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I wanted to clarify the review policies we work to here at WBG. Any questions, please reach out to me directly at jim@whatboardgame.com I will happily answer any questions or concerns. 1. We do not accept payment for reviews or previews anymore, but did so on three occasions. I have in the past accepted payment for previews. It was for three Kickstarter prototypes that wanted coverage as a time priority. It was during the pandemic. I did not have the usual financial security from my day job and I accepted a small figure to create content for the publishers. It did not feel right and I have not done it again since, nor do I expect to ever do so again Although if that changes I will make that very clear. But I have to be honest and say a big part about why I accepted the money on these occasions, was that it was flattering that anyone would consider my channel worthy enough of payment. There was some vanity present, no doubt. I declined the reviews initially as I was too busy and they then replied and said, what about if they paid. In the coverage I did for them, I have marked all posts, reviews, and YouTube videos with very clear notifications. This is what it says. This is a paid preview. The publisher paid for this preview to be made. The payment did not affect our opinions but we want to acknowledge the payment here. This is at the very top of the preview and the title also included the word "Paid". The money did not make me feel more inclined to be favourable to the game, but I was aware of the unconscious bias it may have on me. I therefore offered minimal opinion and gave the games no score. As this was a preview, not a review, this would have been the case anyway. The content was really just a rules run down. In my opinion, all the money did was bump the game forward in the queue for me and force me to do the work sooner. I always have a long list of games I want to review or preview, and these three payments made me work on these games sooner as I felt obligated to get the content out asap for the publisher/designer as they had paid. But it did not make me say anything that I otherwise would not have said. This is another reason I don't want to accept payments again. It adds an unnecessary time pressure I would otherwise rather avoid. Other people who accept money for previews do so for their own reasons, and I have no issues with that. For me it is not an issue as long as it is declared. I just personally don't want to do this anymore. I love games and enjoy writing about them. That is why I am here. The website has a significant cost for hosting, domain names, email, etc. But that is my choice to pay. No one else should have to cover that, in my opinion, as this is not my job. If it were, that would be different. I sometimes accept sponsored posts about things that are not games and not reviews to cover these costs, which I always clearly mark as SPONSORED. 2. Our Previews have no scores and minimal opinion. If I am not playing a final copy of a game, where things may change, I feel this should be a preview and not review. The distinction for me means I cannot rate the game, and should avoid as much opinion on the game as possible. Simply as it is not a finished product. Although I do want it to be helpful, so I do include what I currently like and dislike about the game but mention where possible, parts of the game that may change in the finished version if I have that information. 3. We do receive free review copies of games. I personally cover hundreds of games a year and I could not afford to do that if I only reviewed the games I paid for myself. There are multiple review networks on Facebook where publishers reach out to people like me and ask for help. I also get contacted directly via email and on Instagram. I have also created relationships through meeting designers, publishers, and distributers at various conventions which leads to conversation where I am offered games. I accept these game under zero obligation other than to cover them on my channels at some point. I accept them so I can offer more reviews here than what I could otherwise afford. The increased reviews mean increased traffic to the site, but the site is not monetised in anyway, so it makes no difference to anyone or to me financially. I do get a kick out of our growth from a personal pride level, and feel a lot of this is down to the quantity of posting. Which is assisted in a big way by the review copies. So there is that benefit I suppose. But free review copies do not change my stance on a game. They do not compromise my integrity. They do not sway me either way. But I appreciate if others think they must. All I can say is that they don't do so consciously, but I am mindful of the unconscious bias. When I accept a review copy, I do not promise what I will do with the game. I do not promise timings, or any favourable opinions. Or any specifics on anything. I simply agree to post something, at some point. But the free game has to affect me somehow, right? Unconsciously, or consciously, there is some extra bias created here based on the gesture alone. However, I am mindful of that, and I am not about to sell my integrity for the price of a game. I second guess every point I make to make sure I mean what I say. Generally speaking, I can see the good in most games, although we have plenty of low score reviews on this website. But I think my main bias is my love of the hobby. I like a lot of games as I like games. The free game for me doesn't affect the score consciously. The fact that I have played a game, with friends or family, and got away from screens and work and the stresses of life. That is my biggest bias and would affect any game. When I see a game that looks bad, or simply appears to be not for me, I generally decline the opportunity to review it if one is presented to me. I do not have time to review every game. So, I pick and choose the ones that look good to me, or interest me in anyway. I am not always right with this early assessment, and some games I think may be great, turn out to be disappointing. Others I turn down, turn out to be great. But this early filter does mean that the majority of games I review are games I want to play and think are probably going to be good. I see it as my duty to find what makes each game enjoyable for a certain type of person when I review but never to the point of ignoring what doesn't work in the game. I will happily comment on any problems when I see them. But most games I review do OK here as that early filter gets rid of most of the bad games. I also feel there is way to much negativity in this hobby for what is essentially just adults enjoying a pastime playing with toys. Let's be honest. I love games. But I don't want to over analyse them. This is how I like to think when I review a game. What's good about them? What is bad? Is it fun? Who might this be for? That is how I like to cover games. I feel it gets to the core of a review a lot more quickly. I feel a review serves one main purpose. Helping people decide if a game is for them or not. There are obviously lots of other side benefits, but this is the one I want to focus on here. So this is why I do it like I do it. I would welcome any comments on the above. And am sure things will change and adapt as I learn more. Jim Cohen. May 21st 2023. Updated April 2024 Updated August 2026

Realm Of Reckoning WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Rising Sun, SETI, and dark boards! Published by: IV Games Designed by: Austin Harrison, Max Anderson, Zac Dixon This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Realm of Reckoning is a game that looks complicated, sounds complicated, and initially feels complicated. Then, somewhere during your first game, the noise begins to settle and you realise the core is surprisingly clean. You draft a card, gain something useful, tuck it into your player board, and prepare for the next reckoning. That simplicity sits beneath one of the more interesting scoring systems I have encountered recently. Players do not begin the game knowing exactly what will score, because those conditions are introduced gradually through the placement of monuments. You are not merely reacting to the rules of the game, you are actively helping to decide them. This is a game for two to five players, although three or four feels like the natural sweet spot. But I did enjoy the two-player variant. It plays across three ages, with only a small number of cards drafted during each one, so the whole experience moves much faster than the board and component count might suggest. My games have flown by, even when everyone has spent time agonizing over the reckonings. Which can happen. More on that soon! How To Setup Realm Of Reckoning Setup begins with the large central board, divided into five regions linked to the five pillars of the realm. Claim tokens are placed around these regions, monuments are arranged beside the board, and the various decks are prepared according to the player count. There is a fair amount to place, but the storage makes this easier than it first appears. Each player chooses one of the five factions and receives a player board, scoring markers, acolytes, a bidding dial and their starting resources. The factions begin with slightly different combinations of influence, wardens and acolytes, although the asymmetry is fairly light. And you just copy the images on your board so its all very simple. These differences provide a useful opening direction without locking anyone into a specific strategy. The action decks are then prepared for each of the three ages, with reckoning cards shuffled into them. A public final reckoning is also revealed, giving players some advance warning of one region that will definitely matter. Place the two-player tokens into the bag if you have two players only and set up the cards as in a three player game. Once the first hands are dealt, the game is ready to begin, although new players may still be studying the board and wondering where half the scoring spaces are! How To Play Realm Of Reckoning During each round, every player chooses one card from their hand and reveals it simultaneously. Cards are either action cards or reckoning cards. Once all cards are actioned, players pass their cards to the next player and choose one new card from their new hand. Action cards provide a central reward such as coins, acolytes, wardens, or mercenary cards, after which the card is tucked beneath the top or bottom of the player board. Each card gives you two options. The chosen side determines which influence track advances and which scoring symbols are collected. For example, below you can see the first card will let you add three acolytes to the board, anywhere you like, but ideally to places where there will be reckonings this era. And then you can tuck it either on the blue or red part of your player board, gaining the symbols shown. I won't go into the details of that here, but it's all about end-of-era scoring. Moving up different scoring tracks, and also scoring multipliers. Such as the blue scoring which could be about open eyes as seen on this first card, or closed eyes, as seen on the card on the right below. Only one of these will score. It could be neither, but cannot ever be both! Influence can also grant access to powerful artifacts, which provide ongoing bonuses while you remain ahead on the corresponding track. These can improve actions by granting extra coins, cards, acolytes, or influence, and they are often worth fighting over. This is done by moving up each of the area's tracks with these icons, and when you reach space three or higher, you can gain that area's artifact and begin to use it. But if another player catches you up or overtakes you, or you fall below two, then you will lose it. Reckoning cards pause the normal draft and trigger a hidden auction in a particular region. Players secretly bid using influence, acolytes, wardens, mercenary cards and coins, with the highest bidder choosing first from the available rewards. Players assess who bid the highest, and then they can chose their chosen reward in bid order. The most significant reward allows a monument to be placed, permanently introducing a new scoring condition that will trigger at the end of the current and future ages. Secondary rewards include coins, points, and places acolytes onto the board. The third place spot will often lose money, cards, or points. Play continues for three rounds. With a reckoning at the end of each round, and then each point-scoring monument placed thus far is scored. Therefore, a monument placed in the first round will score three times, whereas ones scored in the final era only score once. Game Experience of Realm Of Reckoning The player-defined scoring is comfortably the best part of Realm of Reckoning. A game may become focused on area control, influence tracks, coins, wardens, mercenary cards, or collecting sets of icons, depending entirely on which monuments are built. The timing matters too, because a monument placed in the first age will score three times, while one placed late may only matter once. But it changes each game; it's up to the players in the game. And it makes winning the bid on the reckoning so important, and every decision feel crucial. This creates a brilliant sense of ownership over the shape of each game. You can invest heavily in a resource and then attempt to make it score, but everyone can see what you are doing and may block you during the draft or outbid you during a reckoning. Alternatively, another player may introduce a condition that suddenly makes something you ignored painfully important. Or, they could just score the opposite of what you were building! The reckonings themselves are tense and clever, especially because coming second can still be perfectly acceptable while finishing last may carry a meaningful penalty. In the two-player mode, a neutral bidding token provides extra competition, escalating across the three ages and preventing the auctions from becoming predictable. It is simple, effective, and forces both players to respect every reckoning, even when the other player appears unable or unwilling to compete. Coming second is okay, coming third is bad! But winning is everything! Especially in the early rounds when you can set the agenda. But also, in the later rounds when the final scoring becomes so tight. That said, reckonings can feel like an interruption to the otherwise fast and enjoyable flow. The card draft moves quickly, turns are short and the game has a satisfying rhythm, only for everything to stop while players calculate their maximum bids and consider the rewards when the reckonings come. They are essential to the design and create its best moments, but the transition into them can still feel slightly awkward, and sometimes annoying. The production is excellent, even in the standard retail edition. The wooden components are chunky, attractive, and satisfying to handle, the player boards work beautifully, and almost everything arrives ready to play without sheets of cardboard to punch. The player boards are dual-layered underneath, so you can slide the cards into each spot in a very simple and satisfying way. That said, that's the first card. When it comes to adding the second, third, and beyond, it does start to get a little less simple and clean. As you can see above, they start to look less clean and tidy. And putting extra cards in is frankly annoying. You do need to see the icons, especially on the reds, and they slip about a but. It's not a big problem, just the effort into making the first card slide in perfectly versus how it feels for multiple cards does jar for me. Another exception to the otherwise wonderful production is the central board, which is dark, busy, and initially difficult to read, and it took me around three games to properly notice every monument space and scoring area. At first glance, it was just a mess of "things." It is now clear to me, but for players' first games, you do need to spend some time explaining the scoring options as well as the game, as that is such a huge variation and sets your strategy from turn one. Missing this from the teach can ruin a player's game if they don't understand the available options. And the dark, cluttered board does not help this at all. The places you can add a scoring monument are the square-shaped blank spaces with the brackets on the top and bottom. Just look below at how many there are, how scattered they are, and the amount of text around some of them explaining how they work. Pros Dynamic player-controlled scoring makes every game feel genuinely different. Reckonings create tension, interaction and meaningful resource decisions. Fast turns and only three ages keep the game moving quickly. Excellent components, storage and standard retail production. The two-player bidding system is clever, simple and surprisingly effective. Cons The central board is dark and initially confusing to read. Scoring locations and monument options take several games to fully absorb. Reckonings can interrupt the smooth rhythm of the card draft. Bidding can encourage calculation and analysis paralysis. Some scoring conditions may feel easier to exploit than others. Final Thoughts On Realm Of Reckoning Realm of Reckoning is a clever, interactive strategy game built around a genuinely strong central idea. Allowing players to decide which systems will score gives every action more weight and ensures that no two games develop in quite the same way. It rewards planning, but it also rewards flexibility, awareness and the ability to react when another player changes the rules beneath you. The game looks heavier than it plays, although it takes time to become fully comfortable with the board and its many scoring possibilities. Once that visual confusion fades, the underlying structure is fast, accessible and satisfying. The reckonings occasionally break the flow, but they also provide the drama and difficult decisions that make the game memorable. Three or four players is probably the ideal count, offering enough competition without stretching the playtime too far. However, the two-player mode works far better than I expected and still creates meaningful tension around every auction. Realm of Reckoning is not flawless, but it is inventive, beautiful and highly replayable.

