Heroes of Xhandar is on Kickstarter. You can find details of it here. Heroes of Xhandar Board Game Preview - This is a prototype version with only some parts of the game and it does not represent the final quality of the game. This is a trick taking game, set in a fantasy world, with amazing art, slick gameplay, and Lego-style brick characters to build and fight with! That's right. Lego-style brick minis to build and use in the game. Check them out! How cool is this?! There are a couple of different ways to play, but I wont go into that fully here. The rules are still being worked on. You can check them out on the link on the Kickstarter page. Again, you can find details of it here. But in short, here is how you play one version of the two player game. Each player will be dealt three of the Hero cards. Each player can choose one of these three Heroes to play as, discarding the other two back into the box. They will place their hero card face down in front of them, hiding who they are from the other players. Their Hero card will grant them two different powers. One that is offered to the player once when they choose to reveal who they are. Something they can do whenever they wish. Adding a fun reveal to the game. The other which can be used at any time after they are revealed. Their hero card will also show them their own special win condition, usually a specific Diamond points target. Check out a few here. Each player is then dealt ten cards from the main deck. They will then draw the top card from the deck to see which number they got. The player who draws the highest number will start. The drawn cards are placed into a face up discard pile. The first player will now look at their hand of ten cards and choose one to play. They are looking to win a trick in order to claim the cards from that trick and place then into their Pocket. Once all cards have been played and tricks won, each player can then move two cards from their Pocket into their Stash. From here, in the stash, players can then gain the Diamonds shown on their chosen cards. If a player ever reaches the target points from cards in their Stash then the game is over and they win. If neither player has achieved their goal yet, ten more cards are dealt out and another round begins. The tricks are won simply by the highest card played. The first player will play one card, then the next player will play one card. Then back to the first player again who plays their second card. Then the second player plays their second and final card. You don't have to follow suit, and suits don't determine the winning card. It is simply the highest card played. From these four cards, the highest card wins, and the player that payed that card takes all four cards and places them into their Pocket. Sounds simple enough right? Well, the lower cards below eight have powers on them as well as a value. This is where the colours come in. Some cards stop cards of certain colours being played. On some it states that certain coloured cards cannot win that time. Others state that for this trick it is the lowest card that wins. Something that really annoys the other player if they lead with a particular high card! Others let you take cards back from your Pocket, replace some from the deck, or make other cards that you play have a higher power. It makes each hand different, unpredictable, and highly entertaining. Their is a Seer card that lets you see other players hands though, so you can strategies to an extent. And once you learn the deck and the cards powers you can begin to really build some clever strategies. But what about those Lego-style minis? Well, there is another way to play with battle tracks and your minis, where players run through a similar style trick taking battle but with face up Hero cards, and each time you win a trick you can move your hero one space on their track, giving you extra powers as you play. It's a simple addition that adds a lot of drama, theatre and table presence to an otherwise fairly simple card game. I love it. I won't go into too much more detail with the rules for this version or the other ways to play with these cards because, well.. in truth, I didn't quite understand the rule book! It's early stages and I am sure it will get sorted. But I had to ask a fair few questions of Kay from Kay Plays Games to understand the above as I did, so thanks to her! I believe she figured it out from talking with the designer. This game has wonderful art. That is the stand out feature for me. The card play is fun, and offers a surprising level of depth once you start to understand how the powers all interlink and can be used with and against each other. But the art captivates me each turn, each play, each game. The designer of the game, Florian Fiedler, is also the artist, and it must be said, this is a truly wonderful looking game that deserves a lot of praise. I was captivated after seeing the card art myself and desperate to play. I am very glad I have now done that and hope the campaign is a huge success, if only to sort the rule book! But also because I think within these stunning cards is a brilliant and very clever trick-taking game that I believe a lot of people can have a lot of fun with. Go check out the Kickstarter page now for more details. You can find details of it here.

Moon: Valkyrie WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Streets, Villagers, 7 Wonders. Published by: Sinister Fish Games Designed by: Haakon Gaarder This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Moon: Valkyrie Board Game Expansion Review - Buy the game here - Sponsored link To read my review and how to play guide for Moon, the base game, head to here. For my thoughts on the expansion, read on! I very much enjoy expansions that add more choices with minimal rule changes. More so when it is for a game I already like and feel it does not need any significant changes or additions made to it. It's nice to see an expansion bring something new. A surprise. Rather than fix a glaring error. Valkyrie and Moon offers exactly this. Having played Moon a few times, I was left wanting more. More time with the game that is. I was very happy to keep playing without adding the expansion The game is great and I see no issues with it that need fixing. However, for purposes of the review, I added the expansion from game five onwards. And, well, its pretty good! I will now use it in every game. Let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Moon: Valkyrie Board Game As well as the set up for the main game that you can read about in my main review here, simply add in the new Valkyrie launch board above the Flag reward board and give each player one Valkyrie (the ship tokens). Place any remaining Valkyries by the launch board. Then place the Valkyrie Structure cards on the table. There are two identical decks included with this expansion, use either one. The only difference is one has a shiny foil finish, so obviously pick that. At the start of the Construction phase, place one Valkyrie Structure card from the current Era above the Launch board, one card per player. Like the main game, for a two player game, use three cards for a two player game. How To Play Moon: Valkyrie Board Game During the Construction phase, place any unowned Valkyries onto the launch spots on the Launch board. Use the numbers shown on the top left of the first Valkyrie Structure card to chose which launch spots to use. As you are only placing the unowned Valkyries, in a five player game, this step is missed, they are all owned. Players now have the additional optional action on their turn to launch a Valkyrie. Place the Valkyrie you own onto the left most available location on the Launch board. You can then take the depicted reward shown on that space. If you have to place your ship onto the first space you will not get a bonus action but you will get first pick at the new Valkyrie Structure cards. The other spaces grant you an extra Rover, Resource, Flag to be used this turn, or two Resources. The later benefits are more powerful, but you will then be getting last pick on the Structure cards. This is because if you meet the Flag requirements and have the resources needed, you can then as well as this, build one of the Valkyrie Structure cards. This would be on top of your normal Build or Assimilate action. Turns can be quite a lot more powerful with this expansion! But of course, as you can only do this when you launch a Valkyrie, which counts as one of your optional actions, this means you have to have all the resources you need to do this yourself. You cannot relay on using the other players Flags or resources by using the Rover action to do this. The rule book suggests to teach this by saying you can use one vehicle per turn. Either the Rover or the Valkyrie. At the end of the Construction phase, all Valkyries are returned to their owners, just one per player, and any unowned ships are removed from the Launch board. All unowned Valkyrie Structure cards are placed back into their deck. Moon: Valkyrie Board Game Expansion Review Valkyrie is the perfect expansion. Two new simple things to add in. Minimal additional rules. The Ships that let you gain a bonus benefit and build another Structure are a simple additional to the game but add a lot. It makes one turn each round a lot more more powerful, but it only happens once per round as you need a ship to do this. So timing is everything. This expansion scales brilliantly as any unowned ships block spaces on the launch board each round, meaning there is still a sense of urgency to use your ship with less players, as there are only a few spaces available, and therefore less choice. And of course, with more players, when there are all five launch spots to pick from, you will still want to beat the other players to these spots to have the first choices as to which Structure card you can build. Maybe there is only one you can build? Maybe there is one that is perfect for your current engine? The new cards look awesome too. I like how you have options of both the normal or foil finish. I suppose some people hate these foil cards, or find them hard to read. It's good to have both options. But for me, I love the Foil cards. They add a sense of wonder and a premium luxury to an already well produced game. The powers they offer are great too. They are strong. But you can only do one per round remember, but that turn feels wonderful! But they are not over powered. It does not affect the delicate balance of the game. If you have the base game without this, then get it. Although it shipped with all Kickstarter versions I believe. So, you probably do already. And sadly, it is currently not available as an add on with the retail version. So, you may not be able to get your hands on it for a while. But when it does become available, I will add links here. It all fits, just, into the main box, although you may need some minor skills in packing to do get the lid flat!

