Search Results

Moonrakers WBG Score: 8.5/10 Player Count: 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Cosmic Encounter, Clank, Bohnanza Published by: IV Games Designed by: Austin Harrison, Max Anderson, Zac Dixon If you like the back-and-forth nature of the negotiations in Comic Encounter and the deck-building aspects of games like Clank and Dominion, then you are going to love Moonrakers! I have not played a deck-building negotiation game before, but I loved the sound of these two mechanisms being merged in this way. After multiple games I have not been disappointed. Moonrakers is a fantastic game. The game has a wonderfully illustrated graphic novel within the box detailing the backstory to this game, and you can get lost within this brilliantly constructed world if you want. But the basic premise is to get to 10 points before your friends by developing your deck, negotiating alliances, and clever card play. The theme is fun, and well implemented, but this game shines from the well executed game play and an original blend of mechanics. How to play Moonrakers. Moonrakers, like all deck builders, starts slowly. In the beginning you will have a standard hand of cards offering limited options. On your turn, you can choose to either remain at base to claim one credit and a new objective or you can attempt one of the eight available contracts. Contracts can be attempted on your own or with the help of one or more of the other players. Each contract offers a mixed reward of points, credits and free upgrade cards. You must offer out suitable rewards to entice other players to come to your assistance, but beware, their offers may not always be genuine! The contract cards require a certain mix of specific cards to be played in order to meet their requirements. A mix of thrusters, damage, crew, shields, reactors etc. Your deck starts as ten uniform cards which you will shuffle and deal five cards to make your starting hand. However, on your turn, you only have one action! This is where reactors come in. They allow you to gain two extra actions, so you generally need to start your turn with one of these cards being played. The thrusters are a popular second card to play, they allow you to draw two more cards from your deck into your hand. Damage cards create damage, shield cards block damage to you, and the miss cards are blanks you need to try and remove from your deck as soon as possible. How to Set up Moonrakers. The set-up for the game, as displayed above for a two-player is simple. All the mats are clearly labelled and the iconography is exemplary. It clearly shows you where to place each card, how many to lay out, and what you need have in your starting hand. I love these boards.They look great but are also highly functional. The cards are the only down side to the game. They are very glossy and with a game that uses a lot of cards, its hard to keep everything as neat as above. They are very skiddy! I encourage you to embrace the chaos and get stuck in, especially in a four or five player game! And in truth, that is where this game shines. It works fine in solo and two-players, but you need the higher player counts to really allow the engines of this game to run at their maximum. It's all about negotiations, and in a four or five player, this is where the fun really happens. I say fun, I mean arguments. Which in this game... are fun! The Strategy of Moonrakers. Similarly to Cosmic Encounter, players rely on their negotiating skills to do well in this game. You won't be able to complete many contracts at the start of the game on your own. And later on in the game, you wont be able to complete many of the higher scoring contracts without help from your friends. But when you start to get close to the end-game, people will obviously not want to help you as much. Especially if you are looking to take the points. Players need to offer the points to other players in order to take the credits themselves in order to advance their deck to a stage where they can later complete the missions alone. Like all deck-builders, as much as the game can start slowly, it ramps up quickly! Ending the game unexpectedly when on five points by completing a five point contract on your own is not out of the question. In a race to ten points, getting 50% of your required points in one turn is obviously huge. But doing so, requires time to build up your powers. The early rounds is all about forming temporary alliances. If you cannot reach an amicable resolution in your negotiations then you can try again with another contract. But if this also fails, then you must either go alone and try to complete the mission without any help, or stay at base. This perhaps is where the game falls down a little for me. There are no real consequences to failing a mission other than not getting the rewards from the contract. It is not always certain if you can complete contracts or not when looking at your starting hand. Most of the time you need more than just the five cards in your hand, so you are relying on thrusters to get you more cards from your deck. But of course, you don't know exactly what will come when. There is some guess work here. Let's take a real game example. You need one more thruster than what you have in your hand to compete a mission, and you know there are two more thrusters in your deck of seven cards. The odds are in your favour, especially as you will be playing two thrusters from your existing hand which will allow you to pick up four more of those seven cards. 4/7 chance sounds good enough to me so most players would attempt this alone. Although of course, it doesn't always work out like that and I had this exact scenario and I did not draw the extra thruster or another card that could help. I failed the mission, one that statistically speaking I entered into in good faith. But failure just means you don't get the points, and in a game where most of the time you only get one or two points anyway, this doesn't seem to be that bad. As such, failing a contract has limited jeopardy. Deciding on entering one that is a little risky doesn't create enough tension. Players are not encouraged enough to partner with other players to increase their chances. Equally, winning a contract does not generate as much joy as I would have liked. Where the tension comes from in Moonrakers. Where the game does bring in the tension is with the damage dice. Each contract asks you to roll zero to four damage dice. There are more damage dice with the higher reward contracts. You can divide these up among the allies helping you this round as part of the negotiation just like the points and credits so you don't have to roll them all yourself. You can block the damage from the dice with shields, but if you don't, each damage counts as one negative point, which can be huge. Some contracts require shields to be played anyway, and these will count towards your damage dice too if required. But some contracts don't need shields, and you may be attempting a contract without any shields in your hand as you only need to roll one damage dice and feel the risk is negligible. You could then roll two damage on this one die and see yourself in quite a tight spot. This is the suspense and excitement I would like to see in all missions simply from the danger of either succeeding or failing at it. The damage dice go a long way to correcting this issue, but I feel a bigger punishment from failure would encourage more negotiations and a hugely heightened sense of achievement when successful. Time to build your deck! Once you have finished a contract, either successfully or not, you can then head to the shops. There are ship upgrades available as well as new crew members to recruit. The crew cards go into your discard ready to be shuffled back into your hand in a later round. They offer some exciting new powers and can significantly develop your hand. The ship cards are placed on your own personal player mat and offer constant powers as well as bringing extra cards into to your hand based on the symbols in the top right. Developing your hand and powers in this way is crucial to successfully navigating the more treacherous contracts, and surviving on your own later in the game. This is where the game does deliver a real feeling of achievement. It feels great to start a round with two actions instead of one, or to have a larger starting hand due to your upgrades. I enjoy the development of power, and the cards are all priced relativity low so I find in most games you can purchase one new card each round. I end most games with a surplus of credits. As such, this is more a race to get the cards you want more than a race to save up the required credits. With three crew and six ships parts always being shown face up, if a powerful card is shown, it is unlikely it will stay in the shop window for long! Each player could take a different strategy though of course. It may well be that one persons dream card does not work as well for another player. You could be focusing on developing your ability to create high damage to take on the contacts that require that. As such, a card that helps you with other areas is not as attractive to you. Players developing different skills this way create better opportunities for alliances. If you become aware that another player offers the things you don't, very fruitful partnerships can be formed. In the race to ten points, working with other players in the early and middle stages of the game is crucial. You don't want to get left behind from a refusal to negotiate. However, as the games' tension ramps up, your trust in other players will start to wain. When another player agrees to help you, their full and unbridled support cannot always be guaranteed. Players may offer help in order to sabotage your own attempts as they see you as a threat. Or, simply they offer their partnership in order to flush their current hand. Wasting a weak hand on your turn so they have a better hand on their own. Be weary of players accepting deals that don't appear to work for them, or those too eager to reach a deal just that little bit too quickly! I have found this element of the game to only really come in to play when playing with those more familiar with each other, or in game two or three. Players generally want to be nice to other people in games. More so on game one. But game two... all bets are off! It often transpires that someone will eventually double cross another player. And of course, as in life, once the flood gates open, there is no stopping the tide of treachery! This where the game really shines. When playing Moonrakers I try to encourage players to remember this is a negotiation game with semi co-operation in temporary alliances. Bluffing, double-crossing and down right skulduggery is encouraged! Of course with younger players or those who find this side to games less than appealing, you can always house rule this out of the game. (Or is that a bluff too?) Outside of the deck-building and negotiation, what stands out for this game is the card play. Being able to complete a contract using your powers, acquired crew, and clever order of cards is very satisfying. You will often be sat staring at your hand, thinking to yourself, how can it be that with only five cards, the correct order in which to play them so easily escapes you! But when you figure this out, and get it right, it feels great. Other players will be invested in watching this too. Either they will be in a temporary alliance with you and cheering you on, or watching from afar, wishing ill luck on you as you draw two more cards after a thruster. Screaming for just one more shield! Attempts at contracts are quick, so the wait is never long, and even in a five player game I found myself to be constantly involved and always fully engaged. Playing Moonrakers is a lot of fun. I would say it is now one of my favorite deck-building games and in my top three for negotiation games. The merging of these two mechanisms works brilliantly, and the game really has executed the balance between working solo and forming semi co-operative alliances very well. As I mentioned, the only issue I have other than the shiny cards, is the lack of genuine tension in a missions success or not in the early part of the game. But come the end, when players are one or two missions away from victory, this tension very much exists in abundance. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys clever card play, or games that encourage direct and constant interaction with other players. I very much look forward to trying the new expansion for this, and cannot wait to get it to the table again.

