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Scythe: Encounters WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1-7 You’ll like this if you like: Scythe Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Jamey Stegmaier This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Scythe is one of the most popular games ever made. It looks great. Plays great. And offers a lot of replayability. One part of the game that is very popular are the Encounter cards. During set up, Encounter tokens are placed onto various hexes on the main board. When you reach them with your leader, you can take them off the board, draw the top encounter card, and make a choice from three interesting options. In the main game, there are 32 encounter cards. They look gorgeous, and offer a sense of adventure, exploration, and player choice. They are a perfect addition to the game. The only thing anyone could say about them is you want more. This small expansion fixes that and offers 32 new cards to add to the game. Let's get them to the table and see what they add. Set Up To add these cards to the game, simple shuffle them into the deck of existing encounter cards during set up. Then place them in to the usual space on the board. Done. How To Play When you would normally draw an Encounter card, continue to do so as you usually would. Simple! They work with all other combination of Scythe expansions. That was easy! Is It Fun? It is worth noting that these cards were made by Jamey Stegmaier, the designer of Scythe, with fans! Jamey asked fans to submit ideas. He then turned these into these 32 new cards. What a great idea. However, fans are fans, and designers are designers for a reason. Some of these cards do feel a little unbalanced, but they sure do bring the fun! The art all comes from other parts of the game, but has not been seen on cards before. It all feels very much in keeping to the world built in this game, if not technically offering anything specifically new. But it looks great. As does everything in the Scythe universe. There seems to be a little more humour in these cards than the base game. Take the betting on a game of lawn tennis above. It seems like some of the fans of Scythe wanted to have a bit of fun and imagine what it was like for all people in this world. There are some very interesting options too, such as being able to gain other faction abilities for the rest of the game such as in card 56 above. Or in card 52 where you can take resources from other players. Some cards are perhaps too overpowered, but then they wont always work for you. One card allows you to pay nine power to gain a combat star. If you get this early in the game it may be hard to use, but you can use combat cards. It feels like too high of a reward, despite the cost. I like how some of the cards have hidden benefits. Such as one card which tells you not to read out loud the text, because if you choose this option, at the end of the game, you will gain $3 for each farm you control. There are only four cards like this, so if someone claims an encounter card and doesn't read out loud what they are choosing, you will have a good idea of what they are doing once you have learnt these new card. Saying that, it will take three to five games to do that if you mix them up with the original deck. Depending on how many players you have and how people play. As I was excited to get through them all quicker, I played the first two games just with these cards. It's up to you how you want to integrate them into your deck. I think it was a wonderful thing that Jamey invited fans to be a part of the game in this way. I wish more designers did this for more games. It would have been nice to have each contributors name on the card, but in the absence of that, just knowing you had a contribution to the world of Scythe must be a wonderful thing. This mini expansion was perhaps a little overpriced at the start but you can now get it for around £13 if you look around. For any fan of Scythe I would say it is a must have.

Coatl: The Card Game WBG Score: 7 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Coatl, Betta Published by: Synapses Games Designed by: Pascale Brassard, Etienne Dubois-Roy This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. By Steve Godfrey Did you know Coatl is a Nahuatl word meaning "serpent" or "twin"? Now as someone who isn’t a particular fan of snakes, the idea of twin snakes is an absolute nightmare! For some reason though the colourful feathers go a long way to hide the nightmare fuel within and luckily the game itself is fun enough to keep me interested. How to feather a snake. Each player will receive a level card, 4 feather cards and a prophecy card which is placed on the “0” edge of their level card. Two prophecy cards are then placed face up in the middle of the table and the rest in a face down deck as a supply. Lastly, shuffle the temple cards and place one face up in the middle of the table and return the rest to the box. On your turn you’ll place down two feather cards on the same or different ends of your Coatl. Each card has two colours of feather on either side and when you place one down you may rotate the card and you can either place it directly next to a card, or you can overlap the colour at the end. When you’ve placed one card you can score any of the prophecy cards out on the table, including your opponents, as long as you satisfy the conditions with the feather card you’ve just placed. To do this you basically have to match the patterns in your Coatl with the prophecy card(s) you score. You then see how many times that pattern is satisfied in your Coatl and move that prophecy card to the appropriate space on your level card. You can score multiple cards that are on the table but you can only take one from each opponent per round. The more times you can satisfy a pattern on a card the better as they’re worth more points at the end of the game. However if you manage to satisfy a prophecy card three times, either in the same round or across multiple, you can lock it in place. This means that it’ll score six points at the end of the game and it can no longer be stolen by other players. Once you’ve placed both cards, draw back up to four feather cards. Patterns come in a pretty big variety from simply requiring adjacent colour combinations to some cards requiring you to overlap other cards/colours. After everyone has played eight feather cards (four rounds) everyone gets a final turn in which they place a head and a tail on their Coatl and score in the usual way. Everyone has a deck of head and tail cards and they come in every colour so you're not limited. At the end of the game you score points for the position of all the prophecy cards around your level card and then see how many goals you achieved on the temple card. If you achieve one you get three points or six if you do both. Doing a feather dance. Underneath all the beautiful art and colourful layout of Coatl the card game lays a really good, thinky puzzle you get to solve every time you lay down a card. Before you place down you’ll be intensely staring back and forth around the table, then back to your cards, then back to the table, then looking at your friend's Coatl and thinking, man does that look pretty, before hurriedly realising it’s your turn and that you should probably be playing a card. This game is the embodiment of maximising your turn. In a perfect world you’ll want to be able to take a prophecy from the display, from your opponents and score your own and if you can score them multiple times then you're onto a winner. Now obviously that’s not going to happen a lot, if at all, so you’re left with trying to puzzle out the best use of your turn and that’s where the fun lies. Well unless you count seeing your opponents trying to hide their cards from you like school kids trying to hide their answers from their mates. I mentioned earlier that you can steal prophecy cards from your opponents and a lot of what you’re doing is trying to gauge not only IF you can steal from them, but also the likelihood that they’ll be able to steal that card back before you can lock it in. There’s a definite sense of a The Good the Bad and the Ugly/ Reservoir Dogs style standoff as you're staring at everyone else wondering who’s going to try and take whose cards first. I think, because of that stealing aspect of the game that it’s not going to be for everyone. It’s just on the verge of take that. You’re not necessarily targeting a player because you’re merely taking advantage of what you’ve already built and what’s in your hand, but having something taken off of you after you’ve put the effort towards it doesn’t necessarily feel great. Especially in higher player counts when you have to wait three turns to see if your efforts and planning have been swiped away from you. Now this does increase the tension between rounds and that can be a lot of fun. But if you’re constantly getting your cards stolen it can easily feel like you're fighting a losing battle. Especially if you're not able to get cards back. Don’t pull on its tail! Coatl: the card game is essentially a tug of war mixed with a puzzle and the winner will invariably be the one who can figure out how to balance the two. This does put me in mind of games like Sagrada or the recently reviewed Betta, also by Synapses games. They’re all games which can have players pondering their turns trying to play out the possibilities, which can be fun, but equally if you're playing with someone who is prone to analysis paralysis then just be warned that games could easily stretch way beyond the 30 minute playtime on the box. I know that some of the above does sound more on the negative side but Coatl the card game is a fun game and if the things I mentioned above aren’t an issue for you or just something that your group gravitates towards then I’d certainly recommend giving it a try. It’s a big puzzle in a small box with some beautiful artwork, what’s not to love!……..well, the snakes obvs.