Moon WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Streets, Villagers, 7 Wonders. Published by: Sinister Fish Games Designed by: Haakon Gaarder This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Moon Board Game Review - Buy the game here - Sponsored link Moon is a new standalone game from Sinister Fish, designed by Haakon Gaarder. It completes what has become an unofficial trilogy of successful Kickstarters from this design and publishing pair following Villagers and Streets. All of which come in this funky shaped box. Although, no one is saying this will be the last! Each game works on its own, and has its own lore, design, ruleset, and theme. But they do share one thing. Bundles of card based fun in a small but long box that will hate your current shelf layout. Let's get this one to the table and see how it plays. How To Set-Up Moon Place the Rovers, Water, Biomass and Energy into a central general supply, accessible by all players along with the Flag Reward board. The resources come in some very handy boxes, so this is pretty simple. Add three Hearts face up under the five flag spaces on the Flag Reward board and also three face down Hearts onto the X space. The X in referenced on a number of cards. The current value of X will be represented by however many Hearts are on this space at that time in the game. Then stack the four and five value Hearts next to this board ready for the later rounds. Next, add the three levels of Reputation cards, one card per player of each. For a two player game, set up as you would a three player game with three cards for each level. Next to this, place the three Era Structure cards into three separately shuffled face down decks. Take the top card from the Era 1 stack and place it face up next to the Flag Reward board to start the discard pile. Then take the three Era Expedition decks, shuffle these and place them into three separate face down stacks by the general supply. Now, give each player a Base card, Player Aid, and two Rovers. The Base cards are all a little different adding a small bit of asymmetry to the start up and each game. One player takes the First Player Expedition card. Ensure you use the right one for your current player count, there are two in the box. The game suggests you decide who goes first by seeing who has the loudest voice. Depending on the environment you are in and who is around you, you can decide yourself if this is suitable! You are now, subject to any disturbance just caused and any remaining issues that still need to be resolved from this, ready to play. How To Play Moon Players will battle it out over three rounds known in the game as Era's, to try and make the best Moon City, earning the most popularity as they go. You will start with a Production phase, where players will produce any Resource shown on their Yellow cards. This includes their starting Base card, so they will produce one thing in round one. Each person will produce a different thing based on the base card they were dealt during set up. In subsequent rounds, players will produce a lot more in this phase, as they will have added extra Yellow production cards to their base. Players then move onto the main action phase, the Construction phase. Here, players will be dealt cards from the current Era Structure deck. Eight each for a two player, seven cards for a three of four player, and six cards for a five player game. The first player will add the first player card to their deck, and the other players will add one card from the current Era Expedition deck to their hand. Players will then draft one card from their hand and play that card. Cards can either be played to Build or Assimilate. Build means adding to your Base area by paying the cost shown on the top of the card and taking the shown benefit. You also need to ensure you currently satisfy that cards Flag requirements. As you add cards to your base, you will increase the Flags you have shown on the bottom of the card. You need to develop your control of each of these to add higher power cards to your base and for end of rounds bonuses, more on that later. The cards are mainly made up of four types. Blue cards that produce resources. Grey cards that produce points. Yellow cards that produce Flags. And Pink cards that have a Flip ability that will offer a chance to score additional resources or points. Assimilate means discarding the card. Each card will offer a discard bonus, shown on the bottom left of the card next to a trash symbol. If you Assimilate, you simply take this reward for free. It is a good option if you are low of resources and or flags, but some of the Reputation cards reward this action too. Either before or after you have played your card you can also take one of four bonus actions. The first is to use the action shown on your Expedition card. The first player card always allows players to swap a card from their hand with one from the current Era deck. Other Expedition cards offer more interesting opportunities, such as to increase the value of the Flags. Again, more on that soon. The second option is to Park a Rover This means moving one of your Rovers from your Base to another players base, and placing it on the parking space shown on the bottom of the blue and grey cards. You can then take the action shown next to that space. This will be to gain additional Resources or Flags. The Flag you gain this way can only be used to add to your Flag requirements for this current turn. It is not a permanent Flag for the round. The third option is to claim a Reputation card. The Reputation card dealt during set up show various challenges that need to be met. If you ever fulfil a cards specific requirements, you can then take that card into your play area. It will reward you with end game points, but also an instant or ongoing reward as well. This will be clearly shown on the card. The last option you have is to flip over one of your pink cards to gain that cards flip benefit. This card will stay flipped for the rest of the Era but will comeback to you at the end of the Era. If the card produces Hearts, place them onto the card itself. This is important when it comes to end of round and game scoring. When the first player has played a card and taken the additional action if they chose, the next player in turn will do the same. When all players have done this, players pass the deck clockwise, and now take a card from the next hand passed to them. This continues until only the Expedition cards remains. Players then move all Rovers played on their cards that round into their supply for the next round, you don't get the ones you played back, just the ones played onto your cards. Tidy up the cards discarded that round, shuffling them back into that rounds Era deck, and pass the first player card to the next player. In the Scoring phase, players will now score the five Flag bonuses. Based on the player who has the most of each of the different flags on cards in their base, players will take the Hearts underneath each Flag on the Flag Reward board. Each round this reward grows, and some cards allow players to increase certain Flag rewards if they choose. Any ties are broken by the most amount of Rovers. Any ties after that mean the Hearts carry over for the next round, meaning the battle for supremacy in that particular flag increases. Players will then score for any Hearts on their cards. Do not remove the Hearts from the cards, they stay there all game. Add the equivalent amount into your soring area. This means the Hearts on the cards will score again in the later rounds. Now ready the game area for the next round. Remove one Heart from the X space on the Flag reward board. X is now worth one less Heart. Refill the Hearts on the Flag reward board with either four Hearts for Era two, or the five Heart tokens for the final Era. Once you have completed the third Era players will total all Heart points. Hearts will be scored from those earnt during the game, anything printed on the grey cards in each players base, and the Hearts printed on the Reputation cards acquired. Most Hearts wins. Is It Fun? Moon Board Game Review Moon is by far my favourite game out of the three. Villagers and Streets are good, but Moon offers something a little more. The small engine building, and development of your resources ramps up so quickly. Although, with only three Era's, that is essential! But that makes the game incredibly satisfying and fun to play. You see your development instantly. All players will build something cool in this game. Win or lose, you will have a sense of achievement playing Moon. Everything fits just right too. The boxes are all the right size for the bits, and fit nicely into the box, and come out nicely onto the table. The cards are all high quality and slide nicely into place, shuffle well, and looks great on the table. These are small things, but make set up, tear down, and playing so much smoother. With the expansion in, the box is a little snug, but it does all fit, but more on that here. However, the box shape won't be for everyone. But they do look cool lined up next to each other if you have all three! Probably part of the thinking here. I love the way the game scores. There are multiple ways to build up your Hearts throughout the game, which is similar to 7 Wonders. As is the drafting mechanic of course. And in a way, Moon feels a little bit like 7 Wonders in space. It's a great game, and I like 7 Wonders as well. They feel similar in mechanic, but very different in theme. And perhaps this leaves the main question for anyone who has 7 Wonders already. Do you need Moon as well? I would argue yes. I have both, and am keeping both. But why? Well, I can easily see myself playing both in the same night with the same people. Maybe Moon is the unofficial sequel, set years later in a later era? For this reasons, like the idea of both games hitting my table back to back. And if I can only play one? Well, 7 Wonders is here for when I have larger player counts. Moon is here for when I want a little less admin or have a two player requirement and don't fancy Duel. I would recommend Moon to anyone who enjoyed any of the previous games from the same designer. It has a similar look, feel, weight and style. Although of course, each game is quite unique in theme. If you enjoy space related games, this may appeal, but it does not scream space travel or exploration as you play. It is more of a solid resource management engine builder with a solid draft mechanic. Mechanisms that are universally used because they are fun to play when deployed well, such as the case here with Moon. Villages became Streets, and then we developed Moon travel. What's next? I cannot wait to find out.

Kavango Board Game Preview - This is a prototype version and may not represent the final quality of the game. This porotype also uses the deluxe components rather than the standard ones such as the card trays which will be punchboard in the normal version. Kavango is from new kids on the block Mazaza Games. You can find more about them and the game here . It was made by two first time designers, Matt Brown and Zara Reid which blows my mind considering how tight and well produced this game is. They have been working on it for 3.5 years and clearly have a passion for the subject matter, conservation. Zara is currently working as the Head of Climate and Nature Team & Illegal Wildlife Trade Adviser in Southern Africa. So, it makes sense the game is sound thematically. But mechanically Kavango oozes class too. Kavango is essentially Ark Nova 'lite'. If that is not enough for an instant back, read on. The game is incredibly simple to learn and teach. There are three rounds in which players will draft one card per turn from a deck of 12 or 15 cards, depending on player count. Each round lasts ten turns. So, only ten cards will be drafted per round from these decks with 12 or 15 cards in. This is a simple rule that can be easily overlooked as players continue to draft until the hands are empty. So, try to remember to stop after ten turns! We missed that a few times in our first game. The cards can either be used to increase your habitats overall ability to host new animals, add new animals into your habitat, be discarded for money, or played as an action if it is an action card. Once you have drafted and played your card, you can then if you wish, spend some money to increase your habitats protection level, score any of the four research tasks set each round, or contribute to the overall Climate level for all players. That's it. If it sounds like you are missing something, you are not. This is the classic easy to learn, hard to master game. But where it is low in rules, the game is very high in strategy and most importantly, fun! Let's delve in a bit deeper. To increase your habitats land and food production in order to host higher scoring animal cards on your board, Producer cards need to be played. These cards have zero cost and are simply slipped under one of the four production areas of your landscape board. Each board starts with two unique Producers, Trees, Grasslands, Invertebrates, or Fish. Adding more by tucking Producer cards under the board will build your own personal engine. But there will be Animal cards that require certain things that these four producers cannot provide. They will need things that only other Animal cards can provide. A Lion for example will require four prey animal cards to have been previously played. A Tawney Eagle requires other birds, small mammals, and prey to have been played. You need to develop your landscape to get the right animals into your habitat in order to then later add higher scoring bigger animals that feed of the previously played cards. It's a glorious, interlinked, cascading, connected puzzle that will fill your heart with song every play. There are four research tasks each round and they typically require a certain number of animals of a certain type to have been played onto your board. Animals of a certain size, weight, type, or some focus around the producer cards. Most research tasks have three different scoring tiers based on how many of the required type of card you have. You can only score each research task once, so you need to decide when to complete it, either when you have reached level one to gain the much needed money and points to help you in other areas, or wait, gain nothing now, and try to reach a higher level for bigger rewards later in the round. Gaining money is crucial because most cards have a certain level of protection needed in order for it to be legally placed onto your board. Either focused on the group Climate level, or your own Habitat and Poaching protection level. In order to advance in these four levels, you need to move money cubes gained from Action cards and completing research tasks to these boards, filling up the required spaces for each level in complete groups. If a level needs two cubes to fill it, you have to place two at once, not one at at time over various turns. Reaching the higher levels will allow you to place higher value cards. But there is a secondary reason you would want to do this. There is a shared overall game goal that rewards ten end game points to any player who can reach the final level for each protection category. There is also a shared ten point end game goal for adding at least eight cubes to the shared Climate level. Thus encouraging everyone to help with this, and not leave it to just one or two players to contribute. There will be many times when in order to get a certain Animal into your Landscape, you will need to increase both your production level in a certain area, as well as increasing your protection levels, and also add other cards your target card