Scooby Doo: Escape from the Haunted Mansion WBG Score: 7.5 Player Count: 1 or more You’ll like this if you like: Exit games, Unlock games, Scooby Doo! Published by: The Op Designed by: Jay Cormier, Sen-Foong Lim By Steve Godfrey “Scooby dooby doo, where are you we’ve got a game to review now” (to the lawyers at Hannah-Barbara I think this technically counts as parody so please don’t sue me) Now with that lawsuit evaded let’s get onto the review! Before I start running through the game just to let you know I won’t be spoiling anything about the game in this review. To set up first read the rule book! It sounds obvious I know but since most of the components are a secret until revealed it really is the best way to go. I will give you an idea of how the game works though. Players will be given one of the five character books to read throughout the game. Who gets what book and how many doesn’t really matter as no one really controls an individual character, it’s just there to keep players involved. If you're playing with others who can’t read or aren’t good readers yet then one player can take over reading duties. Place down Map tile one and read from where the game instructs you to and then you’re off! Each character has their own special ability. Either research, eat, smell, use and investigate and each has a number on their standee. These numbers are then combined with the three digit numbers on different items found in the rooms to create a four digit number. You then look that number up in the corresponding book. For example Velma’s book is all numbered 1000 to 1999 so it’s easy to find which book you need based on the character you’ve used. Players then read out the passage, these usually give you some story, clues, instruct you to reveal cards, new map tiles or even more excitingly tell you to open one of the game's secret envelopes. Beware though because although you don’t get penalised for say, trying to use Shaggy to eat a bookcase, you may do if you put a wrong combination in when solving a puzzle. It’s nothing too drastic, you will just need to mark off a Scooby snack on the back of the book which will then affect your end score. One thing you’ll notice fairly quickly is that this isn’t your typical escape room game. Technically you are trying to escape the mansion but this is your proper classic Scooby Doo type mystery. The gang find themselves in a location, there’s a ghost/monster and they have to try and solve the mystery. If you loved the old cartoons and love Scooby Doo and always wanted to be a part of solving one of the mysteries,. then I suggest you stop reading and go and grab a copy now! Regardless of whatever I say from here on, this may be a game for you. And I would have gotten away with it! This game gives me all of those nostalgic feels, yes because of the theme but there’s also something else there. The flipping back and forth through the books reminds me of the old 'Choose your own adventure' books and whilst I didn’t exactly feel the need to put my fingers in the pages (don’t deny it, you used to do it too!) it did give me those vibes. The other type of games it evoked for me was the old Monkey Island point and click adventure games. This is largely because you can use any character's ability on any object and there will be a passage in the book as a response. This includes the previously mentioned Shaggy eating a bookcase. There are other point and click elements but I won’t say why for fear of spoilers, but if you know those types of games then you’ll know what I mean when you get to it. If it wasn’t for those meddling kids! I’ve played a few different types of escape room style games with my kids and they have hit on different levels, but for the most part I’ve tended to play them with my eldest (13). I think the puzzles on some of the others have been just a tad too thinky for the youngest (11). This one was a huge hit for her though, we played this over three sessions, one quick one to get acquainted with it and then played out the chapters properly. After every one the response was “ I can’t wait to play some more of it” Now for me that’s a kids seal of approval right there. The puzzles were just at the right level that she was able to solve the majority of them without help, some with just a little nudge from me and a fair few where she noticed things way before I’d even cottoned on. There were even one or two that had the pair of us thinking. So for her it was a resounding success. She wanted to give it a rating of 10,000 but as you can see I kinda averaged out our scores. Looks like we’ve got another mystery on our hands. So the kids love it, but what about us grumpy old adults? I’ve got to admit I had a really fun time with it. I will preface this though and say that the box says that this is a medium difficulty in the Coded Chronicles line. At the time of writing this there are only three that are out and that this is the only one I’ve played so I can’t judge this line against the difficulty of other escape style games. (although Jim will be reviewing another one soon!) If you are planning on playing this either on your own or with only adults then I will say that you may well find yourself burning through it fairly quickly, you’ll probably even be able to get through it in the one sitting so keep that in mind. However there is some fun stuff in here and as I said it’s your classic Scooby Doo story and it’s fun going through it. This for me is more geared towards the kids puzzle wise and watching them go through it and solving the puzzles and having fun, reading out from the books and cracking the mystery was where I got the most joy from it but I also had fun with the game in general myself. Oh and doing the voices when it was my turn to read, you HAVE to do the voices, it’s not in the rules but it should be. All in all this is a winner from all of us. The age on the box says 12+, I played with my eleven year old and I think you could easily go lower than that but any parents know their children's levels when it comes to games. When you do think they’re ready though then I would definitely suggest picking this up. One last thing to mention is that this does follow the “one and done” aspect of the usual escape room games. Nothing gets destroyed so you could potentially play it through again but the ultimate end result won’t change. But you may see some passages in the books that you maybe didn’t see previously. At the end of the day this is a great way to spend time with the kids, watching them have fun and having a good time yourself and ultimately that’s what these types of experiences are all about. Jim - I have now played this game through myself with my children (8 and 6) and absolutely loved it! I echo everything Steve has said here and would simply add my agreement. It is such a fun game to experience. It felt unique to me. Other games have a similar idea, but this new Coded Chronicles systems opens up an exciting new way to bring old Film and TV IP to the table in a way that we get to control the story. We determine the events and actions our heroes of the screen take, and I am so down for this it is not true. I am going to try the Goonies one next and I cannot wait!

