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Each month, some of Zatu Games' epic writing team share the latest on the board games they've been playing this month. They don't hold back, there's positives and negatives to give you all the information you need before picking up your next game! Here's what our team have been playing in June.
Tom - Mansions, Star Wars & Doctor Who
Having returned from the UKGE with heaps of new games, I had plenty to keep me occupied over the month of June.
Mansions of Madness has definitely taken over my past month in terms of board games. The immersive scenarios and fantastic themes have meant it has swiftly become one of my favourite games in my collection. If you haven’t played this yet, it's definitely one to try!
I finally got around to playing Star Wars: Rebellion. Being a massive Star Wars fan, this game really appealed to me and it was great to play out events from episodes 4-6. There are so many elements to this game and it can - at times - be a little overwhelming, but once you have played a few games, this is definitely a game to fill an evening!
Perhaps one of the standout games of 2017, Fog of Love stole the hearts of many gamers and I managed to play it over this month! My partner and I loved this game, enjoying playing out various different relationships and having the joy of a different outcome each time. The game mechanics are fantastic and it works so well!
The final game that has been a go to this month has been Doctor Who – Time of the Daleks. This game focuses on the doctors working to stop the Daleks from ridding the universe of the Doctors. My partner being a massive “Whovian” loved this game, with various different events all related to the show, being played out by your favourite doctor. The game isn’t necessarily to my taste, the copious amounts of dice you have to roll puts me off slightly, but if you are a Doctor Who fan, this is definitely a game to pick up. The theme of the game is expertly done with a generous amount of references to the series!
The Game Shelf – UK Games Expo Haul
At the start of June we were at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham where we had the opportunity to play or demo 26 different games! We’re not going to make a whole list, but here are a few games that have stuck with us during the aftermath that we are really enjoying.
- Albedo is a fantastic, innovative deck-building game from small publisher Kai Hebertz that we are really happy to have picked up at UKGE. The game has a few unique mechanisms that lead you into a game of blind bidding in addition to some standard deck-building and the choice of trimming your deck, adding to your deck or scoring points.
- Century: Eastern Wonders is the second in a three-box series, a sequel to Century: Spice Road. We’ve played Eastern Wonders on its own, but we have also played the game which mixes both boxes together and it’s our favourite way to play Century so far, mixing pick-up and deliver with the simple engine building into a really good game.
- Fairy Tile is a tile-laying game from Iello in which each player is working through a story book trying to place the prince, dragon and princess miniature in different spots on the board. Each card provides a different puzzle and it’s a really nice take on a tile-laying game that would make a great game for younger families.
- Iguazu is a new game from Haba in their family game line. Iguazu is probably the most complex Haba game we’ve played, but it’s still a good family game. The board is 3-D and really eye-catching with nice gem and water-drop components. The game is actually area control-like so I’m surprised that we enjoy it, but I think it’s just light enough for me.
Nick - North Sea Month
It’s been a North Sea month as I got the chance to play Raiders of the North Sea with the excellent Hall of Heroes expansion. I already like the base game despite it’s slow start, and the expansion absolutely fixes this small problem making it essential in my opinion. The expansion gives you access to resources and cards a lot quicker than the main game and gives you a lot more to aim for in terms of points. I will definitely be picking this up for myself at some point.
I also got the chance to play Explorers of the North Sea with the Rocks of Ruin expansion. This ticked a lot of boxes for me with tile laying, exploring, pick up and deliver, and slight area control elements. I really enjoyed this too, not least the little boats that fit your vikings and livestock in. It played a little long for my liking but I’m keen to try again.
Micropolis is a quasi cross between Kingdomino and Majesty for the Realm. Rather than building out your kingdom or filling your realms you are drafting tiles to build your ant hill. This is a great gateway game despite it’s many scoring methods. It's an easy teach, has fantastic components and the 20 minute play time make this a compelling little game.
