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On The Table

On The Table: February 2022

February has been a busy gaming month for me, I managed two full reviews which may not sound like a lot but for a guy who runs a blog as a hobby, that is quite a bit to add to my normal life schedule. This month my gaming group also managed to restart our long-running Vampire: The Masquerade chronicle which had been put on hold a number of times due to corona. With the pandemic taking a massive swing for the better and all the restrictions lifted in Sweden where I live, we are opening the gaming flood gates!

New Aquisitions

In a rare turn of events, there were no new acquisitions this month. I felt I had so many games to play this month it just seemed silly to add to the queue and there are a couple of games on the release calendar that I’m eager for so I’m holding out. Perhaps instead I can talk a little about future acquisitions instead to fill the space here.

Enemy Action: Kharkov

Compass Games component quality on Enemy Action: Ardennes was pretty awful so I have my reservations about this one in that regard, but it’s hard to pass up a Butterfield design, so it makes the list.

The Enemy Action series gets a second game in the series finally after 7 years of releasing the first, the amazing Enemy Action: Ardennes. John Butterfield is without question one of the most renowned designers in the Historical War Game genre right up there with Mark Herman, so when he makes a game we should all be paying attention.

The Enemy Action series is awesome for a lot of design reasons, most notably because it actually is three games in one. You get a solo game for two sides of the conflict and there is a 2 player version as well. More than that though this is one of the most thoughtful, original and exciting game designs to come out in the last decade and while I’m yet to do a full review on Enemy Action: Ardennes, I’m really looking forward to seeing a continuation of the series. It’s a very deep and complex war game, but it works on a wide range of levels.

My biggest beef with the series is that it had really weak publishing, the components weren’t great, there were a lot of misprints and alignment issues as well as missing components. I felt judging the game given that the quality of the components actually made the game nearly unplayable would be unfair to the designer, it was better that I waited for the corrections before I did a review. It has taken quite a while for Compass Games to send me replacement parts so this one despite how much I appreciate the design has remained un-reviewed. I only know it because of the Vassal version which I have used for my gaming but I never do reviews based on Vassal experiences mainly because I’m here to review board games, not digital versions of them.

Pacific War

A Mark Herman classic gets a reprint and its going to be hard to resist.

Pacific War by Mark Herman due to land any day now in Europe is a more tactical operations level world war II game set in the Pacific theatre, a pre-cursor to the amazing Empire of the Sun. I never played the original release but now that it’s being reprinted with a lot of bells and whistles, I’ve had my eye on it and I think in the end it’s going to find its way to my shelf.

I’m a sucker for all things Mark Herman and I have a particular interest in the Pacific War, so this game is right up my alley. I’m intimidated by its complexity, but I made it over the learning curve hump with Empire of the Sun so I feel like I can learn to play anything.

On The Table This Month

This month I focused a great deal of my gaming time on the two games I reviewed (Peloponnesian War and Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul). While Peloponnesian War practically reviewed itself, I struggled with Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul quite a bit. Doing reviews isn’t always easy, one of my goals with all reviews I do is to not only be fair and impartial but respectful to the designers. Games are not easy to design and I think as a reviewer it’s my job to have a good understanding of what the designer was trying to accomplish which sometimes can be quite tough. In either case, played lots of great this month so in no particular order.

Brass: Birmingham

The game is very pretty and while the theme is very historical, like most Euro games it is highly abstracted. It’s a thinker and a very tight point salad.

Brass: Birmingham has been on my must-play list for quite a while, as a game reviewer I feel obligated to play every game that appears on the top 10 list on BBG and this one has been sitting in the no. 3 spot for a while getting ready to challenge the two top spot games Pandemic Legacy and Gloomhaven.

This was a fascinating game based on the industrial revolution in England between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. You effectively take on the roles of business moguls trying to control the various early industries of the era building factories and transporting goods through canals and railroads.

The game is a quasi-card game with a fairly dynamic setup creating very unique obstacles and puzzles to solve each round as you try to outpace your opponents in a game where making money is important but points are scored more through expansion and control.

