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by @mostly.solo For someone who always claims to suck at making top anythings it’s a bit weird to volunteer a top 3, but the thing is: I’d just gotten a new game in and it was so fantastic it had to be top 3 material. So that was one down, and since I didn’t want to get a top 3 full of the same (rather fantastic) mechanism, I started making a top 3 of my favourite mechanisms instead, because if I really only ever got to play my top 3, would I want them to all be the same mechanism? (Spoiler alert: they ended up sharing a mechanism.) Number 3: flip and fill Hadrian’s Wall The one mechanism that makes me buy a game without so much as a glance at its Boardgamegeek page is paper-and-pencil, comprising of all things roll and write and flip and fill. So when I found out that the latest Garphill game was going to be a flip and fill, I couldn’t resist. And when I saw designer Bobby Hill had looked at both Fleet the Dice Game (two sheets of roll and write awesomeness) and Imperial Settlers Roll & Write (which combines a roll and write with worker placement in again two sheets of fantastic choices), two absolute favourites of mine, I was sold. And Hadrian’s Wall didn’t disappoint, because this is an amazing tableau builder (your possible choices will get better as the game progresses), a worker placement (you’ll need to use specific workers to get the actions you want) as well as a flip and fill, which is why I love it so much. You keep making these excellent chains, especially later in the game, when you're sending a civilian off to the gardens in exchange for some piety here, some trade goods there and what do you know, you end up with a much needed servant and a builder to boot! It's on the heavier side as far as flip and fills go, and I am loving every minute of it. A crunchy game that is super quick to set up. Number 2: tableau builder It’s a Wonderful World The next game however was no love at first sight. I had spotted this in my FLGS, looked at the components, watched reviews on YouTube and seen numerous accounts on Instagram loving this, but I was hesitant. I didn’t necessarily like the artwork, it seemed kind of aggressive, the dystopian theme wasn’t doing it for me and you never know when a zombie might pop up in a dystopian world. I really hate zombies. After my FLGS-friends had ensured me the solo mode was supposed to be great, there were no zombies to be seen and it would play in around half an hour, I decided to try it. 36 plays later I’m still hooked. In It’s a Wonderful World you’ll get cards you can either recycle for one resource, or build with the resources you get from recycling and during the production phase. Once built, a card will get you more resources, end game bonuses, or both. And this means you’ll slowly build up your engine by claiming more and more resources during production to place those fantastic but hard to build cards, to get you even more resources so you can place your … You get where I’m going with this. The enormous deck of cards and the solo scenarios will make sure you’ll want to play this again and again. Number 1: worker placement game Raiders of Scythia No, this wasn’t love at first sight either. I have a digital adaptation of Scythia’s older brother, Raiders of the North Sea. Loved the artwork, loved the dual use cards (choose to: recruit and permanently gain a benefit or play and get a specific benefit or action once), loved the mechanism of putting a worker down to take an action, and then picking up another worker to also take that action. As I was playing Raiders of the North Sea, I started longing for a physical copy but I didn’t want to spend my money on the exact same game I was already playing, especially if that meant spending around 80 euro so be able to play Raiders of the North Sea solo. So I bought Raiders of Scythia, and I haven’t played RotNS since. This game is done right on so many levels. Comparing it to RotNS makes clear that if you own the one, you don’t need the other, but it also makes clear that Raiders of Scythia is the more complete game and the more inclusive game. It doesn’t need any expansions; replay-ability is high thanks to asymmetric player powers, a thick crew deck, blind drafting during set-up and four levels of difficulty for solo play. And where in (the digital edition of) Raiders of the North Sea women were good for collecting extra provisions or maybe silver, they were hardly capable of forming a successful crew between them. In Raiders of Scythia, I can build up a crew consisting solely of women and beat the strongest solo opponent. This, to me, is important, but for readers who don’t feel this is an added bonus, let me just say this: it is a worker placement game with different worker types that will have you on your toes the whole game. It is a tableau builder that lets you improve your crew with eagles and horses, gaining them extra abilities or permanent actions. It’s got you rolling beautiful dice when you raid. It is a game that will always have a place in my collection, and the first game I really want to upgrade. Not because it doesn’t look stunning already, but because this game is exactly why I fell in love with playing board games: it makes me think and calms me down at the same time. And it is the best feeling in the world.

“Last night a board game saved my life………”.No, really. “ (Favouritefoe, Zatu Games, October 2020) Woah, did I really start my first ever board gaming piece with this opening line only 6 months ago? I think I am on pretty safe ground when I say 2020 was a year unlike anything almost any of us have ever experienced. And I am also probably in uncontroversial territory when I suggest that mental health has never been more at the forefront of our minds, literally. Without doubt, the Pandemic has affected us all. Not in the same ways, but definitely changed us. Taking inspiration from author Damian Barr, it is like we have been swimming in the same sea but travelling in different boats. I have been incredibly blessed not to have lost anyone to Coronavirus. And my own family has been extremely fortunate to have waited for the stormiest of times to pass in a house with a garden space – many did not have that luxury. In those respects, I am acutely aware that a lot of people have lost so much more, and struggled in much more challenging environments during this crisis than me. Which, you might think, should give me clear reason to count my lucky stars and quit worrying. However, for me, it is not that simple. It is never that simple. And that is because my own particular brand of anxiety makes every.single.waking.moment a challenge. Pandemic or not, even “normal” life is a terror-fest. And, untreated, my disorder makes it impossible for me to control fear. Impossible to dial down emotional responses. Impossible to stop. I am dizzy. I am tired. I am wound tighter than a drum. An Emotionally Unavailable Weeble I am, in a word, overwhelmed. But I can’t be. I am a mummy, a wife, a friend, a lawyer, a daughter, and a host of other simultaneous things. I am in control. I have to be. Micro-managing is in my DNA. It is in direct response to anxiety whilst simultaneously making me feel more afraid of the responsibility it brings. You see, I don’t have the option to drop, run, and hide away like every cell and synapse in my body is screaming at me to do, needs me to do. I can’t delegate or assign problems – believe me, I have tried. But the worry that somebody else will make matters worse (or at least not make them better) has played out so many times now makes giving over responsibility just as impossible as doing nothing at all. So I stay and I fight. I stiffen up, I ball my fists, and I grit my teeth. My eyes well but I blink hot tears away. My back knots but the uncomfortable tension is necessary. It keeps me standing. Just about. I become an emotionally unavailable Weeble – in survival mode, knocked down only to come back up again. Every time. My anxiety can make the smallest decision feels gut-wrenchingly impossible as it breaks a choice down into innumerable combinations of possibilities and consequences. And on loud days it disrupts even the most basic routines of daily life. Tea or coffee? Shirt or jumper? I don’t know. I can’t think. But I have to think. I have to decide. There is no quit. No matter how cornered I feel by my own anxiety dragon, not functioning is not an option. It hurts. Bone-aching, brain-pounding pain. Nevertheless, through the fog and the noise, choices must be made. Bad ones probably. But choices, nonetheless. Board Gaming Band-Aid And therein lies the gossamer thread which keeps me connected to the ground. The patch allowing me to mentally limp into the next day. Knowing that there is a safe space where I can shut out real-life, consequence heavy choices and practice on something smaller. A single action in a limited sphere; a decision inside a board game. And, whilst I try my best to hide anxiety most days behind smiles and function, it is there. It is always there. Like trying to catch a single blade of grass in a raging tornado, focussing on a single thought is out of the question. The confidence and concentration overcoming my disorder requires being precisely the things it takes away. My headspace is invaded by a continuous thumping onslaught of sensory overload. On that basis, board gaming remains a key element of my self-care. A hobby punching way above its weight – beyond some mere coping mechanism and into the realms of support therapy. Because, just as it was six months ago, gaming gives me an excuse to try and pause the noise. To try and narrow in on a particular mechanism or a theme. To sit and think. Or not think. Just play. Whatever I choose to do, I have agency over it. I may be at the mercy of luck in terms of a deck or a bag in a game but, to me, that is infinitely more enjoyable than the unknowns shaping and slamming into me the other 23 hours every day. In gaming I also know that I am not alone. I have great friends who I have met through playing, chatting, and writing about board games. Those who understand my need to focus on just a single hex or a die or a card. Those who let me be by myself amongst them, or as much a part of the social activity as I can cope with that day. No pressure. No expectation. No obligation. And so, fortified with a little cardboard confidence and in honour of Mental Health Week, I thought it would be a useful exercise to see whether the 5 games I chose in my first post for Zatu Games about board gaming as a means to manage anxiety last year, are still my go-to anxiety busters now. Carry on reading to find out which ones are still on my prescription and which have been toppled by a new tabletop treatment. 