Talisman: Harry Potter WBG Score: 6.5/10 Player Count: 2-6 You’ll like this if you like: Talisman, Harry Potter, Jamaica Published by: The Op Welcome to the wonderful world of Talisman! Talisman: Harry Potter has a few differences from the original Talisman game, but you can play a version of Talisman with this box that is very similar to the original with a few minor rules tweaks provided in the rule book. Whether you are a fan of Talisman or not, the main appeal of these games will be the IP associated with it. With choices ranging from Star Wars, Disney, Batman and many more; you have a lot of choice. But is Talisman itself any good? Has this Harry Potter version been executed well? First, lets talk about Talisman itself. Talisman was first published in 1983. It quickly became a cult classic. A board game in the 1980's about fighting dragons with swords? Come on! What did you expect? Since then, Talisman has gone through various editions and upgrades, with the current 4th edition released in 2007, seen as the definitive one to own. Since then, various editions have been released based around different intellectual properties. The game itself lends itself well to a make over in this way, and I can see how it can be easily adapted to suit many different films and themes. With The Op working with the Harry Potter crew before with the brilliant Hogwarts Battle in 2016, a Talisman Harry Potter was always on the cards. 2021 saw it literally put on the cards, with this fine release. Working with beloved games such as Talisman in this way, it is always going to be tough to please everyone. Incorporating something as well known as Harry Potter adds exponentially to the potential for an angry internet. But initial reactions to this release have been positive. They have not done anything significantly new to the Talisman game itself, more add the Harry Potter theme to it, so I would say this game works for three groups of people. Those who love Talisman and want every version. Those who love Harry Potter and want everything associated with it. (These two alone guarantee a few million sales!) And finally, those who maybe don't own a version of Talisman yet and are considering this version to be the one they try. I will focus my attention for the rest of the review on those people, seeing as the first two groups have probably clicked "Buy Now" already! Let's talk about the reason you may want to try this game. First up, check out this board! It's stunning! It looks full of adventure right? Well, it feels like that when you play too. I won't go over the rules here, but the basic premise of Talisman is simple. You start off as a fairly low powered character. You need to move around the outside part of the board a few times, gathering items and upgrading your characters powers and abilities. When you are ready, head to the middle section to continue your development but now with more rewards, and of course, increased risks! Before heading to the central part of the board for the final battle. Exploring the rooms and locations as you move around this board is brilliant fun. It feels exciting and there is a real sense of discovery as you do this. Even if it is your tenth play or beyond, there are enough rooms here to make moving around this beautifully crafted world exciting. What happens at each location feels thematic, and there is an ordered progression you can take in order to calculate the risks in the development of your character. Another thing that may appeal with this game is the range of characters. Though not as many as the original Talisman, and of course all the expansions available for those now, you start with eight characters out the box to choose from. Seen here are those eight plus Voldemort, with whom you must do battle in order to win the game. There are four Death Eaters and four characters from the Order of the Phoenix. Goodies and baddies for those not familiar with the story! You must defeat Lord Voldemort at the end, either in order to gain his trust so you can join him. Or to stop his evil reign if you are playing as one of the hero characters. Each character has its own minor asymmetry to go along with these beautifully crafted miniatures. The character cards are double sided with different options of powers and starting abilities to increase the games variety at set-up. The powers seem well thought out and balanced, and link to the story in a suitable fashion. I would prefer a little more asymmetry myself, but that is just my own personal taste. As you move around the world of Harry Potter you will draw encounter cards. These seem varied, plentiful, and eventful. Most games I found I was cycling through the deck at least one and half times, but as you don't see every card yourself I think there are enough cards. There will be a mix of followers to add to your crew, items to collect, and events to undertake. This game certainly does feel like an event. A story will be told. An adventure will be had. As you develop your character, advance your powers and abilities, and travel into the central part of the board, there is a genuine and highly satisfying sense of progression. It really does feel good to increase your characters abilities and get better at this game as you play it. However, and this brings to me to the reasons you may not like this game, there are no guarantees in this game. As in life, what goes up, must come down! This game can become a little backwards and forwards, in that for every ladder you climb, there are many snakes waiting for you to fall down! Time to ride your luck! There have been a few games where I or another player have felt close to being ready to take on Lord Voldemort, but then with a few unlucky dice roles or event cards, have found ourselves losing most of our powers and abilities. Having to grind our way back. Invariably, the other player in this time will take their chance and win the game. Now, this is the luck of the draw. Any game with dice has some chance and luck in it. In one game against my son where I was transfigured into a Ferret there was one particularly unlucky series of events. When you are involuntarily shape shifted, it only last for a few turns, but you must drop all your items on the space this happens. Ferrets don't have pockets obviously! The issue was that on my next turn, I was sent against my will to the far side of the board. Without my items, I was then at the mercy of the die to get back and gather back my belongings. This took eight turns! In doing so, my son advanced to the final battle and won. You win some, you loose some. This happens in a lot of games, but it is common in Talisman. You must go into this game knowing there is an element of luck. However, you can re-roll bad rolls using your fate tokens, and when moving around the board, you do have a choice which direction you go. Some characters have the ability to avoid certain events, and as your powers increase you can navigate the more difficult events in a more controlled way. But, dice are dice after all. It wont always be in your control. Playing Talisman is a mixed bag of fun, adventure, luck, frustration, grind, and character advancement. It is light enough for most people to play with relative ease, but does take 1.5 to 2 hours to play. So, this is not a quick game. If you get a few unlucky rolls and lose, I doubt you will think about setting up and going again. With a game that is luck dependent and due to its game length usually played only once at a time, it needs to deliver something special to make you come back time after time. Talisman: Harry Potter does this for me. It comes from the theme. I love Harry Potter and the world this game transports you into is magical and full of wonder. If you don't like Harry Potter then I would recommend you look at the many other versions of this game. I feel that Talisman is one of those games everyone needs to play. And is worthy of everyone's consideration to own. It's a classic and a very important game from the last 40 years. worthy of a place in anyone's collection. The multitude of IP versions opens this wonderful game up to many more people. So, the question remains, which Talisman is for you?

Hues and Cues WBG Score: 6.5/10 Player Count: 3-10 You’ll like this if you like: Dixit, Decrypto, Wavelength. Published by: The Op Designed by: Scott Brady Party games come in every size, theme, and genre now-a-days. But where is the one for the graphic designers, artists, and the person that invented the Dulux colour chart? Well, thankfully, the good people at The Op have solved this. Hues and Cues is a cleverly devised game based on colours. All of them. Even the muddy green one that is a bit yellowish and reminds you of the Bogey Monster. But is it any good? Learning and playing Hues and Cues is as simple as spotting a rainbow during a British Summer. Well, so long as you are not colour blind, in which case, I would say this game is sadly entirely unplayable. Looking at colours is 99% of this game. The other 1% is arguing with the other players about what shade of pink most accurately reflects a Flamingo. To set-up Hues and Cues give each player their three player pieces of their chosen colour, lay out the board and place the deck of cards alongside it, then ask each player to place one of their pieces on the start of the scoring track. That's it! To teach the game, I suggest you just start! One player will draw the top card. On the card will be four colours. The clue giver described in this game as the 'Cue' giver, can pick one of the four colours to then offer a one word cue to the other players, hoping they will guess what colour they are referring too. You can say any word you like so long as it does not include a colour, repeat a previously used clue in the game, refer to the colours position on the board, or an item in the room you are in. Each player will then place one of their two player pieces on the board in turn on the colour they think the Cue giver is referring too. The Cue giver can then give a second clue, now with two words. Each player will then place their second player piece on the board with the benefit of both clues and the other players first guesses. The Cue giver will then place a gird on the board over the colour they were referring too. Any player with a player piece inside this scores two points. If they are on the exact colour, they will get three. Anyone with a player piece directly outside the grid scores one point. For the Cue giver, they will score one point for each player piece within the three by three grid. And that's the entire game. The game can play for as long as you wish, but the rules suggest that each player has a turn at being the cue giver twice. The game is incredibly simple but so much fun to play! As the Cue giver, there is a lot of satisfaction in coming up with a clever clue that sends people to the right part of the board. The scoring system encourages you to give good clues, so there is no reason here to deliberately mislead the other players. Some colours can be very difficult to direct people towards, but others offer great opportunities to score well. Either way, the second two-worded clue offers all players the chance to refine their clues and guess based on the information gained from the first clue and how people interpreted it. You will be surprised at how close most people come, most of the time! With so many colours on the board, you will be amazed at how each of your family and friends interpret simple clues like grass or sky so differently! Something that seems so obvious to you, often is taken completely differently by another player. The sky could by at night, or during a sunset, or in winter, or summer! But of course, I am just being nice. It clearly should have been sky blue! What were they all thinking?! Playing as the guesser, you need to try and interpret not just the clue given, but the person giving the clue. How do they see the world? How specific or general are they being? Do they actually know that some Crocodiles are actually more brown then green? Hues and Cues works brilliantly with all ages and player counts. There are 10 different colours of player pieces, but you can always use other things to mark your guess on the board and your score, or play in teams. You can play for as long as you like, and bring in other rules to suit the needs of the group. Perhaps you could add in a third acting round of clues. Or, maybe even the guessers can ask one 'yes or no' question each? There are many ways to make this work for your group. Hues and Cues would suit any group looking for a new simple to learn and play party game. This is jumping right up my list for games to bring out when I have non-gamers at my house. The board is so striking and the rules so simple, I think most people would be attracted to this game very quickly. The debate, laughter, and fun created from the games I have played have been immensely enjoyable and I look forward to this hitting the table many more times. The simplicity may put some more serious gamers off. But there is a lot of ways to make this game scale up as well. We tried playing a game where we gave clues that could only be names of other board games. It was great fun! It suited the group really well, and the interpretations of colours to popular games was surprisingly hilarious!