It did not take more than a round or two for the game to click, so while Brass is quite robust and there is quite a bit going on, the rules are streamlined and it was easy to catch on. Playing it well, however, coming to grips with what is and isn’t a good strategy is going to take a few plays I think. I did well but I was outpaced by the more experienced players on my first run, but I think I’m going to perform a lot better next time based on my first go.

We played it 3 players and while I think the game played fine in that player count, this game is clearly going to be best with 4 players and the next time I play I’m going to be aiming for that. With 3 players part of the map is kind of a “no go zone” and I always find that this way of handling reduced player count in games always feels off. It was strange that the map was two-sided and rather than creating a 3 player and a 4 player map to compensate for the player count, the two sides are identical having a day and night side which has no impact on rules and is just for cosmetics. Definitely a missed opportunity in my opinion.

Endeavor: Age of Sail

This is a really solid Euro-style game that plays very fast with a lot of great tension and great balance.

This one hit the table twice in February and continues to impress. I’m working on a review for it but I don’t mind spoiling a bit and say that I really like it quite a bit.

It’s a big and busy-looking game but is actually lightning-fast and super-tight which gives the game a sort of high tension right in the first round that stays with you until the very claustrophobic conclusion. There is a lot of dynamics in this game, but as we play it repeatedly we have uncovered a few strategies and counter-strategies and so far none have proven to be dominant which is great as it gives the game a really strong balanced feeling. Victory counts at the end of this game are always tight, we are talking 2-3 point differences between first and second place typically.

Great game, I think this will definitely be going on the list for our big summer board gaming weekend this year.

Empire of the Sun

There are games, there are historical war games and then there is Empire of the Sun, a game that demands as much as it gives. One of my all-time favorites, always happy to make time for it on my hobby table.

This beast hits my table in late February multiple times and I suspect I will still be playing it in March. Whenever I set up Empire of the Sun on my hobby table to play solo against the AI bot (Erasmus) I know it’s something I will be playing over the course of a week or so. Usually I become instantly obsessed and end up playing it for weeks at a time over multiple games and that certainly has been the case this month.

I’m playing as the Japanese right now as I find playing the historical loser in this game is very challenging against the AI bot and I really love the many different approaches you can take to this game and how that core is driven by your card draw. That initial card draw in Turn 2 completely changes the dynamics and direction of the entire game and never ceases to surprise me.

I can’t praise this game enough but I always caution anyone considering getting into this one that it’s super complex and a very robust game that will take some time to learn to play properly. Lots of exception-based rules driven by historical chrome that you might initially find to be overkill but if you are fascinated by the tragic history of the Pacific War like I am, these details really just give this game a narrative flair like no other. This is a game that is as complex as it needs to be, no more, no less. Mark Herman is great at explaining the why of his rules in the rulebook which while adding page count actually helps you to remember the rule itself as you make the connection so it’s a blessing in my opinion. I adore this game and I find it hits my solo hobby table often in long stretches at a time. Takes some doing to get into it, but if you make the crossing you will not be disappointed.

Peloponnesian War

This one blew the doors off, a complete game-changer with a core concept (switching sides) that I’m finding to be applicable to a lot of 2 player games I play solo. This one stands out in the crowd of solo gaming.

Definitely, the game of the month and one of my favorite recent discoveries, this absolutely amazing solo game is one of the most challenging games I have played in a long time. Rules are relatively simple to wrap your head around but unraveling this puzzle is going to take some serious effort.

This is one of the most unique handlings of a solo mechanic I have seen in any game ever and I keep saying this to anyone who listens but why on earth is this approach not seen more commonly in solo games. The concept of playing one side and then switching gives this solo game a really awesome feeling of playing a real opponent, there is no one better equipped to beat you than you.

Love the historical detail of this one and how that brings out the narrative of the game, it’s so good, absolutely a must-own for any historical wargaming solo fans. I put this one up there with Enemy Action Ardennes in terms best solo games I have ever played.