1. 2020: Azul Summer Pavilion 2021: Calico Don’t get me wrong, I still adore Michael Kiesling’s beautifully designed portion of Portuguese puzzliness that is Azul Summer Pavilion . The tiles look and feel good enough to eat, and the strategy behind picking and choosing what to lay and when to lay it in order to complete the stars on your board is enough to keep Azul Summer Pavilion at the number one spot of the multiple Azul options for me. But there is a new cat in town, and this furry feline is fierce. Or not. It depends on how you want to play, and whether you even want to play with other people when puzzling it out. And, whilst Azul is also versatile in terms of friendly v fierce gaming styles, it is the added solo campaign which causes Calico to settle at the top of the abstract games for me. Like thick, luxurious, kitty tempting cream. With gorgeous artwork by Beth Sobel, the box tempts all who gaze upon it with the promise of a soothing comfort of a quilt (if you play with your claws retracted, that is). And Calico is indeed a tile laying game in which you can either meditate over patterns and placement, or scrap like an alley cat when it comes to selecting patches to design your quilt and complete your personal objectives. Calico isn’t one of my quick-hit anxiety-busting games. It is a rare one in which I allow myself to indulge – to let my analysis paralysis to play out completely until I am ready to select a tile and lay it on my board. And for that reason, with permission to sit, stare, and shut out the world, it is a top anxiety buster in my book. (If you would like to read my full review of Calico, please click here) 2. 2020: Battle Line 2021: Battle Line Reiner Knizia’s flag-grabbing duelling card game, Battle Line from GMT Games was a strong choice last year and one that remains on my anxiety-busting list. Strong, not because of weight or wargame connections (although it is all about the fight!). No, this is a game which I play when I am feeling strong. When I have smacked my anxiety dragon on the nose and I am riding high (relatively speaking) on a mini-victory. This is because strategic decision making is you have to use in this game. It feels tighter than wet Lycra and, at times, just as uncomfortable. Simple to learn, you are two opposing armies fighting to secure 3 or 5 flags by creating the most powerful troop formations. But with only seven cards in your weaponry (including the option of using some special power Troop cards – which we rarely do instead preferring the purer number battle), you have just your mind to battle the luck of the draw which determines your constantly evolving hand on each turn. My dentist doesn’t like me playing this game. I have ground down more tooth enamel trying to work out which card to lay down in order to give me the best advantage than a lifetime of eating Flumps will ever do. But on a day when I feel able to go head to head with my husband in a game that is going to make my AP scream like a board gaming banshee, the choices I make (eventually!) in Battleline give me a cardboard confidence boost like no other. 3. 2020: Ticket to Ride Europe 2021: Quacks of Quedlingburg Six months ago, Ticket To Ride Europe was my cardboard equivalent of a warm, comfy cardigan. I knew the game, I knew my strategy, I knew the reassuring “no blocking” house rule would be enforced. And, as I mentioned in my first piece, it was (and still is) a sprawling and sociable euro-style multiplayer solitaire. A still soothing choice for a challenging day. Six months on, however, and whilst I will never say no to a game of Ticket To Ride Europe, there is a new social butterfly on my list. Quacks of Quedlingburg by Coiledspring games is built upon a totally different main game mechanic. It is a bag building (or destroying), luck driven hoot in which you are mixing up potions and trying to gain points before you push-your-luck too far and blow up your own cauldron. It does share some similarities; it is sociable, it is fun, there is hardly any direct player interaction, and (like the temptation of extra routes in Ticket to Ride), you can overstretch yourself and crash out in spectacular fashion! For a slave-to-control like me, a luck driven game like Quacks could be a curious choice. But it is a relief; a light, fun family game where I can leave 90% of what happens to chance. Don’t get me wrong, that last 10% is strategic and I know that is all down to me. With resource management in the form of using rubies at the right time and spending money wisely to select the most advantageous additional ingredients each round, as well as the need to decide between dipping in for one more token or sticking to safeguard against explosions, decisions ultimately help tip the bag in (or out of) your favour. But throwing caution to the wind, and diving in for one more chit in the hope that it gets you further round your board than the other players, is what makes this game fun. And it is most definitely a great, safe environment where I can push myself to my limits, to see what happens if I don’t operate on 100% risk aversion mode! 4. 2020: Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition 2021: Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition Given that I wrote a virtual love letter to Railroad Ink on Valentine’s Day for another feature earlier this year, my love for this game and all the comfort that it provides me is, without doubt, enduring. And so it remains firmly on my list. A game where you are simply seeking to draw the longest highways and railways connected to as many set network points as possible, base game Railroad Ink can be learnt in under a minute. But over a year of rolling, writing, and erasing later, I remain at its red-hot mercy. Those 7 rounds and 4 die providing an infinitely replayable experience whenever I need it (and that is before I even bring in the fiery expansions included in the box). Some no-brainer tactics have been learnt along the way, of course. But with very little power to forward plan, and nobody to blame but myself for a poor score, this game is a silent-disco of synapse snaps and fantastically frustrated fist balling. Soloing Railroad Ink is no different to playing with others, save that you take it in turns to roll the die (a tenuous responsibility-shifter at best), and have someone else to beat. And over the past year, its ability to play well over video call (and even asynchronously using recorded rolls) with any number of players has been a sanity saver for sure. But, on the basis that I do not ever give myself an easy ride, I am already my own most formidable opponent. And therefore, without the pressure of pace, when I don’t have the fortitude to play to another person’s beat, but I still want to puzzle out the spaghetti junctions on the board rather than the ones inside my head, Railroad Ink remains one of my anxiety busting go-to choices. (watch out for my review of the new 2021 Lush Green and Shining Yellow Challenger Editions coming soon!) 5. 2020: Rhino Hero 2021: Rhino Hero Super Battle Rhino Hero is back, but this time he has brought his friendly rivals! And I simply couldn’t review my initial list without including one of my son’s favourite games. At almost 6 years old, he has quite definite and discerning tastes, but Rhino Hero was always a sure fire hit. In October it was our go to dexterity game. Until, that is, Super Battle was delivered by Santa on Christmas Day. Now, our mini-meeple is all about trying to knock mummy down a level, and forcing daddy into moving those cheeky, balance-altering monkeys around the ever escalating tower. A game elevating the house-of-cards idea into the stratosphere, victory in Super Battle (like its simpler sibling Rhino Hero) is heavily dependent on a steady hand and a steady nerve. Again, possibly a strange choice for an anxiety sufferer you might think. However, what this game represents is time with my son. Time away from work emails, bills, deadlines, homework, chores, Pandemic panic……..Time where I focus on his eyebrows furrowing as he works out where to place his roof and how to arrange his walls. Time where I watch his eyes light up when Rhino Hero (he always plays the main mammal!) defeats me and sends me down to the level below. And time where I listen to his laughter as the tower topples and the cards fly everywhere. I don’t know about you, but for me, there is no better medicine than that.

