you should go and how should you build your engine. That shift turns what looks like a gentle card game into something far more deliberate and, at times, surprisingly tense. Setup is clean and quick. Shuffle the terrain deck and reveal cards until you find one with multiple terrain types, which becomes the start of the shared flight path. Lay out three more terrain cards alongside it to form the visible route ahead. Each player takes five flock cards into hand, with three more face up for everyone to draft from, and places their token at the beginning of the path. On your turn, you play a card into your flock, building out a V formation with a lead bird and up to six supporting birds. Three above and three below. Every card gives you an action. Fly lets you move across the terrain by matching icons in sequence through your flock. Navigate lets you shape the path itself by placing new terrain cards down for all players to now fly towards. Graze trims your formation, removing birds that are no longer useful. A crucial part of the game. More on that soon. Swap lets you reposition birds to fix your sequence. There are also bonuses that reward you for assembling certain combinations. What matters is how those pieces come together. Movement only happens if your terrain icons line up in the right order. If they do not, you stall. So most turns are not about pushing forward, they are about preparing for the moment you can. Multiple turns of preparation, before one big surge. It feels great! That creates a very particular rhythm. In one game, I spent several turns doing very little on the board, just refining my flock and lining up terrain icons. It felt slow, even slightly frustrating. Other players looked to be gaining a huge advantage on me. Then one turn everything clicked. A single Fly action carried me across multiple terrain cards in one go, helped by a wind boost that extended the run even further. Pushing me from last to first. It was a complete swing, and it felt earned because of the setup that came before it. Every game has moments like this. The birds come in all types. You have adults and juvenile, and different colours. You can tell the difference very quickly from the colorations. Above you can see a juvenile blue, followed by an adult blue, and finally a juvenile white. The symbology is also very simple. You can see the first bird has the King power, which means you can activate the lead bird's power. The next has the same, and helps you fly over fields. The final one has no power but can fly over mountains. And finally, the first and last bird have a bonus power where if you can spot three or two other birds of the same type as the bird on this specific card respectively, you can then take a Navigate or Graze action in case of the first bird. Or a Graze or Fly action in the case of the last bird. It all makes common sense. The push and pull feeling sits at the heart of Flockers. You are constantly balancing short-term movement against long-term positioning. Do you take a small step now, or wait and build towards something bigger? Do you reshape your flock, or commit to the line you have already built? Those decisions give the game more weight than its presentation initially suggests. The game concludes when the first player reaches or exceeds the tenth terrain tile or when no player can place any more flock cards, which is actually quite common. You can only have seven flock cards in play at any time, and you play one card per turn, but you'll need more than seven turns to win the game. So, how do you achieve this? There are several ways to remove birds from your formation. For example, using the Graze power will remove all flock cards with the Graze symbol and one additional card. Landing on certain terrain can cause certain birds to be carried away or even eaten, though this sounds less harsh than it actually is. These moments of 'redistribution'—let's call them that—are challenging to manage. You won't always have access to these powers or know when they'll occur. It's like setting up for a big move in Tetris, but the straight line never comes. The anticipation that arises from assembling flock cards, waiting for the perfect moment to fly, and adjusting your formation to match the upcoming terrain all contribute to a finely balanced game that constantly teeters between failure and success. It's a fantastic sensation as you play. For example, if the above terrain cards were your next three cards in play, you would need a bird that can fly over water, then mountains, then mountains or forest. But if you stop on the forest, watch out for that Eagle! It will "remove" all your young! But maybe, just maybe, that's exactly what you need to then reset your formation for the flight ahead. The theme ties in nicely. The idea of maintaining formation, reacting to the landscape, and dealing with disruption along the way all reinforce what you are doing mechanically. The artwork is bright and expressive, and the table presence gives the game a bit of energy that helps carry the quieter, more thoughtful turns. Pros Strong decision space built around timing and preparation Rewarding payoff moments when your plan comes together Cohesive theme that supports the gameplay throughout Cons Progress can feel uneven, with stretches of limited movement Less immediate than expected for a race-style game Momentum can swing quickly based on a single well-timed turn Flockers is a game that rewards patience more than speed. It asks you to think ahead, shape your position, and wait for the right moment to commit. That will not appeal to everyone, but for players who enjoy building towards a well-timed breakthrough, it offers a satisfying and thoughtful experience. When your plan finally comes together, it does not just feel good. It feels deserved. One to check out on Gamefound. Find out more here

