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Classified Information WBG Score: 7.5/10 Player Count: 2 You’ll like this if you like: Quick, simple cards games with a bit of deduction. Published by: IncrediQuest Games Designed by: Justin Gunnell This is a free review copy of the deluxe version. See our review policy here . Classified Information is a two-player deduction game that smashed its Kickstarter goal when it successfully funded, after being supported by over 500 backers. You can check that out here . It is now fulfilling to backers, and I have my hands on the deluxe version. It is an intriguing game for a few reasons. First, this is a micro game. 18 cards. That's it. That's all you need - and all you will play with each time. Second... BUT you get so much more! Well, in this deluxe set at least. Thee are three sets of 18 cards, plus loads more. Promos. Kickstarter exclusives. Sleeves. Bags to put it in. Different ways to track your games. Little mini components to make it more of a "game." It's a full-on production. And all for a micro game, remember. And lastly, it is a mix between deduction and hand management, in a game that lasts a few minutes. There is a lot packed into this. But does it deliver? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Classified Information First, you need to sort your deck. There are three decks in this deluxe set, as well as the promos and Kickstarter exclusives. You just need to make sure you have 18 cards, with two of each number: two number ones, two number threes, etc. You could simply take one of the pre-made decks, which would be my strong recommendation for game one. Now, deal each player three cards. This is technically an advanced variant, but I would do this from game one. From these three cards, each player chooses one to place face down in front of them as their Suitcase. This card only becomes important for the three-digit code at the bottom. The rest becomes irrelevant. The other two cards are kept as your starting hand. Then deal two cards straight to the Encrypt pile without either player seeing them. You can deal players cards one at a time to do this. One as their Suitcase, two as their hand, one straight to Encrypt. But I feel the game is better when you let players have a choice. Now, give each player a dry wipe pen and Cypher wheel, decide the starting player, and you are ready to begin. How To Play Classified Information Players will now take turns to draw one card and then play one card. Cards can be played in one of three ways. But before we get into that, a quick explanation of what is on the cards. First, on the top left, you will see a number. This is the card's number. Below this will be the card's Guild: Assassin, Guard, or Sentinel. There is then the main card art (for fun) and the card's ability in the text box. Then finally, at the bottom is the card's Code. OK, back to how you can play a card. You can Encrypt, Enlist, or annoyingly, not beginning with "E", Deploy. Surely, that could have been Engage, or something? To Encrypt, play a card into the Encrypt pile you started during setup. This simply means the other player will never see it, reducing the information they will have in the game. The second choice is to Enlist. In this way, the card is played based on the symbol shown on the top left of the card. The rest of the information becomes irrelevant. The symbol will show one of three things: either an Assassin's Dagger, a Guard's Shield, or a Sentinel's Guard and Dagger. The Guard can be played face down in front of your Suitcase. This card then protects your Suitcase against attacks at the end of the game, more on that later. You can play up to three Guards during the game. The Assassin can be played in an attempt to kill another player's previously played Guard. If the Assassins code shares any numbers with the targeted Guards code, the Guard is taken out of the game and discarded along with the Assassin. If there is no match, the attacked played must show the other player a random card from their hand. You always get something for an attempted attack. The Sentinel can be played as either a Guard or Assassin. The third choice is to deploy. This way, the card is played face up, and the card's ability is utilized. Read this out so both players understand, then follow what it says. This can be a range of things, but ultimately they are different ways for the attacking player to gain more information. When you have played a card, play moves to the next player. Continue like this until one player draws the final card from the deck. Finish that turn, then each player has one final turn so that they play one card from a choice of two, instead of the usual three. This will leave them with one card in their final hand, unplayed. This is their Final Card. Both players now reveal their Final Card, their Suitcase card, and any Guards still in the game. A few things can now happen. If a player has played a Final Card with a Card Number (the single number in the top left) that matches any of the three numbers in the other player's Suitcase bottom Code number, then a match has been found. However, if any of the Guards played by the defending player have Card Numbers that match the Final Card's Card Number, then the Final Card fails. Now, obviously both players have a final card, so it could be that both players succeed with their final card, or both fail. In case of a tie in either situation, the player with the most guards takes the victory. So, during the game, you are trying to eliminate certain cards and narrow down what the other player's Suitcase card can be. All the while, trying to hold onto the right card, or find it, that you want to have in your hand at the end to be your Final Card. This is what the Cypher is used for. Any time you see a card, either in your hand or played by your opponent, you can mark it off on the Cypher. If you then see that same number again, you can cross it off. There are only two of each number, so if you have seen both, then this number cannot be currently lying face down as your opponent's Suit case. During the game, try to eliminate as many possibilities as possible, find the right card to keep as your Final Card, and defend your Suitcase with the right Guards. Is It Fun? Classified Information Card Game Review For what is an 18-card micro game, this sure does pack a lot of punch. It feels like the designer got an idea for a game, made it, realised it was good, and so then spent the rest of the development time seeing how they could eek out every single thing this game could offer. Now, I am sure a part of that is to create a more "Kickstarter suitable" product, with add ons, and "Extras" - but of course, it is also about making the experience better. And, for me; it worked. When I play most 18-card games, they feel a little inconsequential. A bit throwaway. I love them, and have a lot, and play them regularly. But I have filed them in my "take to the pub" drawer. And I do, they come with me to all sorts of places. And I have a lot of fun with them when I play them. But this game comes in a big box, to hold all this extra stuff. And so simply cannot be filed with the rest of those games, so will potentially get played more often because of this ridiculous logistic of my own personal filing system! But it is more than this. When you play the game, the set-up, the extra little components, it all feels like a bigger game. Or at least, a bigger experience. It's still just 18 cards, and you only ever play a single card for one of three actions. And games are over quickly - around five minutes once two players are familiar with what's going on. And it all sets up and packs away in a few minutes. But that five minutes feels like you play a proper game. But, will you enjoy this game? I loved the first few games as I learned this. But then I started to find it very easy to figure out what the other player's Suitcase card was. Fine, there is one very simple way to set the difficulty of this game. When you do this, the game has to adjust for both players, so ideally players need to be closely matched. This is not about balancing two different experience level players, just about making the game shorter, and thus harder. All you need to do is deal more cards into the Encrypt pile to start with. This means there are fewer cards remaining in the game, fewer rounds, and less time and chance to identify your opponent's Suitcase card and find the right Final card. So, we played it like this for a few rounds. And it was harder to identify the other player's Suitcase, but the game was also too short, and it was down to chance about getting the right card in your hand as your Final Card now more than ever. This was a frustration for me. I want the full game. The full length, with two cards in the Encrypt pile to start with, and the chance to play the maximum rounds to feel like a proper game happens, and get the right Final Card. This chance is fun. But it is too easy. The game fixes this by creating more problems, reducing the game to become too short, and without the right amount of time or turns to get the right winning hand. I am playing devil's advocate here a little, and talking in extremes. The game is very short to start with, and a few rounds removed by extra cards in the Encrypt pile is not a massive swing in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't affect the game length that much. But it feels significant. And as much as I want to adore this game, as it ticks so many boxes for me, I end up simply liking it. I spoke to the designer about this point, and they said, "As a tip if you don’t want to reduce the game length but want to increase the difficulty you should focus on a custom deck where the cards are more limited in their elimination power. For example “Peek” is the most narrow #1  card and you could use other numbers that provide less information when used." They also highlighted that there are also cards in the stretch goals that add alternative win conditions. "So when you have to focus on the potential your opponent may win the game another way- it also increases the difficulty of the game." I would still recommend it, but perhaps more as what it is: a small 18-card micro game. One to take out with you. The three decks come in separate deck holders, perfect to take with you. They fold out to show the full rules, and this really is all you need. You can use a pen and paper or phone to take notes instead of the pen and cipher card, and the suitcase mini components are lovely, but not needed. Maybe I will move this to my portable game shelf after all, and give it the home it deserves. This game feels like a bigger game. But it isn't. And if you consider it like that, it may disappoint. If you think of this as an 18-card micro game, you may well just love it.

The Fog WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: A bit if tension, strategy, and take-that in your games. Published by: XOLLOX Games Designed by: Robert Müller-Reinwarth This is a free review DELUXE copy. See our review policy here The Fog first came to my attention at Essen 2021. I was then lucky enough to receive an early prototype copy that I featured here . I was then involved in the process of tidying up the English version of the rulebook, helping in part with the proof reading process. So, for full disclosure, I do feel a tiny (unpaid) part of this process. Although, I would not let that affect my review, and for me, all it proves is I thought this game was amazing from the start. I am not going to offer my free support and help to a dud! So, with that said, let's get it to the table and see how it plays. How To Set Up The Fog Choose a Beach (you have two choices on either side of the board) and place it in the middle of the table. The side you choose will affect the length of the game. Then fill the top half of the board. For a standard or "Flex" game of 2-4 players, take six water Tiles A1 to A6 and place them above the Beach in order left to right. The Flex offers an alternative setup suitable for you when you have played a few more times. There are also various set ups for larger and longer games. Next, take the four Boat Scoring tokens and drop them onto the table from your hand to randomise the values (they are double sided). Then place them in descending order - the highest at the top - on the fields A to D on the top left of the main board. The, place the Preparation Bonus tokens, stacked and face-up, onto the boats of matching colour to the tokens - ensuing the highest value is on the top. Each player now takes one seven point Movement Point Track and one Player Aid, as well as two Player Markers (one of which is placed onto the movement track onto space 7), two Counters (placed onto the zero spaces on the rescue points track), and Player Discs (according to the player count and game size as shown in the rule book) in your chosen player colour. Next place the grey FOG Marker on the FOG Track of the Board according to the number of players. Assemble the 3D Wall of FOG and place it beneath the Board. Now, select the Turn Board according to the number of players and place it next to the Board. Next, place the beige Turn Marker on the top left space and the Starting Player now places their Player Marker on the top round one field. Moving clockwise, the others then place their Markers on the next fields (alternating, if players play more than one colour). Now, for a short or Flex game, take 15 Obstacles and all 32 Islanders in the colours blue, green and red. For a three-Player-Game, remove one red, one blue, and one Sailor Islander token. For a Medium game, take 22 Obstacles and all 46 Islanders of the matching boat colours used on that game. For a two or four player game, remove one red and one blue Sailor. For a three or five player game, remove just one red Sailor. For a large game take 28 Obstacles and all 60 Islanders. Place the Obstacles you took randomly in each beach row from A to J on the bottom half of the board showing the beach area – starting with A (the Obstacle type does not matter). Ensure that no more than three Obstacles are placed adjacently to each other or the Woods. And in row J, make sure that no Obstacle is allowed next to the Woods at all! Also, make sure that a maximum of two Obstacles are next to one another. Now, place the Islanders randomly in the beach rows A-I (starting with A). Leave in each row as many empty hexes (spaces) as stated on the right of each row. The game is now ready to start! How To Play The Fog Players will now take it in turns to place one of their coloured bases underneath one of the Islander tokens claiming it as their own. Place one base under any token, then play moves to the next player. Keep doing this in turn until all Islanders are claimed. Then move to the second phase where you will move your Islanders forwards towards the boat, in an attempt to escape the advancing fog. Players will do this in turn, using the seven movement points, to advance their Islanders forward and onto the boats. When you make it onto a boat, you can take one of the tokens above it into your possession for end game scoring. If the color of the boat matches your Islander, then you will gain additional points. Their positions on the boat also score you various points as determined by the boat scoring tokens added during setup. You will score negative points for any Islander trapped on the island still, based on the row they got stuck on. There are six main ways to move, as detailed on your player board. They each cost a different amount of movement points. You will drop your movement token down the required amount each time you use one. The top left movement is a simple movement in any direction for one movement point. The one below allows you to swap places with any Islanders next to it for three movement points. But this only costs one point if done on the shore. You can also push up to two other Islanders forward one spot for three movement points, so long as there is a space at the front of the line to move all the displaced Islanders into. This costs just two points if the Islander you are doing this with has the push power, as shown on the bottom of the Islander token itself. Below this, we have the Jump power. This costs three points, two if you have the Jump power. This allows you to jump over other Islanders, one space. The one to the right is the same but for clearing obstacles on the beach. This is four points, two if you have the power. Above this is the Squeeze function, which lets you slip between two other Islanders and move into the space in front of them. This also uses four points, or just two if you have this specialty. Then on the penultimate column on the right, it shows the power of the Islanders with a three marked on them. They can do the four movement point actions for just three movement points, and below it shows that the Islander with the plus one can add one extra movement after any movement action, so long as there is space for this. Finally, on the right, it shows the movement rules when on the shore and finally