Origin Story: Heroes & Villains WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Origin Story, trick-taking games, greater variety, and expansions that improve a game without complicating it. Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Jamey Stegmaier, Pete Wissinger This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Origin Story was already one of the more interesting modern trick-taking games. It combined familiar card play with tableau-building, stamina-powered abilities and a surprisingly effective superhero theme, letting you gradually construct the character you would become. You can read my review for the base game here. Heroes & Villains does not attempt to redesign any of that. Instead, it takes one small part of the game, adds considerably more variety, and makes the final chapter of your story feel a little more appropriate. This is a mini-expansion in every sense. It adds just 21 cards, introduces no major new rules and costs only £6/$7. However, those cards target the area of Origin Story that was always most likely to become familiar after repeated plays: the final superhero reveal. What Does Heroes & Villains Add? In the original game, each player received two superhero cards at the beginning of the game. These remained hidden as reference cards until the final round, when you chose one, revealed your completed identity and gained its ability. There were only ten superheroes in the base game, meaning regular players would inevitably start seeing the same identities again. Heroes & Villains adds seven new superheroes and 14 supervillains, increasing the identity deck from ten cards to 31. All of the old and new cards are shuffled together, and players are now dealt three possible identities rather than two. You still make your final choice at the beginning of round five, once your Story tableau is complete and you have seen your final hand. That is essentially the entire rules explanation. There is no separate villain deck, no additional phase and no complicated system to remember. Shuffle the cards in, deal everyone one extra option and play Origin Story as normal. A More Suitable Ending The addition of supervillains makes immediate thematic sense. Throughout Origin Story, players secretly decide whether they will act heroically by attempting to win tricks or villainously by trying to avoid every trick in the round. Despite this, the base game always concluded with everyone becoming a superhero, even if their journey had been filled with underhanded choices and villainous behaviour. Heroes & Villains allows those darker stories to reach a more fitting conclusion. You are not forced to become a supervillain simply because you previously chose the villain alignment, but having that possibility makes the identity system feel more complete. It closes a small thematic gap without changing how the game itself works. This is not a huge storytelling transformation, and the expansion never pretends that it is. You are still primarily playing a strategic trick-taking game rather than acting out an elaborate comic-book narrative. However, revealing a villain after spending several rounds manipulating tricks, avoiding victories and frustrating the heroes around the table simply feels right. More Choices, More Variety The most meaningful improvement is the increased variety. Moving from ten identities to 31 is a substantial increase, especially when each player sees only three during a game. It will take far longer before the final cards begin to feel repetitive, and multiplayer games no longer burn through such a large percentage of the available identities every time you play. Receiving three cards instead of two also gives you more flexibility. You can examine your possible final identities from the beginning, consider how they might interact with the Story cards you acquire, and gradually build towards whichever option appears most useful. You are still dependent on the cards you are dealt and the Story choices you are offered, but that uncertainty has always been part of Origin Story. The new abilities explore different corners of the game without becoming more complicated than the original cards. Some reward particular Story types, some interact with discarded cards, while others encourage unusual changes in alignment or approach. They do not create an entirely new strategic layer, but they give established players more combinations to discover and more reasons to adapt their plans. There will inevitably be situations where one identity appears much stronger than another. Origin Story contains random hands, random Story cards and circumstantial powers, so perfect balance was never a realistic goal. The important point is that you can see your three possibilities from the beginning and delay your final decision until you understand how your tableau and last hand have developed. Small Change, Fair Price It would be easy to criticise Heroes & Villains for being slight, but that would ignore both its price and its purpose. This is a £6 mini-expansion, not a large boxed release promising new modes, mechanisms or hours of additional content. It identifies a part of the game that could use more variety and expands it in the simplest possible way. You may wonder whether some of these identities should have been included in the original box. More final identities would certainly have improved the base game’s long-term variety, and the option to become a villain feels so natural that its absence now seems more noticeable. Even so, the original game remained a complete and highly enjoyable experience without them. The expansion also avoids a common problem with additional content. It does not make Origin Story slower, harder to teach or more difficult to store. The new cards can simply remain shuffled into the identity deck for every future game, and there is little reason to remove them once added. Is It Fun? Heroes & Villains makes Origin Story better, but it does so quietly. It will not completely change how you feel about the base game, and anyone who disliked its mixture of trick-taking and variable powers will not suddenly be converted. What it does is make the final round fresher, broaden the available strategies and give villainous journeys a more satisfying destination. The larger identity deck also restores some mystery to the final reveal. You are less likely to recognise every possible ability or anticipate exactly what another player might become. That uncertainty suits a game built around evolving powers, hidden alignments and sudden changes to established trick-taking rules. Most importantly, the expansion provides good value. For £6, it adds cards that will be used in every game, significantly increases one of the base game’s smallest decks and requires almost no additional explanation. It is difficult to ask much more from a mini-expansion. Pros Significantly increases the variety of final identities Supervillains provide a more fitting conclusion to darker stories Integrates seamlessly without adding complexity Excellent value at only £6/$7 Cons The change is small and will not transform the base game Some players may feel this content should have been included originally Final Thoughts Origin Story: Heroes & Villains is a modest expansion that knows exactly what it wants to achieve. It does not introduce a dramatic new mechanism or attempt to rebuild a game that was already working well. Instead, it adds variety, improves the thematic logic of the final reveal and gives players more interesting possibilities to consider throughout the game. For anyone who already owns and enjoys Origin Story, this is an extremely easy recommendation. The impact is subtle, but the price is equally small, and the new cards can remain permanently mixed into the game without adding rules or slowing anything down. Heroes & Villains may not rewrite Origin Story, but it gives far more stories the ending they deserve.

Duel Of Meloch WBG Score: 9 Player Count: 1–2 You’ll like this if you like: Scythe, Expeditions, highly asymmetric two-player games, tense objective races, and substantial strategy games that play in around 40 minutes. Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Jamey Stegmaier This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Duel of Meloch sounds like an experiment that should collapse under its own ambition. One player effectively plays Scythe, the other plays Expeditions, and both use different components, actions and strategic rhythms on the same shared board. Somehow, the two systems clash cleanly without either losing its identity. And its brilliant. And in this Duel of Meloch Board Game Review we will get to the route of why. That is the game’s greatest success. The Scythe player develops a faction through familiar top and bottom-row actions, while the Expeditions player moves a mech, plays cards, clears corruption and uses workers to activate abilities. This is not a loose hybrid borrowing familiar names and artwork, but a convincing duel between two recognisable games. It's quite literally Scythe v Expeditions. Everything has also been compressed into something that sets up quickly and plays in around 45 minutes. For me, Duel of Meloch is better than Expeditions and sits only just below Scythe, despite requiring far less time and effort to reach the table. That makes it an exceptionally easy game to recommend. What Is Duel of Meloch? Duel of Meloch is a standalone game set in the shared world of Scythe and Expeditions. One player controls the Scythe side, while the other follows the systems associated with Expeditions. The box includes a new Scythe faction and player mat, a new Expeditions mech, character and companion, a double-sided neoprene map, and new cards. Everything you need to play this game. And you can then use these new factions in Expeditions and Scythe accordingly. You do not need to own either original game, but both players need to understand the rules of the side they control. Ideally, one person already knows Scythe and the other knows Expeditions, allowing everyone to focus on the duel rather than learning two substantial games at once. The included one-page guides are excellent memory refreshers. However, I still found it useful to keep the original rulebooks from both Scythe and Expeditions nearby because questions about individual actions or abilities not covered in the rules for this game occasionally arose. The summaries help you return to each system quickly, but they cannot cover every detail. At our table, Scythe is comfortably the more familiar game because we have owned it longer and played a huge amount through The Rise of Fenris. Expeditions has naturally received fewer plays, and I suspect that will be common among many groups. This creates the first challenge before the game even begins: who gets to play Scythe? How To Play Duel of Meloch The game takes place on a compact board containing only ten locations and two lakes. Both sides of the neoprene mat have different layouts, changing routes, access points and likely areas of conflict. The smaller battlefield keeps both players close and makes every movement important. Players alternate turns, but each follows the action structure of their respective game. Scythe chooses a section of its player mat and performs the familiar top-row action, bottom-row action, both or neither. Expeditions instead moves its action token to perform combinations of moving, playing cards, gathering or refreshing. Both exactly the same as the original games they are based on. The shared board supports both rulesets without forcing them into one system. Terrain, rivers, resources and the Factory matter to Scythe, while numbered locations, corruption and Gather benefits belong to Expeditions. It looks busy initially, but each player soon filters out the information that does not concern them. You focus just on what matters to you, and the matrix comes into complete clarity. The game ends immediately when someone places their fourth star on the Triumph Track. There is no final scoring, no popularity multiplier and no broad Expeditions point tally. Everything is focused into one direct and increasingly urgent race. The Triumph Track The Triumph Track is the heart of Duel of Meloch. Each side has different requirements for placing stars, but every Scythe objective is paired against one belonging to Expeditions. Once either player claims a category, the linked objective becomes unavailable to their opponent. If you are collecting Encounter tokens to try and get that star, and the other player claims it first, you are out of luck! The Scythe player may be trying to deploy all four mechs, complete upgrades, control enough territories, or reach a particular level of power, while the Expeditions player might instead chase workers, corruption, guile, solved quests, or developed cards. You are therefore always watching your opponent rather than quietly progressing along a separate track. They are different goals, but on a shared Triumph track with only one space for each star. An objective may not suit your current strategy, yet pursuing it can still be worthwhile if your opponent is close to claiming the paired category. This creates excellent moments where you abandon the most efficient action to deny something more dangerous. The race becomes as much about timing and disruption as personal progress. The two sides also place stars differently. Scythe claims one immediately upon meeting its requirement, while Expeditions usually needs to complete the condition and then use a Boast action. Combat is the main exception, allowing Expeditions to place that star immediately after winning. This gives the Scythe player the ability to accelerate suddenly. A player may appear behind before completing several developments quickly and placing stars across a short sequence of turns. The visible score does not always show how close Scythe is to victory. Every game I have played has ended with a margin of one star. The winner reached four first, but the losing player was always close enough to believe another turn might have changed everything. That creates tense finales where every action feels dangerous. The Meloch cards work brilliantly here. They help keep the race close by rewarding the player whose opponent has just placed a star. The trailing player draws a card, chooses its orientation, and gains the benefits facing towards them, which may include power, coins, or workers. Does Scythe Have An Advantage? Duel of Meloch feels balanced enough to create a close contest every time, but Scythe has won more often in my experience. I would not call the game fundamentally unbalanced because the margins remain so small. However, I do think it leans slightly towards Scythe when both players are similarly experienced. The clearest advantage is star placement. Scythe claims objectives immediately, while Expeditions often needs another action, the correct location or its special ability to Boast. In a race to only four stars, that extra step can easily decide the game. Combat also favours the Scythe player, because when using the Expeditions character, you will control only one mech and may therefore use only one combat card. Whereas, as Scythe, you can bring several mechs and its character into the same battle, potentially adding multiple cards. Expeditions must be far more cautious once Scythe develops a meaningful military presence. Fortunately, combat cannot dominate everything because only one or two stars are available from fighting, depending on which side of the Triumph Track is used. The Expeditions player also compensates with stronger movement and can cross rivers without the same development Scythe requires. Its mech can reach map tokens quickly and gain their immediate rewards. Even there, Scythe appears to have the easier associated objective. Expeditions needs more map tokens, while Scythe may claim the paired category after only two encounters, and I have seen Scythe win that race in every game so far. The Expeditions player still gains the token benefits, so those actions are never completely wasted. Corruption creates another difficult decision because the included mech may spend it to Boast, Meld or Upgrade. Those actions are extremely useful, but every spent token makes the corruption objective harder to complete. You are constantly choosing between long-term progress and immediate momentum. Combat And Control Combat matters more here than in a standard two-player game of Scythe. The smaller map forces both players into each other’s path, while a battle may award one of the four stars needed to win. Even players who prefer to avoid conflict will struggle to remain separate for long. I have seen many games of Scythe run without much combat, if any. Here, there is always at least one battle. Sharing a location does not automatically start battle. Scythe must finish a movement action alongside the Expeditions mech and choose to attack, while Expeditions initiates combat through Vanquish. This gives both players some control over when confrontation occurs. Players secretly choose how much power to spend and may add combat cards, with the attacker winning ties, just like in the original Scythe game. Those cards can also be discarded outside battle to gain a separate benefit printed in the corner. That