Between Two Cities with Capitals Expansions WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 1-7 You’ll like this if you like: Carcassonne, Kingdomino, Quadropolis. Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Matthew O'Malley, Ben Rosset There is a lot of confusion between the Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Between Two Cities and The Castles of Mad King Ludwig and I get that! I was confused too. But here is the simple history and my thoughts of Between Two Castles. Ok, all caught up? Great! Let’s talk about Between Two Cities. First up, how different is this to the follow up game Between Two Castles? Well in truth, not a great deal changed. Between Two Cities cemented the idea of playing with your neighbour, choosing two tiles to place either side of you into each city you are building, and point scoring based on your tile placement and set collection. So, all that is here in abundance. Castles and Cities The changes in Between Two Castles were largely around making the tiles you can place a lot more varied and the placement rules a little looser. These are Castles for a Mad King remember, not an organised council zonal controlled city! In Castles you can place the tiles into any shape you like, just as long as you obey each tiles own rules for position above or below ground. In Cities you have to form a 4x4 grid. (5x5 grid when using the Capitals expansion). As such, in Between Two Cities, the game is a simpler and more focused affair, using just six different types of buildings. Shops, Factories, Taverns, Offices, Parks, and Houses. Between Two Castles has many, many more! A lot of the positive talk around Between Two Castles is focused quite rightly around the beautifully designed ‘Games Trayz’ that hold the many tiles. In Between Two Cities the tiles sit loose in the box. There are bags if you want, but really you don’t need them. The lose storage assists the shuffling and set-up. And don’t worry about having to flip over tiles to be the right side when you open the box. Due to the quantity of tiles being so high, they fill the box entirely so tend to not flip over between games. As such, set-up is a very quick process. Choose and take your “City Token” and place it in front of you on the table. Take seven random tiles from the box (nine with the expansion). Get comfy in your seat. Maybe get a drink. Check your phone and away you go! I don’t usually have time for those other things, but it’s so simple in this game, I will allow it. The game operates almost as easily. From your seven tiles, you will choose two to keep and then you pass the other five to the person to your left or right depending on what round it is. Chose another two and place then and go again until you discard the final tile. There are a few rounds of this and well as a round with double sized tiles. Build your city, score your points. Simple. Scoring Scoring is very simple and quite different to Castles. Only the Shops and Parks have placement rules, although the Offices have a bonus based on this. The Shops and Parks score exponentially based on how many you have in a row or for the parks, simply adjacent. The Taverns score based on how many different types you get from the four different varieties. The offices score based on how many you have but with an extra point for each one adjacent to at least one Tavern And houses score between one to five points based on how many of the different types of buildings you have in your city. Your final score is the value of your lowest scoring city, and the winner is the player with the higher score. Two-Player and Solo Versions In the two-player variant you simply make two cities yourself and score the accumulative total of both. It is a great and simple two player option. There are two solo modes against the mighty Stonemaier Automa system and both work very well. Its quick to set up, score and pack away so ideal for a quick solitaire game. Capitals The Capitals expansion brings in three major changes. The Landscape mats, District cards and scoring tiles, and the Civic buildings. All of which add a small layer of complexity to the game, choices and scoring. They work essentially as three modules which can be added or removed as you see fit. The Landscape tiles are my favourite edition. They expand the game from a free-form 4x4 grid to a 5x5 around a natural background. Be that a lake, river or meadow. There are five tiles on each landscape mat that you cannot build on and others connected via bridges. You must place your first tile on the mat and then each subsequent tile touching one previously placed tile as in the base game. It makes the grid you form by the end a little more complicated, but also more visually stimulating and varied. I like the small challenge this adds but mostly appreciate the table presence things brings by not starting with just an empty table. The District scoring cards and tiles are a nice simple addition that affects the end game scoring. During set-up, six from seven cards are placed next to the three tiles, two for each. The final card is discarded. This then creates three groups of districts based on two building types for each. The player with the most amount of adjacent buildings of a specific type for each district will then score nine, eight or seven points respectively depending on which district it is. The person with the second most will score three, four, or five points. This is a nice simple addition that makes you think a little more about where you place each tile during the game. Previously, there was not a lot to focus your attention when it came to where your tile went. It was a more about which tile to pick. It’s nice to now think more about which tile you will pick and where you will place it. The final addition to the Capital expansion is the Civic tiles. This adds 21 new tiles to the base games 108. So, with 36 being drawn each game by each player you will most likely see a fair few each play. They are simple enough but do look a little complicated at first glance. Each Civic tile requires it to be built next to two specific types of other tiles. It will also show one type of tile you need to avoid. If you manage this you will score six points for that Civic tile. If it is next to just one type it will score three, and if you don’t get it next to any or it is next to the tile it wants to avoid, it will score one point. I have found the players I tried this with avoided taking these tiles in the draft until the later rounds. They are a little less attractive as they are harder to place and score easily from. I like the addition, and as these are all modular you can easily take them out if you don’t want them. But it was certainly the part of this expansion I was the least excited about. I like the simplicity of Cities. Against Castles it feels like a simpler game to set-up and start playing. And certainly, a quicker game to score! This expansion bridges the gap of complexity between Cities and Castles and would work well for people who only have Cities and want a bit more from the experience. But if you own Cities and Castles already and want a bit more, I would encourage you to just play Castles instead. But if you don’t own either yet, Cities with Capitals is the one for me. Cities is my preferred game between Cities and Castles. Mainly due to the ease of the teach, set-up and scoring. I will play with the Cities expansion every time I play now and bring in the landscape module from Capitals whenever I teach new players. I will then add in the district’s module for game two and Civic tiles for game three onwards. As such, I can see this making Castles a little redundant in my collection. Its probably only “normal” to have one of these two games. But being the huge fan of Stonemaier games that I am, and such an obsessive completist about these things, I really did want to have both. But with my consumer advice hat on, I would say go for Cities if you want a nice simple tile-laying game. Castles if you want more complex scoring. Or Cities with Capitals if you want the option for both.

Manifest WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Ticket To Ride, Venice, Clank! Published by: SchilMil Games, Ltd. Designed by: Amanda Milne, Julia Schiller What is it about ships that get me excited! I love all things nautical, but sadly get very easily get sea sick! So, a board game version is right up my street! Or canal, should I say? Manifest pits rival players against each other, in a Ticket to Ride style race to complete contract cards. Traversing the worlds oceans, picking up cargo and passengers and taking them to their required destinations. Like Ticket to Ride, it is a very simple game. But highly addictive! Set up Manifest has a gorgeous board. It shows a map of the world and the available shipping lanes and ports that you can sail to and from. Lay this out, stare at it for 5-10 minutes, then discuss places you have been too, want to go to, and generally enjoy yourselves for a bit. This isn't in the official rules for some reason, clearly an oversight. But does comes highly recommenced from WBG. Once that is done, give each player their chosen player board depicting their two ships and you can begin the game, but feel free to continue any residue conversations inspired by the stunning map of our beautiful world. Each player gets their starting cards for the deck building mode, or some randomly dealt actions cards if not. More on that later. Three contracts cards are then dealt to each player. One contract with a value of one, one at two, and a final one with a value of three. Players can chose to keep two of these and will then place their two Ships onto the board at any port of their choice based on which contracts they are going to start with. The discarded contracts are placed face up on the board, next to the face down contract pile. These are open contracts that any one can fulfill on a first come first served basis. Playing Manifest On your turn, players can play as many cards as they like from their hand and then draw back up to four in the normal game, or three when using the deck building cards. Each card can be used for one of three different actions. Firstly as money, to buy goods when at port, or buying new contract cards to try and complete. Secondly, as movement points, to change your ships location on the board, (ship movement noises optional, but encouraged). Or finally as the special action shown as text on the card. Special actions range from attacking other ships on the board, defending yourself against attacks on your ship, increasing movement, and many more. You can combine cards together to increase your movement or money available, and play as many cards as you like. Turns will be quick, and you will find that you can move around the board quicker than you might have thought. I found two player games to take just 30 minutes, and three to five player games generally over between 45-60 minutes. But this does depend on how long you want to play more than anything else. At the start of the game, depending on your player count and desired game length, you can set an end game points total to aim for. Once this total is hit by one player, all players then have one more turn and the game ends. As such, you can make this game last as long as you wish. Everything is infinitely salable. You could play for ever in theory. This game does not have any huge pay offs. But it does give all players regular, and constant moments of satisfaction. Completing contracts feels good. You can mark them off as done, hand over the desired cargo and or goods by returning them to general supply and move your newly completed contract to another part of the table. This feels good. If you are the sort of person that likes to create lists, mainly so you can tick things off later as it makes you feel good about yourself, this game may be for you! Variations One very simple way to amend this game is to give out one of the above cards to each player at the start of the game. They give out some minor asymmetric powers that are all very self explanatory, easy to use, but quite beneficial within the game. Some of the action cards allow for these player powers to be swapped during the game. If you do get one that you are not happy about, or cannot use as much, there are opportunities to change that. I introduced them from game one, and wouldn't ever see a reason to play without these. The deck building cards I brought in from game two, and again, wouldn't now play without them. They fully replace the action cards. With the deck building cards, each player will begin the game with the same cards in their own colour. Each player will shuffle and deal three to themselves. There is a deck of other cards that players can buy for three dollars on their turn, and for an extra dollar, discard a current card when they do this. The game completely changes into a deck-building experience which I love. Acquiring a new card that allows you to move six spaces, and then being able to use that a turn or two later to get you through a tricky situation feels great. Your power increases. Your ability to carry out more complex contracts at greater speeds improves. All this feels highly rewarding as all good deck-builders should. Moving around the board generally is a calm affair. There is the odd take-that power, but I found we generally favored the money or movement action on the cards over the text powers, take-that or not. As such the game did become a little solitaire. It was more a race to the end game points target. A satisfactory race, but lacking a little in interaction. It does irk me a little when interaction in games often leads to take -that. I do wonder why it cannot be more mutually beneficial. It's not just that I, as some others would agree, don't want to negatively affect other players around the table, especially when playing with my children, but I don't want to waste a valuable turn hurting someone else, when I could be helping myself instead. But you won't always have it your own way. The red routes on the board, which offer significant short cuts if you take them, represent an area of Ocean or Sea patrolled by Pirates. When you chose this way, you must roll the two dice to see what fate awaits you. If either dice face shows a number then the corresponding hold on your ship is emptied of any goods stowed there, but you can then sail on. If you roll the life preserver you are safe. If you roll two Jolly Roger symbols then your entire boat is sunk, all goods are lost, and you must remove the boat from the board. Don't worry, you can add it back safe and sound anywhere on the board on your next turn, but it is annoying! Dice used in this way represents a huge element of luck that can change the course of the game, but there is something you can do to prep for this, using the pirate defense card. There is some jeopardy here if you don;t have this card, but you can always carry two items when you only need one, to prep for any pirate attack losses. I found the Pirate routes ended up being actually useful as a way to try and get rid of unwanted items you may have picked up to try and complete an open contract, but missed out on. The only way you can offload items if not completing a contact is to stop at a port and pay a dollar to offload. This is annoying and feels inefficient to me. I prefer running the pirate gauntlet and hoping they would steal from me the things I didn't want! It felt naughty, like I was cheating the game! But it is mentioned in the rules as a recommended tactic. Overall, I really enjoy playing Manifest. I like the feeling of "being at sea," and the romance and adventure this brings. The game certainly feels like that. In truth, I admit I don't have to dress up in my sailor costume every game, but it does help! I like the option to play with or without the deck-building element. As I say, I don't think I will ever play again without it, even when teaching new players the game, it is simple enough with it and does make it a better experience. But I like the option. It feels less luck based and more rewarding when you're planning and manipulating your deck. When it is your deck that has got you to where you want to be, it just feels better. Like your earned it more. If you are looking for a family level gateway game like Ticket to Ride, and like the nautical theme, then I don't think you can ask for much more than Manifest. It has the right balance of game length, rules, strategy, and theme to be a perfect family experience.

