In this article, I want to talk about a dozen of the most interesting and rated novelties among Euro table games. These are mostly games released in English in 2022 and have high ratings on BGG. BITOKU  Score: 7.91. Difficulty: 3.7. Game time: 2 hours  Hardcore euro on the theme of Japanese mythology. Exploits the most popular Euromechanic of recent times: a mixture of worker posting and card drawing. "Bitoku" has a good design and an interesting setting - the action takes place in the world of yokai (mythical Japanese creatures). When you first get acquainted with the game, you will be amazed by the huge field with many components. For the entire game, the player will have to play only 12 cards and display 12 worker cubes. At the same time, you can fight for lake treasures, collect income-generating crystals in crystal caves, travel along the winding path of mits and collect pairs from mits and dragonflies, move the spirit marker of the bitoku set, make pilgrimages on the path of enlightenment, cross the river and take the hills of Hikaru , get stone spirits - ivakur from the Garden of Stones, build buildings in the magical forest, play vision cards, etc. The number of move options is huge, so the game risks dragging on for several hours. However, you soon realize that despite the many options, the game is not that difficult, since it is devoid of any tricky combinations and is a banal euro point salad.  BRAZIL: IMPERIAL  Score: 7.75. Difficulty: 3.0. Game time: 1 hour 30 minutes   Complex euro game. First of all, it is worth noting that the game is very encyclopedic: the great politicians, soldiers, scientists, figures of Brazil are mentioned on the cards and tokens, as well as phenomena related to this country. Like the history of the Brazilian Empire, we will go through the various stages of the country's formation. Initially, our task will be the construction of plantations, land research. Then the development of industrial production, the founding of new cities. At the end of the game, the rapid development of culture and science, and even war, begins. Perhaps the most difficult thing for the author was to squeeze all this diversity into the 1.5 hour game time, and he succeeded. Another thing is that due to transience, all actions are simplified - and it will not be possible to do much here. In terms of gameplay, the game is similar to "Sid Meyer's Civilization", and in general to computer turn-based strategies, because the basis of the game is the movement of units on the map, the exploration of tiles and the construction of houses around cities. The design of the game is excellent, except that it needs dual-layer tablets, I hope they come out someday. It is difficult to assess the game: on the one hand, it impresses the imagination with its thematics, on the other hand, there is no typical crowd of deep strategies and cunning combinations. This game is more of a country simulator than a euro, there is not even a single track. So some will like it, and some won't. CARNEGIE  Score: 8.05. Difficulty: 3.8. Game time: 1.5 hours.  One of the main contenders for the title of the best game of the year, Carnegie. The game is named after the American oligarch Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919). The player will hire employees of his company, produce goods, develop a transport network between US cities and engage in charity. The game is a complex euro with a strict, concise design and unique mechanics. The highlight of Carnegie is the first player's choice of timeline, which determines what actions players can choose. Sometimes it is more profitable to choose even a less good action for yourself, if the opponents will not be able to benefit from it. The peculiarity of the game is the complete absence of luck: there are no cards or dice, and all information is open and available from the beginning of the game. Some will like it, while others may find the game too dry and boring. DISTILLED  Rating: 8.13. Difficulty: 2.9. Game time: 1 hour.  Card euro family difficulty level. And really, the whole family should like it, especially grandfather - a lover of moonshine. After all, in it, players will be engaged in the production of strong alcoholic beverages from all over the world! Gin, tequila, rum, baiju, setu, pisco, grappa and many other drinks that many have not even heard of. The game is quite encyclopedic, introducing inquisitive players to the features of these drinks and the people who invented them. The game mechanics are simple: buy ingredients (water, yeast, sugar), mix them into a drink deck, survive a couple of rounds and sell them, getting money and victory points. At the same time, the success factor is big for the euro: two cards are lost from the drink deck during the distillation process. They wanted elite rum - but only cheap moonshine will turn out! It's a shame... Distilled already has an app that doesn't change the game, but adds new drinks — this time spirits from Africa and the Middle East. EARTH  Score: 7.91. Difficulty: 2.9. Game time: 1 hour.  Card euro of family difficulty level, dedicated to the development of life on Earth. Players improve the ecosystem of our planet by working with maps of plants, animals, territories in view of climate change and other events. The game is similar to "Wings": its rules are simple, it lasts about an hour, and the basis of the mechanics is the playing of cards. And the most important thing - as in Wingspan, the game pleases with many unique cards (in total, there are more than 300 of them in the game). At the same time, as in "Wings", the bonuses of these cards are often repeated. The game is currently leading BGG's "hot" games, but this is primarily due to the theme of the game. Games about animals and ecology usually receive a lot of attention from players, it is enough to mention the good, but obviously overpriced places of such games as Ark Nova, Cascadia, Wings. As for Earth, the game mechanics are quite primitive, there is little interaction between players, and the game is also criticized for a lot of fiddling: at the end of the round, you have to calculate the growth of all plant cards, get fertilizers and perform other necessary actions. In general, Earth is a complicated version of the game "Wings", only with plants instead of birds. ENDLESS WINTER  Score: 7.89. Difficulty: 3.2. Game time: 1.5 hours.  A Eurogame based on the 2 most popular mechanics of recent years: posting workers and log building. During his turn, a player puts a meeples on a cell and performs an action, strengthening it by drawing cards. Action cells are not blocked here, but whoever performed the action in the round will be the first to receive the bonus. Cards can be saved until the end of the round, then they will give a good reward. There are only 4 actions. For example, the action of hunting will allow you to take cards of animals, it is most profitable to collect animals of the same species. And the resettlement action allows you to move the tents on the map and build communities, whoever has more of them will receive a reward from the hex. "Endless Winter" will not surprise an experienced tabletop player with unusual solutions, but it is a solid strategy with quality components, good balance, simple rules and pleasant gameplay. Recently, there have been many games with similar mechanics: "Dune: Imperium" with dense interaction and frequent battles, "Ruins of Arnaku" with colorful, diverse maps and cunning combinations for exchanging resources, "Bitoku" with a huge colorful field and lots of action. How will "Endless Winter" answer them? For example, modularity - the presence of large and small add-ons that can be turned on and off to diversify the game. Yes, "Ancestors" offers alternative maps of fellow tribesmen and animals with more diverse actions. And "Rock paintings" allow you to draw erasable animals with markers on the tablet, receiving bonuses for this. It doesn't change the game much, but it looks unusual. Another plus is high-quality components, three-dimensional tablets. The accompanying minus is the high price of the game. And due to the many components, the game requires a large table even when playing together. Summary: The game is good and interesting, but falls somewhat short of the above competitors. LACRIMOSA Score: 7.85. Difficulty: 3.1. Game time: 1.5 hours.  This Eurogame is primarily interesting for its theme and bright cover, dedicated to Mozart's musical work. However, the game itself is simple and does not shine with any unique game mechanics. The main action is to draw cards in one of two ways, by placing them above and below the tablet. The cards above the tablet allow you to perform these actions, while the cards below the tablet bring you resources at the end of the round. One of the main actions is to travel the map of Europe, which allows you to get rewards in different cities. These reward tiles are randomly placed on the field, making each game unique. There is also an area-majority mechanic in the game, when players lay out their markers in the form of notes on fragments of the Requiem. At the end of the game, the players who contributed the most to each part of the Requiem are awarded victory points. Of course, this part is especially effective when playing with 3-4 players, in duel mode the fight for fragments is less intense. MARRAKESH  Score: 8.19. Difficulty: 3.3. Game time: 2 hours.  Since 2022, Stefan Feld has been involved in the development of a large-scale series of Eurogames called City Collection. For example, the game "Hamburg" became a redesign of "Bruges", "Amsterdam" will continue the game "Macao", "Cuzco" - a re-release of "Bora Bora" and so on. But the highest-rated game, which has already received many awards, is Marrakech - perhaps precisely because..

