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...

 One of the oldest franchises of computer boss-butlers has decided to move to the tabletop format. What came of it? MHW:TB has two game modes. In arena mode, a group of hunters (chosen by you, with pre-selected equipment) fight a selected monster once. But the main game mode is the campaign, during which you hunt a lot of monsters, and at the end you face a super boss. In other words, it's a boss battler like Kingdom Death: Monster, Townsfolk Tussle, etc. Up to 4 hunters in co-op fight card-controlled AI monsters, turning the best carcasses of the slain into gear to fight even stronger monsters. A base company lasts 25 days (longer if you add expansions or combine two bases), but one hunt usually takes just under an hour, so 2-3 game days can be played in 2 hours of play.  The first thing you'll see in the box are the monster miniatures. The quality is excellent by board game standards; little detailed, with more or less hidden seams. It is nice to paint them, but even if you are not a fan of painting, you should at least paint them with a dark shade so that the details are more visible. In particularly large models (Rathalos in the Ancient Forest) the wings lie separately. I was skeptical at first and expected to have to resort to glue or magnets to keep the inserted wings in place, but surprisingly they hold up well. True, the pegs of the Rathalos stand had to be cut by half an inch so that the wings fit a little tighter to the body. There are other components under the loopholes. The hunter miniatures are not inferior in quality to the monster miniatures, although lime green is a strange color for the model (hunters are so easy to distinguish from monsters on the field). There's a stack of decks, rules and adventure books, a two-sided field, and forge memo cards for each hunter (including one for Wildspire Wastes in case you decide to combine the two bases). The organizer is a little disappointing: the cards in the protectors do not fit into the corresponding notches, there is only enough space to "save" the progress (in the campaign mode) of two hunters, and it is not very convenient to store the cards somewhere separate from the miniatures of the hunters lying in the organizer. And I don't like the vertical slots for the cards either - I would prefer the horizontal ones, considering that part of the deck is individual for each hunter. There is only one notch for many different tokens, which is also not pleasing. There are a lot of typographical errors on landmarks, cards and adventure books - not so much critical as frustrating. Fortunately, SFG is already releasing a pack with fixed cards.  The campaign mechanics are quite simple and at the same time work well. You have 25 days in the base (the rules recommend spending at least 20 days hunting). With the addition of Elder Dragon or Kula Ya Ku, the limit increases by 5. It is also possible to combine both bases and get a large campaign lasting 45 days. Although each player has their own character progress sheet, there is fortunately little fiddling involved: you only need to count the number of available resources and keep an eye on potions. There is space on the sheet for equipment if you want to write it down, but since each item has its own card, it's easier to put the cards into their respective decks after the game. Although if you keep track of the equipment that was crafted in the forge, you can recreate the hunter from scratch. The pace of the campaign is quite strange. 25 days seems a little excessive (however, the rules suggest reducing the number of days if you want to increase the difficulty); players exchange resources and armor freely, and the campaign rewards you with resources fairly generously, so you rarely need to individually hunt down a monster specifically for the gear you want. It is also surprising that when combining the base, 20 days are added to the campaign. Equipment is divided into 4 tiers (5 if Elder Dragons are added to the game), each hunter in the base has two identical "trees" of equipment T1 and T2 - ore and bone. In the base, each hunter gets T3 and T4 weapons from two specific monsters, so when combining sets, your hunters will most likely only need 3-4 monsters out of a dozen available to max out, even if they decide to mix and match armor or want to get multiple weapons . from one shooting range (there are reasons for both). As a result, practically doubling the length of the campaign turns the game into a fairly easy walk, unless of course you are burning with the desire to hunt down all the monsters purely for the sake of the process. The actions available between hunts are also a bit disappointing. There are benefits to them - yes, you can exchange three common resources for one of your choice, get a resource for free if you're lucky with the dice, and most importantly, visit the monsterologist (Handler) to get the chance to re-quest - study of the monster (Investigation). But these actions are no different in both databases, except for the resource table, and are listed at the end of the adventure book, rather than in the core rules. I would like to see more elements of the computer game in this phase, for example, given by quest researchers. Although, perhaps, such a feature will appear with additions.  