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Codenames WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 4-8 You’ll like this if you like: Mysterium Published by: Czech Games Edition Designed by: Vlaada Chvátil This is a free review copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey Many things happened back in 2015. Pizza rat went viral, Zayn left One direction, selfie sticks were annoying everyone, Netflix and Chill became a term and THAT dress sparked many an annoying debate across offices and dinner tables. Luckily for us though there were actually some fun and interesting things that happened in 2015, like Hamilton not throwing away its shot and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation was released (gotta keep it spy relevant) Board gamers though had their own slew of great games released that year that will be turning 10 this year. As popular as they were though I don't think anyone was prepared for a word guessing game about spies to be the monster hit that it was, let alone being one of the bestselling modern board games of all time. How to find your codename. First pair off into two teams with one member of each being the spymaster who should sit next to the opposite team's spymaster. Lay out 25 cards in a 5 x 5 grid in front of them. The cards are double sided so just pick a side at random.  The spymasters will take one key card and place it in the stand facing them. They'll then take the tiles in their chosen team colour then check the coloured arrow on the key card, that team will be going first. The key cards will have a representation of the grid in front of you with each square coloured differently. Squares will either be, blue, red, beige and in one case black. The spymaster's goal is to get their team to guess the words in their colour on the grid. The first team to get all of their words wins. However if one team guesses the word on the black square (known as the assassin) they lose.  On your turn as spymaster you need to give your team a one word clue and a number. The number will be how many words your clue is associated with. So for example your word may be Olympics 3. That means that your team has to find three words in the grid that are linked to the Olympics. If they guess a word and it's their colour then they can carry on guessing. This will go on until your team has either picked all of the words you were linking (although they could accidentally pick another word in your colour which also counts), or they pick one of the beige bystanders or one of the other teams words. At which point their turn is over. If they do get all of the words and they still have words from earlier clues then they can carry on. When one of the end game conditions is met the game ends.  A legacy to protect Having your game make it to ten years and still be in the public consciousness and still being played on a regular basis is a massive achievement. To have that and have sold 16+ million copies and to have been played by seemingly everyone is nothing short of amazing. But amazing doesn't just happen for no reason. Especially in board games. There’s obviously something that strikes a chord for people. Now, I can't tell you exactly what that is, but I’ve got some ideas. One of the marks of a great party game is one that sparks discussion and Codenames excels in that. Every time the spymaster throws out their clue that discussion between the players happens almost instantly and that's where the game throws the reins over to them to create their own fun. The game is pretty simple, it's just a bunch of words on a table and if the game was just ‘give a clue for one word, guess that word, then the next player's take their turn’ it'd be pretty boring. But a rule as simple as ‘link multiple words with one clue’ gives players something to sink their teeth into and the game really shines. It gives people permission to let their imaginations run wild. You’ve only got to listen to the conversation between the players, the random guesses, the tangents people go on as they explain their reasoning for guesses to know just how unrestrictive this game is. Of course the brilliant thing about that type of freedom is that it won't be long before the laughs come which is what party games are all about.  There’s a lovely personal aspect to the game that comes with playing with the same group or even just one or two people you know well. Clues like my example above are great and would work for a majority of people I’d say, although it depends on what the words are. But it's those moments where you’re struggling to link something and then you realise the team you have, it may even be just one person in it, but you can give a link that only they would get and it's fantastic when they get it. It’s not only playing to your audience but it adds an extra layer of fun that you’d only get playing with friends.  All of the above only if you get this in front of the right group however, regardless of if they're old friends or people you’ve just met. If you get this in front of the wrong group or if they're not working as a team and that discussion isn't happening then it's easy for this game to fall flat and at that point it can then all feel very procedural. Luckily that can be a rarity and if that does happen then the chances are you wont put the game in front of that particular group again.  I’m the spy-master The role of spymaster is one that can be as frustrating as it is fun. For the split second after you throw your clue out there it'll be Schrodinger's clue. It’s simultaneously the greatest work of genius since the splitting of the atom and a clue so monumentally terrible that you’ve been banned from speaking for the next week. Your friends are either going to get it immediately or spend the next 20 minutes debating the potential of two words. If the first instance happens then you’ll definitely be enabling smug mode, especially if you manage to link a decent amount of words. At which point you get to feel like an absolute genius and you should absolutely own that. But then there's the latter. It's here that you’ll learn the true meaning of ‘screaming on the inside’ as your friends bounce back and forth on various options and all you can do is try to keep your facial expressions in check as they edge dangerously close to the wrong word or worse, the assassin. This could easily sound like a negative of the game but honestly is so much fun. As you watch people spot a word that links perfectly to your clue that you didn't even see. Or when you get that one player that overthinks everything so much and spouts knowledge so obscure that you end up getting a history lesson as you play. (Yes I do play this with someone like that) A Red Herring There can be some downtime involved though. Being the spymaster, regardless of how good you are, you need to come up with a clue and ideally one that encompasses as many words as possible and that understandably takes time. This is even more noticeable on the first clue of the game since you’ve had no time to think of something and before you know it people are staring at you waiting for a clue and it can be pretty daunting. Even if they aren't purposefully pressuring you it's easy enough to feel like you're holding everyone up. This can be relieved a bit if people are happily chatting amongst themselves because then it just feels like part of the game. It’s when people start to reach for their phones that it may start to weigh on you. My advice is that If you're not the sort of person that works well under that sort of scrutiny then that may not be the role for you and you may be happier just sticking to guessing. The other issue that can easily come up is the aforementioned ‘one word link.’ This is either because the words are difficult to link, or you’re feeling that pressure and just want to get something out there to give yourself more thinking time. Those moments can be a bit of a let down even though sometimes they're necessary, if you get too many of those or someone isn't trying then it's easy for the game to lose its lustre. There's also something a bit anticlimactic about using one to win the game. I get it, if you’ve only got one word left but there’s something more thrilling about having three words to guess and then counting them down for the win. Maybe that last part is just me though? 10 years, time for a new disguise. With this anniversary comes a bit of a revamp. The cover art has changed and it's a lot more vibrant and appealing. Based on data from the Codenames app a bunch of words that had been deemed as being difficult to link have been removed and replaced with new ones. The colours on the key cards have been made more vibrant to work better in a variety of lighting conditions, particularly lower light. The artwork on the tiles has been changed with everyone now being unique rather than having the same picture. You’ve also now got pigeons as one of the bystanders... yep, pigeons. Actually there’s quite a fun explanation for that on CGE’s Making of Codenames video on YouTube and I’m not gonna lie, they're always the first bystander I put down.  The plastic key card holder has been replaced with CGE’s re-wood and they've now provided us with an insert. The rulebook has been redone to give a bit more clarity and last but not least they've done away with the sand timer which, if I'm honest, I didn't really know existed having never opened the original game.  To buy or not to buy? The one thing that hasn't changed is the game play. So the question is, if you already own codenames, do you need this new edition? No, no you don't. This is the exact same game that you know and love and none of the changes CGE have made here will change anything enough to warrant you're-buying this game. Unless of course you just like the look of this version or your copy is on its last legs from countless pays. If you've not got a copy of your own then this is definitely the version to pick up if you're interested.  Right I’m off to see I can link all the items on our Chinese food order to just one word to make ordering quicker.