 To begin with, I must warn you about several features of Frostpunk: The Board Game. First, the game is difficult. Very difficult. This is not a bug, but a feature. After a dozen games, I realized that I always had ways to get out of a sticky situation at hand - I just didn't notice them in time. You just need to learn to play better. Second, the game is very dark. I was not very pleased to read about children freezing to death. Others may be affected by cannibalism or other unpleasant acts to which people may descend in a hopeless situation. In my opinion, the author should be praised for beautifully transferring the gloomy atmosphere of the computer game to the table, but keep in mind. BRIEF REVIEW AND WHY BUY THIS GAME This game stands alone in my collection of 300 boards. She is absolutely unique. Complicated, heavy, time-consuming and desk-space-intensive, but I love it. Perhaps, of all my games, it most deserves a ten. After her, "Twilight of the Empire" is the closest to the top ten, since the party in "Twilight" is a whole event. So far, Frostpunk is the only co-op that has surpassed Spirit Island for me. If you want a challenge, want a beautifully beautiful and highly replayable delight that tells exciting stories and beats you mercilessly, then Frostpunk is for you. IS THE GAME WORTH ITS PRICE? I purchased the deluxe all-in and it was definitely worth it. However, I've become a big fan of the game, so if you're on a tight budget, it might be worth sticking with the Frostlanders add-on. All other add-ons only slightly improve the game and add more atmosphere to an already excellent game. Is the game worth the time spent mastering the game and long games? In my opinion, yes. Even if your friends aren't interested in Frostpunk, it's great to play solo, and each game will be memorable for a long time. Of course, if the game does not start and you constantly lose without understanding why, then Frostpunk will cause you only irritation. But if you adapt to this apparently unfriendly pleasure, then all the effort will pay off when you rejoice at the first victory. FULL REVIEW Desktop Frostpunk is a great adaptation of the computer game. I played the PC original, but it's not necessary to understand it at all to enjoy the tabletop version (just like you don't have to watch the Battlestar Galatica series to enjoy the board game of the same name). The action of the game begins after the end of the world. This time, the culprit was not zombies, nuclear war, or a shortage of iPhones, but the cold.  The action takes place in an alternative steampunk universe. You control a group of survivors who have reached a house-sized generator designed to combat the cold. The game begins as soon as you move into a new house, and all kinds of troubles immediately fall on you from all sides. Your task as city leaders is to keep everything under control. At its core, Frostpunk is a game about worker placement, hand and resource management. However, it does not immediately become obvious that resources include not only material, but also "spiritual" indicators: a place for construction, time, morality, the number of sick and dead... Interesting.  Your job is to collect enough resources to keep the fire going (literally) and explore the surrounding area to mine materials and expand the building site. You will have to build shelters, grow or forage food, maintain morale and health at the appropriate level. You will also be able to change the rules of the game by issuing new laws and developing technologies. Each batch will have 8 standard laws (4 pairs of two mutually exclusive directions to choose from) and another 4 randomly drawn from the general pool. In total, a party can have a maximum of 4 laws. Technologies are also drawn randomly (4 pieces). I like the randomness and how the laws have a significant impact on the game. At first glance, this is a small thing, but it greatly increases replayability: in each game, a new puzzle awaits you. So far, we have not managed to pass all 4 laws or develop all 4 technologies in any party. We usually pick the 2 most useful ones and limit ourselves to that. You have to make difficult decisions, especially when choosing technologies, because you have to take into account how long their development takes and how useful they will be at the time of study. After all, there's no point in studying heating for explorers if you've already explored the entire map, right?  A new event awaits you every morning. As a rule, you will have to face its consequences later. Every night you suffer one of these consequences and regret your earlier decisions). You also have a hand of random town cards that give one-time bonuses. It is important to correctly apply them as early as possible, because their, at first glance, insignificant effects can greatly increase your winning chances. Therefore, the solo gameplay will be slightly different from the cooperative gameplay: the number of cards with bonuses and the speed of their application significantly affects the course of the game. There are many interesting and offensive ways to lose, but winning is very difficult. On the other hand, victory is very gratifying. As a rule, losses are associated with the townspeople losing hope in one way or another, so try to keep them happy. COMPLEX DECISIONS  The fight for survival in Frostpunk: The Board Game is very exciting. You always lack actions for everything you want (however, this is not so rare in tabletops), but even if there were enough actions, there would not be enough resources, or free space, or time... You will inevitably have to make difficult decisions about what to give priority. We really want to do A or B, but have to do B instead, because otherwise we're probably out. If you neglect one of the aspects of the city's development for a long time, then soon (maybe not immediately, but after a move or two for sure) you will realize what a mistake you made, but it will be too late. The game often teases you, offering short-term gain at the cost of long-term consequences that may or may not materialize later. Excellent motivation to take risks and flirt with fortune, hoping that the consequences will not respond to you. It is very thematic, unfortunate and exciting to know that somewhere in the deck there is a running bomb waiting for you, and to consider whether it is worth preparing for its explosion or you can wait another turn and do other things. You should also not forget about the tower with coal cubes: remember how many cubes are left there, and decide whether it's time to repair it (cleaning the accumulated cubes), or risk overheating.  It may seem that remembering such an elementary thing as how many cubes we threw into the tower and how many stuck there is very simple, but you will have so many problems in your mind that you will often forget. Great job, Adam Kwapinski, simply stunning. DEATH SPIRAL If you've played Frostpunk, you know what I'm talking about. About the midgame. The moment when you have enough strength to maintain a stable situation, but never develop. Chances are, you're already running out of supplies, or you're getting an extra sick person every turn. The midgame, in my opinion, is where you lose or win. If you only stabilize the situation, it will not be enough to win. The temperature will decrease with each step, the generator will be stressed more and more. Problems accumulate. If you fall behind or simply do not develop, then the game will kill you. If not now and not on the next turn, then in a few turns. It's just that you are still suffering. Judging by my limited experience (I've managed to win 4 times so far), you have to act thoughtfully, choosing the least evil. Develop A, sacrificing B, when you are sure that you can deal with the consequences of B later. Allow starvation and put up with the fact that a couple of townspeople will die (if, of course, the level of morality allows). Build a sawmill that you, in theory, cannot afford. Burn in a desperate situation with the last firewood to get coal. Make a risky decision to clear the snow. It was for this game that we had the most memorable, albeit long, brainstorming sessions. We weighed the available options, minimaxed and argued. It was wonderful.  I think Shut Up & Sit Down's Quentin Smith was saying that in a good co-op you should feel like you could have won when you lose, and that you could have lost when you win. Since Frostpunk is very hardcore, I think most people will agree with at least half of this suggestion) It's also worth noting that because of the serious consequences of your actions, Frostpunk encourages flexible behavior. In this game, you can't decide before the start: "Let's build a wall drill earlier this time / replace working machines". You can't decide, "Last time we died because there wasn't enough food, so let's focus on producing food this time." This will only lead to another defeat. You can't say: "I will never / always accept this law," because their value is always different in different parties. Yes, we used a charcoal stove and child labor in the last batch, although I don't like either. But in this batch, the value of wood (which is the most valuable resource in the early game) dropped because we found a lot of wood. And child labor became valuable because we didn't have any good cards for children and the total number of workers was small. In addition, we were offered to choose what the consequences of the adopted law would be, which further increased the value of child labor. In the end we won. It's just amazing.  Another favorite board game that punishes greed and haste is the little-known space exploration game Leaving Earth. It has a great "try your luck" mechanic: when you learn a new technology, you put 3 cards on it from a large deck of..

