Concordia- Tom Franklin

After hearing about Concordia for years, I finally bought a copy…and then let it sit on my Shelf o’ Shame for way too long. This is such a great game!

You’re seeking to move around an ancient map, by sail or by foot, building houses in cities that will get you the goods those cities produce. On a turn, you play one of your cards that determine the action you’ll be taking, including a card that allows you to copy someone else’s card or to reclaim all your cards. Resources, places to store those resources, and money are always tight, creating a really fine eurogame puzzle of efficiencies and generating points.

After playing it twice at my weekly game night, I fell into the rabbit hole of Concordia on Steam. I’d still be playing it if I didn’t have this annoying work stuff that gets in my way on a daily basis.

Seriously, if you like Eurogame worker placement games and haven’t tried Concordia yet, you need to play it!

Ease of entry?:
★★★★☆ - The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?:
★★★★★ - Will definitely play it again

Read more articles from Tom Franklin.
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Fantasy Realms - K. David Ladage

I can remember when I first caught wind of Stonemaier Games releasing Red Rising. I was not familiar with the books series, so that was not a draw. Still, I thought I would give the game a chance. What I found was a game that wanted to be too many things at once. It was muddled and unfocused. However, if you read the various design diary entries over at Stonemaier Games, one of the things you find is that Red Rising was heavily influenced (even based upon) the game Fantasy Realms.

Having played both games, I can say that I enjoy Fantasy Realms significantly more than Red Rising. The deck of cards is smaller and the mechanics are unified (e.g., the game is more focused). The tropes in Fantasy Realms are universal, while in Red Rising I am constantly reminded that I have not read the books.

Perhaps Red Rising could get an expansion that altered things in a way to focus and balance the game (although I am not sure that is even possible). Meanwhile, although I know there exists an expansion for Fantasy Realms, I am uninterested. What the base game does—what it is—requires no embellishment.

Ease of entry?:
★★★★★…

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Fire Tower - Bob Pazehoski, Jr.

I had a chance to sit with this strange little entity recently. Players each respond to, defend against, and aggressively wield the everlasting fire that has ignited in the center of the board. The aim? Survive—and burn your opponents’ towers to the ground, relegating them to participation in the consolation game known as the Shadow of the Forest. Eliminated players participate in the wiles of the forest fire, exacting revenge upon those who wrought their demise. I won’t lie. It’s weird. 

The game is pretty on the table as the orange fire crystals slowly—and then rapidly—spread across the central grid. The play begins quite slowly before launching to a lightning finish. Players put up blockades of a sort, pour water where they are able, redirect the wind to send the fire elsewhere, and unleash chaotic bursts of flame on the way to a bit of a disappointing finish. Fire Tower is incredibly aggressive. Yes, you can simply play defense the whole time and let fate decide, but a significant portion of the deck begs you to issue militaristic commands to the flames in the name of player elimination. 

At heart, Fire Tower is an abstract area control game with bells and whistles attempting to match the…

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Monopoly is one of those games that no longer needs an introduction. It is a fair bet that if you are reading this, you were familiar with the game by the time you exited elementary school. Scrabble is not quite as ubiquitous, but it is close. These games are not at all similar. Monopoly is a real estate trading game of cutthroat business transactions intermixed with an exorbitant amount of pure luck, while Scrabble is a game where you are trying to make the most valuable words (crossword style) with the random selection of letters you have and the bonus spaces scattered over the game board. So how do you mix the two?

[caption id="attachment_310351" align="aligncenter" width="600"] A lot being said on the cover of this game. Not much is realized in the game itself.[/caption]

The Mashup

For purposes of this review, I am going to take a Back in the Day approach: I am going to assume that you have at least a cursory knowledge of Monopoly and Scrabble. What I will be describing below is how this game differs as it blends the two games.

The Monopoly Half

In my opinion, Monopoly is not a great game. It is not horrible, by any means, it…

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Christmas Tree is one of those games that I had no idea existed. My friend, Steve, knows that my wife is a Christmas fanatic (e.g., she watches Hallmark-style Christmas movies year-round, parts of our house are decorated with Christmas lights that never come down, etc.). So a few years back, a bunch of people in my social group were doing a Secret Santa when he stumbled onto this game. He had drawn my wife’s name, so this was a no-brainer. My wife fell in love with this beautiful drafting game.