Dungeon Academy WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Paper Dungeons, Cartographers, Railroad Ink Published by: The Op Designed by: Julian Allain Dungeon Academy is such a simple game. Initially I was unsure why I was quite so drawn to it. The art is simple. The rules are light. But the game play is thoroughly entertaining. There are a lot of things here that just work well. The sense of accomplishment when you come out of a dungeon alive, and sometimes even better off, is strong. Beating the clock and getting out of the dungeon before the time runs out (if you play that way!) adds a lot of tension and satisfaction. And the missions along the way make this feel like a real adventure. In Dungeon Academy you are playing as brave adventuring scholars, fighting monsters and collecting potions. Trying to outscore your fellow students to gain your Dungeon Academy Diploma. Something you didn't even know you wanted until now right? Set over four levels, players will pit their wits, bravery, and coolness under pressure against each other to see who can be crowned top of their class to get the first pick of the post game biscuits. The game is set up using dice. 16 dice are randomly placed into the dungeon lid. You then place the dungeon itself into the lid that is filled with the dice and flip it over 180 degrees to drop the dice into the dungeon and set up the first game. When all players are ready with their dungeon map, pencil, and 'can-do' attitude, the lid is removed and the timer started. The timer can be set to 1 minute for an easier game or 30 seconds for a harder one. We play without a timer with my youngest and the game still works very well. I will explain the differences later. Once the game has begun, each player is assessing the dungeon as they see it from their own position at the table. There is no top or bottom. The dungeon is how you see it. Players can enter the dungeon from any space, they must not travel over a space they have already visited, and you cannot move diagonally. Other than that, you can do as you wish. You could enter in the top left space, move one space down and then immediately exit if you like. Or snake round, and visit each space. It is entirely up to you. As you travel through the maze of rooms, you will encounter various monsters along the way. Initially, the monsters come in four simple varieties. Large and small. Red and blue. Each player will start with a varying amount of blue and red potions based on the character they chose at the start of the game. The game comes with ten different adventurers to chose from, each with their own special powers and starting potions. When you encounter a monster, you must spend the right type of potion to defeat it. Red for red, blue for blue. The large monsters require two potions in order to be victorious. You can collect additional potions through the dungeon, but you must calculate your running total in your head as you go against the time pressure and speed of the other players. As mentioned, you can vary the amount of time allowed to do this based on your personal choice. I often play without a timer at all as the game comes with a clever mechanic of adding another type of time pressure, but without the possibility of complete failure for not exiting before the time runs out which can be too stressful for some players. Once you have exited the dungeon, you will claim the card with the number one on. The second player takes the number two card and so on. This determines the order in which you will get to pick from the available treasure cards. If your journey through the dungeon was a successful one. This means the the last person out of the dungeon will have the final pick on the treasure but they will have time to get out. There is still a pressure if you want to have a better choice of treasure, but not so much that you cannot finish the round. Ideal for younger and less experienced players. Once all players have taken a card, or the time is up if you are playing that way, players will then use the teacher standee to demonstrate the route they took. This is a fun way to show off your clever plan, and hopefully, prove you had enough potions to do it! I enjoy looking at how each player tackled the same task in different ways, and how each player used their own set of skills to maximise their points tally. They will place the appropriate potions on one of the top four spaces on their score sheet as they move through monster spaces; and acquire additional potions from the pool when they are able. Players who successfully manged to get in and out of the dungeon without breaking any of the movement rules of succumbing to any of the monsters can then claim their treasure and points. Players will score one point for each monster they defeat, and then add any potential bonus points from any previous treasure cards they have or personal player powers they posses. There are also four missions shown on the bottom on the player sheet which you can score if completed. They require different combinations of monsters to be defeated that round, the two red ones both large and small, the large and small blue, etc. If you complete at least one of these, you can pick one to score that round, and gain an additional one point for each monster of the type of mission you are scoring that round that you defeated. For example, if you successfully fought two large red monsters and one small red one, you could get three extra points for the first mission. There are four missions and only four levels, and as only one mission can be scored each round, you need to try to complete one each time you enter the dungeon. In the second round you will remove one die at random and replace it with the Labyrinth dice, and in the final fourth round you will replace another die with the Boss die. These replacement dice bring added elements into the game. The Labyrinth die brings certain restrictions to the routes you can take when moving through this space. There is also a banana peel which takes one gold from your total if you move through it, and a purse that rewards you with one gold. The boss die introduces extra monsters to fight. The Troll requires three red potions but rewards you with three gold. The Lich has the same reward but requires three blue potions. The Dragon requires three red and three blue potions in order to defeat it, also for a reward of three gold. The Chest will give anyone who travels through it two gold. There is one dice face which simply blocks your path, and a final key space that if seen, must be moved through into order to exit the dungeon. These dice bring a lot of replayability to the game. As only one side of the dice is seen each game, each final round will be a little different. Playing Dungeon Academy feels highly satisfying throughout. The game is simple and can be explained and played with most people of ages 6 and up within a few minutes. But the enjoyment that comes from successfully navigating a dungeon in a clever way is highly rewarding. The potions you use up each round must be carefully monitored as they do not regenerate between rounds. You don't want to enter the final round with under three potions of each colour ideally in case the Dragon shows up. You can always avoid fighting monsters, but then your points total will be lower. There is an element of push your luck in this game which brings a lot of fun. The possible paths through the dungeons are obviously very high! It all depends on your own bravery, and risk/reward levels. Do you want to go big early to try and get first dibs on the treasure in the early rounds, to try and race ahead in the points total. Or do you try to build up slowly but in a steady way in order to be better prepared for the final rounds when the monster gets tougher and the rewards bigger. The treasure cards can give you opportunities to score extra gold for doing certain things in later rounds. Some will allow you to fight certain monsters for free without requiring potions. Others can be a complete waste of time such as the Rubber Duck! There are 20 cards in all, and there will be one per player available each round. So long as you successfully navigate the dungeon. This game is the perfect filler. It takes just 20 minutes to play, offers a fun and rewarding challenge, and feels fresh each time it hits the table. There is a small amount of luck involved regarding the dice rolls, but enough free will and choice to mitigate this. I like the pressure to get out first so you can pick from the treasure cards before the other players. But there are times when I don't even try and rush, I just plan my route as carefully as possible. Sometimes because I can see there are a lot of points available or other times because I am low on potions and don't want to risk dying. If you do fight a monster without the required potions, you are not of the game, just that round. And your potions will reset to the starting allocation. I have seen this done intentionally once, as the player saw it as a better way to prepare for the subsequent round. But this is rare! The dungeons obviously look different each game. The mechanism by which this is done is very smooth. The dungeon that you build feels sturdy and functions very well for this purpose. The lid adds a nice touch of drama too. The reveal when all players are ready feels like the lid being lifted from a fine meal in an old school restaurant. I like the tension this builds and then the race to interpret what is revealed before your eyes. I would thoroughly recommend this game to anyone looking for a new filler game, or something to play with their children. There is some pressure here, but as discussed, you can remove the timer to mitigate this. I have found my children really enjoy this game as much as I do, and due to its simplistic nature and length, it has seen a lot of plays and will continue to do so for a long time to come.