 Tindaya is a cooperative survival game... but with a few unusual twists. Your task is to ensure that at the end of each era all tribes remain alive and do not meet the conditions of general defeat. In this case, there is a final calculation of victory points, which determines whether you won (in cooperative mode) or who exactly is the winner (in competitive mode). WHERE ARE WE? Canary Islands, XV century. The Izegem tribes live quietly for themselves, farming, fishing and herding, traveling the ocean and learning new professions, carefully using the island's limited resources. Settlements grow into villages. The sage seeks new knowledge and tries to appease the gods. But their way of life is destroyed by the arrival of evil Spanish conquistadors, who kill the locals and seize the islands. There are 8 Canary Islands in total. Each island has a volcano, dense forests, a wide coast and high mountains. Perfect for growing crops, raising pigs, fishing or grazing goats. Build a new home for your expanding tribe and feed the new residents. Explore the islands and meet new people. Spanish conquistadors begin to populate beautiful islands and build fortresses. TIME TO PLAN Your little tribe of 3 commoners and two nobles must plan their lives. The main thing for them is that the gods remain satisfied. Gods are capricious and only give certain types of food, animals or resources in each era. As an alternative, human sacrifices can be made; who would miss a few conquistadors? If the gods remain displeased, their level of anger will rise, promising cataclysms and even the complete destruction of the islands. Life in constant fear, survival - this is the essence of the game. Each member of the tribe must have food and shelter, but an excess is dangerous: excesses also anger the gods. Seers Tibiabin and Tamonante can come to the rescue. They reveal the future of Tindai: where the gods will arrange a cataclysm and in what way; at which islands will the ship of the conquistadors appear. At the beginning of each era, the sacred fire must be supported by gifts. But if they are not enough, you have a bleak future. Do not forget about the objectives of your missions and other tasks. It is necessary to plan ahead, but it will not be easy to live to the end of the era.  The life of a villager is very simple: gather resources and produce goods. You have to take care of livestock, you have to trade with the tribes that visit you. Nobles are more intelligent and can travel between islands by canoe, founding new settlements and learning new trades. They also fight against uninvited guests - settlements of conquistadors who want to seize these lands. But the most difficult job is to go to the volcano and satisfy the gods. As you develop your trade, you will gain access to more advanced goods and weapons. It is necessary to look to the future and learn to survive. At the artisan market, you can buy an idol, a large vessel, or even walls. Idols give one-time bonuses (or a resource if broken). The walls protect against conquistadors and some cataclysms. Each player has a trade and tribe board. Goods and resources are represented by tokens that are placed on tablets. Cube = 1 action and cylinder = 1 action can be performed twice. Competent management of actions is the key to success. Keep in mind that the amount of raw materials and wild animals is limited, so it is not always profitable to squeeze all the juices. THE END OF AN ERA At the end of each era, several events occur. First, people and animals reproduce: in all cells where there are 2 or more, new ones appear. Secondly, residents demand food and shelter. Do not anger the gods by leaving them to die. Even the gods hate excesses; do not make more food than necessary. Similarly with goods. If the gods have received the offering, the level of anger will decrease. Then the cataclysms begin. The higher the level of anger, the more calamities. With proper planning, everyone will survive, but islands can change. Conquistadors are also arriving: you will have to fight them. They occupy empty islands. If you survive, a new era will begin. At the end of the game, the victory conditions are tested: you must control the islands or the conquistadors will win. Actually, you had to keep an eye on it the whole game. Also, in this phase, it is checked whether the missions and other tasks of yours have been completed. And finally the victory points are counted, if it comes to that. COOPERATIVE AND COMPETITIVE GAME MODES While survival is all about Tindaya, it doesn't feel like the competitive mode was added as an afterthought. In competitive mode, you have more food for thought. Secretly plan actions, take advantage of good moments to get software or minimize losses. You can focus too much on survival and forget about other tasks. However, this does not mean that the "Alliance" mode is easier; survival is not easy. Mechanically, Dominion mode features hidden challenges that players only see when they pick up the corresponding cards and then place them next to their tablet face down. During the game, players place plus and minus tokens on any cards, including those of others. If at the end you have completed your task, then you gain or lose as much as there are pluses and minuses on it. COMPONENTS The base ocean tiles are thick and look very nice. Creating islands at the start of the game is very fun. There are different types of territory, you can't confuse them. Excellent two-layer tablets with informative icons. Meeples of residents and nobles are cute and do not get lost against the background of the islands. The design of the cards is also well thought out: the cute illustrations are easily distinguishable from each other. Otherwise, the components, including the cardboard tokens, are nothing special. EXPERIENCE FROM THE GAME Roughly speaking, game moves can be divided into 2 parts: Find out how the figures on the field will affect the game at the end of the round. Act based on the information that will happen at the end of the round. And in the first part of the move, analysis paralysis awaits you. It gets easier after a few games, but before that we used to spend as much as 20 minutes in a 25-minute round analyzing what exactly would happen at the end of the round and how we should act. And only in the last 5 minutes they rearranged the figures. All this is not very interesting and not fan. Primarily due to randomness. INFLUENCE OF RANDOM In Tindaya, almost all information is open for most of the round; players know what is on the field, what it will do, and how their actions will affect the outcome. At the start of a round, you draw a random card and roll dice to determine where the trouble will occur at the end of the round. And the difficulty of the current round (and the game as a whole) depends entirely on the location of these problems. If they are placed somewhere far from your settlements, they do not affect the game. While analyzing the situation on the field, you will often hear the comment in your mind: "This god is going to destroy the farms on the islands in a radius of ... hmm ... oh, there's nothing there, so you can safely ignore him." Imagine a game with gods, volcanoes and tsunamis where you can look at an approaching tsunami and say that I could just as well have left it in the box: zero impact on the game. God aimed for where a bunch of your terrified meeples had gathered? "Ah, this god kills goats, but I have a pig farm there, sneeze." As a result, there is no tension or sense of danger. Similarly with the conquistadors, who, according to the idea, pose a threat to your settlements. They can sleep far from you, and then you will have to think about how to get rid of them. Or they can sleep next to each other. You realize that they are going to attack your island, you make two weapons, and then you just do nothing: the conquistadors themselves rush to your daggers and commit suicide. Can you call your actions a smart move? No, the game basically played with itself, no decisions had to be made. Just stay where you are and the problem will take care of itself. Sometimes, by chance, you are surrounded by dangerous gods, conquistadors and a volcano. In that case, you just run away. You need to spend an action to move - and you are safe. Very disappointing. In the first 2-3 games, the changing field under the influence of eruptions and tsunamis, islands that rise and sink are very impressive. But the more you play, the clearer you understand that this is just a chain of random events, the consequences of which are not so difficult to avoid.  Can Tindaya give you a real challenge? So; sometimes you are surrounded by troubles that you can't deal with. On the other hand, sometimes "trouble" helps you too. Let's say conquistadors settled on distant islands, then an eruption began and killed them. You didn't have to lift a finger; the randomness of the game has removed from your path the only obstacle on the way to the winning condition. There is also randomness on the resource tiles. Sometimes you find 2 trees and your neighbor finds 4. What awaits you on the next tile: 2 weapons or 3 stones? It's amazing that in a game where you can calculate everything that will happen at the end of a round, there is a random allocation of resources. In competitive mode it would drive me crazy. Your wood tile gave you 4 resources and me 2. An unfair advantage. There is also a deck of cards with potential bonuses. Sometimes they neutralize threats looming in front of you, sometimes their effect is irrelevant. The randomness of Tindaya is a huge distraction from the gameplay. In any round, you can find trouble-free, resource-rich tiles and cool bonus cards. Or spend a bunch of actions just to survive, find unnecessary resources and useless bonuses. The difficulty..