Beast WBG Score: 8.5/10 Player Count 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Fury of Dracula, Letters from Whitechapel, Last Friday. Published by: Studio Midhall Designed by: Aron Midhall, Elon Midhall Rule book here This was a kickstarter preview copy. I did not have all of the final components or the double sided board that will come with the final copy. But I was able to play a full games on one map, with five different Beasts and many different combinations of six different hunters.* At first glance, this game looks stunning. The art and theme are beautifully atmospheric. But we have all been let down by good looking bad games before right? Well, after playing the game multiple times, I can tell you now, the game stands up to the art. This is a truly absorbing game that will pull you into its clutches. Making you think about it between games, and want to play again, over and over. But for now, just look at that box art! ...OK, have I got you back? No? No problem. Have another stare. I will be here when you are ready... Right, let's get to it. Beast is a stunning game. During your first experience with this, I would wager you will think this is a little too asymmetric. It feels unbalanced in favour of the hunters, and the rule book even suggests this may be the case. Not specifically in favour of one player, but that you may feel that you are falling behind in the game. It encourages you to stick with it if you fall behind early on. I found that my first two games saw quick and brutal victories for the hunters. But as we started to learn how to play the game with a little more stealth, and a lot more patience, the game evened up quickly. But let's rewind quickly and talk about how this all began. Beast has been made by first time designers Aron and Elon Midhall. How do people making their first game make one this good!? The game successfully funded on Kickstarter during 2021 and is currently available for pre-orders from the backerkit page here. In Beast, you are playing either as the Beast or the hunters. The Beast and the Hunters live in the same land, and due to reasons all to familiar with us all from real-life, they just can't seem to get along! Sadly, this means the hunters can only win if they weaken the Beats so much that the game gets to Night four, or they destroy the Beast entirely. The Beast however just wants to feed, although sadly, this takes the form of the Farmers and Nobles that have settled on its lands. If the Beast can take three of these settlers out before the forth night then the Beast will win. This sounds gruesome, but for some reason, it just doesn't feel like that in the game. I suppose as all you are actually doing is moving meeples from the board or adding heart damage tokens to a player board. *There is a second board and other missions and different victory conditions but I have not been able to try these with the prototype copy I have. Before you begin, players must decide who will play as the Beast and who will play as the Hunters. Provided with this copy were five Beasts and six different hunters. They all have their own different special powers and unique ways of using the action cards. You can play this game in a two player with one player controlling two hunters, but it works best in a three with two players controlling one hunter each and one playing as the Beast. The only variation between a two, three, and four player game is the drafting round, and for a four player game, how big the map is and how many Hunters there are. In a four player game the entire map is used, for a two or three player game the south east area is off limits to keep things tight. Players must sit around the table according to their role. In the picture above you can see the perspective from the Hunters viewpoint. The text on the board relevant to the hunters is the right way up and the item cards available to you are facing you. The Beast must sit on the opposite side to see their text, but more importantly, keep the players apart. This is a hidden movement game after all. Here is the view from the Beasts' perspective. Drafting Phase. The rules of the game are conveniently placed on the edges of the board and begin at Dawn with a drafting phase. Here, both hunters and the Beast will take cards and pass the others along, readying themselves for the day ahead. The cards work for both hunter and Beast with a simple top and bottom action. The top is for the hunters, the bottom is for the Beast. Players will be looking to take what they need whilst not giving away things their think their opponent might be after. Players will then add these drafted cards into their own specific player deck shown by the art of the back and to any Beastly Talents or Items them have unused from the previous rounds. The cards show either a red or blue circle action. On your turn in the day phase, you can play up to one red card and up to one blue card. Day Phase. Starting with the Beast, players will now take turns to play one or two cards to move around the board, search, hunt, attacks animals, hunters or other humans, or other specific actions such as for the Beast, deploying their summons. Each Beast has a unique summons. A secondary creature the Beast can call upon for help. The Bolgin for example, a giant frog like creature, can call upon three different Polyp's who once summoned, can move into neighboring areas and explode. In doing so they will give one damage to all creatures there and turn the area into a swamp, an area that favours the Bolgin. Each area on the board is one of four different land types. Swamp, Forest, Cave, or Settlement. This is important as each Beast has a favored terrain in which it can carry out special attacks, and some cards only work in certain terrain. The hunters in return, can lay traps in each of the four areas of the board, north east, north west, south east and south west, and do so across one of the four types of terrain. They can do so, in the knowledge of what areas the Beast they are fighting will be stronger in and be more likely to move into. The Beast starts the game in the central space on the map. It can then move two spaces, north, south, east, or west, hidden from the hunter players. The Beast does this by choosing two cards from a huge deck, and placing them face down on the board. This records their turn so it cannot be changed or forgotten, but keep secret. In the final version of the game there will also be a mini map that the Beast player can use to track their progress. This sounds very useful as I was often plotting my moves in my head as the Beast player and the Hunters were staring at my eyes and head direction as I did this! The Beast also has the option to play a no movement card. This is a good way to fool the hunters as from their perspective, it looks like you moved. You have played a card just the same. But of course, the Beast simply hid into the background. Waiting to pounce. The Beast will only ever reveal itself when it attacks or is found by the hunters from a successful hunt action. But the Beast will give away clues throughout the game as to its whereabouts. Firstly, and the main way this happens is whenever any hunter moves onto a location that was a space in which the Beast recently moved through. When this happens, the Beast must place a footprint token on that space to let the hunter know they found live tracks. The other way a Beast's location can be revealed it when it attacks, as the Beast leaves evidence of its presence either with an injured person or animal, or the complete removal of its prey. This is done either by adding a wound marker to the animal, hunter or human character it attacked and moving the Beasts marker to this space. Or, by removing the prey altogether if the attack was fatal. Each attack played in the game by all players, hunter and Beast, delivers just one damage. But players can upgrade their characters and powers to start to increase this in later days. The Beast can giveaway clues as to its location in other ways. If the Beast plays a card which can only be carried out on a certain terrain, then of course, the hunters will gain information from this. When the Beast adds a summons to the board, this must be done one or two spaces from where the Beast is. This again gives clues as to where the Beast may be. Some cards allow for multiple actions to be done and in any order the Beast likes. Move and Summons, Attack and Move etc. The hunters will not know which order these events took place. So, there is some mystery here. But as the Beast, you need to move with stealth and patience to avoid becoming an easy kill yourself. If you ever end your turn as the Beast with your location known, then you will become easy quarry for the hunters. Attacking and moving in the same turn, in that order, is key to the Beast's success. Night Phase. Once all the cards are played, or all players have passed, then the night phase begins. This allows players to upgrade their characters using grudges that they have earned in the day through various cards actions, or for the Beast as a result of attacking the Settlers, Sheep, Bears, and Pigs. The hunters have some interesting options but the real excitement here comes for the Beast's character. They have some very powerful, unique and interesting powers that will be game changing if you can get it right. Learning how these upgrades all work and getting to use them for the first time is a genuine thrill! Each Beast has the chance to turn all attacks into double damage, but the rest of the upgrades are specific to each one. They allow the Beast to move after an attack, transform nearby locations to their preferred terrain, add cards back into your hand after certain actions, and many more interesting powers. The upgrades are permanent throughout the rest of the game apart from the yellow circled ones which are one time actions. During the night phase, players will also check to see if they have fulfilled the specific contracts to that day's mission. There are two maps and two types of contract. I was only able to play on the Northstar Expanse map with this prototype copy, but this allowed for some interesting benefits to be won. The contracts add some focus to each days play and help each player develop their powers across the game. The Beast for example was rewarded with Ancient Power token which increases one attack by one attack point. The Beast can also get Beastly Talent cards, and Grudge points for killing Sheep, Pigs, and Nobles. The hunters are rewarded with grudge points and Watchtowers for damaging the Beast one, two, or three damage points on the first, second and third night respectively. The Watchtowers help the hunters see footprints across a wider territory. The game carries on for three days; or until the Beast is slayed or kills three Nobles or Settlers. I found that after a few games, we always at the very least got to the third day, and the game was always won with the Beast needing only one more kill to win, or the Hunters needing just one more successful attack on the Beast to be victorious. Games are often tight and very tense affairs. Hidden movement games should be tense. You should feel nervous and excited about hiding or searching. Beast gets this part just right! There are some very interesting cards that allow for brilliant moments in the game. In one two player match I had where I was playing as the Beast, I was too close to the hunters, and they knew where I was from a previous attack I had made. I played my Rush card to move three spaces away, and then my Beast's special Leap card which allowed me to move a further two spaces. This card could only be played from a Swamp though, so it did give a clue as to where I had been. My son (nine), playing as the hunter, then played the Prowl card which allows you to move one space, but then move one additional space for each space you move onto where you find some live tracks. He took a punt on the direction I had started and successfully tracked me five spaces to where I was now located. This sort of clever card play, combined with deduction, a little bit of guess work and luck; when it works out like this, brings a lot of joy to the table. Moments like this are common in Beast, and will keep you coming back for more. Beast is a phenomenal game. It works well in a two, and four, but I found to be best in a three. A two versus one is perfect for a game like this. One versus one works as the hunter has two hunters to control, but it just doesn't feel as fun. There is obviously a lot less table talk with two than three or four. Two or three hunters chatting between each other, strategising and plotting whilst the Beast listens is pure board game gold! This is lost in the two player format. In a four, you have more of this, but I found some elements of quarter backing where one player took a lead and tried to dominate what the other hunters did. It also felt tough as the Beast to have three players after you. Perhaps the other side of the board and the other daily contracts work differently for other players? I don't know yet. Playing as the hunter, tracking down and finding the Beast is wildly satisfying. To do so, you must first find a live track, then play your Hunt card to reveal the Beast, and then attack. The Beasts all have four or five health so you only need to do this a few times across the four days to win, but as this happens so rarely in the game, when you do achieve this, it feels great. For the Beast, you only need to kill three Nobles or Settlers. So, again, your attacks will be rare, but highly rewarding when you do pull them off. As your location is revealed when you attack, you need to do so when you can move away right after the kill, or when you are far away from any hunters. Both of these things is hard to achieve. When you do manage to achieve this, it feels great! Winning and losing at this game feels good. All games are close, so losing can be frustrating, but you will still feel like you had a great experience, and can credit the other players tactics and skill to best you. There is some luck in this, guessing which way the Beast has gone. But also a lot of strategy. When you win, it feels wonderful. Like you have actually achieved something. There are no victory points. No end game objectives. No second place ties. Just a simple kill or be killed, win or loose fight off. Thrilling, tense, tight gameplay all packaged into a tight game time. This game comes highly recommended from me. I cannot wait to try the finished version.

