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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 A few years ago I managed to get hold of Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower, which I really enjoyed. Most of the games in the Warhammer Quest series are huge coffins with lots of tiles and sprues. Before starting the game, you will have to spend many hours collecting miniatures. This element of modeling does not appeal to everyone, but the gameplay was fan-friendly. I really enjoyed Space Marine Adventures: Doomsday Countdown. The main complaint about the game is the lack of a campaign. Lost Relics has a campaign - and it's also a Warhammer Quest. Both are pluses for me. GAME PROCESS Each game of Lost Relics features all four heroes (Stormcast Eternal) from the box. There are many nuances here, so I will describe only the main elements of the gameplay. Each move is divided into the following phases: Adventure Phase - Effects vary depending on the rules of the current scenario, but generally enemies will move and attack heroes. Dice phase - each hero rolls 3 six-sided dice. Initiative phase - shuffle the heroes' initiative cards and lay them out in random order. Action phase - activate heroes according to the initiative order; one cube at a time. After each activation, one enemy reacts (see below). Leader Phase - Each leader on the field activates. Refresh phase - if you are near the shelter, then all the disabled heroes return to the game.  The action, surprisingly, takes place in the action phase. However, every action is followed by a reaction, which makes the game resemble Newton's pendulum on a table. You can break out of the "back and forth" cycle with the help of chains of actions. A chain of actions is a situation when you have an active hero with a cube with a value of 1, and you sequentially play the actions of any heroes with values of 2, 3, etc. After the chain ends, only one enemy reacts. Hero cards have numbers indicating which dice values a hero must spend to take an "inspired" action (there are both generic move-rest-interact actions and combat skills unique to each hero). Inspired actions are stronger than the regular version; For example, in combat, you can deal more damage or apply an additional effect. If you haven't dealt a minion damage equal to the HP on its card, it flips over to the "wounded" side. Thus, any minion can be defeated with two weak hands. But bosses need to reduce HP to zero to win. The hero also turns to the wounded side when he takes damage equal to his HP. If after that he receives the same damage again, he is out of the game. Leaders are different in that they get an extra action in the leader phase and do some mischief, for example, summon new minions, get an extra reaction or activation. Each mission has its own special rules, victory and defeat conditions, as well as ways to obtain fate tokens, which can be used to roll the dice to any limit. IMPRESSION I love the dice placement mechanic found in both Lost Relics and older Warhammer Quest games like Silver Tower. However, in Silver Tower, after deciding which die to use, you also roll hit dice. Lost Relics doesn't have this step, so battles are random. On the one hand, it's nice to be guaranteed to destroy enemies, on the other hand, it's unpleasant when they're guaranteed to hurt you. And the random activation of enemies removes the element of chaos from the game when you don't know in advance how your opponent will act. With these innovations, tactical thinking is very welcome in Lost Relics. You're anticipating your moves and the moves of your enemies, rather than dashing through a dungeon like Leeroy Jenkins.  The mechanics of the activations are not very clearly laid out, and I repeatedly wondered if I was playing correctly. I assumed that when reacting, the enemy activates all the actions listed on his card in the specified order, skipping the currently impossible ones. Therefore, it is important to use chains of actions so that there are fewer reactions from enemies. But it depends on dice rolls and initiative cards. If the only die with a value of 1 fell on the fourth character in line, then, unfortunately. But with successful throws, after turning a few powerful combinations, you can go through the dungeon on a steam roller.  Equipment is either disposable or permanent or available per mission. But according to feelings, it often makes no sense to turn off the path in order to lose the equipment. Maybe I'll regret it later when I face tougher enemies, but... we'll see. Judging by the first six scenarios, the characters do not level up, which is not very pleasing in a game with a campaign mode. Let's go to the main thing: is it fun to play? In general, yes, but I have not yet decided on my feelings. Due to the alternating activations of characters and enemies, you often freeze in place for a long time, planning your future actions and the reactions of enemies. Or make a chain of actions and destroy all enemies in the room without an answer. And even after going through six scenarios, I still have to look at enemy and leader cards almost every turn. Dungeons are laid out very quickly since you only place four double-sided tiles on the field plus some tokens. The images in the campaign book are hard to look at, so I resorted to a magnifying glass to examine some of the enemies and scenario-unique icons. Since each token has a unique image, and each enemy card also has the same image, it's hard to tell who is who at first. The side with the wounded enemy on some tokens is also difficult to distinguish.  Games Workshop standard quality miniatures. Assembled without glue, removal from sprues and assembly took about 45 minutes. I recommend using scissors; I had an onion string fall off when I removed it from the sprue. Surprisingly, one figurine has a stand that is completely nondescript — just a few stones — unlike the others, which are decorated. CONCLUSIONS The random activation of dice actions by feeling is not as fan-friendly as the mechanics traditional to Warhammer Quests. But for some players, this may turn out to be a plus (if you are one of them, then Lost Relics is most likely for you). Personally, I didn't like the reaction mechanics too much, because if I was lucky I could complete the level in a few turns, and if I was careless I could lose all the heroes just as quickly. As a result, I didn't enjoy Lost Relics as much as Doomsday Countdown and the old Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower.  The rating is 2.5 stars . Random mechanics may appeal to some, but kill the magical atmosphere of past Warhammer Quests...