Ierusalem WBG Score: 9 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Dune Imperium, Orleans, Tiletum Published by: Devir Designed by: Carmen García Jiménez This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. This is a game about trying to get a good seat for supper. And not just any old supper. The Last Supper. You know? The one where Jesus broke bread with his disciples. And, so it turns out, a load of others too, just before he was crucified. Not via cruel social media posts for his stale bread and smelly fish, but literally. Irrespective of your own faith, this is an intriguing theme for a game. And I was instantly fascinated by this. But does this game live up to the billing of being based on one of the most sort after dinner invitations of the last 2000 years? Let's get it to the table and find out. Set Up I am not going to go into the full set up or rules run down for this game as it will be long, and frankly rather dull. Instead, I will give you a brief overview so you can get an idea for the game and turn structure. For a more detailed look at the rules, I suggest having a look here. Getting this game ready is mainly about sticking stuff. For your first game, there are pages and pages of stickers to add to the meeples, resources, and, well, it seems just about everything! You don't have to do it of course. It even says so in the rules. I presume as there is so much and they don't want to put people off. But, come on. Which one of us really is not going to do this? Anyway. An hour or two later, you can begin to set up for your first game. It will look roughly like the below, bar a few changes based on your player count and decisions you make during your own set up. But ultimately, you are setting up some of your own workers into the three main resource gathering locations on the left. Placing some cards that you can acquire in the top market and middle favours area. Along the bottom you will arrange a number of tiles that represent the parables. Along the right is the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council at this time. This acts as the game clock. You will place some scoring tiles here. Then finally in the middle at the top you will place the 12 Apostles on the left and the starting layout for the Last Supper on the right. Jesus gets the best seat, it is his party after all. And a few other followers may be placed if you are playing below a four player count. Each player will take their own player board, favours tiles, illumination tile, followers and their starting hand of cards. You are now ready to play. How To Play The turn structure to this game is very simple, but the options available to you are deliciously varied. On your turn, you will simply play one card from your hand. Then, if you have met the required criteria for any of the three apostle meeting spaces, you can visit one of Jesus' 12 closest pals, and gain the benefit they offer. You then have the chance to buy a new card to build up your deck before refilling your hand. Sounds simple right? Well, getting a good spot at Nando's is hard enough, sitting next to the big man at his Last Supper is going to be a challenge. They don't just let anyone in. You have to play a Euro game first. Lets talk more about the card play in this game, as that is where the majority of the juice comes from. And oh my, is there some juice! This is like when you bite into some juicy looking fruit and it bursts even more juice than you were expecting into your mouth, only for even more juice to flow as you pull your teeth away, covering your jaw with yet even more juice. There are three types of cards in the game. The starting hand cards, which are the same for all players. And then the 33 A.D. and Mahane cards which can be either bought, as is the case for the Mahane cards, or acquired for carrying out the Do A Favour action, as is the case with the 33 A.D. cards. These secondary cards act in the same way, but offer extra actions when played. The cards work in multiple ways. First, by showing an area on the top left where you can send one of your available followers. This is mainly to gather resources from the Desert, Mountain, or Lake. But can also be to buy new cards from the Market, or be used as a way send extra followers to these locations by visiting the Temple. You will want more followers in these locations because each time you go to one of them, you will can gain resources equal to the number of followers currently present. You can never have more than three followers in each location though and sending them to each one costs either on, two, or three Denarii. The currency used in this game. Once you have carried out the top location action, you will move onto the bottom Follower action. There are 11 main actions, so I won't go through them all here. But they are all clearly explained on a very good player aid that each player can use. The main actions allow you to place your followers into the available locations at The Last Supper or gain resources, money or extra cards. You will have to pay a cost to join the Last Supper, (hence why you need resources) based on the locations proximity to the centre, and best spots. Jesus has all the good chat. You want to be near him. Plus, you will get first use of the gravy boat. When you add a follower this way, you take them from the space in your warehouse, clearing room for you to later hold more resources. But you can choose to instead fill this spot with an offering token which clogs the spot for the rest of the game, but rewards you with end game points. This delicate balance between your warehouse spots is one of the first very juicy elements of this game. Other actions allow you to listen to a parable, which is essentially a very addictive set collection mini game that can score you extra points at the end of the game. You can also Do A Favour which means you will gain a 33 A.D. card and must give one or your favour tokens to another player, this gives them an immediate benefit of money, resources, or extra actions, as well as acting an an additional symbol to help with the Apostle action. Helping other players in this way feels odd at first. But when you realise the benefits to you out way anything you are giving away, and of course, other players will start to return those favours, you will get into the swing of things. Treating your neighbours as you want to be treated yourself, and all that. Oh Jesus! You got me again. When you play a card, you will place it into one of three spaces on your own player board. You will leave the top location visible like below so that you can see the location symbols. Matching these to the Apostles symbols is how you can visit them in the second part of your turn. Once you have finished with all the actions on your card, which can run for a while sometimes, there are a lot of opportunities in this game for cascading effects! You will move on to see if you have met the criteria to visit an apostle. Below each row of Apostles, there are three location symbols. If you have matched these three with three cards in the same column on your player board, or a combination of cards played alongside favour tokens given to you, you can then visit an Apostle. This will allow you to add the matching Apostle onto one of the spaces at the table next to Jesus, and then gain the benefit of doing so. Subject to their being the appropriate Apostle left. The Purple Apostle lets you add one of your followers to the table, they get a plus one! The Orange apostle rewards you with instant points based on who is sat directly behind where you place this apostle. The White apostle lets you swap positions at The Last Supper between one of your followers and one other follower, getting a better, higher point scoring spot for yourself and messing with another player in the process. And the final Apostle is Judas. He rewards the player who takes him with 5 Denarii and then any player who has their followers behind him at The Last Supper will receive penalty points at the end of the game. Matching three symbols to meet the apostles takes at least three turns obviously, but you can also use your illumination tile to do this action for free as a one time action. By the end of the game, the spaces around the main table get pretty packed. The blue ones are lying down above as this was a three payer game, and we placed the fourth dummy player like this just to remind us. They essentially act as blockers but can be swapped with other followers during the game. This is the only change for a three player game. The two player games has a lot of changes, using the other side of the board, removing favours from the game entirely, and adding a lot more blockers to the table. It works well, but is ten minutes extra rules and teach. The game runs until the Sanhedrin marker reaches the top of the tracker. It moves each time the matching symbol is played on any of the cards. Along the way, various mini scoring rounds will be triggered where players are rewarded for a variety of things such as the number of parables, resources, or offerings they currently have, number of favours done, or number of followers sat at the table. The game immediately ends when the last space is reached and final scoring ensues. Players will be rewarded with points for the number of parables they collected, the followers at the last supper and their relative locations to Jesus and other Apostles, any offerings they collected during the game, and finally if they have not used their Illumination tile. Your points will be added to any points you acquired along the way during the main game, and the most points wins. Is It Fun? Before I get onto that, I feel I need to talk a little bit about the theme. The larger publishers have not really touched this area. There are a number of independent games with Biblical or religious themes, but not many from the bigger players. As such, it does stand out. This is a resource management game with very clever multi-use cards, deck-building, and some very interesting area-control scoring. But it will be the theme that gets talked about the most. Personally, I like the theme. But I can see this being polarising due to the religious nature of the game. Not everyone has the same belief or faith, and they may be drawn or pushed away from this game based on what they believe. Personally, I hope this can be separated from the games mechanics and flow, as that part is excellent. It's a euro game with a theme added on essentially, as most euro games are. You won't be thinking too much about Jesus, the Apostles or listening to parables as you play. You will be thinking about how you can maximise your turn and get the most out of your hand of cards. But what I will say, is that the theme has been treated with reverence and respect, and as far as I can tell, based on as much historical fact as possible with an event of this nature and religious background. There seems to be a lot of evidence proving that Jesus did exist at this time, and this Last Supper did occur. It's up to you if you believe Jesus was a regular man or something else. But either way, he had the hottest ticket in town in 33 A.D. and a brilliant game has been made about it, so I am all in! The flow in this game is phenomenal. It takes a few turns to get into the swing of things, and it can be a little daunting to teach at first. But it all comes together very well thanks to the excellent rule book, clear iconography and brilliant player aids. As you progress game to game, you will feel very at home with the rules. I found my mind becoming in sync with the strategy the more I played. I wanted to go back for more due to two main parts of the game. I love the scoring. I like to chase the maximum in the parables but the location of your followers at The Last Supper is what it is all about. Placing, moving, and manipulating their locations is so fun. The second part is the card play. Multi-use cards are always fun for me, and they are used to perfection in this game. The top and bottom action is brilliantly implemented and the choices offered on both are stunningly balanced, always appealing, and make you feel like you are in full control of your destiny. The opportunity to create cascading turns is high, and you will often be rewarded with chaining combo-tastic turns that feel great. The one downside of this is that the down time between turns can be high. There is not lot you can do between turns other than plan which card to play, or watch what the other players are doing. If you are looking for a new Euro game that takes an interesting theme, delivers intricate and thoughtful options as you play, and executes a well balanced and strategic experience, then this could be the game for you. In a world proliferated with Euros, theme is important. So, this may or may not appeal. I would urge anyone turned off to look beyond that and give this a try. The game is good enough for anyone to look past the theme. If the theme does appeal, and you are a euro fan, well this could become one of your favourite games of all time.