Komodo WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Carcassone, Cascadia, Kingdomino Published by: SchilMil Games, Ltd. Designed by: Amanda Milne, Julia Schiller Rule book here* Do you like the tile laying simplicity of Carcassone? Do you enjoy the satisfaction of housing animals in Cascadia? Well then, Komodo could be for you! Komodo combines the satisfying beauty of matching tile placement with the constant 'mini-objective-completion-rewards' seen in Cascadia into one simple, family friendly game. Let's take a look. Komodo is from SchilMil, a New Zealand based publisher known most for their 2018 hit, AuZtralia. The Schil coming from Julia Schiller and the Mil coming from Amanda Milne. Komodo has a slightly strange introduction in the flavour text in the rule book, about an impending asteroid about to hit the South Pacific. I am not sure why that is there, but the game itself is a joy and really has nothing to do with asteroids! How to play. In Komodo, players are looking to place tiles into a communal area to build up areas of either desert, water, forest or grassland to create a safe habitat for your animals. Each player will start the game with two animal cards chosen from three that were dealt to them, and five terrain tiles. On your turn, you can either swap out some of your tiles and cards for new ones, or place as many tiles down as you like and house an animal. *In the most recent rule book it also allows you to stock up by drawing two animal cards and two terrain tiles, or any combination of three in total. This is not present in the original 2012 rule book which instead says at the end of your turn, you draw back up to five tiles and two cards. The animal cards show the points available if you can safely house them, but also the space required for them to be happy in their new home. The Tasmanian Devil for example will get you 10 points at the end of the game if you can safely house it within a landmass of at least 10 spaces in the grasslands. The Tiles themselves are three by three tiles, each with nine spaces on, made up of a mixture of different types of land. The game starts with the Komodo tile in the center and the placement rules could not be more simple. When you place a new tile on the board it simply has to touch another tile, along one full side, with one matching land area. You could complete a square of four tiles by placing a forth tile into the bottom right space, that matches one side of one tile of the left but not the one above it for example. Only one side needs to match. Building up the tiles couldn't be simpler. But it is not just about finding a place to place a tile, more building up the required land space you want based on the animal cards you have in your hand. All animals not yet housed can be seen from the as yet, unplaced animal standees, so you can get an idea for what is in the other players hands and the deck. This is helpful to avoid building up a land mass you think another player could use before you do. Learning and teaching this game couldn't be simpler. Becoming a master of the strategy takes more time, and it s a lot of fun to learn! As a test of the simplicity, in the picture below, can anyone see the one tile that has been placed illegally? Each time you place an animal you can take one of the available face up Wild cards. These offer a variety of powers such as being able to rotate and move tiles that have already been placed, draw extra tiles or cards and still take your turn, or make a rival neighbors animal escape. To stop this from happening to your own animals, you can lock their location. You only have three locks, so you will want to hold onto these until you place a higher value animal. Animals cannot be placed into habitats that have other animals there already, but there are a few animals that come in twos, and they are happy to be placed with each other. Otherwise, you need to have a barrier created by a different land type to start a create a new area for each animal. *Once you have finished your turn, you will draw back up to five terrain tiles and two animals, and play passes to the next player. Or play just passes if you are playing the new rules. The game will end when one player only has three tiles in their hand for the original rules or when there are no tiles or cards left for the new rules. Each player will then have one final turn before the scoring phase takes place. Each player will add up each housed animal and then subtract the value of any un-housed animal. Games move quickly, and it will be rare that you will not be able to house an animal on your turn at the beginning or middle of the game. But near the end, space will become more of a premium, and using the wild card powers to either relocate another players animal or force one of their animals to escape to create space for you will be crucial to your success. If you don't like take-that in games, you can easily just remove a few cards to stop this. But it is useful in these finals stages to have these powers. Building up a larger land space can take a few turns, but leaving a large area without an animal in could mean a rival player will use this space for their own animals before it comes back to you. Generally speaking you want to try and house an animal at least once per turn, build up your land and then claim it. But this is not always possible with the larger areas that some animals require. This is a race game in part. Sure, it is about who gets the most points, but the game is on a clock, based on the tiles running out and space being available. If you don't house the animals quickly, then you may be out of time. The tension this creates provides a lot of entertainment for me. I enjoy trying to do things before it is too late. It is very satisfying to me to achieve things like this in games, and this game has a lot of this. You need to try and see what types of land the other players are building up to see if they may benefit from you what you plan to do. What animals have been placed already. And what animals are still left to be house. I like trying to make this guesses. If players really start taking this seriously, they may even start bluffing what areas they are trying to make. And with most tiles usually having more than one land mass, this is very easy and fun to do! You can only hold up to three wild cards at a time, but you can play them whenever you like on your turn. There are two of each type. You will use them all for a three and four player, and with the new rules, only one card of each type will be available in a two player game. There is also a cooperative mode which can be played solo quite easily where players are looking to house all the animals. The game is played the same way as the competitive version except all players lose if on any turn, at least one animal couldn't be housed. There are also threat cards which must be dealt with once per turn which can play havoc to your plans, so you need to expect the unexpected! The cooperative game ends when all 32 animals are safely housed. If this is done, all players share the victory. This mode feels more like a puzzle than a game, but is a fun way to play solo, with younger children or to learn the game. In the main game, creating your habitats and housing your animals is very satisfying. The fact that you get to do this most turns, feels great. There is a constant sense of progression as the tiles expand, more animals are housed and your points rack up! Finding places to house second animals of the same type is highly rewarding, and moving an animal from a large area to a smaller one when it only needs that, in order to place another animal of yours that otherwise would have been left homeless creates a lovely feeling of completion. If you enjoy games that give you a constant little kick of endorphins for small victories, this could be for you. This seems to be a trait with game made by SchilMil from what I have played from them so far. And what a lovely thing to be associated with. I enjoy playing this game a lot. It is quick to play. Easy to teach. Light enough to play when you are tired or after a heavier game. But it still gives you back a sense of satisfaction, win or lose, for completing your tasks as you play. Get an animal card. Create a suitable habit. House animals. Rinse and repeat. It feels great to do this, and the game keeps you coming back for more. My children enjoy this game immensely. We keep all the take-that in, but we do remove the minus points for any un-housed animals at the end. It does make you feel bad to lose lots of points at the end, especially when it is a 20 or 25, and a card you took near the end! However, this is part of the game I enjoy a lot when playing with adults. You know the risks when you take a new card. In the new rules, it is your choice when you take cards. You don't have to do it every turn like the old rules. And you know what animals are left and what the state of the tiles is. If there Komodo is still out there but there is a large desert space unoccupied, then go for it. If not, perhaps hold back. These are fun strategic choices that I enjoy making, and I assume why the rules changed? Overall, Komodo is a surprisingly deep game. The photography used on the cards and standees is an interesting change from art, but makes the game feel real. At the back of the new rule book there is some detail on each animal, and I have enjoyed learning a little more about this creatures as I have played. And in turn boring my kids with the facts when I played with them! I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys games like Cascadia but want something a little lighter. Or Cascassone, but think they would also enjoy the animal theme.

Gadianton WBG Score: 6/10 Player Count 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Jamaica, Talisman, Terror Below. Published by: Exclusive Games Designed by: Pierre Crouet Rule book here Have you heard of the Gadianton robbers? No, me neither! Well, a quick google search has taken me to the most reliable source on all things on the internet, Wikipedia. I am now reliably informed that they were a secret criminal organisation from Central America referenced in the Book of Mormon. Check it out here. OK, history lesson over, let's talk about the game. Gadianton is from first time designer Pierre Crouet. The idea of the game is that you play as one of the Gadianton thieves. You are trying to sneak into the city, steal some crowns, and get back to the safety of the jungle before the guards stop you. Set-up Once the board is laid out, place the four guards onto their spots around the center of the city. Deal each player two actions cards and the chosen amount of crown objective cards. You can take more or less depending on how long a game you want. This is entirely up to you but there is a suggestion on the outside of the box, not the rules strangely, to guide you based on player count and desired game length. The crown objective cards will show you a coloured crown that you need to steel from the city and bring back to the forest. Each player will then place their chosen colour of robber onto an outside red space and the game can begin. How to play On your turn, you will roll two dice. The regular six sided movement dice and also a second dice that determines who moves. The movement dice will show an image of a robber, or a robber and a guard with or without a line between them, telling you if you are moving just yourself, yourself and the guards, or yourself or the guards. Your aim is to move into the central spaces, pick up a coloured key, followed by a crown of the same colour, and then return the crown back to any outside red space in the forest. You will do this for each crown objective card you have. Key first, then crown. Then run away! On your turn, you can play any two action cards you may have to boost your move, before drawing one more action card and the play then passes to the next player. The components for this game are very nice. Out of the box, you need to add stickers to the guard and thief pawns. But it's fairly simple, although the stickers are not quite sticky enough in truth and do need a good hard press down. Each thief comes with its own set of three "crowns." These are used to represent specific actions such as hiding or putting a guard to sleep, and they fit nicely onto the top of the pieces. But when done, they do look neat! Look, I even lined the stickers up! Playing the game is very simple. Like many roll-and-move games, there is limited strategy to be deployed, and a lot of luck based on the die roll. The variety in this game comes from the other movement die which dictates who you can move. In our first few games, we only ever moved ourselves, largely ignoring the guards. Rushing to get the crowns we needed and then out of town! This does not lead to a fun game. Its just a race, with dice rolls determining who wins. In later games, we realised you did need to mix your movement up, and control the guards too. It is interesting how the guards only move when you as the player wants to move them. And if one player starts to move one or two guards around, in an attempt to scupper your plans, you really need to start thinking about doing the same in retaliation. But in truth, if all players avoid this, you can create a quicker and simpler, but also quite dull game. However, if all players embrace the guards, then there is a LOT more game here. Strategy There are 12 ways in and out of the city, and the game gives players four doors you can use to block these. The doors can only be moved or opened with the door card as one of your actions on your turn. You will usually only ever have a couple of cards in your hand and there are only a few door cards, so as much as this is a nice addition, it just doesn't happen enough in the game. Being able to use the doors to block another player is very hard. Even if you do get a card and are able to place one, your opponent can either use a card themselves to move it, or simply move towards another exit which will not be that far away. It will rarely slow down your opponents, if at all. I think you either need more doors, more door cards, or less ways in and out of the city. I like the idea of messing with the other players though. I just wish this was easier to do in the game, and more