We're Not Wizards - Tabletop Board Game Reviews

How do you make money in an industry where the media coverage has grown from bedrooms and garages and dining tables to recognised names and logos and brands. From passionate individuals starting with a hope and a cheery tone and a 'Hey Everyone', to trying to make their way in the cardboard world financially viable? Where access to creating content has never really been easier, where everyone is making something, whether it be a public thought on Social Media or a video of their dog doing a cat impression. We are at the peak of free content, the height of unsolicited opinion, and yet these people who have a decent following, are asking for us to continue to help them. How dare they, and yet why not? It helps to look at our video game cousins, where early coverage in the mid 80's consisted of absolutely no internet, but monthly magazines, filled with adverts for games and services, which helped to supplement the income of the sales of the publication itself. It was run by

In an age of gaming where some games not only rely on one, but multiple rule books, all with fiddly explanations and play through examples, it's always refreshing to see a game that shouts and claims complexity, and at the same time condenses it into a ten page rule book that fits comfortably into the palm of our hand. This is what people like me like to see when they have been asked to write a few lines on our first thoughts of a game. That the first barrier to entry is potentially a very small one, which means getting to the table doesn't involve a huge amount of careful planning. Which takes us to Bellum of Mutants and Men, where the Sapient Kingdom face off against the Gobalos in a naming convention I can only guess is to avoid some kind of potential copyright claim against Van Hammock Games. A monochromatic tale of protecting your keep from the opposing forces, where resources are quite literally your hand of cards and you play out the tale on a cloth board which

The crowd are baying for blood. They want a show and if you want to fight in front of Emperor Caesar in Rome you better give them one and be the last gladiator standing in the arena. Sweat runs into your eyes, your swords feel heavy in your hands and the taste of blood is in your mouth. Lucius Felix is advancing towards you, sword and shield in hand. Gladiatores: Blood For Roses is a tactical combat game for 2-5 players, pitting combatants against each other in the arena. The goal is to win favour during the event and be the last gladiator standing to win the most acclaim. Straight away, the game does a great job of emulating the combat of multiple fighters in the arena. Your hand of cards represents your stamina. The hand is made up of either attack, defense or effect cards and on each players turn they have the chance of attacking another gladiator by selecting a target and playing an attack card.  Each attack card will list the card requirements from the defendi

Every Time a Dungeon Quest becomes available an Adventure Mart from the greedy T-Corp appears, in order to capitalise on those adventurers out to seek their own version of fortune and glory. DigiSprite are bringing you the chance to run one of your own Adventure Marts so you can buy in stock, bring on staff and build a loyal customer base with the view of earn as much money as possible and all under the eye of your Dragon CEO. This is the second game that DigiSprite are looking to fund through Kickstarter after their first successful attempt for Doomsday Bots, the tower climbing, robot boss fighting card game which was successfully fulfilled last year. After a successful campaign on the crowdfunding platform, there is always a choice to either release something of a similar size, or upgrade and try for the next level up to see if that bigger title will work. It's interesting to see that  DigiSprite have decided to go for the latter in order to build on their previous success.

'Aye! I said scuffling my way through what must have the best part of at least forty men, all armed with rapiers and skilled in the art of shuffling people off their mortal coil..' 'Ah, I think you'll find it was a group of urchins that were only armed with germs and the foulest of language'  'I think you'll find Madam, that there were at least twenty of them!!' 'I think you know that actually, you were chased down the street crying by an angry seamstress wielding a loaf of bread. You cried sir, and then ran into a lamp post.'  And this is pretty much how The Old Hellfire Club plays, a collection of tales and stretches of the truth, more akin to messages on the sides of buses, but this time you can call people on their fabrications and steal their drinking gin pennies while having a jolly good time while the nonsense progresses.  For those who are concerned about their ability to tell a tale as old time, do not fret nor

In space no one can hear you apply sun screen.. Apologies for the frankly dreadful attempt to start off a first thoughts piece for Dranda Games and their game Solar Storm. A disaster averting sun spot of an adventure where factor 50 isn't going to cut it and winding down the window to let in a breeze might just cause slight chafing or actually third degree burns. Though bad intros aside, what we have here is mixture of card game and resource management with a theme that places you in red alert, trying to avoid an impending disaster as you attempt to restart your stalled spaceship as it crashes towards the sun. The ship is represented by a 3 x 3 grid of cards with the energy core in the centre, awaiting patiently for the other surrounding cards to divert power to it so you can get the hell out of there and save your burning soul. Each card has three spaces to represent potential damage as well as information on what resources are required in order to both repair and send

In what can be said as a strange direction in the industry, I was recently sent a review copy of the latest version of Dan Hughes by Jude & Dilisio Games LLC which as you know has been on release for some time. Well I would probably say escaped rather than released, I wouldn't say sent, it was kind of a case of the local courier dropping a rather Hughish box outside the office where I work, ran the doorbell and dashed off in his van, laughing heartily, with a very familiar acting voice indeed.  In these situations, I normally have to answer joking questions from my boss, like 'What have you got delivered now for goodness sake?'   'Is this another wizard outfit'  'How come I'm obviously paying you too much money?' In this case the boss had nothing to say, and truth be told it was almost embarrassing to have such a large parcel in the office. Not as embarrassing as trying to get the box tied to the car, driving 20 miles per hour down the mot

It is a difficult thing to prepare for meeting people that so far, you have only really interacted with online. I'm happier to share a direct message, or Facebook chat, because you can't really see that what I've done is deleted the sentence some seven times before I sent it. It's allows me to self edit in so many ways on the fly. Even in the realms of the podcast, while I give the impression that the conversation is free flowing and goes anywhere, I don't necessarily have to worry about people experiencing what I'm actually like in real life. Every time I cringe at something I've said, every point where I want to beat myself up for being stupid, I can simply highlight the guilty sound wave and delete with the press of a button. The final version, a trimming down of potential embarrassment. The only person who knows at the time is the guest and so I pray for short term memory loss and forgiveness. Even if they do remember, it can later on be a little

Where do I start with Teotihuacan: City of Gods? Getting it on the table it looks equal parts complex and beautiful. Essentially a Euro, with elements of set collection, some tile laying and board which is a giant rondel the game offers a myriad of strategies to pursue in your bid to outscore your opponents. The game is based on the Aztec city of the same name (pronounced Tee-oh-tay-wah-Kan, I am reliably informed by a Mexican colleague), and in it players take on the role of families vying for favour by helping to build the pyramid in the city, whilst worshipping at various temples to gain the favour of the gods. The board itself has a scoring track on the outer edge, with the rondel inside that comprising 8 different areas where players can take actions. Moving in towards the centre there are also the three temple tracks, the Avenue of the Dead and the eclipse track, before slap bang in the centre is the pyramid. Gameplay The ultimate aim of the game is to outscore