Contributor
TheCuttlefish
Cares about the box, the insert and the rulebook as much as the game. Has a particular weakness for tidy rules and gleeful take-that.
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274 reviews
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PetrichorPetrichor has interesting, innovative ideas, but for me it collapses under flawed design and aggressive interaction. It is one of those rare games whose tension spilled far beyond the table.
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The Flow of HistoryA quick card-based civilization game with a clever economy and virtually no downtime, but one that ultimately did not excite me as much as I expected.
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FeudumFeudum is a heavy euro with a psychedelic character, almost no downtime, and plenty to keep you occupied. I liked it a lot, but balance issues and a little unnecessary rules clutter keep it from being my game of the year.
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Corporate AmericaCorporate America pleasantly fooled me: I expected an empty “humorous” game, but found a party game that creates betrayals, lies, and spectacular complaining with the right group. It is not for every night or every lineup, but with five or six people it can become glorious chaos.
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Sidereal ConfluenceSidereal Confluence initially looks like an intergalactic warehouse exploded across the table, but beneath the chaos lies an exceptionally lively negotiation game. It wants a crowd, some nerve, and the right attitude from everyone, or the whole recipe can go wrong.
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Paranoia Games Masters ScreenThe recent Kickstarter edition of Paranoia remains a hilariously malicious RPG, provided your group is ready to play dirty. It is not the right entry point for anyone who thinks D&D exhausts what an RPG can be.
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Sword & Sorcery: Immortal SoulsSword & Sorcery: Immortal Souls is, for me, by far the best dungeon crawler of its generation — and one of the very few Kickstarters I genuinely regret missing. It is sturdy, funny, and unexpectedly enjoyable cooperative brawling, even for someone who usually dislikes overly cuddly group-play concepts.
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HexpanseHexpanse is an honest, quick area-control game that hides more thought than its lean rules initially suggest. It will not suit every group, but with the right one it can be great fun.
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Pax RenaissancePax Renaissance left me completely shut out: the rules, player aids, and explanations never gave me either a clear picture or a desire for another game. For people who enjoy this kind of chaos, fair enough; I found it unbearable.
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1805: Sea of Glory1805: Sea of Glory is a demanding, asymmetric simulation of naval blockade, rather than the wargame of huge battles one might expect. After a third of our first game, it left me wanting a second, full day at sea.
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Mi Tierra: New EraMi Tierra: New Era pleasantly proved me wrong: it is a brisk farming-production euro that is simple without being lightweight. I found it too open at four players, but I suspect it will show its best face with five or six.
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Traveller Customizable Card Game: Two Player Starter SetTraveller CCG is effectively a compact LCG with a strong space-exploration feel and clear echoes of Decipher’s old Star Trek CCG. It does, however, demand familiarity with its icons and a little time before it stops fighting you.
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UnfairUnfair left me with a very positive impression over the two games I managed to play. It is relaxed and enjoyable, but do not let its simplicity fool you: there is plenty of fighting in it.
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A Handful of StarsA Handful of Stars is the most abstract and thematically “dry” entry in the trilogy, but for me it is also clearly the best. It demands patience with an appallingly bad rulebook, yet the game itself rewards that patience.
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AltiplanoAltiplano gave us an epic session full of displays of skill, resource grabbing, and the necessary dose of absurdity. Fisticuffs and alpacas, in other words: exactly as it should be.
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Battle for RokuganBattle for Rokugan is unfairly burdened by the label “an AGoT re-theme.” To me, it is a very strong area-control game full of fighting and betrayal, and one that honours its IP.
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DRCongoDRCongo becomes noticeably better when played correctly—and then reveals itself as a hard, unforgiving game. It does not forgive mistakes, not even when money seems plentiful.
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Mini RailsMini Rails showed some interesting dynamics with three players, but with five it becomes a delightfully vicious half-hour game that can test family relationships.
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Mistborn: House WarMistborn: House War is a negotiation game with plenty of thematic flavour and a very attractive table presence, but it will not win over anyone who cannot stomach the genre’s inevitable chaos. At five players, though, we had the right excuse to try it.
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Whistle StopWhistle Stop is a nice, tight pick-up-and-deliver game that moves quickly and won me over, even though our first play got tangled up in rules and interpretations.
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The Great ZimbabweThe Great Zimbabwe is not the heavy, forbidding beast I had feared; its real obstacle is a rulebook that seems determined not to be read. Beneath that bad first impression lies an economic game with great depth and plenty of room to become genuinely annoying to everyone else.
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M.U.L.E. The Board GameM.U.L.E. The Board Game is not groundbreaking, but it is an honest and enjoyable light economic game. It stays engaging without making you feel completely at the mercy of randomness.
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Among NoblesAmong Nobles did not strike me as some great discovery, but with three players it gave me exactly the pleasant, tight hour it promises. With five, by contrast, my earlier experience had been noticeably worse.
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HegemonicHegemonic remains a positive but demanding experience: heavy, harsh, and capable of delivering tension with six players. It is no longer one of my favourites, but when everything comes down to a razor-thin finish, it reminds me why it is worth the effort.