Mike

Ezra & Nehemiah is the latest release from @garphillgames in their Ancient Anthology line that deviates from the trilogy model that characterizes their most popular games. For the uninformed, this line features art from @samphillipsillustration and reflects a more realistic style fittingly paired with its real world theming. I've heard E&N described as a greatest hits of sorts with Shem incorporating some of his most innovative mechanisms from his beloved West Kingdom trilogy into a single game. I think it's a helpful and reasonable elevator pitch to someone curious about how this game plays. A variable card slot system reminds slightly of Viscounts, committing Levites for an engine building gain harks back to the cathedral of Architects, and the fortification system similar to Paladins. That is not to say any of it is derivative. None of it feels directly plucked from another game. It is truly its own game but it is a highly modular euro, mechanically speaking. I couldn't help think of Feld as I played because of E&N's many tracks, mechanisms, scoring opportunities, and diversity in strategy. It's a massive game that takes a lot of time to absorb and teach. No one aspect feels complex but there is a real difficulty in connected dots for a cohesive strategy. One the one hand, targeting each of the three key main actions is necessary due to the diversity of the cards yet specializing will reap the largest benefits. With a game that has a set number of turns, it seems the trick is avoiding being spread too broadly and it can be difficult to obtain the key resources you may need. It's a game that truly opens up potential for experimentation but also somehow feels formulaic. I found myself enjoying this more than the South Tigris series but not as much as the West Kingdom. I think an easier teach and a shorter game length could have pushed it up even higher for me. Have you played Ezra & Nehemiah? What do you think? Thanks to @garphillgames for sending a review copy!

My first time with the OG Brass. My wife and I have been a fan of Birmingham for years and I finally snagged a copy of the @roxleygames Lancashire reprint. There are things we liked better here and things we prefer in Birmingham. Both are such great games. But here's my take on Lancashire after one play. ✅ Things we liked: - The flexibility on loan amounts feels right. It's nice to pick how much to borrow and how many steps to reduce on the income track. - Tight decisions give impact and meaning to every single action - Sell actions can be performed without connecting to edge of map - Snagging critical connections for those linkage points matters so much ⛔️Things we didn't like: - Fewer industries to choose from reduces strategic flexibility - Develop actions are mandatory due to tiles that only serve to block progress - Foreign markets never felt like a compelling option in a 2p game - Felt procedural compared with Birmingham. Missing a fun factor of Birmingham Overall, I think we would like Brass Lancashire more had we not played Birmingham so many times. For us, Birmingham is still the best version of the game and the one that will remain in our collection. I have a feeling Lancashire will move along. 😅 Which Brass is your favorite?

We all know Underwater Cities is a fantastic game but have you experienced it with the GeekUp Bits and metal coins from @boardgamegeek ?! It's next level. The Bakelite components are wonderful clacking around in your hand between turns and the metal coins have a fantastic heft to them. If you're a fan of Underwater Cities, these are must have upgrades. And setting up and tearing down is incredible with the insert from @folded_space . It's incredible that all these chunky premium components will still fit along with the expansion. I especially love that each era's deck can be stored separated and easily removed with the card trays. This is one of those inserts that is so functional that the game requires almost zero effort to set up. Each tray serves as a token holder. I will say I wish @riograndegames offered a big box solution so I didn't have to store all the dual layer boards separately! *Underwater Cities and expansion self-purchased. *Board game insert provided by @folded_space *GeekUp bits and metal coins provided by @boardgamegeek

Coffee Rush by @koreaboardgames is fun little filler that has you in the role of a barista rushing to fill orders for customers faster than than your coworkers. Using a shared central grid for movement, you start your turn by moving your barista up to 3 spaces and collecting ingredients for all squares you pass through. You cannot end movement in a space with an opponent or your second meeple in a 2p game. Then you allocate these ingredients immediately to one of three clear mugs that represent your orders in progress. If you cannot use an ingredient you must return it to the supply, nothing can be stashed or stored up for future orders. Each round any orders you serve up are removed from your queue and placed in your completed orders pile. Any not completed are moved down and if after 4 rounds they are still not complete they are removed from your queue and are placed in a penalty pile. Completed orders will score end game victory points or alternatively you can cash them in at the beginning on your turn for an upgrade that opens up better movement options or more lucrative ingredient collection abilities. The game ends if one player has 5 or more penalty orders or if there are no more orders in the deck to draw. Points are awarded for completed orders and upgrade tiles with penalties subtracted out. The components for this production are absolutely incredible. Each ingredient is custom molded plastic and the little cups are a very fun way to track orders in progress. The player boards do a great job of keeping your orders organized and doesn't require a lot of table space. The card illustrations are also well done and the screen printed meeples are nice touch. Functionally the plastic cups can make it difficult to see at a glance which ingredients are already present since some components are easily mistaken due to similar coloring and shapes. Not a big deal for a game of this weight but worth noting. It's possibly a tad too easy I think and I would like some variant rules to kick things up a notch and increase the chaos. But as a chill filler this is a huge success! Thanks to @asmodee_usa for sending a review copy.