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. Find out more here . The Secret Valley is one of those small box games that quietly does more than you expect. On paper, it is simple. Draft some cards, place them into a shared grid, score points. Done. But after a couple of rounds, it becomes clear there is a sharper edge underneath. This is not just about building your own little engine. It is about reading the table, timing your placements, and occasionally ruining someone else’s plans at exactly the right moment. The Secret Valley is also worth noting for where it comes from. Originally an Argentinian release, it built a quiet reputation locally before now getting a wider international release in 2026. That heritage shows. It has the feel of a design that has been tested, refined, and appreciated before making its way to a broader audience. It also carries a bit of charm in its story. Nomadic clans finally discovering fertile land after a long journey. It is light touch, but it gives just enough context to make your placements feel purposeful rather than abstract. How to set up and play Setup is quick. Shuffle the twenty territory cards and deal a hand to each player depending on player count. Each player also takes a set of clan tokens. The game is played over three rounds, and each round starts with a draft. Players select one card from their hand, place it face down, and pass the rest along. This continues until all cards have been drafted, giving each player a fresh hand to play from. From there, players take turns placing one card at a time into a shared grid. The grid size depends on player count, ranging from a tight three by four up to a four by four. Every time you place a card, you also place one of your clan tokens on it to mark ownership. The twist is in the scoring. Every single card scores differently. Some care about adjacent terrain, others about numbers, patterns, or uniqueness. Importantly, none of this scores as you go. You are building towards an end-of-round reveal where everything is counted at once. After the grid is complete, players score all their cards, reset, and repeat for three rounds. Highest total score wins. What it feels like to play This is where The Secret Valley stands out. The drafting pulls you in early. You are not just picking good cards, you are also deciding what not to give your opponents. That tension carries into the placement phase, where every move matters a little more than it first appears. One game, I picked up a card that rewarded unique terrain around it. Easy enough. I set it up carefully, leaving space for the right placements. Two turns later, someone dropped a duplicate terrain next to it, completely killing the scoring potential. It was not accidental. They had clearly read what I was trying to do and stepped in at exactly the right time. That interaction is where the game really lives. Another time, in round one, I took a card that rewarded neighbour cards being from my opponents, not me. I scored massively off it, and then took the same card the next round. But the other players had cottoned on to this plan and avoided it like the plague! There is a constant push and pull between building your own scoring opportunities and disrupting others. The grid is shared, so nothing is ever entirely safe. Even strong scoring cards can be undermined with a single placement. That creates a level of tension that keeps everyone engaged throughout. As you learn the cards and other players' preferred strategies, you have to constantly pivot and watch out as other players do the same. That said, it is not without its rough edges. The variety of scoring conditions is a strength, but it also means you are constantly reading and re-evaluating the board. In a full game, especially with four players, this can slow things down as players try to optimise every placement. There is also a noticeable reliance on the draw. Some cards have significantly higher scoring ceilings than others, and while they are harder to pull off, they can feel swingy when they land. But of course, that's up to you to watch out for and plan for or try to stop! Visually, the game is pleasant. The artwork is calm and inviting, fitting the theme of exploration nicely. It looks good on the table, especially once the grid fills out, even if the cards can feel a little text-heavy at times. Pros Strong mix of drafting and spatial puzzle creates meaningful decisions High interaction through shared grid and subtle blocking Quick rounds with a satisfying build and score structure Handy score pad with plenty of copies! Cons Can slow down with analysis as players try to optimise placements, although options are limited so not too much! Some scoring cards feel stronger than others depending on draw Text-heavy cards may take a few plays to internalise The Secret Valley is a smart, compact design that rewards careful play without overcomplicating things. It sits in that nice space between filler and something a bit more thoughtful. Not every moment lands perfectly, but there is enough here to keep you coming back, especially if you enjoy games where positioning and timing matter just as much as what you actually pick up.