Reviews

Roll 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.

Capital Lux 2: Generations is one of those small card games that explains itself in a flash, then immediately has everyone eyeing the other players’ boards suspiciously. If the pocket edition arrives at the suitably funny price, it is a no-brainer purchase for me.

Sator Box makes Black Rose Wars bigger, more chaotic, and far more striking on the table, at the cost of an exhausting setup. I do not think it is good value for its price, but as a spectacle for people with a weakness for plastic, it has plenty to show.

Tawantinsuyu was one of the good games I played last year and my first replay choice for 2021—until Beyond the Sun finally arrives. The second game was even better than the first.

Imperial Struggle left me feeling that I had played a substantial, satisfying game, but not yet found a great obsession. On the third, finally correct play, it worked much more cleanly — it simply did not deliver the anxious tension I want from this family of games.

Vs System 2PCG: The Marvel Battles never claimed the place it might have deserved during the heyday of the big LCGs, but it remains an honest, pleasantly approachable card game with plenty of material for a group. With a well-stocked card pool and a little willingness to build decks, it gave me exactly the kind of game night I want from a light LCG.

Apocalypse Road is the happy result of me ignoring my initial grumbling. It is a lighter, louder, more violent racing game, where the wheels are merely the platform for the brawl.

Merv initially struck me as an overly cramped euro, with a few choices looking suspiciously stronger than the rest and the Mongols losing their teeth at four players. At three, though, with players who know how to cut each other off, it rose noticeably in my estimation.

Merchants & Marauders is a flavour-packed pirate game that demands the right group, exactly three players, and plenty of time. If you embrace its atmosphere and make peace with its dice, it is easy to see why it has earned such a devoted following.

Rome & Roll is a clever dice-drafting racing game with an appealing construction, Tetris-like feel. I would enjoy it even more if its roll-and-write side were more carefully handled as a physical object.

New Corp Order proved to be the honest, quick little friend the evening needed: good enough for everyone, without swallowing the group’s time.

Core Worlds is a somewhat overlooked, substantial deckbuilder with good flow and fair scoring. Galactic Orders meaningfully strengthens it, while Revolutions adds a little interest without being essential.

Vast: The Crystal Caverns is a cheerfully bizarre asymmetric game in which everyone is literally playing a different game inside the same cave. My first play impressed me, while also making it clear that it needs time before you can properly read it.

Iberian Rails was an ideal warm-up for a second gathering with a slightly different lineup—and it proved far more enjoyable than its modest appearance might suggest. It is a cube rail that stands out more for its financing and auctions than for the actual railroad building.

Finland’s civil war did little for me as a subject, but All Bridges Burning pulled me into its setting and restored my faith in the COIN series. It is one of the line’s most distinctive and demanding entries, with a few rough edges that make it a poor first introduction.

Terra Incognita brings a few genuinely clever ideas to Civilization: A New Dawn, but it cannot pull the base game out of its abstract, broken mediocrity. It is an expansion that fans of New Dawn will enjoy; the rest of us should not expect a miracle.

Ora et Labora deservedly has a big reputation: it has water, production, and all the hearty bustle I want from this sort of game. But for it to become truly vicious, it needs a group that already knows it well.

Gray Eminence is a beautifully researched conspiracy-game production with plenty of atmosphere, but its loose rules framework and troublesome rulebook left me colder than I expected.

Rise to Nobility is a rich, enjoyable dice-placement euro and a clear step up from Cavern Tavern. With the right variants and the Chancery expansion included in the box, it also fixes its main runaway-leader weakness.

Pacific Rails Inc. marries worker placement and track laying in a way that felt fresh to me, but it does not fully capitalize on the network you build. It is a well-paced, hard-edged euro worth trying, even if it ultimately feels like a missed chance at something great.

The deluxe reprint of Struggle of Empires is a lavish game of imperial intrigue, where the people around the table are almost as dangerous as the map. It wants players willing to negotiate, complain, and ideally betray one another with style.

Craftsmen proved far better than the reputation built by early negative BGG comments, though it ultimately does not conceal a diamond. It is a substantial heavy euro that benefits greatly from a clear teach and a little restraint on AP.

Guild Master is a light dicefest for relaxed groups, with neat action selection and simultaneous resolution. Just beware: the dice can leave you behind before you have even built momentum.

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy is a reprint that seems to redefine what “deluxe” means, with production values that turn the table into a spectacle. Beyond the bling, though, Eclipse’s old weaknesses are still there.