Note: I've played quite a few dungeon crawlers, including Descent 2 , Imperial Assault , Jaws of the Lion , Warhammer Quest , Silver Tower , and Blackstone Fortress . I invested in the first Massive Darkness , but it didn't appear on the table very often - the game seemed too dark and full of fiddling - so I ended up selling it. I liked the intended gameplay and setting changes of the sequel, so I invested in Massive Darkness: Hellscape and recently received the box. GAME PROCESS  So far I've played 3 missions not counting the intro scenario: the first with 2 characters, the second and third with 3. I've tried 4 of the 6 base classes (rogue, paladin, wizard and berserker). The game consists of a chain of independent scenarios, slightly connected by the plot. No leveling is saved between scenarios (the Heavenfall app does add a campaign mode, but I haven't tried it yet). The map is built from two-sided tiles; the description of each scenario indicates which tiles to use, where the starting mobs, spawn points, doors, treasure chests and monster portals are located. If you played "Zombicide", the layout is quite similar and the gameplay is partially similar. There are 9 scenarios in the base (plus a very easy training mission) + a few more kickstarter goals. Each game round consists of an action phase, an enemy phase, a leveling phase, and a darkness phase. During the action phase, heroes have 3 action points available, which can be spent on movement, attacks, exchanges, and special actions. Then comes the phase of enemy actions; they each have 3 action points. After that, if the heroes have gained enough experience, they can level up their characters, which increases the HP/mana reserves and gives a new skill (the level of the dungeon can also be leveled, making the enemies more dangerous). At the end of the round, the darkness counter moves, and if it stops at certain divisions, some events will occur. COMBAT  The combat here is similar to..

 Note: I'm more than halfway through one act. The parties consisted of both 2 and 3 participants. The number of ships was as follows:  2 players - 2 ships;  3 players - 3 ships;  2 players - 3 ships;  2 players - 4 ships. Our company considers itself to be quite experienced players and lovers of story games. We've gone through almost every known game with a campaign mode; "Gloomhaven", Descent, Middara, Etherfields, "Tainted Grail", 7th Continent, "Pandemic: Legacy", Clank Legacy, Aeon's End Legacy, card "Arkham Horror", Bardsung, Roll Player Adventures, Kingdom Death, " ».. . So, let's begin.  I really wanted to like Stars of Akarios . We were looking forward to the game and expected a lot from it. Similarities with "Gloomhaven" and 7th Continent were striking. And we, as I already mentioned, love story campaigns... However, after traveling with Akarios for 30-40 hours, we felt... tired. So the review will be critical. Critical, but not purely negative. Our first problem, like many other players, was the confusing rulebook. While she does a pretty good job of introducing the basic rules, her attention to detail is sorely lacking. Personally, I really didn't like that a lot of the basic pilot/ship skills weren't covered in the pilot/ship skills section (???). Just take a look at the BGG forum and the game's Facebook page to see how many questions arise about these skills, because the rulebook should answer those questions. I understand the desire to reduce the size of the rulebook (which is typical of many recent games), but it hurts the players. And with the description of the mechanics of exploring the surrounding world, things are even sadder. The rules of this section are just terrible. Due to unclear wording during the game, you have to interpret them according to the principle "well, it's more logical, probably" or based on experience. Case in point: Which skill checks can I retry and which can't I? We re-read..