on the boat. Ultimately, you can now move horizontally as well as forwards, but not off the boat into the water. Each time you have your turn, you must move the token on the board above. When it reaches a green space, this means the fog advances one space. You will have a second turn, then play moves to the next player. So, every few turns you will have two goes in a row. If the fog advances onto a row with Islanders still present, flip them upside down. They are lost to the fog, can no longer be moved, and will score negative points to their owner based on the row they got to. This can be a game changer, so watch out for this. It is easy for rear Islanders to get stuck behind other Islanders, caught in a bottleneck, if you don't move the ones at the front early, then clear space for the ones in the back to move into. Although, players can do this on purpose to block other players. It makes the selection process of Islanders in the first phase crucial to doing well in the game. When the Islanders make it to the boats, and their final resting spot, they will stay there until the end of the game. The game ends when the fog reaches the shoreline. Players will then tally their points for all Islanders who made it to the boats, and any Islanders who got left behind. There is a variant where you can play with sand timers to speed up your turns, representing the impending doom the Islanders feel from the oncoming fog, and multiple other ways to manipulate and adjust the game according to the desired difficulty or length you desire. Is It Fun? The Fog: Escape From Paradise Board Game Review I absolutely adore this game. From the moment I first set it up, I was struck by how polished and well-produced it is, reflecting a high level of craftsmanship that is evident in every component. This has come from a first-time independent designer, but clearly one who has put a lot of hard work and thought into the balance of the game. The artwork is vibrant and engaging, drawing players into the world it creates, while the quality of the materials used adds to the overall experience, (although I must add I have the upgraded components in this deluxe edition) making it feel substantial and durable. Each session delivers a tense, strategic, and thoroughly enjoyable experience every time I manage to gather friends and family around the table to play. The gameplay is fast-paced yet thoughtful, striking a perfect balance that keeps players engaged without feeling rushed. Each turn is filled with anticipation and excitement, as players must navigate their decisions carefully. But of course, if you want to feel rushed and stressed add in the sand timers and play in real-time. Try it once, it is so tense! And this game is quite tense normally, but remains enjoyable, creating an atmosphere that encourages friendly competition, and the odd moment of take-that if you are so inclined. The decisions players face are compelling and multifaceted, allowing for great choices to be made at every turn. As players work to sort out their own Islanders, they must also keep a keen eye on the actions of their opponents. This adds an extra layer of strategy as you not only focus on your own game plan but also consider how to block other players’ Islanders from achieving their goals. Or, note how other players may be planning to block you! The interplay between offense and defence creates a dynamic that keeps everyone on their toes, making each game feel fresh and unpredictable. Moreover, there are numerous interesting ways to score points, which adds depth to the strategy. Players are constantly weighing their options: do you go for the nearest boat with your Islanders, hoping to secure quick points and the bonuses for getting onto a boat first, or do you take the risk and aim to get them onto a boat of a matching colour, and higher up the boat, for potentially higher rewards? This decision-making process is both engaging and thought-provoking, as it forces players to consider their immediate needs against long-term goals. Weighing up what other players are potentially trying to do, assessing the positions of their Islanders to those owned by the other players in the every changing board. The variety in scoring methods, variable board setup, size, and game length ensures that no two games are ever the same, as different strategies may emerge based on the players’ choices and the unfolding game state. This rich tapestry of options makes the game endlessly replayable and keeps it exciting, as you can experiment with different approaches each time you play. Ultimately, this combination of polished design, strategic depth, and engaging gameplay makes it a standout experience that I truly cherish. I am certainly biased from my own minuscule involvement in the game, but I know what I like, and I like this game. As I said at the start, I only offered my assistance as I enjoyed the game to start with. And now, with this beautiful finished copy, I am delighted to have played a small part as I adore this game. That said, the part I played proofreading the UK editions of the rules, though I have seen no typos or grammatical errors, the flow is a little tricky! The wording could be a little more clear for setup. And the layout and flow can make it read like a textbook in parts, I regret that! But get past that and there is a great game waiting for you. I love games with more than one part to them. The selection of Islanders can feel futile for your first game, picking the ones at the front with not much more thought. But then you will consider the pathway available to the Islanders at the back in later games, and perhaps start going for these first. You need a good mix at all stages of the board. Enough at the back to control the pathway for those in the middle so that those at the back do not become trapped. But you also need to consider the colors, and their position on the island to their respective boats, as well as their powers, and how useful they could be. It's all well and good getting an Islander that can jump over obstacles, but maybe due to the random setup, they have no obstacles in their way. There is a lot to think about and the more you play, the more you will see. It makes the game feel so layered, nuanced, and full of great, interesting strategic decisions. I would recommend this game to anyone looking for something a little different, but that offers a meaningful gaming experience. The game plays quickly. Around an hour, I find, is the average. Although, you can control game length a lot with your choice during setup. The rules are surprisingly light, but the choices in the game are deep and meaningful. If that sounds good to you, give it a go. And let me know if you see any typos in the rule book. In fact, please don't!

Factory 42 WBG Score: 8.5/10 Player Count: 2-5 You’ll like this if you like: Biege euros with cubes! Published by: Dragon Dawn Productions Designed by: Ren Multamäki This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . I love a crunchy beige euro where you move cubes about. So, when I saw Factory 42 from Dragon Dawn Production, a publisher with whom I am more used to trick-taking cards games with a twist, I was very excited. I have covered a fair few of their games here , but this is the first game from Dragon Dawn I would consider a Board game over a card game. I was excited to see what sort of game designer Ren Multamäki would bring to the table with more component options. I thought some of the ideas and mechanics behind the cards games were genius! So, without further ado, let's get Factory 42 to the table, and see how it plays. How To Set Up Factory 42 There are two ways to play this game. The rules suggest you start with the basic one, which I fully agree with! And then after game one or two, move over to the full game. Pick the right board for you, and you will quickly tell the difference, and place this face up in the middle of the table. Place the Supply board next to this, and fill each space up with the different coloured cubes. You will notice there are three sizes of cubes. The resources are ordered in value, and the size matters. The smallest cubes represent the cheapest resources: Flax (rope), Steel, and Lichen. Then you have the middle-sized cubes for Wood, Copper, and Mushroom. And then the larger cubes for Marble, Gold, and Beer. Finally, you have two special cubes for coal and Magic. Place them all in their space on the Supply board. Place the Steam tokens and Rosettes next to this. Now, place the cube tower, known in the game as the Bureaucracy Tower, next to the main board. You will need to assemble this if it is your first game. The game comes with excellent instructions for this. The tower needs to be loaded for the first round. You will do this by adding two of each resource into the top. Not all will fall out, the tower will hold some back. But what falls out now is the current Common Pool. Known in the game as CP. You will also need to make the Rail Carts if this is your first game, and you don't have the upgraded components. Note, there will be extra parts for this, you just need six for a game. Place these out by the main board. Next, give each player their own player board (again being sure to pick the right side for the version of the game you are playing) and Worker meeples in their chosen colour, along with their score disc, which each player places onto the starting zero space on the score track on the main board. For a two or three player game, each player has seven workers. For a four or five player game, you will have six each. Then take the small bag known as the Spiking bag. Add to this, one Marble, one Gold, one Beer, and one Magic cube. Then add two of every other resource. Place this by the main board. Finally, take the cards and shuffle them in their separate decks. For the basic game, simply place the Government Order, Market, and Event cards into three separate piles. If you are playing the full game, add in the Invention and Elven Commission cards too. With these extra cards you will also need the Operations tokens. Randomly assign the first player marker and you are now ready to begin. How To Play Factory 42 The game follows a very simple four stage process across six rounds. However, the game will end before this if someone reaches the top of the score track. To start, the starting player will draw cards for this round. Simply take the top event card and place it into the space on the left side of the board. Read it out loud and follow its instructions. This will amend one rule slightly for this round, or give resources, etc. Next, do the same with the Market card, and place this face up in the market space on the right of the board. This will set the process for buying and selling resources this round. Then, flip Government Order cards over, set to the number of players in the game. In subsequent rounds, simply replace any completed cards, and add a Rosettes to any card remaining from a previous round. Place these below the main board for all to see. Some will show a Government Allocation of extra resources on the top of the card. If this is the case, gather the shown resources, and add them to the Common Pool in the Bureaucracy Tower. If you are playing the full game, draw three Invention cards and place them face up next to the board, replacing any remaining from a previous round. Then, move onto the second phase, where all players, starting with the first player, will place one of their workers at a time into any of the spaces for Workers on the main board or their own player board. There are eleven locations in the basic game, fourteen in the full game. When all workers are placed, move to the third and main phase where all workers will activate. In the third phase, Resolve Locations, you will go through each location in numerical order. Starting with the first placed Worker in the first location, and continuing through all locations in order until all workers have been activated. Let's briefly go through each location to give you a flavour. Note, some locations have a spot for a Commissar, where the worker placed here gets different actions. I will cover this too. Requisition: This is where you can add additional resources from the supply into the Common Pool. Place the first worker here in the top spot, and any additional ones below, or into the bottom Commissar spot. You will note the figures on the board show you how many resources you can move here. The first column shows you how many resource points you have to move resources into the common pool. The small resources cost one resource point, the middle-sized cubes cost two, and the larger ones cost three. The Coal costs four points. The Magic cannot be bought. Note, the first player also gains a Rosettes. Then, the final column shows how many resource points you have to move resources onto your own player board. To start, you have space to house four cubes, shown on the bottom space in your Warehouse. But later you will have space for more if you upgrade your board. The Commissar also gains one Rosettes, and then has resource points to the value of each other worker there times two, plus two, for the CP, and one for each worker for their Warehouse. Bureaucracy: This stage happens every round, no workers are placed here. The start player takes all the resources in the CP, drops them into the tower, so forming a new CP for this round. Remember, not all resources will drop out. Some will get stuck. So, what you added in the Requisition round may not now be there for this round. But some extra you did not expect may now appear. Loading: This is how you can start to move resources from the CP to your own player mat. Note, I said "Start". In order, Workers placed here can add one to four resources from the CP into empty Rail Carts. Then place the Rail Cart onto the top space by this area, and roll it down to the bottom space. If the Commissar is present, then all players must place two to five, instead of one to four. The Commissar also gains a Rosettes. Spiking: This is another way to add extra resources into the rail carts. All workers here will draw three cubes from the spiking bag, plus one extra for every worker present. They can then choose to add two cubes into any rail cart. If the Commissar is present, they can choose any four resources from the supply to add to the spiking bag first. The final worker to spike the carts will add all unused resources back into the spiking bag along with one extra flak and lichen resource. As such, the bag gets a little worse each time you do this, unless the Commissar works their magic each time. An interesting part of this act is the size of the cubes. If you want something specific, and you always will, you can try to feel for the three different sizes of cubes inside this tiny bag to increase your chances of getting what you want. It's a funny little somewhat lucked-based mini-game within a larger, more strategic euro, that adds some laughter, mystery, but also dexterity based skill. Shipping: Ok, now the Rail carts can be added to the players board, the final stage of the process of getting resources. Each Worker here can choose one of the two bottom carts and add them to their own player board, or another players if they want to deliver useless goods to them! When delivering carts, you must place in one of the two spaces for carts on the player boards. Note, that each space can be used for different things on the player boards. When you move a Rail cart off the main board, roll all other carts down one space. If the Commissar is here, they can pick one player that can ship both bottom two carts. Steam Generation: All manufacturing you need to do, well most, needs steam. To generate steam, place workers here. The first worker will take all burnable resources from the CP: Lichen, Wood, Mushroom, Flax, and Coal; and turn them into steam. The Coal generates three steam, the Wood and Mushroom generate two each, and the Flax and Lichen generate one. Move the steam token up the appropriate number of spaces and return all burned resources back to the supply. If the steam track reaches 15, a rupture occurs and the token must move back to the eighth spot. Extra steam can no longer be generated this round. The first player can then burn any items from their own supply, as long as a rupture did not take place. They then take one Rosette. The second player can then burn any additional items from their own supply, taking two Rosettes. The third player, if there, takes three Rosettes, and again can burn additional items if a rupture didn't occur. Operate: This only occurs in the full game and is located on the full side of the player boards. This is where any player who placed a worker here can operate any previously filled research Invention cards, so long as they can pay the cost. Some Inventions require Steam, and some have limited uses. This cannot happen in the first round as players wont have any cards yet. Inventor's Guild: Again, this only occurs in the full game. Any Commissar gains one magic for each Worker here this turn. Magic is hard to get, so this