On your turn in The Castles of Tuscany, you lay out region cards, disrupt and lay out region token tiles, or spend cards to place region tokens on your personal board. For this, you get an immediate bonus based on the color of that token and a point if you finish filling an area of that color. Cards and tiles have eight suits, and to place a tile you need to spend two cards of the same suit, with two cards of any suit acting as jokers. So to place a blue tile, you need to spend two blue cards, a blue card and a matching pair of cards - or any two matching pairs of cards. The eight available region tiles are randomly selected and replaced randomly from the player's personal tile supply. You may or may not flip the color your opponent wants! When someone has placed a third of their tiles, players score points by adding all of their current green points to the secondary red track. This step will happen again when someone places the second third of their tiles again, and again when someone places all of their tiles. This means that the points you score in the first third of the game will be added to your total points three times, so don't be lazy. You start the game with one of five bonus actions, and each time you place a red city tile on your regional board, you change your bonus action to another. These tiles allow you to use more cards, have more tile rooms in reserve, or modify certain color bonuses. These tiles give you ways to customize (customize) your building capabilities.  Your starting layout affects your possible further growth and bonuses, although at the same time you are dependent on the randomness of cards and tile flips and, of course, not the random actions of your opponent. In this game, you will not be able to win with any special plan, because the tiles you need may not drop or, worse, the opponents may take them from you, forcing you to choose a different path to victory. Players also compete for color bonuses,..

 Note : the game is complex and it is not easy to describe it in words. However, I will try to do a review as it is worth it. If you're interested in Hegemony, I'd highly recommend taking a look at Heavy Cardboard's recent stream showing the main gameplay elements; this is better to see with your own eyes than in text format. So, let's begin. Hegemony (or more precisely, Hegemony: Lead You Class to Victory) is a new kickstarter project from Hegemonic Project Games, a company new to the market, created specifically for the launch of Hegemony. According to the Kickstarter page, the company has a lofty goal to "create flooring that inspires people and helps them learn more about the world around them." In particular, Hegemony tries to connect the world of board games with politics and economics.  It cannot be said that this is the first attempt of its kind; there are already a lot of political and/or economic issues. However, Hegemony differs in that the players are asymmetric factions competing with each other within the same state, and not just abstract competitors (say, merchant guilds or political parties). Players take on the roles of the working class, middle class, capitalists, or the state itself. A couple of games from Leder Games are mentioned here: "Root" and "Vast" - also asymmetrical games with active interaction between factions. You can partially mention the games of the COIN series, but in Hegemony there is no direct conflict, unlike the examples listed above. The struggle is political and competitive. Each group tries to become the most successful by gaining the most victory points.  The methods of achieving victory vary greatly. The working class seeks to consume goods and form trade unions. The middle class also tends to consume goods, but they also get rewards for owning companies and exporting goods. Capitalists get almost all the rewards for accumulating capital.  As for the state, it seeks to please..

 I have to admit that I am not indifferent to games in the skirmish genre. Since Super Fantasy Brawl came out on Kickstarter, I was ready to play it a lot. I tried playing Warhammer Underworlds for a while and enjoyed it, but was put off by the sheer number of deck options and not having anyone on hand to play competitive matches. Underworlds was definitely an entry-level game for Games Workshop, but Unmatched and Funkoverse are entry-level games for everyone and are great for offering a card or cube skirmish. Super Fantasy Brawl retains the entry-level feel while adding a bit more depth in the long run. The game uses a clever card system with small decks of six cards for each hero. So let's grab our champions and dive into the game. I LOVE WHEN YOU ARE CONSTANTLY IN A STRUGGLE First of all, let me state up front that I have the Kickstarter kit, but I have reworked this review for the main box. The main differences are a lot more champions and component upgrades. While the neoprene mats and plastic tokens are nice to have, the cardboard counterparts are durable and look great. The miniatures set – a purely aesthetic update – will also be available at retail separately. Just remember my greed when looking at the photos! The retail edition includes 6 champions, with three more available as separate sets. The great thing about this is, firstly, the extremely reasonable price and also the variety in the box. Many other games in the skirmish genre only give a "small" idea of the full gameplay, and therefore you will have to purchase new characters for the full experience. Super Fantasy Brawl is different. The games are played in a 3 champion vs. 3 champion format, so you get the full game in the base box. Surprisingly, the variety in the game is quite large. This is due to the fact that each champion is an individual, and not part of a faction or "squad" that he is supposed to represent. So you'll need time to try all the combos the base box..