by @Mad4FunGames Why choose just 3 and ignore the rest of your collection?? Why can't I have a few more options? Could that even be remotely possible? I definitely did have a case of analysis paralysis when it came to choosing my 3 favourites. Did anyone else have the same pressure? Anyhow over the years of exploring various games, the following are my top - 3 go to games usually on the weekends. These 3 games always bring a smile on my face every time I play them, not because I usually win (which I normally don't always but sometimes yes, I win a few...) they were some of the most recent & frequent ones that I started to play. So, without much further ado..... Istanbul - The Dice Game The first time I played this game, it did not make much sense to me. There were not a lot of things going on, not much time spent on setting up the board, there was no need to focus much on planning your next moves and so on..... I was shocked. Could such a complex game be this simpler? I did have to keep checking the box to make sure I got all the components out. The craziest part of this game was that the entire game revolves on the rolling of the dice. I still remember the first ever game of Istanbul I played with my husband and our friends took a solid 2 hours because we were still new to Istanbul and the board gaming world. But the first ever Istanbul dice game that we played got over with 30 minutes (no I did not win...) I guess this became one of my favourites because there is no hassle to setup and doesn't take that long to play, which actually gives us more time to explore other games. So, if you haven't played this game, I definitely recommend trying at least once. It might become your favourite too. Azul - The Summer Pavilion The entire series of Azul games are always fun to play. When I heard that a new game in the Azul series was going to launch, I immediately told my husband that we must definitely get it for our collection, and we did.. The first few games that I played were a bit challenging because it took time in getting used to the wild colour tiles. In addition to that I enjoy playing this game because in a way it gives you an opportunity to plan a few moves ahead at every turn. Another interesting thing about the game is that it has some additional tiles that are set aside in the beginning of the game and also during the game and you have a possibility to gain some extra tiles from the pillar, statue and the window during the game.. I believe there is no one strategy of winning this game. Compared to the basic Azul and Azul - The stained glass of sintra, summer pavilion wins it hands down in terms of design, concept and game play. This game I feel is a must have for all gamers. Ticket to Ride - Rails & Sails This game became quite the favourite and the most regular board game every weekend. The interesting thing about this game in particular is that you can travel both ways of the board. You are not bound by the fact that you have to acquire the longest road. It does guarantee fun with 5 players because you want to build all the important links the first. After playing the Europe version, I was no longer interested to play ticket to ride anymore because all of them felt the same way (you gain cards, build roads, claim your route). The first time I played rails & sails I was taken aback by looking at the huge double side game board, so many components and I must admit it did look so colourful. My favourite part of this game in particular is definitely the cards, the cute little ships, the harbours that give you extra points and does not limit your thinking to just trying to build one long link. I feel one does get a sense of travelling around the whole world with this game. On the other side we get to experience the great lakes of USA and Canada. Although having played that only for a few times, I felt it was brilliantly designed. It was a wonderful experience having tried this game. Now I never shy away from giving my honest opinion about this game to anyone who asks me about it, which is do give it a try, you will also fall in love with it like I did. So that was it, these were my top - 3. I would never get tired of playing these games again and again. The memories and that I have with these games always bring a big smile on my face. I guess all these games were an inspiration to me and helped me in designing my own game. I would also like to thank Jim who gave me the opportunity to share here. I hope you enjoyed reading about 'My Top - 3'.I would love to hear your opinions and thoughts about your top - 3 https://www.mad4fungames.com/blog/my-top-3-board-games

From Railroads to Vampires, from Unicorns to Kings in Dilemma. Horrible Guild cover it all! Striving for originality and entertainment, Horrible Guild publish games they think are “cool!” Based out of Milan, Italy, Horrible Guild have a proud history of making games that bring “simple, pure, unbridled fun for everyone.” In this top three we take a look at three of our favourites from their magnificent portfolio of games. Vampire: The Masquerade - Vendetta 3-6 players. Officially 14 plus. Can be understood from 8. Card art may not be suitable until older. Vampire the Masquerade was a huge tabletop RPG in the 90’sm winning awards, fans and plaudits all round. There were numerous spin off video games, dice games, novels and even a short-lived TV show in 1996. Then in 2020, a successful Kickstarter ran with 4,731 backers for a new game, Vampire: The Masquerade – Vendetta. A card-based area-majority game, with asymmetric player powers, take-that and sumptuous art. Vampires have always intrigued. From the early films coming from the states, Russia and Europe, to the 50s Hammer films, Vampires have always been a part of modern popular culture. In the 90’s, many of us grew up watching Buffy, Angel and Blade. And more recently The Vampire Diaries, What we do in the Shadows and Preacher have brought a new generation to the clan! It’s the mix between violence, romance, power, control, and eternal life I think that interest’s people so much. But how dos that translate to board game form? Very well is the short answer! Vendetta delivers in fascinating mix of bluff, card play and strategy in a deeply engrossing way. I want to bite your neck! Set-up is relatively simple. After each player chooses their faction, everyone receives their respective cards, stay or withdraw tokens and blood and influence cache. You then lay out the parts of Chicago you will visit in the game according to player count, and each player places their marker there. Each player receives one victim card to draw blood from and once the game has started, an Ally card is placed at each location. In the game, you will simply place a card and blood if you chose, at the locations you want to try and have influence over it, in an attempt to win more alliances. There are only three rounds of this and you can only lay a few cards each round. Always one less than your hand size, starting with two from three cards in round one and increasing by one each turn. In a three-player game, you play three cards from four in round one. This is the only major difference to a four player plus game other than being able to hold one more card in your hand. For the full rules you can head here. Bluff, Bravado & Brains! This game is a delicious blend of bluff, bravado and brains. I absolutely loved playing this game and introducing these mechanisms to different groups. Each person I taught this to found it a fresh and enjoyable experience. One area that was new to many was the opportunity to play cards either face up or down. Face down costs you one blood but allows you to hide not just the cards powers, but your intent. Once all cards have been played, players then reveal if they intend to stay and fight at each location, or retreat to the final stage at the Princes Haven. Cards could have been placed face down to hide some game changing or rule bending powers that would allow a player to win a location easier than the quantity of cards and blood might have suggested. Or it could be a bluff or double bluff, hiding weak or powerful cards that are destined to fight at this area or another. There is a lot to think about! But it all happens very quickly and in a highly entertaining way. My Vampire and your Vampire, sitting by the fire. Each players card’s are completely different. Depending on the faction you chose at the start of the game, you could find you are incredibly powerful at fighting, using card powers twice in one round or perhaps more adept surprising your opponents with shocking revelations that allow you to use your opponents unused cards on top of yours. Particularly useful when you also laid a card that lets you use all your own unused cards too. You could go from 2 cards to four pretty quickly! At the end of each round, each card you play, win or lose, returns to your hand. You then add one more to it from your draw pile. This means each round, players will start to learn what powers you are capable of as cards are reused. But there is always an element of surprise up each players sleave with their new or previously unplayed card. The art is absolutely stunning. Although I would say suitable for teens and up. The art on some cards is a little graphic with scenes of violence and horror. I loved it but wouldn’t play this with my kids. But with young adults and up, this is an utterly brilliant game. The game is wrought with suspense, second guessing and mischief. If you enjoy games with a lot of interaction, bluffing and asymmetric card play, I am confident you will love this. I was blown away with this game from game one. Unicorn Fever 2-6 players. Officially 14 plus. I played with my five year old and she loved it! Unicorn Fever is an interesting game. At first glance, you will assume this is for young children only. Then after reading the rules and setting up, which is not initially overly clear, you will rethink and understand why this game is marketed as 14 plus. But then you will play a round and realise this is a family friendly game, suitable for all ages, and wonder what the confusion was ever about! Equally, with the mechanics, you will first think this is a race game. You will then realise it is more of a gambling game. But finally, come to think of it as a card-playing party game with bluffing, betting, and racing, that delivers a lot of fun! It’s Time to Race! Set up, Unicorn Fever looks stunning. A veritable feast for the eyes. My daughter (5) was quite literally panting with excitement at all the colours, cards and of course, the Unicorn miniatures! A lot has been put into this production to make it visually appealing, but also simple to play. Everything has its place and once you learn the game, you will be moving from round to round with great efficiency. I mention this as the game does initially seem a little complicated. Everyone I know who has played this has independently said they felt this way. But after a round were realising how simple it is. I don’t think the rule book is bad, in fact, it is very good. It is more that there are quite a few stages to each round; and at first, it can be a little confusing. There are six phases of Planning, then four stages of Racing, followed by six stages of Results. The first time you play this, you will be following the rule book closely, and probably miss at least one thing if you are anything like me! However, once you have got through one race and learnt the core mechanics, you will come to find the Unicorn Fever has a fantastic blend of strategy and luck mixed with a fun tension and push-your-luck chance that flows elegantly from race to race. Each game offered very different experiences for me. Some games, I found I was lucky and dripping with winnings. Other times, I did not fare quite so well, and was forced to take loans to stay in the game. But both ways of playing are equally fun if you can take out one’s personal sulking from losing a bet of course! But the game adapts well for each scenario, win, or lose, and keeps each player involved to the final race. The catch-up mechanic is such that you can just go big on the bets if you need a ‘Hail-Mary’, whereas a winning player, perhaps may play more conservatively. May the odds be ever in your favour. The odds of each runner are adapted well with a simple turn of a card each round based on their previous performances. This gives each Unicorn a varying likelihood of victory, and with it, potential rewards. But players can create their own luck by playing magic cards to certain Unicorns, either helping or hampering their chances in the race ahead. All cards are played face down by all players until the race starts when one player will turn them over and read them out loud to the group. It’s a hilarious part of the game to see what each person has tried to do, and often cards will cancel each out if one player is trying to give a Unicorn a head-start when another is trying to slow it down. Sometimes, a certain Unicorn could get all the favours in the world, but still not quite get the luck of the movement cards or sprint dice. There are so many elements that affect each race, you will be kept guessing throughout. This is a brilliant fun family game, suitable for all ages and potentially higher player counts in a party style where players join forces. It has that “race-night” feel to it, where you could theme the entire evening around this magical gambling world! The production is fantastic, and the table presence very high. This one comes highly recommend to all fans of games like Camel Up but are looking for the next stage up. Unicorn Fever is a brilliant game that packs a lot of punch for its genre and will deliver an incredible amount of magical Unicorn laughs to your table. Railroad Ink 1-6 players with the boards included. 1 to as many as you like with multiple copies or these print outs! 8 plus. Over the last year I have played more of Railroad Ink than any other game. It works brilliantly over video call, scales brilliantly from a relaxing yet challenging solo up to as many as you can fit on a Zoom screen, and can be taught to anyone in minutes. As such, this must be up there as one of the best games of 2020, if not all time. The premise is simple. This is a roll-and-write in its truest sense. Rule four dice, (more if you use any of the now many expansions) then write the dice faces visible onto your board. Your goal is to make as many connections as possible, whilst building the longest single rail and road network possible, avoiding dead ends, and trying to get the centre nine spaces full. It’s genius in its simplicity, and I can see why it grew from its humble beginnings, to the recent new Green and Yellow versions being backed by over 10,000 people! This Kickstarter has just shipped and looks brilliant. Full review of that to come. If you enjoy roll-and-write games, you will love this. If you are looking for a game to play with friends over video call or perhaps as a quick filler before or after games night, this is ideal. If you want a game that scratches your gaming itch for a quick 10-minute coffee break during the working day, I couldn’t think of anything better to recommend than this. Railroad Ink has no Jack, but it is a Master of all trades.