Joyride Duel: Next Gen WBG Score: 9 Player Count: 2 (for this particular box) You’ll like this if you like: Gaslands, Thunder Road Vendetta, Mario Kart Published by: Rebellion Unplugged Designed by: Duncan Molloy , Pete Ward This is a free review copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey So, yes, you could go and buy a Switch 2 with Mario World for a large amount of money. Or you could instead try and possibly buy Joyride Duel for around £30 and still have money left over to take someone special in your life out for a nice 3 course dinner. I mean you could, but let’s face it, we’re gamers and would probably just use the extra cash to buy more games.  How to Joyride Set up the map per the scenario you want to use and have each player take one of the cars and take either the standard abilities or the asymmetric ones depending on which ones you're using. It’s recommended to use the standard ones if anyone playing is new to the game.  Determine a start player and place your cars on the start line in turn order. It’s worth noting that each car will take up two hexes of space. Then both players roll two dice and move that many spaces in a straight line. The dice are then placed on the rear view mirror on their player board without changing the values.  Each race will have a start/ Finish line and a number of checkpoints. To win you have to complete the required number of laps making sure you go through each checkpoint in order before you can complete. However, the great thing about Joyride is that there’s no enclosed track or defined route to follow. So you can go through these in any direction and as long as a part of your car touches the line then you’re considered to be past it……the line…..not that you've gotten old. On your turn you’ll go through a number of different phases.  Start: Not much happens here except you can use any items you may have in this step.  Lock:  Take any number of dice from your mirror and place them in the locked slots on your board. Then move that many spaces forward.  Shift: Here you have the option to use any items you have (you may have picked this up on the previous step.) you also have the option to shift gear up or down. If you shift up, add a dice to your mirror. Remove one if you shift down. The gear you're in should reflect the number of dice you have access to. If you don’t have any dice on your mirror to remove then you can’t shift down.  Roll: If you have any dice on your mirror you must roll all of them and then move that many spaces.  End: This is where any end of round effects play out and you can have a final go with one of your items.  Up until now any movement you make is in a starting line, however, once per turn you can steer your car either in the lock step or the roll step. You will have three hexes in your front arc and when you steer you move your car (at the start of your move) into either the left of the right of those. Whenever you move make sure that the back end of your car moves into the space you just moved out of. If you moved in the lock step and you are in second gear in the roll step, either by staying in that gear or you just shifter into it, you can perform a second steering move. You can’t do this twice however if you didn’t move in the lock step.  There are items you’ll collect by going through certain gates or picking them up on the track. In this version you’ll have Flashbangs, Drones, oil slicks and Mines. Some are dropped behind you to hinder opponents later on (or maybe even yourself!) or fired in front of you (that’ll teach them for trying to win the race!)  You’ll also have special abilities that you can use to help you but they are generally one and done. However when you cross the finish line you can refresh one for every person who went past the line before you. So getting over the line first means you get none back.  Roads? Where we’re going we don't need, roads Every racing game so far has tried different ways to simulate racing whilst still trying to keep it as strategic, tactical and as fast feeling as possible. How well they do on that front varies but the one problem that they all suffer with is that they all rely on those annoying restrictive tracks. Yep, going round and round in circles the same direction can be fun but what if you didn't have to. What if you could do what every Grand Theft auto game has taught you and drive wherever and in whichever direction you want. Well Joyride does that and gives you relative free reign of the map. With the only real rules being, don’t drive off the edge and don’t ram into barriers. Well you can if you want but it’s not really advised. You’ve got all the freedom you need to approach each track in your own way thus giving you a ton of options in terms of your overall strategy and ultimately the game's replayability. What I ultimately love about it is that even if you’ve been nudged off the course you were taking it doesn’t necessarily mean that your race has been ruined. It may just mean that you’ve got to take an alternate route which might see both cars careering towards each other in a game of chicken to cross the same checkpoint and who doesn’t want that type of excitement in their race? That freedom just makes every race that much more exciting. Just as you think someone may be out of the race they manage to find a new route or the clever use of a special ability or item that puts them right back up into contention to make for a nail biter of a race. The joys of the open road All that freedom of an open track is great, but let's be honest, it's not really chaotic enough is it? Never fear because in true Mario Kart style they’ve thrown in some weapons and items to make sure true chaos ensues. There are four in the box, Oil Slick, Mine, Drone and Flashbang, each with their own way of causing chaos and messing with your friends best laid plans. There’s a simplicity and malevolence to each item that will have you cackling to yourself……who am I kidding, out loud, as you stick a well placed mine right in the path of another player to truly ruin their day. The flashbang blocks up their lock slots leaving their turn to just the roll step. The drone finds them and explodes on impact and the oil slick forces them to steer as they leave and stops them from steering again. Of all of them the oil slick is the only one that has the potential to be used for good as it essentially gives you a free steer action. My advice, place carefully, and by that I mean, wherever it can cause the most chaos.  Joyride welcomes (partially) careful drivers. There are some racing games that choose to focus mainly on strategy (Heat, Rallyman GT) and there are others that focus more on the chaos (Gaslands, Thunder Road Vendetta) Joyride however seems to have an equal love of both and that’s absolutely reflected in the two dice steps on your turn. At first I questioned why the separate lock step and the roll step would make much of a difference but they absolutely do. The lock step is your chance to grasp some form of control over your turn based on the facts you have in front of you, i.e. your dice values. It lets you put a semblance of a plan in place and hopefully set yourself on the right path, or at the very least help you get out of a tight spot. The roll step however is where the element of chaos rears its majestic head. Yes you have some sort of control over how many dice you roll (if any) depending on if you decide to shift up or down and that mitigation can be much needed. What you roll though is up to the fates and the results can often end up bringing some of the best moments in the game. It’s those risks you take that lead to those tense moments when you roll the dice knowing that anything above a certain number will have you careening into a wall and that huge reaction from the players, regardless of whether you succeed or not is absolutely joyous. At first it looks like going through all of these steps each turn is going to drag the game to a halt. Once you pick up how it works, which shouldn’t be long, then you'll find that turns can be over relatively quickly. There may be a few moments of thinking time if someone has parked a car or a mine in front of you on the previous turn but going through the actual steps is still pretty swift. So much so that there's been time where I thought I’d missed some rules Duel of the fates In the current climate where every game seems to be getting their own dedicated two player spin off, It’ll surprise no one to know that Joyride duel is the two player version of a bigger game that can play with up to four players. The difference with this one is that, apart from a smaller board, nothing is different. Every rule I’ve described and pretty much any praise I’ve heaped upon this game you can easily transfer onto the 4 player version. I’ll admit though to being a bit sceptical of a two player version of a game that relies on player interaction to provide a large portion of its fun. Is making a smaller board the only thing you need to make this game work just as well at two as it does with more players? Yeah, apparently that's all it takes. Within the first couple of turns of our first game we were colliding with each other. Eventually we’d got hold of items and were using them against each other and before the end of our first lap our race was already taking wildly different paths. So much so that by the end of the race we were both on lines that would have easily taken us into a head on collision had we not both been on the road to the finish line in what was a tense end to a great race. They've managed to make a minimal change and still keep what appears to be the energy and feel of the 4 player game. I’ve not played this one yet but I’ve seen plenty of playthroughs and the vibes definitely feel the same. The great thing is that this box is relatively inexpensive. I’ve seen it go for about £25-£29 and if Joyride appeals to you and two players is your main player count then it's definitely worth checking out. Especially if you combine it with the fact that you can get any of the extra car expansion or the bigger box and everything is compatible. Even some of the maps in this box are able to be played with 3 and potentially 4. Damage just isn’t what it used to be. If I have any minor gripes then it's with damage. The job of damage is to make you more inefficient by taking higher gears, weapons and lock dice slots away. So every time you take damage it should feel like a tough decision in terms of where you're going to place it on your board. The problem is that with this smaller map you’re not very likely to hit 5th gear and 4th can be used but not often enough that losing it will be a detriment. The same with the lock dice. I’ve never felt the need to use all four of those slots. So for me it feels like that decision isn’t as devastating. It’s going to take a few points of damage before it really starts affecting your game. Unless of course you're having a particularly item heavy game, or you've been tricked into driving into a painted tunnel on the side of a rock many times and you just keep hitting walls. (Stupid Roadrunners) The threat of damage never feels like, well just that, a threat. There are a couple of races in this box that make you start with damage already on your car and there's nothing to stop you from doing that with every track if you feel you want more of a challenge.  