GAME OVERVIEW In Chickens, each player becomes a farmer who tries to create a harmonious yard with different breeds of chickens. Choose carefully which chickens you place next to each other, because not every group will be scored at the end of the game!  During the game, players will place cards in front of them in a 4×3 grid. You start the game with 4 cards in your hand, and the first thing you do on your turn is draw 2 new cards. They can come from the central draw deck or from any other player's reset. You now have 6 cards, one of which you place in your yard and the other to the discard pile. Pretty simple, don't you think?  But there's a catch: you can't freely place cards next to each other unless they're of the same breed. If you place cards of different suits next to each other, their value must be exactly 1 more or less than the cards that were played next to them. It turns what might seem like a somewhat simple card game at first glance into a rather complex and addictive puzzle game.  Once all players have filled their yard, the game ends and points are awarded: each egg in your largest continuous group of 1 species is worth 1 point, and if your rooster is in another group, you also get points for eggs in that group. You get extra points for medals for your chickens and completed objectives, and the player with the most points is declared the best chicken scout!  Chickens is a fun yet challenging puzzle game that is easy to learn and simple to play! We were very surprised by the depth and strategy of this little card game! If you are looking for a mysterious abstract filler, then this is the game for you!..

 In this co-op, you play as students of a wizarding academy who have just started learning magic. Sometimes it works as expected, sometimes it causes unforeseen consequences. Each student has his own unique ability. Use your magical knowledge (or lack thereof) wisely to successfully protect the academy from demons, trolls, demons, fires, and floods. COMPONENTS  There is a lot of everything in the box, no wonder it weighs more than 2 kg. Inside are two playing fields, two rulebooks, 41 miniatures, 14 thick double-sided room tiles, 143 cards, 7 character cards, and 246 tokens. There is also a plastic insert with inserts for cards and room tiles. Miniatures and other cardboard lie in one large recess. Considering the number of tokens, they must be distributed in bags to speed up the preparation for the game. Fortunately, the kit comes with 15 pieces. The miniatures are well done and add atmosphere to the game. Demons, it's true, are very small compared to the figures of players, trolls, demons and guards, but that's how it was intended, I guess. RULES  What is unusual is that there are two rulebooks here: the main one plus the grimoire. Mainly described are preparation for the game, room properties, cards and character cards. It also briefly mentions glyphs (required for spellcasting), threats, and mana, all of which you'll see in the first game. But the most important thing is that with the help of this book you will play an introductory game, which has fewer rules, but it helps a lot to get used to the gameplay. And finally, here are the differences in the rules between the introductory party and the traditional parties. Grimoire describes creatures, threats, properties of cards and room tiles in detail. There are also described scenarios (10 of them in total), which are divided into ordinary and expert levels. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why the rules were split in two. Did it go well? Well... mediocre. Sometimes it's easier to find the information you need in one book than digging through two. All this could be contained in one book. In addition, although the rules are laid out in clear language, their structure leaves much to be desired. For example, the description of the layout of the opening game says to place guards in two rooms, but only three pages later you find out which of the minions are the guards. It is also worth noting that the author of the game released an era that explains some not entirely clear points. You can find her on BGG. GAME PROCESS Since each scenario has its own special conditions, we will outline the main mechanics. During placement, you shuffle the room tiles and randomly place them on the field - except for the "Another Dimension" room, which is placed separately and can only be accessed with a teleportation spell. Before the start, it will be possible to change the location of up to 3 rooms for convenience. The room tiles have different doorways that can be connected to the opening of the next room by placing a passage token between them if they match. So it becomes immediately visible which rooms you can get to. Each room has its own name and the available special action that is in that room. There is a special Mana Crystal room where glass tokens are placed at the beginning of the game. The amount of mana is actually equal to your team's HP pool. If you run out of mana, you lose. On the second playing field, you will replenish your spell book. Each spell card has its own level (from 1 to 4). Spells are placed on the field according to their levels. In each scenario, each level will have several mandatory spells (in particular, both normal and failed spells), while others can be chosen by yourself.  After that, it will be necessary to prepare decks of cataclysms and growing threats. Again, depending on the scenario, you'll need to shuffle certain cards from each tier and choose others yourself. And finally, it's the turn of the location deck. It is common to all scenarios.  Each player chooses one of the beginner wizards. On any large character card, there is a description of his special ability and the symbol of the magic school in which he specializes. It plays a role when you reveal spell cards: if there is a corresponding symbol, the spell becomes stronger. Character cards also have space for glyphs, wands, staves, and robes, which can be obtained by activating room properties. Players take turns. At the beginning of the turn, the cataclysm card drawn from the deck is played first. These cards usually cause threats in certain rooms to activate. At the start of the game, there are no threats on the field, so there is no effect from cataclysms. But more and more problems will appear during the game. After that, you can spend three action points: to move from one room to the next, to activate the quality of the room or to select the glyph lying there, or to cast a spell (no more than once per turn). To cast a spell, the wizard must have at least two glyphs - either his own or those shared by another player. When you cast a spell, you turn over the spell cards that correspond to the glyphs used on the field where the spell cards are laid out face up. The effect of the spell is triggered immediately, after which the card is turned face up again. The effects can be both positive and negative (for "failed" spells). It is advisable to remember the name of the spell, because in this case, if you have the appropriate glyphs, you can "bind" it to the library (if you remember its name), after which it turns face up and is now always available. Binding spells is very useful because some cataclysms will require you to re-shuffle all unbound spells of a certain level. Initially, higher level spells are usually not available. More often than not, you'll have to deal with mounting problems for quite some time before you get access to high-level glyphs. As new cataclysm cards are activated, the academy will be filled with threats: monsters (demons, trolls, demons) and natural disasters (flood, fire, ice). Where they will be located will be determined by a card drawn from the location deck. Some cataclysms will force the threats on the field to activate; in this case, the location card will determine in which direction they will move. After the initial cataclysm deck is exhausted, you add the top two cards from the rising threat deck to it and reshuffle. This will give you new problems; the first increasing threat cards are not particularly dangerous, but later, as their total number increases, they become very harmful. If the stack of growing threats has run out, then you have lost. REPLAYABILITY Wizard Academy's regalness is amazing. Yes, there are only ten scenarios, but there are a lot of variables in each of them. First, easy and difficult modes. Secondly, random layout of rooms. Thirdly, the ability to choose a portion of spell cards and cataclysms / increasing threats (or if you want to mix random ones) in each scenario. In addition, different monsters and natural disasters will appear in different parties, and they will also move around the field differently. In general, something new will be waiting for you every time. It is also worth noting that Wizard Academy can be played solo, both with one character and with several. The second option is probably better. Given the complexity of the game, the "12+" age rating given to it seems quite logical, although with the help of adults, younger children can also play. PROS AND CONS +Glad that the game is truly cooperative. Everyone must work as a cohesive team, otherwise the chances of success plummet. -The game is very demanding on time. Each scenario has its own rules, the layout is by no means simple and not fast - together with cleaning, the party can take up to half an hour. The games themselves usually take 90 to 180 minutes. -There is a significant element of randomness: the speed of finding the necessary progress according to the script of spells depends on it. In the bad games, we were practically stomping around because we couldn't find the spells we needed. They only narrowed the circle of searches, as the deck was shuffled anew. Sometimes you come across the right card right away, sometimes you search in the sweat of your brow. +/-It is very difficult to win. This is not a problem for us, but others may think otherwise. In our parties, the win rate is around 20%. Moreover, due to the timer built into the game in the form of a deck of increasing threats, you will sometimes realize in advance how small the chances of success are, and it is not a fact that you will have a desire to continue the almost doomed game. -The game would certainly not be hindered by a reference sheet on glyphs and their types. When the script tells you to place types 1-7 in certain rooms, you have to consult the rulebook every time. It is a pity that the corresponding numbers of the glyphs and symbols are not specified in the description of the script. This would make it easier to prepare for the game, which is already long. ..