dual use creates good decisions between immediate utility and future protection. The system still favours Scythe once several mechs are deployed, but the advantage usually shapes movement rather than deciding the whole game. Expeditions may change route, abandon a location or delay an objective simply because Scythe is nearby. The threat of attack often matters as much as the battle itself. Scythe And Expeditions, Only Faster Scythe is one of my favourite games, but its standard two-player experience has never shown the design at its best. The original board is large enough for both players to remain apart, reducing pressure around territory and combat. Duel of Meloch fixes that by shrinking the battlefield and making every objective directly competitive. The Scythe side feels sharper as a result. Its familiar engine remains intact, but every development has a more immediate purpose because it advances a star, denies a category or threatens the opponent. It reaches the interesting decisions far faster than full Scythe. This is not better than Scythe for me because the original offers a broader strategic arc and a stronger sense of developing an entire faction against others trying to do the same. However, Duel of Meloch captures enough of that experience to feel remarkably satisfying in around 45 minutes. That is a significant achievement. Components And Presentation The production is excellent, with excellent miniatures, clear cards and attractive wooden pieces throughout. The new Constantinople faction fits naturally into Scythe, while Voyager, Nikte and Nohoch look entirely at home in Expeditions. Everything reaches the polished standard expected from Stonemaier Games. The double-sided neoprene board is particularly striking, with Jakub Rozalski’s artwork providing the same mixture of nature, machinery and unease found across the series. Both layouts offer meaningful variety by changing routes and tactical pressure points. This is not simply the same battlefield with different scenery. However, my mat curls when one particular side is used. Despite repeated attempts to flatten it, the edges still lift enough to be distracting during play. It may have benefited from being slightly thicker or heavier. That is my only significant production complaint. The iconography is clear, the box is well organised and much of the new material can also be used in Scythe or Expeditions. Existing owners therefore gain more than a single standalone duel. Replayability The two maps and double-sided Triumph Track provide useful variety before any outside content is added. Different objective pairings change priorities, while each layout alters movement and likely points of conflict. Repeated games should not follow exactly the same path. Existing Scythe factions and player mats can also be imported, while Expeditions owners may use different mechs, characters, companions and many original discovery cards. There are even variants for Scythe against Scythe, Expeditions against Expeditions and tournament play. As a purely standalone product, another Scythe faction or player mat would have strengthened the package. Expeditions gains natural variety from its cards, while the included Scythe setup may become more predictable. Pros Both sides genuinely feel like their parent game while playing in around 45 minutes. The contested Triumph Track creates tense decisions and consistently close finishes. Strong interaction, dramatic comebacks and meaningful combat keep both players involved. Excellent production and compatibility provide substantial replayability. Cons Scythe appears slightly favoured, particularly in combat and star placement. Expeditions has a smaller card market and a harder route to converting progress into stars. Both players need prior knowledge of their chosen system Duel of Meloch Board Game Review: Final Thoughts Duel of Meloch should feel like an awkward collection of incompatible parts, yet it becomes a remarkably cohesive two-player game. Both sides retain the identity of their parent design, while the shared map, contested objectives and combat system create enough common ground for a proper duel. The final result feels focused rather than compromised. Scythe builds an engine, develops a faction and places stars with increasing efficiency. Expeditions explores, manipulates cards, clears corruption and adapts to a more tactical puzzle. Both feel authentic, which is far more important than the novelty of seeing them together. The balance appears to lean towards Scythe, but every game I have played has remained extremely close. Expeditions is easier to learn but harder to master, while Scythe can turn progress into stars more efficiently. Those differences create tension rather than ruining the contest. For me, Duel of Meloch is better than Expeditions and only slightly behind Scythe. Its rapid setup and shorter playing time mean it may reach the table more often than either parent game. That is perhaps the strongest recommendation I can give it. Duel of Meloch compresses two substantial games into one small battlefield without losing what makes either compelling.

Altay: Seafarers Expansion WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Deck building, area control, asymmetric factions, exploration, and expansions that feel like the final piece of the puzzle. Published by: Ares Games Designed by: Roberto Di Meglio, Fabio Maiorana This is a free review copy of the game. See our review policy here Altay: Dawn of Civilisation was already a strong game. Its mix of deck building, area control, asymmetric factions and light civilisation development gave it a distinctive feel, even if the theme sometimes faded behind the cards and resources. I gave the base game an eight out of ten because, with the right group and faction mix, it offered an enjoyable race to expand, develop and get your settlements onto the board before anyone else could do the same. You can read about that here. Seafarers takes that solid foundation and completes it. It adds a new board, proper sea travel, ships, crews, naval support, new cards and a fifth faction in the mysterious Waterfolk. None of these additions completely transform Altay into a different game, but together they fill a gap that was always visible on the original board. The sea is no longer decorative space sitting between the interesting parts. It becomes another route, another weapon and another opportunity. This feels less like an optional side module and more like the final section of the game arriving slightly late. What Does Altay: Seafarers Add? Seafarers introduces three major additions. The first is the Forgotten Sea, an entirely new board built around four sea zones and a collection of harbour territories. The second is a full set of seafaring rules, allowing players to build ships, move them around the board, travel between distant territories and support battles from the water. Finally, the expansion adds the Waterfolk, a completely new faction that manipulates the sea without using conventional ships or crews. They have Dolphins! The expansion includes ships for each of the original factions, crew tokens, Wavebending Dolphin tokens, new starting cards, additional market cards and new achievement cards. You can use these systems with the new Forgotten Sea board or add them to the original board, giving you a welcome amount of flexibility over how much change you want. The new board is the main event. It immediately gives the game a stronger sense of geography, with players beginning in harbour territories and looking across the water towards islands, remote land and potential targets. It also makes the board feel more connected. Areas that would previously have been far apart can now become neighbours through a shared sea zone, provided you have the ships, or Dolphins, to reach them. How Does Seafaring Work? Each original faction adds a Shipwright card to its starting deck. When played, this places one of your ships into a sea zone adjacent to one of your settlements. Ships can later be spent to build settlements on neighbouring lands across the shores, or launch attacks across the water, effectively treating territories connected to the same sea zone as adjacent. Travelling farther requires multiple ships, with one spent for each sea zone crossed. This allows you to leap across the map, reach isolated territories or threaten another player from a direction they may not have expected. It creates new possibilities without requiring a completely separate naval phase or a pile of additional rules. Ships can also support regular combat. Any ship in a sea zone adjacent to the battle can be removed to add one strength to an attack or defence. Ships used for sailing cannot also be used to boost that same attack, so you still need to plan ahead rather than simply throwing every boat into one giant assault. Crews make ships more efficient because you may remove the crew instead of losing the entire ship when it is used. This all sounds like it might turn Altay into a combat-heavy game, but it does not. Combat is not suddenly dominant, nor does every game descend into fleets smashing into each other. Each player only has three ships, and you use them for travel more than anything else. Instead, fighting becomes a little more interesting because the direction of an attack is less predictable. Players can posture from the sea, protect a coastline or create a route to territory that would previously have been inaccessible. The base game’s combat could occasionally feel blunt. You were next to someone or you were not, and your deck either supported a fight or it did not. Seafarers introduces more nuance. A ship might be used to travel, defend, threaten, settle or simply force an opponent to think twice. That extra layer gives the board more life without changing the heart of the game. The New Cards The additional action cards are built to support sea travel, but most of them have enough flexibility to avoid feeling completely useless when your plans change. Shipwrights place ships, while Sailors can move a ship, add a crew or act as Warriors during combat. Explorers are particularly useful because they can either provide three coins or resettle one of your settlements into an adjacent territory. That movement can be combined with sailing, creating some clever ways to relocate across the map without building an entirely new settlement. Astronomy gives players another route onto the water. Once completed, it lets you discard a card to gain a temporary sailing effect each turn, even without an available ship token. It is a useful piece of technology for players who want access to the sea without packing their deck with too many seafaring cards. Although, I did already have this form the Seafarers promo mini expansion. This does create a potential concern. Altay already asks players to manage a deck where the wrong combination of cards can leave you with resources or actions that do not line up neatly. Adding more card types risks making that problem worse. Some players have criticised Seafarers for increasing deck bloat without fixing those occasional dead turns, and that criticism is understandable. However, I did not find the new cards as disruptive as that argument suggests. Sailors have multiple uses, Explorers provide money when movement is not helpful, and the sea is relevant enough on the new board that Shipwrights rarely feel completely disconnected from the rest of your plan. You still need to build your deck carefully, but that was already true in the base game. The optional Trading rule is also compulsory when using the new board, which helps by allowing unwanted resources to be converted into coins. That does not remove every awkward hand, but it gives players another way to turn excess production into something useful. We always played with this anyway. The Waterfolk The Waterfolk are the expansion’s most exciting addition. They do not use ships or crews at all, instead controlling the sea through Wavebending tokens and their unusual starting cards. A Wavebender can place a token in one of your territories, an adjacent sea zone or another sea zone that already contains one of your tokens. Removing that token can then produce any resource or, when removed from the sea, create the same effect as spending a ship. The Wavesinger can either produce culture or replay an action card from your discard pile, giving the Waterfolk excellent flexibility and the potential to build a strong, healthy deck. Their strength is not simply travelling across the water. They are good at resource generation, recovering useful actions and making the most of cards that have already passed through their hand. They can feel smooth and efficient when played well, particularly once the discard pile offers several useful options. The Waterfolk feel balanced, but they are not identical in power or rhythm to the original factions. That is the point. Altay’s factions have always encouraged different approaches, so performance can vary significantly depending on your preferred style. A player who likes direct conflict may immediately understand the Firefolk, while someone who enjoys flexibility, resource control and deck efficiency may get far more from the Waterfolk. That variation is not a balance problem so much as part of Altay’s identity. The factions are meant to feel different, and the Waterfolk continue that philosophy rather than sitting safely in the middle. They also bring purple dolphin-shaped Wavebending tokens to the table, which may not affect strategy but are objectively delightful. A Better Board The Forgotten Sea board is a major improvement because it makes the entire game feel more purposeful. The original Altay board had islands and large areas of water, but without the full seafaring system, some of that space felt underused. I had already played with the earlier Seafarers promotional material, so I had seen a small part of what sea travel could contribute. The full expansion makes that idea feel complete. Starting from harbour territories immediately draws attention towards the water. The central islands and distant shores create obvious points of interest, while naval routes make expansion less predictable. A player can no longer assume that a strip of sea provides safety or that a distant opponent will remain distant for the entire game. This improves the race element as much as the area control. Sometimes the best use of a ship is not attacking another player but reaching a valuable territory before they do. The expansion gives you more ways to place settlements, collect conquest markers and chase the game-ending condition without making the experience significantly heavier. There are more decisions, but the rules remain straightforward. Build ships, move them, spend them to cross sea zones or use them in combat. Once everyone understands that basic loop, the additional complexity settles into the background. Does It Make Altay Better? Yes, comfortably. Well, its now an 8.5 for me, and was previously an 8! The base game already had the ingredients of something very good, but parts of the board and theme felt slightly unfinished. Seafarers brings exploration and maritime expansion into the centre of the experience, which makes Altay feel more like the civilisation game its presentation promises. It still remains a fairly light and abstract game. You are not managing complex trade networks, researching enormous technology trees or running a historical empire across several hours. The theme can still disappear when players focus on icons, resources and efficient card combinations. What Seafarers does is make that abstraction more interesting. Sea zones change relationships between territories, ships create new tactical choices, and the Waterfolk introduce a faction that genuinely approaches the game from another angle. It adds more variety without burying the accessible core beneath too many new systems. The expansion also improves interaction without making conflict overwhelming. Players have more ways to reach each other and more options when a fight begins, but warfare remains only one possible route. A strong player can still win by building efficiently, developing technologies and racing to place settlements. The Controversy Some players are understandably unhappy about the way this content has been released. There are claims that parts of the seafaring system were originally included with some copies of the base game, then removed and later repackaged as an expansion. I don't know if this was the full expansion we see here, or the small promo expansion I got with my copy. But it has caused some upset. I cannot confirm exactly what happened during production, and I do not want to present speculation as fact. However, it is easy to understand why players who already received some seafaring content might resent paying again for an expanded version of it. My own reaction is more straightforward. I already had the promotional Seafarers cards and had experimented with a smaller version of the system, but I am still glad to have the complete expansion. The new board, Waterfolk faction, crews and full selection of naval cards provide substantially more than those earlier promotional components. Whatever the production history, the game in front of me is better with Seafarers included. Pros The Forgotten Sea board makes better use of the water and creates more interesting routes. Ships add tactical depth without making combat dominant. The Waterfolk provide a distinctive and flexible fifth faction. Sailors and Explorers offer useful options beyond basic sea travel. Sea movement strengthens both the race and area-control elements. The expansion feels integrated rather than bolted onto the base game. Wavebending dolphins are excellent. Cons Additional card types can increase the risk of awkward or unfocused hands. Players who already own promotional seafaring content may feel they are buying some small parts of this twice. The factions remain highly dependent on player style and familiarity. Anyone who disliked the abstract nature of the base game will not find it transformed here. It adds another layer to a game some players already felt could suffer from deck bloat. Altay: Seafarers Review: Final Thoughts Altay: Seafarers is exactly what I want from an expansion. It does not replace the base game’s central systems or add complexity simply for the sake of having more things in the box. It looks at what was already there, spots the underused sea and turns it into something meaningful. Ships make travel, settlement and combat more flexible. The Forgotten Sea board creates better routes and more interesting relationships between players. The Waterfolk bring a clever new faction built around resource generation, Wavebending and using the discard pile to keep their deck working efficiently. There are legitimate concerns about adding more cards to a game where unfocused deck building can already create dead actions. There are also fair questions around whether some of this content should have been included from the start. Neither issue changed the experience enough to reduce my enthusiasm. The original Altay felt like a strong game with one conspicuous space still waiting to be filled. Seafarers sails directly into that gap and makes itself at home. The base game was an eight. With this expansion, Altay becomes an 8.5 out of ten for me.