The components add so much to this as well. The cars are big chonky (yep I said chonky) wooden pieces that are just fun to drive around the board the artwork for each driver is a lot of fun and the drivers abilities are thematic to each of them. An expansion one that I love is the pirate that can hook people with an anchor and pull them in. The art on the player boards can feel a bit busy and maybe so can the cars so to help with that and colour blindness, each board has a side with simpler art and uses iconography for the cars. Similarly the cars can be flipped to show just their icon for ease of identification. Joyride Duel is well worth the price of admission. If you want simple small scale chaos in a short amount of time then this fits the bill, and let's face it, who doesn't want that after a hard day at work?  Right, I’m off to attach Joyride style items to my car, I’ll let you know how it goes! UPDATE: My wife wouldn’t let me do it :(

Cytress   WBG Score: 8.5/10 Player Count 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Blood Rage , Android: Netrunner , Neon Gods . Published by: Tress Games Designed by: Sean Lee This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . This games has already been previewed here . The game has since had a successful Kickstarter, and fulfilled to its backers. I have been sent a final copy as thanks for my help with the preview. So, now, lets check out how this beautiful and ambitious project from first time designer Sean Lee came out. Spoiler, pretty good! How To Set Up Cytress Place out the four districts around the mini map and load it with its associated Intel cards. Then place the three-tiered tower that makes up the city of Cytress. Place the District board below the Cytress tower and place the four contract cards below it. Then, on the Cytress tower, add five random Stratolite cards, placing the remaining deck next to the tower. Now give each player their own player mat, and rebel board, with resource trackers, Crew tokens, three Transports standees and one leader standee all in their chosen player colour, along with seven tube sections each. You are now ready to play. How To Play Cytress Players will now run through four different phases, across around four to six rounds. Some phases are simultaneous, others run in turn order. The first phase is where players all simultaneously gain resources based on the symbols in their top left yellow Corpocrat cards. For each symbol there, players will move their resource tracker one space on their resource tracker board. As you gain more cards, your phase one resource generation will naturally increase. Next, players will take turns placing their leader standee onto one of the four district boards. This will gain them the shown resources. Other players will gain any resources shown on their bottom left Privateer cards if they have any matching the area where other players send their leaders. In a two-player game, players will then move their leader to a second position once each player has chosen their first. Next, players will move to the third and main phase of the game, where they will take turns sending out one of their three transport ships to one of the nine locations. Four of these sites will allow players to gain new Intel cards to add to their own personal player engine, improving their subsequent turns. You can also visit the District board to trade resources you have for others, gain new Intel cards, and claim the first player token (this is the only way it changes in the game). You can take a Bounty card to either add a Crew token to the mini map or move a crew token on Cytress to a higher level. Finally, you can visit the Renegade or Stratolite to drop a tube onto the mini map where you have a Crew member, and then move that crew member up to Cytress. This is the main part of the game. When you do this from the Renegade, you can pay the cost to drop the tube with any resource you like, and place it onto any coloured space on the mini map where you have a crew member. When you do this from the Stratolite space, you have to choose one of the Stratolite cards to pay with a specific resource and ascend from a specific colour space, but you then get to move your transport ship off and have another bonus turn. That bonus turn, could be to visit the Renegade and drop a second tube this round! When you do this, you need to decide which person you visit, how you pay, which crew member to ascend, and where to place them. Each of the three levels of Cytress has a different end-game scoring mechanic. The player who dominates each level with the most crew members on each of the three levels at the end of the game can use that level's scoring mechanic. The top level will allow you to score six points for each set of the four intel cards you have. The middle level offers the player who dominates this tier three bonus points for each of their intel cards in their longest lifepath (biggest collection of cards). The bottom tier allows the player who dominates here to gain three points for each crew on Stratos. But at the end of the game, there are also points available for the player who has the most crew tokens surrounding each of the tubes on the mini map. Seven points for a three-high tower. Five points for a two-tier tower. And three points for a single tube. So, when you are picking which crew member to ascend, where to place them, and what to leave behind, there is a lot to consider. With huge end game point swings available! The final phase each round is to return all your Transports and leader to your player board, and reset the Stratolite cards in the Cytress tower. Player then moves to the next round. The game continues like this until one player uses their seventh and final tube. They can use more, as there are plenty in the box, but this will be the final round. Players then score for their Crew on Stratos; the higher they ascend, the more points they earn. There are also points for the player who has the majority on each level and who controls each of the tubes on the mini map. Finally, there are points for each bounty collected from the bounty hunter. You will gain two points for each matching symbol on the bounty card on all the other Intel cards you gained during the game. Is It Fun? Cytress Board Game Review Playing this game is incredibly satisfying, and the experience is heightened with every turn you take. Each decision feels significant, as if it could tip the balance of the entire game in your favour or lead to your downfall. This sense of urgency and importance in decision-making forces me to engage deeply with the mechanics and strategies involved in this game from turn one. Strategic planning in Cytress is essential, much like in any classic board game, but what sets this game apart is the necessity to consider every action meticulously right from the beginning. The game has a brisk pace, with most games finishing after just five rounds, and sometimes even four. This limited timeframe means players must be agile and decisive, as there is little room for prolonged development of strategies. You are thrust into the action immediately. The pressure to act quickly and effectively enhances the overall enjoyment, making every move feel impactful. And this is not down a linear path, with obvious choices. The game offers multiple paths to victory, which adds depth to the strategic possibilities. Players can choose to focus on dominating a specific area of Cytress, thereby reaping the associated bonuses that come with control of that territory. Alternatively, players might prioritise gathering a wealth of resources early on, setting themselves up for success in the later rounds, or they could aim to control the mini-map, which can offer significant advantages around the tubes that get built there later in the game. Or, do you want to gain all the Bounties. They are limited to five after all. Each of these strategies is viable, and the challenge lies in determining which path, combination of paths, will yield the highest score for you by the end of the game. The beauty of this game lies in its complexity and the interplay of different strategies. Can you effectively combine various approaches to truly dominate the scoreboard? This question lingers in the minds of players as they plot their moves, weighing the potential risks and rewards of each decision. The satisfaction derived from executing a well-thought-out plan, while simultaneously adapting to the evolving game state and the actions of your opponents, creates a rich and rewarding gameplay experience that keeps players coming back for more. When I play Cytress, I am instantly absorbed because of this. But it does not slow the game down. These complex and rich choices do not mean you will have a slow game. Far from it. Two of the four phases are simultaneous and very quick anyway, and the other two rounds where you are placing your leader and transports, you are limited to a few locations anyway. You just need to pick a strategy, then plot your most efficient path to that. But of course, like all good board games, other players are around the table and forever changing the state of the game as you play. You won't have everything your way. Players will place their leaders where you want to go. They will take spots on the mini map you intended to use. They will build tubes in places you didn't expect. And most intriguingly, they will take the Stratolite card you had planned to use! Adapting to this, alongside your pre-planned moves, is crucial to the success of this game, both in terms of your personal score, but more importantly, the group enjoyment from the game, which I have found, every time I have played, to be immense!