requires. This all takes time. You can only play one card per round, and you can only spend so much before your financial reserves run dry. In these situations, to avoid missing out on the card you want, you can add it to your Sanctuary. You have space for three cards here, essentially a holding area for cards until you can meet their required criteria. You will start with two cards in your Sanctuary, that's part of the setup process. But some Action cards will let you swap them with other players cards, which can be a key way to help your own game whilst also potentially slowing others down. But generally the cards given to you for free at the start in your Sanctuary will give you a focus for what you need to aim for at the beginning of the game. However, it may be best advised to ignore these cards, and divert your focus instead towards each rounds Research tasks. The research tasks will score you points and gain you money in a far more efficient way. But this all goes to show a good example of how your head will be full of various strategies and multiple-step plans to achieve many different things as you play. It's a fun feeling, if you like that sort of thing! Adding Animals to your Landscape board not only increases your production levels for other Animals, but will score you end game points. The Animal card points range between one and ten. Typically the best strategy each turn will be to play the highest scoring card possible. But you will need to start thinking about which cards will help with other cards in this hand, the other hands you have seen this round, or the cards you have in reserve waiting in your Sanctuary. You need to be constantly building up your production and protection levels, as well as the things you need on your board to assist you with the bigger scoring animals that you have your eyes on. It's one big continued problem that you need to work out, that will have your brain racing once you see the connections. The only part of the game that can be frustrating on occasions is the shared Climate protection levels. Some players may not need to advance in this at the same rate as others, and can focus on other areas for the earlier parts of the game. This can lead to one player being forced to develop this on their own if they want to place certain cards. However, the game does reward players with ten end game points if they have added at least eight cubes here, so this does mitigate this to some point. You can also simply not draft the cards that need a higher Climate level, and swap cards in your Sanctuary with high Climate levels with the players who are not helping, to encourage their assistance in this area! And there are some conservation cards (more on them later) that will encourage more interaction with this too. But I think I would prefer this to be a solo goal like the other two protection levels. There is enough player interaction with the drafting. This did not need to be included for me. But I asked Matt about this and he said that "the game is designed to be as true to real-life as possible. This was semi-coop to show the challenges of climate action." Which is a pretty darn good answer! The game is trying to make a point. It's not preachy. And very fun to play. But it does also have a serious message which this clever mechanic and rule underlines. If at any point during the game you feel you need a quick rule refresher, or between rounds you want to remind yourself of the actions, there is a very clear and handy guide for all these things that you can leave on the table. But the star of the show in this game are the cards themselves. The art is gorgeous. The animals really stand out and pop against the muted backgrounds. The art style makes them all seem so exciting and wonderful. It's nice to have a little bit of information about each one, and the stats help you with your research tasks, as well as educating you as you play. The art for the game was done by Matt, one of the designers. And remember, this is his first game. His first! Let me just let that sink in a bit as you gaze as the cards below. As well as the small part of asymmetry found with the Landscape boards, each player will be dealt a Conservation expert card at the start for the game to add to the variety. These cards will grant you small powers, unique to you, that will add some focus to your play, and assist you through the game. None of the powers are that strong, and I found for some, I simply forgot about them as I played as they did not help that much. They are a nice addition and do add some variety to the game, and will help you if you remember you have them! But this is not game changing asymmetry. More gentle nudges to to help with variety, and keep the game fair and even. The research tasks are somewhat akin to the round goals in Wingspan. They are all very clear and offer a strong focus for each round. Gaining mid-game points helps of course, but the real win here is with the money that can be earnt from completing these. Money that will be very much sort after by all players as you play. The money will be essential to developing your protection levels and gaining the higher scoring Animals. You can also use money to buy production levels in areas you are low on, if the cards available to you in one round happen to be light in one production area. It costs £4m to do this, unless you have the Ecologist card, as seen above, so it is not a cheap thing to do. But sometimes essential to get the cards you want. And a clever addition to the game to avoid that frustration found in other games, when the cards dealt simply do not have many of one type of category you need. Kavango is a remarkable game. Coming from first time designers, the game feels so much more polished and developed than a first time game usually would. Huge credit to Matt and Zara for this. I can see this really taking off when it comes to Kickstarter this month. It offers a similar experience to many other popular card based games on the market, such as Wingspan, Splendor, Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova. It's a fusion of all of these really, with a 7 Wonders style draft system thrown in. But this is very simple to learn and teach. It has10% of the complexity, rules, and game length of a game like Ark Nova, but a fair chunk of the strategy and fun. If you want a quick, easy to play game, that still offers a satisfying and strategic experience, Kavango could well be for you. It’s wonderful to see a game made by experts in their field who clearly understand the subject matter at hand. Both the Animals and conservation matters are handled with authority and authenticity, which brings an added sense of gravity and honesty to the game. Mechanically, it is a fusion of drafting, tableau building, hand management, set collection, and contract fulfilment, with an added element of asymmetry added for fun. But it all comes together in a wonderful package that has swept me up in its simple beauty, and I think it may well do the same for you.

Circadians: First Light Specialists Expansion WBG Score: 9.5 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Alien Frontiers, Euphoria. Published by: Garphill Games Designed by: S J Macdonald This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Circadians: First Light is a wonderfully strategic game that I have reviewed here. There are two main expansions for the game. Chaos Order that introduces six asymmetric factions. And Specialists, that we are reviewing here, that introduces two new alien factions to add to the Negotiation board, a new Temple location to visit, and a new Outpost board to extend players bases. It also introduces new characters, contract cards, and excitingly, new specialist dice. Let's get to it. The expansion rule book opens with a story of how, after 33 rotations on the planet of Ryh, the intrepid explorers have now met new alien races. I like how it is even attempted to be explained how or why new races are being introduced at this stage in the game. The theme doesn't exactly leap out of this game. But it is there, and this small bit of world building in the rule sis certainly appreciated here. This game is not a narrative story based game, but an element of story telling is being attempted to build the lore of the game and it works well. How To Set Up Circadians First Light Specialists Expansion On top of the usual set up for the main game, add in the following set up steps. First up you need to modify the Negotiations board, which is now a whole lot bigger. Place the Negotiations board extensions on either side of the Negotiations board, using the side suitable to your player count. Make sure that Oxataya is of the left and Ahzuri is on the right. Either side of these two new races can be used, just like the main game with the existing three factions. The bottom of the board is also increased, adding in space for four extra Incident tokens which reference the new Specialist dice. The Event deck has six new cards to add in. Shuffle these into the deck but still draw the same amount. The new event cards are not especially linked to the new expansion. They just bring more variety to these cards. Likewise, add in the new Farm and Ship tiles when setting up these stacks and the 12 new Leader cards to the Leader deck. These are awesome, more on that soon. Alongside the six main boards in the game, there is now a seventh Temple board. Add this to the table along with the others. The Temple brings a new location to visit that allows players to gain the new type of Specialist die. This is also a new place where Contract cards can be gained and fulfilled. Something that was certainly required from the base game. Players now gain one extra Outpost board, two Outpost Tiles, and three Specialist dice in their chosen colour. The Specialist dice are placed onto the spaces on the outpost board which is placed to the left of the research base during set up. players need to decide which of the two outpost tiles to keep, returning the other to the box. You are now ready to play. How To Play Circadians First Light Specialists Expansion The game plays as usual with a few minor changes. During the Planning phase, players must assign Specialist dice if they have them. You can only have one active Specialist dice at a time. The Specialist dice do not have pips on, so you can treat the dice as being any number you like. They are Specialists you see. In the Execute phase, assign Specialists dice just as you would with a normal dice, other than the fact that they can break normal turn order of your own dice. A Specialist dice in the third garage for example, could go out first if you wanted. They can also move from a Garage to a Farm if you want. They then act just like a normal dice in the Farm during the Harvest phase. Specialist can be used as any number, apart from when sent to the Negotiation board where they have no number so do not count towards the base game Setbacks. But there are now two new rules at this juncture focused around Specialist dice. First, the first two Specialist dice sent to the Negotiations board gain one advancement. Second, if you place a Specialist in a column where there is already one other Specialist presence you will suffer one Setback. Players gain Specialists in a few ways but mainly from visiting the Temple. When you gain your first one, you must replace a regular dice with one of the three Specialists you placed on your Outpost during setup. Add the new Specialist die to your active collection of dice. One regular die is placed back into your supply in place of this. When you gain your second or third Specialist you need to move one of the Specialist die from your Outpost to one of the lock spaces on the outpost board. You don't get it quite yet! Later, when you move another Specialist to the Negotiations or Depository board, you can then unlock one Specialist from the lock space. This essentially means you don't lose a die as you usually would. You spend one regular die then get one Specialist back right away. The Outposts are not just left for your own use though. You can visit other players Outposts with your Specialists by placing it onto the top space on the Outpost board, you will then gain one Contract card and two Water. But this can be upgraded by gaining extra Specialists, which when removed from the starting spaces on the outpost board, reveal added benefits given to you when moving to other players Outposts. This will also reveal added end game points. Players can also gain Specialists from new Farm tiles and from the new rewards at the Negotiations board. Players will score as per usual, simply adding the extra points gained from the new Outpost board. Is It Fun? Circadians First Light Specialists Expansion Review The base game is already pretty wonderful in my opinion, and did not need anything specific done to it to fix any issues. However, adding more Leaders, the best part of the game, is a no-brainier and simply adds more variety and fun. The added Aliens to deal with are interesting, and it is nice to now have one that trades in Water. Something you previously could not use on the Negotiations board, and this could be frustrating, especially if you were Water rich and light in the other resources. I like the new Specialists dice. It's cool to have a dice with out any pips. That is a novelty in itself. But it works well in a game like this, that is so heavy in strategy, but can, on very few occasions, be governed by the luck of a die roll. Now, with pip-less dice, this is removed. Just use whatever number you want if you have earnt the right to do so. I like that. It's a great solution to a very small problem in this game. But only rewarded when you deserve it. The Outpost and Temple serves simply it seems as a means to get the new Specialist dice and bring them into your ownership. I like the process of moving them to the lock space and replacing used dice later in the game. On occasions, you could previously spend a die that you don't get back and then not have your full allocation of Dice on your next round as you ran out of turns or resource needed to get a new die back on that round. That was on you as the player to plan ahead, but it is nice to now have another option to keep you full allocation. More so when the replacement die is a Specialist. Charlene Fortin, a new Leader also offers some new flexibility here with the luck of the die rolls, by allowing players to increase one die up to two pips or two dice for one pip in the planning phase. A nice option to have. The other new Leaders are also a wonderful addition. I like Corey Ahrens who provides you with one Gem every time you don't have dice in your Outpost during the Harvest phase. Luna Morrison is my new favourite though, who allows you to gain a Gem when you negotiate with the Ahzuri, or three Water when other players do. The Ahzuri let you either discard two contract cards to move your Harvester or move the Harvester one space closer to the centre space in order to gain a Gem, powerful options. So this is a highly common negotiation and as such Corey Ahrens power comes into play a lot. For a game that is so solid without any real issues, I am surprised how good this expansion is. I would not say it is a must have. That depends on how much you like the base game. It won't make anyone who did not enjoy the base game change their mind on the overall experience. But if you did enjoy Circadians, then I would say Specialist is an essential expansion as it simply adds more fun with minimal extra rules and does make the game better. Personally, I wont play the base game without this expansion and have increased my overall score of the game by 0.5 which is a lot when I was already at a nine!