My Little Scythe WBG Score: 7/10 Player Count: 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Tobago Clank Ticket to Ride Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Hoby Chou, Vienna Chou Let’s start this review by making it very clear. I love Scythe! It’s one of my favourite games of all time. I love the theme. The art is sumptuous. The components ooze class. The engine building aspects are incredibly satisfying. Every game feels fresh to me. Scythe is a top 10 game for me. But, and this is a huge but, I was strangely intimidated by this game when I first got it. Having received this game as a gift from my sister for my birthday a few years back, I was thrilled to get the game, but found the rule book to be too much for me at the time. It was early in the hobby for me, but still, I was being a little lazy with it. My Little Learning Curve At a board game café in London, I mentioned this to a member of staff there, telling him rather ashamedly I had owned Scythe for a whole but still not played it. He suggested to me to try My Little Scythe first, to get my head around the rules and concepts. I thought this a novel idea, and he offered to teach me and my friend the game. He taught us the game in around 10 minutes and I loved it and the rest, as they say is history. I got Scythe to the table fairly soon rafter this and it was amazing. Learning it after My Little Scythe felt a lot less intimidating now. The basic concept of My Little Scythe laid the foundations and made the experience a lot less daunting. Having played both games many times now, I look back at that time and wonder why I was ever so confused. Scythe to me now seems simple. But it’s good to remember how I felt back then. As I play more and more games, learning new ones become simpler. Mechanisms, rules and general game concepts becomes more familiar to me and piecing together how new games work comes a lot easier to me. I suppose its like anything in life, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. So, I owe a lot to My Little Scythe. It started me on a new journey of gaming that I will never look back from. However, after playing My Little Scythe in that café all those years ago, I never got round to buying it. Having a copy of Scythe felt sufficient to me. My son and I played it many times together and have had such wonderful experiences with it. But I was always left feeling a little sad that my wife was not drawn to the game, and my daughter did not feel she could play it being five years old. My Little Children When My Little Scythe came through the door, my children were instantly drawn to the bright vibrant colours on the box. This is a game designed from top to bottom, with a younger audience in mind. But do not be mistaken. This is not just for young children. This can be a great family experience for all adults and kids alike. The game itself came about when a five-year-old girl named Vienna Chou in Cananda made a print-and-play version of Scythe with her father Hoby, in an attempt to make the main game more accessible to them as a family. Their version won the 2017 Board Game Geek Best print and play game for 2017. This brought the game to the attention of Stonemaier owner and the designer of the original game Jamey Stegmaier, who contact the Chou’s to discuss making the game into a full published version. And that is the copy we have before us today. Quite an origin story isn’t it! What caught the attention of Jamey and all those who voted in the 2017 awards was the smooth way the original had been stripped down and represented in a accessible way whilst still holding onto the original games sense of adventure. The engine building was gone, which is a shame, but the feeling of progression still exist in the trophies. My Little Review My Little Scythe works very simply as an exploration game with some elements of pick-up-and-deliver, take-that, fighting and area-control. But none of that really explains the feel of the game. Set in a completely different world to the original, My Little Scythe puts you and your family into the world of Pomme. Your task is to complete four out of eight possible missions as quickly as you can, to become to the new ruler of the land. There is a cute story in the rule book to introduce your family to this background. The order in which you complete these missions, and of course, the four you chose to do, are entirely up to you. As such, each player and each game you will find very different approaches being attempted. Initially, the most obvious seems to be transporting either four gems or four apples to the central space on the board. This is due to the gems and apples being left tantalisingly for you all at set-up. But all other missions all feel approachable and achievable. This game is designed to make the player feel in control. The game starts with a brilliantly simple random set up with three items; either apples, gems or mission tiles, being placed on the board for each starting player. The mere presence of these on an otherwise empty starting board does encourage players to think delivering these to the castle will be an easier opportunity for a completed trophy. But it doesn’t always work out that way! This is largely in part to the multiple moves required to pick up four of these items and then take them to the central space. Both because you may find better uses for these items, and also because other players may start targeting you if you gather too many resources. Moving onto the space of a rival adventurer initiates a pie fight! The looser is sent back to their starting space leaving behind all their juicy items. But much in the way this game keeps everything family friendly, the loser of any pie fight is rewarded with either two pies or a spell card for your troubles. The game as been expertly put together in this way. Right from the punch boards, clearly labelling each component, so you know what it is you are removing each time (why don’t all games do this?) to the brilliantly laid out and worded rule book. This game is so accessible. Even new players to the hobby will be able to learn this game in under 20 minutes and teach others in ten. Let me try and do the same to you in three short paragraphs. My Litte Set-Up To set-up the game, you will use the starting tile to randomly place three different items, gems, apples or mission tiles onto the board. Three for each player. Lay out all the cards onto the marked spaces on the board. Then give each player one spell card, a player board, their two miniatures, and one mission card. This will be a randomly assigned card that modifies one way you can complete a mission each game. You will place your markers on the starting spaces for your pie counter on the right side of the board and friendship on the left. Place the dice and left-over gems and apples nearby to everyone. On the player board you will see that you start the game with six simple options on your turn. You can move you characters two spaces each, one if they are carrying an item. Search for more items buy rolling the dice, placing them on any space on the appropriate colour based on the dice roll. Or change two items for something else. Two apples become two pies for example, or one apple and one gem can become a power up token. When you take your turn, you place your coloured pawn onto the spot you want to do, to remind yourself which action you took. Because on your next go, the only rule is you must not repeat your last action. Players will then take it in turns to take actions to try and attain trophies. There are eight up for grabs, first to four triggers the end game. You can get a trophy for reaching eight or higher on the friendship chart, or eight or higher on the pie tracker. Another can be awarded for winning a pie fight. You can also get trophies for taking four gems or four apples to the central castle space. A trophy is also awarded for having three spell cards, completing two missions, and finally, for getting two power up tiles. You can only get one trophy per turn, even if you qualify for two on the same turn, apart from the final round, which is triggered when the first person gets their fourth trophy. This gives each other player one last go to try and catch up. That’s it! My Little Game The game plays very quickly. When playing with three players, I found we could finish within 30-minutes, and in a four, usually 45-minutes once all players had become familiar with the mechanisms. Each game felt fresh and light, but full of tight but fun decisions to make. As a family, we all enjoyed this immensely, and I did not see a huge advantage being an adult playing against an eight and five-year-old. Everything on the board, cards and player board is so clearly worded or laid out with large and well-designed icons. The only question my five-year-old asked a few times was what the wording meant on the power up tiles, as they were not as familiar to her at the start. One of your choices on your turn is to convert one gem and one apple into a power up tile. You can take the top three of either the Move pile or Make pile and chose one to add next to your player board. This will give you an extra choice on your turn, giving you a new way and power in your Movement or Make option. But like everything in this game, the development of doing this doesn’t just advance you in the game mechanically or with your available powers, but also in your quest to get four trophies. My Little Summery There is a constant and satisfying sense of progression in this game. I think this is why it is so accessible and enjoyable to younger or less experienced players. No matter how far into the game you are, or how often you have played, it always feels like you can develop your position in this game and do so based on what you want to do, rather than what the game is forcing you to do. This is simply done by offering eight different trophy options but asking players to only achieve four. And all of them being relatively simple things to achieve. If you are looking for a family friendly game that will create a sense of achievement for all players, win or lose, then I could not really think of anything better to recommend that this. It will teach your family so many elements of different game mechanics, and perhaps even make them want to play Scythe with you. For this, and what it did for me in my own personal gaming tourney, I cannot thank Vienna and Hoby enough.