 Impressions in a nutshell: Final Girl is an awesome game if you fall into the target audience. In my case, she came a lot. So far I'm enjoying playing it, although I'm not sure how replayable it is. It is far from a fact that changing the villain to a new one will significantly increase replayability. Final Girl is a solo game that is clearly inspired by slasher horror (and the upcoming new season is inspired by monster horror). Accordingly, it is interesting mainly to those who do not mind playing solo, and are also at least a little interested in horror films. Personally, I'm not particularly into horror movies, but I love watching movies and have watched enough horror movies to understand the in-game references to them. In my opinion, understanding horror is very important, because the theme and atmosphere are a very important component of the game. GAME PROCESS In Final Girl, you play as a girl who needs to run away from (and ultimately deal with) a villain - usually a typical horror maniac. During your turn, you move around the map, try to help victims get to a safe place (which will give you useful bonuses), search certain areas of the field (weapons will come in handy), or (when you feel ready) attack the villain. All these actions are performed with a deck of cards. When you draw a card, you discard it, and also most often spend a little "time" - this is the game currency. As soon as you have played all the cards from your hand (or decided to save some for the next turn), the remaining time is spent on choosing cards from your hand for the next turn.  Thus, you have to constantly balance: time is needed for active actions now, but also time is needed for the selection of cards so that there is something to play in the next turn. I've had turns where I couldn't do anything because I couldn't afford to buy new cards and my character didn't heal as a result. After your turn is over, it's the maniac's turn. It usually kills multiple victims and/or moves closer to you and attacks. As the innocent are killed, the level of bloodthirstiness of the maniac increases and his attacks become even more dangerous. As a rule, the killer takes two actions during his turn. The first does not change from turn to turn, but it is unique to each assassin. For example, "kill the victim in the same location as the maniac, if there is one." The second action is determined by a card randomly drawn from the deck. The effects can be very different: from a simple attack to devastating special abilities that instantly kill several victims at once. CUBE AND RANDOM Many criticize Final Girl for the randomness that appears in dice rolls and some other elements, such as finding items. Indeed, in certain scenarios, early detection of weapons or other useful items can give you a big advantage. A few bad shots (especially at the start) can turn a bad situation into almost hopeless. On the other hand, the game has many ways to deal with randomness. First, in some situations you can discard cards to turn failures into successes. Second, if the circumstances are favorable, the horror track will allow you to roll 3 dice instead of 2. Third, there is an element of strategy in the game: you can buy crappy weak cards and discard them to improve the results of the dice rolls. You can also spend a little time at the start to lower the horror track and increase the number of dice you roll. Don't get me wrong, Final Girl still has a lot of randomness. After 10 hours of playing, I still have games where I win in just 15 minutes or lose a turn to victory due to a bad fear card draw. But in my opinion, Final Girl fandom is largely due to randomness. It is very thematic that during the run to victory you discover that the killer was waiting for you at the exit. But, I repeat, you can fight with randomness. Depending on the maniac you choose, it makes sense to stick to a certain strategy, and it's often wise to sacrifice 1 HP to be able to run away or prepare for the assassin's attack by building up a few counterattack cards in your hand. I also want to note that the games here are very fast (not counting the layout and provided that you already know the rules). My latest batches take 20-40 minutes. And losing at the last moment of a 20-minute game of Final Girl due to randomness is not nearly as annoying as losing at the last moment of a 3-hour game of RKI Lord of the Rings due to randomness (if this has never happened to you, then you just haven't played enough Lord of the Rings). In general, Final Girl belongs to games where the main thing is the process, not the result. It doesn't matter to me whether I win or lose because the games are short and very atmospheric. When losing, some kind of horror is vividly presented, where my character dies in terrible agony, and despite the defeat, running away from the killer for 20 minutes was interesting. So, I get a lot more excitement from the process than bitterness from defeat. THEME, DESIGN AND ATMOSPHERE To me, Final Girl is 50% gameplay and 50% atmosphere. Here everything is like in a typical slasher. If the art or theme of the game does not appeal to you, then there is no point in buying Final Girl; the bare gameplay alone is not worth it, in my opinion. However, it is not necessary to be an expert on horror films. Personally, I only have a general idea of horror, and that turned out to be enough to enjoy the game. As for the atmosphere, I have never met a game where the setting was such an important component. My most exciting games in Final Girl were at night, with a horror soundtrack on. A decent soundtrack really contributes to immersion in the atmosphere of the game. REPLAYABILITY I'm really enjoying Final Girl so far, but there are doubts about the replayability. Along with the additions, the game has a lot of content: a total of 5 different assassins, 5 locations and 10 characters that can be changed freely. Together with the 5 Feature Film scenario add-ons, this means you can play at least 25 different scenarios, changing the killers and locations, but… In my opinion, this does not greatly increase regrabability. Although the killers feel very different (each has its own interesting special rules), changing locations does not change much. In particular, the items that can be found in different locations are almost the same. Maps of events, layouts and fear tied to specific locations pleasantly diversify the game, but, in my opinion, the feeling of something new does not arise. So in my opinion, minus the assassins, the various components don't change much in terms of replayability. But the killers are very different, so I would recommend buying a few Feature Films with settings that you like. I will definitely invest in Final Girl season 2 to get at least a couple of new villains. CONCLUSIONS  Final Girl holds a unique place in my collection. It is very thematic and the gameplay is full of action. Does it suit you? Depends on how you like the setting. As for the gameplay, despite the strict randomness, the game has enough ways to compensate for bad dice rolls, and I never felt that the randomness was unfair. The games are fast, so even defeats are not too frustrating. All in all, I really enjoyed Final Girl and I'm looking forward to the new villains...