 One of the most popular game mechanics of board games is the polymino (Tetris, Mosaic) mechanic. It consists in laying out figures of various shapes on the field. Most often, the goal is to place the tiles in such a way that they completely cover the entire field. Games with these game mechanics are usually well-suited for family gatherings and novice players. Girls often like this kind of mechanics, so these games are well suited for putting their significant other on the table. However, let's do without gender stereotypes, I'd rather talk about the best games with this mechanic. I will start, of course, with the most famous game of the genre - "Patchwork". The rules are simple: we take one of the three scrap tiles from the market and place it on the field. For large tiles, it is necessary to pay with buttons and loss of time, thanks to which the opponent can make several moves in a row. The goal is to fill most of the field, and ideally the entire field. The game is fast and simple, and it can be played in 15 minutes. Unfortunately, Patchwork can only be played by two people.  "Patchwork" was released in 2014, the author of the game was Uwe Rosenberg, famous for his large-scale Eurogames. Interestingly, Uwe originally came up with the "Patchwork" mechanic as an element for his next game, but he liked it so much that he decided to create a separate game. As a result, "Patchwork" became one of the most famous and popular board games. However, the low cost of the game contributed a lot to this.  "Bear Park" is another simple family game consisting entirely of "Tetris" mechanics. Up to 4 players can play it. During his turn, the player places a tile on the field, receiving other tiles in reserve based on which cells he closed. The player's field consists of sheets, and the earlier he fills the sheet, the more victory points he will receive. Victory points are also awarded for placing expensive tiles and completing objectives. The goals for each..

 I originally had this game as an app on my phone. The app is just great, but the board game is so much more fun. The actual parts are such good quality and a pleasure to use, the images are great and the packaging is quite large. I think this is the most played game in our house.  The main objective is to collect enough gems to fight your way to 15 victory points. This game is very much about math.  Game time: 20-30 minutes  This game can vary from time to time as you never know what cards and nobles you will get. We've had games that lasted less than 20 minutes, but on average I'd say 25 minutes. The more times you play, the shorter the game will be. We play it while we prepare dinner)  Strategy vs. Luck: 30% strategy, 70% luck  There is a lot of luck involved in this game. Both with the release of gem cards and noble tokens that give you bonus points. Once you've settled on a strategy, there's little opportunity to go back and change it, especially in a 2-player game. You'll be fighting for the same rare gems and holding your breath every time you flip a card.  Replayability: 8/10 The randomness of the cards and the timing of the game make it one of the most frequently played games in our house. You don't have to invest a lot in each game, so you don't get upset when you lose - you just want to do it again!  Mastery Factor: Low This game isn't hard to master, but it's not as easy as some of the others we have. It depends on how much math you like... The game is easy to set up and easy to clean up, and since you don't have to hide anything from your opponent the strategy is quite flexible. It does take up a bit of desk space though, so the game isn't very portable.  More than 2 players? So! We've played this game with 3 and 4 players with great success, but the tension is greater in a 2 player game because you know your opponent will get a chance to buy every new card exposed. Conclusion: 9/10..

 I invested in Bardsung at the Legend level (all gameplay content, but no perks like furniture or a neoprene mat), despite the fact that the Dark Souls tabletop left me with... less than rosy impressions. And I'm happy to note that Bardsung turned out to be much friendlier and more interesting than Dark Souls.  The box is quite large; the Descent-sized base alone. The kit comes with a bunch of trays of varying degrees of usefulness. Token holders are great, but most other trays are just slots for coins. And the card holder cannot even be pulled out of the box separately from the other trays.  They look great, but you have to pay for beauty with convenience. The same applies to the tiles: they are bright and colorful, but it is quite difficult to consider the tiles demarcating the line zones. Because of this, a whole sheet is added to the game, which explains exactly how each tile is delimited. The same applies to the rule book. The rules explain quite well the process of battle (with a visual example), expeditions and campaigns. However, due to this, the rules are scattered in different sections, and it is very difficult to find the right moments. And even after rereading, it is difficult to find them the second time. FFG usually avoids this problem by having two rulebooks: a tutorial and a reference. In Bardsung, however, the guide is far from complete, and it was of little use even after I played a few solo games for practice. You might think that I didn't like the game as a whole, but I didn't. Apart from the rule book, I really liked Bardsung. In my opinion, this is one of the best dungeon crawlers I've played, and definitely the best among the Descent-like ones (I personally don't care about Grim Harbor, but this game is a completely different game). What did I really like? I can highlight the following: BATTLE It's nice that you finally have just cubes with numbers and a minimum of modifiers. Most checks require you to..

