Chris P

This game holds a special in my heart as being the first euro my wife and I discovered together. Luckily we continue to enjoy it immensely and have had huge success introducing it to friends and family.

The game features a beautiful map of the United States with various cities highlighted with multi-segmented paths in between. At the beginning of the game, each player will receive a hand of destination tickets, which show a path between two cities, and a hand of different colors of train cards.

The object of the game is to use the train cards to lay down trains between the cities listed on their destination tickets. Each ticket is worth a certain number of points, determined by the distance between them. When one player runs out of trains, each player gets one more turn and the player with the most points is the winner.

While a simple and easy to understand game, this has proven to be one of the tensest game I have ever played. This comes from your options on your turn. You can draw more train cards, place down a track or draw more destinations. The trick though is that you can only do 1 of those. So do you draw more train cards and risk your opponent taking the route to New York? Or do you lay down those trains and hope that no one else is collecting blue?

This is what makes the game so great. Its simple to play but can grate on the mind.

I love miniatures games. I’ve played Heroclix, Mage Knight, Heroscape and tinkered with Monsterpocalypse. My only problem with them is the time you need to invest before you can play. There’s always some aspect of team building and hoping you have the right figures.

Summoner Wars though is able to give me that same tactical feeling that I love about minis games all in the small, compact package of a card game.

Individual models are replaced by cards and placed on a 6×8 grid. Each turn players use their magic points (which are earned by killing other creatures) to summon their units, move their units and attack their opponents. The goal is to destroy the rival Summoner before yours is.

Plaid Hat games has done a tremendous job delivering well-balanced and unique factions to play with. There are teams that will appeal to every player, from highly mobile offense to a slower defensive play style.

This fast became one of my favorite games. It provides a great tactical battle, in a short amount of time.

Forbidden Island is a great light cooperative game that can still prove fairly challenging.

The basic premise is that the players are on an island to retrieve four treasures. Sounds easy enough, except that the island is slowly sinking. The players must then work together to slow the islands progress, navigate to the treasures and then get back to the helicopter to safety.

The components in this game are gorgeous. The tiles are beautifully illustrated and printed on nice thick cardboard. The treasure minis are detailed and a nice addition. Everything about this game screams quality and for the price its hard to find a better deal.

With multiple difficulty levels and a wide variety of tile layouts, this game is great for families with younger kids to a group of a adults who want a light co-op to fill the night.

I highly recommend this game.

I was really interested in Cthulu Dice when it came out. I even inspired me to learn how to spell Cthulu so that I could keep searching for more information on the mythos.

The game seemed interesting and fun and I loved the look of the giant die. But after I played a couple times, I just couldn’t hold my interest.

The players each represent followers of Cthulu who are trying to rid the other players of their sanity (represented by little glass beads) which will strengthen Cthulu (represented by the middle of the table). Last player who hold onto their marbles (so to speak) is the winner.

Each turn the player will choose a player to target and roll the die. The outcome of the die roll will determine the outcome. The target can lose 1 sanity to either you or Cthulu, or everyone can lose 1 to Cthulu, or you can take one from Cthulu. The then target gets a chance to attack back. And then play goes to the next player.

My main problem with the game is that there is no choice beyond who to attack on your turn. As much I love rolling dice, I want a little more than that in a game. Really this game is nothing more than a glorified version of LCR.

Unless you have 5 minutes to kill and you really want something to keep your hands occupied, I’d avoid this one. For a quick dice filler, I prefer Zombie Dice.

Oh Settlers of Catan…what is there to say about you that hasn’t already been said? Probably not much, so I’ll just blab for a few.

If you have a family member, friend or other loved one that loves the old, classic board games such as Monopoly, this is the go-to gateway game. The game play heavily relies on the familiar 2d6 that have come to know and love but it adds just a little more strategy to help usher them in to the wide world of designer board games.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with SoC, the premise is pretty simple. An island is set up with different tiles portraying various resources: wool, wheat, wood, ore and brick. Each of these tiles is the given a corresponding number between 2 and 12 (the possible results of rolling 2 6-sided dice). Each turn the active player rolls the dice, and the players with settlements next to the appropriate resources get those resources which can later be spent to build more roads and settlements to acquire more and more resources.

This progressive building aspect also appeals to the Monopoly crowd. The feeling you got when you build a large collection of properties using your money to buy houses and hotels in similar to that of watching your little civilization spread over the land.

I will admit that this game may soon fall out of grace after multiple plays and as you gain more exposure to other games out there, but it does remain an important stepping stone into a much deeper understanding of board games.

I am a fan of deck building games. I find them in general to have a nice mix of luck (in what cards you draw) and choice (best move with your cards).

I am also a fan of dice.

So Quarriors should be right up my alley. And it is.

To understand the game, just take the basic deck-building mechanics and replace the cards with dice. The downside to this is that it does tip the balance of luck and strategy since you now have to see what dice you pull and then hope they roll the way you want them.

But at the same time, the rush when you draw the perfect hand and the it rolls just the way you want it great. You cheer, your opponents gasp. Good fun.

The components are amazing. So many amazing little dice. Some people have complained that some of the dice are hard to read, but I haven’t had too many issues. The little cheat sheets on the bottom of the cards does help deciphering anything you may have issues with.

So while Quarriors may not be as deep as Dominion or Thunderstone, it may lack the complex chains and interactions, it is still a lot of fun. Just don’t take it too seriously.

I’ve heard lots or negative reviews about 4e, and I understand that if it gets compared to some other deeper RPGs it can fall short, especially by die-hard roleplayers.

But this is my first RPG and for my friends and I, we have a great time playing. We love the tactical combat (a con to a lot of people) ,that we don’t have lists and lists of skills (another potential con).

So I can’t speak for those of you that have been playing RPGs since the 70s, but if you’re new to the genre and are looking for some strategic action, I’d encourage you to give it a shot. Especially if you have a FLGS that runs the Encounters program, its easy to get into.

Yes, this game is simple and mindless. But that’s what makes it great. Its a fun, light-hearted filler.

If you’re a fan of the zombie genre its really easy to get caught up in the theme, cheering as you devour a armed soldier (red die) or sobbing as you get that final shotgun blast from the cheerleader (green).

When I got into boardgaming a few years back, Ticket to Ride was my introduction to the wonderful world of Euro games. Since then it had become a favorite between my wife and I. While it was a great game to play with friends and family, it always felt a little lacking. Buying the 1910 expansion helped a little bit, bit it was still an open board.

Enter TTR: Nordic. This is a great version of the game for 2 players. The map is tight and cramped, making it hard not to get in each others way. This fast became the go-to version for when the wife and I want a fun game to play.

I will say though, that if you are new to the series, this version does have a couple extra rules and twists that make it just an iota more complicated than the vanilla version. But it still super fun and easy to learn.