Josh Wheeler

Although this deck builder can take a little longer than most of its precursors and the more modern games in the genre, the journey in Thunderstone is truly worth the effort. Card art is beautifully crafted. The mechanics are simple, but perceiving the optimum strategy for each dungeon provides just the right amount of head scratching and long term planning. The theme, gameplay, and wonderful components combine to make this a magical deck builder worthy of the heroes it portrays.

Fantasy Flight has added just the right amount of exotic spices to the deck building genre to make this offering stand apart. The three types of resources, coupled with the variety of scenarios adds some zest to the expected gameplay. Gamers even remotely into the Terrinoth fantasy world will delight at the interplay between the different races. Good luck with the Cataclysm, though!

The greatest caveat with this game is that you cannot think that you have any control over winning. The game is fraught with randomness, seemingly arbitrary changes in your character’s status, wealth, and prospects for the future. Having said all that, the stories that you will tell in the course of an evening will not soon be forgotten. A worthy, unique addition to any collection.

I confess to feeling some real excitement for this game when I read about the dice mechanics. It seemed certain that this game would be something along the lines of War of the Rings, but for up to 4 players. Well, the dice mechanic is pretty solid. The rest of the game lacks as much pizazz as War of the Rings, but it’s still an interesting, light war game for a few friends in a barbaric mood.

Our family really enjoys the basic version of Shadows over Camelot. This expansion probably adds a little too much complexity for the family crowd, but it’s just the right amount of magical spice for those who need some extra challenge in Arthur’s kingdom.

While 7 Wonders can fairly easily stand on its own as is, this delightful little expansion adds a new layer of potential strategy without adding too much complexity. The art on the new leaders’ cards remains as eye catching as the original game art. Fans of the original game will thank themselves for adding this expansion to the collection.

I’ve only gotten a couple of plays of this game under my belt, but my wife and I have all ready added it to our wish list of games for the family. The art is simply stunning. Some is haunting, some is esoteric, and some is simply beautiful. The game play feels a lot like Apples to Apples, but with a wider range of possibility. It also feels like it can scale to a wide variety of age and group types.

This party game will certainly get laughs out of your crowd, either through the clever definitions on the cards, or through the absurd proposals people will make trying to match the green apple cards.

Make the effort to learn this game. And learn the full rule set, not just the basic or the advanced. While it may appear daunting at first pass, it is very elegantly put together, without any strange exceptions. Having logged nearly a hundred plays of this game, I simply never grow tired of the strategic choices that come crashing through the ages.

I am an unapologetic fanboy of all the Arkham Horror games. I’ve even gone so far as to have a custom case built for my collection. This expansion is my favorite, though. With a wealth of fun new characters, great old ones, and yet another way to lose, it’s truly one of the most fantastic horrors.