Circadians: First Light WBG Score: 9 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Alien Frontiers, Euphoria. Published by: Garphill Games Designed by: S J Macdonald This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Circadians: First Light has an interesting history for its short time on this bright green earth. First published in 2019 via a Kickstarter campaign with 1,673 backers. The game received largely positive feedback, although Tom Vasel didn't like the art or the small box it came in. The same type most Garphill Games use. Then in 2021, a second edition and the first major expansion, Chaos Order was released. This received over 1,000 backers again. The second edition has since been released and comes in a much bigger box, with 90% of the art updated. You happy Tom? No, he still doesn't like the art. The rules remain largely the same but the first mini expansion, Allies, is included and a few small tweaks have been updated in the rule book. There is also a new expansion, Specialists, that came out in 2023 that we will cover in a separate review. The first edition is back compatible with the new expansions via an upgrade kit, or the publisher suggests you sell it and buy a second edition. In this review we will cover the second edition of the base game. Lets get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up Circadians First Light It sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is to set up Circadians. That is because there are a lot of moving pieces. But stick with me! We can get through this together. Place down the main planet board and fill the spaces marked with the three Water and one Gem icon with Water and Gem tokens. Then take the Gem cache tokens and place six at random, face down in each of the spaces for them in the corners of the planet map. Place a Rover marker into the central space, one for each player. Then place the negations board (the right side up for your player count) along with the faction boards. Each faction tile is doubled sided to allow for variation between games. Pick which ever suits you. Then add the 12 grey incident tokens into the spaces on the left side of the Negotiation board. Next, add the Spaceport board which shows the Depositary and Headquarters. Again, make sure you have the right side up for your player count. Then take the Event cards, remove the End of an Era card and shuffle the rest. Place the End of an Era card face down on the space for this on the Headquarters board then add six other event cards at random, face down on top. Place the left over cards back into the box. Now add the six other station boards, again with the appropriate side for your player count. You can place these anywhere and in any order. Just make them all within easy access of all players. Unless someone has particularly long arms. or one of those grabby arm device things. Now shuffle the Farm and Ship tiles and separate each one into three equal stacks, adding them to the three spaces for each on the Laboratory and Foundry board respectively. Then shuffle the contract cards and place them face down in a pile in the central playing area. Now it's time to set up each player. Give everyone a research base mat and screen, along with 13 dice in their colour. Three of these dice are placed onto the research mat, the others are left in a nearby supply. Each player starts the game with 15 Water, four Algae and two Energy. Then randomly determine the starting player and give them the Radio token. Each player will now be dealt three Leader cards. You can keep one, returning the others to the box. Or if you are playing the Dyad Alliance variant, you can keep two leaders. However, with this rule, you would have only received Ten water, two Algae and two Energy. I highly recommend playing with this variant from your second game onwards. It's not a great way to learn the game but a way more fun way to play after that! Finally, players will now draft their contract cards. Make sure you do this after your Leader cards have been chosen. It's handy to know who you Leaders are before you choose these. Each player draws four cards and selects one to keep, handing the other three to the player to their left. From these three, each player will keep one and pass the other two. From the final two, each player keeps one and discards the other, leaving each player with three contract cards. You are now ready to begin. How To Play Circadians First Light Playing is a lot simpler to explain than the set up. It is also very conveniently displayed in each players screen. There are seven rounds in the game as indicated by the seven event cards. And in each round, there are four distinct phases. Three of which are very simple, the other is where the main actions happen. Let's go through them all one by one. Plan - During the Plan phase the top event card is flipped and read out by the first player. This event will add a unique rule to this round, either helping or hindering the players progress. All players will now role the dice they have, you start with three but can get more during the game, up to five, in later rounds. Roll your available dice behind your screen so other players cannot see, and then assign each one to one of two areas on your mat. Either the Garages at the front, which means you will send them out to take actions in the next phase, or onto the Farms on the bottom of your mat, which means they will stay back at base and create resources for you to use in a later rounds during the Harvest phase. Execute - When all players are ready, remove your screens simultaneously, so all players can now see what each player has done. Then in turn, starting with the first player, everyone will move one dice at a time from the dice assigned to their Garages, starting with the left most Garage. The first Garage has no cost to send a dice out from. The rest have a cost starting from one Algae, then rising to two, then three. The first player takes one dice and adds it to one of the nine locations, paying the cost and taking the benefit. Then the next player moves their first dice, and so on until until dice in all Garages are allocated. The nine buildings offer you the following options. Mining Camp - This is Where you can gain extra gems. paying the cost of Water less the number shown on your die, either six or ten less the dice face for one Gem (based on player count and space available) or 16 less the dice face, for two Gems. Laboratory - This is where you can get new Farm tiles to add to your own board. This is the only space where two dice must be sent at once, rather than just one. The two dice must be the same number. You will then pay a cost of either three Algae or ten Water. So, the higher the dice, the cheaper the Gem cost will be. Foundry - This is where you can acquire new Ships to upgrade your Garages. The number of the dice dictates which of the three piles you can take a new Ship from. The Ship tiles offer extra benefits when added to your mat and dice are later assigned to them. You will pay a cost of either two Energy or ten Water to acquire them. Market - This is where you can exchange resources for other resources, based on two different exchange rates. Academy - This is where you can gain extra dice. You will pay the cost depending on which space you place your dice, and if you want to now take back one or two extra dice. The dice are added to your mat but cannot be used until the next round. Control Room - This is where you can control your Rover. Placing a dice here means you can move your Rover one space on the main planet board. The number of the dice dictates the direction you can move the rover as shown on the Control Room mat, as seen below. Headquarters - If you place a dice here, it will not return to your at the end of this round, but it can be used in the next round. The benefit being that as you are already out in the planet, you will be able to go first, before any dice from Garages are executed. This is essentially a way to break turn order. The dice in the first space can also be flipped, so a one could become a six. Negotiations board - Dice placed here do not come back to you afterwards, but will reward you at the time of placing them. There are three rows, each governed by one of three different alien races. Placing into one of the three rows, means you can gain the benefit of talking to one of these races. When you place the dice, any number can be placed, but you must pay the cost shown next to the row. The costs go up steadily, either in Algae, Energy, or Gems, but the more you pay, the more end game points you will get. Once you have placed your dice, if it was the first time a dice of that number was placed, you can move one of the grey markers from the top row on the left to the right, and claim the benefit. Either to take whatever resources are currently shown on your harvester location, take a Ship tile or Farm tile, a new dice, or Gem, or move your Rover one space in any direction. If a dice has already been placed with the same number then you cannot do this. There may also be a 'set back' if the dice you place means the column you are in now has a combined total of eight or more, or if the dice is the same number as another dice in this column. If this is the case, then you must move one of the grey tokens from the bottom set back row over to the right to lose one benefit of your choice. Depository - When you send a dice here, it stays there for the rest of the game. You must also fulfil a contract when you visit the Depository paying the required resources shown on the contract card but then gaining the end game points and/or in game bonus from the card. The dice can be placed in one of three rows. Each row offers a different benefit, either to move your Rover, gain an extra dice, or take two new contract cards. You can only put a dice in a row if you have the matching number in the top row. Contact cards can be used as a permanent power, such as the Fuel Refiner below which reduces the required cost to carry out actions by one Energy, particularly useful when used with a Ship that has the same power as seen below. Once all dice are assigned, and all players have passed, all players will then move onto the Harvest phase. Harvest - During this phase all players will simultaneously take the resources shown on the space on the planet board that their Rover currently occupies. As well as gaining resources for any dice placed into their Farms in the Plan phase. Each player starts with three Farms that generate either of the main resources and one Farm that simply adds an additional three pips to another dice on your Farm. For example if you placed a dice with a single pip into the left Farm which adds three to another dice and had another dice in another Farm which was a three, this second dice would now become a six. The mat shows clearly the exchange rate for each dice when you farm as seen below. The higher the number, the more resource you produce. Rest - All players will now take back all dice on the retrievable spaces on the board and add them back to their mat ready for the next round. All players must discard down to a maximum of five dice and eight cards, if they have more. The first player token will move one space clockwise and the next round will begin. If this is the final round then scoring takes place. Final Scoring - Players will score for five main areas. Any dice on the Negotiations board will score points based on the printed value. All fulfilled contracts will score points both for the printed value and any end game forcing bonus. If your Harvester ended on a Gem cash such as in the example below, this will now score you points based on that tiles icon. You will score points for your right left most uncovered Ship and Farm. And finally, one point for any Gem. Most points wins! Is It Fun? Circadians First Light Board Game Review Its takes a few turns to get to grips with the strategy of this game, but there are only seven rounds, and in the first few rounds, you may only take three actions. So you may not get it on the first play, games can be quite fast. This game certainly needs to be played fully to learn the strategy. But once you have done that, you could well find this is one of your favourite board game experiences. It won't be for everyone, but if you enjoy making strategic decisions that feel tight and meaningful, resource management, and working towards multiple small goals, this will be an absolute joy for you. The flow of the game feels beautifully balanced as you play. You