Berchtwald

With strategy, straightforward goals, and beautiful production, Lords of Waterdeep works for a more picky Euro-style crowd or the casual gamer who doesn’t want to go through a learning curve for a good time.

The system it creates is fun to wrangle, and creates the biggest benefit and concern all at the same time.

Pro:

The game provides options, so there’s no single activity you’re repeating, no one avenue to your win condition. Win conditions are slightly different with each Lord, adding variety, while pursuit of quests vs. building gives you a feeling of lots of choices that can all benefit you.

Con:

Veteran players who have figured that out can make more informed decisions that novice players will miss. This is, of course, true of any game, but in this one you can really work the system if you know what you’re doing.

So, pick it up or not?

Definitely pick this game up if worker placement is your thing, because it’s got something for just about everybody, but if you know what you’re doing maybe just help the newbies out for one play. Seriously, this is the one worker placement game I’ll enjoy every time.

I have a problem; I don’t get to play with large groups of gamers often. Usually, it’s just me; other times, one or two opponents. So a game like Power Grid, that needs players taking up space and taking resources to remain interesting, really needed this expansion.

Due to the way the Robots go together, running multiple is not just possible, but effective. They don’t make for super intelligent opponents, but they are behaving surprisingly accurately as dummy players; a person will tend to make certain choices and having certain buying patterns, and that’s reflected well. They can make occasional ‘stupid’ moves, but people can do that, too!

I’ve played with one robot to add to a two-player game, and run four while attempting a solitaire. If you have trouble getting three to four player games of Power Grid together, this is a must-have expansion.

Castle Panic is a strong game; but extremely straightforward.

If you get Castle Panic, you need this expansion, hands-down. It adds just enough added randomness, just enough extra happening on the board that the players get more options for actions on a turn, rather than the basic and obvious choices that the base game will generally hand out turn to turn.

This should just be included right with the game, Castle Panic isn’t a game with any strategy without it.

D-Day Dice feels a bit like playing high-stakes Yahtzee; there’s lives riding on rolling the right combinations!

I’ve never tried the cooperative mode, but playing solo is a surprisingly rewarding experience, more like playing a video game than most solo experiences. “Passing” a board by beating it is truly satisfying once the difficulty on later locations starts to spike, but the early boards do a solid job of introducing all the mechanics you need.

I really enjoy the components here, the custom dice are very nicely done, and the boards feel nice and solid.

If you like rolling dice, you need to try it.

Like a hybrid of Ticket to Ride and The Mexican Train Game, this one has the ability to really appeal to the audience that would enjoy either of those. And yet, with added strategy beyond simple network building, if you prefer.

The resource delivery mechanic being fully optional makes this game potentially as simple as matching colours and numbers, for a younger crowd or a casual audience, or one can play with the full rules and expansion cards for a more rich experience. Lifting mechanics from hefty train games easily, and staying simple, this game is a gem that is far too often overlooked.

I love the little trains, they’re the nicest of any train game I’ve played, and I’ve played many! It’s a shame some of the other graphic design, such as for the score board, seems rushed.

Omen is a beautiful game that’s refreshing in how open-ended they leave a great deal of gameplay. If you prefer to draft, draft cards! Or deckbuild, or just shuffle everything together for an easy random draw; any way you like to get cards in a game is a way you can set up this one.

Combat is very straightforward, similar to Smash Up or Small Box’s other game Hemloch; place minions on locations to vie for influence. But the rewards add a temptation to use abilities or horde victory points in an interesting way that has a lot more depth than Smash Up.

The theme is used well, the components in all editions of the game have been quirky and great with some lovely art on the cards.

Doesn’t take too long to play, but the lack of solid multiplayer rules does effectively limit it to a 2-player game if you don’t use house rules.

Divinare was a game that I picked up purely for the components; it had a great look and sounded interesting, and wasn’t too expensive, so I gave it a try. And I was not disappointed.

It plays very quickly, a lot of moments had a very strong pokerface vibe, learning how to play your hand out as deceptively as possible.

Highly recommended if the theme sparks any interest or bluffing is a mechanic you enjoy.

For a luck-fueled dicefest, Can’t Stop is glorious.

I’ve introduced this game to hardcore strategy players, casual gamers, people that never play games… never have I heard a complaint. The onlookers and players always have a good time. The luck and strategy balance is perfect for the style.

It is well worth the price point for the quality components that will last, this one’s a classic must-have, especially if you want a game accessible to everybody.

The thing that really surprised me about this game has to be how quickly this game can be over; a couple of moves and you can find the door and bam, done. Especially in solo, I’ve found this game can be even faster than Love Letter or other super-quick fillers.

The variety of game modes adds a lot of replay value, but the replay value is going to come from playing this in groups. As a solitaire, it’s one that comes out on occasion, but it’s the bigger games that are more diverse.

With no special abilities or powers for characters, a very straightforward end goal, and a simple set of turn actions, this game is very easy to teach to someone not willing to dip into something deeper, or if you don’t have a lot of time. Highly recommended as a filler.

It’s Cube, the board game; highly thematic and lots of room for house rules to expand gameplay after you get a few games in of standard play.

This game was my absolute favourite of last year; I couldn’t get enough of it! Bringing the game to friends’ houses for a cooperative mystery solving session, or having a quiet evening dipping into one by myself.

The components are amazing, the art included on the pages and the graphic design is phenomenal and immersive as you’re pouring over the newspapers or looking through the directory. Some of the details and ads in the newspapers are very clever little nuggets of period writing that I appreciate.

I find that it’s a great game for a mixed group of gamers and those hesitant to opt into one; with this one, you can say you don’t want to play and then a few minutes later be listening in and have a suggestion to make. In my experience, it pulls everyone around in, and that’s difficult to find in a game, cooperative or not.

The only downside? The publishers refuse to confirm an English release on the reprinted expansions. Come on guys, this game needs it and they already exist!

I love this game; I’ve played it in a large group, and small ones, and even solitaire a number of times. I have yet to play a game that handles turn order and timing in the simple and elegant fashion that this game does, with the track on the edge of the board.

Handling difficulty is easy, too; just have more gnomes for more challenge. And it has a great selection of optional rules once you get the hang of it.

Incredible to think that this game once was crammed into a narrow Silverline box. I’ve considered a DIY board for some time, because the components are small and built for that smaller box.

As a solitaire:

If you’re teaching yourself the game, one gnome is a good number. If you know what you’re doing, try running three, then set yourself some goals to beat (a certain number of turns to win, all gnomes surviving, etc) and it’s a beat-your-own-score as well as survival challenge, akin to Roll Through the Age’s solo mode.