Find the full review for this game HERE.

Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul

I understand some of the complaints about balance in this one, but I don’t really share them. Let’s just say, I get it but not everyone will.

This latest addition to my CDG collection was a hit with my gaming partners both online and offline, myself included. Despite some oddly shaped balancing in the game that might trigger some to proclaim the game unbalanced, I personally found this game’s design goals to be intriguing and unique. It spoke to me and I suppose I’m on the “I get it” side of the discussion.

I can understand the arguments about the game being tilted towards a Gaul victory, I address my opinion about this one in my review but the short answer is, it is exactly what it needs to be to make this game work.

For me this was a keeper, it fits nicely with some of my other CDG games that I know and love and while it certainly didn’t kick my favorite Imperial Struggle out, I can see an argument for playing this over Washingtons War for example. I look at it like this. I have 4 CDG at the moment. Imperial Struggle is the best one, but it’s fairly complex and actually not really a CDG in the purest sense. As such it comes down to the other three, Twilight Struggle, Washington’s War and Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul. All games I can teach you and get you playing quickly, so it boils down to picking the historical subject you find most interesting.

Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul is a great game, it’s doubly so if the subject matter interests you and you already love CDG’s.

Find the full review for this game HERE!

Vampire: The Masquerade

The single best RPG experience of my life and I speak on the behalf of my entire gaming group of long-time RPG players.

Role-playing is as much a hobby for me as board gaming, but the truth is that the term role-playing is really redefined in Vampire The Masquerade. This is a game that goes deeper and more immersive than most RPG’s I play and this is precisely why my gaming group adores this game.

We have been playing the 5th edition since its release and we have created memories and stories that we will be talking about for the rest of our lives in my gaming group.

My gaming group post-corona-apocalypse restarted our ongoing chronicle right where we left off this week and everyone is super psyched to get this gaming going again.

If you have never played a role-playing game before this might not be the best place to start as it really makes a lot of assumptions about the player experience, but it’s definitely the crowning jewel of my personal role-playing experiences.

On The Horizon

I already mentioned a couple of games I’m looking forward to in the near future, but there have been a few new entries in the future-future section that got my attention this week.

Rebel Fury

Another Mark Herman game… I’m starting to think I’m a fanboy!

I have been looking to add my first Civil War game to my collection as currently, I have none! This is not a topic I’m super interested in at the moment, but I certainly see a lot of potential here.

Rebel Fury seems like a good entry point, its a Mark Herman game and it’s based on a game series that is highly regarded. This is a bit out of my scope in that the game is about specific battles rather than more global conflict, so while I’m still on the lookout for a game that lets me fight the whole war, this seems like a great place to start the next phase of my gaming education.

That’s it for this month!

News, On The Table

On The Table: January 2022

This year I’m kicking off a new article series and what you are reading right now is the inaugural article for that series. On the Table will be a monthly column where I will discuss various gaming topics based on what I have been involved in, in the previous month.

This will include impressions about games I played, new arrivals that I have unboxed, games on the horizon that sound exciting, conversations and discussions I’ve had with the community, designers, and publishers as well as hot topics in gaming. It’s going to be a smorgasbord of gaming-related topics covering all genres, styles, and types of games.

I think that is enough of an introduction, let’s get into it.

New Aquisitions

This month I picked up four new games.

Western Empires

The first acquisition of the month was Western Empires by 999 games. This was a gift of sorts. I received a Christmas present from my work (100 bucks to Amazon) and I took the opportunity to pick up something I probably would not have bought for myself under normal circumstances (aka my own money).

I have always been really curious about the cult following that surrounds Francis Tresham’s Civilization franchise, but I passed on the very expensive Mega Civilization that came out a few years ago and while Western Empires effectively represents half of Mega Civilization (Mediterranean Half), it’s still a very expensive game and one that I think is going to be extraordinarily difficult to get to the table with my gaming group in particular.

