We're Not Wizards - Tabletop Board Game Reviews

The Binding of Isaac is a hugely successful videogame, and thanks to two extremely lucrative crowdfunding efforts that netted around $8 million, you could argue that its a highly successful card game as well. The videogame fits almost too perfectly into begin turned into cardboard, with its roguelike genetics being suited to the randomness of dungeon crawler, variable bonuses and and player powers sitting well within the tabletop realm. There's around eighty thousand people who have some kind of variation of the tabletop game. So surely its extremely good because well funded games are always amazing, aren't they.  I'm approaching this as someone who is away from the hype canoe sailing down the river rapids of marketing and excitement and so this is probably going to be dull in comparison. I'm also someone who is a fan of the game, and has spent many an hour running around randomly generated dungeons of blood and filth.  For those unfamiliar with the videogame, you play

It's maybe pure ignorance on my part but I've never seen a huge number of board games that sit within the organised crime genre. There seems to be more Sci-Fi than Scarface. I own The Godfather: Corleone's Empire, which was a grail game for me and was its own tale of negotiation and acquisition and offers that couldn't be refused. Wise Guys from Gale Force Nine enters the fray with a  Goodfellas  attitude on how you win at life, which is to gather up as much money as possible, without effecting your influence and clout and your ability to make money on the black market. It is a remix of a Sons of Anarchy game from a few years ago, but this time it returns without a connected IP.  There's an attraction to this kind of genre of game, because these are criminals, but also the ultimate in non-conformists to a societal norm. Most of us don't want to work a normal job with a steady life and pay check if given the choice. Some of us already live on an edge, working fr

Power Hungry Pets by the Exploding Kittens team is essentially Love Letter , but in an Exploding Kittens flavour. Love Letter is such a staple in my collection that when I'm thinking about culling the collection it doesn't even make the pile for consideration to be considered for the pile that will be considered potentially to even look at culling. I think it is one of those games that sits well in being both easy to teach but has enough meat on the bones to make it worthwhile playing. My own copy of Love Letter has been played so many times and through so many hands that when you see another company create a version of it, then I'm going to be concerned and potentially sceptical. It's like Pizza Hut announcing they are going to be making their version of a Big Mac. You know they have to get those Big Maccy flavours in, but at the same time, they also need to remind you that you're chomping down on the Pizza hut version.  Exploding Kittens is such a huge brand

Nawalli creates a curiosity as soon as you have the box sitting in front of you. I'm so used to seeing dramatically overstated attraction artwork, that the colour scheme and simplicity of the Nawalli box was a refreshing change. When you remove the lid and start going through the cards I'll be surprised if you don't spend time appreciating the style of art on offer here. Nawalli's theme is based around traditional Aztec artwork which means you have extremely strong images and line work, strong colours that often clash with each other in a delightful way. The artwork and theme alone was enough to want me to see how this would play on the table.  Nawalli is a lane battler, along the same lines as Sol Forge, where you'll be playing Nawals into one of four lanes with the aim of trying to capture Tonalli gems. Gather thirteen and you'll win the game which differs it from the normal 'reduce the enemy down to zero'. It gives the potential for more of a tug of w

Dawn arrives in a bite sized box, designed to take up a small amount of space in your collection. Some games take several different mechanics and mash them together, while Dawn takes one, serves it up to you in packaging that slides open like a draw from one of those expensive jewellery purchases and then asks you to join in as a team in building a village or sabotaging efforts in becoming a scoundrel and taking the wealth for yourself.  Overview Dawn is a hidden resource hand management game with a traitor mechanic with the main aim of the game being to play cards to overcome challenges or construct buildings. You'll play a maximum of six rounds in the game.  Main Play Dawn reminds me of a stripped down Dead of Winter but set the in lovely country scene. Every turn you'll be adding a card to your own little treasure trove that secretly decides your affiliation. Then you'll be playing resource cards in order to help pay towards buildings, handle threats or contribute toward

Well. Looks like Adventure to Mount Doom is trying the old roll and move mechanic. That's a bold strategy, lets see if it pays off. You heard that right. Rolling dice and climbing a track. No kidding. No Jokes. Lord of the Rings, dice style.  Overview Stop me if you've heard this before. You see, there's this really powerful jewellery hobby magic chap who decided to make ring for all of his pals because he was generous like that. So he gave them away like they were candy at Hallowe'en and then everything was going fine until as normal giving people presents and expecting something in return all got a bit weird and then there was a fight and the ring that the hobby boy had made got lost in a big fight and some one else found it and then he got jealous, and started eating his raw fish, and then hide in a cave until it looked like he was wearing really big glasses. Then cut to this old guy who obviously didn't separate his whites from his dark clothes who then rocked u

  You know what they say, you don't see a mechanic for some time and then all of a sudden two games appear at once, thrusting their bags in your face and asking you to take a dive of luck into the velveteen darkness and fumble around hoping that you're grabbing something useful.  Overview Meeples & Monsters is a bag building meeple based game. So as your turns progress you'll be trying to upgrade the quality of the meeple resources you have while trying not to dilute your own supply too much that your end up continually drawing the weaker components.  Mainplay Each player is in charge of their own personal meeple army that they will aim to try to enrich over a series of rounds by constructing buildings in the small city of Rowan. The first phase is either about construction or upgrading the existing units that you own to access special abilities that some of the units offer. Every player starts off with a generous number of peasants that have a basic attack value and as

   I'm fairly impressed with the current range of games on offer from Funko Games. Their partnership with the Prospero Hall development and design team seems to be a very successful symbiosis, and I've already enjoyed the likes of Pan Am immensely. They seem to be successfully balancing offering games for the mass market and still attract those who demand some more meat on their carboard bones. With Big Boss they are reprinting and updating an already existing game that up until now has only existed in German. Overview Big Boss is about building up your business empire by creating new businesses and physically expanding their presence on the board in order to increase their share value. You'll merge companies and buy shares with the aim of earning the most money by the end of the game.  Mainplay There's isn't a huge amount in terms of mechanics to Big Boss. You've got the option from the outset to either play with the updated rules or the original rules from the

  I approach a game like The Shores of Tripoli with a bit of trepidation, after all if there's one thing that some people don't like, it's having politics forced into their gaming spaces. So if you are one of those people who want the world full of spaceships and dragons and don't want to play through the plans, tactics and ramifications based around the intervention of the American Naval forces and their attempts to remove the stranglehold of piracy that was occuring in the early 1800s off the shores of Tripoli, then consider yourself warned. Are you sure I can't tempt you with some wooden boats and gold coloured coins? How about some hot card event action?  Overview  The Shores of Tripoli is a historical events driven card game where you will play cards and add components to the board in order to achieve specific objectives. The game works on a timeline and so certain events will only take place at later points in the game, unlocking further available actions in t

  Some games are here purely to entertain, where you'll be playing made up characters in made up locations against made up enemies using made up resources to achieve made up win conditions. You'll learn how the game works and what strategies will win the day for you. Other games like Endangered will try to raise awareness of a specific topic and attempt to educate and inform you as you play. Then you have those special historical games that take you on a trip of information and discovery, allowing you to learn about established historical events while at the same time offering you the opportunity to potentially change the outcome of same said events.  In Votes for Women from Fort Circle Games, you take the journey and the battle for the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the various states of America, gathering support and making Women's Suffrage a reality in the face of opposition for maintaining the status quo.  Overview Votes for Women is a card based area control gam