Release year: 2019. Number of players: 1-6. Game time: 30-90 minutes. (Note: This review covers the first edition of the game.)  Let's start with the components. The box here is just huge. It is even bigger than "Gloomy Harbour"; only the complete edition of Sentinels of the Multiverse can match it in size in our collection. It takes up an entire shelf in the rack. Overall, one of the biggest board game boxes out there. It is also thick, strong, beautifully illustrated, and also shiny and pleasant to the touch.  Inside, you'll find plenty of components that more than justify their price tag. The quality of the cards varies from fair to very good. All the illustrations are great. The colors are bright and cheerful. The minks of the cube heroes are high-quality, with elaborate details. My friend painted the cubes; in decoration they look simply luxurious. The playing fields are clear and nicely illustrated. Overall, the components deserve the highest praise - they are stunning.  Let's go to the actual game. In terms of gameplay, Quodd Heroes is much worse, in my opinion. To begin with, we bought the game in German, skipping the kickstarter. I've downloaded the English rules, so it shouldn't be a problem, right? Here are just a few points in the rulebook that are described differently and contradict each other in different languages. Even more frustrating, the two rulebooks included are not very well structured and leave many questions. Many ambiguous points are not explained in any way, so you will have to spend time looking for answers on BGG (however, you must give credit to the developer: he is active on the forums and answers questions in detail). But there are still many questions, and most likely you will have to resort to home rules. Because of this, there is much more downtime between turns.  The mechanics of Quodd Heroes are very interesting. You can roll your cube hero in any perpendicular direction: it will move there and turn a new..

WAS THE GAME GOOD? If you've played Slay the Spire, you're probably wondering how this famous PC game can be brought to the table. You must be skeptical, and I used to be. Slay the Spire has card copying, tons of math, tons of upgrades, and tons of effects that are tracked every round. Implementation of all this on the table will bury any project. Fortunately, the authors noticed this problem in time and in their cash simplified the gameplay as much as possible, while preserving the basics of STS. I will give several examples.  All the numerical values of STS:TBG are greatly reduced so that basic arithmetic is enough for the game. Actually, everything has become easier in the board game: regular battles take fewer rounds, events are resolved faster. The authors also noted that constantly counting the number of cards in a hand in a crowd is not fan-friendly, and removed the hand limit. Double-layered block and energy tracks on the tablets make it easy to track and modify current readings. There are fewer status effect cards, and burns and slime are the same card; only one half is used at a time, depending on the conditions of the current battle. In general, the feelings about the changes are positive. Characters have also been rebalanced and licked. The Armadillo's starting Bash is very useful due to the hanging of vulnerability tokens that double the damage of the next attack and reset. In tabletop StS, almost all effects will not have to be memorized from round to round; vulnerabilities, weaknesses, etc. are reset after the first use. The Silent creates sharpening tokens that can be spent at any time to deal 1 damage: a great way to get rid of the class's overabundance of cards. Defect Orbs are now non-rotating: you can activate any orb from any slot, which makes gameplay easier and at the same time forces you to make more interesting decisions. The Watcher isn't left out, either: a rack of rage deals 1 damage if you keep that rack at the end..

 I first tried Vampire Empire three or four years ago. During this time, I had time to play, is it time to write a review? Still, a card duel in the original tin packaging from White Goblin Games, with the bluffing mechanic as one of the main ones, plus the necessary protectors for the cards put in the box by the publisher and stylish woodcut drawings - why is it not talked about at all in our country? Such an original game has clearly not received the attention it deserves. We are correcting. WHAT IS THE GAME ABOUT? Vampires lived in the Middle Ages - this is a known fact. They hid under the guise of people and could be at any level of the state society at that time - they could be knights, servants, blacksmiths, and the most sophisticated became monks, skilfully avoiding encounters with crosses and holy water. People did not like vampires, because they are much stronger, more agile and even more immortal, despite their confrontation with everything divine. And they are as handsome as Robert Pattinson. So, there were more people, vampires are cooler, there are not enough horses and girls for everyone - only one race must survive, so two players in Vampire Empire will be engaged in the total extermination of representatives of the opposing side. And all this is on the cards, everyone has their deck in their hands and go ahead. GAME COMPONENTS Separately, I would like to note the design - it is not only stylish and gloomy in the medieval-vampire style, but also very functional. The woodcuts and color play fit perfectly with the game's theme and mechanics. Strictly, simply and clearly. For example, vampires are the same cards as humans, but turned shirt-side up, that is, you take a card from the protector and turn it over to the other side, which shows the same character, but in the form of a vampire. It is still the same, only with the addition of red color to the picture in the right places. Very original in this design, a real unusual design..

 Today, PC and console games sometimes delight us with turn-based tactical strategies, X-COM 2 and Phantom Doctrine were worthy projects, although they received their share of criticism from old-school gamers, the same was the case with X-COM Enemy Unknown (Within) and Wasteland 2. However, all the listed games, in addition to critics, have gained popularity among their audience of fans. But not all remakes of classic games were successful. Unfortunately, the Jagged Alliance game series is a prime example of this, after the release of the legendary second part back in 1999, with each new sequel, prequel or remake, JA hammers another nail in the cap of the game series. Therefore, fans of the original first two parts of the strategy can only turn to board games. To the great joy of fans and fans, the German company Underground Games with all rights from THQ Nordic released Jagged Alliance: The Board Game in June 2019. In this regard, I want to share my small review of this board game.  Jagged Alliance: The Board Game is a cooperative board game (1-4 people) of the American genre with wargame elements in a Modern War setting. Before us is a turn-based strategy in which players act as mercenaries from the AIM organization who overthrow dictators in fictional countries of the third world. Everything is like in a classic dungeon crawler: choose a campaign, scenario or skirmish, collect a game modular map, lay out cards, choose heroes, arrange miniatures, and go, De Oppresso Liber, free the oppressed.  Briefly about the gameplay. Players choose characters from 13 mercenaries, equip them with available equipment and begin the task. During his turn, the player performs an action with his mercenary (changing items in the inventory, exchanging items, retreating, moving, team actions or attacking) and ends his turn. Next comes the opponent's turn, which attacks the mercenary who has finished the turn according to his scheme (protocol), during the opponent's..

