REVIEW In Periodic: a Game of the Elements (hereafter referred to as Periodic), players compete to collect sets of elements and advance their research as they navigate the periodic table. Doing this research requires energy, but a lot of it. Players will need to use their reserves effectively to find the items they need to complete the objective cards and progress along the achievement track. When the game ends, points are earned for the objectives achieved as well as the achievement track, and the player with the most points wins. If you're just curious to know what I think of Periodic, feel free to scroll down to the Opinions section. For the rest... PREPARATION Preparing Periodic is relatively simple. The game board is laid out, and 8 element group cards are randomly placed around it, 4 on each side of the board. The objective cards are separated by color and shuffled into four face down decks. They are placed above the playing field, and the top card of each is turned face up.  Objective cards depict specific sets of items. The objective dice that correspond to the objective cards are then placed on top of each of those items, the bonus tiles for each stack of objective cards are placed on top of the corresponding objective cards, and the lab tokens are set aside. Finally, one energy is placed on each of the periodic trends below the periodic table. After choosing their player's color and collecting their pieces, each player gets some energy to start the game. After the starting player is chosen, each player places one of their lane markers on one of the element group cards (dictated by turn order), their flask on the element with the lowest number corresponding to that element group, and then another lane marker on the first place of achievement track. You are now ready to play Periodic. MOVING In Periodic, players will use energy to move their vials around the game board so they can find the items they need to fulfill the requirements of the objective cards. By putting energy into or taking energy from the Periodic Trend, the player can move their flask in the specified direction from 1 to 5 times. If the move causes the bulb to end up on the spot with the target die, then the player places one of their research dice on the corresponding target card to show that they have discovered the item. If the player has placed energy, then the extra energy can be spent during the player's turn to move multiple times and in different directions if the player wishes. If any player discovers all the elements on the target card, that card is scored. Any player with only 1 research die on their card gets 3 lab points. Any player with 2 research dice on their card gets a 5 point token. The player who completed the card does not receive lab tokens, but instead takes the card. The new card is then turned face up to replace it and the corresponding target dice are placed accordingly.  When setting up the map, Element Groups were laid out around the play area, and players would place one of their lane markers on one of them. To advance along the achievement track, a player looks at the next card of an element group clockwise from their current marker position, and then attempts to end their turn with their flask on one of the elements included in that group. If they do, they place their marker on that card and then advance their other marker one position on the achievement track. As we will soon see, this will provide players with points at the end of the game. ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END A Periodic Game End is triggered when a player meets one of the following conditions: 2 stacks of objective cards are empty, 1 stack of objective cards is empty, and one player has reached one of the last 3 cells of the Achievement Track, or 2 players have reached one of the last 3 spaces of the Achievement Track. Each other player then gets one extra turn. When this is done, the scores are tallied and the player with the most points wins. Players earn points for completing objective cards, collecting lab tokens, remaining research cubes that have been placed on unfinished objective cards, and tracking achievement progress. CONCLUSIONS If you've read my past Cytosis and Subatomic reviews, you'll no doubt know that I'm a huge fan of Genius Games. John Covia's ability to gamify the science behind everyday things continues to amaze me. I've always wondered what the world looks like through the eyes of a game designer. Being able to look down on the periodic table of the elements and see the game there is something that puzzled me. Yet John Covey did it, and it works. In his past games, John turned real scientific processes into games. Cytosis changes the way cells take in nutrients and expel waste, while in Subatomic, players manipulate subatomic particles to create protons, electrons, and neutrons, then combine them to create atoms. However, periodicity is something completely different. In Periodic, you don't put things together to make new things. Instead, you learn about what already exists by examining the structure in which the data is organized. It's like finding out about a person by going through their files in a filing cabinet. Although this can be interesting and informative, the process itself is not very exciting. It's easy to get carried away with smashing atomic particles to create things. It's much harder to get excited about looking at a chart.  However, if you can get past the theme, you'll find a game that might surprise you. On paper, Periodic is a game about efficient resource management and route planning. How do you get the most you can in one go using only the energy you have at your disposal? At its core, however, Periodic is a fast-paced racing game. These goal cards fill up quickly and the achievement track is a ticking clock. You are constantly forced to choose between generalization or specialization. Do you focus all of your efforts on one objective card or spread out over several? If you finish your move here, will it be an easy opening for your opponents to capitalize on and score big points? Is the personal benefit of ending your turn really worth it, or should you wait and see what happens next? There is constant pressure to keep moving and at the same time you feel the same pressure to stand still and stay put. These conflicting desires create an interesting tension, and that tension grows closer to the end of the game. Aside from wishing the theme was a little more exciting, the only downside I can find with this game is that there is no way to change the turn order as of this writing. While this doesn't affect gameplay, it was pointed out to me in at least one play session that if two players were racing to get to the end of an achievement track and could progress each turn, the player who goes first in queue order would always wins. This is important because the last 3 spots on this lane can only accommodate a certain number of players. If you reach the end first, the people behind you will have to settle for second to last place. It's only 5 points, but in a tight race those 5 points can make all the difference. I understand that the final round of the game is designed so that each player will have the same number of moves, and this will be impossible to calculate since a player's starting token is constantly changing positions, but the inability to change the move order is still worth mentioning. In the end, I really like Periodic. While this isn't Genius Games' strongest game, it's still very good. I like the fast pace of the game and I appreciate the challenges that are presented to me. And like all of Genius Games' offerings, I definitely approve of Periodic's sneaky educational nature. John Covey's games always teach you something, even if you don't know you're learning it. When you see Periodic Trends as more than just places to place energy tokens, you realize that these are real concepts that are accurately reflected in how your bulb token moves along the periodic table, and before you know it, you'll be re-searching for periodic trends in Google. And that is the magic that Genius Games constantly brings to the table. The experience goes beyond the tabletop. Their games don't just make you a better player, they make you a smarter person...