is very juicy! But if you go here early as a Commissar, other players may avoid placing workers there. Equally, if you place workers here first, will other players then jump to place a Commissar. It can be a bit of a stand off. Workers placed here can spend steam to take one of the face up Invention cards. The first worker must spend one Steam, the second two, the third three. Elvin Embassy: This also only occurs in the full game. Any workers placed here must spend one Rosettes to draw two Elven Commission cards. They will keep one face down in front of them until they manufacture it, and discard the other. Any Commissar placed here must also spend a Rosettes, but then gains one Magic for each worker here that spends a Rosettes. Trading: Here, players can sell resources from their Warehouse for the shown costs on that rounds Market card, and then buy other resources for the cost shown on the same card. Research: Workers on your player board placed here can spend resources from your own supply to make one of four upgrades. The crane lets you use any dock to perform any action on later turns. You can take resources from either rail cart whenever you perform any other action using resources from your player board. The incinerator lets you generate your own steam, rather than relying on the general steam supply, burning rosettes for two steam, or coal for one. You can also build a small or large expansion to hold more resources in your warehouse. In the full game, this is also how you build your inventions, spending the required resources and rosettes to flip the cards face up to be used in later rounds. Any commissar placed here will gain you one magic or a point in exchange for two rosettes, as well as providing you with one additional magic to be used for research this round. Manufacturium 1: This is where you can use any previously gained resources in your Warehouse, or Dock one (or Dock two if you have the Crane) to produce any of the Government Order goods currently on display. Each good will have three levels to which you can make it. All levels count as a full completion, and you will add your Worker from this Manufacturium space to the card to show you have made it. But each level will offer different instant rewards, generally Rosettes. All players can complete any Order, no matter if other players, or themselves, have already made it. Magic can be used as a wild resource for any required resource, including Steam. Each card will show its Steam requirement at the bottom. Some are zero. You must spend that Steam, dropping the Steam token down the required amount. If there is no Steam, you can use your own Incinerator if you have one. If not, you cannot complete that order. In the full game, you can also complete the Elven Commissions here. When completed, flip it face up and add the required amount of Operation tokens to the card, to show how many uses it can have. Accounting: Workers here can spend Rosettes or Resources to gain points. A Commissar placed here will receive one resource from every Worker here that wants to take an action. Manufacturium 2: This is a second opportunity to complete Government orders and Elven Commissions. Now using the resources in Dock two. At the end of the round, players will score two points for each completed unique order. The player who completed the most orders gains an additional rosette. Any order not completed stays for the next round, and all players must pay a price of either one point or two rosettes for not completing them all. Play then moves to the fourth and final phase, where you first check to see if any player has reached the 42nd spot on the score track. If so, the game ends. If not, add one Rosette onto all uncompleted Government Orders. This will be collected by the first player to complete it in any subsequent round. Any completed order is removed and replaced with a new card in the next round. All players retrieve all of their workers, including any that became Commissars. Any empty Rail carts are returned to the general supply. Any carts still with resources on a player's board can be returned or kept. Players can move them to the other Dock if they wish or unload the goods inside to their Warehouse. The starting token moves around one position clockwise, and the next round begins. At the end of the game, players will receive one point for each three Rosettes they have, one point for the player with the most remaining resources in their Warehouse, and one point is given to the player with the most improvements to their player board. One for all if more than one player has built them all. Then, in the full game, each player gains a point for any unresearched Invention cards they have in their possession. The player with the most Elven Commission cards gains one point. And a final point is given to the player with the most researched Inventions. Ties are broken by remaining Rosettes. Most points wins. Is It Fun? Factory 42 Board Game Review This is euro cube gaming perfection. A meticulously designed board game that masterfully combines strategy with resource management. The process you go through as you play, navigating the various steps each round, is not only clever but also deeply engaging and rewarding. Each turn presents players with a series of decisions that require thoughtful consideration and strategic foresight. You need to plan ahead, carefully analysing not just your current position but also anticipating future moves of both the other players, and what you need to do. This is worker placement after all, and each area is limited in terms of how many workers go there. And the order they are placed is also very important. This foresight is crucial as you think about what you will need to complete certain actions effectively. It will feel like with six or seven workers you will have ample choice, but each decision impacts your overall strategy and success in the game. No two rounds feel the same, as the dynamic nature of the game keeps you on your toes. Moreover, managing your resources carefully is essential to achieving maximum efficiency. You must balance short-term gains with long-term goals, ensuring that you are not only reacting to the current state of the game but also setting yourself up for future success. This requires a keen understanding of the game mechanics and how they relate to one another, as well as an ability to adapt your strategy based on the actions of your opponents. Game one therefore may not be the best as you learn the process. I would guess why the designer created a more basic version for your first sit-down with this game. But as you learn how to structure your turns and the order things can be best achieved in, fans of euro games will fall in love. If you enjoy that sort of planning and management, then you will undoubtedly enjoy this game. The satisfaction that comes from executing a well-thought-out plan, seeing your resources come to fruition, and outmanoeuvring your opponents is wonderful. Each session offers a new opportunity to refine your strategies, explore different paths to victory, and engage in a delightful mental challenge that keeps you coming back for more. The depth of gameplay combined with the elegant simplicity of its mechanics makes it a standout experience in the realm of euro-style board games. The theme won't be for everyone. It has a Russian/Marxist style to the text. I can see this putting some people off. The art style is a little bland; it is all very beige. And the teach is not the easiest I have found. It takes some time, and people have a lot of questions. And then the actual game length may be too much for some, especially for people's first games as they learn the strategy and each turn takes longer than usual. But get through all that, and there is a gem of a Euro game here. Another complaint I can see people having is the lack of negotiation, for a game marketed as a worker placement game with negotiation. You can, of course, do this. Make deals with people to put the right resources into the CP when they are requisitioning. But it's up to each player, and I find resources tend to be quite tight, and you need to look after yourself, so helping others is not easy, even for the promise of returned favours. I don't hate the fact that negotiation is there, but I tend not to get involved too much and barely mention it in the teach now. What I love most are the moments when you meticulously plan every detail and gather the right resources into the Central Pool (CP). You then get these chosen resources loaded and shipped in a Rail Cart of your choice, which adds an exciting logistical element to the game as other players may be trying to do the same. The selection of the Rail Cart is crucial, as different carts can offer varying loads, making your shipping strategy a vital part of your overall plan. Other players may have deliberately made other carts terrible, and you may not always get the one you need. But get this right, and this strategic preparation allows you to execute two manufacturing phases seamlessly. Moreover, successfully upgrading your player board during the Research phase is a pivotal moment. This upgrade not only signifies progress, potentially earning more points at the end of the game, but also opens up new possibilities for your gameplay, enhancing your capabilities and providing you with additional avenues to explore in subsequent turns. Being master of your own steam is crucial. And having flexibility with the crane to use either dock makes a huge difference. When everything aligns perfectly like this—when your planning, resource gathering, and execution come together in a harmonious flow—the satisfaction in games like this is unparalleled. You find yourself scoring significantly more points as a direct result of your strategic foresight and execution. The feeling of accomplishment that comes with these moments is absolutely fantastic. It’s a blend of joy and exhilaration, knowing that your hard work and strategic thinking have paid off. These moments are what make the game not just enjoyable, but truly rewarding, as they highlight the beauty of strategic play and the thrill of achieving your goals in such a carefully made game. If you like euros that give you the chance to have this feeling, Factory 42 may well be for you. Oh, and I must add, look how neatly it all packs away. Satisfying.

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components may change in the final game. You can follow the crowdfunding page here . The pictures used here are from the Kickstarter page. I don't cover many print-and-plays anymore because I just don't have the time to make them. The demands of daily life, work commitments, and other responsibilities often leave little room for the leisurely pursuit of creating and testing new games. However, this particular print-and-play game stands out from the crowd and is an exception to my usual routine. The beauty of this game lies in its simplicity and ease of setup; it takes only a matter of minutes to get started. All you need to do is print a few sheets out, cut them along the designated lines, and you're ready to dive into the gameplay. There's no extensive preparation or complicated assembly required, which is a refreshing change for anyone who has experienced the often time-consuming nature of other print-and-play games. This accessibility makes it an ideal choice for those who are short on time but still crave the enjoyment and excitement that comes from engaging in a fun gaming experience that cost a few quid and can be access in minutes. No delivery times or waiting for a parcel here. Just download the files and print! But what truly sets this game apart is not just its quick setup; it's the sheer brilliance of the gameplay itself! Want to know why? Well, read on. The mechanics are cleverly designed to provide a balance of strategy and chance, ensuring that every session is unique and engaging. The interactions between players are dynamic, fostering a competitive yet friendly atmosphere. The game also encourages creativity and critical thinking, making it not only entertaining but also mentally stimulating. Furthermore, I love theme of the game. It is captivating and draws players in right from the start. The game works quite simply. There is a Super volcano in the middle of the main sheet. Place this down for all to see along with the second sheet, the Super volcano sheet! Then give each player their own Settlement sheet along with a pencil, rubber, and coloured pencil of their choice. You will also need three D6 for the table. Players will now all choose their starting location: any City, Town, or Village on the map. Draw a line in your colour from the chosen settlement, arrowing into a nearby forest. Then colour in all six segments in that forest. This forest area is your starting power plant. You own this, and it will generate power for you for the rest of the game. The main map is broken down into two or three areas, depending on player count. You will see on the main sheet and your own player sheet that the power generated by your power plant will depend on what area it is in: either three, five, or six. All players now must allocate their workers or civilians based on their starting settlement. If they chose a Village they get just one . A Town generates three. A city generates five. This is marked on the corner of the main map sheet. Depending on what your choice was, mark this many workers or civilians off on the top line of you player sheet. This is your starting settlement, and you can have a total of five workers and five civilians in any one location. Markoff your choice now. Players will now take turns to count their total number of workers and mark this on their player sheet. They can then take that many turns on the main board. One turn allows you to either mark a line joining one area you are in to another, or come out of an area you are in by marking a second line on that area, moving in the direction you want to go, creating a path. The green areas cost one point, the yellow hill areas cost two, and the red mountain areas cost three, as shown on the main map sheet. You can also use your action points to build a new power plant. Instead of drawing a line on a forest space, fill the entire area with your player colour instead. Then, when all six areas are full, this becomes your power plant. However, other players can sabotage this! When you have used all your action points, then work out your total Thermos production from your completed power plants. This may well be just the power plant you built during setup for round one; it is hard to build another in turn one. Then work out the total amount of your population based on your Civilians. You will then score the total amount of your population that has been catered for by your current Thermos production. Mark this on your player sheet. This will again start slow, but ramp up fast! Then turn to the Volcano sheet and check off the required Thermos level for your round. In round one, this is zero, so you will be fine. Again, this ramps up fast! If in later rounds you do not meet the round's requirement, you need to mark off the next level in the player level area and roll the required amount of dice for that level. Then check your roll against the area on the right. You may start to lose your civilians if this goes wrong! You can now move over one Civilian to a Worker or vice-versa if you wish, before you move the first player token one space clockwise and start another round. You will complete six full rounds, and then one final seventh where you stop after the scoring phase. The whole process is incredibly simple, a very smooth process, a dream to teach and play, but is full of very interesting choices, a varied strategy, and a surprising amount of depth. The scoring really ramps up as various areas of the game exponentially quicken, in what is a very enjoyable print-and-play experience. I am delighted I went to the trouble of hitting print three times! I love games where things develop fast. Where you go from one, to three, to twelve, to a hundred! This game seems to do that in multiple areas, and fast! And it is delightful. It keeps you on your toes, makes you stay focused, and makes every decision feel meaningful. The game works brilliantly in solo, co-op, or in a higher player count competitive game. The early rounds, you can breeze through and pretty much play simultaneously, as long as players do not build their opening settlements right next to each other. So, you will fly through the first half of the game. Then, when everyone is a little developed and starting to form their strategy, the game will slow a little as players start to invade each other's space, and build power lines where other players were hoping to build their own, or worse, complete their own power plants. It becomes a bit of a race, as well as a bit of a push-your-luck experience, all combined with a fairly strategic area majority network building game. All in a game that you can fly through and access for less than a fiver! Well worth checking out.