This is a 12+ hour-long game for 5 to 9 players and while I will say that my gaming group is incredibly flexible and generous with their time, this one pushes some boundaries that even my very tolerant gaming group will probably not want to cross. Even if they did, this one would be in competition for the rare opportunity for an all-day slot, games like Twilight Imperium, Through The Ages and War Room. It would not be easy to justify it myself, let alone talk the rest of the group into Western Empires.

I did set the game up on my hobby table, read through the rules and took the time to test drive some of the mechanics, kind of standard operating procedure for me to determine if and how I would like to pursue the game (or not). In the case of Western Empires, while I don’t want to rush to judgment and I did find plenty to enjoy with some head nods of understanding why this game has such a following, I have determined that the likelihood of this one qualifying for that rare all-day event slot is pretty slim.

I just wasn’t blown away by it, it was an interesting game and I really can understand why it has a following, but the game despite its scale and scope really felt to me like something that might be interesting as a 2-3 hour game but not as 12+ hour event game.

The biggest interaction in the game is trading commodity cards reminiscent of Settlers of Catan where you are trying to complete sets to get enough resources to purchase Civilization advances, with this rather nasty setback mechanic driving the hostility in those trades via the Calamity cards. It’s a civilization game where you’re constantly getting knocked back by these calamity events, undoing your efforts, but because you really have minimal control over what calamities you get (sometimes non at all with non-tradeable calamities), the game felt a bit dated to me, a sort of throwback to the games from the past where stuff just happened to you, often determining for you wether you win or lose. I supposed that is because it is a game engine designed in the 80’s, so I’m not sure what I expected, but I think it suffices to say that I can think of at least 5 better civilization games out there that are much better and take considerably less time to play than this one.

It’s a curiosity buy, not every game on my shelf ultimately makes my table and I’m certainly not discounting the possibility of making it happen sometime in the future, but for now, I think this is a pass for me, I have bigger fish to fry!

Endeavor: Age of Sail

Next up is Endeavor: Age of Sail by Burnt Island Games, I picked this one up from a recommendation by a friend of mine. It was a very pretty-looking game that was actually quite cheap but it was a bit of an impulse buy, I did zero research relying on the recommendation entirely.

We got this one to the table (see below), so I will cover the gameplay there but the one thing that struck me about this game was the production value. Just an amazing game visually, with sturdy components, well organized in the box with inserts. All I have to say is that as a gamer with high expectations, for a 65 dollar game to give you this much value in the box, it really put a smile on my face.

Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul

Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul by GMT games, designed by Mark Simonitch of Hannibal and the 44′ series fame was a game I knew I would acquire at some point, it actually sneaks in just in time in January as I got word it was coming at the tail end of the month, it hasn’t even arrived yet.

This game has won a few awards and nominations as do most of Mr. Simonitch’s games, but it comes highly recommended by a few of my favorite board game reviewers and I think it will be a perfect follow up to Imperial Struggle for me and my buddy who have been exploring 2 player historical games. I love the subject matter, it is a real steal at 50 bucks and seeing as so far in the world of historical war games CDG’s have been my bread and butter, I’m excited.

Peloponnesian War

Another GMT title for my shelf, Peloponnesian War by famed designer Mark Herman is a game I was never really expecting to play, but when it arrived at my doorstep, I honestly found myself quite excited at the prospect of yelling awesome shit like “This is Sparta!”

Thus far every single Mark Herman game I have tried has become an obsession for me (especially Empire of the Sun), the guy can do no wrong so I feel quite comfortable walking into this one. I will say, I know nothing about the Peloponnesian War that wasn’t included in the clearly factual documentaries the 300 and Troy, so I’m hoping that Mark provides me with a much-needed history lesson on the subject through this game.

This is a solo game and I have been slowly acquiring solo games over the last couple of years in no small part because of the Pandemic and so far my experience though isolated to DVG leader and field commander series have been very good. This game has a very unique mechanic from what I understand where you actually play both sides of the conflict, switching sides when you play too well with one of the sides of the war. Intriguing concept, really looking forward to giving this one a go.

