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Sam de Smith
It's been a right old mixed bag this month. The big hit is Bitoku, which was top of my wishlist and came at Xmas. It's a heavier weight game than we normally play, but actually surprisingly straightforward to get your head round. It's an interesting blend of dice-manipulation and worker placement, where you use your resources to become the new Great Spirit of the forest. Over 4 turns, you can summon increasingly powerful Yokai, build settlements, mine crystals, send pilgrims off on treks or to sacred stones, using your dice as worker/actions on the bottom half of the board, before moving them to the upper section for other rewards. It's surprisingly intuitive and great fun!
We've also been trying out Deadpool and X23 for Marvel Champions. It's a while since we tackled the NeXt Evolution campaign with Cable, Domino and Angel, and we found the new Player Side Scheme mechanic really interesting as it incentivises the long game (as you have to balance the risk/reward exactly where and when to Thwart) and generally raises the challenge of the game, which we very much approved of. X-23 really plays into this, but not in obvious ways. She's a slow-build aggro deck with a lot of healing and HP boost - very scary, synergised with Honey Badger as a unique ally (quite rightly) - particularly if you've worked towards the campaign achievement of starting with a card of choice from your deck in your hand (sisters!). I don't normally like Aggro decks (well, maybe Rocket) but she is really fun to play, very tactical; the new Assault keyword allowing you to thwart side-schemes with Attack is particularly interesting, and balances well with the potential for Villain's scheming you out early game.
Deadpool is of course absolutely ridiculous. I'd heard all the rumours flying around that he was OP - and he is, and it doesn't matter. He is hilarious to play, constantly getting killed and raising the stakes in the process. He is preposterous, totally meta (he can pull in cards from your collection, he has abilities that run off previous games you've played, he has a tic-tac-toe side game...) and WAY more fun than we expected. Go Pool!
Harvey Brewer
With Christmas now well and truly over, and the harsh reality of 2024 just beginning to hit, I’m looking back at some of the games that helped me see the new year in. I’d obviously been a good boy in 2023 as I was lucky enough to receive lots of new board games from the very generous and patient members of my family, and what better way to celebrate my fortune than talking about them here!
Hive - I was first introduced to this game last year at my local board game café, and I immediately fell in love! Hive is a game which seems very simple at surface level, but after a few rounds you’ll discover Hive’s unique and subtle depth with really sets it apart from other games. It is also easy to teach, which works great for me as I can whip it out at any occasion and get playing in minutes. Hive is truly a joy to play, and I’d recommend it to any board-gamer, experienced or otherwise. Gen42, I applaud you!
Watch - From the genius mind of Daniel Newman comes Watch – a race against time to steal documents and smuggle crates of ammunition to be declared ‘Held der Arbeiter’ – or hero of the workers. It took me a few plays to truly understand the game’s nuances and strategies, but I can say honestly that it was completely worth it – I love the game’s unique mechanics and the interesting player interactions. As a mainly two-player gamer, it’s always nice to see games thinking about their smaller audiences, and Watch does this well with an ‘Automa style’ third player that challenges you as if playing with a larger group. Watch is definitely one of my favourites!
Colt Express - Back from the programming-game heyday of the early 2010s, Colt Express has been a firm favourite in our household for many years! I simply adore the way it combines strategy with good old-fashioned luck; making for a varied and exciting game each time. It is always interesting to see different players’ strategies unfold as everyone picks their cards, and then how hilariously wrong everything can go when the story unfolds! As if there wasn’t enough to like about the game, the whole thing is played out on a tiny train – caboose, engine room and all – with deep west scenery to taste. What more is there to love?
Victor Rios Faria
January has been a busy and interesting month. Transitioning from the End of Year’s holidays with family to being back to studies has created a lot of variety in my recent plays.
It started with quick and easy games that adults and young children could play together in between one celebration and another. Sea Salt & Paper and Coloretto were constantly being picked up, with matches chained one after another. It was very interesting to observe how the younglings could create their own strategies in such games and adapt over time if they were not winning. For example, moving from an “I will pick all yellow chameleon cards no matter what comes with it” strategy to an “I will avoid a 4th colour at all costs” strategy. Even though one may argue that either is the most effective, it was still very interesting to observe their reasoning. Other games, like Veggies and Uno Flip, were also frequently played, but not as much.
After life started going back to normal, more complex, and competitive games started showing up. Terraforming Mars has been a favourite among my group recently, since it has been the most recent discovery to a few of them. Even though I have been familiar with it for at least 5 years, it is always enjoyable to play one of my favourites and see my friends consolidating their interest in the hobby through such games. Sometimes, we were in a chilling mood, and Equinox and Codenames fitted us well in such moments.
However, the highlight definitely was (the start of) my first-ever legacy experience. With three other friends, we started a Betrayal Legacy campaign not long ago and, so far, it has been a blast. I confess that even though dungeon crawlers are not my thing, the experience has been amazing! We cannot wait to finish the campaign and are very excited about the story that is being told through our play, along with all the laughs and memories we are building together.
Arnaldo Amaral
January was a busy month for us. We finally finished up our new board game room, tidied up the whole collection and managed to get a couple new games that I’m very excited to get to the table (Heat and The Crew: Mission Deep Sea). Despite all this, we still managed to play a few games with guests (got to put the game room to use!) as well as a few games as two players.
The first game to hit the table in the new room was Azul. With over 2 million copies sold and loads of reboots with different themes, chances are that you have either played it already or will very soon. Azul is an abstract tile drafting and pattern building game that plays amazingly at all counts and to this day the original is still my favourite.
After this, we played a couple of games of Onitama with the Sensei’s Path expansion. I have reviewed this expansion before and, as stated in that blog, I feel it is an absolute must have to give more variety to the game. Great abstract game again, for 2 players only, where you’re battling using specific martial art techniques to overcome your opponent. Almost feels like chess, which is a big plus for me!
We also played That’s Not a Hat with a couple of friends, a memory party game that’s bound to make amazing gaming “memories” (haha). It has kind of become a staple party game at our place because it’s just so simple and fun! We also played Paint the Roses together which is a co-op pattern recognition, deduction and tile placing game. The theme is very inviting and a good challenge to beat.
Lastly, we also played Carcassonne at two (no introduction needed I assume, an absolute classic), 7 Wonders Duel with the Agora expansion (my game of the month) and Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes!, two very strategic 2-player games that I highly recommend!