won't get a full view on how you are doing against the other players until the final scoring, but you can track how many contract cards they are fulfilling, and when they place dice onto the Negotiations board. But you need to focus on your own goals, but watch out! Other players will regularly block you, inadvertently or not so you need to be able to adapt your plans. Some spaces on the boards are limited, going first can be important, and using the Headquarters spaces to go first can be very important. The real joy though comes with the Leader cards. The Dyad alliance rule where you get two of these cards brings even more fun to the table with these game changing powers. Gaining free dice, ignoring certain costs, or turning all dice into sixes in the Farms, the Leaders powers are huge and are brilliant fun to play with. In a tight game with a lot of tough restraints, it's wonderful to have a large bit of freedom in one small area. There is a robust and wonderfully engineered solo mode in the game. Each of the player mats reverses to be used in the solitaire game, with four options for varying difficulties. It works incredibly smoothly and offers a brilliant challenge that is both absorbing and a lot of fun. The AI always acts first, unless you use the Headquarters, and operates through the use of a small deck of Scheme cards. They give the AI various actions that allow it to play the game just as a human player might. I would recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of Garphill games. This feels very much like a Garphill game production despite not being designed by Shem himself. Multiple scoring options, clever worker placement, some exciting combination turns, and plenty of wonderful strategy to unlock and enjoy. On your turn you will plan out a juicy turn, full of exciting options, but will then quite often have to adapt and pivot as the other players or the AI stop you in your tracks. Later in the game when you start to build longer turns, it may be hard to keep a track of what you want to do. The planning phase can be tough for some, simply by the process of having to remember what you intend to do and in what order! I have had to use notes a few times to remind myself of what I was planning to do, which is fine. I only mention as this comes from the fact that there are always good options open to you. But a few will be better. And when you have four or five turns lined up, it can be hard to remember which you were planning on doing, and in what order because everything feels juicy. Circadians First Light is a wonderful game, and one that could easily creep into my top ten of all time. It certainly sits right now just outside, but with more plays, and the expansion, I think it could climb higher.

Tiny Towns WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Sagrada, Cascadia, Azul Published by: Alderac Entertainment Group Designed by: Peter McPherson This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. This review also contains a sponsored link at the beginning of the Set up section. Space Base, Calico, and Cascadia are all wonderful, low to mid-weight games of the highest calibre. When AEG aim to make a game in this niche, they tend to deliver. When Tiny Towns was released in 2019, the general opinion was they had delivered again. But, I did not enjoy my first few plays. It felt generic and lacking in any real satisfaction. But after multiple plays, I became a little obsessed. I think I know why I did not enjoy my first few games, and I certainly know now why I like this game. Sounds like this has all the making of what I will now call a "review". Let's get this to the table. How To Set Up Tiny Towns Board Game Tiny Towns is all about building the most efficient town, based on the cards that were drawn. In this respect, it's very similar to Cascadia. In this respect, it's very similar to Cascadia. Each game, you will need to draw one card from each of the six types, and lay these out with the Cottage. The Cottage is present in every game. Lay out all the resources and buildings accordingly, and give each player a town play mat and two special building cards. From these, each player must chose one to keep and discard the other. One player is given the starting master builder hammer, and you're now ready to play. Starting with the master builder, one player will call out one of the five resources. Each player will then take one of those resources and places it onto their board. It can go onto any free space. Then, each player can convert resources into buildings (not possible on turn one!) if they so choose. The hammer is then past one space clockwise and the round begins again. This continues until all players have filled their board, at which points the total points are calculated. The game really is that simple. When placing resources, you are looking to match the patterns that each building requires. Such as the below Abbey. Once you have done this, you will remove all pieces that made up the building, and then place the building onto any of the spaces that you just removed a resource from. The buildings will slowly block your spaces to add and new constructions, so you need to be careful where you build. Each building will only score if placed in a specific location, or with certain other constructions added to your mat too. You need to be mindful of where you place each building in relation to all the others you have built, and all those you plan to build. Planing of course is not always as easy as you would hope. Remember, you only get to chose which resource you use each turn when you are the master builder. In a six player game, this obviously does not come around very often. As such, the game provides cards which you can use instead where by the resources are randomly determined. These also work for the solo game. Is It Fun? Tiny Towns Board Game Review There is some theme around tiny animals making the perfect village for or some other such thing you will instantly forget. You absolutely wont 'feel' this as you play. The resources are also 'Wheat', 'Brick', 'Glass', 'Stone', and 'Wood', but you will quickly call these yellow, red, blue, grey, and brown! But, none of this is a problem. This is an abstract strategy game, and theme is not relevant. But it perhaps is one reason some players won't get on with game one. There is a distinct lack of charm when compared to games like Calico, and Cascadia. It feels more formulaic. A little more structured. And a lot less attractive. The building's scoring requirements are initially quite frustrating. Building A will only score if Building B is here. And building B will only score well if you build building C here. The building's requirements are all interlinked, and initially I just found this annoying. Initially I also found it too simple. I thought you cannot make them all work together all the time so if you pick two or three to focus on, build lots of those, you will still score highly. This works for a while, but other players can quickly stop this from working for you. However, after a few games, I realised I needed to focus more on what other players were doing. They pick your resources for you as well after all. This was picked up by all the other players around the table too. And as such, the games became a lot more strategic. We were choosing not just what we wanted, but what we knew other players didn't want. We were focusing on constructing buildings that we thought may work with other players strategies. As in, if we knew another player was going to say a particular resource based on a building it was obvious they were building, we would start to build a building that could use that same resource too, knowing we would be getting one from them soon. This made it harder for other players to block you by picking resources you didn't want. Working out each game how the building's work together is a real joy. There is a pattern to be found. A way you can link them up to maximise your points that is both beautiful and excruciating. In early games I avoided looking for this. Instead focusing on just a few buildings. And it works for a while. But it's not much fun, and easily blocked by other players. If you embrace the full game, not only will you enjoy the process a whole lot more, but you will take a great deal more satisfaction when you score well. In some two-player games, I did find that both players were building the same buildings, calling out resources that they knew the other player needed, because they were doing exactly the same thing. It is hard to stop this. You don't want to change your plans just because someone else has the same idea. It may be the best strategy! But you won't win every game this way. To avoid this, the game encourages players to focus on different things through the special Monument buildings. Each one not only needs a completely unique construction to get it completed. But each one also offers a specific scoring mechanic which often out-ways any other building in the game. Ignore your monument at your peril! The monuments are so powerful that some say they can break the game. If one players gets a particularly powerful one such as the Obelisk of the Crescent for example, and another player gets the Grand Mausoleum of the Rodina, it can lead to a big swing in points. However, you do get to chose from two cards, and there will be seven other buildings with unique scoring opportunities for you. And games are quick. If you really do get an unbalanced game, just rack-em-up and go again! Each game feels very different in this way. Like Cascadia, the game very much evolves around which scoring cards you have randomly dealt that time. The game has a suggested start set, and the rest all feel significantly different. How they all work with each other of course makes the combinations for set-up almost endless. Working out the best way to combine each different group of buildings to maximise your scoring is a highly engaging, rewarding, and satisfying experience that I only really started to full appreciate from game four onwards. The patterns cleared in my mind, and I went from really not enjoying this game to loving every minute of it. I have not had such a large swing in a game like this before. I think Tiny Towns is a lesson to me that playing games can often be a learning curve. Some games I love from game one, and then tire of after10 or more plays. As such, I always try and get into double digits for plays before I review anything to avoid over hyping something from the new game shine. But, other games like Tiny Towns go the other way. If i had reviewed this after two or three games I would have scored it low. Very low. But now, after multiple plays I can safely say this is a good game. A very good game in fact. It's so simple to set-up and get to the table. Incredibly easy to teach and start playing. And like other games of it's ilk, it rewards multiple plays as you learn better strategies. Increase your understanding of how to manipulate the board to your advantage. It's initial lack of charm is found as the game grows on you, game after game. I can see this game being played a lot in the future by myself. It works so well in a two, and is a perfect filler game when you want a nice satisfying quick game. I would like for the art on the player mats to be more exciting, and the variation here could be easily improved with larger boards, or mats with obstacles on. Although, there are a few expansions out that bring in some added variety. Fortune, which adds in money, and Villagers which brings in new abilities. Overall, I would say this is a good game that I will certainly keep in my collection. I prefer it to Calico as it is runs a little more simply, but it sits just below Cascadia, mainly down to aesthetics. But if I were to remove this from my thinking, Tiny Towns would edge it. Both games can work in the same collection if you enjoy this sort of abstract puzzle game, but I see Cascadia as being much more popular from it's theme. Tiny Towns certainly is a game to seriously consider if you have Cascadia and Calico. If you enjoy those, I would wager you will like this too. If you have neither game, you may want to consider the theme as the way to choose, despite the fact that they are all quite abstract. Simply as they are all quite similar games. But I like how in Tiny Towns you interact more with other players as you choose resources for all players. And this reason is why I like this one the most when I remove theme and art from my consideration.

