K2: Reaching Thematic Heights

When K2 was released in 2010, it didn’t cause much of an uproar, more of a small trickle than an avalanche. However, it deserves far more attention than it has been given. It is a wonderful race game which is heaped in its mountain-climbing theme. If you like thematic games, pay attention. K2 is rich […]

Puerto Rico: The Ultimate Eurogame

The board game boom in the last decade was ushered in by the rise of eurogames: games designed for deep strategy with interesting mechanics, a de-emphasis on the role of luck, and tighter gameplay. Settlers of Catan kicked off the trend, and ever since games have been released which have tried to master the elegance […]

Vinhos: An Excellent Vintage

Many popular board games today are praised for being highly accessible and easy to learn, simple yet fun. Vinhos is not one of those games. It seems fitting that such a rich and complex game is about wine; a beverage which is notorious with being connected with elitists and enthusiasts, whose value seems to only […]

Carcassonne – Abbey & Mayor: Farms? Where we’re going we don’t need farms.

Carcassonne’s plethora of expansions each seem to have their own purpose. Inns & Cathedrals was meant to add more risk into the game while Traders & Builders added more rewards for growing and finishing cities. Princess & Dragon added a destructive element to the game while The Tower provided a more combative experience. The purpose […]

Stone Age: Tribal Tedium or a Prehistoric Pleasure?

Stone Age is a game of worker placement, resource collection, and civilization building. There are many other games with these same ideas. So is Stone Age special, or is it just another run of the mill Eurogame designed to bore your pants off? Let’s find out, shall we? Looking into the game mechanics without going […]

Small World: The Next Big Thing

Designer games have exploded onto the board gaming scene over the last decade and as a result board gaming has never been so popular. The success of these designer games has been propelled by three particular games: the Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Ticket to Ride. These are the tent-poles of the Eurogame movement. The […]

Zooloretto: Strategy in Camouflage

Zooloretto looks like a children’s game. And at first glance is may seem and feel like a children’s game. By behind all the flashy colours, underneath the furry spots and stripes, beyond the cute and cuddly animals, lies a game which is full of strategy and wit. The game may be quick and simple, but […]

Carcassonne – The Tower: Tensions Rise High

Hollywood has a number of franchises which are mainstays of the movie industry and continue to come out with new entries; star Wars, Harry Potter, James Bond, etc. This also exists in the world of board games, and no franchise is more dominant than the Carcassonne family of games. Carcassonne seems to come out with […]

Carcassonne – Traders and Builders: Now With More Bacon!

Bacon has the ability to make almost anything better; put it on a cheeseburger and its better, wrap it around a filet minion and its better, crumble it up and toss it into a Caesar salad and its better. Likewise, the second Carcassonne expansion Traders and Builders, along with its brand new pig-shaped meeples, makes […]

Carcassonne – Inns and Cathedrals: A Textbook Expansion

Lately, the movie industry seems to be swamped with sequels. Sequels have become extremely popular among Hollywood execs and almost any movie has the potential for one. The board gaming equivalent to the movie sequel is the board game expansion. And just as sequels seem to have been the rend this decade, so to have […]

Carcassonne – The Princess and the Dragon: Carcassonne Gets Cutthroat

Carcassonne has been around for a decade and is one of the most recognizable Eurogames on the market. People love it for its variability and easy-going interactions. Yes there are blocking strategies employed, but its not quite as focused on aggressive competition as a game like Risk. But throw a deadly, meeple-eating dragon into the […]

Carcassonne: A Piece-by-Piece Masterpiece

Some people complain about long set-up times for board games. However, with Carcassonne it could be argued that the entire game consists of setting up the board. Carcassonne presents a neat twist on the idea of a board game, as the board is built one tile at a time with each players’ turn consisting of […]

The Settlers of Catan: Explore the Possibilities

The Settlers of Catan: Explore the Possibilities Welcome to Catan. For those of you who have never been, prepare yourselves for a land of new possibilities. For those of you returning, I trust that you will find this place to be comforting and familiar and will remind you of your very first voyage. For Catan […]