Contributor
WhiteColarGamer
Suave, flamboyant, and unrepentant about it. Drawn to deluxe editions, upgraded components and a table that looks as good as it plays.
217 reviews
-
AutumnAutumn is a tiny ten-minute card game for two, in which two trees compete for space with their falling leaves. It is light, thematic, and small enough to fit on a summer ferry table.
-
Black Rose Wars: RebirthBlack Rose Wars: Rebirth arrived at my door almost by accident, in all-in form and with enough plastic to test the table's structural integrity. Thankfully, this new edition proved far better than the first-edition experience I remembered.
-
Great Western Trail: New ZealandAs a fan of Pfister and the Great Western Trail series, I found New Zealand to be a substantial and distinctly different entry. It is probably the heaviest game in the series, even if it sits a notch below Argentina for me.
-
Nova Aetas RenaissanceNova Aetas Renaissance is a lavish, satisfying dungeon-crawl production that has kept our table busy. Its short campaign, rather than being a drawback, turned out to be exactly the commitment we needed.
-
Dune: Imperium – UprisingDune: Imperium – Uprising stands on its own, while keeping the door open to mixing it with the older game and its expansions. On its own, it felt familiar on the table to me, but with smoother edges.
-
Age of Comics: The Golden YearsI backed Age of Comics: The Golden Years purely for its theme at first, but it turned out to be an honest, relaxed economic game inside a very carefully presented package.
-
Pirates of MaracaiboA lighter, card-driven Maracaibo that retains the pirate feel and smooth pacing without demanding an entire evening. With its expansions, it now feels far more complete — and it is ideal for a holiday suitcase.
-
Brief Border WarsBrief Border Wars finally made it to the table during a Sunday session with coffee, Nutella pretzels, and exactly the right mood for an honest pocket wargame. It is extremely simple, but the Attila scenario proved that simplicity need not exclude either decisions or suspense.
-
Anunnaki: Dawn of the Gods – Kickstarter EditionAnunnaki: Dawn of the Gods put me in a bad mood at first, thanks to its sloppy Kickstarter package and genuinely inadequate rulebook. On the table, though, it proved far better than that first impression suggested.
-
The White CastleA tight, well-tuned euro that packs plenty of thought into a very fair playing time. It does not reinvent the wheel, but it is thoroughly pleasant whenever it reaches the table.
-
The Castles of Burgundy: Special EditionThe Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition makes the game feel like a tabletop jewel, even if its core now shows its age to me. It remains a very pleasant, feelgood game—just not one I would ask to play often.
-
Wild Tiled WestWild Tiled West is a light tile-drafting game with polished production and a brisk, pleasant flow. It takes a few plays to reveal its strengths, but it ultimately feels like a charming and honest package.
-
Age of InnovationAge of Innovation is the Terra Mystica I ultimately wanted: richer, more lavish, and free of the original’s “tournament-like” minimalism. It is not a model of balance, but it is exactly the kind of excess that wins me over.
-
SeptimaSeptima shows Mindclash at its most casual and thematic, without ceasing to carry the company’s familiar weight. It is beautifully and carefully produced, but for my group it lacked the intensity of Voidfall and Perseverance.
-
Twisty TracksTwisty Tracks is an honest, well-produced rail crossover for light tables and new train drivers. It looks simple at first glance, yet has enough brain-burn to avoid feeling empty.
-
Last WillLast Will immediately wins you over with its playful premise that the road to victory runs through bankruptcy. It is a pleasant, light game with one very practical reason to hit the table: it works well with five players.
-
TrepanationTrepanation is a tight, enjoyable worker-placement game with an honest macabre theme and a faint resemblance in its setup to Trickerion. It is neither filler nor a heavyweight, but it seems to contain plenty of cheerful sessions for anyone not tired of the genre.
-
Ierusalem: Anno DominiIerusalem: Anno Domini takes one of the strangest eurogame themes I have seen and handles it with surprising tact. Better still, beneath that striking premise sits a genuinely good game.
-
Darkest Dungeon: The Board GameDarkest Dungeon’s board-game adaptation preserves an impressive amount of the video game’s atmosphere, but for me it did not preserve its punishing difficulty. It has its moments and needs the right group, yet it does not take Sword and Sorcery’s place for me.
-
TrinidadTrinidad is a strange, substantial euro city-builder full of clever ideas, but it ultimately feels less cohesive than I wanted. I had been hunting for it for ages; now that I finally got it to the table, I understand both its appeal and its disappointment.
-
Clank!: CatacombsClank!: Catacombs is a light, breezy deck builder with a proper board on the table and plenty happening on it. For anyone who has not already had their fill of the series, it seems to me like the best place to start.
-
Excavation EarthExcavation Earth is an underrated action-programming and market-manipulation game with enough depth to reward repeat plays. It does not always build to the climax I want, but it remains an honest, demanding experience.
-
Cape MayCape May is a nicely produced, light game for relaxed groups: Birds vs the Bogeyman, with developers and birdwatchers sharing the same bench. It is cohesive and well balanced, but not distinctive enough for our group to ask for it again.
-
Aeroplanes: Aviation AscendantAeroplanes: Aviation Ascendant may be the weakest entry in its trilogy, but it remains an unfairly overlooked and very pleasant aviation game. It also works well with five players, and is worth digging out from a forgotten shelf.