 Tales of Arabian Nights awaits you with adventures, quests for glory and funny situations. You will wander through magical lands, meet sultans and beggars, and sometimes thieves. Difficult tests of your skills await you, because the goal is to build your destiny with your own hands and bring the story of the greatest adventure to the Book of the Arabian Nights. COMPONENTS  Among the components of the game, the Book of Stories immediately draws attention to itself, which looks like ancient game books. This fat volume weighs perhaps 75 percent of the total volume of the game. Its constant and important companion is the table of reactions.  Also in the box are 4 decks of cards (encounters, treasures, statuses and quests), reference sheets, skill tokens, fate and glory point markers, 3 time of day tokens and a playing field. Plus cardboard characters for each of the players (up to 6), wealth tokens, origins, objectives and a character sheet. And three cubes: one is a fate cube, the other two are ordinary cubes. The illustrations are very beautiful, the quality of the components does not cause complaints, except for the slightly curved field. GOAL OF THE GAME The real goal of the game is to immerse yourself in the story of your adventures, but there is a formal winner: the first person to complete their goal by accumulating both fate and glory points in a certain amount, and then return to Baghdad, wins. PREPARATION FOR THE GAME The game unfolds quite quickly and simply. Everyone takes their character sheet, matching markers, and a cardboard figure and places it in Baghdad, and the Wealth, Fame, and Fortune markers on the starting divisions on the track to the side of the playing field. After that, everyone draws a quest card. All of them are different and require the fulfillment of certain conditions. For example, visit certain places, learn certain skills, or return home after being enslaved. Completing quests rewards fame and fortune, and sometimes wealth or skills. Then decks of encounter, treasure, quest, and status cards are placed next to the field. It is better to arrange the latter in alphabetical order face up in order to find the ones you need faster. A morning marker is placed next to the encounter deck. The players then take turns secretly choosing how many Fame and Fate points they need to win (the total is always the same), and take and place the corresponding tokens under the character sheet. Then a roll of dice determines who goes first.  Finally, starting skills are chosen: 3 talents for each player. Skills are two-sided: on the one hand, it's just a talent for something, on the other hand, it's mastery in something. GAME PROCESS The course is divided into 6 phases: Books of stories. Activating treasure and status effects. Moving the character. A character's meeting with someone. Playing cards and fulfilling the conditions of quests. Activation of the winning condition.  More details: 1) The story book is passed to the player on the left, and the reaction table is passed to the player on the right. One will read the paragraphs describing the meeting and its outcome, and the other will look in the table for the paragraph that corresponds to the chosen action for that meeting. 2) Many treasure and status cards have special effects that affect before the start of your turn. For example, which allow additional movement or open access to a special location. 3) The character's movement speed depends on your wealth and whether you are traveling on water or land. You can move to the maximum, to a part of the speed or to stay in place altogether.  There are ten special locations on the map that can only be accessed through certain encounters. In this case, a goal marker is placed there and you can enter it while moving.  4) After movement, the meeting card is drawn (or immediately go to the corresponding paragraph, if you are in a special place). There are three types of them: characters, terrain and city. They show who or what you have met. All but city cards are reset at the end of the encounter phase. If a character card is drawn, you see what time of day it is now, after which your neighbor reads a paragraph from the Storybook corresponding to the time of day and the character.  If a terrain map is drawn, the choice of paragraph depends on the terrain where the character is standing; brown - mountains, blue - seas, gold - deserts, green - forests, and blue-green - islands.  If a city map is drawn, then before the actual meeting — the paragraph printed at the bottom of the city map — you roll a die and receive one of the bonuses listed on the map. Sometimes city meetings turn into a meeting with a certain character.  As for special places, they do not have their own cards; the paragraph number is printed right in the margin. The process of playing out an encounter is divided into four stages: finding out who or what your character encountered, choosing a reaction, determining the effect of fate, and resolving the encounter. First, your neighbor looks at the encounter table and determines with a die roll (plus the number printed on the location or city where the character is located, plus 1-2 from the fate die) exactly which ifrit you met, for example: vengeful, sad, etc.  The player then decides how to react. The person reading the reaction table looks at the letter of the alphabet that corresponds to the adjective describing your encounter, which reaction options you have. After that, the storyteller reading the Book finds the corresponding paragraph.  For each reaction option, there are three possible outcomes—three adjacent paragraphs. After rolling the dice of fate, which can give 0, +1 or -1, the corresponding paragraph is read. Thus, even encountering the exact same creature as before and reacting in the same way can result in a different outcome.  At the end of each paragraph, a code notation like [D1 / S2 / W+1(Max: Respectable) / Wisdom / Respected] describes how many points of fate, fame and wealth, as well as what skills (if any, the talent turns into a workshop possessions) or statuses gained or lost by a player. There are various statuses, both useful and not very useful. For example, with the "madness" status, another player decides for you how you will react to encounters. Players can also receive random or specific treasure cards or some special effect from the encounter.  It's also worth noting that the outcome of the encounter differs depending on whether you have a certain skill (which can be applied or not applied at will before you know the result), status, treasure, etc. Generally, applying a skill leads to a more profitable result. Sometimes it happens that the character dies. But that's the end of the game; in this case, the player takes the brother or sister of the deceased and begins the journey again in Baghdad - keeping, however, the glasses of glory and fate. END OF THE GAME When someone has accumulated enough fame and fortune to fulfill their secret goal and reaches Baghdad, they declare victory. After that, it's up to the others to complete their goals and return to Baghdad. One of the potential winners with more total points wins. IMPRESSION Tales of the Arabian Nights is definitely not a thoughtful game; what happens to you is mostly out of your control (or completely out of your control if you go crazy). The essence of the game is to listen to the adventures of the characters that are formed during the game. I had a lot of funny and memorable stories. Who wins is essentially irrelevant; the main thing is laughter, smiles and friendly shaking of heads when someone's character goes to jail again (like me for six turns in a row). As an option, you can use the home rule "you can have no more than one status at the same time"; with it, the game runs faster and smoother - there is no need to keep in mind the effects of five statuses in addition to your goal. Even in the game, IMHO, playing your character is welcome; For example, Sinbad should fight (attack) more often than steal, and Scheherazade should prefer conversations to fights. Getting used to the role of your character is easy and interesting. By default, the game is designed for a large number of participants, but it works great for two. It is simple, so even people who are unfamiliar with tabletops can easily join the process. So come quickly to the glorious city of Baghdad, good traveler, and enjoy the Arabian nights. ..

