We're Not Wizards - Tabletop Board Game Reviews

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.  I have a recipe for a Jalfrezi dish that I make, using pork belly and various vegetables. I cheat with the sauce, as I've never got the entire knack of mixing the correct level of spices and tomatoes in order to make something worthy. It usually ends up tasting like weak ketchup, or has the the power to clean the chrome from a kitchen appliance. I know my limitations and I also know my limits and so I don't bother trying to emulate something I can pour from a jar that is going to help me on my way. I've experimented in adding asparagus and mini corn for texture, but I generally like to stick with sweet peppers, spring onions and finely diced mushrooms. I'll fry the ingredients to prepare them and then stick everything

This is the pre-production version of Pilfering Pandas, so the art, rules and mechanics may be subject to change over the next couple of months. Therefore please treat this as a first thoughts piece, based on version of the game that we were provided with. We have not been paid for the preview. We also do not provide a full play by play explanation of the game, so not all mechanics may be mentioned in the preview. The rain pours as you make your way around the animals, checking to make sure they're all safe and dry, while you realise the squelching feeling in your shoe is because that suspected worn sole has now upgraded itself to a full on hole. You keep reminding yourself that you're here because animals are your life, and what could be more nobler than looking after a collection of some of nature's finest? It makes putting up with the silly safari hat and knee high socks almost bearable, but in this current climate where you feel wetter than a sea lion's bathing suit

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.  There's a saying about managing expectations. When you're putting a creation out there to the masses and you're relying on the feedback of the bungled and the botched to measure if you got things right then be prepared for disappointment. Especially if that creation presses the nostalgia buttons for your audience. I see this more in videogames then I do in board games funnily enough, I've never seen a huge backlash for a board game that was similar to another game of the same mechanical genre even if they could almost be cardboard cousins. I don't know if it's because board gamers like more of the same, but are happy as long as the core similarities are represented well. In videogames, if you give the bold im

This is the pre-production version of Dice Hospital Emergency Roll, so the art, rules and mechanics may be subject to change over the next couple of months. Therefore please treat this as a first thoughts piece, based on version of the game that we were provided with. We have not been paid for the preview. We also do not provide a full play by play explanation of the game, so not all mechanics may be mentioned in the preview. The Roll and Write genre has literally exploded over the last few years, and in particular in the last twelve months as face to face gaming has suffered at the hands of lockdowns and closed venues. Roll and writes are the darlings of twitch streams and zoomfests, where those taking part only need the maximum of a printed gaming grid and pencil, and the willingness to engage in the shenanigans of online chat and fun. I've personally witnessed Roll and Writes at both ends of the mechanical spectrum, from the simplicity of Kingdomino Duel to the mind bending beh

Warning - This article contains major spoilers for the story of The Last of Us Series The First part of The Last of Us played a faithful tune on the standard good guy/bad guy guitar. The runners and clickers were obviously bad, as they wanted to kill you on sight. David the cannibal was also a "very bad man" who wanted to chomp down on you. Even by the end of the game, when you realised the possible fate of Ellie, the Fireflies became the bad guys, heavily armoured characters with big guns and masks who were shameless cannon fodder as you charged through as Joel, trying to save your surrogate daughter. What could justify a bloodbath more than saving a helpless individual you cared about. Even at the cost of the survival of humanity itself.  Some of us didn't want a sequel, as for many, where exactly could you go with the story that ends on a betrayal of trust for selfish reasons? It can only really go south from here. Or northwest in the case of Ellie and Joel. I knew the

 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 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 so not all mechanical aspects may be mentioned.  Billionaires are a stain on society, the epitome of legal theft on a grand scale. Show me a billionaire and I can show you a parasite that hoovers up all the resources that surround it and contributes virtually nothing back to society. A parasite refusing to pay for the local infrastructure they use, refusing to pay decent wages and treat their employees like actual human beings. They set up charities to show how lovely they really are long after the damage has been done. If I met a billionaire in the flesh, it would be to ask them why they kept on hitting themselves. The act of being able to change the world in a minute and refuse because of an irrational greed to gather zeros, is the highest level a sociopath could hope to achieve. (Smiley face, wink wi

 This review is based on the retail version of the game that we were provided by the designer and publisher. We were not paid for this review.  It was at this point that the atmosphere in the room changed, and not even the overly dramatical crackling of seasoned logs in the overly dramatical fireplace was going to warm things up in a room that was chilled by the cold vacuum.. OF MURDER. The silence was only broken by the crackling of knuckles by Smothers, the house butler. A man with a chip on his shoulder the size of a grown dolphin, and whose shoes squeaked just as much.  The detective breathed in sharply as though they were about to sing that really high and long note in Frozen that everyone attempts at least once. The cook, the stable hand and the gardener looked on in disdain, while everyone else just hoped that this time, it was going to be over for once and for all. The butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker? Well, that was just another silly story for another time.  The d

We played this version of the game using Tabletop Simulator on Steam, so the art, rules and mechanics may possibly be subject to change. Therefore please treat this as a first thoughts piece, based on version of the game that we played with. We played the session with a representative from Alley Cat Games. We have not been paid for the preview. We also do not provide a full play by play explanation of the game, so not all mechanics may be mentioned in the Preview. Eternal Palace is coming to Kickstarter on the 8th March. The main board of a tabletop game can be the ultimate in smoke and mirrors. It can completely trick you into thinking you're about to step into something extremely complicated. Or it gives you the impression, like the almost coaster sized board for King of Tokyo, that you're only going to need minimum brain power in order to tackle the rolling of dice and kicking of monster butt. In the case when you're looking at a game online, where the board sits out in

We played this version using Tabletop Simulator on Steam, so the art, rules and mechanics may possibly be subject to change. Therefore please treat this as a first thoughts piece, based on version of the game that we play with. We played the session with a representative from Pandasaurus Games. We have not been paid for the preview. We also do not provide a full play by play explanation of the game, so not all mechanics may be mentioned in the Review. "We can do an online demo if you want."  Ah, the irony of joining an analogue hobby to escape the screens, only to find that more and more in this day and age that the screen is becoming the only way to get access to some games.   But this time, I grin at the screen because this time my lovelies, I'm no longer unfamiliar with how Tabletop Simulator works, and this time, I know that you can used WASD to move round the table and flip cards and take things out of bags and OH FOR GOODNESS SAKE WHY CAN'T THEY HEAR ME..  So a