 Dixit Odyssey is a card game where you can let your imagination run free. It's an expansion of the original Dixit board game, but it also came out as a stand-alone version: it's basically the same as the main game, but has added the ability to play with up to 12 players. This allowed some new mechanics to be added, making the game even better than it already is. I first encountered Dixit Odyssey in 2016. I was with a bunch of friends and they introduced me to what would later become my favorite board game. It wasn't the first board game I ever played, but it definitely started my passion for board games. I immediately decided to buy it and started introducing it to all my friends. Since then, it has become one of the games we play most often during our game nights. Besides being a great game, it's also a work of art. For this version of the game, the card artwork was created by Marie Cardois and Pierrot. Without further ado, let's get into the components and gameplay of Dixit Odyssey . GAME COMPONENTS These are the components that come with the full version of Dixit Odyssey, not the expansion version that only gives you 84 new cards to add to the original Dixit . Main field (divided into 2 parts that fold together) 84 new cards 12 wooden bunnies 12 green pegs 12 red pegs 12 player tablets Rules HOW TO PLAY DIXIT How to win there? There are different ways to earn points. First of all, there must be a narrator in each round: there is no rule as to who must go first. In my group, we usually do first-come-first-serve. The Storyteller must look at the 6 cards in his hand, choose one and give it a "title". It can be anything with which he associates this card, for example, the title of a movie, song or book. It can be an emotion or a feeling. It can even be a single sound or gesture. It is important that it is not too obvious and too complicated. This is where the other players come into play: each of them must..

 Land of Clans by TACTIC (from Finland's leading game developer) is a game for 2-4 players with a game time of up to 30+ minutes to control territories. The game mechanics are simple enough to play with 8 year olds and the rules are very well explained and laid out in just three pages, with short text and good illustrations. This game can also be played with 4 or 6 players in 2 teams of 2 or 3 players each. With only three players, this isn't as good because it introduces a "kingmaker" element to the game, allowing two players to "choose" a third player and then continue as a normal two-player game. We prefer a four-player game where each player has their own set of 4 wooden locks and 15 wooden tokens.  Each player is dealt two Wizard cards and 5 random playing cards. These five cards make up his starting hand, while the Wizard cards are placed face up in front of each player. Cards, tokens, castles, a cross-shaped playing field and terrain tiles of various shapes are all made from the highest quality cardboard or wood. There are no dice. The map (playing area/field) is covered with a grid of squares that form plots of land, each of which is marked with a numerical value and a colored figure - each individual figure has its own color; the shapes and numbers match those on the cards the players are holding.  To "conquer" an empty space on the field, a player must play a card that matches the value (shape/color/number) of that space. They then place one of their wooden discs on that spot. By placing the discs, players try to create and match the landforms depicted on one of the four "Victory" tiles located around the field.  When a player's discs form a shape that matches the shape of a terrain tile (the victory tile), he can grab one of the pieces of the same shape from the supply and then place it on the board, returning the discs to their owner. They then place one of their locks on that figure to show that they own it, but it's..

GAME OVERVIEW  Coatl is a colorful abstract puzzle game in which you will make the most beautiful "feathered" snakes. Having created them, you will try to win the title of high priest. You set up the game by placing a market square in the center of the field. You place parts of the body, head and tail in the designated places. Place a stock of 6 prediction cards next to the prediction deck. Each player receives a personal playing field, a temple card, and a prediction card. You also place 2 temple cards face up in the center of the table. The temple map gives you bonus points if you finish a Coatl that meets certain conditions, such as being 6 long and having no red parts. A prediction card can be placed next to a Coatl you are making or have just completed. They also give you points at the end of the game. During your turn you can choose one of 3 actions.  Take Coatl Parts: During this action, you can choose 1 space and take Coatl Parts from it. You can choose 2 body parts, 1 head or 1 tail. You must pay special attention to what color you take to match the conditions of your prediction and temple cards. The Coatl tokens you have taken are placed on your personal space where you can place up to 8 pieces.  Take the Prediction Cards: The prediction cards have a certain condition that Coatl must fulfill in order to get points for it. You can draw as many cards as you want from your stock, but you can only have 5 cards in your hand. An example of a prediction card is that you must have the colors in a certain order.  Build a Coatl: You can take as many actions as you want while building a Coatl. You can create a new Coatl, expand an existing Coatl, and/or place prediction cards next to the Coatl. Once the Coatl has a head, tail, and several body parts, it is finished and you cannot continue to extend it. The game ends when one player completes 3 Coatleys. You then get points for completing temple and divination maps. So make..