I thought drafting games had shown me everything there was was to see but along came @thunderworksgames and their latest release Stonespine Architects. This has been a hit with everyone I've played with. Being a drafting game, this has a wonderfully consistent length regardless of the number of players. I've played at 2 and 5 and it's just as engaging in either scenario. You find yourself with a blueprint and a dungeon to build. Passing cards each turn you will fill a row each round. After four rounds your dungeon is complete. In between each round there is a an opportunity to spend gold to augment your dungeon and acquire goal cards to help further inform your strategy and award victory points. Purchasing traps, creatures, treasure chests, and victory points is determined by an ingenious market system that changes the value of different tiles each round. The player with the most gold is always up to purchase but they can choose to pass early and forgo a purchase to get first dibs on the individual goal cards. There is one public goal that everyone is competing for as well so there is plenty of competition throughout the game. This helps mitigate the trap of most drafting games which suffer from limited player interaction. This game feels like just the right amount of interaction and complexity for a game of this weight. Everyone had a great time trying to push their luck to get their gates connected in their dungeons while also trying to meet all the objectives in their blueprint cards. It's easy to teach and has an amazing insert that makes setup and tear down a breeze. I highly recommend this wonderful game as a perfect opener or closer to any game night. Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy for review!

FL1P0 was the first game that drew me in from the 18 Hex Games Collection Vol 2 currently being crowdfunded by @little_house_bg . If you're not familiar with this publisher, they are pushing the envelope of what can be done in game design. All of their games start with a framework of only 18 hexagonal tiles and it's incredible to see what can be accomplished with these limitations. It reminds me of what @buttonshy set out to do with cards but it's so interesting to see how this concept changes with a different medium and in the hands of fresh developers. FL1P0's premise was immediately approachable and engaging. Using a central 0 and branching out in three directions, you are competing to get a sum of 10 in a connected path. But after you lay a tile, you must flip a tile and that can have all kinds of effects. You have a hint on the white side that flipping will either increase or decrease the number. The colored side triggers an effect that could let you play again, remove another tile, flip another tile or even reverse turn order. It's one of 6 games in the next volume of 18 Hex Games and they are really increasing in complexity for this volume of games. I will keep you updated as I play more of these titles! In the meantime, check out their live @kickstarter campaign! Prototypes provided by publisher for review

Stupor Mundi by @quinedgames feels like a game miraculously discovered at the opening of a time capsule. Its theme and charm beckon a gamer back to a familiar era of the straight forward euro. A quick look under the hood of this vintage looking vehicle is a turbo engine fueled by the latest in gaming technology. The genius of this design is that it is effectively a tug of war as you manipulate the progress and empire of Frederick II. This ruler's purple tinted empire will be manipulated by all players as they trigger edicts that add to or take away various progress. The players in turn are also gaining allies which will grant ongoing victory points as income EACH round if you can meet their requirements! Some are loyal to Frederick are wanting him to do well while others want to see your empire prosper more rapidly than his. Using slight aspects of deck building, action selection, and multi use cards - your turns are as simple and fast as laying down a card and doing that action. But the timing and strategy for this game is incredibly deep and highly informed by your opponent's actions. The game has you building up your castle which has the pleasing benefit of unlocking new abilities, resource income, and crucially the incoming production ally slots. It all makes for a sense of progress and the mild combos are fun to trigger at just the right moments. This is a fantastic game that is being lovingly balanced to ensure the best possible experience. It already is a winner in my house even in its prototype form. I cannot wait to see the final production in all its glory. I'm a big fan of this design and can easily recommend it be added to your bookcase! Prototype sent for review by publisher.

Botany by @duxsomnium is a beautifully produced game about gathering plant specimens from around the world and bringing them back to England. Aesthetically it nails the Victorian Age perfectly with vintage photos and art work and fantastic graphic design. Mechanically it most behaves like a pickup and deliver as you use a hand of cards to to determine what plants you want to collect and where you must go to get them. When you arrive you can then move the card from hand to your Wardian Case if there is room for safe transit back to your estate. And you must return there to deliver the specimen and receive points for it. Eventually someone builds up enough reputation to trigger the end game and you finish out the round and score This game play loop is broken up by events cards which throw curve balls and a big dose of tongue in cheek humor into the mix. These usually are negative but can be rewarding as well but often are very luck based and unpredictable. This is also a surprisingly interactive game where you can steal things from your opponents including money, plants, or items. This can usually be quite painful but turnabout is fair play and the "take that" revenge missions bite back fairly quickly. For all its positives, this does come from first time designers and some of the inexperience shows through. The rulebook is poorly organized and information is all over the place. There are many situations where we wanted clarification on a particular card and it was no where to be found. The designers have since released a 22 page PDF with an FAQ, rules clarifications, optional rules that aid in balancing and character stands to make abilities easier to see. Missing, however, is a player aid to help walkthrough estate scoring. The game does run long for what it is. I would have preferred a round based timer to ensure productive and efficient turns. The reputation goal translates into a variable length depending on the play style of the table. We did enjoy the game overall and recommend it for those drawn to the theme but still don't mind a bit of backstabbing! Game provided for review by publisher.