encouraged. There are two ways you can fight other players to take their crowns, if they have one, or make a guard do this for you. If you are ever next to another player you can embark in hand to hand combat. Although this is sadly just a dice roll off. Or more interestingly, you can shoot an arrow at another player using a very cool distance measuring system based on your attack die roll. The issue here is you need to get to one of the orange guard towers and have an arrow action card to do this. The guard towers are located in-between the entrances and exits to the city and so are a little out of the way. With only a D6 to control your movement, every movement space counts. And then of course, if you do sacrifice your movement to move yourself or a guard to a guard tower space, your opponent can anticipate this and simply move out of range, knowing you can only shoot a certain distance. But even if there is no time for that, you still as the attacker need to roll high enough to reach them. The risk/reward just doesn't quite work for me, and so I started to avoid even trying to do this which is a massive shame. Other action cards available allow you to slow other players down by forcing them to miss a turn, which is a good way to try and shoot someone. Stopping them from running away You can also gain a master key meaning you can claim any colour crown without first picking up the right key from the board. But there is also another card that really makes heading to the guard towers such an avoidable tactic. You can play a card that breaks an opponent's bow before they even shoot but after they commit to trying to fire at you. I understand the designer wanted to give some control to the defending player, but there is so little incentive for the attacking player to even try, this seemed like the wrong choice. We need more cards to help the attacking player, not the defending one. I love the art though, and the clear, text free cards do look great. It does mean you will use the reference guide in the rule book for the first game to remind you what they all mean. But there are only 12 cards and they all make sense. Below you can see a card that allows you to add two extra movement points to your dice roll, and one that lets you sneak through gaps in the city wall. They are all mostly self explanatory. Essentially this is a race game using dice to control your movement. Roll-and-move is not a very popular mechanic, and I feel that if you are going to make a game using this as your main part of the game, then you need to bring something clever and new to the table. Or at the very least have some other ways to mitigate your luck from the dice. This game does have a +2 card for movement and a plus 2 for fighting, but I don't think this is enough. There are quite a lot of the movement cards in the deck, so you will get them a lot. But I feel the game could do with more things to help other than just these cards. Perhaps areas on the board that activate certain things. Spaces you could go to that allow you to increase your movement, or take more shortcuts. The game needs more take-that, and more encouragement to interact with other players and the guards. Perhaps there could be a variation where someone plays as the guards Hunt for Mr X style. Or maybe it is just me and the way we were playing it? I enjoyed the race element of this game. It certainly creates a nice level of tension which I do enjoy in games. Tension often comes from a race or luck based games, and this is certainly present from both of these factors. he main issue I have with the game is that alongside the tension comes either satisfaction from winning, or frustration from losing. That may sound simple, but most games for me don't punish the loser as much as this game. Anyone who has played a game with me would testify to the fact that I really don't care if I win or lose. But losing this game is just annoying. On one occasion, I was one space from victory. I had collected two of my three required crowns, and was in possession of my third. I needed a roll of four to get to the final spot and win. I was close to another player in a similar situation as we had previously tried to interfere with each other. I rolled a three and had no +2 card so ended my turn one space from victory. The other player then battled me on their turn, won through no more than a higher attack roll than me, and disposed me of my crown. They took the crown for themselves, as they luckily had the same objective for the same coloured crown. They subsequently won one turn later, moving with my crown to their final space. I was still a good few turns away from being close to finishing my task essentially having to start the search for my third crown again. All the work I had done to get the final crown being made irrelevant with one dice roll. This just felt disheartening to me and the winning player said it felt unjust and unsatisfactory for them to win this way. If it was a short game, fine. Rack 'em up and go again. But this was the end of a 50 minute game and left me feeling quite dejected and the other player awkward and like the game had ended when they had not deserved it. If you like this sort of take-that, and all players buy into this, then I can see this game being a real hit. But for me, it left me not really wanting to play without some house rules that would stop this happening again. Overall, this is a nearly game for me. It has great art. I love the theme. But I think it could perhaps have benefited from more play-testing to find its place a little more. There are so many games made every week, it is hard for each one to stand out. The standard for games has moved on at an incredible rate, which is a good thing. This game 20 years ago could have been a real hit, and even today with a few tweaks could still do the same. But it definitely lacks something for me to cut it in the current climate of games. That said. If you are a fan of roll-and-move games, this has a genuinely absorbing theme and interesting implementation of the way the guards move. And there certainly is a lot of tension created from the race to the end.

WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 2–4 You’ll like this if you like: Photosynthesis, Medina, Bunny Kingdom Published by Floodgate Games Designed by Daryl Andrews, Erica Bouyouris By Tom Harrod Resplendent trees follow a formulaic yet fantastic journey across all four seasons. New shoots emerge in spring, basking proud in the summer warmth. Leaves tumble and cascade in autumn, carpeting the woodland floor come winter. It’s a story of two halves: of growth, followed by their preparation for winter dormancy. What if we switched out the roots, trunks and foliage, and replaced it with 3D cardboard? Swapped brittle, browning leaves for bright, laser-cut wooden tokens? And what if we chucked a cheeky squirrel in for good measure? What you’re now imagining, my gaming friends, is Bosk, by Floodgate Games. This design comes with a tagline: “a game of majestic trees and falling leaves.” The definition of the word ‘Bosk’, in case you’re wondering, means a wood comprising of small trees. (If you win a future pub quiz thanks to this answer, feel free to transfer me 10% of the prize.) Bosk is an abstract-strategy/area-majority game by Daryl Andrews and Erica Bouyouris. Andrews co-designed the colourful Sagrada, also by Floodgate Games. That’s where the similarities end, though. Let’s take a closer look… Bosk In A Nutshell There’s four rounds to Bosk, each being a separate season. In spring, everyone ‘plants’ (places) their trees on the board – a national park. In summer, everyone scores their trees, according to their locations. In autumn, everyone’s trees start to drop their leaves. These scatter and tumble due to the ever-changing wind. Last of all in winter, everyone scores their leaves, according to where they fell. Four phases then, but two of them comprise of scoring, alone. The meat of the game occurs in ‘spring’ and ‘autumn’. This is where all your planning and calculating come into their own. Summer and winter take less than five minutes to add up the respective scores. A Spring In Your Step Each player has eight 3D trees in their own colour. Each has a number (1 – 4, twice). The board is a grid of squares that overlay the national park’s terrains. The first player places any one of their eight trees on a vacant intersection on the board. (As in, the point where two grid lines meet to form a +, so it can’t be on the board’s outer edge). Players take turns, clockwise, placing one tree at time onto the board. You can place them in any numerical order. In a three-player game, for example, 24 trees end up on the board. But why place a tree in one spot over another? And why do your trees have numbers 1 – 4 on them? Scores Out For Summer Once the last player’s placed their final tree, summer scoring begins. You look at each row and each column of the board one at a time. The player with the highest value(s) of trees present ‘wins’ the row/column. For example, if red has two trees (of value 1 and 2) in the same row, their total is 3. Purple has one value 4 tree in the same row. Orange has two value 3 trees in this row (so a total of 6). Orange wins this row, with purple being the runner-up. Red gets nothing for coming third. A scoring table explains tie-breaks for joint-first, or joint-second. If you’re the solitary tree type in this row/column, you earn extra points. But if this were a football match, it’s half time. Don’t fret if you’re in last place. The second half is a whole different ball game… No Fooling Around In Fall The last player gets to place the all-important Wind Board. This sits along one of the four edges of the main board. Deciding where to place it can be game-changing. It dictates the direction the wind begins to blow. Eight arrows run along on the Wind Board, left-to-right. Each arrow rotates a further 90° clockwise from its predecessor. The first four arrows are numbered 1 – 4, while the latter four are mere asterisks. There’s eight rounds in autumn, like there were eight in spring. (You’ve guessed it – one for each tree.) The active player triggers one of their trees that matches the number stated on the Wind Board. You have two trees of each number, remember? In round one, leaves fall from one of your ‘1’ trees, then, in the direction stated by the Wind Board. Each player has eight big Leaf Tiles numbered 2-8, plus one with a squirrel on it. A bit of hand-management enters the fray. You’ll select one of these, and take that many wooden leaf tokens from your supply. You place one of these leaves in a square beneath your tree. Then, you place the rest of the leaves leading away from this first leaf, in the wind’s direction. The next leaf sits in one of the three squares – either parallel, or diagonal – away from the previous. Will you drop them in a straight line, a total diagonal, zig-zag, or a blend of all three? If you reach the edge of the grid and you have leaf tokens remaining, return them to your supply. But that’s a waste! The aim of autumn is to cover the board full of your colour leaves, if viewing the park from above. The board’s separated into eight different-coloured terrains. Each of them score in an area-majority manner in winter. Once you’ve placed all your quota of leaves for the turn, you remove the origin tree off the board. Then it’s the next player’s turn, clockwise. They pick a Leaf Tile of their choice, and drop that number of leaves leading away from one of their ‘1’ trees. Then they remove their tree. Then it’s the next player’s turn, and so on. Don’t Trust The Squeeple! Over the eight rounds you have to use all eight of your big Leaf Tiles. Each player has, in total, 35 wooden leaf tokens. Deciding when and where to use the larger (and smaller) quantities of leaves is a marvellous decision. The squirrel is a little different. This lets you use your squirrel meeple, instead of any leaves this turn. The little animeeple still obeys the wind direction (according to the round in which you use it). You can place it up to three spaces away from the tree. Squirrels can sit on top of any stack of leaves. And we’ve all seen David Attenborough documentaries: nothing sits on top of a squirrel! Opting when to use it is a major question of timing. Smart placement could be the difference between winning or losing an terrain. This Park Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us Now, like any good western, you’ll soon realise that this national park ain’t big enough for the both of us. In a three player game, for example, between you all you have 105 leaves (108, including squirrels). The grid for a three-player game consists of 100 squares. There comes a time in autumn where Bosk starts to become a tad cutthroat. Because if you like, you can opt to overlay your leaves on top of others. If a rival’s leaf sits in your path, no problem; you can cover it with one of your own. At the end of the game, remember: it’s only the leaves that are visible from above that score. The leaves on top of a pile are all that matter. But hold on there, buster. Yes, it’s in your best interests to cover up your opponents’ leaves. But it comes at a price… Smother The Park With Your Leafy Blanket To overlay, you need to ‘throw away’ a leaf in hand for every leaf in the grid square you want to cover. Let’s say you’re red, but you want to place a leaf into a spot where yellow has a leaf. You have to return one leaf to the supply. Then place another of your leaves on top of yellow’s. On a later turn, the purple player might want to place one of their own leaves here. In that case, they’d have to throw away two of their leaves in hand, to position one of their own on top. This can prove expensive, but it’s a vital consideration, strategy-wise. The more often you overlay, yes, you’re undoing the previous work of your opponents. But it means you’re placing fewer of your 35 leaves onto the board. You’re not spreading out as much. And the aim of autumn is to dominate as many terrains as possible, because you’ll score them in winter. And winning a terrain scores you a lot more points in winter, compared to winning a row/column in summer. On occasions, your own previous-placed leaves might block your path. You don’t have to throw excess leaves away to overlay on your