Tucano WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Azul, Jaipur, Kawaii. Published by: Helvetiq Designed by: Théo Rivière Toucan play that game. Actually it's up to four. I love Helvetiq games. Everything they do is full of joy and happiness and Tucano is no different. This is the latest in the line of their small box family games, it puts the players into the shoes of birds in the tropical rainforest, and I love it! The fruit of your own hard work is the sweetest The idea in Tucano is simple. Collect the most points from the fruit you acquire during the game. This is a set-collection game at its heart, and it brings this mechanism to the table in a brilliantly family friendly way. To set up the game, separate the Toucan cards, shuffle the deck and split it into two equal halves. Add the 12 Toucan cards into one half of the deck and shuffle them together, then place this half under the other half to form a draw pile. Then lay out the three top cards from the deck face up on the middle of the table and place a second card half covering the middle card. And that’s it! You will be set up and ready to play in under a minute. Players then take it in turns to pick one of the three face up columns and take all the cards from this column and add into their collection. Once each player makes their choice, they then must add one new face up card from the draw pile to each column. This means some columns will grow in number, whilst one column will always only have one card. But as not all cards are positive scoring cards, some column may grow quite large until the positive cards on it out-way the negative ones and make this column an attractive option. Knowledge is knowing that a Tomato is not a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Plays continues until there is only one column left on the table, at which point all players total their points and determine the winner. The cards in the game offer a huge variety of scoring options and make the game a lot of fun. Let’s take a look at some of them! There are some cards like the Banana card which score points to the player who has the most amount of them by the end of the game. 2 points per card if you have the most Bananas, or none if you don’t. This makes collecting them dangerous, but potentially very rewarding! As you can see what each player is taking from each column, you can see what people are going for. So, you can track the other players somewhat. This is not a memory game, but there is an element of this here with the cards. However, each player keeps their cards face up in front of them, so you can also see what each player has simply by looking! But, you do need to pay attention to what is being brought into each players hand as one of the Toucan cards allows you to flip all the fruit cards in front of you so they are hidden from all other players until the end of the game. The Coconut is a more traditional scoring card. Wherein, the points you gain from it at the end of the game are determined by how many you have. Most cards work in the positive, as in, more cards, more points! Whereas the Coconut reverses this. Getting one early gets you a potential of eight points at the end of the game, but the chances you will get more through the game are quite high and each time you do, you lose two points. Terreific Tucano transfers take-that to the top Another of the Toucan cards allows players to give one of your face up cards to another player. If you have two Coconuts, and another player has one or two already, passing one of yours to them is a highly entertaining and point scoring opportunity in the game! This is one small area of take-that that exists in the game, but it is small enough to not affect this in a negative way for players who do not like this in their games. The Rainbow card acts a joker card and can be turned into any fruit of your choice at the end of the game. There is only one in the deck so this is a very powerful card. The balance of this card, and all cards in the deck is perfect. A lot of thought has been put into this, that is clear to see. And the result is a beautiful balanced game that is a lot of fun to play. Each game takes no more than 15-minutes and can be set up and taught to new players in under a minute. This is a perfect family set-collection card game that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys this mechanic or is looking for something light and easy to play with their family. The card art is bright, vibrant, and very clear. Even to younger players on their first game, the iconography on each card is laid out as such that it is a very simple game to grasp. The images are varied enough that those with issues around colour differentiation would find each card simple to identify. This game will help with maths, strategy, and forward planning. A great opportunity to have fun with your children whilst secretly teaching them a few things too! For younger children there is the benefit of shape, colour, and object recognition too. And of course, it teaches us the valuable lesson that too many Coconuts can be a bad thing! I would highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a quick fun game to play with younger children from five and up. The game suggests six and up, but I enjoyed this a lot with my daughter who is five and she became very quickly comfortable with the game and rules and enjoyed it immensely.

by @familyofboardgames For years I thought I didn't need Gloomhaven. It's too big, too long and there is no place for it in my life. It suddenly changed after the Frosthaven campaign last year. We decided to get it and OMG it changed our lives! I love every part of it especially when you change characters. In 10 months we completed 50 scenarios and I am currently playing my fourth character. It is difficult to get to the table but we play it overall quite often - we do a longer session once a month keeping it on the table for 2 days. We usually manage to play four scenarios that way. I will not be getting Jaws Of The Lion anytime soon, but I will eagerly wait for my Frosthaven to arrive. When I first played Brass Birmingham I was stunned that this game was smarter than I am. I couldn't believe it! I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't see the right strategy. It was an amazing thing because it doesn't really happen to me. I usually just figure out the game within the first couple of rounds and this time it was different. I adore it for that and every time it gets to the table it's an amazing experience. Arkham Horror LCG was my favorite game for years. I love how incredibly immersive it is. I love the whole Lovecraft universe and this campaign game brings it to life in the best possible way. There are so many possibilities to combine cards and make amazing combos happen in every turn. Every campaign feels like a new adventure and due to different investigators it's incredibly replayable. It is an expensive game so I am not buying every circle (campaign) but so far I loved every game that I played.

by @boardgameswithb If you could only choose three games to play for the rest of your days, what would they be? For some people this question creates indecision, but for me I can list them without thought or hesitation. My top three board games has been unwaveringly decided for quite some time now. Being relatively new to the world of board games, as well has being stifled by the financial constraints of being a young, single income family – we have had to maintain a tighter collection than most. We don’t buy new games often and when we do, they are thoroughly researched, weighed and considered. For this reason, I like to believe our humble collection is made up of a lot of the better games available – or in the very least, they are all favourites to us. While I enjoy a wide variety of themes and styles from woodland creatures, to savage Vikings and racing camels; I have always been utterly intrigued by the unknown and vast universe of which we are merely a self-important speck - and that is highly reflected in my top three games. So without further ado… Number 1 - Clank! In! Space! If you’ve seen my Instagram channel, it’s hard to mistake my all-time favourite game. I have been highly (and likely irritatingly) vocal about my love for this game. Clank! In! Space! is an intergalactic adventure which raises the bar for deck building to new and amazing heights – you could say, it is Out! Of! This! World! Forget the stuffy deck builders where you are left with a hand of cards and your imagination, this game provides the excitement of deck building, while adding a physical adventuring aspect and a great table presence. I first stumbled across Clank! In! Space! thanks to a friend who was trying to encourage me to spend money… I mean buy games… I mean play games. It was the first deck-builder I had ever encountered and I was really not into the idea of them. I was expecting him to pull a stack of cards from a bag and be done with it, so imagine my surprise when he hefted a huge box onto the table and began organising modules, gems, cubes, treasures and loot all over the table. When he finally presented me with my custom purple meeple I knew this was no slow burn, it was love at first sight. With what was a surprisingly fast rundown on the rules and speedy demonstration, we were off and adventuring. That night would be the first of many spent racing through Lord Eradikus’ flagship; making clank!, racing for treasure and creating card combos so satisfying you’ll forget the word Dominion from your vocabulary. I had ordered my own copy before all the components were back in their baggies and I have played Clank! In! Space! at least once a month ever since. This is a game that will never get old for me. It has so many wonderful variables and I love the hilarious sci-fi references and cheeky gameplay. Clank! is designed for replayability and accessibility – it’s a game that will grow with player experience and always promises a night of laughter and anticipation. Number 2 - Star Wars: Outer Rim Coming in a close second is Star Wars: Outer Rim which I will say very honestly from the start, you have to be a Star Wars fan to properly enjoy. It’s an incredibly immersive and thematic experience – essentially a “choose your own adventure” style game set in the Star Wars universe. I love that there are so many variable elements to this game, which makes every playthrough feel different and you can have as little or as much PVP as you’d like. It genuinely feels like you are writing your own Star Wars story and the theme integration is where this game is strongest. I will never say no when a game is offered! Star Wars: Outer Rim was actually one of the first and only games I bought ‘brand new’ when it was first released and without any prior research. I threw caution to the wind and decided that given my husband and I’s shared love for Star Wars since we were old enough to wield lightsabers, this game would be a safe investment for us. Granted, there is nothing particularly ground breaking about the gameplay and it is essentially a re-theming/tweaked version of Firefly: The Game (another of my favourites), but it is the authenticity of this Star Wars experience that makes it so loved in my home. If you play as Boba Fett, you’ll find bounties easier. If you play as Lando or Han, moving cargo (especially the illegal variety) is lucrative. The characters, items and ships are all designed with great consideration for story-telling