Hunting is divided into two phases: preparation (Gathering) and battle. When you go on a quest, you build a deck of a certain number of Time Cards. These cards reflect the limited time available to find and kill a monster; if the time runs out, the quest is failed. As already mentioned, the hunt begins with a preparation phase, in which you are shown a piece of artistic text and given a choice of two options of what to do. This continues until you find the monster and the hunt begins. Moreover, during the preparation phase, you may have to add certain time cards to the deck (their effect can be both positive and negative) due to certain events or receive some bonuses or penalties. But most often you will be offered to spend time cards on gathering resources. Some types of resources can only be mined in this phase. In addition to resources, you may also encounter Scout Flies. They allow you to randomly draw several face-down tokens from the pool, which can have positive or negative numbers. Once you discover a monster, you reveal those tokens, count the amount, and shuffle one of the three cards into the monster deck accordingly. In my opinion, this is the weakest element of the game. Not that the preparation phase is terrible; it flows much more smoothly than, say, the hunting phase in Kingdom Death: Monster. Also, when you're bumping into resources and guessing how many time cards you'll risk removing from the deck (given that you have to defeat the monster in the remaining time) for the resources needed to craft the next shooting range's gear, there's tension and it's gratifying. Especially when it turns out that Roar or Rampage went to reset (or not very happy when A Brief Respite goes to reset). The problem is that this phase is the weakest developed. Take, for example, resources. Some types of ores can be mined only in the preparation phase. There are also special resources (say, Firecell or Coral Crystals) that are required for crafting weapons and are obtained mainly during the preparation phase. This works great in a computer game, as ores and special resources are only found in a specific area, usually a specific deposit, and you can always revisit that deposit when you visit the map. Not so in a board game, of course. If you want, say, a Winged Drake Hide, all you have to do is wait for a card that gives you a Winged Drake Hide. Moreover, it is not indicated anywhere that these items are mined during the preparation phase, so those unfamiliar with the franchise can only wonder if it is a typographical error that the weapon requires, say, Coral Crystal - because it is not listed in the table of trophies of any monster. What's even more annoying is that you only get one chance to attempt each quest, and even if you come across Coral Crystals in the second Tobi Kadachi study quest, you'll only be able to use those resources if you remember exactly what you did path , spend a day visiting the monsterologist to get the chance to do this quest again, and repeat the path. It would be better to indicate at the start of each quest what resources can be obtained here. Not necessarily exact numbers, just roughly so that the player knows that Tobi quests #3 and 4 or Anjanath quests #1 and 2 are required to get the Winged Drake, and not have to wander around hoping to stumble upon the right one, and not wondered why he did not find what he needed: because he made the wrong decisions in the preparation phase, or in this quest, there is no such resource in principle. Artistic descriptions are also not always thought out. Yes, while hunting for Anjanath, we ended up in a cave, then in a forest, then in a cave again. Not that it's completely unrealistic, but it's a bit strange. We had to go through the previous paragraphs several times to make sure we didn't make a mistake. The mechanics of scout flies are stitched with white threads. Yes, it's part of the franchise, so it should be present in the game, but the only point they make is to generate a random number that dictates which of the three cards to add to the II deck. The system is quite frozen with minimal exhaust, so chasing these flies doesn't make much sense. I would like their effect to be more tangible, for example, to return useful time cards from reset.  And here is the main part of the game, where you will spend the most time: the battles. This is where the game unfolds in full. The mechanics are quite simple, but at the same time quite deep and interesting. The battle takes place on a field of 6×6 cells. What the field looks like is described in detail at the beginning..