own. You place one on top as if the square were empty. Of course, this feels like a waste, because you’re not investing it on the board, elsewhere. But one silver lining is that it acts as a further deterrent for opponents overlaying there later. They’d have to throw away more of their own leaves to overlay there. Ultimately, you can’t feel bitter about leaf overlaying. You know that each player (including yourself) has 35 leaves to spend. It’s all about how many of those 35 end up on the actual board, and how many of them are sacrificial. Go After The Big Dog? Or Settle For Second? Bosk presents layers of intrigue. Like any area majority game, it can become a bit of a constant state of one-upmanship if you’re not careful. You need to pick and choose your battles. Some terrains are smaller than others. Are these easier to dominate, then? Fewer leaves needed? Or are they appealing to everyone, so it becomes one big fight for them? One of the sneaky things to remember is that dominating a terrain is all fine and dandy. But you get points if you finish a clear-second in a terrain, too. Sometime it takes less effort to tiptoe in and pip a rival for second place, compared to challenging the big dog for first… One thing you cannot afford to happen is to allow one player to have their leaves present alone in a terrain. That’s worth a whopping eight points. This makes the final few rounds so important; trust me, the tide can – and will – turn. If you can ensure you have a single leaf in their monopolised terrain by winter, then that one leaf scores you three points. (For coming second.) Plus, it drops their eight points down to five. (If they win the terrain, but a second leaf type sits present there, too.) That’s a major swing. I tended to keep my squirrel until late in the game as insurance for this exact move. Does that make me a bad person?! Errr… How Many Points For Joint-First, Again? The scoring tables are not easy to memorise, I’ll admit. You need to keep the back page of the rulebook to hand to check this. There’s four different scenarios for scoring. (First and second; joint-first and second; first and joint-second; and first, alone.) It’s accessible enough via the table, at least. Talking of scoring, summer and winter feel like two polarised battles. There’s a lot more scope to nick points, it feels, in summer. There’s more rows and columns up for grabs, you see. Meanwhile, there’s only eight terrains in winter. This evens itself out by winter’s points being worth more. With smart placement in spring, you can reap the rewards come autumn. This is the kind of thing you’ll learn after your first game. To begin with, in spring, you’re presented with a blank canvas, of sorts. You can place your trees anywhere! But the board soon becomes cramped, if you want to steal those scoring opportunities in summer. Or, you’ll see the board cramped in a different light, if you’re thinking ahead to autumn leaf-placement in mind. It’s a dangerous game to put all your eggs in one basket in spring. Yes, you want to try and out-muscle your rivals for the rows and columns. And elbowing in with your ‘3’ and ‘4’ trees can prove overwhelming in this respect. But you need to remember: you have two of each tree number. And in autumn, you’re going to have to activate one of each of them for the first four rounds on the Wind Board. Remember the asterisks? For the fifth-through-eighth rounds of autumn, you still have to obey the wind direction. But you can pick any number tree to drop leaves. The peril is if you place, say, both of your ‘3’ trees in the same row. This goes double if it’s a row near or on the outer edge. Because then you limit the flexibility of that tree, with regards to its leaf-drop. It isn’t going to be able to drift its leaves far in one direction, if it’s too close to the board’s edge. Spring Strategy Blown Out The Window Trying to split my trees apart in spring gave me a decent opportunity to adapt my tactics in autumn. It meant I could go with the flow according to north, south, east or west winds. Which leads me to a potential negative in some peoples’ eyes – Bosk is a game about reacting. You can plan and strategise to an extent, because you know the order of all eight wind directions. But you can’t plan too far ahead, because the state of the board changes between turns. You need to keep your fingers in lots of pies. Like any kind of game that has an abstract nature to it, this can bring out analysis paralysis. You might get some players who agonise over tree placement. They’re trying to play both spring and autumn both at once. This is tough to achieve, though. One thing you can do is manipulate turn order in your favour. This can change each time the wind moves direction. Whomever used the lowest Leaf Tile number in the previous round becomes the new first player. This adds yet another layer of strategy into the mix. Do you want to go first, so you have more of an empty board to place more of your leaves? Or do you want to go later? Yes, you might have to overlay, but you can cancel out an earlier player’s hard work. Hindsight’s on your side. Table Presence Hits All The High Notes Bosk commands table presence aplenty. It boasts wonderful art from Kwanchai Moriya (Dinosaur Island, In The Hall of the Mountain King, Prêt-à-Porter, among others). I’m so impressed by Floodgate Games’ products for their component quality. Sagrada packs a real punch. Cosmic Colonies is a hidden gem with awesome plastic resources. Bosk hits the same high notes and it doesn’t miss a beat. The main board itself is abstract in its purest form. There’s eight different terrains, individual by stark colour contracts. Mind you, the black terrain is a little too similar to the water terrain, if playing under ‘mood lighting’. There’s subtle details on the board, but not the sort you’d necessarily look at, or go out of your way to look for. They’re the kind of details that you’d soon notice if they were vacant, though. Sporadic trees, single rock formations, grass billowing in the breeze. You don’t want a board like this to look too busy. You want the terrains to stand out, and (for the most part), they accomplish this. The trees are the pièce de résistance. Two punched pieces slot together to form a 3D standee. They do require some assembling; it’s not a job you can rush. I had to use a small knife to prise out some of the more delicate pieces. But so long as you’re patient, the finished article looks stunning. The big Leaf Tiles are of chunky card stock. The wooden leaf tokens are dainty yet divine in their silhouettes. They have no problem at all standing out against the backdrop of the board during autumn and winter. There is one potential issue with the trees, though. There’s no denying their photogenic quality at the start of autumn. 32 trees standing proud on the board, in all their glory. But for the first few turns, you’ll see players trying to place their leaves down in a haphazard manner. If you have big hands, it’s tricky (see also: nigh-impossible) to fit your hand between trees to place leaves. You might (see also: you will) knock some trees over, by accident. This is awkward, because you’ll have to remember where said tree(s) stood on the board! Bosk comes with four insert boxes, one in each player colour. They’ve got a delightful origami vibe. These are the perfect size to fit each of the players’ components. It means set-up takes ten seconds – a simple case of passing out four boxes to the players! A big nod of approval for me, here. Final Thoughts On… Bosk I’ve fallen head over heels for Bosk. The way the wind changes each round in autumn is a thing of genius. It’s such a delight to see the theme mirror mechanisms in such a seamless fashion. It’s the kind of feature that gives me genuine jealousy, because it’s that clever. It’s the kind of feature that makes me think: “You know what, I wish I’d thought of that…” I approached Bosk like any kind of area control game. That means sometimes taking on ever-changing tactics, rather than a singular strategy. Your opponents’ leaf placement can cause havoc with your plans. This goes double if you limit yourself with poor options. (Both with the hand management of your Leaf Tiles, and the placement of your trees). But I love the fact that the final four rounds have those asterisks. You can trigger any tree you like of your final four remaining. You can evolve your tactics as everyone’s master plans unfold. Can you second-guess how your opponents will evolve theirs? You can, after all, see their remaining trees, and their remaining big Leaf Tiles… There’s a tendency to want to want to compare Bosk to Photosynthesis (by Blue Orange Games). They both have alluring, 3D trees. But that’s where their parallels end. They’re separate games; you can justify owning both. I prefer Bosk, due to the four-season format – the ‘game of two halves’ angle. In Photosynthesis a bad start can hamper you. In Bosk, it felt like you could always adapt your tactics and recover. Bosk is a 45-minute game, and one I love sinking my teeth into. It’s not complex, nor complicated to grasp, but it has marvellous layers. Like I mentioned above, the mechanisms match the theme in a true, logical way. Players nod when you explain the rules to them because they just… make… sense. Yes, it helps that the pieces are wonderful and tactile. And boy howdy, does it take a pretty picture. But mark my words; there’s more to Bosk than beauty. It’s got brains to boot, too.

Arlukkachase WBG Score: 6.5 Player Count 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Exploding Kittens, Unstable Unicorns, Monopoly Deal. Published by: Arlukkachase Destroy your opponents. Be the last person standing! Win the game! In Arlukkachase, you are looking to find the Key card. This will be placed into the deck face up at the very bottom. You know where it is and when it will arrive, but can you get it? Beware, as you are working your way through the deck to get to the key, one player will play as the Darkarlukka. They will be looking to infect all the other players before this happens. This is a take-that, race game, with all sorts of fun cards to play. Let's get to it! Set-Up and rules To start a game of Arlukkachase, you first must decide who will play as the Darkarlukka. This player will then be given eight regular cards from the deck. Each other play is dealt five regular cards (or seven in a two-player game) and one Arlukkashield card. Then place the marked cards in a separate pile and place three Arlukkashield cards, three Darkarlukka cards, and four cursed cards into the deck and shuffle it. Then insert the Arlukkey card face up at the bottom of the deck. The person playing as the Darkarlukka goes first and can decide which direction to play in. On your turn, you can play as many cards as you like from your hand however you see fit. To end your turn, you must either draw one card from the top of the draw deck or insert one card from your hand into any place in the draw deck. This could be top of the deck, one down, or anywhere you like. Drawing one card or inserting one cards ends your turn immediately unless the card you draw is a cursed card, in which case you must curry out what it says before you end your turn. The way you win in this game is by collecting and holding the Arlukkey for one complete round. As it is placed face up in the deck, when someone takes this, everyone else knows they have it. All eyes and attack cards will then be on them for the next round. But will other players have the right cards to do anything? The Darkarlukka can win in the same way, but also wins if they manage to infect all players before the key is held by anyone else. The way they infect other players is by giving them Darkarlukka cards, or simply by the other players drawing these cards themselves. If they do ever get one of these cards they must declare it. The other players can defend themselves from infection if they have an Arukkasheild card and play it immediately upon receiving the Darkarlukka card. Both cards are then placed at the bottom of the deck. But if they cannot do this, they then join the Darkarlukka's side, taking on their roles and win condition. As everyone starts the game with a shield card, this does make this tricky early in the game, but there are plenty of Dark cards and the Darkarlukka can used the cursed cards to get more of these Dark cards into the deck. Playing cards on your turn will allow you to take cards from other players, look at cards in the deck, shuffle deck, and many other things you will be familiar with from other similar games. There is also a reflect card and Naah card, similar to the infamous Nope card in Exploding Kittens, that will allow you to either reject a card played on you or deflect back to the other player. You can also do this by playing the same card played on you if you have it. This will not only send the power back to your opponent, but double the affect! This can be a great way to deplete another players hand. Playing Arlukkachase is a fast, fun, and frantic affair. It doesn't at first appear to do anything highly original, but the idea of the one v many on top of the usual card play is very interesting. As is the opportunity for the one v many to become the many v one, or even the all winning as a collective dark force! I like how some turns can be as simple as picking up a turn, players building up their hand, ready for later battles. Whereas other turns can last a lot longer, as people play multiple attack cards from their hand. All players know who the Darkarlukka is, and all players know when the Arlukkey is present and in someone hands. There is limited hidden information here. So, this is less about guess work and mystery, and more about clever card play and of course, like anything with a randomly shuffled draw pile, a bit of luck. If you like games like Exploding Kittens, Unstable Unicorns, and Monopoly Deal, then I think you will enjoy this a lot too. The art looks dark and adult, I thought even a little occult to start with! But it isn't that at all. And you will quickly become familiar with the terminology and meaning of each power. Although I would highly recommend checking out the FAQ in the website to clarify the rules, which are a little vague. Oh, and it is worth noting that the box this comes in is glorious!