and authenticity. This is a game that makes you want to go that extra mile, it makes you want to set the lighting and put on the Star Wars soundtrack in the background. You’ll give your opponent the eye as you pass their ship and pray they don’t have a ‘secret’ hidden that means they’ll steal your crew or draw on you! You’ll watch your ship take more damage than Serenity and pray it’ll hold together as well and if you’re playing as Boba, well you’re going to want to steer clear of that Sarlacc pit. In short, it’s a world you’ll have a heck a lot of fun exploring. I really hope that Fantasy Flight Games has plans for an expansion for this game because although I could play it as is until the Banthas come home, it is designed to have potential for expansions and I will always want more Star Wars: Outer Rim. Number 3 – Terraforming Mars Coming in at number three, Terraforming Mars is just as certain in my top three, but harder for me to explain why. It has always had a bad rap for its production quality and yet it’s still widely one of the most popular games on the market. For me, it comes down to the theme integration. I love that you play as corporations with different abilities or perks and you can plan your gameplay around how that specific corporation would go about terraforming Mars. I love the realism of how planting greenery creates oxygen and how raising the temperature or oxygen levels unlocks certain conditions for different cards to be played (like the ‘Pets’ card – you just can’t be breeding puppies in -20 degree conditions can you?). Pair that with the huge deck which seems endless and the tableau building aspect of this game which quickly fills the table and I’m suddenly finding it a lot easier to explain how it’s in my top three. But it’s not all theme, Terraforming Mars also presents a subtle challenge. It appears straightforward and is simple to explain, yet there is great depth to the strategy needed to be good at this game. You can’t really get way with playing hand to hand, you need to be proactive and deliberate about which cards you draft and resources you choose to gather. The game can start off slow and that’s part of that wonderful thematic integration – it realistically takes time to build a company and resources, but it’s always so satisfying come the final few rounds when you can string together action combinations and score two or three times in a single turn. It’s not an edge of your seat experience, nor is it going to make you feel like you are in another world like my other top two, but what Terraforming Mars does provide is a challenge and endless variability. It continues to draw me in with its theme and keeps me coming back for more with its subtle complexity. I don’t own any of the expansions, nor have I ever felt the need to get them, this game feels complete on its own– so if you are starting out on your journey to terraform Mars, rest easy in the knowledge that this is a game you can play a LOT at no extra cost! ---- So that’s it, my top three – carefully selected and played many, many times to be sure. I know these games like the back of my hand and yet I can’t see me tiring of them anytime soon. Thank you to Jim who allowed me the opportunity to share here. I hope you have enjoyed ‘My Top 3’, what would yours be? B

Blue Cocker games are mainly known for the hugely successful Welcome To series of flip and write games which I featured here in this article about games great for playing over video call. If you haven’t tried these games yet, I would highly recommend them! Welcome to is great in most scenarios; solo, video call or large groups. It is brilliant fun to play and is the example I always use for the perfect scale game. It works just as well in any player count, one to one hundred! There is a great catalogue of other games published by Blue Cocker and I wanted to cast my eyes them all and list my top three games. Blue Cocker looks for games with a high “natural gameplay”, which I would say is heavily present in all the games of theirs that I have played. So, without further ado, here is my top three Blue Cocker games! Save The Meeples 2-4 Players. Officially 10 years and up but worked for me with my eight-year-old. Save The Meeples is an intriguing game. First up, it looks quite different to many other games you may have seen or played before. It quickly fills a table of medium size, but there is no board. The mix of trains, tracks, rocket ships and 3D landscapes are both enticing and stunning to look at. All set up, this game will certainly draw people in! As it did for me when I first saw this at Essen 2019, where crowds of people gathered to see what was going on. Based on looks alone, I was left very excited to play this game. Secondly, despite there being no main central board, this game is predominantly a worker placement game. There are very few games that utilise worker placement as its core mechanism when there is no main shared board present to facilitate this. In Save The Meeples, there are four mini boards where you can place your workers for certain actions, but it doesn’t feel like four boards. More like four destinations. The separation of the boards into four different physically locations on the table adds to this. To get to these destinations, the Meeples are placed onto trains in an action queue mechanic. Setting up the order in which the actions can be implemented at each location. This mix of action queue and separate location-based boards makes the entire process feel much more like an immersive experience over a process of game turns. The addition of a ‘journey’ to get your Meeples to their place of action, over simply placing them down on a space on a board, pulls you into the world this game sets out to create. It sounds simple, but it really does work thematically. And finally, this game feels intriguing from the unique perspective the game presents. You are playing as Meeples. Not with Meeples, but AS Meeples. Trying to escape the torment that us humans have put on them in various games over time! The Meeples have been enslaved by the human race in order to facilitate certain actions in games, and they are fed up! Do you feel suitable guilty!? You should! The Meeples want to return to their home planet and the freedom this will bring them. This meta idea alone is fascinating to me. I was instantaneously and whole-heartedly drawn into this world. The humans immerging from the forest quickly become the ‘baddies,’ and my escape route on the rockets was ‘my’ dream. It’s a captivating, original and most importantly, highly immersive theme. In the game, you are working towards two potential end game scenarios. Either the humans over run you and your fellow Meeples meaning you will score points based on the number of humans you were able to defeat and capture during the game. Or you will escape to your home planet launching a certain number of rocket ships triggering the end of the game, and the winner is determined by the amount of Meeples you managed to get onto the rockets. In both scenarios, the point gained from the other facet become worthless. As in, if the number of rockets triggers the end of the game, the humans captured become worthless. Likewise, if the humans overrun the forest ending the game that way, then the Meeples that escaped become worthless. This is another intriguing part of the game where you need to watch your opponent’s moves and try and judge which end game scenario they are favouring and working towards. There is no point capturing more humans if your opponent is about to end the game by launching the final rocket. Every part of the game is cleverly inter-connected. The mechanisms of each location are all intrinsically linked in a way that adds both to the theme and fun on offer. In order to build the rocket, you of course need to build it first. To build it you need the parts. In order to get the parts you need to visit the mine. But once the Rocket is built, it still needs to be launched and of course, for you to benefit, have your crew onboard. It feels very intuitive to play, as you puzzle out the best order and manner to get your Meeples to work for you. Deciding what to do, in which order to do it, all the time whilst watching what your opponents is a very enjoyable process. In an ironic twist of fate against the games theme, the Meeples essentially are involved in “one last job,” working for the human overlords (you!) to get away from the humans looking to play with them! If this paradox hasn’t blown your mind, then you are going to have a lot of fun! I would highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys worker placement games and is looking for something a little lighter and more family friendly than many other worker placement games on the market. The games offers a theme that doesn’t take itself too seriously yet offers an immersive experience. As much as this is a mid-weight game in terms of the rules and set-up, (which does take a while) the game itself is relatively straight forward, as most worker placement games are. But it pulls you in and you will be surprised at how invested you are, quickly doing all you can to defeat those pesky humans! ARGH 2-4 Players. Officially 8 years and up but worked for me with my five-year-old. Continuing the theme of pesky humans, ARGH, which stands for “Animals Revolt aGainst Humans,” is a hilarious family friendly card game, pitting animals up against their human overlords! ARGH can be set-up, learnt and taught within minutes. It offers a fast, fun and quite unique game experience suitable for younger children and adults alike. And if your family is anything like mine, will lead to a lot of laughter, screams and most pleasingly, pleas of “Can we play one more time please?” The game is simple. You play as revolting animals. In that they are fighting against the status quo, not unappealing! Having been held captive in laboratories, you join forces with a lab rat looking to blow up the human’s domain! Set-up is simple. There are three decks, easily identified from the colour on the reverse of each card. Shuffle each one and lay them out face down. Players then take it in turns to take a card to add to their collection or offer to another player. Keep the card and place it face down in front of you. But face down cards are always open to be stolen by other players! Cards offer either positive or negative effects. This is why you wouldn’t necessarily want to keep every card you draw or indeed, are offered by another player! When you offer a card to another player, they must chose to keep or return it without looking at it first. If they return the card, you can then keep the card face up, meaning it cannot ever be stollen. If they look at it, they must then keep it, again, face up. And herein lies the genius of the game. Why would you offer someone a good card? Well, in the hope they think it is a bad one and reject the offer. You now get to keep it face up and protected for the remainder of the game. But this choice is not simple for the person you offer the card too. What if it is a bad card? Maybe they think you are trying to get rid of it and don’t want to take the risk of accepting the offer. “Why is this person smiling at me as they hand me a card? Why am I now smiling? Why are we both now hysterically laughing? Nothing has happened!!” The game very quickly becomes all about the hilarious interactions between players. Stare outs. Fits of giggles. Bluffs, double bluffs and triples bluffs! The game brings so much to the table from so little components, words or rules. In order to win the game, you simply need to have two bomb cards face up in front of you or in your possession come the end of the game if this doesn’t happen. The end game is triggered when one of the piles runs out, but we play when all the piles are gone to make it longer as we are always having so much fun! Each pile starts with one bomb card in it, but before the games begins, one random card is blindly removed from each pile. So, it may be you are all chasing bombs that are not there! As such, if none of the players manages to get hold of two bomb cards, the winner is determined by the points acquired by the other cards in their possession. Any face down card can be stolen by other players. On their turn, players can choose to take a card from the central draw piles or other players face down cards. But of course, they may not be good cards. They may have been looked at and placed there as a bluff too. The bluffs don’t only come in what is offered to you, but in what is never offered to anyone! This works just as well with adults as a late-night filler. It may be met with scepticism to start with due to the simple nature of the rules and cartoonish style of art, but once you get playing, you realise there is a whole sub game of bluffing and tricking your friends akin to many other popular party games. This is great fun family card game and an entertaining and hilarious adult party game all in one! Rest in Peace 2 players. 