Nimalia WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Kingdomino, Rune Published by: Lucky Duck Games Designed by: William Liévin This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Nimalia is a tile laying game with a cute animal theme from a first time designer. It does not scream out "BUY ME!" At first glance is does not look like it is offering anything new or original. However, packaged within this tiny box is a joyful array of fun that packs a punch far mightier than you may expect. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. Set Up Set up, like everything in Nimalia, is very simple. Place the five scoring tiles out like below, alongside the round tracker. Select four round cards, one of each colour, and place them on their corresponding spot on the tracker. The game suggest four specific cards for your first game, but then after that, pick however you like. Shuffle the main cards and deal three to each player, giving them a score marker of their own player colour, placed on the zero space of the score tracker. Finally, place the round marker onto the number one spot of the round tracker. You are now ready to play. How To Play Each player will choose one of the three cards in their hand to place in front of them. The first card can go anywhere. Each player will then pass the remaining two cards in the direction shown by the round tracker. This alternates between rounds, clockwise and anti-clockwise as the game progresses. Each player will then choose one card from the two they have just been given. This second card must cover at least one of the four areas on the first card played. It can cover all four spaces if you wish, or just two. But not three, unless you get out some scissors. But it has to cover at least one. Through the game you must stay building within a six-by-six grid. Finally, each player will play the final card handed to them. This is round one done. Simple right? Players will now score for the blue and green score card as indicated by the black lines connecting them to the first round on the score tracker. In round two players will score the green and yellow card. In round three the blue and red. Then in rounds four and give you will score three cards. The green, yellow and red in the fourth round, and the yellow, red and blue in the final fifth round. Soring will be based on grouping certain tiles together, placing certain animals into specific positions, or creating rivers. After every round, each player will be dealt three more cards and the next round will begin as before. As you play through each round, you will need to find a balance between scoring for the current round, and planning for future rounds. Some of the scoring cards reward points based on your relative position against other players. You will need to be mindful of the cards they are laying, and the cards you are handing over to them. The choice you make when drafting cards is not just about what works best for you, but what cards do you want to give to the other players. Is It Fun? Playing Nimalia is surprisingly engaging. Considering you are only every choosing one card from three, and placing it into a six-by-six grid, the choice feels quite complex at times. Do you want to build up your savannah as much as possible for scoring this round at the sacrifice of other rounds. Will that mean blocking a friendly looking penguin which was set to score you three points in next round if you had left it out uncovered. You can see your neighbour is building a long river, and you don't want to give them more river pieces but the card with the river square in your hand doesn't work so well for you and the other one in your hand does. The balance between building your own area and monitoring the other players is one thing. But adding to the that is your focus moving from what you are scoring this round as well as what is potentially possible for you in subsequent rounds. It all makes this game move from a generic filler to something of genuine substance. I very much enjoy this balancing act, and find the game both soothing, and challenging at the same time. Its a game I have been able to share with my children (ten and seven) who found the game to be approachable, but entertaining, and "cute!" Being forced to cover something up each time is a clever addition to the rules. Simply being able to build out like Kingdomino would be a mistake for this game. You need the jeopardy of losing something each time to gain something later, to make the balance of this game work. Within the box there are multiple scoring cards to choose from. There is a lot of variety here. It will take a long time, and a lot of plays to grow tired of these. They are double sided, and create an almost infinite number of possible set ups to the game. Some work better together than others though. I like the bottom two together, rewarding you for placing Giraffes as well as growing your savannah, where the Giraffes of course live. They all explain themselves very well too. The rule book will give you detailed information on each card, but I found after a game or two, they all started to make sense in what they were saying. The iconography is very clear. I would recommend this game to any family who enjoys games like Kingdomino and are looking for a game that has just that little bit more interaction. Nimalia looks great and plays very simply. But I found it to be far more substantial than I first thought when I learnt the rules. As each game went by, I saw more and more complexity to this game. The choices are simple in terms of your options. But they always feel significant. This means the game plays very quickly, even for beginners. But you always feel like you are making important decisions despite the fast pace. Each game takes just 15 minutes, even with new players. And with all the variety in the scoring cards, it is hard to play this game just once. It certainly sits within the filler category, but could end up taking a lot more time at your table than you first thought.

