REVIEW I've read a lot of reviews on ATO, and often they start with the disclaimer that "I have played / not played Kingdom Death: Monster". Not sure how helpful this will be, but I thought I'd write my ATO review as someone who is very familiar with KDM. I've gone through so many KDM campaigns (both successful and not so successful) that I've lost count of them. I have all the expansions from the first kickstarter and went all-in on the second kickstarter. KDM is still my favorite game and I'm looking forward to the Gambler's Chest and everything else (it's just a shame I have to wait so long).  As for ATO, I initially invested in it to keep me occupied while waiting for the second KDM kickstarter to arrive, as I already knew Poots would be developing KDM for a long time (although I had no idea it would be that long). I ordered just the base, thinking it would just be a KDM in an ancient Greek setting; practically a reskin. I'm now 30 days into the ATO campaign and I'm happy to report that I was wrong.  The key difference lies in the names of the games themselves. Kingdom Death: Monster focuses on monsters. Every year you choose which of the available monsters to fight, prepare for the battle with all your might and then fight. After the battle (if you won, of course), you process the carcass, take the resources obtained by sweat and blood back to the settlement, and next year everything is repeated. The plot here is gloomy, dark, scattered with crumbs throughout the campaign. The story consists of events and situations that you remember; For example, how one survivor died a terrible death and the other survived against all odds. You yourself shape the plot during the game, create the history of your settlement and your survivors. Rando Calrissian was sent to the company of 3 other newcomers to certain death as cannon fodder, but he acquired acid palms and tore monster after monster to pieces with his bare hands and teeth. Athena Topless..

 Note: Review is based on 8 games with a friend. We decided to play co-op because the rules are not that easy to get used to and because my friend doesn't like to compete. We won twice (and jokingly noted that we had just watched "Alien" and "Alien 2", because in the first game the aliens appeared only at the end, when we were already in the cryocapsules, and in the second game, after waking up, we immediately started shooting the aliens by the end my soldier had 5 frags, maybe more), three times we lost in a tight fight by a hair of victory (due to a bunch of bad rolls), and three times the game crushed us without a chance (with some coincidence the ship can explode at the end of the first turn, also, with a certain coincidence of circumstances, the character can die at the end of the first turn, both of which happened to us). In general, I love "Nemesis" because the game is very thematic and because it will not be possible to plan ahead and optimize all actions, unlike many other decks; all that remains is to do as the circumstances suggest and enjoy the unfolding story. 2 players is clearly not an optimal lineup for Nemesis, so in the future we plan to use 2 characters each, because when there are only 2 characters in the game, you just don't have enough time for a lot of interesting things. The size of the map does not change, and the actions to explore it are much less. If you're unlucky with the layout of the rooms, 2 characters barely have enough time to complete the objectives and reach the escape pods before the timer runs out, provided they're not interrupted (in our winning and near-winning games, the timer was 1 - 2 moves). In conditions of acute lack of actions, it is impossible to be distracted by something extra.  The co-op mode is generally not bad, but the game was clearly not designed to be co-op; some cards and items are completely useless in this mode. If we had more players, I would definitely prefer standard mode. It's..

BRIEF OVERVIEW  Rating - 7.5/10.  Buy DD if: You liked the PC version OR if you are a fan of dark fantasy like Lovecraft. You want a rectilinear cube metal dungeon crawler. You like nice miniatures and/or you like to paint them. You have nothing against games that are not very difficult or tactically deep. You have a lot of money (for replayability, it is recommended to have at least 1 add-on; currently only Crimson Court can be bought). Do not buy DD if: You would rather buy 3-4 good board games for the same price, even if they have fewer miniatures in total. You are not interested in a dungeon crawler. You don't care about thumbnails. You prefer complex decks with tactical depth. You don't like randomness (there are dice rolls when attacking, random dungeon exploration in corridors, random tile layout). You do not like the idea that you can lose due to randomness. You don't want to play the campaign (you can't play outside the campaign mode in DD). You don't have much free space on your desk. DETAILED REVIEW  Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game is a dungeon crawler based on the computer game of the same name. Four heroes (always four - i.e. designed for 1-4 players) go into dungeons, fight monsters, gain experience and gold, and also often die or receive terrible injuries and disorders (both in battle and while wandering around long) corridors connecting rooms filled with monsters). The campaign consists of 4 acts. Acts 1–3 each have three dungeons; in the first two you gain gold and experience, and in the third you fight the boss. After completing 3 bosses (that is, 9 dungeons), you are presented with the final creepy act with the most terrifying part of the Dark Dungeon. I will not spoil; let me just say that this is definitely my favorite act. After each trip to the dungeon, heroes can heal, recover and upgrade skills in the town of Hamlet. Each character also has their own unique skill that can be used in Hamlet. Some treat, others give..