High Score WBG Score: 7 Player Count 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Yahtzee, Roll for Adventure, Reiner Knizia’s Decathlon Published by: KOSMOS Designed by: Reiner Knizia Back in 2003, a game came out called Reiner Knizia's Decathlon which caught peoples attention due to the name attached to it, and the simplistic but addictive game play. You can try it yourself at home here. Reiner Knizia has made over 600 games and doesn't usually attach his name to a dud. His background in mathematics has led to some very interesting and clever games being developed. Decathlon is no exception! But for nearly 20 years it has been crying out for a proper printed version. Thankfully, the good people at Kosmos obliged and you can now get your dice chucking hands on High Score, a new version, very similar to Decathlon, with all the polish you would expect from a fully published game, the sporting theme removed, but all the Yahtzee style dice throwing fun still there. Let's take a look and see how it plays. Now you can either read on or watch this fantastic short video from the 'King of the Reels', Tom from @buryboardgames. To set up the game, place coloured cubes, one for each player, inside the scoring ring. Then draw seven cards from the shuffled deck and place them face down. And you are done! That was easy! There are seven cards, one for each round. Each round, the card will dictate what the sixth 'vortex' face of the dice represents, how many re-rolls you can have, and how you score points. At the beginning of each round, the first player will flip the card and get rolling! After they have finished rolling, they will record their score with their coloured cube on the score tracker. Once each player has rolled, the person with the highest score will collect the three point chip, the second placed player gets a two pint chip, and the third placed player gets a single point. The scores on the tracker are they re-set and the second round commences. The scores on the track do not contribute toward your final score, they simply dictate which end game scoring chip you will get that round. After seven rounds, the player with the most points from the scoring chips wins the game. There are 21 challenge cards in the box, so plenty of variation from game to game. They are all quite self-explanatory, and the rule book has a clear explanation for each symbol. From the above examples, you can see on the top left, the vortex side of the dice, which replaces where the six face would usually be, can be wild in this round. Sometimes they are zero, or six as you can see, or other things. The re-rolls are on the top right of the card and you can either re-roll all the dice or just the ones you want. Sometimes you have to keep at least one dice for each re-roll such as the one on the top right card above. Here is an example of a card in action. The vortex value is six. You can have up to four re-rolls but you must roll all the dice if you chose to do this. And the way you score with this card is thorugh pairs. Any dice that are the same will score you their face value. Roll two vortex's and get 12 points for example. So, the below roll would get you... well, go figure it out. See if you have got this? (bit like school isn't it!) That's right 18! / No, sorry, the third four isn't in a pair so that doesn't count. (Delete and read as appropriate) If the above was your roll on the first try, you would be tempted to go again, but you may never beet this score. Do you lock down a score early no matter what it is, or risk throwing it all away for fame and glory! Of course, if you are the last player you will know exactly what it takes to get a winning score this round. If you are first up, you may be tempted to take more risks and try and lay down a more formidable score. I have played may heavy games, with intense strategy and significant thought process required. But rolling dice in games like High Score never fails to bring the cheers, laughter, and sorrow that only comes from the sort of tension this luck based mechanism brings. You often have very little control of your destiny with dice based games, obviously the re-rolls and how far you push your luck adds some way to bring a strategy, but ultimately you could be lucky or not. Playing High Score is a lot of fun. If you enjoy chucking dice, pushing your luck, and simple games that create high tension, this could be for you. If you don't, and find the luck from dice just annoying or devoid of strategy, then this will not help you change your mind! But I love games like this. I couldn't play them all the time. But I also couldn't play three hour euros non-stop either. It is nice to have a balance in games as it is in life, and thanks to the good Doctor Knizia, here is one big slice of luck-based happiness I will enjoy for many years to come!

Cantaloop: Book 1 - Breaking into Prison WBG Score: 9.5 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Coded chronicles games, Unlock games, Chronicles of Crime Published by: Lookout Games Designed by: Friedemann Findeisen, Grzegorz Kobiela By Steve Godfrey NO SPOILERS!! The pictures are from the tutorial and the very first location you see in the game. Question! Do you like the old style point and click games like Monkey Island, Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle etc? Well then you don’t need to read this review. Just go out and buy Cantaloop because believe me, you won’t be disappointed!……What?, you still need more convincing? Well then read on. The secret of Cantaloop Island. To set up. Open the book. Done. The book is going to take you through the tutorial so I’ll just go through a brief overview just for some context. Throughout the game you’ll be visiting different locations in the town of Cantaloop. At each location you’ll find a page of location art with some four digit alphanumeric codes and some columns with 2 digit codes on them. On the other page will be a page of text with some alpha numeric codes next to them. All of this is only readable when you use the red decoder strip. The basic idea is that you will combine items on cards with the two digit columns to create a four digit code, you then read the corresponding text using the decoding strip. You can even combine items together to make other exciting items using the inventory which is similarly coded. So combining a badger and a towel will get you a badger wearing a toga. Of course how you’re going to carry the badger and why you want it in a toga is a puzzle in itself. Wherever you read it you will either get some flavour text, some clues or may even get you to take a numbered card from the deck. It could even lead you to read conversations between characters. However some of the text will only be available to read if you’ve hit certain triggers. I’ll get to how that works later. Hook and Fly hit the road I’ve had a lot of great experiences throughout my time gaming. They’ve ranged from individual plays of a game, to entire campaigns. Some of these are based on things that I love that I’ve grown up with. From Scooby Doo to Star Wars. Whilst all of these evoke some good memories none of these have managed to throw me right back into my childhood and managed to capture the feelings and experiences and memories I had at the time as much as Cantaloop has! From the moment you start to read the tutorial you can tell that this is an absolute labour of love from everyone involved and that they probably spent just as many hours playing through as many games of this genre as I did. Well not quite as many I would wager. I’m a self confessed idiot when it comes to those sorts of games and as much as I loved them I spent a lot of my gameplay hours wandering aimlessly trying to combine every item with every other item. Seriously I’m shocked the game never just switched itself off and told me I wasn’t allowed to play it again. Tangent aside, every mechanism and nuance in this game has been designed to feel as close to those old games as possible and for me they’ve completely succeeded. In a couple of cases I think this analog version actually works better! There are so many of these awesome things that I want to tell you about because I think they brilliantly capture the feel of the old games, but I can’t because they could be potential spoilers. The humour is a touch more adult in Cantaloop. It tends to stick to the old school style of humour but now and again there are things in there that would push it above child friendly. The age on the back says 16+ and I’d say you could possibly go one or two years lower but maybe go through a bit and see what you think. At the very least you can use your foresight to look clever in front of the family! If you do play through with them! The day of the puzzle adventure book Up until now I’ll admit that it would appear that my love for this game comes purely from nostalgia. Admittedly a large part of it may well do. It’s hard to deny that if you love the old point and click adventure games then you will get more out of it than if you haven’t. So what would happen if we strip out all that nostalgia? Well you’ve still got a brilliant game on your hands. There is one system that I will talk about which for me is a stand out. That’s the Trigger system. No it’s not based on a well loved Only Fools and Horses character. It's something that I guess was always there in the old games but not visible since it’s essentially code. You’ll be given a grid of alphanumerics (A5, B9 etc) and at certain points you will be asked to mark them off. So for example after talking to a certain character you may be instructed to cross off E3 on that grid. Then when reading something else later on it could go one of two ways depending on what you have and haven’t crossed off. So for example it may be something along the lines of, “if you have crossed off E3 read this section, if not then carry on reading” This system alone is so clever. It stops you accidentally skipping ahead and potentially discovering something you shouldn’t too early. Usually you won’t get the code you need crossed off until you’ve picked up an item or combined something. Knowing that makes you even more eager to retrace your steps or try new combos of things. Also knowing that there is a code you need to find for a specific section may give you a nudge in the right direction. Yes it can be frustrating if you find yourself stuck and knowing that to advance the story you need to find code L5 (not a real code). You may even find yourself taking a leaf out of my book of aimless wandering (available in all good and evil book shops. Just wander around till you find it.) When you do solve it though that feeling is awesome and you get that excitement as you feel new avenues opening up to discover what’s next. This system is also put to good use as the marker for the hint system at the back of the book. You'll find no Monkeying around here! The puzzles themselves are fun. There are a couple of escape room style puzzles but for the most part they match the style of puzzles from the original games with some puzzles requiring out of the box thinking, or should that be out of the book? If you find yourself stuck you may end up finding yourself trying to combine things that you probably wouldn’t do in a normal puzzle game, like the Badger and the towel, but again, that’s the logic that the original games had. That could be something that may be frustrating to some but once you get into that mindset that any idea, regardless of how strange it may seem, could work then I think you’ll find yourself letting go and having fun with it. Because there’s no penalty system in the game you never feel like you can’t do something because it will lose you time or points. If anything you’ll do something just because you can and because it’s silly. The very worst that will happen is that you’ll get a sarcastic comment and maybe, just maybe something else. Sometimes your creativity, no matter how bizarre, is rewarded. Ever so slightly sad fandango. If there’s any negatives then it’s the fact that I can’t discuss this in more detail. Maybe when a few people have played it through we could make a Cantaloop book club and discuss spoilers! There were also a couple of puzzles that maybe needed a bigger leap in logic that needed hints but there were only a couple like that. The last thing is the age restrictions. I’m glad they didn’t have to hold back because it made for some fun puzzles, but at the same time it is a game I would have liked to experience with my kids. That’s not to say it’s leaving the collection, far from it. As soon as I think they’re old enough this will be hitting the table again. Cantaloop, mighty puzzler. One thing I’ve found myself loving in the recent puzzle games is the story. I love that there are more of these that are driven by a long form story. The shorter games like Unlock have stories but at around an hour you can’t always get too invested. With the likes of the 50 clues games, Coded Chronicles and now Cantaloop you get a fun story driven game that has a puzzle element. Now for me personally this story, puzzle combo is a format I prefer so much more than just the quick one hour games. There’s more to get invested in to make you want to come back for more or make you want to keep playing. Of all my four sessions of Cantaloop I had to force myself to stop playing. When you're stuck on a puzzle you want to keep going until you’ve solved it, but then when you do you want to keep going to see what’s next. This game is touted as lasting anywhere between 5-8 hours (don’t worry you can save it) and there are two others that continue the story each at about the same run time. That’s a lot of game, a lot of story and a lot of puzzles and mostly a lot of fun. For me Cantaloop is just as much about the story it’s telling, as it is the puzzles involved and it strikes a beautiful balance between them as well as capturing the nostalgia, mechanisms and quirks that made those original PC point and click adventures as loved as they were and still are. Whether you're steeped in that nostalgia or not I think Cantaloop offers a great game experience either way. It’s now February as I’m writing this and I’m calling it now that this and the other two books end up being my game/s of the year…….and I’ve only played book one!