You can find the updated card art for this game here . This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. You can follow the board game geek page here . Tricky Seasons: Finland comes from trick-taking guru Ren Multamäki . The man behind other trick-taking master classes such as Tolerance , White Hat , and Justice . Three brilliant trick-taking games, that all add their own little twist. This time, with Tricky Seasons: Finland we have another trick-taker, the twist this time being the game has been blended with tic-tac-toe and a bidding element. The game will be coming to kick-starter soon, I will add a link here when it is live. The game works simply. First, give each player a player number from one to five. Then, roll any six dice, and then place the six blank dice onto the spots matching these dice faces on the board. Place them in order of the three white dice first, then the yellow, then black, and finally the green. Consider the blanks as sixes. Any doubling up of numbers, simply leave that dice out. It should look something like this after. The black blank dice wasn't placed as it was the second six. Then deal out all the cards, taking some out for lower player counts. And then each player will pick two cards from their hand so use as their bidding the cards. The card are all multi use, and show either the suit and rank at the very top corner, or the bidding value just below that. In the cards I have, this is in a star just below this, but in the updated art you can see below it will be in on the bottom left in a white diamond. The cards each player places down at this stage as their bidding cards will total the intended points each player will be aiming to score this round. Each player will now be left with ten cards. Players will then play ten rounds, in the usual trick-taking way. Placing one card down from their hand, each subsequent player must then follow suit if they can. The highest card of the initially played suit wins, unless the hand was trumped. The trump suit is always the next season after the initial played card's season. So, if you played an Autumn card first, trumps for that round is now winter. Updated Card Art The winning card will be the highest card of the lead suit if no trumps were played, or the highest trump card if a trump was played. The player that wins the trick can then place a die on the game board. If the lead card was Spring or Summer, then the winning player will place a green growth die. If the lead card was Autumn or Winter, then the winning player will place a black decay die. When you place a dice, do so with you player number showing as you place it. You can place it onto any empty space on the board. The next round then starts, starting with the player who won the previous trick. Updated Card Art The idea is that you are looking to manipulate the board to suit your pre-game bid. But the board will change a lot during the game as more dice are placed. Also, when a die is surrounded on all four sides, the player who placed the final die is allowed to change the surrounded dice from a green growth die to a black decay die, or vice-versa. At the end of the round, after all ten tricks have been played and won, and ten dice have been placed on the board, a scoring phase occurs. Here, any dice in rows or columns of three or four of the same colour (the yellow dice counts as wild) will score one point for each player with one die within the row or column. A die can only count once even if it is in a scoring row and column. Players then score points based on their bid if they scored the same amount of points from the dice on the board as their initial bid. A correct bid of zero or six scores four more points. A bid of one or five gets three points. Two or four gets two points. And finally a conservative bid of three gets just one bonus point. Old Card Art The game plays over as many rounds as their are players, three to five. Or you can play to an agreed amount of points. Games will fly by though, and you will find that after each early game, your understanding for how you can manipulate the board in your favour will increase, and your bidding accuracy and scoring will get better. Which moves the game from a simple trick-taking game, to a tactical strategic battle of wits that will captivate you. I am a huge fan of trick-taking games anyway. At first, while playing this, I was enjoying myself but felt very unsure about how to play it tactically. I was unsure how to bid and where to place my dice. But after a few rounds, it clicked into place. As such, for anyone who enjoys trick-taking games, I would highly recommend this game. It has enough to make it stand out and feel different from other trick-taking games, but it is so familiar and similar to other games, you will be off and running within minutes. The teach is a breeze to anyone who has played a trick-taker before. The tic-tac-toe part does take a little more getting used to strategically, but the rules are simple enough. But then when it falls into place in your brain, the choices you are making throughout the game feel meaningful, satisfying, and enjoyable each round. No matter how you are doing, you always feel in the game and never too far behind. Check out the new art for this game here .

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. You can follow the board game geek page here. You can find the full preview for this game here . I have already previewed this game here , but the game has since had a bit of a re-design, with anew cover art, and glorious new cart layouts. Take a look. Here you can see the original artwork on the left, and the new layout on the right. It's much brighter, and the iconography is a lot clearer. And the same goes for all the other suits and cards. Everything just comes across as brighter, clearer, with a fresher and simpler look, despite there now being a border. Although, that serves a purpose, identifying the suit in a much simpler and easier to identify way. I am a big fan of this game, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my experiences with the original prototype over the last few weeks. The gameplay, mechanics, and simple rules set all appeal to me in a trick-taking game like this. The introduction of a new art style has enhanced my gaming experience. This fresh visual approach refreshes the game's aesthetic and adds a layer of clarity. The colours are more vibrant, and the textures are more refined, which helps in distinguishing different suits within the game. Check out my original preview for more information on how the game plays and my thoughts on it.

Play Prop WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 3-8 You’ll like this if you like: Fast fun party games Designed by: Birger Norup This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Play Prop was designed back in the late 70s by a few board friends! You can check out the full story here . Its beautifully odd. The game is now available for us all to enjoy, if you are willing to purchase from international Amazon sites, or directly from the Danish publisher's site. Mass market distribution is on its way, though, I am told. But I ordered mine via Amazon.com and it arrived to the UK in a few days. But should you be looking at this? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Play Prop Take all the components out of the box, and place the two mats on the table or play area. Next to one, place the bowl with the two dice inside. On the other, place one cork on a string for each player inside the central circle. One player will take one cork off and place it next to them; they will be rolling the dice this round, so won't need a cork. Get a pen or pencil and place it by the score sheet. You are now ready to play. How To Play Play Prop The person with the dice will now shake up the bowl and place it face down with the two dice on the mat. They will reveal the dice by lifting the bowl. All players need to quickly identify what the dice say and act accordingly. If the dice add up to seven or show a pair or any two same numbers, then the players with the corks must remove them by tugging on the string as quickly as possible. The player who rolled the dice must now use the bowl to try and trap as many players' corks on the mat before they remove them. For anyone who gets trapped, they will score a point. Points are bad. For the player rolling the dice, if they miss anyone, they score a point. Players who pull their cork away when the dice do not show a pair or total seven will gain a point. And the person with the cup will gain a point if they trap someone when the dice are not correct. Keep playing until someone scores four points in a round, then change who is the Cupper with the dice, then start the next round. Play eight rounds in total and the player with the fewest points after eight rounds is the winner. Players are actively encouraged to feint, shout out "seven" when the dice don't add up to seven, or do whatever it takes to trick your fellow players and have fun! Is It Fun? Play Prop Party Game Review This game is absolutely hilarious! The joy, however, is made almost entirely by the clever and strategic element of 'faking-out' your opponents. This aspect of the game adds a layer of excitement and unpredictability that keeps everyone on their toes. Players must not only focus on their own moves but also pay close attention to the actions and reactions of others, making every round a delightful mix of strategy and wit. The laughter that ensues from a well-executed fake-out can be contagious, bringing everyone together in a shared experience of amusement. However, there can be a bit of a lull when you find yourself unable to roll a seven or land doubles for an extended period of time. Although, when this happens, the anticipation builds with each roll of the dice, and when a seven of double finally rolls, there is an explosion of shouts, movement, and laughter! But mostly, despite these occasional setbacks, it’s just so much fun! The overall experience is filled with laughter, friendly banter, and a sense of competition that makes you want to keep playing. Each game session becomes a memorable event, where stories are shared, and inside jokes are created. The thrill of the game lies not just in winning but in the shared joy of playing together, making it a perfect activity for gatherings with friends or family. The laughter and enjoyment that come from the game create lasting memories that everyone cherishes long after the game is over.