HISTORY A few weeks before Essen SPIEL '22, I heard about My Shelfie by Cranio Creations, a game with great visual appeal thanks to its 3D shelves. Although I originally thought it would be a board game shelf, I was obviously wrong. In My Shelfie, 2 to 4 players organize their new bookshelf by moving items from the living room into it, be it books, board games, portraits, pets, and more. You place these items on your bookshelf in a Connect Four style, trying to maximize multiple scoring options. COMPONENTS My Shelfie's calling card is definitely these 3D shelves. They look good, are of good quality and make a great impression when playing. Before the first game, you will have to assemble 3 parts (which is very easy to do): the base, the vertical checkered part and the top part (which closes the structure tightly). As the box is slightly smaller than the standard size, you will have to remove the bases from the shelves when they are stored in the box - this is true even after removing the cardboard insert. I would really like the base of the shelf to have a small slot to hold your personal goal card. That would be a fantastic little touch. During the game, you will drop tokens onto this shelf, similar to 4-in-a-row. There is also a player field, where you place tiles during the game, and which clearly shows the spaces reserved for a certain number of players. These tiles are pulled out of a very strong pouch  There are two types of cards: personal objective cards contain specific locations of certain tiles on your shelf, and general objective cards contain shared game objectives. Finally, there is the first player marker, which is a 3D cardboard token that corresponds to a chair on the box. I really like the design on the box and on the tokens. They convey the theme of the game well and are quite playful - for example, the board game tiles refer to famous board games. It wouldn't surprise me that if My Shelfi does well we'll see a "board game" only edition or expansion. It's a pretty nice product in my opinion, the look of it definitely helps the game stand out, and the 3D shelf toy factor has a nice nostalgic feel to it. BOOK OF RULES The rules of My Shelfie are very simple and the game is easy to learn. Big group scoring is easy to see on the field, and personal goal cards are easy to read. My only complaint is the lack of clarity of purpose. The iconography used on the cards is rarely sufficient to fully understand the scope of each objective. On the other hand, the rulebook uses the last page to clarify any iconography.  In short, you'll be able to learn how to play My Shelfi quickly, even if you have to remember what the general objectives mean at the start of each game. GAME PROCESS  My Shelfie is a 2-4 player game where players collect items (books, portraits, games, etc.) from a common living room and arrange them on their own bookshelf. Whenever you add one or more items to a shelf, you must place them in a single column, just like a 4 in a row box. Players will earn points for completing various objectives, creating large groups of the same object, or placing items in certain positions. While cooking, give each player their own shelf and one personal objective card. Prepare the living room by placing its board in the center of the table and filling each square with an object taken from the cloth bag. Leave the fields for a specific number of players (3+ or 4+) blank if playing with fewer players. Also, place the endgame token on the field in the living room Then open the 2 general objective cards, identify the first player and give them the first player slot and you're done.  Each turn, the active player takes 1 to 3 items from the field and adds them to his bookshelf. The active player will choose a straight non-diagonal line of up to 3 objects to collect. For this selection to be valid, all of these objects must have at least one of their four sides free (ie not touching another part) before being assembled. It means the physical ability to pick up objects. At the beginning, you can only collect the outer edges, but as the game progresses, you can create multiple islands and collect objects that were initially blocked. After collecting the items, you must drop them on your bookshelf. You must discard all objects in a single column, but you can choose the order in which to discard them. You cannot collect more objects than will fit in the selected column.  If at any point you achieve one of the two general goals, you will take the highest performing figure. You can complete both objectives throughout the game, and the earlier you complete the objective, the more points it will bring.  If the space in the living room only ever consists of single objects (ie there is no group of 2+ related objects), you fill the space with tiles from the bag. When a player completely fills his shelf, the game is over. The player who initiated the end of the game receives a game end token (worth 1 point) and you end the current round with each player having an equal number of turns. When scoring, you will receive a number of points equal to the number shown on the common gate tiles and the collected end game token. You will also earn points for your personal target, which lists a specific position for each of the 6 colors/types. The more locations you get right, the more points you earn. Finally, you collect large groups of connected (3 to 6) tiles of the same type/color - the bigger the group, the better. You add up those points, and the person with the most points wins. EXPERIENCE My Shelfie fits very well into the Azul puzzle family game genre. You can learn the game in 5 minutes, the moves are fast, and it makes a nice visual and tactile impression. 3D shelves are not really necessary, but the appeal of throwing objects there is undeniable. Like the shelf itself, the cute items you drop on the shelf add to the appeal of the game as you organize cute cats and great board games into it. The whole presentation gives the game a thematic appeal to what could otherwise be a bland abstract game. CONCLUSIONS If the look of My Shelfie is your thing, I think you'll be happy with what you find here. Sure, the 3D shelf is a gimmick, but it adds a tactile element to a game that makes the most of its theme. It's a light game, but with the addition of personal and general objectives, it's enough to keep you coming back. These two factors, along with a large group of points, will force you to reevaluate your first instinct and try to stay versatile while decorating your bookshelf...

 "Arkham Horror" 2005 is a reimagining of ideas from the original "Arkham Horror" of 1987: different mechanics, better components and more RPG elements. The action of the game takes place in the 1920s. Players take on the roles of ordinary people, each of whom encountered the Lovecraftian mythos in one form or another, learned the terrible truth about the existence of the afterlife and came to the city of Arkham in Massachusetts to investigate. In the course of the investigation, self-proclaimed detectives come across a conspiracy of cultists who want to let one of the Ancients into this world - otherworldly entities of enormous power, who are often mistaken for gods. Portals to other dimensions are opening all over the city, from which strange and scary creatures are coming out. In addition, otherworldly influence is gradually driving the townspeople out of their minds. Players must work together to close the portals and prevent the Ancient One from entering our world, and if that doesn't work, then emerge victorious from the final battle with him.  In the plan, the "Arkham Horror" mechanic is a cross between an RPG and a regular board. While dice play a very important role, thinking ahead is just as important, aided by the ability to move sliders at the start of each turn, increasing one of your parameters at the cost of another. Should you sacrifice stealth to run around the field quickly? Should I increase Will to survive a monster's psychic attack, or Strength to deal more damage to it? These dilemmas, along with a variety of investigator abilities, encourage player planning and cooperation. Each turn, all investigators take certain actions: move around Arkham, engage in battle or hide from monsters roaming its streets, or draw a contact card corresponding to the location they are in and read what happened to them. Events consist of an artistic description of the investigator's adventures, and also require a certain skill to be tested or a choice to be made. The consequences can be both positive and negative. Well, then comes the phase of myths, in which global (usually unpleasant) events take place, and monsters move around the city.  Of course, winning in "Arkham Horror", to put it mildly, is not easy, as befits a game of Lovecraft. Many investigators will not make it to the end, as they become more and more difficult over time. By default, only 5-6 results on a six-sided die are considered successes in combat and when checking skills, so although the number of dice rolled depends on the corresponding parameter of the detective, at the start the schedule is clearly not in your favor. To successfully pass checks, you need to stock up on spells and equipment. However, rolling dice and passing checks are not always the most important part of the game.  Arkham Dread feels like the Dungeons & Dragons games I used to play in high school, only with a lower entry threshold and no gamemaster. It's easy to get players involved in Arkham Horror, but the feeling is pretty much the same: you have fun discussing around the table (over beer and snacks) what your group is going to do next. What I like the most is that each party has its own mini-stories. "Arkham Horror" adheres to the philosophy: "The main thing is not the goal, but the way to it." During the games, such interesting situations arose, which we then remembered for many months. For example: "Remember the time when a goog cornered us in a diner and wouldn't let us out, but we were saved by a nun on a motorcycle with a shotgun in her hands and a psychiatric assistant behind her?" Or: "Remember that fight to the death: the magician with two enchanted tommy guns against the Ancient One?" Or, “Remember that time we came up short from victory because our strongest detective failed a critical check and got lost in time and space trying to close the last portal? The whole table was intently following his every throw of the dice." Ask any Arkham Horror fan and they're sure to have some interesting stories to share with you from their games. But, most likely, he will not remember whether the detectives won that game, or lost, and how close they were to victory.  