Winterhaven Woods WBG Score: 8 Player Count 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: 7 Wonders Duel, Its a Wonderful World, Everdell Published by: Featherstone Games Designed by: Joel Bodkin Before I start this review, I need to declare something for full transparency. I absolutely adore Joel Bodkin, the designer of this game. He has a gentle, generous, and kind heart that endears him to me, and as such, I am conscious this review may be somewhat biased! However, I would argue that after playing any of Joel's games, (he also made Open Ocean) then you will fall in love with the guy too! And as such, any bias I have towards his games, you will also have after you play. Anyway, with that out the way, lets look at this stunning game, and I can start gushing even more! Winterhaven Woods is a drafting game, that incorporates set-collection, some minor take-that (if you desire) and some interesting scoring options. The minimalist art is echoed in the simple rules and set up, but certainly does not transfer to the strategy or enjoyment you will feel as you play this game. The game works best in a two to six player game, but also plays well in solo with some minor rule changes. Set-up. Collect all the required cards (clearly marked with an icon on the bottom right based on player count or top left based on type) and shuffle into a main draw deck. Deal out seven cards to each player. Give each player a 'Heart of the Woods' card, which they will place in front of them. You are now ready to play. I told you it was simple! Basic Rules. Each game of Winterhaven Woods lasts for three rounds, unless you play the longer two-player variant. In each round, players will carry out four phases. The game starts with a draft phase where you will pick your cards. This is then followed by a plant and populate phase where you will use your chosen cards with the tree symbol in the top left, followed by a steal phase which uses the cards with a star icon. The final part is a hunt phase which uses all cards with the paw symbol. After three rounds, players will tally their points, and the winner is declared. Points can be scored in a numbers of ways. The numbers of hedgehops in your meadow, a point for each creature in your woods. One point for each animal successfully hunted and any predator still alive (resting) that remains in your play area. And finally, from four bonuses that reward the size of your woods, the variety of things your predators hunted, the amount of deer in your play area, and the birds present in your trees. You will loose points based on the amount of steel cards you used, and in a solo game, rate your score against that of the predators. This will all make sense within a few minutes of playing the game, or reading on! Draft Phase. In the draft phase, players will look at their cards and choose one to keep and place face down in front of them. They will then pass all remaining cards on to the player to their left. This continues until all cards are drafted. Each player will begin the game with a 'Heart of the Woods' card which allows you to start populating your forest from the off, but you will want to build larger and extra places to safely house your critters as this will soon fill up. A forest cannot be populated until it has at least three trees, and then you can only place one animal per tree into each forest. You can also only have one type of animal in each forest, apart from the Rabbit, which can cohabitate with any other animal, as long as it is the only Rabbit. I presume to avoid over population and keeping this a family game! (Although you wait for the hunt phase... poor Deer!) Plant and Populate Phase. Once all cards are drafted, players can then simultaneously begin to plant more trees, and populate their woods with the cards they have kept. All cards with the tree symbol in the top left can be used at this point. The Deer need to be in pairs in order to be placed into a wood, and of course, only then if there are at least three trees to begin with, and one spare tree per animal you want to place. The Squirrels can populate in larger numbers of up to five. But remember to never place a Grey with a Red or visa-versa. We sadly all know what happens next here if this does occur. If you have any animals at this point that you cannot legally place into your woods, they must be placed into the area in the middle of the table known as the 'Meadow.' Each player has their own Meadow area, and this is an place where animals congregate when there is no home for them. Animals left here are vulnerable to predators, but this is a key way to score in the game. As cute as Bambi may me, them Bears gotta eat! The only animal that can avoid being hunted in the 'Meadow' is the Hedgehog. This animal can use its defenses to stay in this area all game, no matter who comes for their lunch, and will score you one point at the end of the game. Steal Phase. After all players have finished planting and populating, the Steal round begins. This employs all cards with a star in the top left of the card, and gives players the chance to take critters and trees from their opponents, but at a cost. Didn't our Mom teach you that stealing was bad? The Owl will swoop in and can take any critter from any woods. The stolen card can then be placed into the woods or meadow owned by the player who played the Owl card. The Fox can take an animal from any meadow and then rehouse into the players woods or own meadow. The Beaver is a useful card that allows players to steal a tree card from any woods and then place that card into their own woods. These cards are played in star number order, shown in the symbol on the top left. Lowest number first. The steal power is a useful one that can swing the games fortunes in your favour. However, beware! All steal cards played, are kept until final scoring, and will deduct points from your total based on the number played. If players do not want to play a steal card, they can simply discard the card and avoid any penalty. It's always your choice! You can of course choose to play without this round entirely simply by removing all steal cards from the game, but I would not recommend this. There is also a variant in the rules that states that when a player uses a steal card, the steal card they played is then given to the player from whom they stole from, who in turn score positive points for each steal card in their possession at the end of the game. I like this variant, and how it rewards the person who lost a card rather than punishes the player that played a card. It can feel annoying to loose a card. This variant changes that, whilst also removing the punishment for playing a steal card yourself. It's a simple switch that changes the feel of the game a lot, if that is your preference. Hunt Phase. The final stage of each round brings the Wolves and Bears to the table. The hunting round is an interesting way for players to score a lot more points in the game, but does bring more take-that elements to the table. However, if you play with the rule variant mentioned about, this affects the hunt phase too. Instead of hunting your opponents card, with this rule change, you can only hunt from animals in your own meadow. This is a nice amendment that I use most games. Not just to remove the feel of take-that, but also to increase the strategy needed in the game. Hunting animals in your opponents meadow relies on a little more on luck than your own. You can never be sure what will be left for you when this phase comes around. Whereas the planning to ensure you have the necessary amount of quarry required in your own meadow is somewhat more calculated. Any Deer not in a pair and safely hidden in the woods at this stage will be susceptible to attack. But perhaps you chose not to pair some for this very reason. Just remember you have to look the Deer in the eyes if you do this! The Bears hunt on their own and can take any animal in the the meadow they like, apart from the Hedgehog of course, way to prickly! At the end of the game, the Bears will score a point for each animal successfully eaten, plus a point for being alive themselves. There is also an additional three bonus points available if they ate at least three different types of critter. This can include Wolves too, if they also ate one of those cards. The Wolves hunt in packs. You can only hunt of they are in a group of at three cards, no more, no less. When in a pack, they become safe from the Bears attacks. You can form more than one pack if you wish and have the necessary cards. The Wolves hunt before the Bears thanks to their increased speed and based on the turn order shown on the top left of the card. As they get to go first,forming a new pack and hunting an opponents potential prey for their Bear can be a lot of fun! Leaving a Bear to go hungry may be dangerous in the wild, but actively encouraged in this game. Once the animals have successfully hunted, you must turn the card to the side to show they have been active this round and are now 'resting.' At the end of the round, before the drafting for the next round begins, you then must decide if that animal remains rested, or is hungry for more. If you decide to push-your-luck and keep hunting, you may be able to score a lot more points. But if no prey is available in later rounds, the risk is that this card is then lost, and all previously hunted critters become worthless. Hunting cards must have at least one successful hunt and be resting in order to score at the end of the game. Rule Variants. Winterhaven Woods has a few variants in the rule book. One suited to a more passive game as already discussed. There is also a longer version that has five rounds instead of three, possible only for a two-player game due to the amount of cards needed. I often use this variant as I find the game ends prematurely and I want to score more points. I like to have more chances to do this that the longer game brings. You can also randomise the end game bonus if you have the expansion pack, in a simple variant. At set-up, deal (or chose if you prefer,) three of the bonus cards from the expansion deck, and place them face up in the middle of the table. These then replace the usual bonus scoring options. This forms one of three changes offered in the expansion. I will cover the other two shortly. All the art on the expansion looks just as gorgeous, and the deck of cards it comes in fits nicely into the main box. The game also comes with some excellent player aids that help with set-up and simple rule clarifications. These echo the games simplistic art, functional design, and beautiful look. I use them most games despite not really needing them anymore, just because I like the way they look. The solo player aid works equally well and helps clarify the flow of the game. The solo game brings in one new card, the Cardinal. This card when drafted and populated, adds protection to other critters in this woods from the AI's Owls. The game works very similarly to the multi-player game, other than you have eight cards in the draft, and are looking to beat the AI's score. This score is based on the number of cards that are hunted or complete a successful hunt by the end of the game. It's essentially the hunters against you, the critters. I always like a score pad to be included with a game. Not only does it simplify the process. It adds some drama to the occasion. Going through each line, step by step, player by player. This brings some serious tension and laughter to the conclusion of the game. When I previewed the prototype for this game, I said that it felt like a peaceful walk in the woods. I stand by that statement dozens of plays later. Everything about this game, from the production and art to the rules and game play, feels intoxicating and relaxingSummer. Just check out the inside of the box. Completely unnecessary, probably added to the overall cost, but it adds some calm and joy where otherwise there would just be empty space. Expansion. The expansion brings in three elements. As well as the end game bonuses, there are Mother Nature and Winterhaven Legends cards that can be added very simply to the base game. The Legends cards, seen below, are dealt into the main deck at the start of the game. Only three can be added per game, I presume to stop the game becoming to complicated and random. But I think a variant with them all should have been included! When a Legends card is seen in a players hand during the draft phase, they must place it down in the middle of the table and immediately replace it with another card from the top of the deck. The Legend card is now active and applicable to all players. Each offers a small rule tweak that can affect the scoring and other animals abilities for the rest of the game. I particularly like the Jackalope, largely at Joel made a version called the Jimalope, which was ginger like me, and adorable! The Mother Nature cards are also very easy to incorporate into the game. At set-up, remove the Rabbits from the game and replace with two sets (five each) of Mother Nature cards. Or, for a more random experience, you could deal any 10. When these cards are drafted, they can be played into a players Meadow. They can then be utilised in later rounds to help you protect cards, score more points, attack another player, or manipulate your hand to your advantage. They look stunning and work well with the overall feel of the game. I see no reason why I will not integrate both of these parts of the expansion in every game. Summery. I adore this game. I love everything about the way it looks and plays. I enjoy the scoring options, and how each game feels fresh, no matter how much I play it. I enjoy the stages of the game and how it evolves your woods over time. The order of the steal and hunt round is very clever, as is the order of each card that is played that phase. It makes the draft round more exciting, knowing that not all Wolf and Bear card is created equally. This game works perfectly in a two. Like all take-that games, it takes away the sense of being picked on. You obviously cannot do this if there is only one choice. But the more gentle variant works well in a three and four if players do not enjoy take-that. The solo works well too, and I like the switch to the battle against the predators. But the sweet spot, like many drafting games, is with more players. Not only so more cards are seen and used, but the dynamic of more players, more woods, more critters, and more hunting works really well. Overall, the thing I like most about the game is the mood it puts me in. People often ask about which games relax me the most, and my mind is often taken to games like Azul or Everdell. But Winterhaven Woods is the one at the top of that list. In Winter, it makes me enjoy the crispy, cold mornings more. In summer, it makes me long for the snow to fall again. This game immerses you into its world with nothing more than a few cards. Made with a lot of love, talent, and care, Winterhaven Woods is one of my favorite set-collection card games in my possession, and one I will cherish forever.