Buy Here - Wingspan Pocket WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count:1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Monopoly Deal, Wingspan, Forest Shuffle Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: Elizabeth Hargrave This is a free review copy. See our review policy here. Wingspan has never exactly been a small game. It looks pretty and accessible, but its actually a low-midweight game. Good for new players, but I would not suggest you start people on this! I tried! But between the player boards, bird cards, food tokens, eggs, dice tower and enough avian artwork to fill a particularly ambitious nature documentary (especially with all the expansions!) it demands a fair amount of space and time before the first bird has even taken flight. Wingspan Pocket looks at all of that, trims away almost everything it can, then a little more, and asks a simple question: how much Wingspan can you squeeze into half an hour? The answer, rather impressively, is quite a lot. And I do mean 30 mins, max! So are we the baby birds in this picture? Wingspan Pocket is not simply the original game shoved into a smaller box. It keeps the familiar birds, eggs, food costs, tucked cards and tableau building, but reorganises them into a much faster, and surprisingly, sometimes more satisfying engine-building game. You build a single row of just six birds, activating that entire row on every turn. The result is a game that gets moving quickly, rewards clever sequencing and gives you the satisfying feeling of watching an engine fire repeatedly without asking you to surrender an entire evening. What Is Wingspan Pocket? Designed by the O.G. (Original Genus-spotter) Elizabeth Hargrave, Wingspan Pocket is a lighter and faster reimagining of Wingspan for one to five players. Games typically take between 25 and 35 minutes, although experienced players should comfortably bring that time down once everyone understands the iconography. I have had games in under 20 minutes already and I am only on game 8. Each card is double-sided, showing a bird on one side and food on the other. This is an elegant piece of design because the same deck creates both the birds available to play and the resources needed to play them. It cuts down considerably on the number of components while also creating meaningful decisions. Gone are the dice, dice tower, and food tokens. Cards replace them all. And it's the birds' cards back that did it. Genius. Every card taken as food is a bird that will not enter the game, while every bird added to your hand is one fewer resource available for future turns. You cannot switch them over. Meaning it will take a long time to see all of the 106 birds in this game. Stunning art as usual with the series You begin the game with six cards. In the standard game, two become birds and four become food. The advanced setup allows you to choose which sides to use, and this is comfortably the better way to play once everyone understands the basics. But for anyone who has played Wingspan before, I would start with this from the off. Your opening birds matter enormously because the earliest cards in your row will potentially activate on nearly every turn for the rest of the game. Choose which birds to keep from your opening hand wisely! Place each card face up on the direction you choose, in front of you. You will always have your "hand" face up on the table like this. Give each player a Nest card with one egg in it and place this above your hand. Next to this is where you will move cards from your hand into your active row. Give everyone a player aid, and set up two random goals (again if you are playing the advanced version, but go for it from the off I say!). You are now ready to play. How To Play Wingspan Pocket On your turn, you choose one of three straightforward brown actions on your nest card. You can play a bird by paying its food and egg cost, discarded accordingly, and playing your bird from your hand into your active row next to your nest or any previously played bird cards. You can also draw any two cards from the shared display, be that two food, two birds, or one of each and add to your hand. Or finally, you can lay up to three eggs on different card, so long as your cards have space for them. Each card clearly shows how many eggs it can hold. After resolving that action, you move along your entire row and activate each applicable brown bird power of any bird card you have played, even ones played this turn. Some birds provide food, others draw cards, lay eggs, tuck cards for points or interact with neighbouring players. Green abilities offer permanent benefits rather than activating each turn, such as allowing certain food types to act as wild resources or reducing the cost of future birds. Green powers often offers buying alternatives The crucial difference from traditional Wingspan is that the bird you have just played can activate immediately. You do not place it into your engine and wait for a future turn to enjoy it. It joins the row, triggers alongside everything else and begins contributing straight away. This creates a wonderfully immediate rhythm. You take your main action, run through your flock and collect a satisfying stream of little bonuses. As the row grows, each turn becomes more rewarding. A simple egg action might also provide food, draw a bird and tuck another card for points. By the final few turns, even the most basic action can spark a useful chain of effects. If you can get a good combination of cards! The end of the game is triggered when somebody plays their sixth bird. Everyone receives the same number of turns, then players score the printed value of their birds, one point for each egg, one point for each tucked card and any points earned through the optional scoring goals. You can track this easily but switching over the next card to the handy scoring side on the reverse. More space saving and clever game design! Small Flock, Big Engine - Wingspan Pocket Card Game Review The smartest thing Wingspan Pocket does is make six birds feel like enough. Initially, a row of only six cards sounds restrictive. Traditional Wingspan gives you three habitats to develop and space for considerably more birds, so reducing everything to a single short line could easily have produced an experience that felt thin. Instead, the constant activation of your row means those six birds work exceptionally hard. I do sometimes end a game wanting more turns, but the game is quick enough to rack up and go again! An early bird might trigger repeatedly throughout the game, providing far more value than many cards would in the original. This makes the order of your birds important. A food-producing bird placed at the start of your row might feed directly into another ability that spends that food to draw cards. A bird that draws a particular resource can be followed by one that tucks that resource for points. When these little combinations come together, Wingspan Pocket delivers a surprising number of those delicious engine-building moments in a very short space of time. Not for eating! There is also very little downtime within your own turns. You are constantly collecting something, converting something or preparing for the next bird. Some abilities also benefit opponents or copy powers from neighbouring players, helping everyone remain involved even when it is not their turn. Of course, it is not as expansive as Wingspan, but it is more immediate, a lot easier to get to the table, and way less down time. The original gradually develops towards its larger combinations. Wingspan Pocket hands you a small engine and encourages you to stamp repeatedly on the accelerator from turn one! A Clever Use Of Cards The double-sided cards are more than a component-saving gimmick. They produce some of the game’s most interesting decisions. When choosing cards from the display, you can take two birds, two food cards or one of each. Food cards frequently show more than one possible resource, giving you some flexibility when paying costs. Two unwanted food cards can also be exchanged as a wild resource, reducing the chance of becoming completely stuck. However, taking a card as food means its bird side has effectively disappeared from the game. You may later discover that the berry you casually collected was hiding the exact bird another player needed. Not every decision will feel that dramatic, but the system creates variety without requiring separate decks, tokens and dice. It also makes Wingspan Pocket incredibly easy to set up. Open the box, shuffle the cards, create the display and you are nearly ready to play. The player nests clearly show the available actions and double as scoring tracks at the end, while reference cards explain the game’s icons. It is a clean and impressively economical production. A Little More Luck In The Air The main cost of condensing Wingspan into half an hour is increased luck. Because your row activates so frequently, an excellent opening bird can provide a considerable advantage. A card that produces an egg or draws a flexible resource every turn will normally be more useful than one relying on a specific symbol appearing in the display. The advanced setup helps by allowing players to choose their opening birds, but it does not entirely remove the possibility of one player assembling a powerful combination earlier than everyone else. Some powers are also dependent on particular food appearing in the market. When the fish, grain or berry you need refuses to emerge, a bird can sit uselessly in your row for several turns. That does not ruin the game, especially when the entire experience is over in around half an hour, but it can make certain sessions feel noticeably less satisfying than others. The short duration is important here. A fortunate opening combination would be much harder to forgive in a two-hour game. In Wingspan Pocket, a weaker engine usually leaves me wanting another attempt rather than regretting the time spent playing. Luckier games will not suit everybody, but the speed keeps the frustration under control. Is It Really A Pocket Game? The box is certainly smaller than Wingspan, but the name may be making promises that most trousers cannot fulfil. More importantly, it is worth recognising that the game still requires a reasonable amount of table space. Every player can have six birds, several food cards, eggs and tucked cards in front of them, while the central display also contains separate rows of birds and food. At four or five players, this is not something you will be able to play on a train tray or a tiny café table. Classic and clear iconography from Stonemaier The double-sided cards reduce the size of the box, but food cards laid across the table can occupy more space than a small pile of tokens would. Wingspan Pocket is significantly more portable than Wingspan, but it is better described as travel-friendly than genuinely pocket-sized. That feels like a marketing line more than the truth. Does It Replace Wingspan? No, but I do not think it is trying to. Wingspan remains the richer, more varied experience. It gives you more birds, more paths to explore and more time to shape a detailed tableau. Add an expansion and it becomes a substantially deeper game than anything Wingspan Pocket is attempting to provide. Wingspan Pocket serves a different purpose. It is the version I would choose when I want the pleasure of building and activating a bird engine but only have half an hour. It is easier to teach, much faster to prepare and considerably less intimidating for new players. It may even suit some people better than the original. Players who enjoy Wingspan’s setting and card play but find the full game too slow could discover that this is exactly the version they wanted. The repeated row activations provide constant rewards, while the six-bird limit ensures the game ends before the system has time to drag. Experienced Wingspan players may initially stumble over some of the changes. Activating the whole row after playing a bird feels unusual, and the optional scoring goals are slightly less intuitive than they should be. Rather than simply scoring qualifying birds, many goals score the eggs placed upon those birds. It is not complicated, but it is easy to forget during an early game. The handy double-sided nest/scoring card Components And Presentation Wingspan Pocket retains the beautiful presentation associated with the series. The bird illustrations are colourful and detailed, the cards are clearly organised and the iconography becomes easy to read after a few turns. The card stock, as always with Stonemaier, is great. The small pink eggs have a pleasant sparkling finish, and the feather-shaped activation marker is a charming touch. The nests are particularly clever, acting as action references during play before flipping over to become scoring tracks at the end. There are 106 birds from around the world, so the game avoids feeling like a reduced selection pulled solely from the original box. There is still plenty to discover, even if the mechanical variety cannot compete with the enormous card pool now available for Wingspan. Pros Rapid turns with very little wasted time. Constant row activation creates satisfying engine-building combinations. Double-sided bird and food cards are clever and efficient. Easy to teach, set up and pack away. Early bird placement creates meaningful sequencing decisions. Feels distinct enough from Wingspan to justify existing alongside it. Maintains the artwork and presentation quality of the wider series. Cons More luck-driven than Wingspan. Strong opening birds can create an early advantage. Market-dependent powers occasionally fail repeatedly. The optional scoring goals can be easy to misunderstand. Uses more table space than the word “Pocket” suggests. Players wanting the depth of full Wingspan may find it too slight. So much info on one card, and yet it still looks elegant! Wingspan Pocket Review: Final Thoughts Wingspan Pocket understands that making a game smaller should involve more than removing components. It identifies the most immediately satisfying part of Wingspan, building a row of birds and watching their powers combine, then accelerates that experience until it fits comfortably inside half an hour. The result is fast, rewarding and far more substantial than its six-card tableau initially suggests. The double-sided cards are an inspired way of combining birds and resources, while activating the whole row every turn ensures there is almost always something enjoyable happening. It is luckier than Wingspan, occasionally restrictive and nowhere near as deep. It is also quicker to teach, easier to transport and often more exciting from the very first turn. It will not replace the original for players who love constructing a sprawling aviary, but it does not need to. This is Wingspan for lunch breaks, family holidays and those evenings when you want an engine builder without the usual commitment. In this Wingspan Pocket Card Game Review, we are not saying that you can now fit Wingspan inside an actual pocket, but it squeezes an impressive amount of game into that little box to make you feel that maybe you don't need bigger pockets.

