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.
🎁 1 kudos from readers
274 reviews
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Versailles 1919Versailles 1919 takes the political tension Churchill only promised me and turns it into a proper negotiation game. It is light for GMT, full of diplomatic nastiness, and much more tightly bound to its theme than I expected.
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Pax VikingPax Viking is the rare Pax game that does not make me stare at the rules as though they owe me an explanation. It remains deep and potentially chaotic, but with the standard Saga deck it is a very good, direct experience of diplomacy and conflict.
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Lorenzo il MagnificoLorenzo il Magnifico won me over more once I saw it with all its additions and, above all, at five players. The base game is tight and honest; the full game simply asks for some care in what you put on the table, because not every module is equally harmless.
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Vampire: The Masquerade – Rivals Expandable Card GameVampire: The Masquerade – Rivals feels far too much like a simplified, “Portal” version of Jyhad/VtES, yet it retains enough of that game’s theme and multiplayer appeal. It may work wonderfully for newcomers, but VtES veterans should try it before buying.
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Praga Caput RegniPraga Caput Regni gave me exactly what I hoped for: Suchý quality, plenty of bonuses to keep track of, and a feelgood euro that ran surprisingly smoothly even with new players. Its only thorn is managing all those little rewards online.
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Captains of the GulfCaptains of the Gulf is a respectable fishing game with a few clever ideas, but its dry, restrictive system does not make it especially memorable. Its rulebook also makes the first approach far harder than it needs to be.
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For What Remains: Out of the BasementFor What Remains: Out of the Basement pulled me in even though I usually find games by the well-known Da Va Tzi expensive for what they offer. This one, though, is a clean and honest skirmish package that especially rewards having a regular opponent.
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Cradle of CivilizationCradle of Civilization is a nostalgic remake of History of the World: chaotic, dice-heavy, but capable of producing good stories when the group is in the mood. It did not blow me away, yet with five or more players its conflict over civilizations has a real point.
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War and Peace: Game of the Napoleonic WarsA huge Napoleonic hex-and-counter game which, thankfully, does not demand that you swallow the entire war in one go. Its introductory scenarios make it approachable, even if the grand campaign feels more like a promise than an actual life plan.
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Nemesis: Aftermath & Void SeedersWe returned to the USS Nemesis with a larger group and the expansion’s Void Seeders. I found them weaker than the classic aliens, yet the game still keeps pulling me back in a rather suspicious way.
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Fire in the LakeFire in the Lake initially left me deeply disappointed, but the mid-war scenario and upgraded edition made me reconsider it completely. It remains a demanding, dense COIN game that I would not recommend as a first encounter with the series.
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Shards of InfinityShards of Infinity takes the familiar deck-builder recipe and pushes it toward more punches, combos, and well-crafted choices. It has plenty of luck, but the base box is so enjoyable that I have not even opened the expansions yet.
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The WaylandersThe Waylanders hides a decent, light skirmish game behind a rulebook that seems determined not to let you play it. It is for genre devotees only, and only if you find it well below its retail price.
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KeyperKeyper has a very clever action core and, once you see it working, your mind starts spinning. It is a shame that it hides it behind an exhausting rulebook and ends on scoring far more mundane than it deserves.
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Tiny TownsTiny Towns is a lean, clever AEG filler that can work both as a children’s “let’s build a town” activity and as a proper exercise in wrecking one another’s plans. With more players, the chaos of shared choices is exactly where its appeal lies.
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Cooper IslandCooper Island is a ruthless solitaire-like optimization puzzle that fried our brains in both plays. I wholeheartedly recommend it to fans of this kind of challenge, with one important warning about the experience gap at the table.
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Kanban EVKanban EV returns as a far more polished and comprehensible version of an already exhaustingly complex euro, with rules and scoring that finally feel as though they belong together.
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Tortuga 2199Tortuga 2199 is a controversial game, made harder to assess by the noise surrounding it. Still, it has enough good ideas to deserve a look from deckbuilder fans searching for something different.
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Curious CargoCurious Cargo is a very tough network builder strictly for two players: only a step above filler in heft, but with enough brain burn to leave a mark.
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Lost Ruins of ArnakLost Ruins of Arnak remains a satisfying, pleasant hybrid of deckbuilding and worker placement, but its interaction and a few sharp balance issues keep it a notch below the very best in its category. With the Expedition Leaders, it shows much stronger staying power.
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Pulp InvasionPulp Invasion delivers exactly the pulp look and atmosphere it promised on Kickstarter, but it left me fairly lukewarm as a game. It has ideas and replayability, yet its difficulty scaling and occasional sense of unavoidable punishment ultimately made me leave it behind.
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Sovereign SkiesSovereign Skies is a clever, short mini-rondel racing game that hides more depth than its first impression suggests. It is not ideal online, but I would gladly bring it to the table with a regular group.
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Smartphone Inc.I initially underestimated Smartphone Inc., because it seemed like it would simply occupy the same space as Franchise. It turns out to be far more than a light network-building game, with simple rules but meaningful player tension.
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Roll PlayerRoll Player has a neat concept, but our three-player game felt far too yolo. A trait I bought as early as the second round seemed strong enough to decide an hour-long session.