Lost Ruins of Arnak WBG Score: 9 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Dune Imperium, Clank Published by: Czech Games Edition Designed by: Elwen, Mín This is the reviewers own copy. See our review policy here. By Steve Godfrey When it comes to hype in board games I'm very much the Marcus Brody to everyone else’s Indiana Jones. I'm usually the one waiting in the wings to see if Indy brings me something that either wouldn’t fetch £10 on Antiques Roadshow or is worthy of being guarded by top men…..top…men. So here I am jumping aboard the back of the hype train to see if this is where my fear of snakes comes from or if I’ve chosen wisely in playing this game. Before we jump into some ancient ruins I will say that I’ve painted the tablets in my copy but the unpainted originals still look awesome. How to explore Arnak Set up by picking a side of the board to play on. For your first game it’s suggested to use the bird temple side of the board and I’d agree with that. Populate the board with enough tokens for the number of players. Give each player their starting cards and two fear cards. You’ll know which one the fear cars are because they look like the creepy wolf from the end of Neverending Story! Place out one temple card and put the staff next to it. On the other side of the staff fill the rest of that row with item cards. Everyone draws five cards from their deck and you're ready to go. On your turn you can do any number of free actions. These are all depicted with a lightning bolt symbol. Then you can take one normal action. Digging at will require you to place your explorer into a free slot on a space and then pay the cost of the transport icon. These are mostly on the cards in your hand which you’ll need to spend. Then take the benefits of the space. Discovering a site is much the same as digging. Except here you choose one of the blank worker placement spots, pay three or six compasses depending on the level and add a tile from the top of the stack in that space. You instantly gain those rewards then add a guardian to the space as well. To defeat a guardian simply pay the resources on the guardian (as long as you're in the same space as it) you then gain that guardian. It will give you a boon to use if you want. Either way it’ll be worth five points at the end of the game. If you don’t defeat this by the time the round needs you’ll get one fear card into your deck. You can buy item cards which cost the coin value on them. These immediately go at the bottom of your deck for greater chance of being drawn next round. Temple cards cost compasses and their effects trigger as soon as you buy them. They then go into your play area to be shuffled in at a later time. When these cards come out again you need to pay a tablet to use their main ability. Lastly you can move up the research track. Pay the resource cost and move either your magnifying glass or your journal to the next level. However your journal can never move past the magnifying glass. When you move onto a space, take any available bonus tokens and then take the bonus of that space depending on which item you moved up. Both will give you victory points depending on how far up the track they are at the end of the game and you can buy additional victory points when you reach the top of the track. Once everyone has passed, shuffle your played cards and put them at the bottom of your deck then draw back up to five cards. Remove the temple and item card from either side of the staff, slide it up one space (this also acts as a round marker) and fill up the temple card row. You’ll find as the game goes on that you’ll have more temple cards out and less item cards. At the end of five rounds score points for cards you’ve brought, guardians, idols, points from the research track and minus any from fear cards still left in your deck. Devices of such lethal cunning. Every now and then a game will come along that just feels like it's been made specifically for me. It’s like someone has trawled through the depths of my brain and picked out everything I like in games and mushed them all together in a perfect combination*. Those hefty combinations don’t always work mind you. Sometimes they turn out like an old photo you’ve got of yourself wearing a horrific combination of clothes that you swear looked cool at the time. Thankfully Arnak has avoided that 90’s nightmare and given us a combination of mechanisms that fit together so well it’s almost baffling that no one had thought of it sooner. *I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise to the designers for all the weirdness and anything else you may have found whilst trawling through there. Designers Min and Elwen have managed to take all of these mechanisms, deck building, worker placement, multi use cards and resource management, all things that could potentially power a game all on their own, and managed to balance them out, I would say, almost perfectly. Everything you do feeds off of everything else which means you’ll need to do a bit of everything if you want to get anywhere which I love. It’s all one big game of combos that houses a load of smaller combos. There are so many great games out there that will have multiple paths to victory and can have you practically ignoring one element of the game all together. I’ve not got a problem with that at all, it’s a great way to keep a game fresh everytime you play as you can explore something new each game. Great Western Trail has that and I love that game. But that only really shines if you’re able to play enough times to explore those different strategies. So Arnak having it all compacted so you get a taste of everything, whilst still giving you an opportunity to focus more on one aspect is great regardless of how many plays you’ll get out of it. No path ever feels like you’re “just settling for it” because you can't do what you really want to do. Everything will get you something, it all just comes down to you and how you're going to spend your hard earned wealth. So many grails to choose from. How you spend your resources will throw up some interesting choices. Compasses for example are needed for discovering a new site, but they’re also good for spending on temple cards. So now you’ll need to decide on if you want to take a known quantity of a card or go and gamble by discovering a site and seeing what you get. It’s like having a tiny (insert current favourite game show host here) on your shoulder asking if you want to gamble or take the card, “well I’ve had day lovely day Ben but I think I’m going to take the card” You'll have these questions with every resource you’ll acquire through the game. That also goes for the cards in your hand as well. Do you save it for its travel icon or use it for its ability. It won’t be long before you’re agonising over which way is the more productive use for each one. The amount of times I’ve played a card down for its travel icon and it’s like time slows down and every moment before it hits the table I’m wondering if I’ve made the right choice! The whole game is reminiscent of being a gamer in a FLGS. “I’m going to spend my money on this…..ooh or I could use it for that and that’s just as good….oooh but I really want that thing over there” except that your FLGS doesn’t give out gems, well mine doesn’t anyway. If yours does let me know. Regardless of the amount of choices you have, turns seem to move at a good pace. The only time a turn slows down is if someone has found a nice combo they can trigger and usually you don’t mind because everyone is watching this feat wondering how the heck they’re managing to pull that off….and making sure they aren’t cheating of course. The cleverest part of the game for me is the way it approaches its deck building. Every item card you buy will immediately be put on the bottom of your deck rather than your play area. This gives cards a greater chance of being drawn and in early rounds when you have fewer cards then it’s pretty much a guarantee that you’ll get them next round. Given that this is only a five round game it’s very much needed. Having almost instant access to those cards is a great way to help plan your next round and helps you get to the interesting stuff faster. If you’re really impatient (like me) and you can’t wait till the next round to see your new item acquisitions to come out you also have temple cards. These are your instant gratification cards. They really help with keeping those combos going and can act as a little ray of hope when you’ve got a few spare compasses and just want to eke out one.more.thing before you have to pass. Even better, it may even give you enough to claw another turn. In a game like this an extra turn could make a world of difference. This belongs in a museum! The way the card market works is a little piece of brilliance. On round one you have one temple card out and five item cards. As the rounds move on you’ll have more temple cards out and less item cards. It’s a great way of reflecting how people buy cards as the rounds go on. It's less and less likely you'll buy item cards since there’ll be less chance they’ll end up in your hand, unless you have multiple ways of drawing cards. So having more temple cards to choose from with their instant effects makes a ton of sense. Much like Clank, Arnak is one of those odd deck builders where you want to keep your deck slim for the purposes of efficiency. But then every card is worth points, so maybe more is better? Despite everything that’s going on in Arnak they’ve managed to keep the spirit of everything intact. You get the “don’t take my space” tension from the worker placement, the satisfying building and thinning your deck, the thought provoking choices from the multi use cards and the planning involved with using your resources. All that comes in a package of a great theme and artwork which weirdly makes sense. Of course your magnifying glass will move up a research track before your journal. You can’t write stuff down if you haven’t experienced it, although if you’ve read any of Brian Blessed’s stories you do start to wonder. I was a touch sceptical about this one, despite all the hype. After going through the rules I wasn’t sure how much it’d be possible to get done in five rounds. With only two workers and what felt like a limited amount of actions I thought the game would be over before I knew it. Certainly during the first round you can’t help but feel you're not going to get anywhere. But as the game progresses, as you get more cards in your deck, as you start exploring, gathering resources and start moving up the research track and gathering bonus; everything starts to really open out. Turns will become that touch longer as you start to do more things and string together more combos and by the end you’ll realise how smoothly the game has ramped up to this wonderful crescendo. Just as it hits its peak, just before it starts to drop off, the game is over. You’re always left with that “if I had one more round” feeling. I know that’s something that can hinder some games, but here it’s a perfect stopping point. It leaves you wanting that little bit more, but not in a way that makes you feel like you haven’t done enough during the game. A quick guide to solo adventuring. I also want to shout out the solo mode. I won’t go into how it works (you can discover that on your own) but it’s a simple enough system that you can run easily and without a lot of effort, which I really like. My main reason for mentioning it though is the four chapter solo campaign which you can play by either printing out the physical components or using the web app to run it. It’s a really great story that has a touch of a legacy element to it. But most of all it’s a really clever use of all the components in the game that have been used to a) help tell the story and b) used to change the way you play/win each game. At the time of writing this, as I understand it, they’ve now extended it to six chapters and added it to the new second expansion. It won’t stop me from getting it because I’d happily play through the campaign again. I only played it on a fairly easy level so I’d love to see what happens when I up the difficulty. You can find the solo campaign as it stands right now here - https://czechgames.com/en/lost-ruins-of-arnak/solo/ Lost Ruins of Arnak got a ton of love when it came out and for me it deserves all of it. It’s managed to explore its way into my top ten and I can see it hanging around for a long time…..well until it tries to remove a sacred idol and gets chased by a huge boulder that is.

