We're Not Wizards - Tabletop Board Game Reviews

If you're going to come at me with your same size box as Blitzkrieg with the same type of exclamation mark as Blitzkrieg and then spout about doing something in 20 minutes then you better be damn sure those promises are made of solid brass. Those are bold claims considering how much I like Paolo Mori's previous 20 minutes of joy in a box. In fact, I've not only wrote about it once, I went back and added in some extra glitter when PSC release the special big box addition. So you better just not be someone else pretending to be Paolo Mori otherwise I'm going to have to punch you. I'm not joking here. If you're David Turczi in some kind of horrible face mask disguise then I'm going to be upset.  I adored Blitzkrieg! because its simple concept and execution meant that it could be actually played in twenty minutes, and due to the randomness of 'the bag', it meant that no two real games were the same. It was incredibly moreish, like some kind of board game

I'm a bit of a doer when it comes to learning games. As I get older, I find my ability to read through a swathe of information, retain it and then put it into practice becomes more difficult. I find myself second guessing more and more. And more often, I end up learning 'on the job' with the pieces laid out in front of me. It means that most of my first games can be labelled as messy endeavours, and I'm not actually switching the fun switch on sometimes until the second game, but as I get more involved in the critiquing of games, I become very aware I'm assessing learning the game as part of the overall process. Fun with bucket loads of additional work can be as tiring as a day job, and sometimes I want the simple immediacy of entertainment now. So there are many things that are attractive to me when it comes to looking at a game as the likes of Blitzkrieg from PSC Games. The box itself is emblazoned with a bold claim of being able to experience World War Tw

 This review is based on the final retail version of the game provided to us by the designer and publisher. We were not paid for this review. We give a general overview of the gameplay and so not all of the mechanical aspects of the game may be mentioned.  Hey, do you remember HeroQuest? A game so wrapped up and covered in nostalgia that you can only look on an original physical copy of the box by wearing rose tinted spectacles? Do you remember running around dungeons trying to succeed in the various quests? Do you remember playing as a Barbarian who basically ran around in a set of furry knickers with a decent sized chopper, collecting treasure unless they drew my favourite treasure card and found nothing? Do you remember that as a game it was actually fairly tricky to beat and relied on so much randomness as you played? Me too, me too.. Would you like to play a game like that again? Like now? After all the iterations of games that have been out? From Super Dungeon Explore to Dungeon

  This review is based on the final retail version of Aroma - A Game of Essence, provided to us from Organic Aromas. We were not paid for this review. We were provided a copy of the game for evaluation purposes. Ritual smelling. Or things that you would normally take in deep breaths of at the first given opportunity. The smell of fresh sheets when you climb into bed, the blast of escaping coffee gas when you first break the seal on a new jar. The smell of their hair when you are snuggling. The printed centre of a new rulebook. Scents are something that can take us places to the point where they can elicit an emotional reaction. Whether that be pleasant or unpleasant, smells have a way of coding themselves into our very memories to leave a lasting impression.  Interestingly enough, apart from the chemical joy of a freshly printed rulebook, I've never really played a game based around the sense of smell, and so when it came to being offered a chance to look at Aroma - A Game of Essen

This review was based on the retail version of the game. We were provided a copy of this game for the review. We were not paid for this review. Dan Ackerman has appeared on the Podcast previously. How do you make something relevant and how do you keep something relevant? The issue with using something 'in the now', with using the current zeitgeist, is that you can wake up tomorrow and the excitement coffee has already grown cold, and 'the now' things taste old and ever so sightly out of place and potentially bitter. Its the reason that so many games are set in the dystopian future, or in a historical context. Ideas and concepts don't look out of place when they are already detached from the daily reality staring you in the face. You can't age something that was 'of an age' when it comes down to it. On the other side, if all you know is the now, if all you know is the slight taste of the future, and if your day to day is writing about shiny technology bel

(SPOILER ALERT - this article will contain spoilers of Legacy games). When Legacy games burst onto the scene in 2011-12 with Risk: Legacy, the gaming world felt a seismic shift. For anyone unfamiliar with the concept, legacy games are designed to be permanently changed through a series of sessions by the game play itself. Often this involves the removal or tearing up of cards, the ability to name character cards and make permanent positive or negative changes to them. Sometimes you'll go as far as changing the playing board, often through the use of stickers and writing on it, but it always involves changes to the rules which are revealed through each playing session. Risk and Pandemic (Season 1 and 2) have all of these elements. Like many others, my family played Risk from the earliest age (pretty sure I was 8 when I first played), and it’s the stated reason why a lot of those families and a lot of people in my family say that they don’t like boardgames. Who doesn’t remember the

If you're a hero with a path, you can be pretty sure that a very large, angry dragon is waiting somewhere ahead, ready to turn your body to a blackened husk. Such is the life of a wannabe hero. Our hero (you) finds themselves in an unnamed land dominated by said dragon. Your job is to wander the land gaining arms, magic, abilities and various other items and boons that will hopefully make you strong enough to fight the dragon and ultimately slay it. The game allows you to choose from one of 4 familiar classes - Elf, Dwarf, Warrior or Sorcerer - and who you choose determines your stat line, and how much gold and food you start with. The stat line comprises the usual array of categories associated with a fantasy style game namely Experience, Vitality, Faith, Wisdom and Skill. Cards are then drawn from various decks and in the solo game you get to keep 6. These will comprise weapons, armour, abilities, magic etc that you may have at your disposal in the game. These items are also

Finding a game that appeals to the whole family seems to be a never ending quest of mine. There have been some successes, including Kingdomino and Sagrada, but for the most part I usually give up and get another LCG expansion because finding that elusive game that will appeal to adults and kids (who rather inconveniently are different age groups and genders) is not always easy. When The Isle of Cats was announced as the next game from Frank West's The City of Games, I must admit I wasn't expecting this to be a contender for that hard-to-find game that appealed to my whole family. This was largely based on my experiences with The City of Kings, which is very much not that family game I sought. The theme did appeal though (we had 4 cats at one time, now we just have 1) and being a polyomino game it had potential but the icing on the cake were the family rules. As such, every observation is based on the family rules and not the solo or full game rules, so please bear that in

The main thing to remember in all of these things is that not everything has to be a huge epic main course, consisting of multiple parts and flavours. Now more than ever, the simpler flavours are going to be more likely on the menu, as those with more eccentric and complicated tastes will have to stay away, as like so many places as the moment, the restaurant is closed. Okiya is the simplest of dishes, almost an appetiser, like Tapas but filling. Like a great dish, the presentation will get those saliva glands going, while the simple strategy will have you walking away feeling slightly full but not overly stuffed. It's theme is there as a garnish but not necessarily part of the flavour. Your aim is simple, you either want to form a square or a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line with your geisha tokens in the four by four grid. The grid contains stunning looking background titles, which you swap out as you take turns to play. The clever thing behind it is that you c

In the annals of football history, you'll find some of the greatest derbies of all-time. El Classico, the Milan derby, the Merseyside and Manchester derbies and the Old Firm game to name but a few. Now, the football scribes will have to enter a new entry into this prestigious list - the A9 Derby. Until now most notable for being the most tenuous derby ever concocted. St Johnstone and Inverness Caledonian Thistle will care little for this. These teams came into yesterday's match with one singular goal - to win the oldest cup competition in world football. The only downside to the match at Hampden Park was that there had to be a loser. Between them, these sides had overcome not only both sides of the Old Firm, Celtic and Rangers, but also both sides of the Edinburgh divide, Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian. Alas, there had to be one winner and it was the men from Perth who won their second Scottish Cup after a very enjoyable final. Things didn't exactly get of