Reviews

Nucleum is a heavy, lavish euro with real depth and even more to explore, but its teach and some asymmetric starting options make it more demanding than its friendly flow suggests. It shines far more at four than at three, while Court of Progress did not land as well for me.

A 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.

Revive is a fresh, very juicy engine builder—good enough to make me reconsider my original decision not to add it to the hoard. Its asymmetry and container system do have a noticeable “yolo” quality, though, and that will not suit everyone.

Amritsar: The Golden Temple is a substantial, tight medium euro with an unusual but well-integrated mix of mechanisms. Its tiring rulebook and odd illustration hold it back slightly, but it remains a very good addition to any genre fan’s collection.

Shikoku 1889 reminded me how enjoyable a compact yet complete 18xx can be. It retains the clean 1830 DNA while fitting real decisions, bankruptcies, and plenty of possible game arcs into roughly four hours.

Heat: Pedal to the Metal is not a bad introductory racing game, but for me it leaves far too much to card draw and too little to decisions with real weight.

Lewis & Clark slipped under my radar when it first came out, but a random game at Playscape reminded me why some titles are worth chasing years later. It is a tight deck/engine builder with ideas that still feel fresh and enough interaction to keep everyone alert.

Brief 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.

Bärenpark is a pleasantly accessible polyomino game for children aged 6–7, simple enough for them to play on their own. For more experienced players, though, even the advanced mode leaves rather little room for genuine interest.

Anunnaki: 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.

3 Ring Circus is a brisk, thematic euro that fits comfortably into an hour without giving away its decisions. It combines engine building, area control, and racing, with card randomness as its one meaningful thorn.

A 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.

Planet B is a pleasantly packed eurotrash worker-placement game, with futuristic contractors, construction, workers, and enough interaction to keep the table lively—provided you do not demand surgically fair scoring.

Black Friday takes an older design that received a middling reception and, through small but crucial flow changes, turns it into an excellent stock-market game. It is quick, tightly connected, and full of speculation, without the brain-burn of Rolling Stock.

A sinful return to VS. System 2PCG with AEW and The Boys turned into ten games and one more person spending money. AEW is an ideal way to learn the system, while The Boys has more depth; neither, however, matches the chaos of Marvel Battles.

Rats of Wistar is a heavy, busy worker-placement game that hides plenty of complexity behind its cute mice. It is not bad, but its excess and lengthy waits did not win me over.

The 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 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.

After a few more plays, 7th Sea: City of Five Sails is starting to open up for me, despite its initially awkward rules. Deckbuilding is still an area of cautious experimentation, but I now want to see what else the game has hiding.

Age 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.

Point City takes Point Salad’s immediate, effortlessly simple charm and gives it a little more of a “proper board game” feel. For me, it is a very successful twist that comfortably belongs alongside the original.

Septima 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.

Pilgrim is an odd but successful hybrid of 18xx-style route building, engine building, and a Trajan-like mancala system. It is punishingly tight and occasionally too linear, yet remains a very interesting game for train-game fans.

Seas of Havoc is a pirate deck-builder/worker placement game trying to sit somewhere between a full game and a filler, but for me it ends up stranded in between. There are traces of interesting ideas, yet its flat feel and problematic balance in the starting powers sink it.