Good Face Bad Face WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Skull, Coup, Sheriff of Nottingham Published by: Big Potato Games Designed by: Ed Naujokas This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Big Potato Games make fun. Boxes and boxes of fun. They have not put their name to a dud yet. Everything they do that I have played has made me happy. Thankfully, there is no crushing exception here. Good Face Bad Face is one of those incredibly simple games that when played, you wish you had thought of yourself. I can teach this is a matter of moments, but it brings so much fun to the table every time I play it. Let's do that right now so you can see how simple and fun this is. Set Up Depending on player count, remove a certain amount of cards from the game. In a two player game you should start with nine yellow 'good' faces and five red 'bad' faces. Shuffle these up then remove another two from the game. In a three player game you start with ten good and five bad. There are 14 good and six bad in a four player game and all 18 good faces and seven bad in a five player game. Shuffle the remaining cards and deal them out equally to each player. If you have done the above right, everyone should be left with five cards each. You are now ready to play. How To Play Choose a first player, they will now choose one to five cards from their hand to play face down. This is then passed to the player to their right. They can take the top card and add it into a face up row in front of them, or pass the deck unseen to the next player. If they take a yellow good face then great, well done them. They are one step closer to winning. You need to have four good faces face up in front of you to win a game. If they do take a good face, they can then choose to take another card if they wish, if there are any left. Or pass the remaining cards to the next player. It's one big game of chicken. Or bluff. Or make your kids cry. However you want to see it. If a player takes a red face they must place that in front of them and sadly end their turn. If they already have red faces in their face up row, simply add this to them. If this is their third bad face then they must now pick them all up and add them to their hand, full of shame and obviously the knowledge that the rest of the group now know a vast majority of their hand is made up of red cards. And no one will touch their next stack! If they had good faces when they added a bad face then all the good faces are returned to your hand to cheers of joy from all other players if they were on three yellows, and the bad face stays as a reminder for your failure! If you later add a good face when you have a bad face you can pick up one bad face and return it to your hand. If the stack comes back to the first player untouched, they must take at least the top card. Here's hoping to started with a yellow! Imagine every other player leaving that alone. And of course, they all get to see this as you flip it over and smugly place it in front of you. People start to form opinions about how other people are playing the game. And this is where the magic happens. This may sound a little complicated but you will get used to it very quickly, and it is all clearly labelled in this handy dandy player guide. And I promise, it will makes complete sense after you play the game once or twice. The games only take a few minutes so you get there quickly. The best way to learn is to play. Is It Fun? Oh my! This game is so much much fun. It is so simple, but also, so incredibly layered. When you pass a stack of cards to the other players you can do so many things with this. Imagine in a four player game. Would you place three bad cards on top of one good hoping each player takes the top card? But what if they don't! How about placing just one bad and three good, hoping one brave player takes the plunge and then scares off the other players leaving the remaining bounty for you. But what if a player sees through your plans and takes all three yellow after seeing another player take the top red knowing that was the end of the bad cards. Opening up a potential clean path for them? Remember, there are only so many cards in a game. You always know a fair few from your own hand and what is face up in front of other players. There is only so many places you can hide in this game. Could you maybe even just lay five yellow hoping only one player takes one card, leaving you with a game winning stack when it makes it back to you. Although, of course, all of this is very much dependant on what you have in your hand. The game also comes with a mini expansion, a bonus set of cards that I wont spoil here. Inside the main box is an envelope that encourages you to wait until you have played the game a few times before you open it. Inside is more fun, but I will leave that for you to enjoy when you play. All I will say here is that it is a lovely touch and simply adds more variety to the game. The only negative with this game is the cards need to be looked after, or maybe even sleeved. They scuff up quite easy and can get bent out of shape with minimal handling. See below. This is after ten games and you can see the scuffing is coming up. In a game where you need to make sure that no card can be identified when face down, this is quite important. I am not overly protective of my games so this is not about being precious. It's about gameplay. I often play with my children (ten and seven) and I have found in this game that I am often warning them a lot about not bending the cards as it will ruin the game. This is a massive shame and frustration for me. I feel the cards could have been made from a better stock so you don't need to worry about this. I hope this is addressed in any subsequent reprints. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys bluffing games of any style. However, this game is so cheap, but also so fun, I think it is worth a punt for most groups. If you want a new family game to play after dinner, this is it. If you want a game you can enjoy with elderly relatives that offers a simple to teach and understand ruleset, this is it. If you want a fun game to enjoy with mates down the pub, this is it! Although don't spill anything on my cards, ok? I would say this game is as close to a 'must-have' as any game. In terms of the cost, weight, size, and learning curve when compared to the amount of fun you will have with it, this is potentially, pound-for-pound, one of the best games I have in my collection.