Trudvang Legends has become one of my most anticipated games of 2022, as well as one of the longest kickstarter projects. CMON even offered everyone a free two-wave split to deliver the base box to contributors while the rest of the content is still being finalized. As I've written before, the game was changed so significantly after the campaign that many contributors, myself included, doubted whether they would get what they expected. So, was the wait that long? Now let's find out... GAME PROCESS You lay out the game according to the instructions in the saga book, then travel around the map. The game proceeds in phases. You start with phase 2, but I believe that will change at some point in the campaign. Even at the start, you fill your character's rune bag with runes corresponding to his cards. If there is an add. cards, you will receive an add. runes As a general rule, runes earned during a scenario do not carry over to the next scenario. In the game, you mainly have to pass checks and fight. When passing a check, you are shown one of the runes and a number - the number of successes required. After that, you draw 7 runes and see if you managed to pass it. Battles are a bit more difficult. You first draw 4 of your 8 (typically) feat cards, then draw runes - 3 at a time - and place them on those cards. Runes that do not correspond to the symbols on the cards, as well as dark runes, are laid out on the failure track. Keep pulling until 5 dips accumulate or until you decide enough is enough. If you stop drawing runes before you draw 4 failures, you get all the blue tokens from the failure track. The fifth rune means failure: in this case, all red tokens from the track of failure are activated. In addition, additional battle runes push old runes off the cards, which increases the chances of victory and reduces the negative consequences of defeats.  After you stop drawing runes, you activate each ability. Skills and quick attacks are activated first. Then the enemies are activated; they draw a card and accordingly increase or decrease the attack parameter by the specified number. Also, sometimes an additional ability is activated if a card with a certain symbol is drawn. Some more feat cards give you Chronicle Points, which can be used to activate additional ones. abilities from other cards or spend them in locations for additional bonuses. After attacking the enemies, the heroes attack. If after that both of them are still on their feet, you move on to the next phase of the game. It will be possible to fight a new battle on the next turn, or leave the battle (and take a little damage while running away). When you win, you get an experience point. After gaining 3 experience points, you can draw 3 cards from the advanced feat deck and choose one of them; it will replace a similar, weaker card in your deck. You will run around the field, passing checks and fighting enemies until you complete the scenario. The story will progress by reading new chapters of the saga book, placing story cards on the field, as well as title cards that you receive based on your actions. There are still many locations on the field where you can spend actions and get bonuses. IMPRESSION One of the most innovative ideas of Trudvang Legends is the field with card pockets, thanks to which the surrounding world is constantly changing throughout the campaign. The mechanics of extracting runes are at first glance a simple and fan system, which is quite suitable for a game that does not focus on battles, like Roll Player Adventures or Solomon Kane. The plot and setting are interesting. The plot is well developed, each piece you read consists of several short paragraphs, which is quite enough for an atmospheric description without scrolling through excesses like 8-page sheets of text. In the first part of the campaign that I played, there are many branching storylines - depending on the decisions you make, different quests and enemies/allies become available, which is a big plus. I have no doubt that some of these lines lead to the same denouement, just in a different way, but at least Trudvang Legends isn't as railed as many other adventure games. I also liked that if you have certain classes in your company, you automatically pass some checks or open new pieces of the plot, which increases replayability. The rune extraction mechanics are good, the hit/miss track works well too, but after a few scenarios it all feels a little too monotonous. Levelups are cool, but you swing at a snail's pace, and advanced skills are just slightly improved versions of your basic skills. The runes purchased during the scenario are usually returned to the box at the end of the scenario, so the bag building mechanic almost does not work and in addition adds fuss with the components: after each scenario, shake the bag again, throwing away extra tokens.  I didn't like having to spend entire turns in combat with zero progress because I didn't draw an attack card. But although this is annoying and slows down the game, there is a more serious claim to combat: the almost complete absence of penalty for death. You revive with 6 health and gain a negative Wyrd card. If in your combat round you drew this card instead of one of the four feats, you can try to "finish" it, thereby removing it from play. If you fail to do this by the end of the scenario, you receive a minor penalty (though I haven't gone through the entire campaign yet; perhaps later the penalties will accumulate and become more severe). Of course, it is good that the game does not severely punish defeat, especially since the main thing here is the plot, but the almost complete lack of consequences of death together with mediocre combat mechanics kill the whole fan. And it is unlikely that deaths will be avoided given the fact that there is not much treatment here.  