 In this article, I will evaluate the application solely from a gameplay point of view, here you will not see an evaluation of the compatibility of the game's lore with the so-called Shadow of the Wicked (in the girlhood of the Vampire King).  The add-on fixes several issues with the base game: 1. Slightly improves the position of free peoples, adding to them actions thanks to the cube of rulers and powers with add. recruitment and protection thanks to the abilities of the rulers. On the one hand, the rulers are relatively easy to "awaken" in order to gain access to their proteins (for example, to "awaken" Brand, you only need to have a Severian active and spend an action cube with the value of Nym), on the other hand, it is also relatively easy for the Darkness to memorize them remember that it also gives the Darkness access to the white "scorned by corruption" versions of the rulers. I don't know if there is a balance here, but the chip is generally interesting.  2. Fixes an issue where a player has too many eyes dropped due to darkness, which deprives him of the ability to act on the field. Or when a few eyes dropped and the free peoples didn't drop swords or will of the west, meaning the brotherhood wouldn't advance, making the eye cubes useless. It is now possible to spend eye cubes from the hunting pool, just to correct the rulers. You roll the cube with an eye, draw 3 hunting tokens from the bag, choose one and place it on the field next to one of the rulers you want to carpathize. At the same time, there are 2 tokens in the bag, which force you to discard the rest and count as 0, that is, they mean, in fact, the failure of the corruption attempt, that is, corruption is not a freebie for Darkness, there is also a risk of wasting an action in vain. 3. Adds a little more opportunities to Darkness with Dark Lords. This solves the issue where Darkness lacks Nazgul leadership, and solves the problem of lack of variety of whites and combat capabilities of Dark minions. Leaders are still given the same ruler cube as free peoples. 4. They add more meaning to free peoples in the movement of satellites through the field. In the base of satellites, it rarely makes sense to move around the field, often cards like "There and back" or "Fear, fire, enemies" somewhere in the middle or at the end of the game lie dead weight and are used as combat. Now the satellites have an additional meaning to move them in order to "cure" the rulers of the disease. In general, the additional is normal, it slightly improves the balance of the base, makes it more diverse. Not sure if it will additionally go well with lords, most likely there will be a slight imbalance in favor of light. With warriors, most likely, it will be bad, even more advantage in favor of Svetlana, but I do not recommend playing with warriors at all in principle. All in all, I recommend this add-on for purchase and will buy it myself (but haven't seen the event map yet, maybe there will be a hat)...

 As well as thoughts on sandboxes and salt pans from the genres behind this game. Warning: This is not a Dead Reckoning review  So, we have a conditional sandbox on the conditional deckbuilder engine. Build a hand of cards that will evolve over the course of the game, growing new abilities on a pack of translucent upgrades in one protector. See what symbols are available on the cards and have fun on the whole reel. Ride the sea, discover new lands, buy upgrades, capture islands, carry barrels, trade, produce, loot, fire at your neighbor, pump your deck and your ship.  Immediately about the best. Feature with pumping cards in deckbuilding is a direct killer feature. After training on the cool Mystic Vale and the obscure Edge of Darkness (didn't try), John D. Clare released a unique system. Each of the 12 starting characters can be pumped up to level 4 and hung up to 3 different upgrades to your liking. In TTS, it is implemented a little crookedly, but in real life, it is probably much more fun to stuff these translucent cards, creating a super soldier. And try to scroll the deck faster so that the favorites return to the hand again. Moreover, instead of a traditional game tablet, all strategies were put into this deck. Whom you caress, this is the direction you strengthen, it's all up to you. In short, this is what I liked the most. Fortunately, the hand mechanics here are normal (and not like in "Dune"). You can keep any cards in your hand between turns, and save one upgrade to wait for your perfect carrier. Because when a combo is stubbornly not a combo, it is the scourge of many deckbuilders.  Attacking another player or innocent merchants at sea requires a black flag symbol and a certain number of cannon icons. According to the amount of guns, you collect a bunch of cubes of your color and fall asleep in the miracle tower. Not dais, simple wooden ones. If there is a duel, then both collect and pour into this shaytan machine. I'll say it straight: I don't like the cube tower for combat. But that's because, in principle, I don't like cube launchers. And here is the same cube thrower in a different format: you throw a handful of wooden cubes into the tower, and they fall on one of the 14 faces. Yes, it's faster, easier and, what's more, funnier than traditional American-Cubans, but still a wildly random event. But the fact that I don't like it does not cancel the fact that it is a really cool and cool find. I wouldn't refuse to see it in other projects, just not for the randomization of combat, but, say, for the response of monsters or something else. Next, about the structure of the move. I like it less and less when games have huge moves with a bunch of options. Yes, in "Knight-Mage" you can think for 15 minutes about how two clearings are better to pass, but that's why it's a solo game. In Dead Reckoning, you