Before I start, I want to make clear this is a spoiler free review. The Adventures of Robin Hood WBG Score: 9.5/10 Player Count: 1-4 You'll like this if you like: Legends of Andor, Forgotton Waters, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. Published by KOSMOS Designed by Michael Menzel There are many storytelling and narrative games on the market, but I would argue, none that offer as smooth or elegant an experience as this new release from Kosmos Games. The Adventures of Robin Hood is designed and drawn by Michael Menzel, the genius behind Legends of Andor and this game very much has flavours of that, in its look, design and rules. If you were a fan of that game, I think it highly probable you will love this one too. Robin Hood, Robin Hood. Riding through the glen! The game is set on the edge of Sherwood Forest, next to Nottingham Castle and its surrounding village. The board is a beautiful piece of art that starts with minimal icons, words or images other than the drawings itself. It instantly grabbed me in its simplicity and beauty, but it also has so many hidden treasures buried within. The game gracefully introduces you to the mechanics of movement and your available actions in the first level tutorial which you will be playing within minutes of opening the box for the first time. There are no rules to learn bar the clever movement mechanic; you just start playing. Each character has five pieces to it. Two miniature figures, two short movement pieces and one long one. When you want to move to a new position on the board within the forest, castle or village, you cannot simply pick it up and move it like most games. There are no spaces on the board to traverse between. This is more of a real-world experience, where you can travel as far as your character can manage 'energy wise'. You lay out your movement figures, avoiding any tree, character, building or obstacle, and reposition your figure as far as you can get it physically. This is not a real-time but 'real-geography' movement game! With that learnt, you now know enough to start the first game. Inside the box, along with the character figures, beautiful board and various wooden pieces is a hard back book. It looks like a leather-bound Robin Hood novel, and will be your go to for learning, playing and experiencing everything else in this game. Every part of the board that you interact with has a number associated with it. Then, depending on which chapter of the game you are playing, you will turn to the appropriate page in the book and read out the next part of the story, often giving you a choice to make in this branching adventure. It all works like clockwork and plays out like a wonderful winding campfire adventure. A tale that you are very much part of. Robin Hood, Robin Hood. With his band of men. At the start of the game, you make a choice as to which hero you will play. Robin Hood himself. Little John, Maid Marian or Will Scarlet. In a two player game you can easily play as two characters each, and it's also possible to play all four yourself in a solo. I played most of this in a three, using all four characters. The game has a very good mechanic for leveling out the difficulty and balance depending on the number of characters in the game. As such, I didn’t play with four characters when only three people were playing to make it easier. It was more as I was determined to not miss any of the story. I liked the idea of having more characters to do more things, but there are some stories that seemed to only happen when certain characters where in the game, and it was this that lead me to play with all four characters. There is no real difference to the characters other than their colour and the odd specific task for one of them as directed by the book. But no matter who you play as, you will be involved throughout. And each decision should be undertaken in a cooperative manner anyway. This is group game. You are all trying to achieve the current chapters task. Each game follows a chapter in the book and continues the story following on from the previous one. There will be a specific mission and objective for each chapter, which once done, ends that particular game. You will be trying to achieve this against the ticking clock of the game which sets a certain amount of turns for each player count. This is managed excellently through one single bag. In this bag will be a mixture of different things. I don’t want to go into it too much for fear of spoilers. But they are all different size and shape so easily identifiable when rummaging in the dark. One of these things will be disks specific to each player. Drawing these out one by one determines who takes the next turn. But there will be other coloured disks that will enact the AI of the game. Part of this will be the ever-reducing time allowed in the game to complete your current mission. Complete the objective before the final hourglass is removed and you are victorious. Each chapter offers you two main attempts to complete it, with a clever mechanic and specific wording in the novel adjusting depending on whether it’s your first or second attempt. Feared by the bad. On your turn, your main options other than moving, are to interact with a specific thing or person on the board, give things in your possession to other players, or to fight! This is done through the simple act of removing small cubes from the bag. You have three attempts to pull a white cube, from the mix of white and violet ones. This becomes increasingly more difficult as many more violet cubes are added to the bag as the game progresses. But failure has no major effect other than a wasted turn, and will at the very least, mean that three violet cubes from the bag are removed as compensation for your failure. Thus, increasing your odds for the next attempt. When you defeat a soldier, you will flip over their image on the board to show the reverse side, which generally speaking will be empty land. You will then place a sand timer over the top of where they were, to show they cannot immediately reappear. This area is then safe for your characters to be in. Things like this make you think how clever this game is. This feeling is a regular one experienced in this game. At particular points you will flip over a part of the board to reveal a certain character or object. This could perhaps have moved from another place on the board. As such, another tile will flip to show it disappearing and something else being left in its place. The whole mechanic is so clever and works so well, and like an advent calendar, offers constant and exciting surprises for you to reveal as you play the game. The initial board looks beautiful. Like a work of art. But it is fairly empty. This is because, hidden within it, in multiple places, are small, medium sized, and large tiles, waiting for you to flip them over. Come the end of chapter four, the board will look totally different to when you started. And there will be a lot more surprises and story to come. Loved by the good. All of which brings me to the reason why I love this game so much. The story is engrossing. The art is sumptuous. The mechanics are smooth and original. But what makes this game stand out is the absorbing way in which the game draws you into its clutches. From minute one, I found myself entirely consumed by this game and what it was trying to show me. There has been so much thought and care put into the design of this. As a player, you cannot fail to appreciate it. The best way I can describe this is by comparing it to a theme park. Bear with me! If you have ever been to one, a good done, you will know what I mean. Looking around and seeing the attention to detail that has been put in all around the place. Seeing those little finishing touches in the queue, fence, signpost, or pavement that makes you think how much love has been put into every last little thing. It makes the overall experience better. It is why we have theme parks and roller-coaster parks. There is a difference. One just wants to you enjoy the ride. The other wants to wrap you up in a theme from your first step and make everything you do feel special. It’s not that less focus is put on the ride itself. More that more attention is put on the overall experience including the ride. This is what this game is doing. This is how it feels when you play it. Imagine a game that teaches itself to you? Well, this is that game! Robin Hood. Robin Hood. Robin Hood. After my first game I rated this as a 10/10. I knew I was too quick to make any significant judgement, but I felt strong in my belief that after completing it, I would not feel that different. Having now played the game multiple times, in different player counts, and trying out different story arks and methods, I can safely say that my initial judgment has been confirmed. This game feels special because it is special. OK, maybe I was a little caught up in the first game hype, but it is certainly still close to a ten for me. Some people may not like the games simplicity of game play and over reliance on story. Which I would respect. But if you want a great story telling game then this could be one for you. What it does with the board, rules, and a few other surprises, are all excellent. But it is the story at the end that will make you either love or hate this. And I for one am ready to join Robin and his band of merry men and women and have many more adventures. I am confident this game will see multiple expansions like Andor has done. And the second they are out I will be buying them. This truly is an excellent game.

