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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.