can charge a bunch of sails, swim there, scout here, buy a map here, buy a map there, and during the break you can still control the island. And you sit and consider how and for what your cards will be enough. The potential for downtime is huge, I'm afraid to even imagine. It was not very noticeable on two. While one walks, the other upgrades between turns. I prefer to trust a party member and not control his every step. Yes, I am half listening to what he got and where he went. So it was adequate. But I know there are suffocators to whom show and tell everything, but don't deceive them, but here you have a speed not of 6, but of 5. I'm afraid, for four it would be hell and burning ephedrone. The most common scourge of many sandbox games like Runbound, Outer Ring, or Xia is huge downtime between turns, little interaction, and inadequate duration. Everyone plays their own role or fantasy in this world, rarely conflicts with others, and it is generally unclear why we are sitting at the same table together. On the one hand, I understand the desire of players to have many ways of development, so that everyone chooses something for himself. On the other hand, in some games it turns out that everyone evaporates into something different, and there is no great competition in the "enemy" area. Why other players? For example, in Dead Reckoning I mostly bought cards, captured islands and carried barrels. Because I don't like to rely on randomness, and these are obvious classes. And Lyosha explored, pumped up the ship and sometimes fought. And now, if it weren't for his principled attempt to sink me with full holds, we would hardly have crossed paths the entire game. Everyone cares for themselves, and that's fine. Let's say, a frequent complaint against "Agricola" is that the game forces you to do little by little, and you can't specialize. But this is where the main conflict comes from! Everyone needs food and wood, and that's what they grab first, until the war for the first player. It's not like you went to monuments, I went to adventures, and the third one went to collecting crystals, and we don't really get along. It comes to an absurdity like "Traders' Bay", where everyone plays giga-super-asymmetry, but you have no business with the opponent's tablet. Again, I'm not saying it's wrong. It's just that I like to play solo and try to find game-mechanical reasons to be in the games of other live players other than for a nice chat.  Further, unlike Agricola, in the same "Caverna" I choose arbitrarily whether I want to build sheepfolds, deep caves or gather a gang of armed adventurers. Nothing in the layout leads to anything, the initial room market is inadequately huge, and jumping to another strategy later can be problematic. And you choose a bit at random, rather because you decided to express yourself that way today, and not because the situation on the field demands it. Therefore, in my opinion, one or two people are optimal there, and the third one is useless. And from Dead Reckoning, the feelings are similar. The rules clearly spell out 4 conventional roles with tips on how to play them and what cards to pump for them: pirate, privateer, merchant and explorer. By the way, I didn't get into any of them, I was tormented by something of my own. It looks like a European sandbox. Choose who you are today and play with your imagination. But I don't really understand this desire to put everything into one game at once: engine optimization, and to be able to punch a neighbor's face with a cube. I'm curious when a game does some of its ideas that sell really well, and not all at once. Hence the cool attitude to many modern hybridizations (Dwellings of Eldervale, "Dune. Empire"), and in general to 4X-gigantism ("Sickle", "Eclipse", Dark Ages). But such games are very popular now, so I have no business judging people's preferences. Never been a fan of pirate romance (or any gangster, mafia, etc. themes). Robberies, murders, rapes, slave trade, torture, unsanitary conditions, drunkenness - cool, cheerful mischief from fairy tales for children, yes. That's why I didn't bother with the setting. No, everything is adequate with the theme, but I did not find a lot of adventure and atmosphere. Even in such a rusk as "Maracaibo" there is enough soulfulness for me, but here it is not radically juicier or wetter. "Sickle about pirates" is a little humiliating, but not so far from the truth. Although someone, hearing this, on the contrary, will rush to buy. In this mincemeat of familiar Euro mechanisms, "everyone will be able to find something for themselves" is a trite and well-worn phrase. I've seen reviews like it's an epic ultimate pirate game and... well, I haven't seen that.  No, I won't say that all of the above makes Dead Reckoning exactly a bad game. But all these symptoms are characteristic of her. Yes, if you wish, you can directly destroy the neighbor's cabin, and the interaction will appear for you. And there is no desire, then it will not be. But this is my traditional problem with projects where three games were crammed into one. Someone is playing Eurooptimization, and cubes fly into his face. Or someone is looking for sea adventures and atmosphere, while another is suffocating for every point. Again, not a specific game complaint, rather this type of game. In general, it's cool. Deckbuilding fire, and the rest of the brine seems to be working. Just not mine. The solo deck was not brought to TTS, so the traditional consolidation of impressions in solo mode will not work. Therefore, most likely, I will not play anymore. But I would sit down for real in the future. After 3-4 years, "Kramnychka" will decide that it's time to finish what was promised (yes, it's a trick). I would touch the transparent maps, put a handful of Kubans to sleep in the tower - that's all...