 Designer Scott Almes is best known for the Tiny Epic series of games published under his Gamelyn Games label. Our team reviewed about five of them, and we generally found the games to be okay—nothing incredibly special, but nothing incredibly bad either. Then I reviewed Roller Coaster Rush, another Almes design, and it was probably the worst game I've played in 2023. Really terrible. So, based purely on recency bias, I was a little freaked out when I opened the box for Capstone Games' US-published Beer & Bread 2022 edition. Almost immediately, these fears disappeared. If Beer & Bread landed on my desk in 2023, I'd probably name it my favorite two-player-only game, just ahead of Sky Team. A LITTLE OF THIS, BUT NO MORE OF THAT My review of Beer & Bread starts with a scoring system. A bit like Between Two Cities, New Ark, Tigris and Euphrates and other classics, Beer and Bread is a race for points by completing orders on two different sets of cards, beer cards and bread cards. The lower of the two scores becomes the player's final score, so balancing is key to victory. Each player represents an unnamed village upstream from the opposing village. For six years, the villages will hold friendly competitions to see who can make the most beer and bread. Each year is a circle, and each circle is simple. Given a hand of five cards, players must use a card for one of its three functions. Harvest and Store, which produces one of the game's five resources, which will be stored in a nine-room warehouse. Craft and Sell, an order fulfillment feature that requires the player to spend 4-7 resources to obtain a card Upgrade and clear by requiring a player to slide a card under certain parts of their side of the board to have permanent or ultimate power. It also allows you to move score cards from the bakery and/or brewery to get points at the end of the game. In odd-numbered rounds, players play one card each and then exchange hands. In even-numbered years, players keep previously played Harvest and Store cards and add new cards to their hand for new play options.  Beer & Bread instantly became one of my favorite multiplayer card games because the card options are usually very complex. Over the course of three games—once with a very experienced player, once with my wife, and once with my nine-year-old daughter—I was surprised how often I was torn between two or even three options on a card before making a choice. That said, it didn't slow down the game significantly, as all of my activities lasted less than 30 minutes. The card system is so smooth. The Collect and Store action stacks, so if I play the second card of the Collect and Store action, I get all the resources on both cards on my tableau. This means that you can fill up your warehouse quickly, and if you have a good selection of the five resources (water, wheat, barley, rye and hops) you can usually fill the card in the "Produce and Sell" step a couple of times in each round. I like that the upgrade system is unlimited. Some enhancement cards align with end game points and can be great for setting up early game strategy. I also like that it's aligned with the Cleanse action. By limiting the storage of completed beer and bread cards, it encourages players to use upgrades strategically, and also helps create a production engine or add points in the late game. It was easy to teach, and the back of the rulebook serves as a common reference aid for players. The box is small—not Tiny Epic small, but still pretty neat—and the rules even go into too much detail about each card upgrade, even though I thought it was unnecessary. If you don't want to read the rules, there's a seven-minute video on the box that you can link to. ESSENTIALLY Flawless Beer and bread is fantastic. Easy to learn, easy to play at the table and play in half an hour. I can play with gamers, I can play with non-gamers. Each game will play out slightly differently, and the upgrade system allows players to customize the experience to their liking over six rounds of play. My only issue, and admittedly a nitpick: hops, the green resource in Beer and Bread. Hops appear as a required recipe on only 19 of the game's 60 cards (only the beer cards, and yes, I counted). In all three of my games, it never felt like I needed the jumps. This is because the other 11 beer cards don't require hops, and instead of spending a Harvest and Store action on a card that contains hops, I'm going to get pretty much anything else. This way I have maximum flexibility when it comes to stocking items that can be spent on beer cards AND bread instead of just beer cards. Beyond that? I thought Beer & Bread was the perfect game for just two players. It doesn't dethrone 7 Wonders Duel, but Beer & Bread is really good and immediately the best Scott Almes design I've tried. I save it for games with my family!..