On The Table This Month

With the pandemic getting worse and worse in Sweden by the day, restrictions have remained quite light nonetheless, and because pretty much everyone is vaccinated in Sweden, my gaming buddies and I have forged forward throughout January fearlessly and continued to game in person.

Endeavor: Age of Sail

I don’t want to say too much about this one as I’m writing a review for it, but spoiler alert, I really liked it. This is a very quick-playing, thinky euro that has you taking on the roles of managing a symmetrical European nation in the age of sail as you attempt to explore and ultimately conquer the newly discovered world. That is thematically, like most Eurogames, this is a point salad and the theme, while certainly fun and well layered, is not exactly poised to make this one feel historical.

I would not fault anyone for thinking this is a long, complex Euro game, it certainly looks the part, but this is a fast and very tight game.

It is a very tight game about scoring points as you would expect from a Euro, but unlike a lot of really heavy and excessively long Euro games that typically overstay their welcome with me, this game takes about an hour, hour and a half max with setup and teaching. It’s engaging, very pretty, has a lot of quality-of-life mechanics that make it easy to learn and play. My first impression is really good and the deluxe version I got comes with a bunch of expansion content so there is plenty to explore beyond the base game. For a 60 dollar game, this was one that impressed the hell out of me. If you got your eye on it and you are looking for a shorter Euro game that is really engaging and full-bodied giving up nothing with its short playtime, this is the game for you.

Be warned however it touches on the topic of slavery and I know some are rightfully a bit sensitive about that, but it handles the subject matter respectfully without getting PC about it. I appreciated that, slavery happened, it’s part of human history and I don’t t think games in a historical context should pretend otherwise, to exclude it from the game would mean we are pretending it didn’t happen which I think is worse. I played this one with my 13-year-old daughter as well as my gaming group, it brought up the subject and triggered a conversation about history, exactly what you want it to do, even lightly themed games like this one.

Smartphone Inc

Smartphone Inc by Russian designer Ivan Lashin did not impress me coming out of the box. A game about managing cell phone companies was already a rather odd topic for me that did not register. The very plain and milky-looking gameboard did little to sell itself and the bearded hipster on the box did not score any points either. I went into this one unexcited expecting a long boring Euro.

I love being wrong!

It looks like a prototype, but this game actually has a very sleek design that facilitates gameplay that you will come to appreciate.

Not only was this a very fast-moving, very cerebral game with mechanics the likes of which I have never seen, but it instantly gripped me and justified every design decision that had me initially questioning this one. The game space I thought was so boring looking quickly turned into one of the most functional and well-thought-out gameboards I have seen in a long time, facilitating not only gameplay but teaching and learning. The topic (cell phones) also immediately grew on me, in particular in the context of an economic game where you research technology, set competitive pricing for phones, manufacture them and try to sell them while competing against other players. Coming off 1830 Railways and Robber Barons, this one had that same sort of cut-throat economic competition feel that made me fall in love with the 18xx series.

Really fantastic game that made a real impression on me, can’t wait to get this one to the table again soon.

Corvus Belli Infinity

Infinity is a miniature game by Corvus Belli and I have a buddy of mine who is a big miniature gaming fan and he has a tendency to talk my gaming group and I into new mini-games all the time using a variety of unscrupulous tactics. In the case of Infinity I got an army starter from said friend for my birthday… well played sir.. well played.

It took some time to get this one to the table as is the case with most miniature games, but I finally managed. I have to admit I was not terribly excited about the event which is a bit odd really. I do like miniature games, I love science-fiction, the mini’s are actually really awesome (I shit you not I have werewolves with machine guns in my army) so really I’m not sure why I wasn’t more excited about it.

You had me at werewolves with machine guns!