[caption id="attachment_309900" align="aligncenter" width="600"] A beautiful box that begs to be played during the holidays![/caption]

Game Play

Christmas Tree is a fairly straight-forward drafting game. Each player starts with a player board in the shape of a tree with 21 spaces allotted for decorations. Along the edges are halves of lights (bulbs, in the game’s vernacular) which can be used in scoring later. Players are also given three cards that show Linzer cookies, and three four goal cards (with snowflakes on the back) that they keep secret.

[caption id="attachment_309901" align="aligncenter" width="600"] There are 21 spaces to decorate, seven pieces per round.[/caption]

Next, the decorations deck is created. The deck has glass ornaments in…

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Ticket to Ride: South Korea - K. David Ladage

One of the beautiful aspects of Ticket to Ride is the versatility of the core rules. Adding elements for new maps is a breeze! They have added tunnels and stations (Europe), stocks (Pennsylvania), passengers (Germany), a tech tree (United Kingdom), and exploitable resources (Heart of Africa). The game has been reimagined for smaller player counts and table footprint (New York, London, etc.), there is a print-and-play version that was created for the COVID crisis (Stay at Home), and they recently added a Legacy Campaign version to the series.. Every time they create a new map/expansion for the game, my friends and I are excited all over again to see what is coming next.

South Korea has a map where the track colors are grouped into districts. There is a district board where players are competing for up to ten points in each of the eight districts. In addition, you have three cards that allow you to add a one-time bonus of +1, +2, and +3 to an action: you can draw +1, +2, or +3 more cards (train cards or tickets) on your turn, you can gain +1, +2, or +3 more status in a district with your play, and…

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Earlier this year, I did a review of Fantasy Map Maker and was able to ask the game’s creator, Harry Metcalf (aka Doopy Games), a few questions. I gave the original version of the game 4-stars, but I recommend getting the Improved Edition instead. With the tweaks and adjustments made in this new version (and the inclusion of The Continent game variation), this game has risen to a higher status.However, in this article, I wanted to share with you a Christmas Project I did for my friends and myself.

Disclaimer: prior to delving into this project, I contacted Mr. Metcalf via email and made sure he was alright with my doing this. After all, I had backed for one print-n-play copy of this game. It was a short conversation, but we came to an agreement as to how I could move forward with this. If you have plans to do something similar, please reach out to him.

A Good Physical Copy

Print and play is all good, but when it comes to making things like the cards that go into this game, I lack the talent to do it well. Mr. Metcalf had printed and made the cards for me when I got my review copy of the original edition, so that was not an issue.…

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Isle of Cats Duel - K. David Ladage

There are games that do not really need a two-player adaptation because they play very well at that count. Then there are games that cannot be played at all with two players and, if a couple is going to enjoy the game, it needs one. Isle of Cats falls into the middle of this spectrum: it is a game that can be played at two players, but that player count will not deliver the best experience (to be honest, the base game plays at two players better in the Family mode than the Normal mode).

The Duel version of the game is excellent! It plays very well, offers some good decision space without being a heavy game. My wife and I were able to get into the play quickly, and everything we knew of the original aided in our introduction to this trimmed down version. We might find ourselves playing this more than the original, as good as that is.

If I have a complaint, it would be that the game plays in four rounds, but the mechanic to keep track of those four rounds does not use the ship token and movement as it is handled in the base game. The…

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Everdell Duo - K. David Ladage

My wife and I love Everdell. It is an amazing little engine-builder that has so few flaws that they are hardly worth bringing up. My colleague, Bob Pazehoski, Jr., has taken a deep-dive into the game and the expansions (I highly recommend reading those if you have not before). When the news of a two-player version first came into my view, I knew I would be getting this (add to that the fact that you could also order the larger-format cards for the original and this was a no-brainer). In order to kick the tires and give this thing a test drive, my wife and I dove in, read the rules, and prepared to play. We decided to start with the cooperative game using the first chapter scenario. Our first few actions were awkward as we got used to the things that were a little different from Everdell, but it did not take long before we knew what we were doing. The tactical and strategic choices that have to be made in a cooperative play are interesting and thoughtful! This game is, as Mr. Pazehoski put it in his review, “...a streamlined masterpiece…” ‘nuff said.