 I have been waiting for King of Monster Island for a long time. This is a co-op dice-rolling game in the Lord of Tokyo setting. My box arrived about a week ago. I played solo and co-op. BOOK OF RULES  The authors of the game have a sense of humor. It's funny how the rulebook starts with the heading "Breaking News" and it looks ridiculously silly.  Overall, the rulebook is very nice: gorgeous illustrations and titles. It is written quite clearly. First, there is a list of components with a brief description of each.  The layout is described in detail with a huge illustration on two pages. The rest is fine. Sometimes I did not immediately find the right rule in the book (there is no alphabetical index or glossary), but in general everything is simple and clear. It's a shame, though, that there isn't anything useful in the back of the rulebook. And it is quite wide. You can't put it on a chair - only on the table. COMPONENTS  The King of Monster Island box is somewhat strange, of non-standard dimensions. For clarity, a comparison with a can of cola.  There are quite a few tokens here: minions (left), crystals (top right), support tiles (bottom right).  The field looks luxurious. Also in the box is a prefab volcano that is a tower for the boss action dice. You collect it and put it in the center of the field; looks great  There are also health and glory counters — for both the good guys and the bad guys — as well as ability cards and a volcano.  Black dice belong to players, and red dice belong to the boss.  Energy cards are player ability cards that are purchased for energy. In the same deck are event cards that add an element of surprise.  There are also maps of allies and bosses in the game. All the components are of excellent quality and the game looks great. GAME PROCESS Basically, King of Monster Island is Yahtzee (dice poker). You roll a handful of dice, keep the results you like, then reroll the..

INTRODUCTION I've been playing board games for about 5 years now, and before that I was really into miniatures wargames. I'm most drawn to kickstarter games with lots of miniatures and elaborate plot/lore. I prefer atmospheric decks that have a bit of depth, over-engineered but dry mechanics. I also play tabletop RPGs like Pathfinder 2nd Edition, mostly as a Game Master. I don't have a permanently active desktop cell, but I occasionally play in the company of friends and relatives. Most often, I play solo in the evenings, having sent the monster (baby) to bed. My favorite genre is dungeon crawlers. Now I have and regularly play the following: Middara; Gloomhaven; Etherfields; Swords and Sorcery: Ancient Chronicles; Altarquest. Listed in order from most favorite to least favorite. I don't have boss battlers like KDM, so I don't have anything to compare it to, although I've seen a few KDM letplays online. So the comparisons will only be with the above games, not KDM. EXPECTATIONS AND COMPONENTS  To be honest, I expected a lot from Oathsworn (around 9/10) based on the known information, art and lore. On top of that, Shadowborne Games ran an exemplary Kickstarter campaign, which further raised my expectations. And when the game arrived, it turned out that it even exceeded my expectations. Before moving on to the rules and gameplay, I want to draw your attention to the components. I'm pretty picky about it because I buy the deluxe versions of the kickstarters for three times the price of the standard kit, complete with an organizer and other premium components. However, Oathsworn's components are the best of the Kickstarter games I've invested in. Let's start with the fact that the art and drawing style here are great; on cards, on the box and even organizers. Even the playing field is a detailed work of art that makes you want to use it in an RPG. The only games I've played that come close to Oathsworn in terms of art..

GAME PROCESS Before a game in Street Masters, each player chooses one of the six fighter decks and places his character card. You then choose one of four enemy decks (each with its own boss, minions, and other cards) and finally choose one of eight scenario decks (each with its own layout instructions, special objectives, and event cards). When you place the heroes, boss, objective tokens and crates on the field, the game begins.  A round consists of a fighter phase, an enemy phase, and a scenario phase. In the fighter phase, each player takes a turn - in any order. At the beginning of your turn, you draw a card from the enemy deck (as a result, a new enemy may appear on the field in your zone), and then you can take 3 actions in any order: move, play one card from your hand, and take one action ( this could be activating an ability with one of your played cards, moving extra, interacting with cards or the field, gaining defense tokens). At the end of your turn, all enemies in your zone are activated, after which you draw a card and it's the next player's turn. In the enemy phase, you activate all cards in the enemy zone. In the scenario phase, all cards are in the scenario zone, after which you draw a new scenario card.  Most of the party, not surprisingly, will be taken up by the fight with the enemies on the field. When attacking, you roll the dice indicated on the card and add modifiers. Each die may drop a hit and/or block symbol. The dice here are "explosive": if a critical symbol falls out, you not only count it as a hit, but also roll the dice again. There are three main types of attacks: punch, kick and grab. When a character is attacked, he can place a block if he has the corresponding token. Then you flip your token over: it's now a power token that helps charge up your character's special ability. To win, you need to defeat the boss. Defeat occurs if one of the heroes is disabled or if the corresponding scenario card is..