In any case it turned out to be a really fun, very easy to learn game with a metric-fuck-ton of options and choices. This mini-game had one of the things I really like about mini-games, lots of options, but simple gameplay. In that way it reminded me a bit of what I loved about Star Wars X-Wing where each time you played it, you could really change up your army list and do something wildly different with the same units you already have.

This is a really fast game, its a bit of a dice chucker, stuff dies fast and furious and it just makes for a really entertaining evening. Now I will admit I’m super spoiled, my friends are miniature game fanatics so when you show up to their house to play these games they have massive, elaborately decorated tables with tons of very fancy terrain and all the fixings. All I have to do is show up, hell they even glue and prime my mini’s for me so they really make it easy on the guy.

I had a lot of fun, miniature games go hot and cold for me, sometimes I love them and get really into them (Looking at you Songs of Ice and Fire) but often they disappoint me and make me feel indifferent towards the hobby (again I’m looking at you Songs of Ice and Fire) because of how poorly managed most of the mini-companies are. I’m sure we will be running this one more in the future and I think I’m genuinely looking forward to it. I don’t see me expanding my collection, but the army box I have is plenty to keep me entertained with this one for a while.

I will say this about Mini Games in general. Do your research, this is an expensive hobby and you don’t want to step into it willy-nilly.

Circadians: First Light

Circadians: First Light from Garphil Games by designer S J MacDonald more widely known for his “Of West The Kingdom” series of games that include Paladins, Architects and Viscounts of The West Kingdom is yet another twist on the resource management Euro-centric games. We have a fan of these games in the group, so now again one shows up and we give it a whirl.

I have played quite a few of these at this point and I think it’s fair to describe them as very busy, thinky and generally heavy euro games that always come with a lot of really smart and unique mechanics. From a design perspective, I have to hand it to Mr. MacDonald, he creates a lot of really cool stuff. Circadians First Light follows in that tradition, but to be frank, of all the games from this style and designer I have tried, this is my least favorite so far.

Some gamers will look at this and get excited, I look at this and question my life choices.

That is not to say that it was bad, it actually wasn’t, it was just fine, but it’s just not my personal style of gameplay to begin with, so these games never really wow me, even the really good ones. This game, like all of the games in this series, are just a bit too long for what they are (Euro-Centric Resource Management Games), generally, there is a lot of complexity so it takes quite a bit of effort to learn and I find in my gaming group we typically play these games one time, then never hear from them again, a fate I think Circadians: First Light is destined for.

These games just don’t make a lasting impression, but I have to say I don’t think it’s because they are bad games, I do find them quite clever, but they are just complex enough that if you play them once, the next time you play you pretty much have to learn the rules again. For a game like that to come back, it needs to build up more excitement on the first run and I just find that these games don’t do that, at least for me. The games just don’t sink in and I have felt that way about every one of the “Of the West Kingdom” games I have tried and this one falls into that same pit.

It does use a clever dice chucking worker placement mechanic reminiscent of Kingsburg which I think is actually kind of fun, but there is a lot of very busy, paralysis analysis inducing “stuff” going on in the game that left the experience a bit flat. It was ok, but I doubt we’ll see this one again anytime soon.

B-17 Flying Fortress Leader

B-17 Flying Fortress Leader designed by Dean Brown of DVG games is without question one of my favorite solo games. Now that said, I have to admit I don’t own that many solo games, so my list for comparisons is very small.

For me B-17 is just a blast to play, it’s super thematic, it has a very scalable difficulty level, has lots of depth and really tells a story which I think is fundamentally the most important part of a solo gaming experience. A good solo game unlike other types of games does not live and die by its mechanics, it does so by its ability to give you a narrative and trigger your imagination and B-17 Flying Fortress Leader really does that for me.

B-17 is a fairly complex game definitely not for the faint of heart, but in my eyes it’s brilliant and the narrative it brings to life is unmatched. The fact that it’s a solo game that you can play whenever you feel like it, especially in times like these is a gamers prayer being answered.

It had me reading books, watching documentaries and exploring the fascinating world of World War II aviation triggering an interest I never even knew I had.