Murder On The Moon WBG Score: 8/10 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Feeling smart about yourself! Published by:   Joe Mills (I) , Tristan Rogers , Dan Wiseman Designed by:   The Detective Society This is a free review copy. See our review policy here . This will be a SPOILER FREE review We recently reviewed the prequal to this game, Countdown to Chaos. You can check that out here . Our thoughts were that it was a brilliant execution of this style of game, but perhaps a little pricey for what you get. But, if you enjoy these experiences, then definitely one of the better options and well worth the money. Well, that game was but a small appetizer for the main course. The chaos that game set up is now well and truly upon us. But does it deliver a more substantial, value-for-money experience? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Murder On The Moon Get a piece of paper and pen to take notes, and make sure you have a device that can get online to hand. A phone, tablet or laptop will all work just fine. Open the first envelope marked "Case 1"and take out all the components. Find the letter with the QR code and read this. You are now ready to start. How To Play Murder On The Moon The objective of the game is to unravel a mystery as you progress through the three cases. They are all linked to the same mystery, and tell a story over the course of the game. You can play over three separate settings, or one big marathon experience. Each one takes around 1-3 hours, depending on your play style. The initial letter provides everything you need to begin and directs you to an online portal where you can "interact" with a character from the story. On this platform, you can also request assistance and obtain clues if you find yourself stuck, which is useful if you encounter difficulties. The clues don't simply give you an answer, but prod you in the right direction. But you can keep asking for more and more help on the same thing if you need it, so you won't ever get fully stuck. During each case you'll encounter approximately five main segments, combining online and physical clues, that you must assemble, decipher, and work out to discover the final answer. You'll input answers into the online portal, which will guide you to the next part of the puzzle. This looks like this. This is right at the beginning, so don't worry, no spoilers here. Work your way through the three case files to reach the games natural conclusion. That's it, off you go! And good luck Detective! Is It Fun? Murder On The Moon Escape Room Game Review Games like this need to be broken down into three parts in a review, in my opinion: the story, the puzzles, and value for money. This game has a great story. It is well-paced, interesting, and full of twists and turns. Some are more obvious than others, but still, it grips you as you play. You will want to continue simply to find out what happens. Tick. The puzzles are mostly good. I found one to be simply annoying. One was ridiculously hard and seemed to require an insane amount of math skills (unless I missed something obvious—highly likely!), and one required some knowledge outside the game linked to American sports, which irked me. It was strangely niche (to American sport knowledge), took me out of the game, and felt really odd to me that it was included in this way. It's very much solvable, just annoying. But the rest are challenging, varied, and fun to work out. Three out of around 15 isn't bad, I suppose. 90% tick. The price, well, that's up to you. This costs £69.99 (current price as of March 2025) and to me, that seems a little steep. The prequel, which is essentially one third of this game, costs £11.99. So, why this couldn't be closer to three times that, mid-thirties, I do not know. That would seem fair to me. It is a one-shot, and the components are not that elaborate. You don't ruin anything, so you can easily set this up to gift to a friend, which is what I will do. But for a one-off purchase, I think this is a little steep in price myself. That said, if you enjoy these kind of games, this is one of the best. It does not have the production quality and wow factor as the games from The Mystery Agency but I would say this is the next best thing on the market to that. The Exit games are great, but are obviously limited to a one-off shorter game. This has more of a narrative over three games, but you could, of course, buy three Exits for less than half the price of this. I keep going on about cost, but I do think it is a factor with one-off games like this. Although, that said, most Exit games are one and done with things being destroyed, torn, bent, written on, or simply unusable again. At least this can be given to a friend, or, I suppose, sold on the second-hand market if you wish. But that said, there is a lot of cost in building this game beyond what you get in the box. There are websites, online portals, a lot of AI and chatbots, and some pretty cool digital puzzles along the way. None of this has a physical presence and is in and out of the game in a short period, so you may forget about it. And perhaps, it makes me speak unfairly about the cost above. The digital production is incredible and would have had a significant cost. There is also a fair bit of acting work here. It may be AI, but it seems genuine, although it is hard to tell nowadays, isn't it? Coupled with the chatbot you use for most of the game to "talk" to your contact on the Moon, there are all sorts of websites and online portals you will use to gather clues and work out this puzzle. This game puts a lot into making this all feel a part of the game and within the experience of the world it creates, and it does that very well indeed. And the payoff? Well, I will leave that to you to decide if you play. But for me, all I will say, with no spoilers, is that I was left feeling very satisfied and content about my time with this game, both in terms of the puzzles and the story. But of course, I did not pay for this game; it is a review copy, which is why my mind keeps going back to price. So, if you are a fan of puzzle games, then I would very much recommend you check this out. The price point is only an issue, I feel, if you think about games this way - in that they need to give you a permanent or repeatable experience. Rather than a one-and-done play. Or be cheap! This game gave my son and me a great experience over three consecutive days that we both thoroughly enjoyed. That said, I'm unsure if this game would work as well with higher player counts. The game suggests you can play one to four, which I am sure is technically true. But I think with two, you have the perfect sweet spot. Any more, and there will be times where the third or fourth person would be watching more than doing anything. This can still happen on occasion with two players, but it's less common. I think this is a big consideration when looking at this game. For fans of puzzle games, for people who see value in this or would like to gift it to friends after—go for it. This will tick all your boxes. Certainly play Countdown to Chaos first; it fits within the story and acts as both a great prequel to this game and a yardstick in terms of if you will get value for money from this game. Countdown to Chaos is a lot cheaper; it's just one case instead of three, and I would thoroughly recommend it. It will end on a cliff-hanger, so it will be a bit annoying if you don't decide to carry on with the full Murder on the Moon experience, but it will at least give you the chance to test-drive this game for a much more affordable price. Give that a go, see how you get on. And then if you do give this a go, please do let me know how you get on with the power system puzzle in case three! (As seen in the above screen grab). That had me stumped for a while. I understood the math and process, but did not understand the strategy to solve it and eventually just started hitting buttons at random until I got lucky!

Cross Breeds WBG Score: 7 Player Count: 2-8 You’ll like this if you like: Light tableau building card games with a bit of adult humour. Published by:  Midnight Mayhem Creations Designed by: Joe Forszt This is a review copy. See our review policy here When I was talking to designer Joe Forszt about reviewing this game, he asked me if I was offended easily; I replied, nervously, "not really, why!?" He said " basically the animals are crossbred to be super dangerous so some of the language is graphic [in the] ways an animal can kill you. Everyone has loved it but ya never know!" I was intrigued and slightly nervous about trying this game. Now I have played it, I can kind of see where he is coming from. But more on that later! Let's get it to the table and see how it plays first. How To Set Up Cross Breeds The main thing you need to do in setup is get the right amount of each of the different cards to form your Forest. There is a page in the rulebook that will take you through this, but in short, based on your player count, take the right amount of Positive Crossbreed cards, Failed Experiment cards, Decoy cards, and Danger cards. Shuffle them all together and form six to nine separate even draw piles, depending on player count. Place these all face down in the centre of the table. This is your Forest for the game. Shuffle the Event deck and place this next to it face down. Now take the Disaster, Pacher, Stalker, Firestarter and Booby Trap cards and place them to the side of the Forest along with the two dice. Each player then chooses a player colour and takes their seven starter tokens. Each player also has one Unswap token to begin with, as well as a Reference card. Each player now randomly takes a Hunter card and reads it out loud. Anyone who needs to claim additional tokens or cards based on their Hunter card now takes them. All players now roll both action dice, the highest roll will be the first player and round tracker. Give that player the first player token and round tracker tokens. They are the "North" player. You are now ready to begin. How To Play Cross Breeds Players will now take it in turns to play tokens if they wish, and draw one card from the "forest". You have multiple tokens, some players have more than others based on their chosen Hunter card. But you can only play five tokens in total per game. You could play all five on your first turn, but then have none left for the rest of the game. You could play none, or one, or whatever you want. Just note, there are nine rounds, and once you have played five tokens, that's it for this game. When you draw a card, take any top card from any pile and place it into your own play area. This is called your Woods. The rules suggest you create a three-by-three grid in front of you over the course of the game, but this is not mandatory. It's just a handy and clean system. But note, wherever you place a card, you must now leave it there for the rest of the game. You can look at it whenever you like, but you must always place it back, face down, into the spot you initially placed it. When you take a card, this immediately ends your turn. So, a turn could be as simple as drawing a card, looking at it, then placing it face down in front of you. If you draw an Event card then you must read this out and carry out its actions. This card will not go into your Forest. The first player will need to take note of the rounds. When the play comes back to them, they will start round two. Mark this by moving the token for round two to the top of the pile, or however you want to mark this. There are nine round tokens, just be sure to do something with them all, move one from the right to the left, flip one over, whatever it is, each time you start a new round. This way, you will all know which round you are in, and when the game ends. These are the actions available to you from the main tokens. Remember, you can only use five of these in any one game. Trap: You can place this in front of another Hunter, and then when any card is lured out in that direction, that card will now go to the player that placed the Trap token down, instead of the original player. Essentially, this is a way for the player who placed the token to draw an additional card, not on their turn. But of course, not all cards are good. Swap: Here, you can Trade one card from your Woods with any card in any other players Woods. Place the Swap token on top of the card you take. This card can now no longer be Swapped again by any other player. Meat: Place this in front of you or any other player, and a card is immediately lured towards that player. If a Trap is present in the same area as the Meat, the player who played the Trap takes the card instead. Lock: You an place a Lock token on top of any of your own cards in your Wood. This card is now protected from any event. Snipe: You can pick any card from any other players face down Wood pile in front of them and remove it from the game. You may look at the card as it is removed if you wish. Drone : This allows you to look at any four cards in any pile. You must keep this secret from the other players. Not just what the cards are, but also what piles you looked at. Binoculars : This allows you to look at one face-down card in front of any other player. In a five to eight player game, you can then also look at one card in two other players' Woods too. So, three cards in three separate players in total. There are then additional tokens you can get through various Hunter powers or Event cards. I wont go through them all here, but these are the main ones. UnSwap: When a Swap is initiated on you, you can place this UnSwap token on top of the card you were forced to take so that it then cannot be taken by any other player in a Swap action. Keep Out: This works with the Event card, No Trespassing. Here, the player to the right of whom ever drew this Event card is able to place a Keep Out token on any card in the Woods of the player who drew the card. This card now cannot be looked at by the player who owns it until the end of the game. Tent: This card works with the Event card, Camper. This card stop the player who drew the card having another turn to draw a card until they roll a seven or higher on their turn. They can still use tokens, but they cannot draw cards until the Campers go! The card also has some interesting text about why the campers are there. When the last player finishes their ninth turn, the game ends. All players now reveal the cards they managed to gather and keep during the game, and total their score. Each card has a monetary value on it, some positive, some negative. Cards that have the same symbol as others will give you a multiple bonus. The highest total monetary worth of their cards is declared the winner. Is It Fun? Cross Breeds Board Game Review This game has me in two camps. I love the theme. Cross Bred animals roaming wild in some island, and I'm the guy who has to go in and capture them? Yes please! And the game plays so fast. I have experienced two-player games of this that finished in under 15 minutes! Once you become familiar with the different tokens abilities, and how the scoring works, this is very simple game. But this is the other camp I sit in. Is this too simple? Well, yes. Simply put, there is not enough strategy here in how you get your cards. You can look at some, once. You can steal specific ones from your opponent, once. But most of the cards in your collection will be there because of random chance. And that makes the final scoring seem inconsequential and unrelated to your own decisions. It feels too random and lacking in agency. It's fun to play, and fun to watch the chaos, but it just all feels to luck based for me. But this chaotic and random nature starts to make sense and even flourish with more players. With two or three players, four even, not enough happens. Players do not mess with each other enough, and you will simply all form a tableau of cards, some of which are there out of choice, others simply through sheer luck, but without too much interference from other players. And in some games, without too much interference from the event cards if things go your way. However, with more players, there seems to be more opportunity to mess with other players, see more cards, and have a little more control over your decisions. I am not sure if this is actually the case, it just feels like that. I think, because the rounds are slower, as more players need to have a turn to get through a round. And more things happen. It just feels like more is going on. And it is, in total. But I don't think more is happening to each individual player. But it does create a better feeling of chaos, action, and significance. And ultimately fun. As such, I feel this game is definitely better suited to higher player counts. I would only recommend it if you are going to play in groups of five or more, where the chaos can really start to flourish. It can still be fun with a lower player count and incredibly quick too. It just feels a little too lucky for me to go back to it over and over. Although I have played it a lot with two players, as I have enjoyed exploring all the cards, and this is my most regularly played player count, so it was just easier for me to get more games in this way. It is worth noting the game uses some pretty course language. It warns you on this on the front of the box and rule book. The odd reference and swear word hear and there. Worth noting, as the cards do all tell a story. It is quite amusing, but obviously not suitable for every player. The animal cards have a fair bit of additional detail on them, irrelevant to the rules and strategy. Just a fun bit of flavour text. And they are the star if the show by far. This sums up the game for me. There is a lot of thought and detail in these cards. A lot of humour and originality. Not everything on these goes towards the actual strategy of the game. But if you can go into this knowing what to expect—a very light, luck-based, chaotic tableau builder—then you may well just have an absolute blast with it!