COMPONENTS The miniatures of the ships are elegantly worked out. The field - a large piece of fabric with an image of the ocean - also looks great and may be useful in other games. But the elements of the landscape are very thin and light and easily turn over if they are caught. The rulebook had a broken binding (although it was replaced), but otherwise there are no complaints about it. I like John Blanche's art, and the book has just a lot of his illustrations. The rules are clearly laid out, with one or two spreads under each section of the rules. Under the description of each ship and captain and the scenario too. The book has a table of contents, so it is not difficult to find the right place. The rules themselves take up about half of the book; the rest — lor and other. A ship's rudder helps turn ships around. The ruler is also very useful; it can be bent and fixed at an angle of 45 degrees. The white and one red die look kind of cheap compared to the other components. However, these are ordinary six-sided cubes, nothing more is required of them. There are several decks of cards in the game, as well as a card for each ship and for each order for each player. Apart from ships and orders, all the cards are quite small. They feel a bit subtle. Given their regular use, it is not a fact that they will last long... BRIEFLY ABOUT THE RULES The rules are quite simple. There are no unusual innovations here that could surprise or surprise - which, in my opinion, is not lacking at all. The gameplay is based on cubes and several decks of cards. Very random, which balances the players in a sense: a less experienced player has a good chance of beating a more experienced one. On the other hand, depth suffers from this. If you're looking for a serious game, then Dreadfleet is not for you; if you're looking for a fun random battle, then the game might work for you.  The move is divided into several phases: 1) Status phase: for each..

 Ryan Lockett has made a career out of creating decks that combine Euro mechanics with narrative. The most obvious example is "Near and Far", but a similar design can also be seen in "Above and Below" and in Empires of the Void II. Unfortunately, according to feelings, all these games did not carefully work out both of their components and did not merge them successfully into a single entity. However, with experience comes success. "Sleeping Gods" from the company Red Raven Games turned out to be a masterpiece.  The design approach of this game is very different from the company's previous games. Instead of trying to give equal attention to both the placement of the workers and the storytelling, the developer focused on creating a narrative that gradually unfolds. There's still resource management—almost overdone, perhaps—as well as combat resolution and skill check mechanics, but they're all clearly secondary to the stories of the Manticore's journey through a strange, faraway wonderland. "Manticore" is your ship. A steamboat straight out of the 1920s with a crew of nine — that is, characters that you, the players, will control together. It all begins like a plot from Ravenloft: a steamship falls into a thick fog and ends up in an unfamiliar sea. Surprises, amazing discoveries and difficult moral decisions await you. The game is apparently inspired by the recent hits "The 7th Continent" and "Tainted Grail". It invites players to explore an open world while requiring close attention to health and fatigue management for both team members and Manticores: the right to move on must be earned. The approach to narrative in The Sleeping Gods is a cross between its two predecessors. "The 7th Continent" sets you the task of removing the curse, focusing on several faint hints of evidence. Along the way, like a pigeon rushing between scattered pieces of bread, you will encounter many side tasks and other interesting distractions from the main..

 Dune: A Game of Conquest and Diplomacy (2021) by Gale Force Nine is a simplified and remastered version of Dune: A Game of Conquest, Diplomacy, and Betrayal (2019), which, in turn, is an update of 1979's Dune.  Unlike the 2019 "classic" version, this new version is clearly based on characters and scenes from Denis Villeneuve's Dune. The cover features the actors' faces, as well as the signature ornithopters and a worm hovering over people running through the desert. Gameplay and rules are licked off compared to past versions of Dunes. There are fewer ambiguous moments, and the game time has also been significantly reduced. Dynamic fast games last 30-60 minutes. The feeling of the game is familiar and at the same time different. These innovations are just for busy people: they allow you to play a Dunes-themed game in just 5 turns. The developers have also tried to make the dueling version more relevant, which again is good news for those who don't have a large company of Dunes/board fans. Hooray, they didn't forget about us! My review is based on several batches of two players. RULE BOOK AND COMPONENTS  The first two pages of the rulebook introduce the Dune universe, describing the four playable factions: the Atreides, the Fremen, the Harkonnens, and the Emperor. Unfortunately, the Bene Gesserit are no longer a full-fledged faction, although Lady Jessica and Reverend Mother Mohiam are playable characters that fell into the Atreides and Emperor factions, respectively. The field is thought out; what is where is intuitively clear. In the upper corners are counters of moves and phases, in the lower - vats of tleilax and a bank of sais. A sandstorm token is placed on the edge of the planet. During the course of the game, he can move to any of the eighteen sectors indicated by dotted lines. The map itself consists of four types of locations: Sand, Rocks, Citadel and Polar Hollow. Compared to the 2019 version, the field has become..

 With the arrival of spring, we received a fresh influx of new and already classic games. New projects with different mechanics and gameplay will be a great addition to your collection of board games. Also, there are new board games for the whole family that will allow you to spend time together in an interesting and exciting way...