 The goal of the game in Horrified is to defeat all the monsters on the field. Your opponents can be Frankenstein's monster with his bride, a wolf man, Dracula, a mummy, an invisible man and an animal from the Black Lagoon. Each monster has its own unique abilities, and to defeat each of them you need to complete special tasks. On the easiest level of difficulty, you will face 2 monsters, on standard - 3, on the most difficult - 4.  At the start, players receive one of seven available heroes, as well as an advantage card. The hero card shows how many actions he can take per turn (most of them are 4), his special ability, and where he starts. An advantage card gives a one-time ability that can be used during any player's turn. A turn consists of a hero phase and a monster phase. After these two phases, the turn goes to the next player.  In the hero phase, you usually move around the field, collect items and use them in certain locations to gradually get closer to defeating the monsters. You can also move civilians around the map to keep them safe from monsters. Bringing a civilian to a safe location gives you an advantage card each time.  In the monster phase, you draw one monster card and follow the three-part instructions described there. First, the number at the top of the card indicates how many new items should be taken out of the bag and placed in the corresponding locations. Secondly, according to the event, either a new civilian will appear on the field, or a specific monster will be activated (if it is in the game). And finally, at the bottom of the map it is indicated whether any of the monsters in the game will move and attack.  After moving a monster, you first check if there is a hero or a civilian within its range. If so, you roll one or more attack dice. Faces with a hit symbol and a monster ability symbol promise unpleasant results. A civilian is removed from the game after being hit, and the terror level increases by..

 Dwellings of Eldervale is a grand Euro with a heavy Ameri admixture. It is clear that the author tried to create a hit that used the best principles of boards, and in many ways he succeeded.  The main game mechanic is the banal exhibition of workers, but done in an unusual way. First, workers (after the first) are placed in locations only in the neighborhood of their other workers, which forces you to think over the plan of future moves in advance. Second, each worker has unique properties: wizards ignore the neighborhood rule, dragons fly and are strong in combat, warriors can start spreading immediately from battle, and villagers can be turned into houses. Transform in the literal sense, defying them from above the roof. Moreover, each of the 16 factions gives unique properties to units. Thirdly, the most interesting thing: often the display of workers starts battles - with monsters or rivals, or even with all of them at once. Battles in the game are made very gambling: players throw dice according to the amount of their strength, but the player whose one dice showed the greatest value wins. You can't reroll, so even a frail peasant has a chance to defeat a monster or an opponent's army. It's very intense and fun! Well, it's not fun for everyone - it's sad for the loser. However, the game is not push-your-luck: the reward for winning a battle is not so great, and the units of the loser will be returned to him for free. It is entirely possible to beat the game without winning a single battle. Cards are an important part of the game. They are interesting and diverse, in particular, there are many unpleasant surprises for opponents. Many cards are laid out on the table and later workers returning from the field can be placed there. By the way, a unique point: frequently obtained treasure tokens can not only be dropped for the specified reward, but also placed on the map by pumping its bonus. You can significantly strengthen some cards with..

 Dragonfire is a game with deckbuilding, color matching, missions, campaign, grind and RPG elements (in that order) from Catalyst Games. Those who have played Shadowrun: Crossfire (another game from Catalyst Games) will find many similar features in Dragonfire. However, I personally have not played it, so I will not make comparisons. NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS Dragonfire is good for 3-4 players, hard for 3-6, and 1-2 is only worth playing if you really like excruciatingly difficult resource management games, as the 2 player mode is very difficult.  At the start, each player chooses one of the many heroes available in the base (from a gnome-cleric to a half-elf-wizard), chooses his past (a card that gives a small bonus), makes a starting deck from the base cards listed on the character's tablet, takes the specified the amount of gold, and puts the HP marker on the specified division - and you can play. EDUCATIONAL MODE Dragonfire has a training mission designed to teach the basics of the game to newly minted heroes who are excitedly waiting for an exciting game... by poking their faces into the asphalt. Seriously: only a perverted sadist could make this up. It is better to skip it, or play, knowing in advance that you will definitely lose. And for the sake of everything holy, don't try to replay it over and over again on the principle: "Well, since we can't even complete the training mission, how can we play further?". You can play. Just a training mission is a very bad example. PREPARATION Players still debate exactly when you start a game of Dragonfire. Some say that when you build your starting decks and shuffle your market deck. Others say that when you have discussed the role and turn order. Others say it starts in high school, when you're either developing the social skills you need to make friends, or you join a bunch of inhuman nerds and start playing geeky games. Personally, I think the game starts with character creation. CHARACTER..