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
-
La GranjaLa Granja needed the right moment and, above all, the right group to show me why it is so well regarded. What began as a lukewarm first impression became a rare and very welcome upward revision.
-
Living PlanetLiving Planet is that rare good Kickstarter game I had somehow managed to ignore completely. It is a polished production with a touch of overproduction, and stock-market funerals that end up being rather delightful.
-
Eclipse: New Dawn for the GalaxyEclipse returned from the back of the shelf and, when setup and exploration cooperate, it immediately reminds me why it is considered so strong. Its shadow remains the harsh luck that can leave someone behind far too early.
-
NavegadorNavegador is a dry, clever German euro with more than one path to victory. It did not win me over as much as Hamburgum, although that impression may also depend on which of the two you encounter first.
-
Circadians: First LightA cute dice-placement game with asymmetric powers and a small box that conceals a suspicious amount of material. Pleasant for a play, though it did not leave me eager to bring it back to the table soon.
-
Key FlowKey Flow gave me the world of Keyflower in a much lighter, more compact game night. It may not necessarily replace its bigger sibling, but it reminds me exactly why I want to return to those rivers and roads.
-
Aristeia!By my fifth game, Aristeia! has already shown me that it has plenty of substance and depth. It delivers a complete skirmish experience straight out of the box, without demanding that you live in the metagame away from the table.
-
Snowdonia: Deluxe Master SetSnowdonia: Deluxe Master Set is a quick, old-school euro with incredible scenario variety and replayability. The deluxe edition makes it feel like an excellent purchase for anyone who wants to keep coming back to it.
-
Town Builder: CoevordenTown Builder: Coevorden is a simple, comfortable game in the vein of Villagers, with excellent production and a relaxed flow. It does nothing startling, but it is consistently pleasant as a filler.
-
Extra! Extra!An unusual, thematic worker-placement game for anyone with a soft spot for newspapers and groups that appreciate its journalistic theme. Despite its rough edges, it is very enjoyable and seems to have been treated unfairly by its reputation.
-
TrajanTrajan sat on my shelf for far too long, until a first exploratory play reminded me how unfair it is to let such an impressive game gather dust. It charmed me, and I can already see several returns to it in the new season.
-
Shadow RivalsShadow Rivals first pulled me in as another impulsive Moideas purchase, and only afterward did I start discovering the game itself. Beneath its utterly bizarre wrapping, I found a more strategic version of Smash Up that I liked quite a bit.
-
Colonial Twilight: The French-Algerian War, 1954-62On my third play, Colonial Twilight remained every bit as tense as I remembered, even though my opponent’s lack of experience made the match somewhat one-sided. As serious two-player GMT games go, I recommend it without hesitation.
-
The Expanse Boardgame: Doors and CornersDoors and Corners initially looks like a sham of an expansion, but its five small additions fix the base game where it hurt and raise it dramatically.
-
Dice ForgeDice Forge is a quick, neatly organised game with huge replayability, ideal for family sessions or holidays. Its flashy custom-dice trick, however, felt more annoying than worthwhile to me.
-
Born to ServeA small indie Kickstarter that pits unemployed superheroes against one another for a restaurant job, with lovely production and light humour. It is a quick, honest area-control game that remained enjoyable on later plays.
-
PhotodumpPhotodump is a simple, quick dice-based engine builder that initially left me merely pleased. Paired with the Shy Pluto mini campaign, though, it became a package I would recommend far more warmly.
-
Mega CivilizationThe beast returned to the table, this time with seven players and the western map, and although we did not finish, we had a great time. It was one of those games where the table itself tells a whole story of ascent and disaster.
-
1883: Building Railroads in Northern Italy1883 is a hard Italian train game that lets random events reshuffle everything almost every round. Exhausting and unstable, but still an experience for anyone looking beyond the usual choices.
-
Glorantha: The Gods WarGlorantha: The Gods War feels to me like a more playable, more strategic Cthulhu Wars, with additions that create even more table chaos. It is a shame that the spectacle of its miniatures put me off so strongly.
-
Underwater CitiesUnderwater Cities is, quite simply, a fantastic game. It bares more teeth at three players, while remaining perfectly good at four.
-
Black Rose WarsBlack Rose Wars was one of the Kickstarter games I was most looking forward to this year, largely because I love Mage Wars. This first impression rewards that anticipation as a production and as a gloriously confrontational game, but not as a successor to the same kind of experience.
-
Caverna: The Forgotten FolkWe ended the evening with Druids without Journeyman, and it left me with a much better impression. It seems to sit more naturally within the spirit of the original Caverna, even if some tiles are still raising a red flag for me.
-
Heroes WelcomeA relaxed family euro with a charming fantasy setup: nobles turned into goblin shopkeepers fleece gullible heroes with their politest smiles. It is polished and pleasant, though perhaps a little too restrained for its theme.