One Card Maze Card Game Preview - This is a prototype print and play version and so it may not represent the final quality of the game. One card maze just might be the simplest game to learn that I have ever played. Your job is to find the exit. You do so my moving through the open paths. But many doors will block your way. To unlock them you need to rotate the card in your hand by moving over the Spin icons so that door has an upward facing arrow. There are Flip icons that let you move to the other side of the card as well. Keep going until you find the exit. That's it. Want more? Well here are the rules printed on one of the free to play print and plays you can find at their website. Just print out the page, cut out the maze, either size, and fold it down the middle and begin playing. For the Kickstarter there will be a lot more mazes, nine in total, colour mazes, and a whole lot more treats I'm sure. All in the glorious print and play option. Check out the preview page here. I have tried three mazes now, and had great fun with them. It's so simple. Just print the page, cut out the square, fold the map, sleeve or laminate the card if you wish, and away you go. You can take them with you in your pocket when you go out and play anywhere, and enjoy playing the same maze over and over. It takes a while to learn them by heart, so repeat plays works just fine. Especially if you are trying more than one maze during the same game session. We have had fun timing our escapes against each other. You may be surprised at how, under time pressure, the seemingly obvious flips and turns become very confusing! It makes for a great group experience. It's such a lovely concept and one that is infinitely expandable. I hope hundreds of these little mazes get made. I want them all! A deck of one card mazes I can pull out and play when ever I want. A fun solo experience. An enjoyable group timed challenge. Something that works in any environment with nothing needed other than the card itself. You can play in the car (as a passenger obviously!), without a table, even when out and about walking, although please do be mindful of roads and the such! It would be fun if they could think of a way for the cards to link up. Either in a campaign mode or perhaps even joining them up for bigger mazes and surprises! The print and play experience is so simple too. It's one page, with one rectangle shape to cut out. And then one fold. You will be up and ready from download to rules learn in under 5 minutes. Even if you have a terrible paper guillotine like me! There is something so nice about holding a single card in your hand like this, and that be the complete game. Being able to turn and flip the card in your hand gives you complete control of everything, all with five fingers. It really is quite a unique, but delightful experience. Here are two sides of one of the early mazes. Have a try yourself. Can you escape? Set the rotation lock on your phone and have a try! Playing the mazes themselves is a lot of fun. Some will be a lot harder than you first think, and you will get a little disorientated at times, but this is all part of the fun. Flipping and rotating the cards, you will loose track of where you are and where you are going on occasions, but generally this is just something you can follow with your eye. Although my kids do like to use a pencil to mark their tracks, then rub out after playing. The entire experience will take a few moments, but this is not about a long sit down strategic experience. This is about portable, flexible, engaging fun for a few moments. Something you can share with friends at the pub, or play with your family when on a journey somewhere. I cannot wait to see how the Kickstarter goes and will be very keen to try as many of these mazes as I can get my hands on.

HexaGram Word Game Preview - This is a prototype version and so does not represent the final quality of the game. The box and tiles will change in the final version. No, it's not a new social media platform, HexaGram is an new word game and it's live on Kickstarter now (as off early September 2023).And it just may be my mums new favourite game! HexaGram is essentially a new version of Scrabble. Letter tiles are placed onto the board in turn, forming words, and scoring points based on the letters used. There are, of course, a few twists. First, you can only ever put one letter on the board at a time. Second, you can add letters to empty spaces or on top of other letters. And third, the letters already placed on the board from previous turns can be on later turns moved onto other letters, so long as they move higher than they were before. And with those three rule changes, you have essentially learnt how to play the game! There are four ways to play with these tiles, however the game I explained above is the main WORD version. The other three will be released as and when the game gains new backers. You can find information out about this here. But other than a few extra rules on plurals and tile placement, this is the full game. You can be playing within seconds. I love Scrabble. I mean, who doesn't? It's a classic, and has stood the test of time for very good reason. However, it does massively favour players with a better vocabulary and that have learnt the tricks of the game, such as the double letter words! Restricting HexaGram to just one letter each time completely opens up the game to new players. Now, don't get me wrong, you will still have a massive advantage if you have a better vocabulary, and can learn the tricks, but there is not much word games can do about that. These people read all those books, they deserve the wins! But, the one tile per turn rule does mean most players will always be able to find a word, and they can do so with less intimidation. In Scrabble, I find the expectation to build a longer word is quite high. And when you place a two or three letter word you feel bad. However, in this game, only being able to add one letter changes this. Now you can of course still create longer words, adding a letter onto the end of others already there, and you can build five, six, seven, even longer words. But this happens less frequently at the start of the game to ease players in. But most importantly, the expectation isn't there as you only ever have one tile to add. You are not sat there staring at your own seven tiles thinking what can I do with these seven tiles? Instead you are looking at all the available tiles and asking yourself, which single tile could you add to create the best word. It's a lot more accessible. The building aspect is a lot of fun too. Being able to add tiles onto others opens the game up immensely. Turning GOAT into MOAT is not something you could do in Scrabble but is an obvious and fun way to score in HexaGram. And you don't just score the letter you add, you score all the letters in the word you created. Words can be created in any direction as long as they connect on the board. Tiles can be placed anyway, as long as they touch one of tile. If you can get an ING down, then the opportunity to create a lot of big high scoring words opens up for all players. You can use the letters on the board over and over. Which means turns can be quick, and scores can build fast. You know, exactly NOT like Scrabble! The board is currently made up from the box which works well and makes set up a breeze. Simply open the box, empty out the tiles, flip the box and begin. If you get it onto a flat surface it works very well. What the designer Motti told me was that "the box is not the final product as we will redesign it to include the other items necessary to play all the four games in this box, however, it will be a box/board-game combination in the final product." Which is fun. I like boxes that are used in games, and that is certainly the case here. The one thing that I think could be developed is the tiles themselves. It seems like a better tile that stacks in a more stable way would greatly enhance this game. The tiles can slide a bit of each other when you begin to stack. Which is fine. They don't ever slide all the way off. It does not affect the game. But, if you are like me, the aesthetics being compromised this way may bug you. Speaking to designer Motti, they said the plan in the final version is for the tiles to have a rougher bottom so they do not slide as much. Hopefully that fixes the issue. It will be interesting to see how well this game does. The Kickstarter starter began without me even knowing. I had not seen this game anyway. But a friend sent me the link and I was intrigued. I am delighted I have had the chance to play this as I really enjoy it, and my mother, a big scrabble fan, loves this. And it has opened up the chance for us to play a lot of games together. We play Scrabble too, but it can be a bit long sometimes, and tough when she destroys me every game! Whereas HexaGram is a much quicker game. You can play until neither player can make a word, a points target or time limit, However you wish. You could do that in Scrabble too, but it would feel weird ending Scrabble with tiles still in the bag. The ruleset there is so established. But HexaGram is a new kid on the block, and with that, it brings fresh ways to play. Something very much needed in the word game market I would suggest. I would encourage anyone who enjoys Scrabble and any word game to check this one out. It is up on Kickstarter until the beginning of October 2023, so if you are interested, move fast!

Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Suns is a sci-fi dungeon crawler for one to four players. It is live now on Kickstarter. This is an early prototype version and does not represent the finished game, art or components. This is a free preview copy. See our review policy here. Rouge Angels Board Game Preview Rogue Angels is from SunTzuGames, a Danish game publisher owned by Emil Larsen, who is a lieutenant in the Danish Army. You can feel the military efficiency throughout this game. On the surface, this is a fairly standard dungeon crawler, but with a very engaging sci-fi theme. But overlaying this, is a twisting narrative that links each game together and some very clever mechanics. It is hard to get a complete feel for this with the demo copy, there are only a few missions I can do, with a few characters. But there certainly is enough here to get me excited. And boy am I excited! You can find out more here. Rogue Angels brings a mix of strategic card and dice based combat using different asymmetric players. In the demo there are three characters to chose from. Each game needed two characters to play with, and even with these limited choices in the demo copy, due to the asymmetry, the choices seemed important. The characters all come with their own character pack, unique and gorgeous character art, and a mix of interesting abilities. As you play through each level, the decisions you make will affect your character for later missions, not only with their own powers, but the way the interact with other characters. This creates many divergent paths for the story to go down. But this is only the beginning. From the publisher "Set in the Burning Suns universe, you will be travelling a diverse galaxy with various factions all vying for their way of life. You get the opportunity to become a hero, shield civilians from conflicts, defend your spaceship from boarding enemies, and help save the galaxy. But be careful, as your team will be tested in numerous scenarios and face difficult choices in and outside of combat, and you will not be offered a second chance. As a leader you must be willing to sacrifice everything and your legacy to bring peace to the many species of the Burning Suns." Playing Rogue Angels feels familiar to other dungeon crawler games but there are some clever uses of the cards and mechanisms by which the cards are returned to your hand. Players will take it in turns to take two actions, using the cards in their hand to do so. Each card has a cool down level, and when played, must be placed under your character sheet. After each players turn, you will shift each card down one place. When they come off the track, they are returned to your hand. This feels similar to the cool down track in the Funkoverse games, and works very well. The more powerful cards cannot be over used, as such hand management becomes crucial. The available actions are focused largely around moving and fighting, but there is nice variation for each. The card's choices and style echo to those in Gloomhaven. But the cool down track is a more engaging way to get them back into your hand then short or long rest. It feels more realistic and less frustrating! Each mission starts with a briefing using the Campaign Book. I think the experience of this alone when done with the finished product will feel special. Using the available PDF and prototype parts, I still felt very excited to try each mission. But not being a huge fan of the virtual world, it did somewhat detach me from the game. However, you can clearly see the potential once the final game is made. The story is deeply engrossing and very well thought out. There is a whole universe here to be transported too. This is not just a bit if flavour text and off you go. There is backstory, dialogue, a whole galaxy of stories. And the game isn't that far far away! The game starts slowly, giving you a chance to get used to the rules and mechanics. You simply need to get your commander to a certain place on the map. You have a time limit in which you must do this, but it should be easily achievable. Once you achieve the introductory mission, you begin to get a flavour for the way Rogue Angels will work. The rules state that if successful, you are to read mission C1. If not, you must restart the mission. C1 offers a mission update, where things start to happen on the map that feel real. It feels like what you do has genuine consequences and the things that are happening are coming from a place of truth. This is not a case of setting up a new map and simply adding a few monsters to fight because they happen to be there. (Although there is some of this). Through the campaign books detailed story, you feel a part of the world you are in. A world that is evolving around you, not being set up for you. Inevitably, after a while you sill start to take some damage. Rouge Angels handles this in a very interesting way too. Damage cards are drawn, and offer varying degrees of damage, in interesting ways. It is not always a simple case of "loose one health." It makes losing health a genuinely exciting thing! The games characters all have their own unique powers. The player boards are double sided, one side for a more simple game, and the one shown here which gives you the chance to make changes to your character. They have a simple and clear layout and are in constant use throughout the game. The area on the bottom left is where you will mark spaces that will permanently affect your players abilities in the later games. As the game progresses, the missions will get more complicated and difficult as you would expect, but what is less expected, but very welcome are the choices for the team that present themselves that trigger divergent paths. After a few missions, (NO SPOILERS) you will need to decide who can you trust, who lives, and who dies! Your choices as a team will affect your characters attributes and the story your characters are telling. This is the part of the game I love the most. It fuses the previously engaging dungeon crawler into a choose your own adventure style narrative, in a unique, fresh, and deeply entertaining way. Everything in this game feels like it has been made my someone who loves the genre, and has asked themselves one simple question. How could I make this part better? Even the way the AI controls the enemies in movement and battle feels fresh. Cards are used to determine how they move, where they move, and what they do when they do there. This is based on a number of parameters including which player is the mission commander, and the level of damage players have. This makes sense right? Enemies would treat an injured foe differently to one that stands untouched in front of them. Rogue Angels takes this into account. I have really enjoyed my time with this prototype. I long to try the finished version. Components, art, and theme are all important to me, so considering how this game has gripped me with the modest prototype says a lot about this games potential. I look forward to watching the kickstarter and hope it is a huge success. The game has so much potential and I cannot wait to see more.

Downforce WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 2-6 You’ll like this if you like: Camel Up, Long Shot The Dice Game, Flamme Rouge Published by: Restoration Games, Iello, Coiledspring games Designed by: Rob Daviau, Justin D. Jacobson, Wolfgang Kramer This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Downforce Board Game Review There have only been a few occasions when this website has covered a game more than once. Downforce has already been reviewed here by Steve, last year. It's a great review, check it out. But I wanted to add my ten pennies on this classic, reinvented as a modern classic for one simple reason. It is so fun! The game is made by Restoration games, who if you don't know, specialise in taking old classics, sadly lost to the second hand markets of eBay and the such as they are out of print, add some modern twists and a new coat of paint and re-release modern versions. They have done this for a number of games now. You can check them out here. And Downforce was a big success for them back in 2017 when they released it. Downforce is the re-imagining of an abstract race game made by the legendary Wolfgang Kramer initially in 1974 called Tempo. It was later released with a Formula One theme called Niki Lauda's Formel 1 and then Formel 1 Nürburgring, Detroit-Cleveland Grand Prix , Daytona 500 and finally Top Race in 1996. A game that was on many family tables through the 90s. Sadly, the game went out of print and became quite hard to find. But thankfully, one family table that Top Race did come out on in the 90s was that of Rob Daviau, who decided to bring the game back for the modern market. He wanted to give us all the memories he once enjoyed as a kid. The game didn't need much work to make it suitable for the current era of gamers, it had already evolved into a very slick race and betting game through its previous incarnations. Just a new publisher to give it some modern distribution love. Let's get it to the table and see how it stacks up after all this time. How To Set Up Downforce The game works in two phases. A bidding phase where players try to become the owners of one or more of the race cars in the game. And then the race itself, where players via to push the cars they own to the front of the race, and place bets at three stages of the lap to try and increase their winnings. To set up, place the board on the table. There are two sides to the board. One side is a little more forgiving with wider tracks to race on. The other is a little more cut-throat with pinch points and narrower corners. Lot's more on that later! Pick the side you want and place the six cars randomly into the starting positions and then place the six driver plaques by the side of the board. Shuffle the main deck and deal the cards out equally to each player along with a score sheet and pen. The cards show a number of combinations of car colours and distances you can move that car. Finally shuffle the six 8-speed cards and power cards and form two separate face down piles. You are now ready to play. How To Play Downforce Bidding Phase: The bidding phase will now begin. The first 8-speed and power card are flipped and players will decide if they want to bid for this combination or not. The decision is based on the cards they have in their hand, if they think they can control this coloured car well or not. It will also depend on where that car is on the starting gird, and what the power card is. There are only six in the base game sadly, but this does mean you will get to know them all well quickly, and know which ones work in each circumstance. To bid, you will play one of your race cards. The number next to the colour corresponding to the current car up for bid will be your bid in millions. If you don't have a matching colour you can use a wild. Or, if you don't want to bid, you can use a non-matching card and declare that you are not after this car and car combination. The player who bids the highest wins that car and power card. They will add the 8-speed card to their hand, and take the power card, placing it in front of them. In the case of the tie, the player whose card they used to bid with had the most amount of lines on it wins. If the number of cars remaining to be bid on equals the number of players without cars yet, at this point, only players without cars can bid. When only one car is left if there is still a player without a car they must then reveal the card in their hand with the lowest matching value and bid that much. This will continue until all cars have been bid on. If any cars remain unallocated a second round of bidding will commence for the left over cars. After that round, the race begins and any cars still unowned will race without ownership. Any players who won more than one power card must choose between them, keeping just one, returning any others to the box. The race can now begin. Race Phase: Starting with the player who owns the car on the number one space on the grid, players will now take it in turns to play one card from their hand, and move the associated cars the shown number of spaces. Remember to take note of certain card powers that allow other players to move their own car, or cars that will move further based on certain race factors. Cars can move forward or diagonally forward but not sideways or backwards. No reversing here! Wild cards can be used to control any car that does not have its own symbol on that card, you cannot move a car twice with the same card, unless you have a power card that says otherwise. Players need to move their cars forward in the best way possible, thinking about not only their own path to victory, but how they car might affect the other cars, especially on the pinch-points, where one or two cars may block many others. Cars cannot move through, jump, or pass other cars in any way other than racing around them when the track is wide enough. There is more strategy to this than first meets the eye. Betting Phase: When a car passes one of the three betting lines on the track for the first time a betting round begins. Each player will secretly place a mark on their betting slip next to one of the six cars that they think at that point in the race will be the winner come the end of the lap. Be sure to mark your tick next to the appropriate place for either the first, second, or third betting phase, as each ones pays out very differently. You will be rewarded a lot more for accurate bets made early in the race compared with those placed near the end when the result is a little more predictable. Remember a runway leader could slow down a great deal if that car does not have many strong cards left to play. This game is not as predictable as you may first think. When everyone has placed their bet, the game continues until either all cards have been played or much more likely, all cars have crossed the finish line. As each cars does this, move it to the podium position based on its place in the race, and then determine final scores. Players will score points based on the finishing position of the cars they own and the cars they bet on, but must remember to remove the amount they bid in the first auction phase from their final score. The player with the most money at the end of this is the winner. You can