Figmant, Fives, Fruit Fight, Duos WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-6 You’ll like this if you like: Classic card games with a twist! Published by: CMYK , Designed by: Fruit Fight Reiner Knizia , Duos Johannes Schmidauer-König Fives 新澤 大樹 (Taiki Shinzawa) , Figmant Wolfgang Warsch This is a review copy. See our review policy here This is an interesting one. Publisher CMYK, the people behind Wavelength , Daybreak , Monikers , and many, many more are on a mission to bring the fun. Classic card game fun from four older games with a new look, a new take, and a few new surprises. "The idea behind Magenta is simple: to bring people together through the world’s best card games," says Alex Hague, founder of CMYK. "To do that, we’ve created a line of games that are both fun to play and beautifully designed." Fruit Fight was previously known as No Mercy Fives was previously known as The Green Fivura Duos was previously known as Team Play Figment was previously known as Illusion But now they sit in a new range, looking spectacular, and all very collectable. You cant just get one now can you! But are they fun? Do you need them all? Well, let's get them to the table and find out. Four reviews in one. Here we go! How To Set Up Fruit Fight Shuffle the deck and give the full deck to one player who will act as the dealer. That's it, you are ready to play! How To Play Fruit Fight The dealer will now place one card face up in front of the first player. They will now stick or twist, either stopping and ending their current turn, or asking for another card. The cards are a series of fruit valued one to ten. If you ever get two cards of the same value, you are bust and lose all your cards. However, you cannot bust until you have more than three cards, so your first few turns are pretty safe. If you do not go bust and stick, then your cards stay face up in front of you until your next turn; they are not quite yours yet! During the next player's turn, if they draw a card that matches any of the previous player's face-up cards that haven't been banked, they can collect all matching face-up cards from every player. This action does not contribute to going bust. Going bust only occurs when drawing from the dealer, not when taking cards from other players. When the play eventually gets back to you, any face-up cards you have in front of you that have not been stolen by the other players are now safely banked, flipped upside down, and put aside into your scoring pile. You now go again. Play continues like this until the deck is exhausted. All players then count their cards based on the points value. Most points win. How To Set Up Fives This is very similar to Hearts and Spades. In a four player game, give each player a five point chip and deal the cards evenly to too players. For three players, removes the 10-13 cards first. You are now ready to play! How To Play Fives The player who was dealt the Magenta zero will start. They can play any card from their hand. The aim of the game is to score as clos to 25 points each rounds. WO, first, look at your hand of cards and make a plan which cards you want to try and win hands with in order to best achieve this total. The leading player will play a card from their hand. Each other player, in turn, will now play a card from their hand. You have to follow suit if you can. There are four suits. If a player does not have the same colour in their hand, they can play any card they wish. The highest played card of the lead suit wins that hand. However, if someone plays a Silver card, Silver cards are trumps, and this means the Silver card will win. If two Silver cards are played, the highest Silver card wins the trick. After a trick is won, the player who played the winning card draws up all cards played in that trick, piles them into one pile, and places the card they played that won the trick on the top. This card will then score them that many points at the end of the round. The round ends when all players have played all cards in their hand. The twist in this game is that every card is double-sided, and on the back of every card is a Magenta 5. So at any point, you can play a Magenta 5 if you wish. This does not mean you always have to follow Magenta if the lead player plays a Magenta card. You have to follow if you have a regular Magenta card in your hand, but the Magenta 5's will not count towards this. The Magenta 5's help you play other cards, perhaps higher value ones, that you don't want to win a trick with. You may want to avoid winning a trick because the scoring is based on all the winning cards you won tricks with and their total. The player who scores closest to 25 without going over 25 with this total will gain a three-point scoring chip. Two points in a three player game. If anyone scores exactly 25, they gain an additional one-point chip. The second closest player gets two points, one in a two player. The third closest gets one point, and nothing for a three player. If you exceed 25 points, you score nothing and are forced to give a single point chip to the lead player that round. If their is a tie for a lead player in a round when someone goes over 25, the point chip from the bust player goes into the middle of the table and carries over for the next round. Four rounds are played in total. The most points wins! How To Set Up Duos The game works best, I feel, in a four, with two teams of two. But you can play with two teams of three as well. Players will sit opposite their teammate, with a player from the other team on either side of them. Separate the two decks, and deal the first player one card, the next two, and the players after that get three cards each. Then place three face-up cards in the middle of the table and place the rest of the deck next to these in a face-down pile. Then take the goal deck, and deal each player one card face up, placing a final face-up challenge card into the middle of the table for all to see. How To Play Duos Players will take turns drawing two cards either from the top of the deck or from one of the three face-up cards. Players will try to complete the challenges in front of them, their teammate, and the one in the middle of the table. Challenges are completed by playing cards from your hand face-up for all to see that match the challenge's requirements. The played cards are discarded, and the completed challenge is turned face down and moved into a collective team pile of completed challenges. At the end of a player's turn, when they have drawn two cards and completed as many challenges as they want to or can, they can then, if they want, pass one or two cards to their teammate. You must then discard down to six cards if you have more in your hand, and play moves to the next player around the table. The game continues until one team completes eight goal cards. Play continues until all players have had the same number of turns, and then the teams will count their completed challenges. Each challenge is worth a different amount of points, so it may not be the team that completed the most challenges or indeed, that completed the eight first to trigger the end game that wins. Most points wins. How To Set Up Figment This is a cooperative game where all players play together. Separate the two decks and shuffle the arrow cards and place them face down next to the main deck along with the five number tokens. Flip the top arrow card to reveal the coloured arrow. You are now ready to play. How To Play Figment Now draw the first card and place it face up in front of all players. Look at the first arrow card to see which colour it shows. Your goal is to organise five cards in order, from lowest to highest, based on the amount of one of the four colours, as chosen by the arrow card shown that round. So, if the arrow this time is silver, you need to organize the five cards in order of least to most amount of silver in percentage terms on each card. After you have the first card, take the second and place it either to the left or right of the first card based on how much of the chosen colour you think it has in comparison to the first card. Do the same with the third, fourth, and fifth card, reordering the cards as you go as best you can. Then, when you have placed the fifth card, choose one of the five tokens based on how confident you are about your choices. If you think you have them all right, take the five token. If you are less confident, take a lower token. You can only use each token once; they mark the five rounds in the game. Them choose a side, left or right. The side where you are most confident you have placed the cards in the right order, and flip over the leftmost or rightmost card. On the back, it will show the percentages for each colour on that card. Now reveal the card next to the one you just flipped to see if it has more or less of the chosen colour. If you are right, keep going. If you are wrong, stop there. Keep flipping until you either get one wrong or flip them all. Then place the cards you got right into one pile to score at the end, and put any cards you got wrong into a separate discard pile. If you got all five cards right, then add the token you used that round to the score pile. This will now add to your end-of-game score. Play five rounds, then total your points. You want to aim for more than 25 for a bronze score, 30 or more for silver, and 35 or more for gold. If you score gold a few times, you can then make the game a little harder and place six cards instead of five. You now need to get 30 points for Bronze, 35 for Silver, and 40 for Gold. A pretty tricky task! Are They Fun? Figment, Fives, Fruit Fight, and Duos : The 'Magenta' Range Cards Games Review OK, phew! We got through it. Four separate card games. Some team-based, others cooperative, others competitive. They work from solo experiences up to six officially, but I have played a few of them with nine! But essentially, what I am saying here is that there is a lot of variety and potentially something for everyone. But which one is best for you? Out of all of the games, Duo is my personal favourite. It has the most strategy, I feel. Although Fives is not far behind. But I think I have the most fun with Fruit Fight! And I love the originality and simplicity of Figment. So, in summary, I love them all. For clarity, here are my scores for each game. Highest to lowest. Duo - 9 Fives - 8.5 Fruit Fight - 8 Figment - 7.5 Duo has a lovely feeling about it. Like all these games, but particularly with Duo and Fives, this feels like a classic card game. The sort you played with your nan when you were a kid, but with a fresh take. They look modern. The cards are all gorgeous both in terms of the card stock, size, and art. The colours are obviously very vibrant. And all the games have one or two tweaks to make them fit in with the modern era of gaming we are living in. The challenges in Duo are all quite interesting. I find the process of trying to work out which ones my partner(s) are going for based on the cards they are drawing, and then, of course, the ones they give to me, quite intriguing. But there are some challenges that are quite similar. And you can sometimes misinterpret their moves. It's a great team experience and one I can se becoming a firm favourite added to most game nights where I have an even four or six players. Fives feels the most like a classic trick-taker. The Magenta 5 twist is enough to make this game stand on its own, though. It is a fascinating process to first analyse the hand you have been dealt and work out from those 11 or 13 cards (depending on player count) which ones you will try and win with to get as close to 25 as possible. Then you need to work out the cards you will lose with, and there may be some high cards you need to switch to a Magenta 5 to do this. But you will, of course, never know quite what your opponents' plans will be. It is a brilliant little game. Full of strategy, and quick, fast, but interesting choices. Like any classic trick-taker, the game moves fast. And the end-of-round scoring is an interesting way to order the relative success for each player in the game. You can win all the tricks and lose. You can lose most of the tricks and win. This takes away the luck of the deal. Players now don't just win as they get the best hand dealt to them. Players need to work strategically with what they have been dealt and make a genuine plan for each card in their hand. Fruit Fight is a fast-paced game that you can get to the table in a few seconds. Shuffle the deck and start playing. It feels a little like Flip 7, another recent modern take on Pontoon, but this time, even simpler. Gone are the power cards, and now you simply have ten different fruits worth a different amount of points. But the choice to take cards from other players when you draw a matching card to other players' face-up cards is enough to make this game not just about pure luck. Although this is a pure push-your-luck experience, that one choice gives each player enough agency to feel in some control of their destiny. You don't ever have to bust if you don't want to. You could always stop on three cards. But then, will that be enough to win? I have gotten this out on so many occasions recently. Done at the pub with complete non-gamers. In a quick three-player game pre-bed. With a large group after dinner. It works for everyone, in every situation. And if you don't enjoy it, don't worry, it will be over in a few minutes. And if you do? Well, shuffle them up and go again! I have found a common occurrence in this game is that one set of fruit starts to build up into a huge point scorer. One player will draw and keep a banana, say. And then the next player will steal that. Now, we have a pile of two bananas. Maybe the next player gets a banana of their own, and now this is a pile of three. If this starts to happen for one of the higher point scorers, you can have sets worth over 50 points flying around the table. It is a hilarious experience that I simply adore. Figment feels less of a game, and more of a quick bit of fun. The fact that it is coop, and that you are simply ordering five or six cards, left to right, does take away somewhat from the overall "game" feeling. But it does not make it any less fun. It is just incredibly simple. This is another game here that I have played a lot already. Figment gets a fair few outings due to its simplicity, but often just for a few quick games. In total, I would say it averages under ten minutes at the table. That would be two or three games on average, but they are so quick, it flies by. And ultimately, as fun as it is to get the cards all in order, it also does not feel like it matters that much. Sure, there is a points target to aim for, but do you care? It's coop, it won't all be on you anyway. And some cards are so close, it can be very hard to tell. It is an interesting experience and fun to play. But it just does not feel as much of a game to me as the others. That said, for the novelty factor, and as discussed, since it is just so simple and quick to play, it will stay in my collection and rack up hundreds of plays very quickly. It's just that in total, it will still be a relatively low amount of actual time with this game, which has to bring the score down a little, I feel. But I still have fun with it. We got through it! Four amazing little card games. All looking great. All offering something a little different. Which one is the most appealing to you? I would recommend Duo to any group that likes to play card games, is in a regular group, and often that group is an even four or six. This could be perfect for you. I would suggest Fives to a similar group but one that plays more in a three or four. These two games feel like classic card game experiences, but with a modern look and feel. If you are looking for that type of thing and play in these group sizes, look no further. Fruit Fight I would recommend to anyone. It is such a simple game, and perfect for so many environments. I don't like the box size for this game. I get why they did them as they are. And they all look great on the shelf next to each other. But Fruit Fight is a game I want to take with me to the pub, or to a restaurant. And this box is too big for that. I have placed mine in a baggy, and that's fine. But this is a small frustration. Figment is a hard one to recommend as it is less of a game and more of an experience. But I would still recommend it to anyone as it feels unique, looks gorgeous, and plays so simply. Just temper your expectations for the experience. But overall, we have four gorgeous new card games here, all of which will sit on my shelf and get played a lot. I feel these could all end up being some of my most played games of all time.