 Sipping rum from a deep mug, tucking a dagger and a couple of pistols into our belts, we set out to set sails on ships and furrow the seas playing Merchants and Marauders . GAMEPLAY What is this game about? This is a game about sailors who wander between several islands of the Caribbean basin and trade some with honest trade, and some with robbery (caravans) of merchants and colleagues who pass by.  The essence of the game is very simple: swim, trade, steal, earn 10 glory points and you are the winner. Overlaid on this simple system is a set of rules that specify exactly how this is done. For example, you can trade every time you enter the port, while each city has a "scarce" product for which you can get more money, and by selling 3 pieces at once, you can get a glory point and be one step closer to victory. Also, with the money earned, you can buy various minor (but nice!) improvements for your ship, such as sails, guns, hammocks for team members, etc. In general, the non-combat part of the game revolves very much around the ports - in addition to trading and buying improvements, in some ports you can get missions (which are more often reduced to swimming somewhere and passing a check of one of the parameters there by rolling one or more dice), even in the city you can get a rumor map (roughly the same as missions, but available in all ports). For both missions and rumors, you also need to check the "influence" parameter of your captain with dice, no dice rolled - no rumor/mission. You can also repair a damaged ship at the port or buy a new one (a glory point is also given for the purchase).  A player has 3 actions on their turn that they can spend moving to an adjacent sea zone, entering/exiting a port, or trying to find a merchant/other player hanging out in the same zone (by checking the "reconnaissance" option with the dice). Here we smoothly approach the description of the combat unit. For attacks on neutral merchants, the combat is quite simple: you get several goods cards (which also indicate the amount of money and the area of the ship in which the merchant's return fire "hits") if none of the parameters of your ship's stability have fallen to zero after the return fire . you successfully rob a merchant, receiving money for drawn goods cards, the opportunity to stuff the goods themselves into the hold, and if you looted 12 or more coins - an additional glory point. Ah, yes, completely forgot - after attacking (even unsuccessfully) the first (and all subsequent) merchants, you automatically become a pirate. Each merchant is listed as belonging to one of several nations represented on the table (English, Dutch, French, and Spanish). You gain one search token for that nation and can no longer enter its ports on the field. A few words about how bad it is to be a pirate. First, the game has random events that periodically bring neutral MILITARY ships of various nations into the field. Most event cards will also activate ships already on the field and send them off in one direction or another, BUT if you're a pirate and you're hanging around, they'll swim towards you instead and start looking for you (neutral ships and captains have the same set of parameters, as well as players).  If they discover you, then a fight will begin (another player will play neutral), and you have every chance to go to feed the fish, if you did not prepare for such a meeting in advance. Even if you are sitting in the port, the warship will not sail anywhere, but will wait until you are about to sail out of there, and will try to "hook" you again. But that's not all! Since pirates rarely stop at one robbed merchant, the number of search tokens on their ship gradually increases, and if another player sinks the pirate's ship, then for each token he will immediately receive 5 gold coins, and he himself will not be considered a pirate. However, in addition to warships, pirate ships also hang around the field, which, on the contrary, do not touch fellow pirates, but curiously begin to circle around the ships of peaceful players. And for the sweet - a fight between two players. Here you can evaluate how random the game is. The captains compare the maneuverability parameters of the ships, then roll navigation dice (initiative), whoever has more successes can fire all his guns, whoever has less can only fire from guns equal to the number of successes. Hits lower the ship's parameters (guns, crew, masts/hull, hold), accordingly reducing its combat effectiveness / destroying the cargo being carried / mowing down the crew. If it turned out that the crew of the enemy ship is quite ragged, you can try to board it (at the same time, each captain rolls dice for the number of surviving crew members). If you're lucky, you can appropriate an enemy ship with all the goods and improvements. Well, if you're not lucky, welcome to the bottom. (Yes, you can try to flush, but it usually either won't roll at first because any hit "cancels the flush" or won't roll at the end because you're clearly near death and so your chances are, again, very little). Well, that's roughly how this yoho-ho-and-a-bottle-of-rum-game goes. =) And now impressions! IMPRESSION I played twice, won once, lost once. I liked the game, but the second time, unlike the first, I complained for a long time about the game balance (in general, I always complain about the balance when I lose, so I often can't understand whether the problem is with the balance or the fact that I don't know how to lose =) ). WHAT'S GOOD IN THE GAME? - Pirate atmosphere, romance of the seas and so on - you wander around the ports in search of profitable goods / errands, rob other ships or, on the contrary, try to wash away from them, the pirates get a headache from the military that cruises around, trying to find them and the eternal "let someone fix the ship" after another fight. In addition, the game is beautifully designed (and the version of the friend we played is designed on 10/15). — The feeling of satisfaction from a "spoiled businessman": whether it is a successful sale, a completed mission or a robbed caravan - sailing to the next port, you feel like a "sea wolf", with a sense of fulfilled duty, going "to taverns and brothels" under time for a short rest. - Dynamics. Something is constantly happening in the game: warships are sailing, pirates are sailing, a storm is raging somewhere (and the wind must also be taken into account), every turn you get a map of events, it can even start a war between nations on the field. And you should always keep a close eye on the movements of your comrades, because if you are torn apart in a fight, even a peaceful merchant floating by may think: "Why not?" WHAT DID NOT LIKE — The battle between the two ships greatly distorts this very dynamic: while all this commotion with "initiative-shot-hit" is going on, other players make their moves and then, sadly, wait for the resolution and the next round. — If your ship was sunk in a fight, you start the game over. Only the accumulated glory points are saved, and in the rest - the new captain, the starting trough and the starting 10 gold. As they say, "technically" you can still win, but I will believe in such miracles only when I see it with my own eyes. - Actually, about these troughs. Why such a fatal loss of ship? Because a new ship costs 30-35 gold, which is several ROUNDS of dangling cargo between several ports or looting (while also taking into account repairs and the inability to enter some ports). But the balance of ship parameters is very controversial: for 35 coins you can choose a frigate or a galleon. The frigate has all the parameters of 3, the galleon has fatness of 5, the rest have 4 and only maneuverability is 1. But what does maneuverability give so much to raise the parameters of a ship with low maneuverability? Each of the captains has a navigation parameter (initiative), which is usually equal to 2. When two ships are fighting, the captain of the more maneuverable one rolls 1(!) additional initiative die. It doesn't matter if you have 4 maneuverability and your opponent has 1, you still roll 1 bonus. a cube However, first of all, an additional dice of maneuverability does not mean a gain in initiative at all, you can not throw a single success on three (well, cubes, you understand). Second, there are captains who have a base navigation value of 3, so your maneuverability will only allow you to match the initiative of a "trucker" commander. And, thirdly, even if a truck hits you once (and, let me remind you, trucks have more guns), it is quite possible that, even if you win the initiative, you will have nothing to shoot at or a second hit will destroy your frigate, in whose all "vital" indicators are lower. Well, for the second game I have the feeling that there is practically no sense in the frigate (and if you have a captain with navigation in 3, then none at all). - The last, most annoying thing is how much, IMHO, the game is skewed towards trading and peaceful extraction of victory points. ADVANTAGE OF PIRACY — Piracy brings less money on average (and there is a chance to waste the action, because the victim ship still needs to be found with an intelligence check, and if not found, you can search again only when you enter this zone again). — Actually, a large part of your money will be eaten up by repairs / constant purchase of improvements in order not to go to the bottom. — If you didn't get 12 or more coins from the robbed merchant, you won't get a victory point (glory points) either. — You are constantly pinched by warships and are hindered by the impossibility of entering some (and the more you pirate, the more) ports. If the reward for your head will be decent, then other players will not mind sewing your masts. — There is a chance to..