Always love getting Witchstone to the table. Especially when I get to introduce to new people. It's a Knizia that almost feels like a Feld. Have you played this fantastic game from @rnrgames / @huch_games ?

Formosa Tea by @sosostudiotw is a hidden gem if there ever was one. It had a limited initial run and was difficult to find in the US since its distributor was the late Tasty Minstrel Games (RIP). Ever since TMG went under there has been a lot of hope that Formosa Tea would one day be reprinted and thankfully that day is here! The designers have taken this opportunity to tweak some of the rules and mechanics that in my opinion make for a more polished and smooth gaming experience. This thematic euro has you harvesting and processing three types of tea with two distinct worker types. Tea masters are more flexible but only they can serve in the processing of the tea. And interestingly the harvest actions passively impact the progress of the tea processing tracks depending on how many workers were used in the corresponding row. Even other people's workers will help your tea master's progress. Tea quality is determined by moisture content and the drier the tea, the better its quality. Oolong, black and green tea varieties can then be sold to domestic or global markets or further processed into scented teas. Better quality tea will net you more VP And being a euro there are of course tracks to illustrate your progress and skill in each type of tea which increases the VP you'll earn end game for your completed contracts. There are juicy bonuses and combos that you can trigger all along the way that make the whole experience full of dopamine hits as your watch your tea engine come to life! I highly recommend you check out the campaign on @kickstarter as well as the excellent video from @cardboardeast explaining the updates and differences in the second edition in great detail. Thanks to the publisher for sending this prototype for review!

ICE (@thiswayice ) is currently in the spotlight once again as its second crowdfunding campaign has been generating a LOT of buzz. And do not be confused - this isn't a reprint - it's a thoughtful second look by the publisher. I can provide a good analysis of these changes thanks to being taught the 1st edition by my friend @boardgamelimericks . First off, the ambitious 5 tile layers has been reduced to 3 and the length of play has been changed to 4 rounds, down from 7. This is a welcome change as the original game ran a little long and this condenses the same experience into a more palatable length of time. The game's unique mechanics otherwise have been largely unchanged. The a cost of excavating snow tiles has thankfully reduced. This helps get things moving more quickly in the early game. And these snow tiles have gotten more predictable as their perks are now tied to specific designs which can better inform strategy. And new study tiles have been introduced which ensures you can use artifact abilities more easily and help contribute toward end game scoring goals. As in the first edition, the game involves a lot of minor mental math as you calculate the action point cost to excavate layers and try to get as many free actions per turn as possible. It's puzzly in a fun and challenging way but this can lead to some downtime as the board state changes and opponents must rethink their calculations. The game's art and design are evocative and highly attractive. The new bottom layer dubbed Azulia only adds to the beauty of the board as you dig deeper and also adds a new goal to score points through revealing it. For me, the second edition is hands down the one I'd prefer want to own. It shows the designer's maturity in their ability to not only make the game more cost effective to produce but also more enjoyable to play. There is truly nothing else like it on the market and it even plays well at 2 players. I highly recommend you check out ICE, second edition on @gamefound.crowdfunding ! (Prototype provided by publisher for content creation)

Apistocracy (@apistocracy ) is a fascinating game that is hard to pin down. It is self published game from Heather Dixon, a first time designer, that is themed around climbing the social ladder in England during Victorian times. The game's title and theme lean lightly into a beekeeping aesthetic that is represented graphically throughout and heavily noticed in the central Beehive board and on the card art. However, rest assured you are still humans trying to elevate your status among the rich and royal. Mechanically, this game takes a lot of familiar territory and combines it into something new. The first four rounds consist of worker placement with a dash of deck building. You are using calling cards as workers to take actions but these actions also have a secondary cost in the form of card suits. These can be spent from your hand of cards or from other banked symbols on your player board. With only four cards in hand each round, you are limited by your available suits and must be decisive about your strategy. Some actions will yield additional bonus actions while others will help unlock your asymmetric player abilities. The deck building is minor as primarily feeds into the final round which changes course and has you play a single round of Whist. If you have been playing the deck building game then you will likely have better cards for this trick taking final round. None of the mechanics overshadow the others and there are many different strategies to take but each player's ability going to inform likely best scoring options. Apistocracy succeeds in what it sets out to do. This game has layers of strategy to be explored game after game. And let me tell you, the card economy is TIGHT. This is for the euro gamers out there who want a brain burner than players in less than 90 minutes. Oh, did I mention the designer is also the illustrator? If she can dance the waltz, she's the triple threat! Prototype shown provided by the publisher.