This is a new one. There is no board game review here. Just my thoughts on WALLZAP. A Magnetic display kit , so that you can place your board games on the wall to display them. Not quite sure what I am on about? Well, read on! WALLZAP is a company that makes magnetic wall display kits for board games, and all sorts of other things, actually. They reached out to me a few weeks back and offered me a free kit to see what my thoughts were. So, fair warning, this was not something I purchased with my own money. But I will endeavour to give you my honest opinion, as always, about this product. First up, how easy is it to put these things up? Well, I am useless with DIY and it took me less than 30 minutes. I did not find the instructions to be overly clear, and it is the new QR code, scan here for a digital copy, which annoys me. I like a physical copy. But I managed to grasp the concept fairly simply enough. The process is actually very easy. It is just the instructions make it look less so. Here is how I did it. First, find the spot where you want to display your game. Place the round magnet in this spot, do some measurements, or just wing it like me. Then mark scratches in the holes so you know where to drill. Second, drill holes in the spaces you just marked. I used raw plugs to secure it. These were not provided, but I felt it best considering the weight of the games. Next, place the magnet back over the holes, after a quick vacuum and dusting! Then screw in the two screws into the holes. Make sure it is tight and without any movement when done. Now, choose your game to display. You will stick something into the box, so you need to be fairly sure of your choice. But I do think you could just change the box lid (placing any lid over this chosen box) if you pick a uniform box size. Hence my choice of Wingspan. So, pick your game wisely, and unpack the whole thing. In your kit, you will find four clear plastic edges. Open them up like an envelope and slide them over the corner of this square magnet. The other side of the plastic edge is sticky, so watch your fingers. Now, carefully place this into the centre of the empty box base. Press down firmly for 30 seconds, or until you get bored. Now, repack the game, and place these little magnets on the sides of both the inside of the box lid and the inside of the box itself. The instructions talk about all sorts of overly complex measurements to get this just right, but I simply popped them into place and placed the lid over the top. You can see they are a bit wonky, but you wont see these, and they work just fine like this. The lid now snaps shut and cannot slide off when vertical. Now, simply place the game onto the round magnet you screwed into the wall. It pops into place and holds firm. The magnets are very strong and there is a weight limit 2KG with this basic kit. The deluxe kit holds 3kg. For reference, Wingspan, fully boxed up (no expansion content inside), including the magnets now weighs 2.8KG but it seems to be holding fine! (I hope) When up, it looks like this. Cool huh! I am a little disappointed this product is not more transferable to other products. The base is now stuck pretty firmly to the bottom of Wingspan. Like I said, I could simply change the box lid from any other game with the same box size, and I will probably do that from time to time. But it would be nice if this was more transferable. For the price, the product is very good and sturdy, and seems to be working fine, despite my slap-dash approach to the install and from me ignoring the weight restrictions. So, that part is all good. But for the price, I would like more flexibility. You can get this if you want, but it is a second product, and again, it is not cheap. You can check that out here . But if you want to display your games on the wall like this, I see no better product out there. This is easy to install, holds firm, and with the inside magnets, keeps the lid nice and secure. I think it looks great, and one more game on the wall means one more on the shelf, right?

Everstone: Discovering Ingris WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-4 You’ll like this if you like: Euros with combos. Lots of combos! Published by:  McDavitt Publishing Designed by: Sam McDavitt This is a review copy. See our review policy here Sam McDavitt is a guy just like me or you. He loves board games, plays a lot of board games, and thought to himself, "Hey, I could make one of these!" The difference between him and most of the rest of us is he followed through on that thought and actually made the game. The good news for all of us is that the game is wonderful! It successfully funded on Kickstarter, and there is now another game being developed too. But, let's stick with this one for now. Why is it good? And is it for you? Let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Everstone: Discovering Ignis First, place the main board in the centre of the table with the dice and resources next to the board. You can separate the resource colours if you prefer, but this is not crucial. Now take all the relic cards and find the ones with the starter "S" marked on them. Shuffle these and deal three to each player. Place the rest into the main Relic deck, shuffle them, and deal four face up below the bottom of the board with the rest in a face-down pile to the left. Next, separate the villager tiles into the A and B piles, then based on player count, take three of each (for a solo or two-player game), three A's and four B's (for a three-player game), or four of each (for a four-player game). The chosen tiles will now be placed on the Explore spaces on the main board, with the final two placed on the Outer Limit spaces on the bottom right of the board. Now shuffle the Caravan upgrade cards, Miner Relic cards, Personal Quest cards, and Reserve Extension cards and place them beside the board. Next, each player will take a Reserve and Workshop mat and place them in front of them along with the Caravan token, 20 Influence tokens, and player pawn of their chosen colour. Take one starting Quest and Personal Quest card and place them face down in front of you. Each player will place one Influence token at the bottom of each of the three Influence tracks on the left side of the main board. If this is a two-player game, cover the three blank spaces on the Influence track with three non-playing Influence tokens. Now each player places another Influence token on the right-hand side Reputation track, noting the starting space based on your player count as shown next to this track. Place the remaining Influence tokens in stacks of three on your reserve mat on the five spaces for them. This will leave one leftover token; we will get to that shortly. Now, place your Caravan token on the Ignis space on the main board and your player pawn on the Barter section on the left-hand side of your Workshop mat. Next, each player looks at their three starting Relic cards they were just dealt. One needs to be discarded in exchange for your starting resources, as shown by that card's resource cost on the left-hand side of the card. One will be kept and tucked under any of the four spaces on your Workshop mat to boost one action's power. The third and final card will be stored in one of the four spaces in the middle of your Workshop mat. You will be able to build or discard this later. Now, for that final Influence token. Look at the Explore spaces on the main board, and look at the Location bonus as shown on the bottom of the space. Place your final Influence token on your chosen space, and gain that Location bonus. Randomly pick a starting player and you are now ready to begin. How To Play Everstone: Discovering Ignis The game will now move around the table, with each player taking their turn until one player gains ten Reputation points. Continue until all players have had equal turns, and then the game ends immediately. On a players turn they must move their Player Pawn on their Workshop. It cannot stay in its previously position, meaning for everyone's first turn they can do whatever they like other than Barter, where the Player pawns all start. You can chose to either Explore, Harvest, or Repair. And then on your next turn, the other two you did not pick this time, and now also to Barter. More on those four actions in a bit. Then, you can perform a Caravan upgrade if you have previously gained one and tucked it above the space you just picked, before performing the main action of the four actions you just chose: Explore, Harvest, Repair, or Barter. Then, if the Workshop space for the section you just chose does not have a Relic card on it, you will be able to perform an additional optional Workshop action if you wish, as well as any optional Repaired Relic actions for tucked cards in this section. You will have one at the beginning of the game added for free, so it is worth considering during setup which action you think you may do first, to try and make your first turn as efficient as possible. Finally, when all this is done, if you have fulfilled the request of any quests or global achievements (more on them soon), then you must reveal that now and score the appropriate number of Reputation points. You cannot store these to reveal multiple ones in one turn. Play then moves to the next player. So, what about those actions? Barter - This is how you will gain extra Relic cards. You will move your Caravan token to Ignis, if it is not there already, then you can buy one of the four face-up Relic cards as shown under the main board. The card on the far right is free; the others have a cost of one or two resources as shown on the icon above the card. Take the card you want, pay any required cost, and then add the chosen Relic card to any open space on your Workshop board. This will cover a Workshop action, so note that as you place the card. Which actions do you want to keep open to yourself? Which one can you afford to temporarily lose? Once you have done this, as shown on the Ignis space on the main board, you can now choose to either gain one resource of your choosing from the three types, as well as discard any card previously placed in your Workshop to gain the Discard benefit as shown on the left side of the Relic card; or pay a resource to move up one space of the corresponding Influence track on the left of the board. When you move up this track, you will jump any spaces covered by other players' markers and instantly gain the shown benefit here. If your Workshop space is free on your own Workshop, you can do both of these actions instead of choosing one. Explore - Here, you will move your Caravan tiles to your chosen Explore space on the board and you will carry out the action there. If an opponent's Caravan is already there, you can still move there, but you must pay that person the location's bonus and move their Caravan to Ignis. All players with Influence tokens at this location can now also carry out the location bonus. If players have multiple Influence tokens here, they can gain the location bonus more than once. Once all this is done, you can now carry out the Location action. The A spaces mainly give you resources, the chance to move up the Influence track, Miner Relic cards, or the chance to gain a Reserve Extension so you can hold more resources. The B spaces offer more complex actions to gain Influence points in exchange for resources, moving down the Influence track, or discarding Relic cards, Caravan upgrade cards, additional Relic cards, or to gain a Relic discard bonus in exchange for two red resources. The tile in the Explore space you just visited is now moved to the very bottom of the Outer limits. The tile there moves up one space, and the tile this displaces moves up to the location you are currently in. This way, the Explore actions regularly change. You may now complete the Workshop bonus action if a Relic card is not covering it, which for Explore is the chance to spend a yellow resource to add an Influence token to your current location. This way, the next time another player visits this space, you will gain the location bonus. Harvest - First you must roll the three Harvest dice. Now, check your roll against the back of the Relic card in the face down deck at the bottom of the board. The back of the cards are all different, and the back of the current card shows the current cost to gain a Relic card via the Harvest action. It will also show one free way you can manipulate the roll of the three dice you just rolled to try and get the required roll. Your Workshop action, if available, also allows you to spend resources to manipulate the dice roll. If you can manage to manipulate the dice to show the three dice on the back of the current Relic card then you can discover this Relic, meaning you can either sell it to gain the sell reward as shown on the right of the main side of the card, or keep it, and tuck it under any space on your Workshop, increasing that actions power the next time you do it. If you do not manage to manipulate the dice to discover the relic, then you can add any two of the dice together and move up one of the three Influence tracks, as decided by the total of the two dice. Two to five, and you will move up the left track. A total of six to eight, and you move up the middle track. Anything over nine, and you move up the right track. You will then gain the benefit of the space you moved up to, and the number of resources based on the pip value on the third die. Blue resource for the left track, yellow for the middle, and red for the right. Quite a fruitful way to gain extra stuff. And don't