Ease of entry?:
★★★★☆ -…

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You know that advertising phrase “new and improved?” It is one of those pieces of fluff text that bugs the heck out of me. If the thing we are discussing is new, then it has not been improved upon because there is nothing that came before to which it should be compared. If the thing we are discussing is improved, then it is not new because the implication is that this was a modified version of something that did come before.

I believe I have found the item that finally makes that mumbo-jumbo make sense. Trekking the World (Second Edition) is a new and improved version of Trekking the World!

Before we get too deep into the comparisons, though, let’s look at how Trekking the World (Second Edition) plays. If you’re already familiar with the game, skip on down to my thoughts at the end of this review.

[caption id="attachment_308898" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Nice new box![/caption]

Overview

In this game, you are a traveler (called a trekker in the rules, but that term reminds me too much of the more serious side of Star Trek fandom, so I am not going to use that term in this review). Your traveler starts on one of the airport spaces on the board (one…

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The Dwarves: Big Box - Andy Matthews

Up until 2022, I’d never heard of The Dwarves, a hugely popular German five book fantasy series, which spawned a video game and a board game. And I certainly never expected to play it. But my game group wanted to inject some cooperative action into our game nights and The Dwarves was picked.

The goal of The Dwarves is to work your way through a scenario deck of cards, while protecting your lands from invading orcs, trolls, and elves. Players may also complete side quests which can provide valuable bonuses or cause trouble in Girdlegard (the dwarven homeland). At the beginning of every player’s turn the hero marker advances can trigger new enemies to emerge, cause drama in the dwarven high council, or cause negative effects to the side quest deck. In typical coop game fashion there are multiple ways to lose, but only one way to win.

My group had a good time playing The Dwarves, and even spent some time afterwards talking about different approaches we might take in our next play. While I don’t think The Dwarves is going to win any awards, it’s a solid game and one we’ll be playing again. 

Ease of entry?:
★★★☆☆ - There were…

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A few years back I was wandering through various campaigns on Kickstarter (as I am wont to do) and I saw a pair of images that were right up my alley. The images were sci-fi but of the old 1930s to 1950s variety. The sort of images that invoke Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

[caption id="attachment_307619" align="aligncenter" width="600"] That is some gorgeous artwork![/caption]

Pulp Invasion! I read the description of the game and saw that it was a solo affair. I decided to get two copies: one for me, and one for my friend, Steve (Steve loves solo gaming). I looked around on BoardGameGeek and I saw that the designer, Todd Sanders, has done a few other small print run games, and another series using the pulp-style artwork he had acquired the rights to. This one dealt with the old Gumshoe genre.

[caption id="attachment_307620" align="aligncenter" width="600"] I can hear Sam Spade when I see these images![/caption]

I loved it! I searched around and I located the base game for Pulp Detective, all three expansions, the slip-cover to hold all of the boxes together (like a set of books), and the puzzle-piece playing board for the combined experience.

These games came about after…

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I started playing Magic: The Gathering in the alpha days. I was not one for card sleeves back then, so when beta was released, and the corners were far less curvy than they had been, it was an issue. You knew when a card from a given release was coming up, but at least you could still shuffle the cards into the same deck.

[caption id="attachment_307628" align="aligncenter" width="600"] These beasts were common. I am not sure how the elves survived.[/caption]

Over the years, I have become one of those guys that tries to sleeve every game I own. It started early in my collecting years as I had small children and I do not like the idea of having to replace a game (or game parts) after someone damaged them. Worse yet, I do not like the idea of being unable to replace a game (or game parts) after someone damaged them because that game is out of print and the only way to get it these days is from some individual on ebay who is selling my beloved game for some ridiculously inflated price.

[caption id="attachment_307629" align="alignright" width="150"] Fantasy Flight card sleeves were the best. I miss them.[/caption]

My friend,…

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