Before I knew anything about this game, I was excited as this game just looks epic! The big box. The large array of components. The stirring art. This is a preview copy with only about one third of the final components and it’s still overflowing with gameplay, which tells me the final copy is going to be something very special indeed. You can find the Kickstarter campaign here. The basic premise of Heroes of the Shire is fighting monsters. You start as a level one adventurer with access to an exciting array of spells and fighting moves. And with the promise of a whole lot more! Either in solo or with friends or enemies, your job is simple. Go out and fight. There are two ways you can play the game. There is a battle royale mode where you will be fighting your friends in the Arena in a last person standing skirmish. And a campaign version, where players will battle their way through a series of hexes towards the end of level monster. Included in this preview was enough components for three of these campaign levels and four different characters to choose from in either campaign or Arena mode. The final version will have a whole lot more but the flavour of the game can certainly be assessed here. So, what is that flavour? I would say that this has a blend of different styles. From the grind and leveling up of Dark Souls, the adventure and story of Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth, and the fighting of Direchism. This all combines to a highly satisfying game experience and I am eager to see what the full final version of the game looks like. The part of this game that I think will appeal to people the most is the player boards. Each character has a unique board, all set with a specific group of spells and attacks. Each character is different and very much mouldable. There is a choice to make in the path you take when it comes to upgrading your character when you level up. It’s not a linear path. You can choose what areas and skill sets you want to develop. It is this flexibility combined with the variety of new powers available that makes this part of the game a stand out feature for me. And you don’t even get all the final characters from the game in this preview copy, so there may well be even better things to come! But the highlight for me in this version was the Warlock character and their ability to go into ‘Demon Form’. One of the Warlocks spells, ‘Demonic Ritual,’ allows the Warlock to transform into ‘Demon Form.’ This gains the Warlock character 50% more health points and access new to abilities and spells, including immortality for two turns and the ‘Demonic Ritual’ which allows you to increase different abilities for the next six turns. This transformation is achieved by placing a piece of card over your player board, changing your appearance and the spells and actions available to you. It feels deeply thematic in its design and rewards the player using the Warlock with some very exciting new powers. Other characters included in this preview version are The Paladin, Warrior, and The Hunter. These felt a little more Dungeons and Dragons in their origin, but still came with beautiful art and some real depth in the options available to them. Each spell and action has a different result and power. The game balances this with a clever ‘cool down’ effect whereby, after each use of every action or spell, you must place a dice on the space for that specific support or attack move. The ‘Marksmanship’ action for the Hunter for example, allows her to deal 50% more damage on her next spell and force the target to miss their next turn. Due to this spells’ huge power, it has a cool down of six. Meaning a dice with a value of six must be placed on it. Each turn, you will reduce the dice face by one until it is removed and that power can be used again. In the game, you will be taking it in turns to use one of your ‘Support’ or ‘Attack’ actions or spells to either ready a later move or act now. The turn sequence is a well-oiled set of rules which includes a small bit of character maintenance around your cool down dice and any temporary affects that have been added to your character. Before you have the chance to use any special abilities you have and then choosing which action you want to take. In Arena mode, this will generally be a series of attacks until the other player is reduced to zero health points. Whereas in campaign mode, there are a series of hexes to explore before you start any serious fighting! Treasure and armour will be acquired, actions will be taken, all in a series of battles aimed at not just completing the campaign, but also helping you to level up your character so that you can fair better in the Arena. The affects of the events in campaign made thus affect what you can do in the Arena, and this campaign/legacy style affect appeals a lot to me. Other than fighting, you will also come across different choices to make in the campaign mode. For example, you may spot what looks like treasure up ahead. Do you investigate further, or leave it knowing it may well be a trap? Decisions are made as a group before a player reads the card and reveals your fate. These action cards are opportunities to gain loot, temporary ‘buffs’ which increase your characters attributes, and also bring new foes to the table! Some of the characters have the opportunity to summon support characters to help them fight, such ‘Pets’ or an ‘Army of the Dead.’ Playing as the Hunter, you can summon a Wolf for one of you actions. This will add a ‘Wolf’ card next to your player board and this acts essentially as an extra player fighting along side you. They have their own turn in the turn order, abilities, health and opportunities to support you in a fight. There are also Boars, Birds, Bears and Snakes, all willing to come and help lend a hand, or claw, paw, trotter or tail! The ‘Spell mastery’ is where you can really develop your character in unique ways. Extra player boards are placed next to your main one, showing three main paths of development. Such as for the Warlock who has the choice to follow either a path of ‘Decimation,’ ‘Demon Form,’ or ‘Soul Harvesting.’ All jolly choices! Once per level, each player gains a power cube which they can use to unlock new spells and abilities. Once you have placed a cube in one box, on a later turn when you level up again, you can now place the next cube on the subsequent box or start on a new path. The choice is yours. It builds a tech tree of development of sorts and offers a lot of flexibility and freedom in the way you want to develop and use your character. There are a lot of symbols used in this game, but there is an excellent quick reference sheet and a brilliant turn by turn introduction to the arena mode which teaches you the game in a very user friendly and simple way. This is like the one found in Wingspan and Root. It is so smooth; it always makes me wonder when I use things like this why all games don’t do it. It’s a brilliant addition. There is a lot to be excited about in this box. I will continue to follow the development of this with close interest and look forward to the final version which you can read more about here.

Pie in the Sky WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Tobago Clank Ticket to Ride Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Hoby Chou, Vienna Chou If you are looking for a good family game to take your younger children's gaming to the next level, then My Little Scythe reviewed here, could be the one for you. If you have played My Little Scythe and love it, then you may be looking for ways to extend your fun beyond the ample game within the base box. The Wind Gambit is a brilliant expansion for Scythe, bringing ominous air ships to the table. Pie in the Sky does the same for My Little Scythe introducing one giant bright pink Airship into The Kingdom of Pomme. The airship is the center piece of this new expansion. It looks very impressive towering over the miniatures. This is done not just for aesthetics, but also as the ship is allowed on spaces occupied by the Seekers, flying over their heads. The size and tall stand allows for the Airship and Seeker miniatures to be placed on the same hex quite comfortably. The Airship comes into effect when players decide to 'Seek'. There are new cards to lay over the existing player mats which change the 'Seek' rules. In short, a new purple dice is now rolled along with the existing dice that moves the Airship. The dice will either land on a 'Six' allowing the active player to move the airship six spaces. Or, on a trophy symbol, allowing the active player to move the airship the same number of trophies they currently have remaining on their player mat. The Airship can go anywhere on the board, the only rule is that it must end on a space with either an Apple or a Gem. The players who moved the Airship, once moved, can then take the Apple of Gem from the space the Airship is on and move it to their Cargo hold space of their own personal Airship container. Or they can use their factions new power. Each fraction now comes with its own asymmetric power. Players can choose to use this when moving the airship. Other than the airship itself, this is the biggest change to the game, and it's awesome! There are ten new powers, one for each faction. Here are my favorites. There is a Telescope that lets you attempt any quest within the region that the Airship is currently situated in. Utilising the Spotlight allows you to place your token where the Airship is. On any later turns when you take the 'Make' action in the region that the Spotlight token is situated, you gain an extra Friendship or Pie. The Harpoon lets you place your token on the airship space. Then on later turns when taking the 'Make' action, if any Apples or Jewels have been placed on the Harpoon space, you can use these items as if they were your own. Using the Magic Vortex allows a player to discard a Magic Spell card to move up to three Apples or Jewels from other spaces onto the Airships current space. As the game plays quicker now with these additional powers, there are now five trophies required to win the game, rather than four. A three player game of this can still be completed in under thirty minutes. This is not a long game. The additional trophy requirement is a welcome one, not just for the game length, but also the challenge, and overall enjoyment of the game. With only four trophies required, I found My Little Scythe could end a little abruptly at times. The Airship itself looks great on the board. It adds some real presence and will look even better once painted! Any offers? (Joke) It has lovely detail and works very well in keeping with the existing art and miniatures. My Little Scythe is a great game for families. Set up it looks like a proper game. The game has cute art and brightly coloured components. But this is a 'gamer's game'. Simple and easy enough for my six-year-old to play. But also bringing enough to the table for my own enjoyment. I don't like it when family games aimed at younger players dumb down the game too much. It's not an attractive quality for me either when the game looks childish as well as playing that way. I have found that my children think the same. My Little Scythe finds the balance perfectly. It offers a proper gaming experience with attractive art and styling that is neither intimidating to the younger player, nor off putting to the adults at the table. With Pie in the Sky added, you have a few new rules. But nothing that adds any complexity to the game. I found my children loved playing with and moving the Airship. Although they did take a while to understand it was not their's throughout the game, but a universally shared component. An interesting concept for younger gamer's to grasp. The two new factions are fantastic. They fill the spots in the original box nicely. In fact the entire expansion fits into the original box well. Although the depth in the insert for the faction tokens is a little too short so these are now a little loose when packed up. But other than that, this is an expansion that has clearly been thought through from the beginning. I can highly recommend this expansion to anyone who enjoyed the base game, and would encourage any gamer with a young family to give this a try.

