Renature – Bob Pazehoski, Jr.
Lest you had any doubt about the ability of Capstone Games to assemble a box of fine components, look no further than the chunky dominoes, trees, and shrubs sprawling across the gorgeous board of Renature. Players use the dominoes to enclose various plots of soil and greenery in a rather brutal area control battle royale. Two features make this stunning game more than a little ruthless. First is the inclusion of a neutral color on the map, controlled by all players. Second is the fact that colors which are tied during area scoring are treated as though they don’t exist, opening the door to brutality in the use of the neutral pieces. Toss in cloud tokens which, though they are capable of shifting the course of the game, just aren’t abundant enough to use carelessly and you have a tense thriller of a game.
Yes, there is luck in the dominoes and just a hint on the underside of the scoring tokens, but there is so much delicious hypertension in the late game decisions that I can’t wait to get Renature back to the table. It’s gorgeous and weighty on the table and likewise so on the mind.
Ease of entry?:
★★★★★ – No sweat
Would I play it again?:
★★★★★ – Will definitely play it again
Read more articles from Bob Pazehoski, Jr.
Ankh: Gods of Egypt – Andrew Lynch
When Ankh: Gods of Egypt came out, I ignored it. I knew it wasn’t a title I’d consider buying. For years, my collection had one rule, no minis, and I held to it. Time, though, wore away at my resistance. My trusted review outlets loved the game. The word “Knizian” kept coming up. “Emergent,” too. “Simple choices,” “profound implications.” These are my buzzwords. When I found a good deal, I took advantage of it.
The first few rounds of play were lengthy and ungainly, but it quickly became clear that Ankh is something special. If any of us had bothered to look at the rules ahead of time, it would have been an easy teach. Subsequent plays with new players have confirmed that. I love how it looks. I love the tension of the combat cards. My friends and I are still at the stage where we don’t have long-term strategies, so all of our plays are fairly obvious, but we’ll get there. It’s a terrific combination of short-term tactics and long-term strategy. Any game where throwing fights is a viable choice is, in my opinion, a good game. I find myself thinking about different strategies, and things I could do differently. Can’t wait to get it to the table again.
Ease of entry?:
★★★★☆ – The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?:
★★★★★ – Will definitely play it again
Read more articles from Andrew Lynch.
A Game of Thrones: Catan – Brotherhood of the Watch – Andy Matthews
I’d rather have been one of the “unwilling participants” in the Red Wedding than play this game again.
I’ve only played CATAN a few times, and I think that’s likely a few times too many. There are people who really enjoy this now classic and groundbreaking hobby board game, and I’m thrilled that there is something for everyone. But I think CATAN is overrated in the same way that I think The Beatles are overrated. Both came out at a time when there was just nothing else like it…groundbreaking—at the time. But viewed in the light of modern board games, CATAN is just an excruciating experience (to me).
I’ll give credit to the producers of the game for trying out new variants on the old chestnut. The wall pieces and the wildings miniatures are extremely well executed, and the hero cards give you a way to continue moving forward with your personal objectives even when you’re the victim of poor dice rolls. But at its core it’s still CATAN, and that means you have very little control over what resources you get, especially given the extremely restrictive nature of the settlement and road placements. If you get locked into an area and surrounded, you won’t have ANY way to improve your position, and that makes for a very poor experience.
Ease of entry?:
★★★★☆ – The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?:
☆☆☆☆☆ – No chance
Read more articles from Andy Matthews.
Hamburg – David McMillan
Hamburg is the first game in Queen Games’s Stefan Feld City Collection. A reimplementation of the Feld classic Bruges, Hamburg stands as more than just a simple retheme. Aside from the new aesthetics, the game has been reworked entirely to address some gameplay/thematic issues that exist with the Bruges framework as well as to present a few new features that enrich the overall experience.
Hamburg was very easy to learn and teach. My familiarity with Bruges served me well in this regard. Hamburg manages to capture everything I love about Bruges and very few of the things that I don’t. One of the issues that still exists is that it can sometimes take a very long time to gather the resources necessary to get specific cards from your hand into play only to have their benefits largely nullified by other players by the time you do. That’s just a fact of life I’ve come to accept from Bruges, but it left a bad taste in my gaming partner’s mouth which almost guarantees that neither Bruges nor Hamburg are going to hit the table as often as I’d like.
Watch out for my upcoming review!
Ease of entry?:
★★★★★ – No sweat
Would I play it again?:
★★★★★ – Will definitely play it again
Read more articles from David McMillan.
Home Sweet Home (or Not) – Justin Bell
Some games are great. Others are not.
Home Sweet Home (or Not) is a series of scenarios built around a cooperative family game where players work to clean out their house. One of the scenarios is called “Alien in the House.” The players move from room to room (with rooms attached in the same way Ice Cool built their cardboard school system), picking up cards, then “dumping” them in the attic before guests arrive.
The game has an event deck; every so often, a card is played that permanently removes a player from the game. That could happen on the second turn of the game, and you have no control over it. This event, Alien Abduction, wiped my daughter off the map during our four-player run at the scenario. My son immediately stood up from the table. “I don’t like this game,” he said, then went to play with his toy cars.
I get it, son. I don’t like it either. Home Sweet Home (or Not) is a rote experience with fiddly physical components; move, pick up card, deliver card, repeat. After trying a second scenario to be sure the family didn’t enjoy it, we moved on.
Ease of entry?:
★★★★★ – No sweat
Would I play it again?:
☆☆☆☆☆ – No chance
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