This is a paid preview. The publisher paid for this preview to be made. The payment did not affect our opinions but we want to acknowledge the payment here. Excited to share this preview video for upcoming Kickstarter Jungla from UAO Games

This is a paid preview. The publisher paid for this preview to be made. The payment did not affect our opinions but we want to acknowledge the payment here. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chriswoolgar/minimize Do you love fun? Are you a fan of clever cards games? Maybe you are looking for something new? Perhaps you have enjoyed games of Fluxx, and are now searching for a family-friendly card game with similar changeable craziness and a fresh style? Well, Minimize could be the answer for you. Minimize has been developed by independent publishers and friends Chris, Jen, and Ryan from Frazzled Wool. Originally from Chesterfield, England, the team started making games during the global pandemic, trying to take something positive from this difficult time. Hitting Kickstarter this summer, Minimize is the first game to be developed by the team, and incorporates a flexible deck of 78 numbers cards, all with number, colour and shape on them. They are designed to be played with the game Minimize but also for potentially many others, including two current official variants, Tokenize and Eradicize. In this review, we will take a look at all three games, Minimize, Tokenize and Eradicize, and talk about what we like about this clever deck of cards. First, let’s talk about the signiture game, Minimize. Minimize. Minimize is a card game where players are looking to minimize their scores in order to win. In this game, less is more! The score is calculated in a rather clever way. It sounds complicated at first but it will quickly become quite intuitive. Your score is achieved by first assessing the range of the six cards in your hand whenever a challenge is made. Your lowest value card is taken from your highest value, to show your range. Say for example, you had a two for your lowest and an eight for your highest, your range therefore is six. You can then subtract one point for any pair of the same number, deduct three points for any set of three, and a whopping five points can be removed for having four or more of the same number. But we are not yet done! Each game has three bonus rule cards chosen at random from 18 different options at the start of the game. They can change throughout, but at each scoring phase, which ever three are face up at that point will affect your score by adding points to your hand. This can range from the Triplet card, which cruelly adds three points for having three of more of the same number in your hand, to the Sixes card which adds a game changing five points for each card with the value of 6 in your possession! Maximum Fun Set-up is a simple process of shuffling the deck and dealing six cards to each player and dividing the rest into three equal draw piles. You will draw three random bonus scoring cards and lay them face up on the table. On your turn you draw from one of the three draw piles separately choosing one existing card from your hand to discard. As you place cards into the discard pile, some will trigger game-changing actions. This can be where all players let the player to their left take one or two of their cards at random, pass your entire hand clockwise, change a bonus rule card, or receive a new challenge token. The challenge tokens are used to try and win the game. Each player starts with one and can use it at the start of their go so long as each player has taken at least three turns. They reveal their score and then each player in turn declares if they have a lower score or not. If they do, they reveal that number to the table. This then is the new score to beat and this continues until all players have declared their position. The player with the lowest score at this point shows their cards to confirm their total, discards their cards and advances to the next round. Play will then continue until the next player chooses to call for a challenge. This continues until all players bar one has gone through to the next round. This process continues until there are just two players left when a final round is played. So, for a four-player game, you would play until one player challenges. The lowest score would advance leaving three players playing until another challenge is called. Then the next player with the lowest advances, leaving just two playing. When the next challenge is called, you would then advance one final player through and the other is eliminated. You would then start a new round with the three players who advanced. Go through the same process to get two players. Then, in the final round the player with the lowest score on the first challenge wins the game. The entire process is fun, fast and feels very fresh. This is a family-friendly card game that plays quickly and is very easily adapted by younger players. I enjoyed this with my family of four, including my five and eight-year old children, who all found the brightly coloured cards very easy to read and understand. They were disappointed if they were ever eliminated but the game is quick enough to just wait for the next game! Each card is designed to simply show a number, colour, and shape. The numbers are shown at the top left and bottom right of each card, the colours are vibrant and the contrasts between the card colour and number font colour is very easy for younger players to read. The shapes did sometimes confuse them in the early games, as they are stylised into images. For example, the square could be a dice, bunny in a top hat or a birthday cake. But this was quickly understood and the designs are fun and do add to the experience. Tokenize Tokenize works very similar to Minimize, with the same set-up and play mechanics, but the scoring and end game scenario is different. In Tokenize you are looking to collect sets of three cards. This could be in the form of three of the same colours, numbers or shapes. At the start if each players turn, if they have a set of three in their hand, they declare this and show their cards to all players. This set is then scored, removed from the game and that player then draws three more cards and play continues. Scoring a set is as simple as taking ten points, and then working out the variations to that set based on the current three face up bonus rule cards. This carry’s on until the draw deck runs out. At this point, if in the discard pile there are less than 10 cards there, the game will end immediately. Otherwise, and more likely, the discard is shuffled into three new draw piles and the game continues. If on the third time through the deck the discard pile still doesn’t have less than ten cards then the game ends. This game is perhaps a little easier for younger players to score as the range scoring system has been removed, but it does feel a little less original than the unique style of Minimize. It is a fun way to play with these cards never-the-less, and offers an interesting option for the trinity; playing all three versions at once! Eradicize Eradicize is a game where players are looking to get rid of all their cards. Set-up is similar to the other two games, with than three changes. Bonus rule cards are not used, after each player has been dealt six face down cards, they are then delt a further three face up cards, and each player is given their own colour and shape token to use in the game. On a players turn they can draw from either of the three face up draw piles and then they must play one card. Cards are played into a discard pile and must always be either higher in value than the previous card, or the same colour or shape as their own assigned token. If you cannot lay a card, you must then pick up. Play continues until one player has used all cards in their hand. They must then try to play the three cards they have face up in front of them. The first to do this wins the game. This game feels the lightest of the three and plays a lot quicker. It is most suitable for younger players and I would think this game could be played with children around the four to five mark. The decisions of which card to play; knowing the colour and shape could either help or hinder the following player, adds a nice friendly take-that mechanic to the game. Knowing the three face-up cards for each player also adds an element of competitive fun when you reach the later stages. Summery Overall, I would say Minimize was my favourite of the three current games these brightly coloured clever cards can be used for. I sense many more rule sets will be developed for this, perhaps by the developers and fans alike. The new brightly coloured art will stand out and pop on the table, and I think this game could find some very welcome homes when it comes to Kickstarter later this summer.

This is a paid preview. The publisher paid for this preview to be made. The payment did not affect our opinions but we want to acknowledge the payment here. WWW.UFOWAVEGAME.COM Kickstarter link Fighting the scum of the universe! That’s right! Time to sort out those pesky humans so us Aliens can safely invade! In UFO Wave, the traditional roles are reversed! It’s time to see things from the other side and play as the Aliens. The aim of the game is to score as many points as you can before the deck runs out. This is done by successfully building crop circles, abducting various lifeforms, harvesting samples and many more fun actions. It’s a fast and fun family friendly game full of take-that and hand management and could well be your new favourite post dinner game with your family. I want to believe! Setting up the game is very simple. First you need to separate the decks into the Scan, Plan, Species and Event cards. Deal out five Plan cards to each player and seven face up Scan cards into a row. Then shuffle in two of the Event cards in the remaining Scan deck, and place this with the Plan deck in the centre of the table. And that’s the set up! (Game mat will be available on the kickstarter as an extra) Players will then take it in turns to draw one Plan card and then play as many Plan cards from their hand as they like to facilitate a better and more productive Scan phase. Players then need to make a choice of taking either one Activity card from the face up Scan cards or move a Human card either to their or an opponent’s play area. This continues until the Scan deck runs out, at which point all players total their cards to determine the winner. In