Railroad Revolution, a game about the expanding railroad lines in the United States, puts the players in the shoes of people like Cornelius Vanderbilt and James Hill. To become the Vanderbilt of the cardboard United States you must use your resources wisely to build the most efficient line.
Augustus (or Rise of Augustus) is a light card drafting, set collection game with a twist. Designed by Paolo Mori, with excellent artwork from Vincent Dutrait. It also has something in common with your grandparents bingo evening, but don’t let that turn you off just yet.
I admit it, I love UK Games Expo. It’s almost right between the Essen SPIEL fairs, and has a completely different feel to it. It focuses a lot more on prototypes, seminars and gaming in general. I was happy to be going for the second time this year and I had a blast. So what did I do there, you might ask? What was my favourite game? And what games did I get my hands on? Well keep on reading and you might just find an answer to all those questions.
Kanagawa is a Japanese prefecture of the Greater Tokyo Area. In the early 19th century (late Edo period) master painter Katsushika Hokusai caught the beauty of this region in a series of landscape prints called “Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji”. “Under the wave off Kanagawa” is the most famous single image in this series.
Unlike other games, in Noch Mal! (also called Encore! and Keer op Keer!) there is no theme. You are not a city designer trying to best fill a city with buildings, or planning the best route to a vacation destination, or anything else for that matter. In Noch Mal! you are simply trying to fill all of the boxes in columns and of similar colours before the game end is triggered.
In 2016 the game I read and heard most about was Scythe. Designed by Jamey Stegmaier. It got a lot of attention and was at the top of quite a few best games of 2016 lists. So I was glad someone in my game group received his kickstarter edition and we got to play it. Let’s see if it deserves the hype.
Clank! is not only the name of the game it’s also one of the core elements of the game. In Clank! you play thieves sneaking into the dragon’s lair to steal the most valuable treasure. But beware if you make too much noise (Clank!) you’ll end up being lunch for the dragon.
Asger Harding Granerud is the designer behind the smash hits Flamme Rouge and 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis. He’s also a pretty great guy and a designer who I think will we’ll be seeing a lot more of the coming years. Let’s find out what makes him tick.
Bloodborne: The Card Game is a card game, as the title cleverly puts it, where you want to get the most blood echoes on the table, mainly by killing beasts. The others have the same goal. Will you heal up and bank your blood next turn? Or will you press your luck and hunt?
In The Networks you are the head of a fledgling television network and quite frankly you have nothing good to watch. Shows like “Get to Know Your Lower Colon” are the best you can offer, but you aspire to greatness and those aspirations will take you far in life … or at least in the game of The Networks.
Ice and Sky is my wife’s favourite game (and she doesn’t like a lot of games) and it’s a really interesting thematic and mechanical game. So how does it play and how much do I like it?
In Oceanos players are captains of a submarine exploring the deep blue sea. You will earn points by discovering coral reefs, collecting rare marine species and salvaging sunken treasures. Upgrades on your sub will facilitate your research. Meanwhile a minacious Kraken looms from the ocean’s depths. Can you escape its curse?
Bruno Faidutti is one of the legends in the boardgame industry. He has designed so many great games and a lot of my personal favourites (Mission: Red Planet and Citadels). If you want to know a little bit more about him then here is your chance.
Vinhos is my first Vital Lacerda game. As a eurogamer I had long wanted to try out a game from his hand. But for many reasons I had never gotten around to it. But when I got my hands on the Vinhos Deluxe Edition I couldn’t wait to get it to the table, anxious to find out if this heralded designer was something for me.