However, the unfinished battle turned out to be more popular than passing the tests, surprisingly. I think the problem is the number of necessary successes. Claiming 4 water runes when the character most likely has 4 in a bag of 15 runes... Chances of success are extremely low (0.2 to 0.7% if I'm not mistaken) . Therefore, often, when I came across a skill check and looked at my character's letter, I immediately went to the "fail" section, so as not to waste time drawing runes in a hopeless situation. I don't seem to have passed a check requiring 4 runes once in 5 scenarios, and only passed a check requiring 3 runes twice in 20+ attempts. CONCLUSIONS I was fascinated by the art and setting of the game, but after a few games I realized that I could read the book-game with the same success if I threw out all the non-fan mechanics from Trudvang Legends. I hate to write this - after all, a whole team of developers put a lot of time and effort into this project - but the game just doesn't work. I would have expected CMON to focus more on Trudvang Legends considering they bought the Trudvang license from Riotminds. It's better than NFT, but the bar is very low.  Overall rating: 2 out of 5 - bland underdeveloped mechanics spoil interesting ideas and an exciting plot...

 We were looking forward to Frosthaven. Since the box arrived, we've been going through scenario by scenario almost every day and have already gone through 8 scenarios. In order to avoid spoilers, I will limit myself to the information that you will learn after opening the box and going through the introductory scenario. I played Dark Harbor, Jaws of the Lion, Forgotten Circles, and digital Gloom with a friend. Each controlled two characters. We play on a normal difficulty level and rarely lose scenarios. In my opinion, we are average players. STARTING CLASSES  I started playing Boneshaper and Deathwalker.  Boneshaper is tied to summoning skeletons, and in large quantities. Summoned creatures were difficult to play in Gloomy Harbor because their cards were removed from the game after use, they were uncontrollable, and they had very low HP/damage and didn't scale as they leveled up. Frosthaven fixed things up a bit: Summoned creatures now follow the host with no other purpose, and skeleton prize cards are not removed from play, so they can be used multiple times. As before, they do not increase when gaining new levels, so they are most effective at the early stage of the campaign. Boneshaper goes well with the Bannerspear character; lining up allies in a formation so that her attacks are stronger is not difficult at all. Also, she is perfectly combined with the character Deathwalker - both are able to generate darkness.  Deathwalker is tied to the use of shadows. The problem is that placing shadows on the field is not easy. But once they're placed, it's much easier, as you can generate new shadows when the enemy you're attacking dies. However, the first couple of turns of the battle you have little use for, unless you use cards that are removed from the game to get a couple of shadows. You can move shadows around the field, but by spending cards to do so, you don't move yourself. While you can attack from the shadows, it doesn't help in scenarios where you need to run away. Fortunately, I found an item (SPOILER) Magnetic Cape that allows you to teleport to an ally - it was very useful. Deathwalker looks great. When someone else plays her, your first thought is, "Wow, what a cool character." But if you try to play it personally, not much happens; you just wander around the field suffering from a lack of shadows. It looks best in scenarios where there are a bunch of low HP enemies - it makes it easy to generate lots of shadows. My friend played for Banner Spear and Drifter.  Banner Spear is a bit of a monster because she has low mobility. She has some cool formation attacks, but getting the characters right doesn't always work out, as sometimes enemies move or die before you can execute that formation.  Drifter is tied to long-term effects (persistent effects) and moving tokens back and forth. It doesn't sound like much, but in practice it can attack (and counterattack) often and very powerfully. Apparently, he has a lot of cards with long lasting effects; he would really need two or three, but most of the cards in his deck have those effects. This is probably the easiest class, and even very difficult by the standards of most players I know. In general, starting decks have few actions like "attack 3" or "move 4". All of their capabilities fit neatly into the style of play that this class is designed for. Yes, the Boneshaper can summon skeletons, move them and attack them, detonate them, heal them, poison enemies with them, and even roam, but on her own she has very little skill compared to the Dark Harbor characters. CHANGES IN THE RULES There are many small innovations in Frosthaven. In general, the gameplay remains the same, but some shortcomings have been fixed. In particular, I noticed the following: Enemies that have spawned and summoned leave behind loot. It's so much better than the original! More loot = everyone happy. Even now, there is a limit on the maximum amount that can be collected per scenario. A good limit to keep players from going crazy with greed. Summoned creatures follow the host in the absence of other targets. A trifle is nice. Personally, I'd like them to move towards the door if there's