Space, no one can hear you scream! In the Plan stage, some cards will allow you to take multiple Activity cards instead of just one. Others will allow you to rearrange the scan row into any order you chose. The order of the cards can be crucial as taking an Activity card that is next to another specific card can have unwanted consequences. If a Human card is next to an Activity card, any player that takes that Activity card alerts that Human and that card comes into your play area too. This could be a Sky Watcher, which reduces your hand size by two or a Man in Black, which reduces your end game score by 4. Or many others, none of which you will want. Apart from the Believers card. In the draw phase, whom ever has the most Believers in their play area can draw two cards, picking one and discarding the other instead of just one. There are also Energy cards, which like the Human cards, activate if any adjacent card is played. These can give you positive or negative points, so you need to plan accordingly. You could find a five-point Harvest card is next to a negative one Energy card. Playing a Plan card that lets you move a Scan card or rearrange the whole Scan deck could be quite powerful in this situation. You're not gonna believe what I saw! But the choices don’t end there. Each Plan card has two options. A basic or advanced action. At the start of the game, you will be assigned a Species to play as. Each species has one activity which they specialise in, which allows you to play the advanced option of this plan card for free. For the other advanced options, you need to play the Plan card you want to use the advanced feature of alongside a Craft card. An Alien Ship card of various sizes. This upgrades your action to the advanced option, which are quite a fair bit more powerful. The Premonition card for example changes your turn option from rearranging the top three Scan cards, to rearranging them and claiming one for free. The Terrorize card allows you to claim an opponent’s card at random. The advanced version allows you to look at your opponent’s hand first before you pick a card. Working your hand of Plan cards alongside the Craft cards is a crucial part of the game. The Craft cards can also be used in tandem to rid yourself of the negative Human cards that may be in your play area as the game progresses. Any two Craft of the same type can be used in this way, or any Craft card played with a Shape Shifter Craft will do the trick. Thematically, I see this as the Craft come along and abduct the pesky Humans, riding you of the problem! One day, we might receive a signal from a planet like this The Species that you choose at the start of the game will also allow you to gain an extra two points from a specific Activity. Some aliens prefer to Abduct humans, whilst other may be more interested in Recon missions, or building Crop Circles. Although personally I have always wondered why they would want to do that! The Aliens race powers add a nice little variation and asymmetry to the game. Encouraging players to chase different Action cards in the game. And this is a crucial aspect to this game that makes it work so well. Everything is linked so well to the theme. It is clear to see the subject has been handled with sensitivity and great understanding. Designer Dave Hodrien is the Chairman of a leading UK based UFO group, and its is clear he has made a game around a subject matter he cares deeply about. Having spoken to Dave, it is clear he is passionate about this project. He wanted to create a game that is true to this area, but not limited to others who share his passions. This is a game first, and work has been done to make is fun over anything else. But it stays true to the subject matter and works only with concepts that people interested in this field would understand and respect. I don't have time for your convenient ignorance. After watching the X-Files with my Dad when I was a kid, I have been fascinated in this subject for a long time. I am not sure what I believe, but I do find it hard to believe that in the Universe, in all is mighty and majesty, we are alone. Like Mulder often said, “The truth is out there!” And I have also been one to believe that to be the case. Whether or not anyone knows the “truth” yet, who is to say! But with Rovers flying on Mars, who knows how long it will be until we find out. All the images, cards and events are styled in quite a cartoonish and tongue-in-cheek way, but the game is based on actual experiences from people Dave has spoken too. You don’t need to be interested in Aliens to enjoy this game, but if you are, then I think this research and understanding of the subject matter will shine through for you. The rule book deserves a mention to. It is well written and comes designed in the style of a secret government dossier. This adds to the theme of the game whilst being a well written and simple explanation of the game. It also features information of the designer and artist and subject matter which I always enjoy. Overall, this is a light and fun card game, you could learn and teach in a few minutes to most ages. It works in one to six but shines best at three to four I found. The game plays quickly, not outstaying its welcome, at around twenty to thirty minutes. I would imagine this would be appealing to fans of game such as Exploding Kittens and Unstable Unicorns, and offers a fun and light family card game, with an original and entertaining theme. The game is coming to Kickstarter Summer 2021. This game was a preview copy supplied to me to preview. All opinions are my own. The final Kickstarter version will have a few changes to the preview copy I was provided with: - The Final Box style will be a magnetic flip top box. - The card stock will be increased to 350 gsm - The will be a new sturdy inlay, and the box will be twice as deep to allow for card sleeving. - There will be 6 turn order cards for easy play.

One Fowl Swoop WBG Score: 7 Player Count: 2-6 You’ll like this if you like: Dino Dump, Uno. Published by: Homegrown Love Designed by: Homegrown Love I am always on the look out for independent designers doing great things. When I saw the art on the cards for One Fowl Swoop from Etsy seller Homegrown Love, I was keen to try this game myself and give it some of its own homegrown love. The game itself is a simple twist on a classic card game, but dressed up to the nines with beautiful art from Elizabeth Shaw. But does this game live up to its fine looks? Let's get it to the table and find out. Set Up Split the deck into the two types. Most are the regular bird cards but there are also the Forgotten Flock cards, which have a different colour frame. Shuffle both decks separately and then deal 20 of the regular cards to each player. The rules suggest to lay them all out on the table and let each player take 20 cards but I found this to be unnecessary and slowed the start down. Each player then places four cards face down in front of them, without looking. They can then arrange the remaining 16 cards in their hand however they please, and must place four face up over the four face down cards. You are now ready to play. If you want to include the Forgotten Flock cards, simply deal two of these to each player, replacing two regular cards so that each player still has 20 cards in total. How To Play Starting with the youngest player, players will now take it in turns to play one card, face up into the central discard pile. The idea of the game is to get rid of your cards. As such, if you have more than one of any number, you can lay all the cards down at once. If you ever lay cards so there are four of the same cards now in a row in the deck, you can "burn" the pack. This means you can remove all the cards from the pack, and then have another turn. You have to lay a card lower than the current face up card. If you are ever in a situation where you cannot do that because you only have higher cards in your hand, this is when you may want to play one of your Forgotten Flock cards. Otherwise, you will have to pick up the entire pack and add it to your hand. The Forgotten Flock cards offer opportunities to force the next player to miss their turn, draw extra cards, or even offer you a second turn yourself. Any time a player is laying on top of one of these cards, the pack is considered reset and you can place whatever you choose on top. Once all the cards from your hand are played you can then start to use the four face up cards in front of you. When these are successfully in play, you are then into the final stages. Cards must now be played blind from one of the four face down cards. If the card you play is legal, great! Onto the next player. But if it is not, then you must pick up the deck along with the card you just played, get through these, and then go back to your remaining face down cards. As soon as someone plays their final card, they are declared the winner of that round. Any cards remaining in the other players hands are totalled and tallied as their running minus score. The game continues until someone has inadvertently reached 500 points, at which point the player with the lowest score is the overall winner. Of course, you could just play one round, or best of three, or however you like really. Or, like me, just stop and admire the stunning card art. The final rule in the game is the Swoop cards. Any card like below, with the S symbol instead of a numerical value, can be played onto any other card to burn the deck. Is It Fun? One Fowl Swoop is a endearing game, that looks stunning, plays quickly, and offers a lot of fun for a family card game experience. It does not bring anything new to the table in terms of mechanics or game play, but what it does bring is a lot of charm and elegance. I have a lot of games in my collection. Many of which would be considered "better" than this game. But I have fond myself reaching for this small box a lot over the last few weeks. There are times, (many recently I have found), when I want something simple, light, and fun. Something that requires zero explanation but still brings a smile to the face of my loved ones around the table. One Fowl Swoop does this. If you don't currently own any of the variations of this game, then I would urge you to check this one out. Why not support a small independent designer who is clearly putting a lot of themselves into their work. I hope the people behind this game get the encouragement and motivation to keep making games, and I look forward to seeing what they bring out next.

