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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Rats of WistarRats of Wistar is a heavy, busy worker-placement game that hides plenty of complexity behind its cute mice. It is not bad, but its excess and lengthy waits did not win me over.
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7th Sea: City of Five SailsAfter a few more plays, 7th Sea: City of Five Sails is starting to open up for me, despite its initially awkward rules. Deckbuilding is still an area of cautious experimentation, but I now want to see what else the game has hiding.
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BarcelonaBarcelona is an honest, enjoyable point-salad game in the Merv vein: it does not burn your brain immediately, but it has enough depth to make you reconsider your choices. It is not an every-week game, yet for players who enjoy a little brain-frying, it is one of the year's must-haves.
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Twilight InscriptionTwilight Inscription felt heavy in my first, unfinished encounter with it, but I completely understand why it is considered one of the best roll-and-writes in its genre.
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Keydom's DragonsKeydom's Dragons is the summer revelation for larger groups who want laughter, bluffs, and backstabbing. It does not have the weight Key-something fans may expect, but that is precisely its charm.
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Guns & SteelGuns & Steel is a minimalist half-hour civilization game that proved ideal alongside morning coffee with three players. It demands attention to the whole table and a willingness to cut one another off, or the game can be decided far too early.
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Border Reivers: Anglo-Scottish Border Raids, 1513-1603Border Reivers is a pleasingly straight-faced dicefest about clans stealing livestock on the Anglo-Scottish border. Far simpler than its 16 pages of rules suggest, yet lively enough that I would gladly play it again.
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Wayfarers of the South TigrisWayfarers of the South Tigris starts very strongly as a tightly connected, pleasantly demanding entry in Garphill’s new trilogy. On the second play, though, its limited interaction and multiplayer-solitaire feel made it less satisfying than Architects and Paladins.
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Solar 175Solar 175 drew me in with its theme and legacy promise, despite my lack of faith in this publisher’s previous releases. Two plays into the campaign, it is still a simple but enjoyable experience that I want to see either develop properly or drown in its own rules.
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For GloryFor Glory is an honest, highly entertaining gladiator deck-builder that is easy to learn and turns the table into an arena with exactly the right amount of noise. I did not expect much, but it ended up being one of my favourite deck-builders with fighting in it.
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Union StockyardsA pure no-luck economic game where I build a slaughterhouse empire with a little Tetris-like spatial flavour. It is not revolutionary, but it is simple, smooth, and very enjoyable on the table.
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Nemesis: LockdownNemesis: Lockdown is smoother than the first game, but for me it does not match the original’s tension and flavour. It is good fun, yet the visitors and its scaling across player counts left me colder.
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La Famiglia: The Great Mafia WarLa Famiglia: The Great Mafia War is a dense, highly complete 2v2 area-control game, ideal for groups who enjoy hidden orders and honest complexity. My only substantial reservation is that the mafia theme, while functional, does not fully exhaust the system’s potential.
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Scarface 1920Scarface 1920 is a lavish Kickstarter production with excellent quality, a convincing gangster sandbox, and plenty of Ameritrash nastiness hiding beneath Euro layers. It is not a permanent-rotation game, but with three players and the right variant it can be a great time.
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Mage Wars ArenaReturning Mage Wars Arena to the table after a long break was one of the month’s nicest moments. Even if its broken cards and combinations can be frustrating, I remain very fond of it.
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Hegemony: Lead Your Class to VictoryHegemony is the game that has occupied us most lately, and our second game with swapped roles confirmed that, once everyone knows what they are doing, it can produce a genuinely close contest. Its card draw can still be more random than I would like, though.
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The King's DilemmaThe King’s Dilemma became my group’s current obsession: an unforgettable legacy story full of dilemmas, negotiations, and trash talk. As a game, though, the further we go, the more skeptical I become of its mechanisms—especially of how its sessions end.
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The Silver RiverThe Silver River remains an honest, generous euro that rewards players who are not afraid to make it a little tougher. When interaction starts early, the game immediately finds a better pace.
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StationfallStationfall has an exceptionally clever system of secret identities and character influence, but it demands real effort before it lets you enjoy it. Its rules and exceptions are a hurdle not every group will be equally willing to clear.
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Dune: Imperium – ImmortalityImmortality is a very solid expansion for Dune: Imperium: it pairs beautifully with Ix and changes the game enough to feel like a true expansion rather than merely extra content.
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Oh My Goods!An honest, small old-school Pfister card game that somehow packs a surprising amount of play into its box. It works nicely as a family push-your-luck game, though its simplicity shows more with experienced players.
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WoodcraftI completely understand why Woodcraft has received such strong reviews: it has a distinctive central idea and plenty to chew on. On my first play, though, especially at four players, the waiting and some of its design choices kept me at arm’s length.
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Village RailsVillage Rails is a very honest, quick train-themed filler with route building and a clean individual puzzle. Interaction is available, but thankfully you do not need to turn the table into a scene of exile to have a good time.
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CharioteerCharioteer is a pleasantly light chariot race: quick to teach, easygoing at the table, and enough for a relaxed end to game night. For its label and price, though, it left me feeling that it could have offered more.