Reviews

Versailles 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.

Pax 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.

1960: The Making of the President is a quick, beautifully produced political game with familiar foundations, though it left me unsure about how evenly its cards are balanced. Pleasant on the table, but hard for me to choose when there is time for Imperial Struggle.

Destinies is built from things that would normally put me off: tiny miniatures and a mandatory app. Yet as a short, app-driven adventure for two, it turned out to have far fresher ideas than I expected.

A lovely little game that passed the holiday-board-game-bag test. Easy rules, pleasant gradual building, and yes: we love Uwe.

Lorenzo 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.

Catapult Feud is exactly what it promises: safe, loud, and hilariously good fun for kids and adults alike. The serious mode can wait; this is all about a castle-smashing championship.

Vampire: 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.

Ventures gives SpaceCorp new life through 16 asymmetric companies and a much improved solo mode, but their balance is not always where I would like it. It is an honest expansion that refreshes the experience without filling the box with new material for the game’s core world.

Praga 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.

Cascadia is the family game I want to bring back to the table again and again: beautiful, immediate, and full of points. If you are looking for this year’s friendly go-to game, here is the obvious answer.

Captains 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.

Imperium: Legends won me over enough to buy both boxes, but after only two plays I am still trying to work out what the game is really saying to me.

GWAR vs. Time! is a great game first and foremost because it is GWAR—yes, I’m a bohab. Thankfully, beneath its epic theme there is a perfectly respectable game as well.

Let's Waltz! is the much-anticipated expansion that does exactly what you want from an expansion to a beloved game: it adds options without ruining anything. If you own Grand Austria Hotel, it is a must-buy — yes, it really is that simple.

For 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.

Conflick in the Neutral Zone tries to dress up a space carrom game with Star Trek and rules, but fails to provide even the laughs one expects from a bad dexterity game.

Monasterium turned out to be far breezier and more enjoyable than I expected: an approachable tableau builder with meaningful development and no unnecessary headache.

Cradle 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.

A bizarre, over-the-top alt-history Apocalypse wargame full of nukes, brute-force cards, and six factions tearing into one another. Its premise is charming precisely because it is absurd, but its balance seems to have vanished somewhere alongside the seventh seal.

A 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.

We 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.

Fire 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.

Shards 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.