play multiple laps across either side of the board for a longer game, or a best of three. Whatever works for you. Is It Fun? Downforce Board Game Review The first time you play this game it will feel quite lightweight in strategy. The game is very simple to learn and teach and on your turn you simply play a card and do what it says. But as you learn the strategy you will realise there is a lot more depth to this game. At the start of each race, every player knows exactly what cards they could play. Each player has access to every possible card from turn one. As such, you can plan your entire game right from the off if you wanted! This would be hard as of course you need to react to what other players do, but this is quite a unique thing in games and opens some interesting options. There are two main things to think about when you play a card. Which cars you want to progress, and which cars you want to hinder. If you were controlling the red or green car in the example below, and had a few cards with high yellow numbers, you may want to wait for a situation like the below before you play them. The yellow car currently cannot move until the black and orange move out of its way, and even then, it will be blocked from moving any significant distance until they all and the green car get round the corner and open a path way for it. Playing a high yellow now would be a great way to burn through a card that would otherwise help another player. These sorts of turns are a lot more frequent when the cars reach the corners and pinch points, which one side of the board has a few more of. So, you can tailor your game if you don't like the take-that element. Reaching the long single lane corners at the right time and navigating through them with the right cards can be the difference between winning and loosing at this game. Playing your 8-speed card at the right time is also crucial. Do you want to get an early lead and get away from the pack to fly through these corners without the possible congestion, or hold it back for a late charge to surprise the other players? A lot of this will be dependant on your betting strategy. As players can bet on any car, not just the ones they own, there may be times when players want to hold back their more powerful cards for one car so that other players do not bet on their car, before a mid-game charge after the second betting phase is over, to race forward and catch the other players by surprise. If you bet on a car that ends up winning in the first two betting phases and no one else does, that is a £15M swing in your favour! The intricacies of the strategy envelop you, and for me, make this game a huge hit. I am not a huge fan of race games but do enjoy the tension of them. Betting games however I find can be very rewarding, especially with the potential to generate huge rewards. This is very much part of Downforce, and a big reason why I enjoy it so much. But I think the main draw comes from the card play. This game is pitched as a race game. You realise quickly it is more of a betting game. But after a few turns, you in-fact discover this is a hand management game. It's about what cards you play and when. Developing your understanding of this and ultimately becoming more successful at managing the game to the benefit of your cars and bets is highly satisfying. I would recommend this game to any family who are looking for a fun game to play as a group, especially if you have an interest in Formula One. The theme will obviously be a push or pull for a lot of people. But I would also encourage anyone who enjoy clever card pay to look at this too. It has some interesting strategies that I have found to be quite addictive. I have been thinking about this game a lot the last few weeks, and cannot stop playing it.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-2 You’ll like this if you like: Pandemic, Marvel United, The Batman Who Laughs Rising. Published by: Cryptozoic Entertainment Designed by: Daryl Andrews, Morgan Dontanville Rule book here. There is generally a new Batman re-boot announced every third Tuesday of the month. But the original re-boot was an 80's masterpiece, and inspired the rest. And importantly, it now exists in cardboard (and plastic) form. The O.G. Dark Knight. Batman The Dark Knight Returns is a Kickstarter game that fulfilled in Spring 2022. The game is based on the hugely popular graphic novel by Frank Miller from 1986. The story follows an even more dystopian Gotham, 10 years after the Batman's retirement/disappearance. Did he ever even exist? Yes! Yes, of course he did! Sorry... Where was I? Ah yes, due to rising temperatures and tensions, crime is rife in the city again. Bruce Wayne feels like it's time to don the old suit one last time to clear out the trash. In the game, you play a 55 year old Batman, fighting your way through the four books from this original comic book series. Your powers are certainly not at their peak, but don't let this fool you. You are still the Dark Knight and a formidable force to be reckoned with! Playing as an aging Batman brings an interesting dynamic of stamina and grit. This is made real in the game in a deeply engrossing way. Deluxe or Standard? The game has two versions, the standard version with standees, and deluxe edition coming with a separate box full of gorgeous minis and a slip case to hold the two boxes together. The minis are very detailed and would be my preference but the standees in the main box are great too and do come with the original art from the comics so look better than the unpainted minis on the board in my opinion. The choice perhaps will come down to weather you are a painter or not? The Campaign. The game itself plays over the four books from the series, and can be played as stand-alone chapters, or one long arduous campaign. Four books in the original comics are now four missions in this one new game. Your health, sanity, and grit carries over game to game, so you need to be tough to make it through! Although, one main criticism of this game is it is perhaps a little too easy. I won all four books on my first try relatively simply. But there are ways to adjust this for later tries with a normal and hard mode for each level. All of this plays very much as a solo experience, but one that will grip you from start to finish. There is also a VS. mode where you can ask a friend to control the adversaries Batman will face. Or perhaps you yourself would like to see if you can win against the Dark Knight! But the main experience here is in a solo mode, fighting against the Two-Face, The Mutant Gang Leader, The Joker, and finally Superman himself as the Government sends him in to stop you. Controlling the board is a must as riots can break out easily. There is a 'Pandemic' feeling to what you are doing. Assessing the current danger, predicting the future problems, and trying your best to keep everything under control. This part plays very much like Pandemic. If you are fan of that, then you will love this. The board itself is made up of a series of areas within districts. Each area has three spaces within it which can hold you, your enemies, and the media, police, and mutant tokens. If an area ever becomes full then a riot breaks out. If you run out of riot tokens this is one way to loose. You can also loose by running out of grit, health, or sanity, running out of time on the turn order before you have completed your mission, or if the doomsday clock every strikes midnight. All of this follows the comics very well, and keep very much in theme with the original story. Over the course of the four books/games I found I was close to loosing a few times on the doomsdays clock but there are quite a few cards you can use to push it back in your favour. I was down to my final health in the battle with the Joker, but managed to hold on, but was otherwise un-troubled. After each chapter you can increase your health, grit or sanity and there are spaces on the board where you can do this too. The way you win each chapter is by defeating the main boss you are up against that time. Apart from the final book where you are up against Superman and just need to survive. The man of steel is unbeatable after all. The final game was the only time I reached the end of the GCPD track, because that was the goal. The game runs through various rounds, each with four tuns. Each book has a different degree of difficulty that affects how many adversaries you will add to the board at the end of each turn. There will also be other things added to this board, and when I say added, I really do mean that. Using the provided dry wipe pen, you actually write this all on the board itself. It feels odd to start with, but once you realise how high quality it all is, and see that it wipes off fine, with zero traces, it quickly becomes one of the coolest things about this experience. Bat and Write. You will also be marking down how many enemies will enter the fray each round, and making reminders for yourself as to what happens at what point. Such as above were you can see that after round two, turn eight is over, I move the story card to part two. The set up will tell you to do this, but this just reminds you at the right time to not forget this rule. It is a very clever system. You will also me marking onto the main map area of the board. You can see below how each area is connected by pathways, but you can draw your own additional pathways between any two areas at various stages of the game which are kept on, game by game, chapter by chapter. You will also be striking off various spaces on the board when they are destroyed, and marking x2 symbols on some to increase their efficiencies. By the end, the board very much will be your own. But to start again, you just wipe it all off and go again. It is a very clever way to blend a legacy and campaign experience. Semi-Permanent changes to the board are made for your experience, but ones that can be easily reset to start a new campaign. Each round begins by drawing 12 cards from the deck. You will then reveal the top three and choose one to go into the event deck for that round. Each card has two main functions. First, the top action which shows how the card can be used in the game either as a fight card or detective card. Fight cards are played rather inevitably, when fighting. Detective cards can be payed at any time that suits you. Second, there is the bottom half of the card which is how the card will be used if you chose it as an event for that round. Once you have chosen which of the three cards you want to add to the event pile, you will then add the other two either to your hand, or to the fight deck if it is a fight card. You will do this four time, three cards at at a time, until all 12 cards have been sorted and you are left with four cards in the event pile. These are then shuffled and will be the events you draw and react to in each of the four turns this round. It is a clever mechanism by which you chose and know which cards are coming, but you don't quite know the order in which they will come. Minis, Cards, Action! You can then move your Batman standee or miniature as far as you like within your current district or to the next closest space in a neighbouring district. Detective cards may allow for additional or secondary movements at this point if required. You can then activate your ally. Each chapter has a different ally to work with. Commissioner Gordon, Robin, The Green Arrow. It is fun to have what is essentially a second character to control and work with. Using your ally is key to success, especially in the harder modes. The Green Arrows ability to clear the streets of Gotham of Police in Chapter four is especially pleasing. Particularly as if you keep rolling arrows, you can keep going! Then it is time to activate Batman based on what space he is on. Will you fight the Police or a Mutant, will you sneak passed them? Is it time to take on the boss? Each round, you will have a different Batman, Boss, and enemies card showing you the specifics for each character. Nothing ever changes too drastically. It will all flow nicely game to game. These cards act as a handy guide to get you through each action as smoothly and quickly as possible. As such, each game only last around 45-60 minutes, which for a solo, is perfect for me. You can play multiple chapters back to back for a longer game, or up the difficulty, to tailor to your needs. Either way I played though, I found one constant. I was totally and utterly engrossed in the game throughout. Which for a solo, is rare for me. There was enough strategy to keep my enjoyment levels high. There was enough action and story to keep my focus. Once you are done, there are plenty of ways to replay this game. Some may feel they are done with it. But with the vs. mode and hard mode, there are multiple ways to move beyond just the epilogue provided with the above pouch! Overall Playing through as the Batman in these brilliant stories brought me right back to the original comics. I was brought right back to the dark, foreboding, but exciting world Frank Miller created. The art is directly lifted from the comics, and the story follows all the major plot points. You really do feel like you are in it. If you are a fan, I heavily would encourage you to get the comic and read as you play. It was voted as one of Time top 10 comics of all time for good reason. The grey and blue Batman outfit does jar a bit after all the recent movies, but get past that and you will see how the Dark Knight was born. Reading along as you play just increasing the immersion into this gritty world. See below a card from chapter four and the subsequent page this is lifted from in the original comic. I absolutely loved my time playing as Batman. And it really was just that. I did not feel I was playing a Batman game. More I was Batman, and needed to rid Gotham of the crime that had spread in my retirement. The game is utterly absorbing and one of the best solo experiences I have ever had. The only negative thing I can think to say about this game is that it was impossible to get it all back in the box nicely after punching it. Something's just don't fit and with two large boxes, that is a little frustrating. A massive thanks must go to Rod from extraordinaryinvestigations who leant me his copy to play, before he had even punched it. What a gent! Rod, I owe you a few glasses of Uisge beatha!