Sponsored Post - This is a sponsored post and contains sponsored links Sweepstakes casinos couldn’t be any more popular in the US at the moment, offering users the chance to play casino-style games for rewards like gift cards and cash transfers. They’re a big hit with casino fans, casual gamers, and even board game fanatics, and the good news with sweepstakes casinos is that they’re jam-packed with plenty of table games. You can play them for free using ‘Gold Coins’ or for prizes with ‘Sweeps Coins’, so let’s unpack which sweepstakes casino table games you should try out first. What is a Sweepstakes Casino? According to industry experts SweepsKings.com, a sweepstakes casino is a new type of online casino with a unique twist: no direct cash wagers. Instead, you play with entirely virtual coins: ⛁ Gold Coins let you play any of the available games for free and climb fun leaderboards ⛁ Sweeps Coins are more valuable and can be exchanged for prizes, such as cash transfers to your bank or gift cards (for example, you might exchange 100 SCs for a $100 cash transfer) These casinos also come with features like daily missions, challenges, free-entry tournaments, giveaways, and more, so they’re much more fun and interactive than regular online casinos, which is why Gen Z and Millennial players have been signing up in huge numbers. Once you actually sign up with a sweepstakes casino, you’ll find that most of them have at least 1,000+ games. Slots are by far the most popular category, but there are also plenty of table games on offer, too. These are the ones we rank at the top. Best Sweepstakes Casino Table Games 1. Roulette Roulette is an absolute must-play game in any sweepstakes casino. You simply pick red or black, or odd or even, and wait to see where the roulette ball lands. It couldn’t get much easier, and you can even pick from different variations of it depending on which sweepstakes casino you’re playing in. Sweepstakes like WOW Vegas offer Live Roulette, Auto Roulette, Gravity Roulette, Royal Roulette, and other top picks, so you don’t have to play the same version of roulette each time. If you’re a beginner player, it’s especially recommended you start out with roulette. 2. Baccarat With Baccarat, you have an incredibly easy card game where only three types of bets are possible: Player, Banker, or Tie. During the game, two cards each are dealt to the Player and the Banker, and whoever’s hand is closest to 9 wins. The probability of the Player’s hand winning is 44.6%, the Banker is 45.9%, and a tie is 9.5%. You can pick any outcome you think is going to happen before the game starts but you’ll generally find that most players in your lobby go for either the Player or the Banker to win rather than betting on a tie. 3. Keno Have you tried Keno before? It’s a lottery-style game that the likes of Chumba Casino have now started offering, giving players a pool of 80 numbers to pick from (you usually select up to 20 of those from a grid). You then win based on how many of your chosen numbers match the drawn ones, and payouts increase the more numbers you successfully get right. It’s a great game for lottery fans to play, as well as those who want something fun and simple to play inside sweepstakes casinos. 4. Poker Poker is the hardest table game to play in any sweepstakes casino. It requires thought, strategy, and knowledge of all the different poker hands, so make sure you only play with Sweeps Coins after you’ve practiced with Gold Coins first. A great starting point is the exclusive Stake Poker from Stake.us, which even has tournaments for you to enter. And whichever sweepstakes casino you use, you’ll generally find that a typical lobby, whether you’re playing with GCs or SCs, will have between 3 and 8 players. Prize pools tend to be bigger than any other sweepstakes table game as well, so if you brush up on your poker skills, it’s absolutely worth playing. 5. Blackjack If poker is a little too difficult for you, blackjack is the perfect step down. It’s just the right blend of skill, strategy, and knowing when to make the right move, with the aim being to get a hand total closer to 21 than the dealer’s. The dealer will have 1 card face up and you’ll be dealt 2 cards at the start of the game. You can then Hit or Stand until you go bust. Our top tip is this: never Stand on any hand below 17 if the dealer shows an Ace, K, Q, J, 10, or 9. Exchanging Sweeps Coins for Prizes When you play blackjack, roulette, or any of the other popular table games in sweepstakes casinos, you might get into a position where you’ve collected enough Sweeps Coins to start redeeming prizes. Typically, you need at least 20 SCs to do this. Once ready, you can then follow these steps: ● Go to the ‘Redeem’ section of your sweepstakes casino ● Select from any of the available prizes, such as a cash transfer, gift card, or piece of merchandise ● The Sweeps Coins will be deducted from your available balance ● You’ll then receive the prize within 24 to 48 hours on average, although it ultimately depends on the operator you’re using Let’s say you’ve got 200 Sweeps Coins sitting in your balance. You might then pick a $100 cash transfer and two $50 gift cards. Or, you might only redeem a small prize and opt to keep most of your Sweeps Coins so that you can keep on playing with them. It varies from player to player, although most prefer to redeem the majority of their SCs whenever prizes become available. Remember, Gold Coins can never be redeemed for rewards in sweepstakes casinos. Instead, it’s only Sweeps Coins that can. Gold Coins are just for entertainment purposes and climbing leaderboards, so you unfortunately can’t redeem those for prizes. Which Table Game is Best for You? The sweepstakes casino table games you pick ultimately comes down to your own skill set and personal preferences. If, say, you’re a casual beginner player, you’ll want to go with table games like roulette and baccarat, as they involve no skill at all and are essentially games of pure luck. On the other hand, if you prefer strategy-based table games, you can pick from the likes of blackjack and poker, both of which require a significant level of skill and knowledge to get wins (this is especially true in the case of poker). And it’s also important to remember that all available table games can be played for free using Gold Coins at any time, meaning you have a great platform for practicing until you feel confident enough to play with Sweeps Coins. How to Get Free Sweeps Coins Before Playing Table Games For those short on Sweeps Coins, the good news is that sweepstakes casinos make it incredibly easy to get your hands on free SC. How does it work? Multiple different free SC methods are available, including: ● Collect sign-up bonuses ● Do Daily Logins for bonus coins ● Refer friends so that you both get rewarded ● Complete mail-ins asking for free SCs ● Take part in social media giveaways ● Use bonus codes when they become available ● Look out for daily prize drops Throughout the year, it’s technically possible to get hundreds of free Sweeps Coins just by doing these different methods. Once you get your free coins, they can then be played across different table games. The playthrough requirement is usually at least 1x to 3x on free Sweeps Coins, though, so you can’t automatically redeem them for prizes until they’ve been bet in games. Verdict Sweepstakes casinos are available in 33+ states and almost all of them come with table games and live dealer games for you to pick from. The prize chasers should look to play with Sweeps Coins, while casual players can stick with Gold Coins if they’re only playing for fun. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the playing experience and bag plenty of prizes along the way.