A War of Whispers WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Root, A Game of Thrones Published by: Starling Games Designed by: Jeremy Stoltzfus By Steve Godfrey Do you have a game that you love and you really want people to play and discover? When you go to give people your well thought out pitch for the game do you find that at that exact moment your brain wanders off to make a cup of tea and you end up spouting nonsense? I do and for me that game is A War of Whispers. Let's hope I do a better job of it here! Shhhh, it’s oh so quiet In a war of Whispers you’ll be dividing your loyalty between each of the five different clans in the game. How much of your attention each clan gets depends on how many points they’ll bag you at the end of the game. Before the game starts you’ll shuffle up your clan tokens and place them on your player board in one of the five spaces, each having a point value on them ranging from four down to minus one. Players will score points per city each faction owns and where their token is on your player mat. So for example if the bear clan has control of 4 cities and their token is in your 4 point space then you’ll get 16 points. It that token was in your -1 slot then you’ll bag yourself minus 4 point for that clan On a turn players will place two agents onto available action spaces on any of the different clan sections on the awesome circular board. On round two onwards you would remove an agent first before proceeding to place your two agents. Then going clockwise around the board players will take those actions. These will be things like adding units of that clan, moving units, attacking other clans and taking cards to be used later on. The brilliance here is that if there are any empty action spaces to the left of your agent then you get to perform those actions as well. This means that you can potentially have four actions to perform on a given round with that clan. Take advantage quickly though because those slots will fill up as the rounds progress. At the end of a round a player can swap the positions of two of the tokens on their mat, these then have to be placed face up and can’t be moved again for the rest of the game. The game ends after four rounds and players will score up. A Cunning Plan Area control games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and I can totally understand that. I enjoy them to a point but it’s easy to see why they can be divisive. It’s easy to feel picked on, especially if you're a new player who may pose an easy target. They can suffer from the problem that whoever can amass the biggest army quickest will win (that usually falls to a more experienced player) and sometimes, just sometimes getting attacked can feel a little personal. If you're someone who feels like that then please read on because I think A War of Whispers largely fixes all of that and may just be an area control game that you’ll enjoy! On the face of it a war of whispers is a standard area control game and a simple one at that. You add units to the board, move them and then fight. Even fighting is boiled down to a simple one for one system. Move five cubes into an opponent's four and cubes are removed on a one for one basis until none or one player's cubes are left. If this was your typical area control game then I would place it in the gateway game camp which is no bad thing by any means. What I love about this game though is that just by changing a few little things, like giving people access to all the clans really opens the game up and gives you so many options and strategies. If you find a favoured clan is losing ground then you have the option to use any of the other clans to take it back rather than having to go through the potentially slow process of building your forces again before you can retaliate. This includes using the clan that just took it off them and If you're able to make that happen in the same round then I’ll guarantee that you’ll want to let out an evil mwahaha. Despite all the evil laughs and sly manipulation, at some point, no matter how hard you try you may find that the clan you're pushing for may just be beyond saving. Don’t worry though because this game is the board game embodiment of the phrase “if you can’t beat them, join them” because the idea that you can swap your clans is a small one but brilliant. Rather than feeling that you’ve lost the game after a couple of rounds you can swap tokens and get back in the running. That doesn’t mean it’ll solve all your problems though because now everyone knows who you’re rooting for. They may not necessarily start gunning for you because your interests may align but the secret is going to be out. Let's get to those fixes I mentioned. A war of whispers keeps everything a secret so until anyone swaps clans no one knows who’s rooting for what clans, so being able to target a player because they're in the lead is rare. Even if you saw the opportunity for that kind of play it may turn out that that very same player is actually now pushing for the same clan you are, so helping them is your best bet. This is where I think the game leans into an almost semi co-op territory. Throughout the game you can get a rough idea where people's loyalties lie, that is of course unless they’re playing a great manipulation game. The question then remains whether or not to help them, possibly revealing your allegiances, or do you leave them to it hoping your interests align. A war of whispers isn’t about taking areas off of other players, it’s about taking them from the faceless clans. It’s not about attacking certain players because they backstabbed you in a game of TI4 because as I mentioned, you may actually be going after the same goal. It’s certainly not about amassing the biggest army because the way combat works means that your armies get thinned out pretty quickly the more you attack. War Stories Gather round everyone, are we all sitting comfortably? Excellent, because I want to tell you a story from the first game I played of A War of Whispers which I think captures everything that makes me love this game. A couple of rounds into the game I noticed that one player was leaning heavily on my most preferred clan and strengthening their position on the board. Rather than wasting agents to activate that clan I decided to leave him to it and turned my attention to my least favoured clan. Rather than push them into battles just to make them lose and make it obvious what I was doing (just in case someone tried to retaliate to it) I subtly nudged them into positions where I knew other players would do my job for me and take them out. Luckily for me I usually make random stupid moves so to everyone else this just looked like I had no idea what I was doing. After that I focused on the other clans and made sure they were doing what I needed them to. It was close, just as games of this usually are and I won. It wasn’t the win that drew me in. What had hooked me was the fact that you could make clever plays like this, the sneakiness, the manipulation, the idea that I could win a game by getting everyone else to do the work for me. All of that and it had been done without that “take that” style gameplay. Don’t get me wrong I love a good area control with some fun back and forth and a good scrap, but I love the idea of having a game like this in my collection that still scratches that area control itch but one that I can potentially play with more people who maybe aren’t big fan of the genre. A War of Whispers is a simple yet strategic and clever game that has rocketed into my top ten games and is definitely worth shouting about rather than a whisper.

Rescuing Robin Hood WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Port Royal, Smash Up, Hit The Silk. Published by: Castillo Games Designed by: Bryce Brown Rescuing Robin Hood is by first-time designer Bryce Brown, who according to his video from the recent successful Kickstarter for this game, stumbled upon the idea for this kickstarter after making it initially for friends, and then realising it was actually rather good! The innocent nature of the origins of this game seem present throughout this entire production. The game employs a number of interesting mechanics that blend together very well. I can see why the early play-testing went so well. In Rescuing Robin Hood, players are assigned roles as one of Robin Hood's band of merry men and women. There is some minor asymmetry here which will affect your game. Across four rounds, players will be looking to fight off the Sheriff of Nottingham's soldiers to rescue as many villagers as they can, so that on the fifth day, they can siege the castle and rescue their fearless leader. How to Play Players will draw four cards from their eight dealt villagers, and then track their accumulative powers of Wit, Brawn, Stealth, and Jolliness. This is the total shown on their four drawn cards and their leader card chosen at the start of the game. You will then attempt to fight off the three groups of soldiers protecting the villagers set up for that round. The Soldiers are lined up each round based on the scenario card you are using, face down protecting the villagers. Only the final soldier will be face up so you can see what skills they have. Your choice of how you attempt to fight them off will be largely determined by what area you score the highest in. But it will also be in part, chosen by what skills the other players around the table have, as unused brawn can be given to other players. If you attack with Wit, you will play against each solder one by one. Deducting the soldiers wit score from your total as you go. Each time you fight, you can stop if you choose and remove the Soldiers you have so far outwitted. But if you continue and end up becoming outwitted yourself, all the soldiers you had so far defeated remain in play. To attack with Brawn you will need to take on an entire row. This is an all or nothing attack, but of course you can chose which line to attack, and can take unused brawn from the other players. You can also attack with stealth which requires players to take on specific guards of your choice. You can pick which guards you want to attack, face up or face down but they must all be attacked at once. You don't have to take on every guard in a row or take them on in the order they were dealt, but if your total doesn't beat the chosen soldiers accumulative total, they all remain in play. How many will you dare to take on? Players can use their Jolliness to boost either of their other scores, or pass unused jolliness to the next player in the way you can do with brawn. You can also boost your attribute scores with Cookery skills, or use your Prayer ability to move soldiers position in the line, or two Prayer skills to defeat a solider altogether. Some villagers and leaders also come with a Scouting ability which allows you to flip face down cards over so you know what you may be up against. Players need to work together and ideally each focus on different types of attacks so the brawn can be shared. One player taking out a row with their stealth followed by fighting a few others on another line with their wit, before passing over their unused brawn to the next player to take out the remaining guards; is a much more efficient way then each player all using brawn themselves. You will have two attacks each turn, and any villagers left unsaved will remain captured. Any villagers saved will move to the Major Oak, where at the end of the round players can recruit them to join their next attack. As such, your hand is constantly improving, giving you a better chance against the harder soldiers that appear in the later rounds. Once you have battled through days one to four, day five begins in which your attempt on saving Robin Hood begins. All players will discard down to four, keeping their strongest villager cards. These are then used in one final assault which plays just like any other round, except now you must begin by storming the castle which has a score of 24 in all areas. If you get through this, you must then defeat the two rows of guards protecting Robin and all the unsaved villagers. If you are successful here, you win the game. However, you can go on, now with Robin in your team and one extra turn granted to you, to try to defeat the guards protecting the Sheriff, and take him on in one final battle. His score is determined by the amount of imprisoned villagers in the game prior to the castle assault. This variable can be huge and sometimes, quite difficult to take on. What I like about this game. Playing Rescuing Robin Hood is a constant juggling of numbers. Your attributes scores and the villagers you will potentially end with. There is a delightful mix of push-your-luck and deck construction, all whilst building up to the end-game finale. This mix of mechanisms works very well, and creates and constant sense of tension. Players will be thinking about their potential final four villagers, and what type of villagers they need to recruit to get the ideal final fab four. The three different ways to attack bring a real sense of engagement. You will feel very much involved throughout this game. On other players turns, you will add your strategy and advice as players pick the right way to take on the assorted guards. The choices on your own turn very much affect the other players around the table. This is a co-operative game after all. Players working together to combine their skills will always have a better chance. I found playing Rescuing Robin Hood very addictive. It's hard to win this game every time. Especially with the final hurdle of defeating the Sheriff. But the game is quick enough to play multiple times, and as such, I have never played this game just one time. Each session always ends up with at least two games as I try to overcome the final battle. So far, in eight games, I have only done this twice. The game is not difficult, but it has a good level of balance between your powers and the soldiers you are up against. There are plenty of scenarios to set up the game, based on the player count, with different options for each. This is to add variety and extend the games replay-ability I expect, but really it does not make a huge difference. The variety here comes from the Villagers which you are dealt and recruit, and the choices you make in how you fight, and the luck you get therein. The game also comes with a back story for all the villagers in the game. This was a kickstarter extra. It is a nice to have, but adds nothing to the game. The art is great. It has a very stylised, simple form, but works very well for the theme and game. It feels playful, bright and vibrant. I like that the effort has gone in to make all the villagers unique and their powers all make thematic sense. Game Variants The game also comes with an accelerated mode which allows you to play the same game in three rounds instead of five. I tried this once and it is fine, but does feel a little rushed and takes a bit of the "event" out of the game. But is a nice option if you are in a rush. The Expert mode adds challenge cards to the game, a different way to score points based on the challenges you face, with a target score shown in the rule book. This is very enjoyable and a nice add on when you have got used to the game. There is also a solo mode, one where you can play two hands yourself, and another which gives you two extra days to recruit villagers. Overall, I have really enjoyed this game. I will certainly keep it in my collection as it adds a unique twist to the push-your-luck deck construction genre, and feels quite unique in how it plays. I would like to work out ways to fairly play with more people, I am sure variants will appear soon! I think this could be an excellent game in an eight.