Cuphead: A fast rolling dice game WBG Score: 6.5 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Fuse, Pandemic Rapid Response, Flatline Published by: The Op Designed by: Patrick Marino By Steve Godfrey Games can be fun, tense, tactile, strategic, funny and thinky. But panic inducing? Well apparently that's what the makers of Cuphead felt the board game world needed more of! A Cup of Rules Cuphead is a real time dice game based on the popular Cuphead video game. To set up each player takes a character board, the dice of their colour and three HP tokens, trust me you’re going to need these!. Place the boss board in the middle of the table with the HP dial and then pick your boss deck from the 8 included in the game. You’ll want to start with one and work your way up. Take the cards out of the box but don’t shuffle them! Place the boss card on the table and set their health dial depending on player count. Take the cards until you see a card that says stop and now you can shuffle the ones you’ve just taken to form a draw deck. Now you just have to decide your time limit for either 10, 15 or 20 seconds! On a round draw three cards from the boss deck and play them face up. If you draw a wallop card then draw a forth card. Each card has either one or two symbols that the boss will attack with that turn unless you block them with the dice. When you're ready, start the timer and roll the dice as many times as you need to gather the symbols you need to block that attack and hopefully do some damage. As you frantically roll the dice to get these symbols there’s a few things to remember. You must complete a card before moving onto the next one. You can skip a card but you won’t be allowed to go back and complete any that you skipped. If a card has a single symbol on it you can (if you roll one) assign a shoot symbol in the second slot for that card to deal damage. If you do this with your black EX dice then you can deal two damage. After your sweat filled time is up you resolve the cards. One at a time seeing who blocked, who did damage and who took damage. If a player loses all their health then the game is over unless another player uses a parry token to revive them. You keep going like this until you have defeated all the bosses in the pack at which point you gain coins and can buy upgraded gear to take with you into the next boss deck. Simple?!! A big old mug of chaos I’ve not played the video game that this is based on but its reputation very much precedes it as being notoriously hard and fast paced. Since playing Cuphead: A fast rolling dice game I watched a couple of playthroughs and I can definitively say that this game absolutely captures that about the video game. Cuphead is chaotic fun at its most chaotic. Before each round starts there’s a literal calm before the storm, people limber up their rolling hands, take some deep breaths and even try and decide if they can utilise any training techniques from Mr Miyagi. Wax on, wax off can be best applied in this game, only sped up to eleven!. As you press start on the timer app the music kicks in and you become aware of about four different things going on around you. First your focus is on your dice and the outcome of each roll, what you can place on the board (if anything ) and if you can afford to spend a dice to shoot with or if you need all the dice you can for the next card. Next your brain is trying to interpret the symbols on the die faces. Some bosses in later decks have you substituting some symbols for others. Third you become aware of your team mates shouting “double feet, come on double feet, yes!!! right now jump and shoot, jump and shoot!” Lastly you hear the timer music getting ever faster as the time ticks down, aaaand stop! Now breathe a sigh of relief as you take stock of the last crazy 20 seconds and then see what the damage is amongst your team. We’ve had a lot of fun with this game and the more players the better in our opinion. The higher player count may give more chances of losing as people start to lose HP but it’s also just more of a laugh as you see people panicking to get that last roll in before the end. The elation of getting that last symbol on the last roll is awesome and if it doesn’t go your way then you can’t help but laugh. No matter how much it may go against your gamer instincts, Cuphead isn’t a game that I think should be taken too seriously when it comes to winning or losing purely because you may find yourself losing a lot! It’s easy to dismiss Cuphead as a game of pure luck……although it is largely. Getting a good first couple or rolls is always satisfying but not getting any of the symbols you want can be just as disheartening. Having unlimited re rolls is great and does mitigate the luck to a point and it’s then just down to how quick you can roll and assess your dice. Getting a wallop card helps as well, as do some of the special weapons and powers that you can acquire for completing the various decks. There is some strategy in the game, the ability to skip cards, whilst damaging may be your best bet if you find yourself rolling a lot of one symbol. Sometimes choosing to suffer one hit rather than risking taking more is the better option. Choosing to use a shoot die early to be guaranteed to do damage and limiting your die pool for the next cards or wait and hope for the best at the end is always an interesting choice. Whatever you choose you’d better make it quick because time is short……very short. If you’ve ever screamed at a quiz show because a contestant can’t do something in 30 seconds then try this game. After 20 seconds of this under pressure you’ll have all the sympathy for them. A Chalice of caveats The next few points I’m going to make may seem like I’m trying to dissuade from checking this game out. That’s not necessarily the intent behind them, I’m just trying to make sure that this game is the best fit for people. While it can be said that most games are not for everyone. Cuphead has a lot more things that may not be the right fit for everyone. Cuphead can be a difficult game and if you're the type of person who doesn’t like games that start on hard mode then Cuphead may not be the game for you. This can be especially true if your luck isn’t going your way on a particular night. I’d advise to watch some playthroughs on youtube and if you think it would have you packing it away after failing an early boss deck, never to play it again I would suggest that this isn’t the game for you. My advice would be to not take this too seriously, forget the grading system and just play to laugh and see how you get on. If you're not a fan of real time games then this definitely is not for you. If you played Pandemic Rapid Response and thought that was too much then this game is probably not for you. I’d imagine if you don’t like real time games then you probably stopped reading sometime during the rules summary. If you did stick around then, thanks for sticking around! If you're someone who doesn’t have the most dexterous hands then this could be a struggle. It’s not to say you can’t play it, you absolutely can but if you get some bad rolls then being able to reroll the dice quickly is a sure fire advantage and I worry that if you’re not able to do that then the game could feel frustrating. Lastly, whilst this is not a one and done style game there is a possibility that by the time you’ve finished all the boxes you’ve had your fill. That’s not really a knock on the game itself because it’s fully replayable and it may be fun now and then to pull out a random box and see how you go, but I know that once some people “finish” the game they may feel that they’re done with it. Cupehead does have a solo mode and that does feel easier. I’m not sure why that is, possibly because it’s easier to heal back up but it doesn’t feel as hard as the multiplayer so maybe playing solo may help with the sense of achievement and help you feel like you’re making progress though the decks. There’s also a fun timer app you can use, it’s not necessary, but it does make getting your grade a lot simpler (if you wish to play that way) and the music does add to the feel and the tension. For us we like to play this when we’ve got half an hour to spare at the end of the night. We pull out the next boss deck we’re on and play through it. For us that’s the perfect way to play the game. Cuphead is some crazy fun that we can pull out at the end of a night, especially after a heavy game and just have a laugh with and not take it too seriously. It’s frantic, quick to set up, quick to play and weirdly enough it’s something to wind down at the end of the night.

Abstract Academy WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Azul, The Isle of Cats, Calico. Published by: Crafty Games Designed by: Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, Shawn Stankewich I love abstract games. The puzzle they create. The beauty they often have. The quiet satisfaction when you do well at them. Some abstract games try and manufacture a needless theme around the mechanics. Others proudly run devoid of any theme. From the designers of Dollars to Donuts, Point Salad, and Verdant, Abstract Academy sits somewhere in the middle, but how does it play? Set-up Set-up for Abstract Academy is simple. Each player is dealt three canvas cards and given one challenge inspiration card. For the first round, one red, blue, and yellow assignment card is then flipped over to reveal the ways to score points for this phase. And that's it. You are ready to go! Players will then take it in turns to place one of their three canvas cards into the central shared playing area, before drawing back up to three cards. As more canvas cards are placed a grid will start to form, with the maximum height and width being four cards. Once a 4x4 grid is created, the round is over and each player will assess their performance against their own private inspiration card and the public assignment cards. Players are looking to place their canvas cards down to form groups of colours based on the scoring options available for that particular round. Players will only score for the two rows closest to them. As more canvas cards are placed, the rows can build out in any direction until a four sided row or column is formed. So, it might be that you place a card down with the expectation that it will end in your half and score for you, but as later canvas cards are placed behind, this could mean that this is not the case. Players are never allowed to place cards in the row furthest from them, once this has been formed, unless it is their only remaining option. The evolution of the grid forming in front of the two players is a unique and interesting part of the puzzle. Your choice is not just about what to place and where to place, but also about how you can manipulate the board to end up being set up as you wish come the end of the round. Do you place bad cards at the start to try and then build back from that point so that these end up in your opponents scoring zone? Or do you react to the other players plans and try and disrupt what they are doing and build from it to suit you? There are many ways to play this. In the second round, professor cards are used instead of the assignment cards. And then in the third and final round a mixture of the two are brought in. The assignment cards are all focused around the particular colour deck they are from. Largest red area. fewest blues etc. The professor cards offer slightly more complex challenges such as trying to have the fewest amount of colour areas on your side. As in, you need to group the colours together as best you can. Your private inspiration card will challenge you to create a Tetris style polyomino shape. You will get a new inspiration card each round which offers a nice supplementary mini private quest for you to focus on. Sometimes, you can complete these tasks naturally without much thought. Other times when they contradict the other professor or colour assignment cards for that round, they can be a little more tricky or even an avoidable nuisance. All the professor and assignment cards are scored with an all or nothing mechanic. One player will take the points if they have the most, fewest or longest of that colour, the other player will get nothing. You are rarely fully in control of winning these cards and getting the available points. Whereas you can guarantee the points from the inspiration cards if you want to focus on them. Playing Abstract Academy feels light but challenging. Laying a card, picking up another card. Choosing from one of three. The rules are simple and rounds and games can fly by. But there are so many nuances to every move. Games can quickly slip away from you if you are not careful. But the overall play time can be as low as 15 minutes with two players who are used to the game so you can always shuffle up and go again. As the scoring cards are win or loose, if you miss out on a few cards by a small margin, it can look like a big loss when the points are tallied up when in fact the game was very close, but hopefully it wont take long to get your revenge! Abstract Academy is a beautiful looking game. The art is very simple on the canvas cards but it looks stunning. And when the grid is finished, I defy you not to stare at your combined creation, at least for a moment, and see what you made. I always see British farm fields from the perspective of a plane, high above. With rivers and ponds scattered about. What do you see? I would recommend Abstract Academy to anyone looking for a quick two-player duel card laying game, who enjoys abstract games that relay on a visual puzzle. This game is certainly not going to suit everyone's playing tastes, but those of us who like these sorts of games I think are going to love it! You can find out more here and grab a copy of the game with a free promo if you order direct from the publisher.