Author: Jason
La Cosa Nostra is an negotiation game with a mobster theme (which means plenty of gladhanding and backstabbing), designed by Johannes Sich and published by Quined Games. Right from the start, I have to admire the honesty of the rulebook. On the first page, it tell you that “La Cosa Nostra is not a friendly game. You have to be mean and malicious in order to win.” We’re not talking cutesy mean, either, such as in a “take that”-style game like Smash Up. If you manage to pull off an attack or betrayal at just the right time, you might…
Saving Time is a family-weight cooperative game for 1-4 players, designed by Richard Launius and Mark Zoghby and published by 8th Summit. When I see a game about time travel, I get mixed emotions. On the one hand, time travel! How cool is that? On the other hand, I’ve rarely seen time travel done well in a game. Still, hope springs eternal. In Saving Time, you play time agents from the future, tasked with protecting humanity from an alien assault on time itself! Players will move around the board, play cards to deal with immediate crises, and also gather clues…
Madness at Midnight is an area-control game in the Cthulhu-verse for 2-4 players, designed by Mads L. Brynnum and Richard Launius (surprise!), published by Mr. B Games. What, another Cthulhu game??? I’m starting to sense a trend… Just as in Fate of the Elder Gods, previously reviewed in this space, players in Madness at Midnight play cultists who compete for dark power (aka, victory points) so that they could summon their chosen ancient one. And just as in… well, every Cthulhu game I know… you’ll roll dice a whole lot in order to get there! However, Madness at Midnight distinguishes…
Tiny Epic Defenders: The Dark War is an expansion for Tiny Epic Defenders, designed by Scott Almes and published by Gamelyn Games. TED: The Dark War will launch on Kickstarter on Oct. 5th, 2017. All photos are from a prototype. The Dark War expansion to Tiny Epic Defenders offers content which integrates into the base game fairly seamlessly, such as new characters, Epic Foes, etc. Yes, that means more ITEMeeples!! (check out my review of the base game for more details on that one). In addition, The Dark War also adds an additional game mode in which characters face greater,…
Tiny Epic Defenders is a cooperative, “tower defense”-style game for 1-4 players, designed by Scott Almes and published by Gamelyn Games. It was originally released in 2015. A new edition of the game will launch, along with its expansion – The Dark War – on Oct. 5th, 2017. All photos are from a prototype. I am going to do this review in three parts, the first two of which I will present in this blog entry. First, I will cover my basic impressions of TED, 2015 edition. Then I will compare the first edition with the second edition, both in…
I was lucky enough to be a guest on the Board Game Design Lab podcast this past week. We talked about gamer learning styles, particularly focusing on how game designers and rules writers might possible make it easier for players to learn games. I meant to write a blog about all that in response to a thread I saw on BGG, complaining about how just need to read rules better: https://boardgamegeek.com/article/26629313#26629313. But then I thought, I’m a podcaster, let’s have a conversation! I reached out to one of my favorite podcasts, and Gabe took the bait. So, hope you guys enjoy!…
Hotshots is a cooperative firefighting game for 1-5 players, designed by Justin DeWitt and published by Fireside games. What, another firefighting game??? When will the market stop getting flooded with these? I kid, of course. There are a few other firefighter games out there, but only one of note – Flash Point: Fire Rescue. Both are fairly light, family-style games where players work cooperatively to manage fires, so comparisons are inevitable. As opposed to using action selection to fight building fires, though, Hotshots employs a “push your luck”, dice driven mechanism to fight forest fires. I don’t think it’s a…
Samurai Gardener is a filler, speed-based card game for 2-5 players, designed by Hisashi Hayashi and published by Osprey Games in 2017. It was released originally as Edo Yashiki in 2013. How many people out there like Spit? You know, the card game that’s a lot like regular Klondike solitaire, only it involves speedily and repeatedly slapping tables, cards, or someone’s hand on the way to victory? Have you ever wondered what Spit would look like with actual, modern game mechanisms? Well, wonder no more! Samurai Gardener takes the basic ‘speed’ mechanism of Spit and adds, among other things, a…
When I say I love to play thematic co-ops, I mean it! If a game snuck on this list that isn’t a co-op, then there’s probably some amazing, unique theme and/ or style that I really enjoyed. I made my serious plunge into modern board games on Feb. 2nd, 2014 (the day I ordered Pandemic from Amazon), so I don’t have a lot of older games on here. If people want to show me some awesome older games, especially ones with fun themes, hit me up! I added old games that used to eat my time at the bottom of…
Fate of the Elder Gods is a light-medium weight, tactical board game for 1-4 players, designed by Chris Kirkman, Darrell Lauder, and Richard Launius, and published through Greater Than Games’ Fabled Nexus line. *A big Thank You to Adam Harris, a cool dude in my game group, for letting me use his Kickstarter copy for this review. What? Another Cthulu game???? When it comes to big box Cthulu games, Fantasy Flight Games has conditioned many of us to expect a certain kind of experience – namely, a grand adventure soaked with theme, narrative, and LOTS of dice rolling! More often…