The thrill of a re-purposed bread bin knocking seven bells out of a Tupperware box with a knife, is hard to beat. While Prometheus Game Labs’ Micro Bots: Duel might not be quite as violent on your table, it’s a cheaper and easier option for 1v1 robot carnage
Cartolan puts you in the role of adventurers, seeking to explore the unknown world and open lucrative trade routes with the various ports and cities obscured by the fog of ignorance.
If this is your first game of this sort, there’s a good chance that’s the first thing you said. There’s a ton of stuff in the box. Physical props, flyers, a beer mat, police reports, CCTV stills, and a bag with a code on it.
Oooooooh, mysterious!
The Shores of Tripoli is a two-player, event-driven wargame from Fort Circle Games. It’s set on the Barbary coast of North Africa at the turn of the 19th Century, and it’s great.
Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest is not only as piratey as a middle-aged man in eyeliner, it’s a darn good game too.
The Guild of Merchant Explorers doesn’t just look like a fancy version of Kingdom Builder, it actually plays like one too.
Eleven surprised me. Eleven has shown me that it is possible to make a good game based around a sport, as long as it doesn’t try to directly mimic the sport itself.
Let me guess. You found your way here because you’re board-game-curious and heard that Obsession has a Pride and Prejudice / Jane Austen vibe. How am I doing so far?
If you found your way here as the result of looking for a review of Cuba Libre, there’s a good chance the question fuelling your Googling was: “Is this the best COIN game for a newbie to the series?”. The short answer is yes.
Shake That City is a tile-laying puzzle game with really light rules. The (very tenuous) theme has you choosing a series of tiles to make your own little city on your 5×5 grid boards. “But Adam, how am I – a lowly civil engineer – meant to choose which buildings and infrastructure go into my city?”. Don’t worry, friend, that’s where the cube shaker comes in.