you just love stuff! Repair - This is the final action, and how you will use the cards added to your Workshop earlier in the game. Simply, pay the resource cost as shown on the left of the Relic card, and then you can either keep the Relic, tucking it below either space on your Workshop board; or sell it to gain the sales reward on that card. Workshop space is open you can now move any previously placed Relic cards into a new space, or move a previously tucked card to a new space, simply for the cost of one blue resource. There are a few other rules around the Minor Relics, which add additional resources in tucked spaces on the Workshop; the Caravan upgrades which have various powers and choices on each card; and the Quests you need to achieve. The main ones are the shared common objectives on the top of the board, which are all pretty self-explanatory, but can only be completed by one player. When this happens, that player marks this space with an Influence token of their colour and takes the shown Reputation. Otherwise, this should give you a good idea of how to play. Is It Fun? Everstone: Discovering Ignis Board Game Review If you enjoy combo turns, oh my! You are in luck. I love games with combo turns, and I thought I had played games with pretty combo-tastic turns before. And then I played this. It ramps it up to eleven! There were some turns where I did something, which let me do something else, which triggered another thing, which in turn meant I could move here, and gain this, and move there, and gain that... you get the point. It's wonderful! It can get a bit much if there are divergent paths, though. Doing action A could mean you get benefit 1, which then means you get to do action B, which gets you benefit 2. It may be that from action A, after getting benefit 1, you also get benefit 2, or action A.1, if you get my drift! So, I found sometimes I was mid-turn, getting confused about what I had left to do. Had I done it all? And what was the plan again? But it is not a bad thing. It just sometimes a little overwhelming. But again, in a good way. I love getting stuff in games. Who doesn't like getting stuff ?! And in Everstone, you sure do get a lot of stuff ! There are times when resources will be low. And like any good euro, you will be left thinking, how do I get stuff again? But then you will remember, take an action, and suddenly be laden with loads more stuff . Then you will want to spend that stuff . Perhaps you repair, sell, and tuck a load of previously stored Relic cards from your warehouse. Opening up the warehouse actions again, gaining loads more resources from the sales, and increasing the power of your actions for later turns with the tucked cards. Perhaps the sale benefit move you up the Reputation tracks a few spots. Maybe that gains you some extra cards and resources. Maybe now you can even look to sell another card. The knock on effects are just so deliciously powerful. Seemingly endless. And make each turn feel powerful, full or opportunity, and put simply, fun to do. This is a fun experience. Stuff is great. I love stuff ! It doesn't hurt that the entire game looks and feels gorgeous too. The art and iconography are all very good and clear. The board and Workshop side board, though busy, are clearly laid out, and all comes into place in your mind after a few turns. Picking Everstone up for subsequent games days or weeks later is a breeze. The rule book hopefully will be a thing of the past, bar the handy icon reference on the back after game one or two. The Relic cards, also busy, quickly pull into focus; and you will find that everything sits where you expect it to. This is a game made by someone who loves games, and it seems to me, has used a lot of meta knowledge to make things just seem right as you play. I sense he said to himself as he designed this: Variable set-up works well in other games. Cool, I will add to my own one. It's nice to have a few things to make the game a little asymmetric, isn't it? Ok, cool, I will add those too. But we want clear icons, done. With a nice icon reference on the back page, obviously! And a rules book that references itself. Sure. And I think that went on and on! It helps when the designer is a board game enthusiast too, doesn't it! So, what are the bad bits? Well, the games can end quite abruptly. The first phase of the game can be slow, where no player gains any Reputation. Then in the middle phase, all players should start picking up a few Reputation points. One or two players will always pull ahead, of course, that's how games work, but no one should feel out of it. But in the third phase of the game, one player can suddenly pull off a mega move, complete multiple Quests, shared goals, and various actions all in the space of one or two turns, score multiple Reputation points, and end the game with other players desperately wanting two or three more turns to catch up. I have found that when at least one person is knowledgeable about the game or simply good at games like this, this happens more often than it doesn't. And if any of the other players are a beat off, they will be somewhat caught up in a whirlwind finale they were not expecting. This is fine. Being good at a game means typically you win against those who are not as good. But it is not as common for a game to end this fast, and with this much of a gap between players, and for the last phase to happen in just one turn, when the other phases of the game take much longer. Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys a good Eruo where you need X to do Y, and that can then lead to all sorts of other knock on benefits, combo turns, and additional options on your go. If that is your kind of think, this could well become your jam! What an incredible debut into the board game design world from Sam McDavitt . I am very excited to see what comes next. Oh, wait, I already know. Check it out!

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components may change in the final game. You can follow the game here and check out the crowdfunding page here . Companion Quest comes from first time designer Mark McIntyre who seems to be living the dream from seeing his first game design come to life. I sense a real passion and joy from this project. And the results are pretty good too. If you enjoy dice placement games, this could be an interesting one to follow when it comes to crowdfunding soon. The art is gorgeous, the production quality is right up there, and the rules simple. But the process you go through as you place the dice, complete the card challenges, and slowly make your way to victory is incredibly addictive. Let's talk about why. Well, in short, because this game is pretty tricky! It took me five games to win or easy mode! But each loss just made me want to come back for more and more. It's the sort of game you don't mind losing. The process is still fun, but you really do want to find a way to tweak your strategy and beat the game. This is an addictive game. The setup is simple, and you can also adjust the difficulty with minimal changes. Take12 challenge cards, including one, two, or more monsters to fight along the way, depending on how hard you want to make the game. One was enough for me to start! Set these up in three groups of four at the bottom of the board, along with your chosen four quests at the top, one of each level. Each player will choose one of the six Gnomes to play as, along with their associated companion. You can now take two snack tokens for an easier game, one for a harder one. On the main board you will place your Gnome meeple on the first space and the cheeky little Gu'Gu one space ahead. Players will now take turns to choose dice from the six different types, roll them, and then place them on the challenges or quests. When you choose your dice, the three types on the left cost one energy point each, and the three on the right cost two each. You have three energy points to spend in the first phase of the game. However, one of the level one quests will reset all dice, both on the left and right, to all cost one energy point. You will choose dice based on the current quests and challenges. They will need certain dice based on both colour and pip value. Once you have spent your dice, you will then be forced to move forward the pesky Gu'Gu. If Gu'Gu moves four spaces to the final portal, it's game over. But if you complete a challenge, then Gu'Gu does not move this round. And if you can complete two challenges on the same turn, you can move him back one space. To win the game, you need to have your Gnome meeple on the same space as Gu'Gu. You can move your Gnome meeple forward only when you complete the quest cards, which is easier said than done. So, you will need to decide what you prioritise. The quests, to move your Gnome meeple forward, or the challenges to stop Gu'Gu from racing too far ahead, or maybe even pulling him back a space or two. Finding the right balance between these two challenges is the way to win the game, and it certainly took me a few tries to figure this out. The process of trying to understanding this is very challenging. But getting it right feels great! The challenges vary, offering a mix of requirements from laying four dice in ascending order, or specific dice being placed in specific spaces, even two dice of a certain colour being next to each other, but the first being a low pip value then the next. If you do not finish a challenge, then the dice already added on any unfinished cards are left for the next player to add to, in order to try and complete the challenge. Setting up multiple challenges to be completed on the same later turn is crucial to finding success in this game. But of course, you cannot neglect the quests. The quest cards also need specific coloured dice with certain pip counts, and you can move the Gnome hat meeple along the spaces on the quest path for each dice you fulfil. When you reach the final space, you can move your Gnome meeple one space closer to Gu'Gu, and if you catch him, win the game. If not, flip over the quest you just completed and gain the shown benefits on the back based on your player count. Extra snacks, new companion cards (more on them soon), and most importantly, an increased amount of energy to spend on dice each time. Now, in phase two, four energy. Enough for four dice from the left, or two from the right, or any combination of the two. Getting more dice is crucial to your progression in the game. You will find you are chasing the game and your own tale if you don't get more dice to start making quicker progress with the Quests and Challenges. I found that you will need to get to Quest three at the very least to win the game. The extra energy for dice is very important, but so too are those Companion cards we mentioned before. Remember during setup the Companion card you added to your chosen Gnome; well, each one has a special power. And you can buy more cards using your Snacks. There are always four Companions available for purchase; they cost one Snack each, and you will gain more Snacks for each Quest you complete. Building an army of Companions is the only way you will win this game. Finding the right combination of powers to manipulate the dice in the right way is the only chance you have at victory. Each Companion card offers a different power. Increasing or decreasing dice. Re-rolling. Flipping dice upside down. You get the drift. The problem is each time you use a Companion you must exhaust them. But then, later, when you use a specific coloured dice, you can refresh them again. Finding the right combo of dice and Companion to constantly use, refresh, and use again your Companion will mean you will start to really fly through the game. And this engine building part of the game is a hidden gem within the mechanics you may not first spot in the rules, but as the game goes on, and you get better at it, quickly becomes the most satisfying part. The game is a cooperative experience, and the discussion between players as each turn is taken can be a lot of fun. There is obviously an opportunity for one player to take over, but each player has final say on their own turn. But of course, you are always working together for the collective good. Working as a team is important to winning. In fact, if you do not want to, or cannot use a specific dice on your turn, instead of wasting it, you can give one dice to the next player each turn. This gives them the chance to roll an extra dice, and perhaps make some important progress of completing extra Challenges of Quests. As you start to get the hang of the strategy for this game and winning becomes a little more common, you can very easily ramp up the difficulty as we talked about in the setup. I am currently still trying to find a victory on medium mode, and as yet, have fallen short each time. My desire to win at this level is still high, and a number of games in, it hasn't quite happened yet, but I am very keen to try and make it happen. This desire to win is what is making me come back to the game time and time again. I say all this, as that is not always the case with me. First, generally, games are not as hard as this to win, especially family-friendly lighter co-ops. But second, I tend to not care this much about winning. I think because the losses are always close, and you feel fully in control of your own destiny. So the losses are down to your own bad choices, and you want to get better so you make better ones next time! If that sounds your kind of thing, then check out the Kickstarter page and watch out for when this one goes live soon.