It is thanks to the generated adventures that the game became unique for its time and encouraged fans to create a lot of self-made content: more beautiful components, thematic scenarios and even whole add-ons. We can say that a whole game culture has formed around "Arkham Horror"; I don't remember this happening to even one other crowd. The only thing that can spoil the narrative is the lack of a logical connection between some events. Your character may be kicked off the antiquities bench indignantly during a contact, but greeted warmly and offered a discount during a new contact on the next turn. Although, given the physical limitations of board games, it is unrealistic to correct this shortcoming. One can attribute the illogicalities to the city's gradually encroaching madness.  Like most FFG products at the time, Arkham Horror received a ton of official additions, both small story-focused ones and large ones with new fields, detectives, and mechanics. They are all based on certain stories or characters from the Cthulhu mythos. Personally, I find small additions to be the most successful, especially in terms of shaping the narrative I mentioned above. My favorite is The King in Yellow, which weaves elements of the play and character of the same name into the horrors of Arkham. Large additions are also interesting in their own way, but our group decided that messing around with additional fields is boring; they are not worth it. Still, the big expansions make sense to buy for the sake of new detectives and mechanics — especially the injury and insanity cards from Dunwich, which we now default to every game. "Ancient Horror" is its spiritual or even direct descendant; he redesigned and licked the mechanics and changed the setting from Arkham to global adventures across the globe. Bound by dice rolls and manipulation, Mark of the Ancients provides a fairly similar feel (especially with additions that bring more story into the game), but requires less space and time. Arkham Asylum: The Card Game is an RPG with a campaign and a much more cohesive plot than the original Arkham Asylum. Plus Mansions of Madness 2nd edition: thanks to the program, they have become one of the most atmospheric gothic horror adventures to be found in the tabletop world. There are various scenarios for every taste — from meat grinders to solving mysteries. If Arkham Horror wasn't an established classic by now, and if The Ancient Horror hadn't replaced it as the flagship of FFG's horror line, I'd assume they'd be getting a remastered version soon. Here's to hoping that FFG will at least release a more user-friendly app for them. On iOS, there is now a helper application that allows you not to clutter the table with so many components, but in general it does not perform enough functions and looks archaic against the background of modern push-button applications from FFG. A full-fledged app could also fix the problems with the lack of logical connection between events, or even introduce a full-fledged plot to the game... or at least track the events, the relations of the detectives with the locals, etc. While Arkham Horror is far from perfect, it holds a special place in my collection, my memories, and my heart. I recommend this game to all fans of Lovecraftian mythos, gothic horror, and themed co-op who don't already have it on their shelves...

 Since its inception, the World of Warcraft universe has steadily expanded, introducing new characters, lands, and enemies. But to this day, one of the most popular plots remains the fall of the hero Arthas and his subsequent ascension to the throne of the Lich King. This board game is for those who would like to return to Northrend and storm the Icecrown Citadel once again.  World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - A Pandemic System Board Game is based on the application of the same name to the computer game. It's a co-op tabletop for 1-5 players that brings many features from the popular MMO to the table. There are well-known heroes, special abilities, battles with the Scourge, completing quests - and all this is based on the mechanics of the popular "Pandemic" series. But Wrath of the Lich King is more than just a reskin, as the mechanics have been significantly reworked to fit the feel of Blizzard's popular universe. COMPONENTS  From the moment you open the box, it's clear that the deck's creators have put a lot of thought into WoW lore. The playing field, measuring approximately 50 x 75 cm, features dozens of familiar locations from Azeroth - Naxramas, Dalaran, Ulduar and many others. Also in the box are seven famous characters from Azeroth: Thrall, Jaina Proudmoore, Sylvanas Windwing, Varian Wrynn, Tyrion Fordring, Muradin Bronzebeard and Lady Liadrin. Each of them is represented by a detailed miniature. There is also a specially designed miniature of the Lich King himself, as well as minions of his horde of henchmen: three abominations and dozens of small werewolves. These figures have a lot of very sharp points that are easy to puncture, so be careful with them.  Each character has its own letter with unique special abilities, a health indicator and its short description on the back. Like other cards, they are illustrated with luxurious pictures. Yes, the deck of 63 cards of heroic actions is also illustrated. Moreover, almost all the drawings are original, and not taken from Hearthstone, thanks to which there is a feeling of a completely new adventure, and not just a reskin.  Also included in the box are 10 quest sheets, 30 Scourge cards, reference cards, assorted tokens, buildable cardboard fortresses, and a hefty cardboard ice crown citadel. Components are stored in bags between batches. It's just surprising (as with many other games in the Pandemic series) how tightly packed the box is. GAME PROCESS The goal in Wrath of the Lich King is simple - complete three quests, receive unique rewards for each quest, and then storm Icecrown Citadel, ending the reign of the Lich King. However, in the meantime, his Scourge is spreading across Northrend, so you'll have to act fast. Each player chooses one of the characters. All have their own abilities and health parameter that are useful for the team. Heroes will travel the map and fight with the dead.  The moves are quite similar to the usual "Pandemic": each hero has 4 actions, which can be spent on moving around the field, attacking enemies, completing quests and healing. But here players don't just cure diseases by removing cubes from the field; Wrath of the Lich King is more atmospheric and diverse. Also, during the game, heroes receive battle cards (help in attack or defense), treatment cards (restore health) and travel cards (quick movement around the field). During the course of the game, several citadel cards can be added to the deck, which allow you to place a citadel on the field, which is needed for accelerated movement of you and your comrades. As the Lich King's undead army spreads across the map, the heroes can spend an action on their turn to attack Scourge minions. They roll 2 dice and depending on the results can deal damage, block counter attacks, and can play battle cards for more effectiveness. characters standing on the same cage can help each other in combat, which is atmospheric: it feels like you're hacking your way through enemy hordes together.  In addition to battles, heroes can also go on quests. Since the completion of quests is mandatory for victory, you should not forget to pay attention to them. The field is divided into three regions, which differ in the color of the locations. In each region there is a quest sheet (one of three possible - there are nine of them in the game), which the team must complete with joint efforts. They take several hero turns, require successful dice rolls, card draws, and help from friends. Cooperation is indispensable here. Also, each quest sheet has a unique boss enemy that damages the character performing the quest and also damages with some special rule; For example, it reduces the number of dice you roll, prohibits healing, etc. As soon as the heroes complete the quest, they receive a unique reward - powerful one-time cards that can turn the tide of the game in your favor. Although the mechanics of the quests work quite well, I would like to see them worked out more deeply. Essentially, it all boils down to moving the token along the scale; much less interesting than the fights. It's a pity that the well-known raid bosses depicted in the quests practically do not interact with the heroes. The same goes for the final battle with the Lich King: it's essentially a particularly long quest. There is no tension, there is no feeling that the stakes are high.  On the other hand, discussing strategy with comrades every turn, fending off spawning Scourges, and completing quests create the tense atmosphere typical of the Pandemic series. You have to think about every action, because the situation can quickly get out of control and a few mistakes will lead you to defeat. In my opinion, Wrath of the Lich King is slightly harder than the original Pandemic even on the easiest difficulty - and that's with five of us playing. There's a little more thought to your moves, as you're not only trying to control the situation on the playing field, but also keep an eye on your hero's dwindling health. It will probably get easier with experience. And for those who want hardcore, there are three increased difficulty levels that make the whip more dangerous and reduce the number of available citadels. There is even a solo mode — quite interesting, in my opinion. But still, the main fan here is discussion and joint decision-making. Thanks to 7 heroes, very different from each other, and 9 quests, replayability is quite high; you can play a few dozen games before the game gets boring. With co-op, dice battles, and quests, it feels like a very simplified WoW that can be played in just an hour. CONCLUSIONS World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King stands out from the "Pandemic" series with its novelty: there are famous heroes of Azeroth with unique special abilities, battles, quests and the final boss - the Lich King himself. Due to the four levels of difficulty, replayability is very high. I recommend checking out this tabletop corner of Azeroth...