Sponsored Post - This is a sponsored post and contains a sponsored link The interest in tabletop gaming hasn’t declined despite the rise of digital gaming, and the growth of SPIEL Essen 2026 is a testament to the industry’s continued growth. Why SPIEL Essen 2026 Is Becoming the Biggest Event in Tabletop Gaming History Source SPIEL Essen has held a very special place for decades as far as tabletop gaming goes. The world’s largest board game convention now appears to be entering an entirely new era in 2026. It is growing beyond its traditional identity as a hobbyist gathering and is turning into a highly influential, global entertainment event. Taking place in October of 2026 at Messe Essen in Germany, the event is expanding significantly. It goes beyond just featuring your everyday board games and rather acts as the cultural centre of tabletop entertainment. Considering the industry’s rapid worldwide growth, SPIEL Essen 2026 is slated to come with expanded exhibition capacity, additional venue infrastructure, and record publisher demand. How SPIEL Essen Reached Record-Breaking Scale in 2026 The organisers for the event this year confirmed that the exhibition space sold out earlier than they had expected. This led to long waiting lists for interested publishers and exhibitors. To accommodate the demand, the event had to be expanded into Hall 8 at Mess Essen, which increased the total exhibition area to 81,200 square meters. This also required the addition of a new entrance system and waiting hall to ensure proper visitor flow. SPIEL Essen Growth Indicators Recent Development Venue Space Expanded to approximately 81,200 m² with the addition of Hall 8 Visitor Reach Expected to break the previous attendance records of 220,000 visitors International Presence Attendees from 80+ countries Publisher Participation Record exhibitor demand and waiting lists for booth space Game Releases A large number of new tabletop titles are showcased annually Industry Role Primary launch event for major board game publishers All previous records of attendance are expected to be broken this year as tabletop gaming expands internationally. It’s not only enthusiasts who visit this event but also publishers launching new titles, testing audience reactions, and more. One reason for the ever-increasing scale of the convention is its unique role in the tabletop calendar. Several publishers see Essen as an unofficial world premiere season for board games. New titles across various game categories frequently debut at the event before being released internationally. Why Tabletop Gaming Is Experiencing Massive Global Growth Source SPIEL Essen’s growth reflects a wider transformation in how people engage with games and social entertainment. The board game market is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of over 10% until 2034. This shows how tabletop gaming isn’t limited to dedicated enthusiasts anymore and has become mainstream entertainment embraced by families and young adults alike. Modern tabletop games have changed significantly as well. The variety of games available today has widened the audience considerably: Cinematic Storytelling Games Corporate Experiences Educational Systems Solo-Friendly Titles Strategic Competitive Titles All this has taken tabletop gaming into more homes, events, and even offices. The industry has also benefited from global online retail, influencer coverage, and streaming communities. The Rise of Board Games Beyond Traditional Hobby Source Tabletop gaming has also expanded because of its move into mainstream culture. Titles like Catan and Wingspan have introduced millions of casual players to modern board gaming by offering social and strategic experiences. Other reasons for this rise include: The increase in board game cafes Many titles are being displayed alongside books and toys in retail stores. The nostalgia that inspires adults to introduce younger generations to the titles they grew up playing Social Gaming in the Digital Era Source It’s no secret that the digitalisation of games has taken over the world. This isn’t limited to just board games but extends beyond into multiple industries. For example, the number of online platforms offering mobile slots is growing, and the selection of games of this kind, which allow users to play and win directly from their phones, is also becoming broader. Despite this trend, the need for authentic social experiences still thrives. People still crave direct interaction, and board games offer just that. The normalisation of remote work has accelerated this trend further, as people look for experiences that encourage communication and entertainment simultaneously. Ironically, digital culture itself has helped with tabletop growth. Social platforms and online streamers have brought board games to millions in a completely new light. This makes discovering new titles and their rules easier while preserving the offline nature of play. What Makes SPIEL Essen Different From Other Gaming Events Source SPIEL Essen differs from other gaming conventions due to its interactive nature. Visitors are not here to merely watch presentations but rather actively play games. They can test prototypes, learn the rules directly from the publishers, and try out new titles before they’re launched. The atmosphere is also very different, thanks to a community-focused energy. The coexistence of multinational publishers and independent creators leads to an environment where innovation and experience thrive. For publishers showcasing unreleased titles, SPIEL Essen offers a look into the potential success of their work. Positive reactions from players and retailers can determine which games are likely to become international hits when they’re released. International Community and Fan Experience Visitors travel to this event from dozens of countries. This transforms the convention from an everyday event into a multicultural hub for discussion and cultural exchange. This, combined with the fact that visitors take part in live demos, tournaments, workshops, and creator meetups, makes SPIEL Essen a tabletop event like none other. For many, it acts as an annual pilgrimage and a chance to reunite with friends who share the same passion. The Future of Tabletop Gaming After SPIEL Essen 2026 The overwhelming interest in the upcoming convention reflects how consumer demand for participatory experiences is growing, as opposed to being satisfied with passive consumption. Tabletop gaming is positioned to remain among the fastest-growing forms of interactive entertainment, as audiences increasingly value connection and community. Publishers are also experimenting with hybrid trends by combining traditional mechanics with new technologies like augmented gameplay and online community-building. This is likely to bring tabletop to even younger crowds, leading to long-term adoption. Conclusion SPIEL Essen 2026 is no less than a turning point for tabletop gaming. It represents a cultural shift, as something that was considered a niche hobby has turned into a mainstream global industry. With the expanded venue space, record exhibitor demand, and growing international attention, this year’s event is expected to be larger than ever. At this point, SPIEL Essen isn’t simply the biggest board game fair in the world but rather a defining cultural event in the world of gaming.

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game. Find out more here. Some games arrive on the table quietly. Space Junkers does not. Space Junkers lands like a battered freighter crashing out of hyperspace, lights flickering, alarms blaring, aliens in the vents, security bots booting up, and six suspiciously familiar sci-fi rogues all trying to grab the best loot before anyone else does. This is a fast, loud, 3D sci-fi scavenging game from designer Mark Prentice and Next Dimension Games, coming to Gamefound on 14 July. Find out more here. It plays two to six players in around 30 to 45 minutes, and puts you aboard the Deep space Horizon, a long-lost freighter drifting in space for 57 years. Naturally, this derelict ship is full of salvage. Also naturally, everyone else has turned up at the exact same time to nick it. What follows is a messy, tactical, sometimes ridiculous race to grab loot, complete missions, avoid danger, and, where possible, launch your rivals directly into space. Think Colt Express meets Red Dwarf! As this is a preview, everything I played was in prototype form. Components, balance, rules and presentation may all change before the finished game arrives. But even in prototype form, Space Junkers already has a huge amount going for it. I mean, check out the 3d Multi-tier board! The first thing you notice is the ship. Space Junkers uses a three-tiered 3D board, with different decks stacked above each other to create the interior of the Deep space Horizon. It is instantly eye-catching. This is not a flat board pretending to be a spaceship. This looks and feels like something you are exploring. Players each choose a character, (two each in a two player) and each character has their own asymmetric ability. The art is bright, colourful, silly and full of personality. Some characters may also remind you, completely coincidentally I am sure, of famous sci-fi faces from film and TV. Each player also takes their own board, action dice, reputation marker and starting pieces. Salvage tokens are placed around the ship, the alien starts lurking somewhere unpleasant, the event deck is prepared, and players begin outside the ship. That last bit matters. Everyone is not just racing to collect loot. They are racing to get inside, pick a route, use the lifts, dive through airlocks, and work out where the best opportunities might appear before someone else beats them to it. Missions can also be added, giving each player a specific place on the ship to head too, and I would recommend playing with them from the off, they are great! They give players extra objectives and make the game feel more personal and cinematic. Space Junkers Board Game Preview - How To Play Each round begins by establishing the first player. On the first round, this is the youngest player. After that, it is the player with the fewest salvage tokens, which is a nice catch-up touch that keeps people involved even when they have had a rough round. In a two player, just rotate it round. Everyone rolls three action dice, although that number can drop if your reputation gets too low. The scum of the earth roll less dice. Then each player secretly chooses one die and locks it in. Once everyone is ready, all dice are revealed at the same time. That chosen die determines what you can do this round. You may get movement, the ability to move the alien on board the ship with you, a wild action that can be used for movement or salvage, a ship system action, healing, and crucially your combat rating for the round, which will be one to six. The lower your rating, the more actions you can do. What you choose may not always work out as planned because players before you may do things to stop your plans. But the lovely part is that you can resolve the symbols in any order. That gives every turn a small but satisfying puzzle rather than the often annoying dead turn seen in other programming games. Can you move first, grab salvage, then use a room effect? Should you shove someone away before they can act? Can you reach the airlock and trigger something horrible? All fun and often hilarious choices! The ship systems are some of the most entertaining parts of the game. From the bridge, you can steal salvage previously collected by other players. From the med-bay, you can recover reputation. From engineering, you can activate the airlocks and blast players out if they happen to be standing in the wrong place. This is a game where positioning matters, but also a game where your position is never quite as safe as you think. And again, its often hilarious! Combat is optional, but always present. Your chosen die gives you your combat rating for that round, so sometimes you are quick and slippery, and sometimes you are better prepared for a fight. If you attack successfully, by moving into a room with another player with a lower combat score than you, you can gain reputation and move your opponent to another room. Scuppering their plans and lowering their own reputation in the process. A double whammy! That movement can be the real prize. Pushing someone away from loot is good. Pushing them towards an alien is better. Pushing them into a situation where the ship itself finishes the job is chef’s kiss chaos. There can be some real chaos combos here. And, yes, you guessed it, its often hilarious! At the end of each player’s turn, they update their salvage total and draw an event card. These events can change the board state, bring in new threats, drop more salvage, activate the security bot, or generally make everyone rethink their plans. The game ends when the salvage runs out or the event deck is exhausted, with players scoring salvage, completed mission bonuses, and adjusting based on reputation. A ship worth boarding The 3D ship is the immediate star. It looks brilliant on the table and gives Space Junkers a real toy-factor charm. You are moving through decks, using lifts, slipping through airlocks and watching trouble unfold above and below you. It helps sell the fantasy in a way a normal board simply could not. There is a small practical downside. Because the ship is stacked, it can sometimes be fiddly to get your hands into certain areas without nudging pieces elsewhere. That may improve with final production, and it was never enough to ruin the game, but it is worth mentioning. The table presence is fantastic, but it does come with the usual 3D board trade-off: it looks amazing, and occasionally your fingers feel like they are performing surgery in a phone box. The artwork also helps a lot. It is bright, vibrant, playful and full of comic sci-fi energy. The characters are fun, the world is instantly understandable, and the whole thing leans into the ridiculousness rather than pretending to be serious space opera. This is not solemn sci-fi. This is “grab the shiny space junk and try not to get eaten.” One die, many problems The dice selection is clever. You only choose one die each round, but that one die does a lot. It gives you actions, flexibility, possible combat strength, and sometimes access to powerful ship systems. Because everyone chooses secretly and reveals at the same time, you are never fully sure what the board will look like by the time your turn comes around. There is a little Colt Express-style feeling here. You may plan to move into the next compartment and grab a lovely bit of valuable salvage, only for the player before you to wander in first and take it. Or move the alien. Or push you somewhere awful. Your plan is not happening in a vacuum. It is happening on a collapsing spaceship full of greedy idiots. That makes turns quick, but keeps you invested when other players act. You are always watching. You are always adjusting. You are always hoping the player before you does not ruin everything. They often will. The good chaos After your turn, you will draw and act out an event turn. These cards are one of the best parts of the game. They make the ship feel unstable and alive. In our first game, we were down to the final salvage token. Rather than grab it which is one way you can trigger the end, and final round, we started avoiding it for a few turns, trying to finish missions and squeeze out extra points elsewhere. Then an event card suddenly dumped a load more juicy salvage onto the ship, completely changing the state of the game. That was brilliant. It created a proper story moment. The issue is that once you have seen that card, you know it can happen. The event deck in the prototype felt like it could use more variety. I wanted more surprises, more weird ship malfunctions, more “oh no, not that” moments. The system is strong. I just wanted more of it. I think the game would be a lot better with more cards so you don't always see the same ones, just in a different order. The same goes for some of the balance. The character powers are cool and give everyone a slightly different flavour, but some felt more immediately useful than others. That may well be adjusted before the final game, and it is exactly the kind of thing prototypes are for. But as played, a few powers seemed easier to exploit, while others felt more situational. Missions need a little more love My biggest question mark is around missions. I like them a lot in theory. In fact, they were probably my favourite way to play. They make the game feel more thematic and give you a reason to do something beyond hoovering up space trash as quickly as possible. The problem is that salvage currently feels like the main and most efficient route to points. Completing missions is more fun, more involved and more story-driven, but it can feel like a lot of effort for less reward. If I have read the rules correctly, you only score a mission if you fully complete it. That means you could complete three out of four tasks and get nothing, which feels harsh. I would love to see missions use a sliding scale. Give players something for partial completion, then a bigger bonus for finishing the whole card. That would make them feel less punishing, while still rewarding players who fully commit. There was also one late-game token worth 1000 points that created a huge swing. You can steal it through combat, so there is counterplay, and I do love the jeopardy it brings. But if it appears late and there are only one or two turns left, that is a massive points shift that may come down to whether anyone has the right dice at the right time. Exciting? Definitely. Potentially too much? Also yes. Final thoughts Space Junkers is fast, funny and packed with memorable moments. It has a wonderful table presence, quick turns, bright artwork, lively interaction, and just enough tactical planning to stop the chaos from feeling empty. You can sneak, race, fight, steal, heal, shove, sabotage, and occasionally send someone into space, which is always fun unless it happens to you. It still feels like a game that may benefit from some tuning. I would like to see more event cards, a closer look at mission scoring, and some balancing around character powers and big late-game swings. But the core is already strong. The 3D ship is not just a gimmick. It genuinely makes the game more engaging. The dice system keeps things moving. The player interaction creates stories. And the whole thing has that lovely “remember when you pushed me into the security bot?” energy that good chaotic games need. Space Junkers will not be for people who dislike take-that, randomness or having their carefully planned turn ruined by another player. But for families, casual gamers, sci-fi fans and groups who like loud, interactive games with plenty of table drama, there is a lot to enjoy here. In space, no one can hear you scream. Around this table, everyone absolutely can. Find out more here.