PLOT The Betrayer's War takes place after the events of Tales of Darkness. If you don't have a completed Tales of Darkness campaign saved, you'll have to go through a "short" (if the rulebook is to be believed) cut-scene before the game, which is actually 40 minutes long, making choices, making decisions, etc. .Keep that in mind.  The adventures of our group began with the pursuit of a thief in a watchtower. After that, the plot becomes more open; we are trying to capture the locations of the various factions scattered across Terrinoth to help Waikar the Betrayer defend Terrinoth from the dragons and Uthuk I'Lan.  We haven't finished the campaign yet, but it feels like Traitor's War is paying more attention to each individual hero and the group as a whole. The story of each character is better developed than in Tales of Darkness. Moreover, what is especially pleasing, it is woven into the gameplay. Scenarios not only focus on individual heroes, but often change their playstyle in new fan-made ways. In particular, with the help of upgrade cards, which are tied to new types of tokens; For example, darkness (umbra), curtain (shroud). The first gives special bonuses to certain characters (yes, Chance will learn to essentially teleport), and the second allows you to dodge the character's target enemies.  Regarding the components. In "Traitor's War" new, experienced versions of the heroes we know appear, and the bad ones also look great. Some plot enemies have their own special minion, and they appear more than once throughout the story. There is also a giant, impressive dragon miniature. And a new three-dimensional terrain that is used in various scenarios. I will not spoil much; I'll just say that the first three scenarios manage this terrain in very interesting ways. The authors perfectly integrated the plot into the script. We encountered many scenarios where it was interesting to follow the development of the plot from beginning to end. Traitor's War makes even more use of the program's narrative capabilities, interactive terrain, miniatures, and other components.  There are many dialogues here. In some scenarios they tie in well with the action (which I like), but others will have a bunch of dialogue at the beginning and/or end. Not that this is a serious flaw, but sometimes annoying; After all, we have a board in front of us, and players want to play, not read. So while overall the story is good, sometimes (but not very often) it slows the game down excessively, which isn't very nice considering each scenario takes 2+ hours. GAMEPLAY The gameplay in "Traitor's War" changes in an ambiguous way, as far as I'm concerned. What I loved about Tales of Darkness was that it was actually a light hearted version of Bleak Harbor. Ditto for parties with natives who aren't ready/willing to delve into the deep strategies of Bleak Harbor. "Fables", on the other hand, offered similar impressions of fantasy adventures (and looked much more solid on the table) without too many problems. I explained the rules very quickly: "You just move and then attack or explore."  In Traitor's War, players have so many options from the very beginning that it feels overwhelming. Descent's gameplay isn't as deep as that of Bleak Harbor, so it's hard for newcomers to remember and effectively use the stacks of cards that are immediately thrown at them. Managing experience cards won't be a problem for Tales of Darkness veterans, but keep in mind that introducing newcomers to the game through this campaign will be difficult. CONCLUSIONS  If you want an enhanced and larger version of Tales of Darkness, then Traitor's War is for you. The plot is better intertwined with the gameplay, the new versions of the old heroes are more interesting, the villains are more interesting, the scenarios are also interesting and varied, the decisions you make have more significant consequences. Beginners, however, will have a hard time at first, but if you add 1-2 new players to your group, then by the end of the first scenario, they will most likely get the hang of it...

 In this article I will talk about the game "The Pursuit of Happiness" . I will say right away that I did not play purely in the basic version, but immediately mixed both additions, so I will talk about the game with add-ons. Grab some tea, cookies, and we'll get started. WHAT IS THE GAME ABOUT?  The Pursuit of Happiness is a Euro game for 1-5 players (5th player added in add-on) that simulates the life of a real person. The game lasts up to 8 rounds, which are divided into three periods: teenager, adult and senior. This game is a sandbox where you are free to create your own destiny. SHORT RULES Each round, the player has an average of 6 actions (their number may increase or decrease), which he spends on "living" his life. You place your hourglass token on one of the actions and perform it. You can get 3 units of one of four types of resources (knowledge, creativity, communication and money).  You can start any projects or hobbies. Projects are short-term (they are done once and reset), shared (multiple players can participate in them, for example, "start a music group" or "found a political party"), and long-term (these projects remain with the player until he masters the skill , such as "start writing a novel" or "learn to play the guitar"). You can also buy various items, get pets and many other interesting things. As soon as we move into the "adult" stage, things like "getting a job," "starting a relationship," and "working overtime" are open to us.  The job will earn the player money every round as long as he fulfills its requirements. You can start a relationship, and in the future create a family and have a child.  Work Overtime: The player gets two extra actions, but also increases their stress level. As soon as the players enter the "summer" stage, this opportunity is closed for them.  Also, players can travel to different places and participate in community projects, increasing their popularity. You can go to the city Saturday festival or take part in a quest. All this increases your popularity and brings resources and victory points.  Two important scales in the game are Mood and Stress. For a good mood, players receive a discount on the implementation of projects, and for a bad one, on the contrary, they have to pay extra. Stress is probably the most important scale. A high level of stress robs players of action, and if a player crosses the red line, their character dies and it's game over for them. "Old" players automatically accumulate stress, so if you want to live longer, I recommend a healthy lifestyle (but this is optional - you are free to live as you wish). Eventually the game ends after 8 rounds or as soon as the last player's character dies. PROS OF THE GAME Simple rules. The game is a placement of workers, so there should be no problems with the rules. You can play even with beginners. Atmosphere. With the right approach, players seem to be living real life. You can become a famous blogger, a great lawyer or just a great family man. You can simply travel to different parts of the world or improve in different fields of science. Players can do whatever they want (if there are enough resources, of course). CONS The need for imagination. This game should be played like a life simulator. Some players play it like regular Euro, and from the mechanics point of view it is too simple, so it is quite boring for such players to play it. IMPRESSION Overall, I liked the game. After watching years of gameplays of various bloggers who fully played their lives, the game seems incredibly atmospheric. Either I have a problem with imagination, or I play it like another Euro, but I personally did not succeed in playing my role. If you like simple Euros or the computer game The Sims, I definitely recommend it...