This was a free prototype sent to us for our unbiased opinions. The game is coming to Kickstarter soon. You can find out more about that, here. I first saw this game at UKGE, where it featured as one of my top 5 independent games. I was so excited when I saw the theme of this game. A 70s cop action film. A maniac on the loose, killing at random. It's my job to either keep doing this and escape, or catch the perp and stop the rampage. I was in from the very beginning. But now I have my hands on the game, does it deliver? I was recently lucky enough to get my hands on a prototype copy of the game before it went to crowdfunding and I was not disappointed. The game oozes 70's crop drama. I love the look and feel of every part of this production. But how does it play? The good news there is it plays very well! Like all good hidden movement games, this game creates tension from the first turn until the very end. No matter which side of the table you are sitting, you will feel the game is balanced on a knife edge, (in most games) until the final turn. The game works using many of the classic mechanics seen in hidden movement games such as Scotland Yard and Mind MGMT with one player acting as the Stinger. A criminal on a killing rampage. Their presence is unknown to all players bar the one playing as the Stinger of course, but at certain points in the game, they need to reveal an area they are in. And sometimes, when they make a kill or the cops call use their intelligence, their exact location. The board is a sprawling representation of San Francisco in the 1970s. It looks stunning. But can be a little daunting for the players acting as the cops at the start. But this quickly changes as players tool up, and close the net on the Stinger. The game is beautifully balanced to deliver exactly what you want from a game of this ilk. Tension. The rounds work simply with players taking it in turns to either move, heal, or draw or play a card. Also, for the Stinger player, they can declare a hit, if on the previous round they managed to finish on a space where one of their targets were. Or for the cops, they can share inventory. In-between the Stinger taking an action and the cops, the hunch tracker is moved. There are four spaces for this, and each time in lands on the bottom location, the player acting as the Stinger must reveal the district they are currently in. The cards will allow players to gain better weapons, equipment, and assist them in their mission. Either as the Stinger, to make three successful hits. Or as the cops, to stop the Stinger. Once three hits have been carried out, the Stinger then needs to move to one of the four harbour spaces on the north east of the map to win the game. The cops need to block, stop, or kill him before an escape is achieved. Everything works incredibly smoothly in Go Ahead Punk! The hidden movement category is not cluttered, but it is starting to get that way. I feel you need to stand out with clever new mechanics, such as Mind MGMT or offer smooth satisfying gameplay in a new and intriguing theme. That is exactly what this game does. For anyone who is looking for a new game in this category, this is the one I would recommend if you want something simple. This replaces Scotland Yard for me. The theme is just so much better. The ability to develop your characters equipment and weapons is a lot more fun. The game works perfectly in a two player, with the cop player controlling all of the three cops. This does not slow or change the game at all. It does take away from the table talk, which is often hilarious in a game like this. But everything runs as it should with no rule changes. But in a three or four player, this game shines. As the Stinger, listening to the other players discuss where they think you may be, or where they hope you are moving to is a key part of the game, entertaining, and often down right hilarious. As the cops, having someone to bounce ides off makes the game feel a lot more enjoyable. You feel less isolated or confused at the start. And despite having no more actions than if you played on your own, it does feel like you have a better chance of victory with more people playing on your side. I have experienced some amazing finishes, often with the Stinger making it to the port, but with no extra movement left to get away from the port and win. This gives the cops one final chance to try and find, stop, and kill the Stinger. Usually at this point, all the cops are close as the net has narrowed, and you can get a final three or four player shoot out to act as a perfect climax to the game. Can the cops stop the Stinger. Can the Stinger survive one final assult and get away to freedom? The theme may not be for everyone. There is a mass shooter in the game after all. That may not work for some. I would totally understand that. All I will say is the 70s theme softens all this. It takes it out of a contemporary situation, and makes it feel more like an old movie where you just know the guns are fake. However, if you lived in San Fran, or maybe just do not like games about guns and death, this may not be right for you. But if this theme does work for you, then I think you could end up having hours of fun with this game. With the right group of people who enjoy hidden movement games, Go Ahead Punk! has the tools to deliver top drawer gaming moments of laughter, screams of frustration and joy, and tension right to the final turn. I would recommend anyone who is a fan of this mechanic to check out the Kickstarter page, which you can do so here.

Space Base WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Dice Forge, Lords of Vegas, Machi Koro. Published by: Alderac Entertainment Group Designed by: John D. Clair John D. Clair is a bit of a legend in the board game industry. He has made some huge hitters in recent years. When a game comes out with his name on the box, a lot of people pay attention. Including me! Back in 2018 Space Base came out to critical acclaim. It replaced Machi Koro for a lot of people in the light weight tableau-builder category. Quite a feat at the time. But does it stand the test of time? Does it deserve a place in your collection now in 2023? Let's get it to the table and find out. Set Up Give each player a command console and the 12 starting cards in their chosen colour. Each player will now lay these out on their board running one to 12, left to right. Each player will then place a yellow, green, and blue cube onto the starting space on their credit, income, and victory point spaces. Move the credit space up five spaces the five spot. One player then needs to sort the rest of the cards by the four types. There are level one, level two, level three, and colony cards. Shuffle each type separately and then deal out all of the colony cards face up, and six each of the others into a shared tableau. Leave the remaining cards for the three levels in a face down pile next to each relevant row. Then pile the clear resources cubes into a space in the middle of the table along with the two dice. Finally, each player will draw the top face-down level one card and reduce their current energy level according to the cost of the card they drew. This is the yellow number in the top left space. Then look at the grey number on the top right, and replace the matching card on their command console, sliding the replaced card rotated 180 degrees under the board in the corresponding space so that only the top red section is now visible. The player who drew the card with the highest starting sector takes the first player card and all other players will gain additional resources. The second player gains one credit. The third player gains two. The fourth and fifth player would gain one income. The game can now begin. How To Play In Space Base, players are racing to 40 points. As soon as this is triggered by any player, finish the current round so all players have the same number of turns. Then the player with the most points, wins. You can score over 40 points, despite there being no position for this. The rules suggest you use a clear charge cube to track this. On each players turn they will roll the two dice. They can then activate the middle section of any matching card or cards. For example, if you rolled a four and a five, you could activate the four and the five, or the nine, the total of these two dice. The abilities you can trigger this way are generally extra credits, income, or points. Your starting cards will be weak, but you can upgrade quickly. And you will want to upgrade because each card you replace is rotated and placed under your board, so that you now have more passive powers. These come into effect on every other players turn. If in the above example when the first player rolled a four and five, all other players with a red passive power shown in a tucked card in either the four, five, or nine position can now activate that abilities. Again, generally to get credits, income, or points. In Space Base, all players are playing, all of the time. There is minimal downtime. However, once the active player has rolled their dice and activated their active powers, they can then spend their credits to buy more cards if they choose. Which does take a moment or two. Any bought card is immediately placed onto the active players command console and the replaced card is tucked. No matter how many credits were spent, the credit marker moves down to the space above the location that the income marker is currently at. You always have to spend all available credits, but only to the point at which your income is currently situated. For example, if you buy a card worth five but you have ten credits, you need to move your credits down to zero. But if you have four credits, you would stop there. There are some cards with special abilities, such as mimicking the abilities on the cards next to them or in other locations on the command console, the chance to get new cards, or some that need to be charged up by placing charge cubes on them, and then rewarding you with bigger powers. One even wins yo the game! But I have never seen that card work! Players can also spend their credit to buy the colony cards. These reward you with instant points, but then lock down an area on your board. You cannot use that number again, or replace that card for the rest of the game. They are worth going for, but ideally not in the first third of the game, or in the more common spaces. Is It Fun? One of the most enjoyable aspects of Space Base is its dynamic and fast-paced nature. The game possesses an unexpected speed that catches players off guard, resulting in a thrilling, quick, and entertaining game. At the start, when you have just one passive ability, you are more often than not unable to enact any passive abilities on other players turns. But this very quickly changes and the game races ahead. Although, some do complain about the slow start, I couldn't disagree more. But you can speed it up by given players extra credits or cards to begin with if you prefer. In addition to its speed, the game is designed to give players a constant sense of progression, which keeps them engaged and invested throughout the game. You start with limited abilities but these also quickly change. You will generally upgrade one card each turn, and turns are quick. It wont be long before you feel the game has moved on a lot. It's incredibly satisfying to see the fruits of your labour come to life, making every roll of the dice all the more exciting. The game's design makes it challenging for any one player to pull ahead significantly, creating tight and intense games where every move counts but all players feel like they are in with a chance of victory right until the end. On occasion, one player could fall behind if they focusing on developing their income when another player goes for early point. But this development in their engine will mean they can catch up. Overall, Space Base is very simple game that can provide hours of entertainment for all of the family. It has a number of excellent expansions, include a campaign one I am intrigued by. There is a lot of longevity in this little box.