21x WBG Score: 7 Player Count: 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Math at school! Published by: Naylor Games Designed by : Leo Samson This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . I previously previewed this game here . The game has not changed much since that preview so I wont go over the rules or set up again, you can read that in my preview. But I wanted to show of this glorious final special edition. Its gorgeous! The game works just the same as the preview copy I have. But this final, special edition, comes in a larger box, with three decks. The three difficulties are separated, and there are also some new golden bordered "Celebrity" edition cards, with a new difficulty level added in. As a refresher, or if you have not clicked back on the link to the preview, the game works much like Pontoon. Each player is dealt two cards, and you have to try to make 21. You can draw more cards from the deck, up to five. But unlike Pontoon, this is not simply adding up the number on the face of each card. No. Here, each card has its own algebraic calculation. And your job is to set the value of X, which could be present on more than one of your cards, but must always be constant, so that your cards collectively add up to 21. You get these handy player aids to remind you of the laws of math, so you don't get the order wrong! But one genius addition to the game is the inclusion of N. N is the number of cards you have. So, at the start, N would be two. But if you draw a third card, N now becomes three. This affects all cards in your hand with N present. The cards are set to three main difficulties, with the simplest having triangles on the top right. These include integers and simple expressions, including negative numbers, addition, subtraction, and multiplication. The second level with the square and triangle adds in division, brackets, indices, and powers. And the final level with the pentagon added has more complex division and the new celebrity cards such as the below. What do I mean by celebrity? Well, these cards have been designed by famous math celebrities. People who wanted to get involved in the game and design their own cards for it. You can find out a little more about this, the game, and the included celebrities here . If you enjoy math puzzles, this will be a great little addition for you. If you don't, then this will not feel like a game for you. It can be confusing and simply not enjoyable to people who do not enjoy math. However, I find the difficulty levels a great equalizer, and I have enjoyed many games of this with people who come from all sorts of backgrounds in math, and also ages. You can simply make the game more balanced by giving different people different levels of cards to even it up. And trust me, even the most advanced mathematician will have some trouble with the level three cards: 3x-V over Y, where V is the number of games of 21x you have won this session plus 1, and Y is whatever you want it to be as long as it is a positive number! Come again?! Its genius. This game is such a wonderful project; I adore that it exists. I am so pleased to own it. I won't always play it, but when I do, I see it being three to five games per session, in a "best of" scenario. Generally with my son, who is far better at math than I am. And when I do play it, I feel I am training my brain in a way my phone can only pretend and lie to me about!

Zhanguo: The First Empire WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Iki , Brass: Birmingham Published by: Sorry We Are French Designed by: Marco Canetta , Stefania Niccolini This is a review copy. See our review policy here ZhanGuo first came out in 2014. Much like another stunning Sorry We Are French release, IKI , it saw a re-release, with a fancy new art design and a little tidy up and we now have the 2023 version Zhanguo: The First Empire . With the subtitle to seperate it from the original on BGG, I presume? Anyway, it's here. Thats the brief history, and it looks gorgous. Don't you think? This was pitched to me as an elegant hand managment game with seemless gears. chuck in the gorgous box art and Chinease theme and I am all in. Let's waste mo more time and get it to the table and see how it plays. Skip to the bottom to see my thoughts, but first is the set up and how to play guide in this blog: Unleashing the Power of Strategy: A Deep Dive into Zhanguo: The First Empire - Board Game Review. How To Set Up Zhanguo: The First Empire Board Game This will sound like a lot, an it is, but it is all relatively straight forward. First, place the game board in the middle of the table, aligning with the number of players. Place the Court board next to the left of the main game board . Choose between using the Unification tableau on the game board or the double-sided Unification tile, placing it on the printed tableau. This adds variation to your game and is your choice. Then, put the round marker on the 1st space of the Round track. Next, sort the nine Mausoleum tiles by icon and randomly place them on corresponding spaces on the game board. In advanced mode, place the nine Mausoleum tokens on the top left of each Mausoleum spot before placing tiles. In regular mode, just leave this part out . Then shuffle the seven Wall tiles and place one on each of the 6 Wall spaces on the game board, randomizing the side. In a three-player game, use Walls of the unused color to fill positions marked with a '4.' Shuffle the six Emperor tiles and then in a four-player game, place them face down on corresponding Wall sections, then turn them face up. In a three-player game, discard one tile randomly before placing the rest on corresponding Wall sections. In a two-player game, discard two tiles randomly before placing the rest on corresponding Wall sections. Now shuffle the 15 Palace tiles and place one face up on each Palace space in each region. Avoid placing Palace tiles on spaces marked with a "4" if playing with three players. In a four-player game, shuffle two blank Governor tiles with eight bonus tiles and place two randomly in each region. In a three-player game, remove the two blank Governor tiles, draw five bonus tiles, and place one randomly in each region. In a two-player game, shuffle two blank Governor tiles with three bonus tiles and place one randomly in each region. Then place a number of Master Alchemist cards equal to the number of players next to the game board. Sort the 120 Unification cards by type and shuffle them separately. Place the decks face down next to the main board. Take a specific number of Writing, Currency, and Laws cards based on the player count and place them next to the main board. Put the three large Unification tokens on their matching spots on the game board. Place one 40/80 VP token per player at the end of the score track. Place all Worker tokens next to the main board. Each player now places their player board in front of them. Players choose a colour (Blue, Yellow, Red, or Purple) and each player takes components in their chosen colour and places them on corresponding spaces of their player board. The 9th Terracotta Soldier won't fit on your board and instead is placed at the entrance of the Mausoleum on the main board and is considered "unlocked." Four Officials of each type (Alchemist, Architect, General) are then placed onto each players corresponding spaces on their player board. They will also take their personal set of five Alchemist cards which goes to their personal supply, face down. Each player takes five Unrest markers and places them on the zero space of the Unrest track of each Region. Each player then places their Ship on the starting position of the Elixir route and their Score marker on the zero space of the Victory Points track. Randomly determine the first player and place the first person Turn Order marker on the first space of the Turn Order track in the Unification area. Going clockwise from the first player, other players' Turn Order markers are placed on the next available spaces. Finally, deal two Starting tiles to each player. Players simultaneously choose one and receive the depicted bonus on their chosen tile. Both tiles are then returned to the box. You are now ready to play. Phew! How To Play Zhanguo: The First Empire Board Game The game plays over five rounds with each round having five phases. The first phase is simply where each player draws two cards from each of the three decks. Then in the second phase, each player takes it in turns to play one card until all players have played all their cards . Cards can be played in one of two ways: either onto the Emperor area of the court board to take one of the six available actions there, or tucked under one of your five regions on your player board to increase your power there. When a player places the card into one of these regions, they will gain Unification tokens in the colour of the card you just placed, but then must increase the level of unrest by one if it is the second