Reviews

The Breach is a generously produced cyberpunk tableau builder from Ludus Magnus, all glowing plastic and digital-infiltration theatre. The base game is only the beginning; its real value emerges when the wider box of scenarios and additions comes into play.

Worms: The Board Game brings the computer game's weapons-grade hostility to the table, although it asks for rather more thought than it ought to. The collector edition is hard to justify, but a cheaper version could be a very good proposition.

Black Forest is Uwe returning to resource wheels, forests and production chains, with enough of its own twist to avoid feeling like a rerun. It does not produce a thunderclap of surprise, but it is plainly more compelling than Atiwa.

Beyond the Horizon borrows Beyond the Sun’s skeleton, then loosens it with volatile technologies, questionable production, and exploration that never earns its place. It works. That is not the same as being worth the inheritance.

Minos: Dawn of the Bronze Age is a medium-weight euro that gives tableau building and area control more life than its unpromising first impression suggests. Its Cretan setting is doing real work rather than merely decorating the box.

Donning the Purple has a Roman setting made for poison, alliances and dangerous succession, yet the base game is too bare to carry that promise. Its expansion reads less like an optional extra than the missing half of the box.

Art Society turns an auction and an art-wall puzzle into a quick, welcoming game with more thought in it than its rules suggest. It is easy to teach, easy to bring to mixed groups, and satisfyingly clever once the scoring comes into focus.

Intarsia is a polished mosaic game with enough hand-management pressure to engage, but not quite enough freedom to distinguish itself. Its resemblance to Art Society is clear, though it does not feel as fresh.

Civolution is a hefty, tightly constrained mechanical successor to Burgundy, where a sandbox does not mean unlimited freedom. Its scoring has one awkward seam, but the wider design comfortably survives it.

Mistwind is a tight hybrid of worker placement, network building and pick-up-and-deliver, with airships and scoring objectives that demand real planning. It is an independent production whose rare preference for five players makes it especially worth noting.

Ark Nova: Marine Worlds brings fish, Map Pack 2, and enhanced action cards to a familiar experience. It is an easy purchase for admirers of the base game, not a conversion kit for everyone else.

SETI has excellent mechanisms and no shortage of routes to victory, but repeated plays expose a eurogame that can turn an early lead into a private machine while everyone else watches.

Express Route has a tidy cooperative delivery premise and a few real resource decisions. Repetition and an event deck with unfortunate timing leave it with very little pull for a second outing.

Aeon's End: The New Age keeps the original's satisfying marriage of deckbuilding and boss fights, then lets its campaign unfold at an unhurried pace. It is a very solid box to revisit now and then rather than race through.

Andromeda's Edge takes the framework of Dwellings of Eldervale and builds a denser, more modular engine game around it. It demands time, careful faction selection and a tolerance for administration, but under the right conditions it proves the richer design.

Endeavor: Deep Sea Deluxe Edition brings a changing ocean floor and scenarios that promise variety, yet remains determinedly generous. Its tighter variants are the ones worth seeking out.

Vinyl is a light record-collecting game with action selection and a pleasing amount of traffic around the shop. The base game makes for an enjoyable first listen, even if its editions and expansions create needless confusion.

The Ruhr: A Story of Coal Trade is a tight, knotty economic Euro with no spare room for anyone. Its slide on BGG has done nothing to reduce my willingness to put it back on the table.

A fantasy-world 18XX that lets the players build the map, then makes them live with what they have made. It is modern in outline, but still properly tight where the pressure belongs.

Autobahn: Kickstarter Edition arrived looking rather less deluxe than it ought to, but the game beneath the production disappointment is rich and rewarding. This is a substantial network-building and delivery euro, though it asks for a fair bit of evening.

Silverton is a sprawling, dice-heavy claim-jumping game that can make you feel brilliant or mildly bereaved. In the right relaxed company, that volatility becomes the evening’s entertainment.

Fall Flavors gives Honey Buzz more to chew on without making it lose its shape. It is a handsome, generous expansion for groups that already know the base game a little.

Slay the Spire: The Board Game is a far better tabletop adaptation than I expected. At three players, it delivers brisk cooperative runs, clean arithmetic, and the kind of shared planning that keeps everyone involved.

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ’n Write preserves the larger game’s flavour in a smart roll-and-write built around dice selection, placement, drawing and spatial planning. Its special characters and buildings may be rather too powerful, but the underlying design is sound.