 According to the official description, Legacy of Dragonholt is a narrative adventure game for 1-6 people. In fact, this is not an RPG and not even a tabletop as such. It's a big story book, kind of like the game books from the 1980s. The stories are divided between 5 small quest books and one thick one dedicated to the adventures in the village. Inside - numbered paragraphs. You read the specified paragraph, then choose one of the suggested actions, and then move on to the next specified paragraph. What is unusual is the creation of your character; approximately as in role-playing games, only according to a simplified model. You choose a race and profession from a large list, invent a name and biography for the character. After that, you choose a set of skills for him - and this very point will greatly affect the gameplay: the range of actions available to the character in the game depends on these skills. Fictional example: you want to cross a river, but the bridge has collapsed? Is there agility or athleticism? No? Do nothing, stay on the other side. Stop - maybe there is alchemy to create an ice bridge? Great, go ahead. This spectrum gives the game great flexibility. Of course, to some extent; the plot is still scripted, and you are just a character in the story.  During the game, you can learn new skills, as well as temporarily lose them. You can also find or buy items: this is a small deck of cards that either directly benefit or move the plot branches. Periodically during interactions, as well as after completing quests, you will have to make a corresponding mark (say, A5), which can play an important role later ("If you have A5, then... otherwise..."). Thanks to this, the game "remembers" the choices you made and the plot changes accordingly; brilliantly simple mechanics Sometimes it leads to unnecessary fuss, but for the most part it works with a bang. The difference between "Legacy of Dragonholt" and ordinary game books lies in the skills and marks. A simple and elegant system. The layout and assembly of the game is almost instantaneous; it is enough to open the desired page of the book and continue to follow the story, and, after a break, just make a bookmark. As for the plot as a whole and the NPCs, the game does not go beyond standard fantasy, but they are written well, so that you are guaranteed an exciting read and interesting choices.  The game also welcomes roleplay; make decisions that are like your character, rather than what seems true to you personally. Several times I doubted whether my character was doing the right thing, but I gave in to him. As a result, everything descended into chaos, which I myself certainly would not have wanted, but all the fault lay with my stupid cat person... in general, it turned out great. Although the game is formally designed for 1-6 participants, I would not advise playing with three or more; it's like reading a book together. The two of them are quite normal, but ideally alone. The retail price of $59 is clearly overpriced. It makes sense to take only with a discount. In addition, the game is essentially one-time, the main plot branches out minimally. Although, you may not see all the side quests the first time, and you certainly won't explore the entire village. It is also worth noting that the game has LGBT moments: some may not like it. I would like to believe that there will still be games based on the "Oracle" system; A Cthulhu, Android, or Twilight of the Empire setting would be perfect. In general, it is not cheap, but a pleasant book-game, which you can read to relax after a busy day...

ABOUT THE GAME  Dice Throne: Santa vs Krampus pits the hero of Christmas against his evil opposite. The game is independent; other boxes from the Dice Throne series are not required.  In this dueling game, players take turns rolling their character's custom dice pool—and can reroll up to 3 times—then distribute the rolled results to the abilities of the characters they want to activate. Landing a certain combination of symbols on the dice will allow more powerful versions of these abilities to be used. So, for example, the more ax symbols you throw out when using Santa's "Chop the Christmas tree" ability, the more damage the enemy will receive.  During battle, players can enhance their abilities using their character's decks of cards, replacing or enhancing certain abilities on the board. In addition to enhancement cards, each character's deck also has action cards that can be used to change roll results or gain some sort of advantage. The winner is the one who first reduces the opponent's life to zero. ABOUT THE CHARACTERS Santa Claus, Father Christmas, beats the enemy while doing traditional holiday activities: cutting down the Christmas tree, relaxing by the fireplace, playing with the reindeer and drinking the Christmas Egg-Nig cocktail. The sinister Krampus is in charge of deception and punishment.  Santa is an aggressive hero. He has a bit of draw and control, but even that he converts into extra damage in an attempt to end the game as quickly as possible. Despite the not-so-successful combinations of the required symbols and abominable defense, he can kill the opponent quickly - even on turn 5 if everything goes well, and his powerful ultimate allows you to deal a lot of damage if the opponent does not respond with anything. Unfortunately, it is not difficult to stop Santa, and then he will stomp in place, unless he is very unlucky. But if you like to put pressure on your opponents, then Santa is for you.  Krampus is no less aggressive than Santa, but he relies not only on large numbers of damage, but on his cute minions - the so-called "rejects" (Rejects), who do damage for him. Krampus is mediocre at best for the first few turns, but once he builds his engine, he can keep up with even the strongest Dice Throne heroes. Kind of like Doctor Strange (only his cards deal damage in a separate deck, not in the main deck), so if you like Strange, Krampus can fit in too...