8 and up. Rest in Peace is a lovely little box two-player only production that brings some interesting mechanisms into play. Mixing auction bidding, set collection and elements of a race game, this clever little game packs a lot more than first meets the eye. In Rest in Peace, players are competing as one of two families of ghosts, competing to control the most majestic and sort after mansions and castles across the land. Control four manors or three castles and you will win the game. At the start of play, nine of the available psychic cards are randomly delt in a line. I say available, as there are 29 nine included with the game, and there are nine starter ones to use as you learn the game, and 20 others made available to you later as you learn the game. A mansion or castle token will be placed in each of the cards, and each player is given their deck, shuffles it and draws 5 cards. The decks are made up of ghost cards of different numerical values. On each player’s turns, you will lay a card next to a psychic card in an attempt to win that token. The player who commits the highest amount of ghost cards to it wins. How much are you willing to commit to each card in order to win it. Your deck will become exhausted if you are not too careful, so there is some strategy here. The loser doesn’t go empty handed though, they get the psychic card as compensation. The psychic cards can later be used in subsequent rounds, giving players many different powers. Being able to look at their opponents’ hand, boost their scores, copy other cards or even switch unclaimed tokens around of later psychic cards. The game creates a delicate and perfectly balanced tug-of-war as players compete to be the first with either four manors or three castles. On occasions you will bow out of a round without even playing a card, letting your opponent take the token happily. Other times you fight tooth and nail to win, perhaps even both exhausting all your available cards and powers. There is a tension and sense of competition here that is pure and unadulterated two-player gold! As both players start with identical hands, but are drawing them randomly, there is some luck to be said in the early rounds but the catch-up mechanism works well. As the loser on each round gets the psychic card, if you win some of the early mansion tokens, you may climb ahead in the game. But your opponent will become more powerful than you, due not only to the psychic cards that they win, but also the cards they are not having to play from their hand to win! As players enter the middle and later rounds, often the player in second place draws back the score s their dominance from having more powerful cards shines through. Quite often making this game have a close and tight finish. The variety with the 29 psychic cards keeps this game fresh. I like how the game brings these in batches. Instead of randomly drawing 9 from 29 each game, the cards are grouped into sets. The starter set and then four other groups. I like to play the game in a campaign style of five games. Each time with a different group of psychic cards. I am surprised the game doesn’t have this as a suggested campaign style best of five in the rules but it is easily done. I would recommend this game to anyone looking for a simple two-player game that is light on rules, but still brings a fun and tense experience.

by @favouritefoe Venice came alive for me on 25 March 2021. 1600 years after the city was first founded, and almost a year to the day that we were due to have arrived in La Serenissima ourselves. But with the Pandemic changing everything, our own travel plans to visit the sights and smells of the Floating City (and other places) were unavoidably cancelled. I have no doubt that we will resume our plans to tour the waterways one day. But for now, I can cruise the canals courtesy of designers David Turczi and Andrei Novac, and publisher Braincrack Games through their latest Eurogame release, Venice. Queen’s Gambit Gearing Up! Before I begin, however, I think I had better give a little more context to this piece, as it is not a straightforward review. You see, anybody who knows me will be acutely aware that I am extremely patience-challenged. Waiting is not my natural state. Shop queues, traffic jams, even being processed through the IKEA showroom; the glacial crawl is just too much (or too little!) for me. Good news, bad news. It doesn’t matter. I just need to know now. I need to react and I need to act. Time waits for no woman, and I am never in the mood to see-what-happens. And so, a week prior to its official retail launch, I downloaded the rules for Venice. Looking up at my ceiling at midnight whilst lying in my pillow palace (the only time I allow myself the luxury of going horizontal), I tuned out the rhythmic snoring of my Bearded Moon bed-fellow and dived in! Ignoring the complete lack of actual components to parse, I just wanted to skip over the wait and start playing. And with the entire 12am – 5am slot available to me and my imagination, I doffed my merchant garb and (along with two other make-believe mongers) went paddling, stalling, racing, and sailing around the imaginary board. Over the next few hours, I worked my way up and down the narrow canals, collecting goods, activating assistants, and completing missions along my way. I won, of course 😉 If you haven’t already, you can read my Queen’s Gambit inspired experience in full here, and, having now played the actual game with Bearded Moon and our brilliant bubble sharing mother-in-law, I feel like many of my preliminary predictions were pretty on ponte. Gondoliering Gameplay! Without doubt Venice is a beautiful pick up and deliver game weaving together other big mechanics in the form of resource management and engine building. It also dangles the possibility of linking multiple actions/bonuses together in one turn which is not always the case in this type of game (and one of the reasons why pick up and deliver isn’t often my favourite mechanic). And for me, knowing that there are ways to earn even a little bit more money that will let me sail around the board faster, hitting up more buildings, activating more assistants and their bonuses, and achieving more missions as the game progresses makes it feel like there is always the potential for something interesting or different to be done in this game. Having played other pick up and deliver titles before Venice, this chaining is now a sought-after element for me going forwards. Whilst it is true of course that, in all games of this type, you are going to need to use your first few turns stock-piling as no engine runs on empty – even gondolas need their boatmen and their oars! But the potential to ratchet up a number of points and bonuses through linked actions in a single turn definitely makes Venice feels less like a simply “going through the motions” move-pick-move-drop-sell-move game than many of my other experiences. Golden Gondolas! Speaking of which, going around the board in two gondolas can be an expensive business (especially if you don’t want to swap over - continuing your ride in one will cost you 3 coins!). But getting your lengths in is the way we found that we were best able to get our assistants out on the board (remembering that the first to get all 10 out gains an 8 point bonus!), to accumulate the goods needed to really start cranking our engines, and therefore to pay for those missions that rewarded our financial sacrifices multiple times over. And some missions did, over and over again! Which was brilliant especially when they resulted in more coinage. (Beware, however, because if you go for the upgraded metal, stackable coins, you can lose hours just staring at the beautiful things!) If you’re not into hard graft, when the opportunity arises, you can also build a bridge which will automatically gain you one coin every time you sail under it. And conversely slap your opponent with an intrigue every time they have to do the same – as Mark Knopfler once famously didn’t sing; money for nothing, intrigue for free! In each of our first two plays, I admit that I was initially too scared of intrigue – projecting too far ahead to the end-game scenario where I could be arrested and prevented from winning for being too much of a gossiping Gertie. I focused on avoiding this for more of the early play than I should have, and it cost me dearly in the end. But there are ways to lose intrigue and it is only really towards the final stages where you can and should start thinking about zipping your lip. Using what is on the board (like mooring at the Minor Council or the Church for example which reduce intrigue, or choosing an action that will gain you scrolls) to wipe your indiscretions away is a better strategy than being a fraidy-cat because early on intrigue is actually quite useful. Especially when visiting the Major Council which rewards you if you have more intrigue than other players and allows you to move along the track for possible huge end game points – those curious council folk love to know the 411! Even bargaining your way out of jelly-gum jail is a possibility at the end if you have enough coins and scrolls to pay the price! Final Thoughts There are a number of elements in Venice which I really like (and not just those very cool floating gondolas!). Having different buildings coming up on each game means that no single strategy is ever going to work. This is because the actions which the assistants can do (and will advance onto) are always going to change in the game-scenario, and therefore so are your preferred routes around the board. With more plays, I know we will become more familiar with the “best” ones and so the race will be on to get to them as and when they shuffle into the set up. But the overall collection is always likely to feel quite fresh. Similarly, I love missions. In anything. Give me a goal or a purpose and I will laser in on it. I will do it. No matter what. In fact I think