We talk with Giuliano, the lead Editor behind Golem, the recent Essen Spiel smash hit from Cranio Creations. We discuss how the game took on this intriguing theme and the efforts the team at Cranio creations went to ensure they covered the Jewish heritage in the right way. We also talk about what makes this game so exciting, why Giuliano thinks it became such a hot game at the recent Spiel, and Cranio's plans for 2022.

Clank! A deck-building adventure WBG Score: 8 Player Count 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Marvel Legendary, Hero Realms, Deep Sea Adventure Published by: Renegade Game Studios and Dire Wolf Designed by: Paul Dennen by @stevegodfrey77 I’m sure at one point all of us have had to sneak round the house. Either because we came in late one night, got up early or even just snuck downstairs for a midnight snack. I also think it’s safe to say that in at least one of those instances that you’ve made a noise that sounds not too dissimilar to a volcano erupting! If that’s happened to you then good news because game designer Paul Dennen has made a game about exactly that!!! Except he’s made it into a fantasy theme with a dragon or something. If you go down to the keep today… In clank players are playing as thieves who are delving deep into a dragons keep to try and bring back valuable artefact to the surface to see who is the best thief. Because nothing says genius thieves like silly bets involving dragons! Clank! Plays like a standard deck builder to a point. First you draw five cards from your deck and either play them all one by one or all together, either way is valid but you must play all of your cards even if they have a detrimental effect. Aside from the text on the cards which will trigger when played, each card has either a skill icon which is used to buy new cards from the supply. A sword icon which is used to fight monsters or a boot icon which lets you move through the dungeon. Clank has a difference to regular deck builders which is obvious when you see the huge board. Clank has you using boot icons on your cards to move through the dungeons various paths to delve deeper and deeper into the keep to collect artefact, treasures and gold. Each boot lets you move to an adjacent space on one of the multiple routes down into the dungeon but not all the spaces can be accessed easily. Some routes require you to use two boot symbols to move, some are only accessible in one direction (Harry Styles not included in the box). Some will lead you into crystal caverns but require you to stop. Presumably to take the fantasy equivalent of a selfie in the beautiful looking cave. Some routes can only be accessed if you have the key which is available from the market space inside the dungeon, because where else would you set up a successful business venture than in a dark keep guarded by a dragon! The last obstacles are monsters in the tunnel which make you take damage for every monster in the tunnel unless you use a sword symbol on your card. I mentioned detrimental effects on cards. This usually comes in the form of clank. Clank is basically noise and each time a card informs you to add clank you add one of your coloured cubes to the supply. But a little bit of noise is fine right? Well yes, that is until the dragon attacks. These occur when a card is replaced in the market with one showing a dragon symbol. All cubes in the clank space are added to a bag which also contains some black dragon cubes and a number of cubes are drawn from the bag depending on where the dragon is on the rage track. Black cubes are set to the side whilst any coloured cubes are placed as damage on that players health track. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. The game can end in one of a few ways. First, once a player has gained an artefact and got back out of the dungeon. From then on their turns will be spent moving along a track activating a dragon attack but pulling out extra cubes depending on the space they’re on until the 4th space which will knock out all the other players, at which point scoring will happen. The other way is if either everyone makes it out of the dungeon, everyone is knocked out or a combination of both. Either way you’ll score up all your artefact, treasures, gold and points on cards…….there is one twist however, if you are ever knocked out and you’re not out of the depths of the dungeon then you don’t get to score! I’ll get to that later. “I am king under the mountain” I’m not the biggest fan of deck builders. I have one or two that I like but it’s not a mechanic that I gravitate towards. Throw in a new spin on it like Clank! does and I’m invested. At the core of it Clank! is a really simple deck builder, in fact I’d be happy to use this game as someone’s first introduction to deck building. But the simplicity means that it doesn’t detract from the rest of the game. The game makes every card important throughout the game. Most of the time (when I play deck builders anyway) there comes a point in the game where money for new cards stops being useful. But here buying new cards, while maybe not useful for your deck can still net you victory points so you never find yourself wasting those skill cards even in the last throws of the game. Deck building isn’t the only cool mechanic though. Clank! Has you delving into a dragon's keep and searching for treasure and like a lot of great games this has lots of paths to victory. No seriously, there are literally lots of paths you can follow as you go deeper to search for your ill gotten gains. With those paths comes the temptation to explore and head deeper into the dungeon because that’s where the better artefacts are hidden and this is where the push your luck comes into it, that’s where the tension comes into it. It’s a great feeling getting down deep into that keep but then you notice one of your opponents has started racing for the surface and that’s when that all encompassing panic sets in and you realise you have to get the heck out of dodge. That tension really sets the game apart as you race desperately for the surface and that feeling of just making it out can feel amazing, but when you just miss out, whilst being a little frustrating is also part of the fun you're sure to have while playing Clank! “Do you think flattery will keep you alive” Clank is not without its niggles though. It’s highly possible that you can end this game without scoring any points. Now usually I’m not a huge fan of this sort of rule in games, it makes the hour or so’s game play feel like you’ve put all the effort in for nothing and a bit pointless (literally). I’m willing to forgive it here though as, like I said above, it does add to the tension and is part of the fun. I’m aware though that this isn’t going to be the same for everyone though. The other thing is how quickly the game can end. We played one game where a player went into the keep about halfway, picked up an artefact and a few treasures and then “just because he could '' went and escaped the dungeon and triggered the end stages after only a short time playing. We still enjoyed what we played of the game but it did leave a bit of a sour taste. It is a valid strategy within the game, not a winning one by any means, but it’s not one I liked the experience of. Ultimately he lost the game so at least karma had our back! Clank! Is a lot of fun and mixes a simple deck builder with push you luck to create something that is brilliantly thematic and tense. For me Clank! Is a great way to introduce people into two staples of board gaming with a unique take on them both and a fun theme…….oh and a Dragon Meeple which is one of the coolest meeples I own. Thinking about it now, I probably should have led with that!