 The world needs more board games spawned by nature documentaries. I think it wouldn't hurt designers to try on the theme of hostile creatures more often in their games. Kelp is Carl Robinson's first original work, developed and published in association with Wonderbow Games. Deeply asymmetric in design, Kelp pits a shark against a squid among seaweed, a cat-and-mouse game for two players. Deck building vs. bag building. Cards vs Dice. Lego (at least for a moment) vs. Mahjongg. OCTOPUS Squid game is a survival game. The kelp forest is divided into a 3 × 3 grid, each containing a tile facing the squid player. One tile is a squid. Other tiles are shells, traps and (potentially) squid food.  Players choose two actions in any combination: play a card, return a card to the hand limit, or discard to hide an exposed tile. Each card has a face value. Actions include learning (adding cards to the deck), swapping adjacent tiles, randomly shuffling tiles, hiding tiles, and eating. A squid has two goals: survive and/or eat. If the shark is exhausted in the hunt, then the squid wins. Eating all four food options also results in an instant win for the squid. However, in order to eat, the player with the tentacles must first add a food card and tile to the game through learning, and then reveal the location of the squid and food after eating. Each food consumed adds strength, creating all the motivation needed to relieve tension.  Aside from stealth, the squid's only weapons are traps. If the shark ever discovers the trap, it will have consequences that will affect the state of the field. Traps can also be obtained through training. SHARK The shark's moves are a bit more procedural, but also pretty simple. Toothy takes out two dice from the bag, which he throws and uses. The blue cubes placed along the lines of motion represent the currents that move the shark outside the designated space. When the currents are arranged on the map in descending order, they provide a chain movement. Yellow dice reveal squid tiles if they are tossed high enough to exceed the success threshold. The red dice, which also require successful rolls, allow you to strike a secret configuration of squid tiles.  If the squid itself is successfully hit, players engage in a battle of wits to decide the game. The squid has three special action cards for this circumstance, the shark has a counter card. Both players secretly choose a card and reveal it. If there is a match, the shark counterattacks and wins. The discrepancy allows the squid to perform an evasive maneuver while continuing the game. However, after this first duel, the matching set is removed, leaving only two matching cards and therefore a 50-50 chance of the next shark strike. The third strike is a guaranteed victory for the shark. The shark builds strength in two ways. Search dice used and the first activated current die in a turn are used to activate a series of abilities, each of which requires three dice to unlock. During the game, the shark gets the opportunity to roll the dice and improve with ease. The second way is the one-time ability card market. Any unused dice on the shark's turn go into their wallet, which the shark uses to make purchases based on the number of points. After three dice, a purchase is required. These market cards also add dice to the bag, shifting the balance towards search and strike.  The shark's weakness, however, is the eight-cube lane, which leads to exhaustion. Hit dice used automatically land on this track (removing them from the game). Each card purchase also permanently puts one die on the track. If you do the math, you'll see that upgrades and attack are limited. The shark must move with hasty precision. EXPERIENCE Playing Shark is an internal conflict from start to finish. You want to set the available current points on the board for the future, but you also want to use them early and often to activate those flips. You want to shop early and often for special cards and extra strike dice, but those purchases will lead to exhaustion and an early death if you also have a lot of terrible rolls in your wallet. When you have hit dice, it's tempting to blindly attack on a good hunch, but there are only so many opportunities to swing before you run out of gas. The squid game ends. Anything you want to do that is of any value requires you to disclose some information to the shark. It's very tempting to eat, but once you reveal your position, you must have cards to hide, shuffle and swap them to safety, or your opponent will eat you next.  Not only are the mechanics asymmetric, but so are the behaviors required on both sides. Every turn when the shark feels desperate, it's like you know your time is up from the moment the first die hits the exhaustion track. Even the fact that you have to swim forward all the time ("around" is prohibited) tickles the nerves. A squid, on the other hand, must remain calm, cool, and collected—or it will die of impatience. An untimely bite when the supporting arm is weak will only create a source of anxiety and a great opportunity for the enemy. As much as I love the feel of Kelp, I think people will be disappointed that the last moment of the game depends on flipping the map like an old school game of war. I understand the psychology of conflict: it's obviously best to move the shark to the other side of the board, but the shark knows that. Actually, the shark knows that I know that the shark knows, so I have to do it anyway, because that's the last thing the shark expects. The solution is always interesting, but that doesn't necessarily make it exciting. I think it fits the theme well, so I wouldn't suggest changes, but I wonder what the final answer will be. A great deal of systematic work can unravel in a hurry if the "wrong" map sees the light of day.  For all I know, my second potential problem may already be solved. I feel both sides, but especially the calamari, could use a little more spice. I'm not quite sure where it's needed, but it's needed. Team Wonderbow has already announced an additional deck of cards with a race for secondary objectives and long-term advantages. Maybe that's the answer, but the overall collection of action makes you wonder if there might not be another trick up one of the squid's many sleeves or something else to liven up the fact that your ultimate goal is hiding in the first place. Speaking of squid, eating as a strategy is an exercise in self-flagellation. In our first couple games when I was a shark, no one tried to do this. The cost seems too high. When I finally sat down like a squid, I went for it. When I raised my head to eat, I had hide and seek, swapping and shuffling. My location was compromised for the rest of the game. I lost. After that, I hesitated to do it again. Even with shuffling cards in hand, there were so many exposed tiles on the board that it was difficult to get back to the safety of the seaweed. I feel like a squid shouldn't try to eat unless all the food is added to the log, unleashing a maddened, overindulgent sprint to the finish line. Studying these food tiles on the map (even if the phrase is grammatically unclear) is the perfect way to put pressure on the shark and create an exciting duel. Squid maps have a delicate balance. If it is too easy to hide the tiles, the squid will live in an impenetrable secret. If the task is too big, the shark will have a full belly. Once you settle into that pocket, the difficulty with the squid is how passive the turns can be. There are back-to-back hide turns to just get through the deck and hopefully make the perfect hand. Such patience may not be for everyone. It wasn't for all my opponents. Shark definitely has options and feels more active from the start. It's just a matter of weighing priorities against the pressure of a ticking clock. I appreciate the extent to which Mr. Robinson imbues Kelp with the personalities of his characters. This sea teems with idiosyncrasies. ALGAE FOREST Kelp is every bit as intriguing as I hoped it would be when I listed it as one of GenCon's most anticipated games. I have never played a game like this. I'm really excited to see the final production - the prototype is nice (even the spare Lego shark is adorable). I am interested in the campaign and any possible future announcements...

