Toy Battle

Toy Battle arrived in my collection after several glowing recommendations and promptly became the little game everyone wanted another go at. It is the sort of box that reaches the table without ceremony, then somehow produces a rematch before anyone has packed it away.

At heart, it is a smart 1v1 game with a very simple foundation: think Stratego with cards, as your units fight for position and try to put your side ahead. The nice part is that you do not need a head full of rules before you can start thinking about what the other player is doing.

The eight maps, each with its own special abilities, give that clean central idea enough variety that the battles do not blur together. This is where the game earns its keep: you make a plan, your opponent tries to spoil it, and suddenly a little soldier or a duck is the hero of the whole battle.

My son loves it, and better still, he has successfully taught it to his friends himself. Three reasons, then: it is cheap, it is enormously entertaining, and its rules travel from one player to the next without any fuss. It should have won the Spiel des Jahres; do not hesitate, buy it.