a door nearby. Usually my conscript sits in the back, so there is little point in moving creatures towards her. You can repel/attract enemies at a distance less than the maximum indicated on the map. My characters do not have such abilities, so I did not manage to test the innovation in practice, but it is nice that now you have more control over what is happening. Ranged attacks have been moved from the monster card to the monster's ability card. This is great. In Gloomhaven, a lot of monsters could hit every hex in the room with every attack, which is clearly overkill. Now even high level monsters don't always affect everyone. There are 3 combat targets to choose from at the start, which greatly reduces the risk of getting stuck with a difficult target. Hexes with tokens are considered empty, so enemies can summon creatures there. It looks logical and does not reduce the effectiveness of recruits when there are a lot of corpses around. Line of sight can be traced from any point on the hex. She is rarely of MG importance, and will now play an even smaller role; most hexes are visible to all other hexes in the room. Monsters will move through invisible characters. While we haven't gotten that ability yet, I'm glad that the tactic of blocking the passage with stealth and firing at melee monsters clustered on the other side no longer works. Advantage and difficulty have been fixed, so now drawing a card with an additional modifier when attacking with advantage is not a disadvantage. Interactions with other characters/creatures and terrain are more clearly spelled out. No more instant kill abilities. They were replaced by the status effect "death" (bane), which deals 10 damage, which will finish off most enemies, but not against high-level monsters.  It's also worth noting that Disarm, Stun, and Invisibility are now much less common, so you won't be able to disable entire rooms of enemies in a row with characters like Music Note, Mindthief, or Eclipse. NEW RULES Several new status effects have appeared: regeneration (Regenerate), fragility (Brittle), amulet (Ward) and weakening (Impair). Otherwise, there are practically no new mechanics. Loot is now more: not only coins, but also whole decks of useful herbs, materials and even random items. This maintains interest, increases variety and makes the option of going after the moon even more attractive. Admittedly, building a loot deck individually for each scenario is a bit tiresome. In addition, each individual resource must first be mixed into the deck, so you will have to do the following: Divide all loot cards into categories: coins, wood, metal, leather, herbs, random items. Shuffle the deck of coins (as well as metal, hides, and wood if you're playing with two or three). Draw as many loot cards as specified in the scenario and set aside unused cards. Shuffle all these cards into a loot deck. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but apart from that, you still need to do a bunch of other things in the layout process. COMPLEXITY OF SCENARIOS Many have complained that the scenarios in The Forgotten Circles are too difficult (I personally found two to be too difficult, the others seemed normal). And that there are too many "kill them all" scenarios in "Gloomy Harbor" (personally, that's fine with me). As far as we can tell so far, most of the scenarios in Frosthaven aren't too difficult and boil down to "kill them all". Some have a slightly different objective, say kill the boss or escape, but generally to kill the boss or escape you have to cut out all the living first. However, after the last played scenario, two more opened to us, which look more puzzling and difficult. So, I think, in general, there is a variety. I was surprised that the first few scenarios use mechanics from Forgotten Circles In my opinion, if "Forgotten Circles" seemed too much for you, you should not give up on Frosthaven, because it is less difficult. Although sometimes there will be scenarios that can freak you out and make you wonder, "How does this work?" EVENTS ON THE WAY The author promised to improve this mechanic, but the events are still random and unpredictable. I don't understand why the player is offered a choice at all; it would be better to limit yourself to a mini-story and a description of what happened to you. Events most often boil down to the following: You found a puppy by the side of the road. Option A is to pet him. Option B is to kill him. If you choose option A, the puppy will be demonic and everyone starts the game wounded. If you choose option B, you will get rid of the demon and get 5 experience. However, in the next drawn map, you may meet a real puppy, and if you choose option A, the puppy will lead you into the forest and a new scenario will open up for you, and if you choose option B, you will lose 3 morale. So it is absolutely useless to think about solutions. True, now the characters have features that affect the outcome of events, but this mechanic is very unintuitive. PLEDGE PHASE Now, after each scenario, you have a pledge phase. Winter has not yet arrived, so everything is quite quiet. It was cool to put stickers on buildings in the city, but in general, construction is still pretty boring. Let's see what happens when the city grows. Now you don't buy everything in the store: you have to craft items and brew potions. Cool mechanics, we like it. So far there has been one early attack on the city, but as a result, we have not only not lost any resources, but also gained a little extra. MONSTERS  Most of the monsters from Gloomhaven migrated to Frosthaven, almost unchanged. We met new monsters. For..