card placed in this region, or by two if it is the third. When a card is placed in the Court area you must first choose which of the six actions you want to take and perform this action, and then activate the ability of your cards that match this actions symbol. For the three actions shown on the left, to activate your cards' abilities, you need to play a card with an activation number lower than the current face up card. For the three actions on the right the card you place must have a higher activation number. If you cannot do this or choose not to, you can move one Official on their board to an adjacent region instead. More on that below. You also choose to pass this step if you wish. But to be clear, when you activate the matching sybols in this way, you are essentially getting multiple bonus actions, taking the same turn over and over. The six actions are as follows: Recruit One Official - You can move one of the Alchemists, Architects, or Generals that you placed on your player board during set up onto the region of your choice on your player board. They each have a certain role and will help with later actions if present. Search For The Elixir - You will remember placing your ship on the main board during set-up. This is how you move it along the route. When you take this action, you can move your ship three spaces. Every icon you move past or onto you can activate. This is how you can unlock more of your Terracotta soldiers, moving them from your player board onto the main board, or how they can move an Alchemist card and it add to any region. However, you have to have an Alchemist official present in this region to do this. There is also one space for players to take one of the master Alchemist cards placed during set up and add this to your hand of Alchemist cards. Install One Governor - This is how you move the Governor meeples from your player board to the main board. You can take the bonus from the place that you place it and also remove one of each Official in this region on your player board. You can also reset your Unrest level to zero when you do this. Hire Two Workers - Workers are needed to build the Palaces and Walls. This is how you get them onto your player board. When you take this action, you can move two workers from the general supply and add them to any region where you have a General present. The Unrest level then increases by one in this region. Build One Palace - Building palaces is a key way to score points. To do so you need to have at least one Architect in the region in which they wish to build the Palace. You also need two workers in this region and one in an adjacent region. These are removed from your player board when you build a Palace. If it is still there, you can then take the Palace tile from the board where you placed your Palace and one Unification tile of their choice. You will then score six pints place the bonus on the Palace tile immediately. Build One Wall - Players must spend one, two, or three workers depending on the symbol under the wall, and then move one wall piece from their player board to the wall section on the main board. If there are any Emperor tiles left in the section you built in, take this too and replace any card in their tableau, if they have one. Once everyone has played all their cards then play moves to the third and final phase of the round. Players work out who has the most Unification tokens for the three types. Then the person with the most can choose if they want to take the Unification reward shown on this area of the board. If they don't want to or can't take the full reward, then it moves to the player with the second most of that token. If you take the reward, you must hand back all your tokens of that type. If you pass, then you can keep them for a later round. There are three rewards. One for each type of Unification. This also sets turn order for the next round as you place your turn order marker into the column of the reward they just accepted, which then slides over when this part is done. In turn order players can then spend three Unification tokens they still have in their possession to unlock one of their Terracotta soldiers on their player board. Once this is done all players can then place unlocked Terracotta soldiers onto any fulfilled Mausoleum condition. Any unused Unification tokens valued at two must be returned to the game board at this point. Single-value tokens can be kept, so long as each player doesn’t have more than five of them. The round tracker token then moves on, unless this is the final round in which case final scoring begins. Players will score all points they had earned during the game plus five other things. First, points are awarded to the player with the highest number of Governors in each region: 10, 15, or 20 points depending on if this is a two, three, or four-player game. Second, players will score points based on a multiple of the amount of Alchemist cards played on their player board by the final space reached by their ship. Third, players will score ten points for each row or column formed by their Terracotta soldiers . Fourth, players will score for their Walls based on the symbols on the wall in the game you are playing. And finally, players will score points for all Terracotta soldiers still at the entrance to the Mausoleum. Two for one, five for two and nine points for three soldiers. Most points unsurprisingly, wins!   Zhanguo: The First Empire Board Game Review Now, this game may seem imposing with its rules and setup. The BoardGameGeek weight rating of 4/5 also explains why some might steer clear of it. However, if you can look past the initial complexity, a captivating experience awaits. For me, the weight of this game lies not in intricate rules as you learn, but in the decisions it demands as you play. There are no overly complicated or difficult elements; instead, you're presented with a smorgasbord of delectable, layered choices throughout the game. Choices that will make you feel in complete control over your destiny, even if it takes a few plays to fully grasp exactly how to wield that effectively. This game exudes richness and depth, teeming with delightful moments and decisions that make me love it. Initially, grasping how all the game elements work together can be challenging. Between the main board, your player board, and connecting bonus actions with the icons on your played cards, it might feel like a lot. But when the pieces start fitting together in your mind, everything falls into perfect harmony. The cascading actions available are nothing short of amazing. Activating all matching symbols when playing the right card and constructing the correct engine feels immensely satisfying. It demands a bit of thinking, a good amount of planning, and a solid understanding of the strategy, but the payoff is worth it. Playing the game, you might just find yourself entirely absorbed in the process in a wonderful way. If you relish thoughtful Euro games, this could be a fantastic addition to your collection. If the theme resonates with you, it might even become one of your new favorites. I will place it among my top ten games of the year for sure, but I harbor concerns about its ability to keep hitting the table due to its weight. The game's appearance and strategic complexity will intimidate some, although the teach isn't overly challenging, it does look heavy. Even with a grasp of the basic rules and concepts, players might still feel uncertain about their actions. The strategy and a full understanding does take a game or two. Not everyone has time for this, or the patience to play a game that long and often before you really know what you are doing. While this game earns a spot in my heart, I worry it might fade over time due to a lack of plays. Games of this caliber could benefit from increased accessibility—whether through improved rulebooks, player aids, more visually friendly boards, art and iconography, or even audio aids via QR codes. I can only hope that such enhancements for games of this weight are on the horizon for all of our sake. Putting aside the concern that others in my gaming group might not share my passion for this game, I genuinely love it snd would heavilly reccomend it to anyone looking for a crunchy euro full of cascading turns that will fill your mind with utter joy. Final word has to go to the insert. There is a lot of stuff with this game. Setting up and packing away for games with this many componants can be a chore. But the layout and icons for the insert really help with this. Finally, a game has reccomended putting all parts of a players set-up into one bag. Doing this will speed up set up by a good few minutes, and also helps speed up the tear down. Just gove each player a bag of their chosen and let them do their own player board by following you. Then to pack away, just pop everything listed here in each players colours into the respective compartment. A great touch. And one more games should employ.