Moytura WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 1-2 You’ll like this if you like: A War of Whispers Published by: Bitewing Games Designed by: Trevor Benjamin, David Thompson (I) This is a review copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey Moytura is a semi cooperative game in which you and your opponent are trying to keep the Fomarians from trying to take over your land whilst simultaneously trying to take over the land for yourself. It’s like if someone takes over the desk between you and your office rival and you both agree to force them out by slowly taking over their desk space until they give up and move out but the fight for who gets the most space on the empty desk is still on. How to work together, while also stabbing each other in the back. First choose which enemies you’ll be playing with. You have the basic ones that all expand the same way or the asymmetric ones. You can use all of one type or you can mix and match but for your first game it’s recommended to use the basic ones. Set up by seeding the map with the chosen enemies and worship tokens as per the setup card you’re using. Take the deity tiles, shuffle them and place them randomly onto the slots on the board. Except Tuatha De Danann this will always go at the bottom. Each player then takes their player pieces and two worship tokens. Shuffle the enemy cards and deal five for the first scoring round and five for the second. The last two will go back to the box unseen. On a player's turn they’ll take an action using the following steps. First activate a deity. The bottom two are always free and the top three will cost you either one, two or three worship tokens. If you activate one in one of the top two positions you can upgrade them by putting one of your tokens on their tile in the indicated spot. These upgrades will give you extra followers to put out every time you activate them from then on. You then take the number of followers printed next to the deity you're using, plus any you get from upgrades. You’ll always choose a space with your followers to expand out from and then follow that deity's rules for placing your new followers on the board. You can’t put your followers in spaces with the other players' followers. You can however place them in spaces with the enemies. When you do, a conflict occurs. These are nice and simple. Remove the players followers and the enemies tokens on a one for on basis until one or no faction has tokens left on that space. Any tokens you beat on your turn will go into your supply and when you have three you can trade them in for a worship token. Once both players have taken a turn, it’s the enemies turn. Flip over the top card of their deck and follow their rules for placement. Find the largest connected group of that colour and then place as many of the enemy followers as indicated on the card into spaces adjacent to that group then resolve any conflicts. After five rounds there’s a scoring phase. Go through each area and the factions with the most and second most tokens in that area will score points. Even though there are three different coloured enemy factions they score as one faction. Play another five rounds and then another scoring round. Whoever had the most points wins and that includes the enemy faction. Not touching, can’t get mad. I’m sure I’ve said this before but one of the things l love about these two designers is their ability to take a game mechanism and do something different with it. If these guys were around when the olympics were first conceived they'd have been the ones that looked at the 200 metres and went “nah, too easy, lets stick some hurdles in it” With Moytura they've decided to try jump those hurdles themselves by making a semi co-op game! From my experience this is a difficult thing to do well and do you know what? They’ve only gone and pulled it off! Now aside from the mechanisms label on BGG and mention of it in other reviews, this isn't overtly advertised as a semi co-op and maybe that's because of the less than stellar history of those style of games? At first the idea of not being able to directly interact and attack your opponent felt like it was going to be a massive detriment of the game, however, you’re often so focused on dealing with the enemy and trying to plan your own takeover of an area that you don't notice it. In fact I’d argue that if you were able to attack the enemy it’d overwhelm a relatively simple game and you'd find your spread too thin. It stands to reason then that all of your aggressive energy will focus on the enemy. Which is handy because much like a gang war between old school new reporters, they can escalate quickly. Every flip of an enemy card brings that sense of dread for where they're going to expand next. Questions over if you’ve got enough troops to be able to fight off the enemy or if your long fought take over of an area is going to be suddenly scuppered start flying round your head. Being a random card draw this is either going to work in favour of your game or the same colour is going to expand twice in a row and give you that same panic when you spill a drink and see that puddle slowly encompass the table as you frantically scramble around for a towel. Much like that situation, you need to keep the enemy under control and that's where most of your focus will be. I’m not fighting them, you go and fight them. The co-op element is, from my games anyway, a relatively silent affair. We both know that the enemy needs dealing with but there’s not so much of a discussion between players of how and who is going to do what but you just know something needs to be done and you just kinda get on with it. That doesn’t mean that you can take your eye off your opponent though since they’ll be dealing with the enemy, but in a way that benefits them. Well you would, wouldn’t you. As much as you don't want to lose to the other player, neither do you want to lose to the enemy. It creates this beautiful balancing act in which you're trying to be seen to play your part in defeating the enemy whilst surreptitiously gaining a majority in an area whilst doing it. It’s not always the majority you're trying to get though. I’ve had games where I've chosen not to take out enemy tokens and instead moved into a space just to tie with my opponent and stop them from scoring full points. It can be sneaky and manipulative and I love it. The game reminds me of A War of Whispers. In both games you have the potential to just sit back and let your opponents do the dirty work for you and all you do is walk in after the chaotic dust has settled. Of course all this backstabbing is made all the more interesting by the deities. Each one has their own ways of spreading your followers around the map. What's brilliant is that you can’t just spam the same one each turn. The expanding cost as they move to the top of the list means that you’ll need to manage your worship tokens to have more options on your turn. There are generally no bad options when it comes to the deity’s. Sure sometimes you won't be able to afford the one you ideally want, but all of them will give you good options. Then there's upgrading. You want to try and upgrade something as soon as you can because each follower you get is equally as important for defending as well as attacking. I love that the choice of deity and that worship token economy goes hand in hand. It gives just enough stickiness to your choices. For example, the worship tokens dotted around the board can be just enough of a distraction to pull you in one direction over another. The prospect of getting them by collecting enemy tokens could even be the thing that actively draws you into a fight. There’s a decent amount of replayability in the game. There’s a changing board set up and the addition of different Formarians with asymmetric abilities and you can mix and match these as you want. I would have loved a couple more deities though. I know you can get them in an expansion but even a couple more in the base box to be able to mix things up would have been nice. Personally I’d try to add in at least one of the asymmetric Formarians as soon as you're up for it. They add a lot more unpredictability to the enemy movement and make for a much more dynamic game. Plus I've had games with the base enemy where we’ve rendered at least two of them a non threat and while it then becomes a land grab between the two of us it does take out a big part of what makes this game what it is. Moytura is another great two player game from David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin and another that comes in a fairly small box. I seriously think they’re trying to corner the market in the perfect couples getaways games and I’m absolutely here for it. Right I need to go, I’ve gotta get into work early. I’ve been slowly shifting my stuff onto the other desk an inch a day, it will be mine!!

Lost Ruins of Arnak: Expedition Leaders WBG Score: 9 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Lost Ruins of Arnak & variable player powers Published by: Czech Games Edition (CGE Designed by: Elwen, Mín This is the reviewer’s copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey Explorers journal, 7th June 1964. It wasn't long ago that I was almost begging for some leadership because Lord knows we need some organisation in these expeditions. That was until we met this bunch. They’re so focused on one specific thing it's bizarre. Like, one is obsessed with taking us to the scariest and most dangerous places on the island. He can’t have passed basic health and safety training can he? They’re all obsessed with one thing, if it’s not snacks it’s their flippin satchel or money. I tried to complain but I was simply told “that’s just management for you” So, Basic Stuff First This expansion comes with a load of new item and artifact cards, new idols, guardians, assistants and level 1 and 2 sites. Simply shuffle these into your base game since they're more of what you know and love. There’s also an artifact card and an assistant that need to be swapped out with new versions for balancing purposes. Follow those tracks. In this box you’ll find a new double sided research track. You can use this with or without this expansion. Simply pick your preferred side and overlay it onto the original track. Both tracks have new research costs, bonuses and point values but they each have their own new twist to them. The Monkey Temple track has space for an artifact card in the middle of it. At set up draw artifact cards until you come across one that costs 3 compasses and put it in the space on the track. Only your magnifying glass can and must move onto this space and when it does you may activate the card without paying the tablet cost. The Lizard Temple has space for a guardian on it. When a player's magnifying glass first reaches this space, populate it with a random guardian tile. Now no player's tokens can move past it until one player has overcome it in the usual way. All players in the same space as this undefeated guardian at the end of the round will gain a fear card for each of their tokens in that space. Both tracks add some new variability to your games of Arnak and if you're looking to change things up but without adding anything in the way of rules complexity then these will do the job. Personally I prefer the Lizard Temple side. The guardian gives this nice tension of ‘who's going to overcome the guardian’. Whoever does gets the guardian and the points but it leaves other players that extra turn to get a step ahead on the research track. The Monkey Temple track is still worth exploring but since it relies on a random artifact card it could either be a great benefit to your game or the equivalent of stopping at the motorway services with the inferior coffee chain because the kids can't hold it until the next one. Now, onto the big one, the part of the review I’m sure you're all here for… You just can’t get the staff these days. That’s right, the new staff mechanism. This expansion comes with a new red moon staff. Use this in place of the regular staff and at the end of the round discard two of the artifact and item cards instead of the usual one. Yeah, I know it feels odd to need a new component just to implement a simple rule change. In some defence it is now printed on the staff as a reminder and it does make the rule stand out in the book by making it a component rather than a simple paragraph. Regardless, it’s a cool rule that gives more fluidity to the card market and you can absolutely employ that rule into your Arnak games without it. Right, that's it for this expansion I think. Oh, no, wait. There's something here about some leaders with variable player powers. I should probably talk about those briefly. Take me to your leader First thing to note across all the leaders is that they all come with their own special hand of starting cards. So use these instead of the regular cards but still add the usual 2 fear cards. Each of these starting decks will lean into that leader's special ability. You also get a really handy user guide that properly explains how your chosen leader and the cards work. Each leader also has their own Blue idol actions on their board which they can use when they use a blue idol slot. This is usually a bonus that coincides with their special ability. The Captain This is the easiest leader to grasp as he just has an extra worker. There’s also a space on his board to put a worker that lets them use the silver ability of one of the face up assistants on the board. Nice and simple and the one i’d suggest giving to a new player if you're wanting to use this expansion with new players. The Falconer She has an eagle token and track on her board. The token moves up the track one space at the start of each round. She also has a free action on her cards that will let her move the token extra spaces. During your turn you can gain the bonus of the current space that the eagle token is on. Move the eagle back to the start and use the effect. These effects are either free actions or actions that let you activate level one or two sites. This is another one of my favourites. I like the track and those more powerful spaces at the top are great late in the game and can be a life saver when you really need resources. The Baroness At set up, put one coin on the 2,3,4 and five spaces of the round track. At the start of each round the Baroness will gain that coin. She also has a special delivery card. This has a different back and will always go into your hand at the start of the round and will count towards your five card hand. When you buy or gain an item card you can play the special delivery card which allows you to put the gained card directly into your hand. I think the Baroness may be my least favourite of the bunch. Don't get me wrong, she's still useful but I’ve never used a tool card heavy strategy so that's why it has less appeal to me. The fact that the special delivery card takes up a space in your initial card draws makes it feel a bit limiting, especially if you don't buy any cards that round. However the ability to put a card straight into your hand can be incredibly useful and it makes up for the missing card in your hand and gives you control over what that card is. The Professor The Professor has a Suitcase token that will be used to hold tablet and compass tokens. At setup put a compass token on the 2nd and 4th space of the round track and a table at space 3 and 5. The professor will gain these at the start of those rounds and they will go straight on his suitcase token. Draw three artifact cards at the start of the game and put them in front of you. Certain cards in your deck will give you resources that will go to your suitcase. The Professor is all about artifact cards and tokens in your suitcase can only be used for artifact cards. Only you can buy the artifact cards in front of you. There is a card in your starting deck that