 "Oscars" "pump" movies, music lovers have "Grammys", and board games have "Spiel des Jahres".  "Spiel des Jahres" ("Game of the Year" in Germany) is one of the most famous and prestigious awards in the world of board games. Awarded every year in Germany by a jury consisting of game journalists, the main focus is on games for family leisure. The main prize of the "Spiel des Jahres" award in 2015 went to the game "Colt Express". And as soon as it became known, the number of searches for "Colt Express" on boardgameprices.com doubled.  Winner of the "Spiel des Jahres 2015" award - the game "Colt Express" Such popular games as Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Colonizers and Dominion have all been laureates of the Spiel des Jahres award. Although the Spiel des Jahres award is one of the most hyped tabletop events of the year, there are a few things you may not know about it. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SPIEL DES JAHRES AWARD The most famous board game award, but not the oldest  The Spiel des Jahres is the most famous board game award, but came later than several other major industry awards.  The "Spiel des Jahres" award was founded in 1979, 4 years after the appearance of the "Origin Award" (USA, 1975) and 2 years after the "Speelgoed van het Jaar" (Netherlands, 1977). WHAT MAKES A GAME GAME OF THE YEAR The winner needs to have not only excellent gameplay, but also well-written rules, functional and beautiful design, as well as high replayability.  Winner of the "Spiel des Jahres 1998" award - the game "Elfenland" - famous for its attractive aesthetics Since the prize is German, the winner must also have the German version. MEMBERS OF THE JURY At the moment, the Spiel des Jahres jury consists of ten people. All of them are board game journalists from German-speaking countries. Each jury member tries hundreds of different games a year to come up with the shortlist for the award.  The judges..

 There is such a type of card game - on a bribe. It seems to me that many with this definition imagine a 36-card deck with queens and kings of four suits. At least for me, the bribery game is associated with exactly that. And today we will talk about one of these modernized tables. I got Fox in the Forest by accident - I saw a wonderful fox on the cover of the announced game on bgg, I was interested in the pictures on the cards, and in one of the orders "from there", when it was delivered, the box was somehow thrown in for delivery in the parcel. At that time, I did not expect anything special from it, I just liked the illustrations, it turned out later that the toy is not bad and is praised in various ways by foreign table-toppers. When it got to us, I didn't manage to try it for a long time, because I didn't feel a great desire, then I evaluated it after a couple of batches and threw it away again. But already in autumn and winter he recorded several sessions to his heart's content. WHAT IS THE GAME ABOUT? In euros, you can safely score on the plot almost always, what can we say about fillers? But Fox in the Forest even has a flavor, can you imagine? Well, as a flavor, this is a short story by Alana Jolie Abbott and it has nothing to do with the maps and game mechanics, only the characters and the general environment are borrowed. But generally funny. WHAT'S IN THE BOX  A deck of cards, 33 pieces, of three suits: Bells, Keys and Moon. From one to eleven. Odd cards are text-ability cards, even numbers are just numbers.  The second component of the game is the scoring tokens.  Lots of rules and attractions. For a classic filler, the filling is quite normal, but by modern standards of stuffing boxes with any good - could the fairy tale be included in a separate mini-book, don't you think? And then I had to search on the publisher's website, and if it weren't for the Internet, I wouldn't have known that there was a plot here. HOW TO..