This is a preview copy sent to us for our opinions, no money has changed hands and all art and components and rules are not necessarily final and may change. Check out the games website where you can order here . Slay To Win is from first time designer Craig Campbell , and introduces an interesting, family weight game that fuses a card game with am RPG, more associated with games of Dungeons and Dragons. Let's get into it. It is clear that Craig is a DnD fan, and has brought his love of role playing to this card game in an interesting and flexible way. The game works by players choosing a character and and quality card. This will assign each player a starting weapon, attack and defence score; as well as their Sense and Interact strengths. Players will then choose a Story card from one of the ten provided. This will set the goal of the game, as well as dictate the monsters you will face. You can play just one Story card for a one-shot, or piece a few together into a campaign. Decide up front how many Story cards you want to play, so all players know the plan and goal, which will be to get the most points for killing monsters! Although be aware, you only get the points if you strike the killing blow! Players will then run through the three acts on their chosen story cards, moving through each of the six steps of each of the three acts. You can make a decision amongst your group on how you do this. It can be a simple skill check and move on in order to gain new weapons and action cards. Or you can run through a full role-playing experience based on the triggers in the story card. This is entirely up to you and can be different each time. As players move through each part of the story, they will be checking against their Sense and Interact skills. This is done by flipping the top card from the action deck. Each action deck will also show a number from one to six. This serves essentially as a D6. You will add the score you get from this to your own personal Interact or Sense skill, then add any bonuses you gain from your other Action or Weapon cards, or those gained from the other players in the game. Players can help each other out. You will then see if you beat the target score of the test, or in the case of an all-play check, see which player gets the highest score. You can then gain an additional weapon card or action card as you reward. You can only ever hold five action cards, but you will want to curate a hand that works for your impending monster fight. You can also use the action cards during this Drama phase to help you with various checks. You can gain as many weapons as you like, but you can only equip one per fight. Having multiple options will help, but you must then make a choice at the end of the act when you face the monster as to which weapon will help you the most. Some weapons work better against certain monsters with certain skills, and vice-versa. The story card will tell you how many monsters you are fighting, and if they escape at the end of each act, ready to fight again in the next act; or if you will defeat them, and then face a new one for the next part of the story. The monsters are made up of multiple cards to create a unique foe with multiple powers each time. Adding a Naga to an Arachnoid, for example, will give the Arachnoid the powers of the Naga, allowing it to gain Speed (meaning it always fights first and cannot be avoided with ranged weapons) and slipping poison, which increases the damage for all attacks after the first. But this will be very different next time as different Monster cards are paired each game. Once you have finished the six stages of each act, you will then face the chosen monster. You will use your sense skills to check for initiative, check if the monster has speed power, which determines who will go first, and then run through various phases of attacks and defences to see if you can defeat the beast. You can use a range of powers from your action cards, your chosen weapon, and help other players out with various checks. Each monster will have a defence value that you will need to beat to inflict damage, much like in D&D. You will then add your damage and reduce the monster's health by the shown amount. It doesn't matter who hurts the monster; it is all about who can strike the fatal blow. Who can slay to win? Geddit!? Each monster feels quite different. And each of the ten stories offers a varying and rich experience. Although, if you do not role-play this, it will feel largely mechanical and the same each time. As such, if you plan to play this as a simple card game, I would not suggest this for you. There are better games out there that offer more interesting card play and opportunities to fight monsters. But, if you want to embrace the RPG side of this game, then this game will really shine for you. I can see why the designer of this game wanted to offer the chance to play both ways. This is encouraged on the game's website and crowdfunding site. Not everyone will want to get into the roleplay side of this, and so they offer the other simple way to play. Which is fine. And works fine. But it is nowhere near as fun! I could even see this being used by people playing DND to design or use as additional material for full games of Dungeons and Dragons. It could add flavour to monsters and characters they create or meet. Be used to create more variety in weapons they find and powers they gain. It is a very useful deck of cards for multiple areas here. And as a roll-playing card game, it is a lot of fun too! If you and your group like a bit of role-play fun along with your card play, this will be right up your street. Well worth having a look at to see if this could work for you.

This is a preview copy sent to us for our opinions, no money has changed hands and  all art and components and rules are not necessarily final and may change. Check out the Gamefound campaign here  where you’ll find this, a new expansion called Escalation and reprints of the base game, deluxe upgrade kit and the previous Eagles Nest expansion. The Gamfound campaign is currently live at the time this preview goes out.  By Steve Godfrey If you want to hear my thoughts on the base game then you can check out my full review, with a rules overview here Let’s get Kraken Norman Village Map Operation Kraken comes with two new maps the Norman Village and the Super Carrier When you play with the Norman Village map set the game up as per usual then add the two new Leichter Panzerspahwagen vehicles (henceforth referred to as “vehicles” because this’ll be a long preview otherwise) on the board, one in each of the starting spaces and put their unit cards near the board. There are some load out cards that can’t be used with these new maps but a simple to read table in the rulebook will tell you which, but it’s not many and the reason for their exclusion makes sense. Other than that, setup is the same as in the base game. The game will play out the same as the base game in terms of how actions and turns work with the only real difference being the vehicles so let's talk about how they work.  When a defender finishes their turn in a space with a vehicle then they must embark, at which point they place that mini on the vehicle's card but only 1 per vehicle, it gets cramped in there otherwise, these things aren’t made for family outings. At any point they can disembark by using a move action, placing their mini on the same space and then making their move action. Whilst in the vehicle there are four actions that can potentially be taken. Drive 3 by moving 3 road spaces. Drive 1 and make a sweep actin. Drive 1 and make a spot action or attack 1 adjacent space. You can also make your usual actions as well. Important to note that whilst you can’t make the same action twice with the same unit, you can take similar ones. Meaning you can take two of the different drive actions or make a drive action and then take a normal move action.  The sniper can still attack a vehicle but they’ll need 2 aim tokens more than a regular unit to take it out. So for example if you're in an adjacent space you’ll need three hits to take it out. If a defender is in it at the time then they’re removed from the board as well. However, vehicles cannot be respawned. There are loadout cards that don’t work on them, like the knife for example, which makes sense. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to stab a tank but it’s safe to say it takes a while and many knives to get through. On this map there are also two spaces per sector for the sniper to enter but also none for the neutral white sectors.  The vehicles give the defenders so much more freedom to move round the board. In the base game you can’t have a mini do the same action twice, but now being in a vehicle moving 3 spaces and then being able to make a regular move makes the defenders all the more threatening. Previously you could roughly plan each defender's limitations in terms of movement and carve yourself out the path of least risk. With this new addition and extra movement capabilities the map now seems a lot more closed down leaving less spaces as a “safe spot” for the sniper. This is probably going to be fine for the most part when they’re still looking for you, but, the minute you pop your first objective you’d better have an escape route planned because it may not be long before they catch up to you. Even more devastating is the ability to shoot into an adjacent space. Where before it may have taken some manoeuvring to make a successful spot/sweep, then get someone onto the space to be able to attack before the slippery blighter runs away. Now it can be as simple as two actions, which makes avoiding or taking out those vehicles almost paramount to survival. Super Carrier Map The second map takes place on multiple levels of a Super Carrier. Lower deck, middle deck and top deck. Again set up works much the same only this time there are face cards in the objective deck. If you happen to pull two of the same value (i.e. two kings) you must discard one and pick another card. The reason being that the both face cards of the same value are on the same floor. You’ll also have locked door tokens which will be put onto each door space and they start the game unlocked. The other point to note is that the sniper will always start in the same space since there is only one entrance.  