will let you swap a card in front of you with a card from the row, effectively reserving it. The professor is a step up from the Baroness for me. I tend to use the artifacts more than the tool cards so it fits in more with how I'd like to play the game. The dedicated tokens for the artifact cards are a nice little limiter. I can't tell you how many times I've spent compasses on something only to see the perfect artifact card come out and not be able to afford it. With the professor if you can’t afford it you can at least reserve it until you can. The Explorer The explorer has only one explorer but she has three snack tokens. Place two of these on your board at the start of the game and the other one on space three of the round track. The snack tokens can be used in a couple of different ways. When you’ve put your explorer on a site you can use a snack token to reuse the explorer on another turn. First pay the cost on the snack token (either free, one coin or a compass) and place it on the site your explorer is leaving. Then put your explorer on a new unoccupied site following the usual placement rules. You can't go back to a space with a snack token that round. She also has two cards in her hand that need a snack token to activate. One lets you activate a campsite and the other one gets you a tablet and an idol. She also has a card that lets you draw 2 sites when you discover a new site. This is another one of my favourites. Mainly because I like a good snack as well. Seriously, chuck a pack of chocolate hobnobs at me at the game table and I'll be like Gollum sat in the corner munching away. But also because she can potentially activate four sites in a round which could net you a load of resources depending on what's on offer. I also love that the cards have token spaces can help mitigate the fact that all sites may be taken or in the early game, undiscovered. The Mystic The Mystic laughs in the face of fear (which can get annoying as the game goes on) At the start of each round the mystic player will add a fear card to their hand, giving them six cards in their hand. The mystics cards have ways of excelling cards and when they do (by any means) these fear cards go into a special ritual space on their board. These won't be worth negative points at the end of the game. Rather than use the ability on their starting cards, they can instead be exiled to use a ritual. You spend an amount of fear cards from the ritual pile to use one of the listed bonuses. Spend two fear cards to gain a coin and a compass, three to gain an artifact card at a three compass discount or spend four to overcome a guardian for free. He also has five idol slots, two of which give you a fear card. The Mystic is certainly a leader that I wouldn't give to a new player. This is all about managing, gaining and exiling fear cards and while that’s not beyond the skills of a new player, I think having all the rules swimming in your head plus trying to balance out gaining and excelling fear cards could be a bit much. If you’ve got a couple of games under your belt however then the Mystic is a fun spin on the game. It feels weird actively trying to get fear cards and even weirder when you get excited flipping over a site and seeing a fear card on it. Playing as the mystic makes me feel like the brave Ace Rimmer version of me has waltzed in and taken over rather than my regular Rimmer self. This leader is all about balance and making sure that you can exile the fear cards as quickly as you can get them. There’s also an amount of tension and timing involved towards the end game. The last thing you want is to gain all these cards and then be frantically scrambling to exile them to avoid a load of negative points at the end of the game. Is this an example of essential upper management? This is a great expansion. The more stuff aspect is always gonna be welcome, I love anything that adds variety that I can just mix in, not think about and still use with new players. Because let's face it, for some of us this is the only way we can get a lot of expansions played. The new research tracks do that as well since nothing in them adds to the overall complexity of the game. The new leaders are the obvious star of the show and let’s be honest, when you go to a festival you're really there for the head line act and here that act is worth the price of admission alone. Each one adds new ways to explore your games of Arnak and each one will give you a little or in a few cases, a big nudge towards certain styles of plays. As much as I want to force myself to change my focus in my regular games I often find myself veering back to my old habits. These new leaders though tend to keep me in the straight and narrow, well as straight as you can be when you're stealing from an uncharted island and its guardian inhabitants. Whilst I tend to stick to the vanilla explorers from the base game when I’m teaching new players there are a couple in this expansion that I could teach to new people. For me this is an almost essential expansion with the caveat that you don't need this straight away. It's not an expansion that you need to buy immediately when you buy the base game. You can play many many games of Arnak before you choose to add this to the game but when you do you’ll almost never want to go back to the regular explorers. Right I’m off to find that Explorer. I had a box of snacks here last night and they mysteriously disappeared. It’s gotta have been her that nicked them…no, wait, turns out I ate them all. Man this is gonna be a long expedition now.

Lost Ruins of Arnak: Twisted Paths Expansion WBG Score: 9 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Lost Ruins of Arnak Published by: Czech Games Edition (CGE Designed by: Elwen, Mín This is a review copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey Off the back of this expansion I asked a paving company If they could lay twisted paths up to my front door. Apparently my front garden is too short and the best they could do was one mildly wavey path, which doesn't have the same ring to it when you're theatrically telling guests to “trek through the mildly wavey path to my door.” What with that and my “smoothly opening new front door” I’m seriously starting to rethink this year's Halloween haunted house. New tools of exploration. First lets get the simple stuff out of the way. This expansion comes with 2 new level 1 and level 2 sites, 4 new guardian tiles, 10 idol tiles and 8 new assistants. All of these can just be shuffled into your regular game and are just extras that are independent from the expansion boards. As a quick note, this expansion was designed to be used with the leaders from the previous expansions. You can play the game without them but as the rulebook says, you’ll be in for a more challenging game. For some that’s a friendly piece of advice and for others that’ll probably be a full on challenge. I’ve not tried it without the leaders so I can’t speak to how it works. The main event for this expansion is of course the new double sided board, each side having its own unique twist with both twists being focused mainly on the new research tracks on each board. Rather than just making new research overlays as in the past, the new boards mean they can populate them with expansion specific elements without the need for too much extra in the way of components and set up. The new board is a lot bigger than the regular Arnak board so if you brought this separately (rather than part of the big box) then it won’t fit into your base game box. For each of these I’m gonna assume you know how to play Arnak. If you don't you can either check out my original review for the base game for a brief overview (found here) or any learn to play videos scattered on the internet. The Owl Temple For this board you’ll need to take the new lantern token for each player which will go with your other research tokens. Then set up the new Owl Temple tiles as per the rulebook. These are jigsaw style pieces each with different point values, either 1,5 or 10. This board has two sections for exploring level one sites. One has the normal cost and the other will cost you three compasses and two coins but will also give you two idols for exploring them rather than the standard one. You move up the research track in the usual way but this track also holds secret passages at varying points up the track that only a player's magnifying glass can enter. When you reach one, you may pay the research cost to enter and take the reward which will be an Owl tile. The lower ones have the smaller points value on them while the further up you go their points value increases. Your magnifying glass is now locked in this space for the rest of the game and no one else can go into this particular slot. However, this will now unlock your lantern. It moves in the same way but yields different rewards on each space and will score their own points value in the same ways as the other tokens. Your notebook can now move up to you magnifying glass or your lantern, whichever is the higher. There are other spaces on the research track to collect Owl tiles from and to get these you simply pay the cost when you're at that level with one of your tokens. So what do these Owl tiles do? Well, when you've got two of them you can fit them together and they create an extra slot for your idol tokens to go on. As per usual you can use an idol for one of the slot effects but you can now place it on this newly created slot rather than the regular slot on your board meaning that you won't have to sacrifice those points on your board. Owl be quick about this one. At first I wasn't thrilled with the idea of giving up my magnifying glass. It feels very counter intuitive, especially when the reward for giving it up can feel very slight if you take the lower of the owl tiles on the track. Yes, in the long run it can go to bigger things but at the time giving up all those potential rewards on the research track for (at minimum) a point token doesn't feel like a great exchange. In fact, gambling on trying to race up the track to the higher point temple tile just adds to your decision space. However, they’ve made those lantern rewards so tantalising that maybe jettisoning your magnifying glass early might just be worth it? I really like that this adds to what could already be a tense race up the research track. There are some nice 10 point tiles at certain points on the track and two in quick succession of each other and boy is it tense if more than one of you is racing to get them. Since it’s more than likely that most of you will essentially be going up the research track for a third time it can push the game time up. Of course a lot of this depends on how quickly people activate their lantern and how efficiently they play. As for the new Idol slots, I like the idea of them. The fact that they're worth points at the end just makes the higher points ones more juicy to go for, coupled with the fact that they stop you from losing those precious points on your main board. It does kind of take away the risk of using the idols though which is one of the aspects I like in the base game. In a lot of sense I’m torn. I like the idea of that loss / reward aspect of the base game, but then I really like the satisfaction of getting more “free” resources to allow me to do even more things and make more combos. Granted a lot of the extras you get will more than likely be moving the lantern token. This board seems to encourage players to balance out their games a bit more and do a bit more of everything. If you explore and gain a lot of idols then getting the owl tiles from the research track is gonna be worth it. On the flip side, if you get some of the tiles then you may as well try and make use of them by doing more exploring to get the idols. You won't necessarily be at a disadvantage if you don’t, but it gives both aspects more synergy. The Spider Temple. The only new thing you’ll need for this side of the board is the new dark tablets. Place two per player in each of the slots for them at the bottom of the board. Each slot from left to right will have an increasing negative number on it. There are two ways you can collect these tablets. Either from research spaces or from site spaces on the board. When you activate one of those sites you can pay the cost to take a dark tablet from the left most space at the bottom of the board. You can use dark tablets in the same ways as regular tablets and when you spend them that way you put them back in the rightmost empty space. The other way to use them is to invoke an altar on the research track. At the start of the game alters are empty spaces on the research track that can fit a card. First you must have a research token above the altar. If the altar is empty then take an artifact card from the display, put it in that slot and activate its ability. Then put that dark tablet in your coloured space below it (you can have three max of your colour under each one.) These cards are now locked in those spaces and now any player can invoke those cards in the same way as long as they have a token in any space above that altar. At the end of the game any unused dark tablets on peoples boards go back to the supply filling in right to left. The negative number on the right most empty slot will be the number you need to worry about because at the end of the game every dark tablet players have under alters will lose that many points for each one. The player with the most tablets at each altar will win the printed number of points above it. This is my favourite of the two maps. I love that it gives the research track access to much stronger abilities but it's all player led. It also ramps up the tension on the race up the research track because it's not until you're above an altar that you can activate it. So if you want to be the one to choose the card you need to get a shift on, especially if you want to put out artifact cards that are going to compliment your current play style. The genius of this board though is how seemingly cheap they've made using those artifact cards, just one dark tablet! Obviously it’s there to tempt you into taking that leap because the benefits, depending upon which cards are being used, could be huge for your game and at the start of the game it’s almost a no brainer to do it. It’s just one little altar and the first tablet space on the board isn't even empty so you're not even losing points for it yet, It'll be fine right? Of course! That is until other players follow your lead and that's when it starts to escalate. As others start using those altars and the dark tablet supply starts to dwindle, then starts the race for the majority points as you desperately try and claw back potential lost points at the end of the game. The problem is, the more you add a tablet to get a majority, the more it dwindles the supply at the bottom making those lost points more devastating. It's a big addictive tug of war, except the harder you pull the worse you're making it for yourself and it’s brilliant. I love the psychology at play here though because as you desperately fight for the majority you soon realise that you'll probably be better off just not adding more tablets. Except there's a part of your brain that really wants those positive points. Is it worth getting Twisted?...sister With ‘more stuff’ and two new boards, each with different vibes that will appeal to different play styles. If you’ve already got the leader's expansion and just want more Arnak goodness that you can throw in with little fuss then this is a no brainer. For experienced players each board is a five minute teach for each board and then you're away and back in this world that you already love but with all new ways to explore. Right, this wavy path needs to be more spooky so I’m gonna break it up into pieces to make it, I dunno, more, crazy? Huh, crazy paving, I think there might be something in that!