This is a wonderful game, I play it all the time, in fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if it appeared in the On The Table articles pretty frequently as Its setup on my hobby table quite often second only perhaps to Lord of the Rings LCG.

Paths of Glory

I realize as I’m writing the first On The Table article that I own a lot of GMT games! The classic Paths of Glory by GMT Games graces my hobby room once again as I take on an online opponent using vassal in a PBEM game.

It took nearly the whole month of January to finish, me and my online counterpart both use the same method to play online. We use vassal to maintain the game state and deliver our moves, but both of us have the real game setup on our hobby tables so we don’t need to do everything digitally and we get to play with the real components.

I’ve run out of ways to praise Paths of Glory so instead just look at this pretty map!

I have praised Paths of Glory so many times it seems unnecessary to do so again, it’s an amazing historical war game that deserves every accolade anyone has ever given to it. I can’t get my local gaming buddies to try it as it is quite complex and it has “chits” which most of the members of my local gaming group have an aversion to, but I adore this game, it’s THE definitive historical war game on World War I, accept no substitute!

Other games that hit the table

Just a quick hit list of other games that hit the table this month.

Talisman 4th edition. I play this one with my daughter quite frequently, she loves it and it keeps her gaming so I don’t mind playing it. It’s a bit of a long game but with two players you can get it done in an hour and a half, so not too bad. Fun little adventure game, nothing I would play with my gaming group but it’s a perfect family game and it beats the hell out of playing fucking Monopoly!

Condottiere is a common filler in my gaming group and it hits the table this month. I won, but it was a tight, down-to-the-last card kind of ending. This is a trick-taking game with a twist that I think belongs in any gamers collection, if you don’t own it, you should!

Game of Thrones: Hand of the King Another one I play with my daughter often. I actually like this one as a filler, but It hasn’t made it to my regular gaming group yet. It’s kind of an abstract game with a slapped-on theme, but it’s clever, easy to learn and fast, great filler.

On The Horizon

Of course, there are four new games that have been added to my collection so I see at least a couple of those hitting the table in February. I have also kick-started my gaming groups ongoing Vampire The Masquerade campaign, my group and I will have our first session after the last Pandemic hiatus, very excited about that one.

I’m keeping tabs on another Dean Brown solo game from DVG that is currently on kick starter called Spruance Leader which is going to be another game along the lines of B-17 Flying Fortress Leader except for this time you are a commander of a naval task force during the cold war. Very excited about this one.

This is the player board from Spruance Leader. I suppose it’s fair to say that this either does it for you or it doesn’t, for me personally this has got me hoping up and down in excitement.

In February I’m hoping to kick off a big all-day event to play War Room, the amazing super game by Larry Harris in which we will be trying some of the 2nd edition (reprint) rules that update the game and aim to address some minor issues.

I plan to do two reviews this month, though I’m concurrently writing about 5 reviews right now, so we will see which of those shapes up. I will leave it at that, no spoilers!

Side Note: I get asked this a lot so I thought I would slip it in here and answer the question. Some of my readers want to know if I accept review copies or make money on the site. The short answer is yes on review copies, no on making money. I don’t typically note which games I review that are review copies as I’m indifferent to that, I don’t ask people to send me review copies, but when they do I happily review them. I do not make any promises or guarantee’s about how the review will come out, in fact I typically communicate very little with publishers in general, I like to keep my distance from the business end of gaming. Generally, however, I don’t like doing negative reviews so if I really hate a game that was sent to me as a review copy, I would send it back and I don’t review it at all out of respect for the designer. I personally only want to have a positive influence on game sales, not a negative one. I will occasionally make an exception when I’m trying to make a bigger point about something, but those are rare. I do not however accept patron or payments of any kind, gaming and this blog are hobbies for me and I have no ambition of turning it into a business. It’s something I do for fun.

Ok that is it for this month, hope you found the article informative and entertaining! If you have any suggestions or comments feel free to email me at gamersdungeon.net@gmail.com.