these are what I enjoy the most about Venice – working my way to a connected building, paying the price, and tucking the completed mission card under my board. The coins and points for doing it are almost irrelevant to my enjoyment (although not my end score!); the real satisfaction comes from knowing that I have connected certain steps together to achieve the objective itself. I also like the influence cards but, hey, who doesn’t like something for free?! However, at the time I rode around in my ghost-gondola, I think my brain oversimplified or at least underestimated some aspects of the gameplay which felt more fiddly or involved once factoring in other players and in-game interactions. Our initial plays were long and that was in part because we kept losing track of all the things we could and should be doing on each turn. And that compounded the time-element. I think we sort of lost focus on the big picture, in part because I for one wasn’t concentrating enough on what I needed to do in order to actually win overall, but also because there is a lot of options generally. The board is also quite busy – especially when gondolas are vying for the same spots – and my hand issues meant I knocked my boat and my opponent’s boats over numerous times, scattering little cubes everywhere. Something which I think has also happened to others when playing at higher player counts. A little more space would have therefore been appreciated to make things less fiddly. But on the flip side, that lack of oar-room also felt quite realistic – the tight waterways and boatmen having to bump and squeeze past each other in order to continue their journeys. And this is going to sound very silly indeed, but as well as having a tactical purpose, just the action of being able to offload goods from one gondola to another as my ships passed within a hair of each other in the day (or night!) made me smile. The versatility of Venice is also not to be ignored as it is a welcome element– with the solo Doge automa and the 2 player Smugglers rule set (which promises the tension many pick up and deliver games often lack at power player counts) to try when my very accommodating mother-in-law is busy, there are a number of ways to play this game which I haven’t yet tried and could resolve some of the minor issues I have and which are probably in truth more about me and my gaming style than the game. Going, Going, Gondola! Ultimately, I have a feeling that my imaginary ceiling playthrough was probably conveniently perfected in places by my willingness to skip over a few details, preferring to think that some things would just work when it came to the real thing (basically completely ignoring the rule goofs/missteps I would actually make in real life). In truth, the limitations of my cerebral and mechanical processing power have been exposed by the steeper than expected learning curve in Venice but we will play, and we will practice scenarios, and I will improve. This is of course not to say that Venice was not what I was anticipating – it is indeed a beautiful pick up and deliver game which twists as nicely as a Venetian palazzo pole. But it is perhaps also more game than I had initially expected or needed. Left to explore the waterways unrestricted, I can get lost which is a little frustrating for a fast-laner like me. And so Venice has become one over which I initially need to pump my internal brakes. One I need to understand better so that I can then select what I am going to focus on in a particular game in order to get me (hopefully!) to first place at end game in a timely fashion. And therein lies my main personal hurdle in Venice. In order to take full advantage of the momentum boosting assistants (which set this game apart from a lot of other pick up and deliver titles), I need to know it. I need to know which buildings to target, which actions to chain, whether to drop some elements entirely, and how much intrigue to handle. Because, by implementing your knowledge, your turn set-ups and hard work pay off in satisfying, visible ways. But it takes time to learn these things and, as such, those first handful of playthroughs are going to be slower than ideal. And this could risk you seeking a similar appetite-quenching feeling in a shorter, less open game. However, I would suggest bearing with early trips around Venice because, once firing on all cylinders, if you like pick up and deliver games then it is a worthy investment in time and experience.

by @exploring_boardgames Picking my 3 favorite games was not an easy task and it is probably a question that most gamers find hard/impossible to answer. I did suffer from the dreaded analysis paralysis trying to make my selection. Finally, I decided on those games that I will never say no to. The following 3 games always bring me joy when they get played. 3. Deus – Pearl Games This game came to my attention after discovering Troyes and checking out the publisher. In this game, you start with 5 cards in your hand, and you try to build your civilization (6 different building types) on a common game board. To build, you must have the building type, you must be able to pay the resources required and you must have the right card. If you meet these conditions, you can place the building on the common game board and place the card in the corresponding column in your personal game area. Finally, you activate all the cards of that column which can create some fantastic engine building possibilities! One tricky part, you can only build a temple if you have a set of the other 5 buildings. Each temple awards victory points for different scenarios so you want to keep that in mind when selecting your strategy. To get more cards, you must make an offering to the gods. Each god will allow a different benefit such as resources, money, or victory points. The more cards you offer, the more additional benefits you get. This act allows you to obtain new cards, but also to get what you need if it is not available in your little engine. This game has some unique features, and it is easy to learn and quick to play. Therefore, this is a game that should be known and played by more people! 2. Gùgōng – GameBrewer In this game, you take on the role of a Chinese family, trying to gain influence with the Emperor by bribing officials for certain tasks. This is done by exchanging gifts and that is exactly the core mechanism of the game. You exchange gift cards with higher value to take a specific action. You want to have the most victory points by the end of the game and you can get those from 7 different areas on the game board. But be careful – you need to get to the top of the Palace of Heavenly Purity track to gain an audience with the Emperor or none of your points will be scored. It gives the game a nice twist as you must keep an eye on this track whilst trying to maximize all the other areas of the board. Once you understand the different actions, the game plays very easily and there are so many strategies to be tried out. Furthermore, I love the artwork of the main gameboard, and the different tokens used. This game deserves more attention! 1. Paladins of the West Kingdom – Garphill Games This game was the first one I played in the West Kingdom Trilogy and I fell in love immediately. I have all 3 games in the series, and I am truly impressed by the consistency of the symbology and artwork, and still each game feels different. In Paladins, you hire 1 paladin at the start of each round out of 3 options, and you place 1 on the top of your drawing deck and 1 on the bottom. Each paladin will grant you 2 workers and a special ability. You also get 4 more workers from the tavern to help you with your actions. So, you do not have your personal workers at the start of the game, rather they change every round. Workers have as well different colors, allowing you to take distinct actions. It is a unique challenge to balance the color and number of the workers with the actions available and trying to maximize it all to gain the most victory points. Furthermore, actions are linked to your level of faith, strength, and influence. Sounds complicated? A bit, but once you get your head around the gameplay, it is fantastic. Go try it out if you haven’t played yet!

I love print and play games. The world it opens up is huge! Way more impressive than you may think. And a whole sub-culture of board gaming. What you can create with just a few simple tools will amaze you. I spoke with a few people within the industry to learn a little more. Aleksandar got into to games from a young age and has now become a huge fan and advocate for the PnP world. This interview was conducted in 2020. What got you into the hobby as a player I played games even as a kid. Here in East Europe in 1980s, some boardgames occasionally found its way into youth magazines, and that is where I met them first. During university years, back in 1990s we played a lot of DnD, and later I was introduced to Warhammer. Warhammer was to much for me, and as introvert I preferred to play solo at my own speed, so I started investigating other solo wargames and RPGs. During this quest for solo games I learned about solo boardgames (it was only Friday and Onirim at the time) but I stayed in solo boardgaming until today. And how did that lead into PnP? It all started with paper terrain for wargames. Then it occurred to me that I can make complete games like that. and then I discovered that there is a whole PnP scene. I am proud to be part of it now. Print and play opens up games to new players but the revenue stream is very differnet to normal publishing. What are your thoughts on this? For me, gaming was always a hobby. I do not like to mix my hobby with my day job. My day job provides for my family and for my hobby, both. Therefore the games I make are usually free. The one that is not, directs funds towards the artist, not me. As player, I built a lot of PnP versions of commercial games. But I do not think that designers who give PnP games for free or sell PnP files for smaller amounts of money are having losses due to this. If a person who made a PnP version of a game likes it, they will promote it on the net constantly. Giving PnP for free is a marketing investment. Some designers (like Cole Wehrle - Root, Pax Pamir) understand this and offer free PnP versions of their games. How do you feel when people have made one if your games at home? One always feels proud when something he/she makes reaches the hart of some other human being. Every built copy pushes me further, makes me think about the next project. Without feedback, there would be very few things to push us forward to make new games. What do you see in the future. What’s next for you? 2020 Solitaire BGG design PnP competition is just around the corner. I hope to throw in my 2 cents again this year. If you could have any other game not made by you in your rosta of designed games what would it be and why? At the moment, I am playing a lot of Pax Porforiana and Pax Pamir. I wish I designed one Pax game. I might even do that - my entry into 2020 Solitaire PnP competition might be something called Pax Napoleonic. Which other designer would you most like to have a games night with and why? Cole Wehrle at the moment. I love both Root and Pax Pamir, and I would discuss with him about his design processes. Thanks Aleksandar. There are some amaizng facebook groups for PnP, and I will be featuring more information about this world on this blog over the coming months.