Last mention is for Pot de Vin from Thundergryph Games. I volunteered for the company at the UKGE and got to learn all their games, but as a trick taking nerd this one grabbed me. Take the standard tricking taking shenanigans, add some super clever scoring that encourages you to risk it all to ‘shoot the moon’ in various ways and a ‘super trump’ mechanism and you have a lovely game wrapped in lovely art work from the same artists as The Bloody Inn.
Ben - The Mind, Yamatai and Some Great Two-Player Games
I got through a much larger number of new (to me) games than normal in June, which means that it was much harder than normal to narrow down the list of things to talk about!
That said, I don’t think I can start anywhere other than Spiel des Jahres 2018 nominee, The Mind, from breakthrough designer Wolfgang Warsch. This 2-4 player cooperative game has taken the tabletop world by storm with its simple but bizarre mechanics. Along with a number of different groups of people, I have sat in silence for long stretches as we’ve attempted to play cards numbered 1-100 in ascending order. There are a couple of other things to the game, but not much. It’s a strange and interesting experience; though, honestly, I’m not sure how long the novelty will last.
June also gave me the chance to play a game that I’ve had my eye on for a few months: Yamatai. This Japan-inspired eurogame from Bruno Cathala sees 2-4 players competing for the queen’s favour by sailing ships around the Yamatai archipelago to claim new territories with stunning buildings. In classic eurogame style, Yamatai has plenty of wooden pieces and cardboard tokens, all made in the high quality style that we now expect from Days of Wonder games. I’ve really enjoyed it so far and get the feeling that I’ve only scratched the surface. I’m sure that it’s one I’ll continue to enjoy for a long time to come.
Two other games I want to mention are both two-player games. One is a classic and the other is brand new, but they’re both excellent. Jaipur has been on a scene since 2009. It’s a fast-playing, set collection game that sees players trading in coloured cards for points scoring tokens. It’s incredibly easy to pick up and, though it has a lot of luck, also has a fair amount of strategy to keep it compelling.
The new two player game I enjoyed is one that I reviewed in June: Prowler’s Passage. I thought that this head to head token-claiming, road-laying game from J. Alex Kevern and Renegade Games is one of the best two-player-only games I’ve ever played. This game is all about strategy and planning, featuring a fantastic tug of war mechanic that sees players fighting to control different types of regions. It’s an abstract game packed full of excellent gameplay. I would recommend it to anyone.
Luke - Harvest Dice
The Good.........
A quaint little roll and write game from the UK Games Expo 2018 caught my attention. Technically it's not a new game, but I've been meaning to try it for a while in the hopes of finding a nice, zen-like filler game in this category that isn't too complicated or bland looking - sadly I've not been lucky in my search so far. Harvest Dice changes that. It's so simple, you simply roll dice and draft them, drawing little vegetables on your garden subject to restrictions such as the value of the die and being forced to keep your vegetables together.
As the game progresses you'll feed your cute little pig "Pip" to gain manipulation abilities and the values of each vegetable will be different in each game based on what die are left over each round.
It's pretty, it's dirt cheap, it's cheerful and perfectly suited for gateway/family gamers. This is my game of choice for the Roll & Write genre.
The Bad.....and I mean horrendously BAD...........
Oh my word, why do people like this game? I'll never understand it. It's a bunch of cards numbered 1-100. No artwork to speak of, no rules even. Just staring at each other blankly waiting for players to play cards. Downtime: The Game. Actually it's called The Mind and the fact that this is getting nominated for a Spiel Des Jahres award boggles my mind. What, were the other 10-20 great gateway games released in the last year not good enough?
Players talk of laughing their heads of while playing this. I'm bored out of my brain! You just sit and wait. One person may giggle now and again. You're not allowed to communicate other than apparently subtle body language, but at the end of the day it's all just guesswork. Guess who has the lowest card. Oh you had a 54, I had a 53, oh well sucks to be us. ARRGH! At least I can say I've played it now, and I hope never to ever, ever, EVER play it again! Avoid The Mind!