ABOUT THE GAME In the not-so-distant future, something is found on the dark side of the Moon that provokes the awakening of Sheol, which envelops the Moon in impenetrable darkness. This darkness eventually reaches the Earth and gradually covers it. A new ice age begins, and creepy shadow monsters appear in the dark. Humanity's last frontier is the Citadel: a gigantic tower that houses not only the survivors, but also the remnants of lost technology from the time before the catastrophe. Here, people create the Shining: the only thing that can resist the shadows. You are a scout, one of the few who are ready to go into the darkness and defeat the monsters that live there before they reach the Citadel and destroy it.  Each game you choose a mission that you will go through. Each mission has a set of mission cards. On them are indicated various tasks that you must complete. In addition, you will often encounter optional side tasks - also branched. Sometimes it is enough to get to a certain square on the field for execution, sometimes you need to pass a test (trying to roll a certain combination on the dice). The plot is revealed as through mission cards; each of the areas you reach has its own story, as well as often a personal set of events and a choice of several options, which helps to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the setting.  Basically, the gameplay consists of a journey from the Citadel to the shadow lands and battles with the monsters you encounter. However, for this it is necessary to create a light source with Radiance; without it, it is impossible to travel in the dark. But the reserves of Radiance that you spend to create light are not infinite, and they are also your HP - so you will have to spend them carefully. Each character has their own unique set of cards that give different abilities or discounts on other actions. After all, Radiance is spent not only on creating light, but also on battles. And to highlight the shadow enemies waiting for you in the dark.  As mentioned, the shadows seek the Citadel to destroy it. Each turn, new shadows will fill the field and start walking towards the Citadel. But you don't know exactly who is approaching you until you shine a light on them. Without light, they just look like signals. Signals that can kill you and destroy the tower. They are not invulnerable, but hitting an enemy hiding in the dark is much more difficult. But if you highlight him, you will not only understand who is in front of you and what his abilities are, but you will also get to him with a 100 percent probability. So you will have to make a difficult choice.  Between missions, you manage the Citadel tablet. Due to the trophies brought from the mission, you can pump various areas of the city, which gives bonuses for future scenarios or new abilities. But that's not all; you don't just manage the city as a whole, but also the three city factions. The more you are respected by one of the factions, the more upgrades you have to choose from and items in the store. IMPRESSION I invested in the kickstarter All-In: the complete set except for the mat and music tracks.  In our opinion, SHEOL in general does not justify the time spent on it. Let's start with the fact that during the game you will have to deal with a lot of all kinds of components and tokens. In total, it took me about 10 hours to unpack the game, organize the storage of all tokens and cards, familiarize myself with the rules (I read the rule book cover to cover, watched 3-4 hours of videos with an overview of the rules and gameplay) and laying out the game on the table. The latter is a very slow process. The Kickstarter page claims that the layout takes 5 minutes, but this is an outright lie. It took me 20 minutes to lay out the first mission. It also takes 20 minutes to assemble. There are no bags in the set, and the built-in organizer does not allow you to sort the cards by character, which lengthens the layout of the next mission: you have to refer to the photo of the final state of the previous scenario, taken from the phone, to remember which cards you bought, and collect the character deck again. Because of all this, the first batch did not leave a very positive impression on my wife and son.  I swear we love Amerithrash. SHEOL has enough thematics; it is felt in the gameplay, in the illustrations, etc. We also love rolling the dice, but I do not like how many different types of dice there are in SHEOL for each sneeze. They all have very different symbols and you have to remember them all. There is a die for enemy attacks, there is a die for moving enemies, there are two dice for breaking and repairing your weapon (but you usually only need one of them), there are two different dice for spawning enemies (an alarm die and a threat die). After I learned the rules, it took about an hour to explain to the company how to play (as well as read the introduction). The rules have a lot of all kinds of nuances and "if ... then" situations (for example, there are tokens for barriers, there are tokens for a light source, there are rules for the movement of players in the dark with and without a light source, there are rules for the movement of monsters in source area) of light, etc.).  Movement is a key element of gameplay. Moreover, it is very difficult to move wherever you want. First, you need light source tokens to move. To get these tokens (if you don't have any left over from your previous turn), you need to perform a "planning" action by spending an action and a Glow. Then you need to perform the "illuminate" action, which also requires spending an action and Radiance. And then actually move, spending movement points. If you want to move a greater distance, you will have to spend more radiance (which is also your HP). As a result, it takes forever to move to the desired point. Moreover, there is no sequence of moves here, so all this commotion happens in the general move of the players, who have to decide who should move next. When you finally finish moving, you may encounter an enemy or new areas where you can perform a certain action. As for the events, they feel sewn to the game with white threads. When your character miniature lands on event tokens, you draw one of 12 cards from the deck and receive a faction reputation token, a small bonus, or a penalty. Not impressive. Enemies are basically divided into three tiers: three types of shadows, heralds, and outer lords. For defeating shadows and heralds you get a reward (umbra - the in-game currency), but for outer lords you don't, even though they are the most difficult opponents in the game. I don't see the logic here, especially considering the rules instruct you to avoid fighting shadows and focus on completing mission tasks, as the shadows are there to distract you and overwhelm you with numbers if you focus too much on fighting them.  The illustrations and design of the field and components are very cool, but do not make up for the feeling at the end of the mission that the game was not worth the trouble. You don't feel the satisfaction of victory. As for the miniatures, these are some of the best I've seen in cascades: very detailed and high quality. Only the key component of the playing field - the Citadel - is difficult to assemble: it is divided into several parts, which you will have to gradually collect. Unlike the two-dimensional version, which simply consists of two pieces of cardboard. Given how leisurely SHEOL's gameplay is, by the time you lay out the basic components on the table, the desire to pull tons of miniatures out of the box disappears. Yes, regarding the rule book: it suffers from errors, references to other rules without indicating the right page, and simply not very clearly described points. Not the worst rulebook in the world, but along with SHEOL's other issues, it discourages me from continuing to play. I recently got Oathsworn, so I'll likely switch to her and give SHEOL another shot at a later date. But it is unlikely that anything will come of it, unless the plot of the next missions suddenly becomes very exciting...