There are a couple of ways to navigate the levels for the sniper and one for the defenders. The stairs/ladder are freely available for both and each connects to an equivalent letter on a different level and they have line of sight to each other so don’t be one of those people who clog up the stairs because you can get picked off. The sniper can also move around using the vents John Mclane style. These work on a similar principle to the ladders and connect to different parts of the carrier.  The defenders have a new ace up their sleeve (which explains why there’s no ace’s in the objective deck?) which is, they can lock doors. When they use a move action they can lock an adjacent door either before or after moving, however this uses up one of their moves so essentially they can lock a door and move one space or vice versa. The sniper however has their own delicate, subtle way to unlock a door….they can shoot the lock off! This works the same as a regular shoot action and on a success the lock token is removed from the game and the door is permanently unlocked. Makes sense, it’s not easy getting a locksmith that far out at sea last minute. They also have access to two new loadout cards. Bolt cutters which let you secretly move through a locked door and the Explosive Entrance, because you’ve gotten bored with normal doors and decided to make your own with some explosives. Some walls are also reinforced on this map meaning you can’t shoot through them but you can still hear noise through them.  The defenders also have a new way of gathering intel. They have the normal way which gathers intel on the coloured sectors or they can gather intel on a deck. As long as there’s a defender officer on the floor they can ask the sniper if they’re on that deck, rather than a specific sector on that deck. You can't, however, gather intel on the deck and a sector on the same turn.  Ok, maybe I lied before when I said that the Norman Village felt claustrophobic. THIS is a claustrophobic map. Where other maps gave you the breathing room to make a fair few 2 - 3 space movements, this one almost dares you to try it. With so few spaces you're always either in close quarters with a defender or, if you're not, you probably soon will be so it really forces you to take less of those bold moves. Which would be fine if you weren’t on a timer so that added pressure is always gnawing away at you. To make matters worse, someone has had the cheek to lock the doors and restrict your movement further. So now you're faced with the difficult choice of either finding a new unencumbered route to your next objective or risking shooting a few locks and giving a clue to your current position. This map seems to present more of a puzzle than the other maps I’ve played (I’d only played the base game maps prior to this) and almost reminds me of those mazes that you get on the back of kids menus at restaurants and I’d wager the sniper map will probably resemble one at the end of the game as well. Not that that’s a bad thing. Because it’s more of an enclosed map it definitely leans more into that stealth style of gameplay and present more of a puzzle straight from the word go than some of the other maps have done.  This map gives you two new loadout cards and each leans more towards a different style of play. The bolt cutter for the more sneaky among you and the TNT if you just want to play more as an agent of chaos. One piece of advice I will give is that you’ll need at least one of these in your loadout. We played one game without any and the sniper was left on the back foot needing to shoot a lock and reveal their position early doors when a bolt cutter could have served him a lot better had he had it.  Not much has changed for the defenders other than, they all have their own set of keys (it’s nice to feel responsible) but there can be some tactics to be had from that. Do you, for example, leave the door open and lure the sniper in like something from a Tom & Jerry cartoon only to hopefully trap them in there by locking the door giving you time to swarm the room? I mean, if that doesn’t make one hell of a good gaming story then I don’t know what will.  So, we did find one issue with the fortified walls, in as much as it wasn't very clear on the map or the rulebook where these were. We assumed it was the wall of the rooms but weren’t too sure on that. I’ve spoken to the folks at Rebellion Unplugged and they’re aware that it’s an issue and are working on making this clearer for the finished version. This doesn’t change how I feel about the map but it was worth pointing out as it was something that cropped up during out. At the very least it’s great to know that everyone involved is responsive to this sort of feedback and making the best game possible. It’s Kraken If you already love Sniper Elite then there’s a good chance you’ve already insta-backed this and you're now looking through these previews to see if it’s justified. To which the answer from me is yes. You get two very different playing maps which add to the replayability to an already great game and offer some interesting new mechanics. Sniper Elite is one of those games that once your in, you’ll most likely want it all. Personally I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the long sought after Eagles Nest expansion and the upgrades and this new expansion just makes the whole thing even more tantalising for me. So…everything...I’m looking forward to everything basically.

Scythe & Expeditions Metal Coins WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1-7 You’ll like this if you like: Scythe   Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Jamey Stegmaier This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . If you own Scythe of Encounters, you will know that the base game comes with some rather nice, uniquely designed cardboard coins. You can upgrade these to these beautiful metal coins if you wish. They work with both games. This upgrade pack simply replaces the coins from either game, Scythe or Expeditions. It does not change the rules or game in any way. This is purely an aesthetic choice. For Scythe, I would recommend the realistic resource tokens as your first point of call for an upgrade, as these are used more often in the game. But if you have these already and want more bling at your table, then this is the way to go! They look gorgeous and feel great. My only complaint is they are a little lightweight for the price, but the design and craftsmanship are otherwise top-notch. In comparison to the base games cardboard coins, they are a lot more rich in colour, and detailed in design. And obviously feel a lot better in your hands. And on the board, they just pop! They match the game's colour scheme so well and look so much better than the original cardboard ones. Scythe is undoubtedly one of my favourite games, and my appreciation for it runs deep. The combination of strategy, resource management, and beautiful artwork creates an immersive experience that captivates players. To enhance this experience, even if just by a little bit, is something I am very much eager to pursue. I believe that every detail counts when it comes to enjoying a game to its fullest potential, and I am committed to exploring every avenue to elevate my gameplay. One of the most effective ways to enhance the Scythe experience is through the use of thematic coins. These coins serve not only as a functional component of the game but also as a means to deepen the overall atmosphere at the gaming table. When playing Scythe, which is set in a beautifully crafted alternate-history Europe, having coins that reflect the game's aesthetic can significantly enhance the thematic immersion. The tactile feel of these coins, combined with their intricate designs, adds a layer of authenticity that can transport players into the world of Scythe. The coins I envision are not merely replacements for the standard tokens; they embody the essence of the game’s factions and the rich lore surrounding them. Each coin could represent a different resource or currency, such as metal, oil, or food, and could feature unique artwork that corresponds to the various factions within Scythe. This attention to detail not only makes the game visually appealing but also enriches the storytelling aspect, allowing players to feel more connected to their chosen faction and the world they are navigating. The sound of coins clinking as they are exchanged during trade or the satisfaction of stacking them as resources accumulate adds a sensory dimension to the game. This tactile interaction with the game pieces can create memorable moments that resonate long after the game is over. The addition of thematic coins to Scythe is a simple yet impactful way to elevate the gaming experience. By investing in these beautifully crafted coins, players can enjoy a more immersive, aesthetically pleasing, and overall encompassing experience while gathered around the table. Every game session becomes not just a competition but an adventure into the world of Scythe, making each playthrough unique and memorable.

Buy Here - Wingspan Speckled Eggs WBG Score: 10 Player Count:1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Wingspan Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Elizabeth Hargrave   This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . Wingspan Speckled Eggs Expansion Review This will be a simple little review for these gorgeous speckled eggs. They are amazing, fit perfectly with the game, of course, and offer a new, brighter, and more playful look to your table when playing Wingspan. But just look at them! Do you really need to know much more? They come in all kinds of colors, each with the same speckled look. That, to me, somehow makes them look more realistic, while still being fun and joyful at the same time. I simply adore these and now use them for all games of Wingspan, with whatever expansion I am using. They brighten up the cards and make everything look better. If you like Wingspan, this is a great add-on to introduce to your gaming table. It does not change anything about the game. This is purely an aesthetic choice.