Finspan WBG Score: 8.5 Player Count: 1-5 You’ll like this if you like: Wingspan , Everdell , Wyrmspan Published by: Stonemaier Games Designed by: David Gordon (I) , Michael O'Connell (II) This is a review copy. See our review policy here OK, here we go again! Another "Span" game. This time, with fish. Let's simplify things. Wingspan, the review of which can be found here it's a hugely popular game. A lovely medium-weight, card-based, engine-building family game. It sold bucket loads and opened up thousands of new people to the hobby. Well done to all involved. The publisher saw this success and decided to make a slightly more complicated version aimed at gamers, and this was called Wyrmspan, and you can see my review for that here . Now, we have a lighter version, streamlined and simplified for more entry-level gamers. It's about Fish now, and it's based on the same core mechanics, but with a lot of things stripped away. Does that make it better or worse? Well, let's get it to the table and find out. How To Set Up Finspan Take a player mat for each player and unfold it in front of each person playing. Each player then takes the six divers in their chosen colour and places them in front of their play area. Each player will then place two egg tokens and one young token on the marked spaces on their player mat. Each player then takes two random start fish cards, discarding any unused to the box. Each player then adds three random cards from the main deck to their hand, placing their now five cards face up to the left of their player board. Place the remaining main deck face down in a central area along with the remaining young and egg tokens and achievements board to form a general supply. The achievements board has two sides, pick the one you want, adding the necessary tokens if using side B. Pick a random first player and give them the first player token. You are now ready to play. How To Play Finspan Starting with the first player, players will now take turns to perform one action. Actions can be one of two things. Either you will place a diver pawn into the space on the top left of your board and add a fish card to your play mat, being sure to pay the necessary costs and take the shown benefits. Or, you will add a diver pawn to the top space on either one of the three dive sites at the top of each column on your board, and move down, taking the shown benefit at each dive site where you have at least one fish. When all players have played all six actions, you will then check the week one bonus on the achievement board and reward each player accordingly, marking each player's score on the score pad. Each player will then retrieve all disc divers, the first player token moves one space clockwise, and the second week begins. Repeat this into weeks three and four, and then at the end of week four, all players will score points for any end game fish cards they have played, shown by the yellow background. Each player also scores all fish cards played, totalling the score shown on the left of each card. All players also score one point for each consumed fish (a card under another card), one point for each egg and young on their mat, and six points for each school token on their mat. Add these to the three previously scored end of week totals, and the player with the most points wins. And that is the game. If you know Wingspan, the above two paragraphs will be enough to get going. You will just need to use the iconography chart on the back of the rule book to understand the card icons, but that really is it. Everything else from Wingspan and Wyrmspan has been stripped out. But to give you a little more understanding, lets go through each of the two main actions in a little more detail. When you want to play a fish card, you can do so with any of the face-up cards to the left of your board. All cards in your "hand" are kept like this for the entirety of the game, so it is open information. The cards are also easier to see this way, and you can make your choice simply. Pick the fish card you want to play, add a diver to the top left of your board, and place the fish card down on the main player mat. There are three columns and three depths in each column. Some cards will have a coloured bar on the right side of the card. This means they can only be placed in the matching column. All cards have a symbol on the left showing either the top Sun area, the middle sunset area, or the bottom moon area. This represents the depth in the ocean and how much light is received by this part of the water. The fish you place must match its area to the symbol shown on the card. Some fish offer options here. When you place the card, you must pay the shown cost in the top left. The most common cost is discarding another card or more from your hand to your discard pile. Move any cards needed from the left of your board to the right to meet this criterion. Other cards will need eggs of young. Simply remove these from your board and put them back into the general supply. Some cards will need to consume other fish. This is represented by the symbol of a fish surrounded by a red outline and a bite taken out of the bottom left corner such as shown on the Angelshark below. Here, you simply need to place this fish card on top of another previously placed fish, being sure to note that the new fish has a larger size than the previous fish. Sizes are shown in cm on the bottom left of each card. After you have paid the cost, place the fish card in its required location and then check the right side of the card to see if there is a When Played benefit. If so, gain this now. If not, your turn is done. If they don't have a When Played benefit, there will be a Game End score option, or an If Activated benefit. These come into affect when you dive. When you dive, place your diver on the top space on either of the three columns. Look out for the dive site icon as represented by the white fish in the orange background. If you have at least one fish card present in the dive site you will gain the benefit, which will be either a new card from the main deck, an egg taken from the general supply and added to any fish card that does not already have one egg token on it, or it will shown the hatch symbol, which allows you to flip a previously placed egg token to the other side, now showing a young fish icon. When you dive, you will move downwards, stopping at each dive site where you have at least one fish card present in this depth, noting that the pre-printed fish on your board count for this. You will also stop on any card placed in this row with the If Activated symbol, gaining the shown benefit on this card as well. When you get to the bottom, you will place the diver in the final space, gaining the bottom benefit as well. If you have already dived in this location this round, and there is already a diver in the bottom location, you simply place this second diver next to this on the left and do not gain the bottom benefit. At the end of each week, when all players have placed their six divers either to place a new card or dive, all players will score that week's current score bonus as shown on the achievement board. For side A, this is a set of predetermined criteria, such as the number of egg or young tokens on their board, or two points for each horizontal row of fish on their main board. But on side B, you can choose from multiple variable bonuses that offer different end-of-week bonuses, which differ from game to game. For the final week at the end of week four, there will be no end of week bonus, but instead, you will score all end of game fish, as shown by the Game end bonus on any previously played card. Is It Fun? Finspan Board Game Review This game strips out so much of Wingspan but leaves the core of the game. Gone are the food icons and dice tower. Gone are the action cubes that reduce by one each round. Gone are the turns where you simply gain food, cards, or lay eggs. All this is replaced with a simplified and brilliant system where the cards act as their own resource. Your "hand" will often be all you need. Discard two cards from your hand to play one other card, then gain one back right away as the card you just played has an immediate benefit to retrieve one card from your discard pile. And now, instead of simply laying eggs, or gaining food, or drawing cards, you dive. And get the same benefits, but based more on how many other If Activated cards you have placed. It is a very elegant system and works well to give the same feeling at Wingspan, but in a much more condensed and streamline fashion. If Wyrmspan was Wingspan 2.0, this is Wingspan 0.5. So, I think the question is this: Will you enjoy this if you like Wingspan? And, two: Will you enjoy this if you don't like Wingspan? Do you need both, and if not, which one is for you? If you like Wingspan, I think there is a high chance you will like this. It doesn't necessarily offer anything new, but it offers a similar experience to Wingspan, one that is more accessible, streamlined, and simple. Perfect if you like Wingspan but want a version to share with friends less familiar with modern gaming, or just want a fish option yourself! If you don't like Wingspan, this probably will not be for you either. The games are very similar, and as much as this is a simplified version, I cannot imagine many people didn't enjoy Wingspan because it was too complicated. That said, if you do not play modern games at all, I would recommend Finspan over Wingspan, simply because it is a lot easier to learn and teach. But fundamentally, if you did not like Wingspan, this is probably not for you. Unless it was a theme thing, and you really are a fish person over a bird person! Do you need both? Well, that is up to you. I have both, along with Wyrmspan, and I will keep them all. But I am a collector as well as a player, and I like having all the options. I think I will play Finspan more than the others though, simply because it still gives me the same experience and feeling, and it does it a little quicker, a little simpler, and with less setup or hassle. But I would suggest that most people would only need one, and the one you pick would be based on two things. Do you like Fish or Birds more? And do you want a lighter or more medium-weight game? Now don't get me wrong, the difference between the two is not huge. But Finspan is the lighter option. So, what is good about these games anyway? Well, it is all about the card play. Building up your engine so that your later turns become more powerful, in this case with Finspan, having more powerful and effective dives. Running your engine so you start to generate more cards, eggs, or spawns each time you dive is highly rewarding. And building up your array of fish cards will allow you to grow your end-of-week points tally along with your end-game points in a very noticeable and progressive manner. The card art is obviously gorgeous as well. And though initially cluttered, the card's iconography is absolutely world-class. It very quickly falls into place what everything is showing, and each card has seven main elements: the cost to play, the end game points of the card, the size of the fish, the fish name and picture, a brief fact about that fish, and then the benefit of the card (be that immediately, when activated, or end of game). It sounds like a lot. It is a lot. But it all looks so slick. Impressive work. The clear white background helps here. As much as I would like the background to match the colour of the board so the fish blend in a little more, making your array look more visually appealing, it makes sense for clarity that they made this choice. The insert, like Wingspan, is somewhat disappointing. Everything just stuffs into the box. It fits fine, without any issues, and nothing is left rolling around as you have a nice tray for the cards and bags for the tokens. But a few more bags would have been handy, or a nice insert to put everything in. Stonemaier definitely seems to be looking more at cost and environmental issues when it comes to inserts over the last few years. But the final word must go to the cards themselves. There are 152 unique cards in the base game. There will certainly be more in future expansions, but this amount is plenty to give you a real sense of exploration and discovery for a lot of games. The most you can display on your board will be 21 each game. You can obviously place more as fish consume others, but I would say there will be a max of 30 or so per player used each game (more in your discard). It will take some time for you to see all the fish in this deck. Finding the best combination of fish to discover each game will be the main joy in this game. And there is plenty to discover!

Star Trek Away Missions: Captain Kirk & Commander Scotty Expansions Review WBG Score: 8 Player Count: 2-4 You’ll like this if you like: Star Trek: Away Missions , Warhammer Underworlds Published by: Gale Force Nine, LLC Designed by: Andrew Haught , Mike Haught , Phil Yates This is a review copy. See our review policy here By Steve Godfrey I heard they originally tried to make some of the Federation miniatures in red plastic and sent them out, but they never got to their destination, weird, I bet no one saw that coming! Just as a note, the minis come in the blue that all the federation characters come in for this game. I got excited to paint them so I primed mine ready, hence the grey colouring of mine. In true miniature painter style, I’ve still not painted them. What you’ll get beamed to you In each box you’ll get a team of four miniatures. In one you’ll get Captain Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Chekhov and in the other you’ll get Commander Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Lt. Leslie. Both come with player boards for each character, a double sided core mission card, a pre-built deck of missions and support cards and then extras of each so you can build decks later and some tokens. These include Beam Away tokens in both and in the Commander Scotty box you’ll also get Tribble tokens, which I’ll say now, they missed a trick by not making them furry. If you want to know how to play Away Missions and my thoughts on it then check out my review here Captain Kirk Expansion The core mission card has a mission called “we come in peace” which focuses on Contact missions to score and, in stark contrast on the other side you’ve got “shoot to kill” which to no one’s surprise focuses on conflict missions. As I said in my review of the main game, I’ve only seen a relatively small portion of all the Star Trek that’s out there. When it comes to the original series however, I don’t think I’ve seen a single full episode. But, there are cards in this set that even I can look at and excitedly say “I understood that reference” and I think that sort of recognition is needed if the games want to keep non Trek fans engaged (pun not intended, yet I’m not sure why). If Gale Force Nine's previous track record is anything to go by I’m sure there will be some more obscure references in there for the bigger fans out there to enjoy but I love the fact that regardless of how big or small of a fan of Star Trek you are, any of these nods wont take away from the experience of the game. There are some fun cards here. You’ve got Mind meld which lets you and another character share specialisations and Kirk’s drop kick which will let you move one space and roll one extra attack die, essentially launching yourself at someone. Don’t The ‘mudd’s women’ mission card makes all characters on a mission board, friendly or hostile, roll a skill check and any who fail are stunned. You score the card if more hostiles fail their skill checks.  The main new mechanic across both boxes is called “Beam Away” when you play a beam away card, place a beam away token in that space and any other characters (depending on the card) and place them on the mission card itself. The active character's turn is now over. Before your next character activates the beam away card triggers and plays out. If a character succeeds they get put back on their token. A character that fails is neutralised. The majority of cards with beam away get you to make different skill tests. However some are combat focused. My favourite from this box is by far “Arena” You and another commander beam away and essentially take attack actions against each other until one character is neutralised. The fact that all the beam away cards could end with someone being neutralised makes them really risky, but that added risk could be worth the punt if maybe, you find yourself trapped in an area or unable to get to certain terminals to score cards. These could be especially useful in the last round.  Commander Scotty The core mission card for this set is “Humanitarian Aid on one side and will score for Aid missions played. The other side is called “Red Shirts” which scores for non neutralised friendly characters at the end. I mean, it had to happen at some point didn’t it. This expansion incorporates the beam away trait just like the Captain Kirk box but it also comes with its own little twist. Tribbles! These balls of fluff will get everywhere and will spawn like rabbits across the board and could be a help or a hindrance depending on the cards you play. They also make you reroll a skill, attack or defence dice (opponents choice and two for Klingons) if your on a board with them at the time. Regardless there will be a lot of the furry blighters across the board and it's great.  If you make them, they will come If you love Star Trek Away missions and the original series then regardless of what I say you’re gonna be getting this. If you’re on the fence for whatever reason I can say that these are another fun addition to the game and the beam away missions and the tribbles make a great new, thematic addition to the mechanisms of the game and those alone make these two expansions worth checking out.