 Age of Wonders: Planetfall (2022, Arcane Wonders) is a board game based on the video game of the same name. The video game (available on PC and all major consoles) is a 4X-style civilization game; As part of the Age of Wonders series, Planetfall is a version of this family of space exploration video games. I'm told the scale is grand — I haven't played the video game — and Planetfall does what all great "civilization" games do, allowing players to lead empires into space battles, conduct diplomacy with other species, customize leaders and units, and do a whole a bunch of other stuff that seems epic to me. Age of Wonders: Planetfall (Board Game) is so incredibly simplistic that it should be applauded for its simplicity. The tabletop version of Planetfall is a 20-40 minute card collecting game with European-style scoring and small bonuses for each playing faction if they make certain types of cards. “The cover looks pretty epic,” my wife joked before our first two-player game. And the cover REALLY looks pretty epic - it seems to depict a game that looks like it's going to be Mass Effect for desktop. It's not, but I think Planetfall achieves what it's trying to achieve. I'm not sure you'll want to play this game after the first few times you get it on your desk. THERE IS SO MUCH OF EVERYTHING  Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a card drafting game for 2-6 players (well, mostly) that consists of 14 turns over seven rounds. Each player takes on the role of faction leader with tracking of player score, experience points, power and energy. The last two tracks are expendable resources, so you'll be moving these trackers back and forth as you play. Experience points never decrease and range from 0 to 10 points. Experience is useful mainly in the fight against enemy factions, presented here in the form of cards. After a small market of cards is created for each round, the player first in the initiative order places their spaceship token (essentially used as a betting token in Planetfall) on one card in the market. When each player draws one card, the market is resolved from top to bottom, left to right. There are four suits of cards. Units must be fought or negotiated; Tech cards grant permanent powers and then scoring conditions at the end of the game. Landmarks encourage players to adopt a specific collection strategy, while Pickup cards offer one-time energy or income bonuses that can be claimed at the start of each round. If a player doesn't like the cards in the market, they can choose Operations instead, which is the transfer action in Planetfall, but a little juicier. You can spend "Operation Points" on things like victory points, power points, and experience points to make trades and prepare for better actions in future turns. Operations aren't that interesting, but it's a necessary evil in a lot of games because it's hard to keep wasting other resources without touching one or both from scratch on the player mat. The rounds are divided into planet decks. Each of the seven rounds has a different deck of planets with cards progressing in difficulty and rewards. You'll see most of the deck each game (especially with more players), so there's not a lot of replayability in terms of the differences between these decks. A deck always contains 14 cards, and the breakdown of the four suits in the deck is always the same: four unit cards, four pick cards, three technology cards, and three landmark cards. The turns are cool. Depending on where a player draws their card, they return to the initiative track in that order, meaning if you pick first, you pick first again the next round. The value of the cards is higher if the cards are in the top row of the market table, so this is a counterbalance to the player who tries to always choose the card first. My Planetfall games have always lasted less than an hour. My two player game lasted just over 30 minutes. I believe that experienced players can complete a game like this for four players in about 20-30 minutes. ALMOST PERFECT Planetfall plays fast. The game is easy to learn. Scoring is open, so it's easy to see how your opponents are doing. Planetfall is quick to break down and quick to assemble. I just wish it was more interesting. My wife realized this after our first game; from turn to turn the decisions are somewhat interesting, but there is usually a clear "best" choice regarding the action. A lot of cards and all Pickup cards feel like that for a reason. Often Pickup cards are exactly the same, with the same card name and the same rewards. If there are scoring milestones in the endgame that encourage players to draw certain types of cards, they always will. And when in doubt, I often find that I usually play the card that scores the most victory points, regardless of what the milestones say. The fast game time is its best asset. I also like how the cards are broken down by value based on the level of the market they are currently at. Some of the purple tech cards have interesting bonuses that make them attractive no matter what you're going to do. Income seems to be a bug in Planetfall - taking Pickup cards to get a single energy boost seems like a waste. But I've found that tech cards often have a reasonable value and consistent income benefit, so I grab them when I can. The most troubling part of the reviewer's Planetfall experience comes late in the game. No matter what I did in each of my games, I was about 10 points ahead of the other players. This could mean that the game is extremely balanced. It can also mean that it doesn't matter what you do in a game that screams "scoring salad" because you're going to score 70-80 points no matter what.  I mentioned earlier that Planetfall is mostly a card-matching game. One of the factions has a bonus associated with the performance of operational actions. Operational actions result in the player not taking a card from the market. In one of our games, a player won with only five cards in the entire game (ie only five cards, while the rest had 13 or 14). The rest of the time he would perform Operational Actions and use some of his Operational Points to gain victory points as one of the expendable actions. (This will pay off well later in the game, as you can always score points equal to the current number of rounds.) Combined with getting a tech card that boosted his ops points even more, and a final milestone that scored points for his remaining resource power, it became a powerful combo. Even then, the bills were tight. I've never had a bad experience with Planetfall, and other players who have joined me in individual games have told me the same. You might have a clever twist or two, but nothing that screams "I'm a genius!" My wife and I both commented after our game together that the game might be too short. It looks like a more strategic affair with potentially important decisions, but by the time you realize it's not, you're dealing the cards for the fifth round of a seven-round game. Planetfall falls into that hard-to-review category—it's an average game, everything about it is good (including the design and rules), and it's a game that I started to forget about almost as soon as I finished writing this review. For fans of the video game, I wonder if Planetfall is a more interesting experience because those fans might recognize some of the enemies or images. Otherwise, there are many great options in the map/open projects category that provide better gameplay...