Today we want to tell you about one new item in our collection that recently arrived. And this is Honey Buzz by Elf Creek Games.  If we talk about the publisher, then, in fact, this is still a little-known office, but judging by the games, this is a publisher with ambitions. Honey Buzz is first of all a very good game. Gorgeous illustrations on the maps and field, everything is bright and colorful. The rules are made on paper that looks like plastic.  The first time I felt such rules in "Kryly". In general, it is very clear that the publisher did not skimp on the components - and this gives the game a lot, because any beautifully designed game attracts the attention of players much more than an Excel table, although I would argue with myself about the "beauty of a square" here . Of course, it was not without shoals.  The bee markers in the field are covered with some kind of hairy substance that falls off (they look very sharp and unpleasant in reality due to the fact that, apparently, they were smeared with glue before that to stick this fluff and the color of the bees does not correspond to other bee markers of the same color); the pollen markers, made in the form of shoulder bags, were badly damaged during transportation, and for some reason the pollen in them is painted in different colors (probably they thought it would be more beautiful), although it does not carry any aesthetic or practical load. We did not like these moments, because we know that it can be implemented much better. Well, that's all the bad things we found in it. By the way, it is worth noting that the manufacturer immediately created a survey and decided to replace all damaged components to the owners of the boxes. In every other sense, the game is simply stunning, especially honey.  I would like to tell a little about the gameplay itself. The game is closer to the family segment, although playing with "inexperienced" children under the age of 10 will most likely not work, as generally stated on the box, but the rest will clearly find a lot of fun in it. And now you will understand why. The game implements the mechanics of building an engine not on maps, but on honeycombs.  In the game, you are tasked with producing different honey by activating different values on the honeycombs. But here it was necessary to think about how to collect the "correct" empty place to place the desired honeycomb that will produce honey, and which honeycombs should be placed next to each other for simultaneous activation, as well as choosing honeycombs from the market to activate the necessary icons, which by their actions are activated in turn. All this gives a lot of variety in terms of building your own strategy and makes your gray matter move. There are different ways to win, but as in all Euro games, you have to overcome points or money, which is the same in this game. The gameplay is simple and clear. You take a bee, put stacks of tiles with honeycombs in front of it, from which you want to take one. You take a tile - you put it in your hive; if you closed a circle of cells, you activate all the icons in the circle and after that perform all the actions of the icons in any order. Here, of course, there is variety (of course, it does not make the brain boil, as in some games, but still): if you want, send a bee to reproduce (you start with one bee); though, collect pollen; well, you can go to the market and sell what you have made (it is worth noting that every time you sell honey, the market price will fall inexorably, so someone has time - and slippers), or fulfill an order (the same gypsy story). Accordingly, the one who scored the most and more wins. The game plays pleasantly not only due to the design of the game components, but also due to the implemented mechanics: everything is difficult and good, checked and plays quickly. You don't have time to get tired of the game, there is practically no downtime, and the interaction between players is enough for a game of this level: you can fight on the field for honeycombs, in the hive for tiles, on the market for the price and contracts, as well as for the championship in queen bee tournaments.  I highly recommend it to everyone who likes nice families where there is room to think! USEFUL LINKS Honey Buzz on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/284742/honey-buzz VIDEO REVIEWS ..

REVIEW In Quetzal, each player leads a group of meeples adventurers and archaeologists on a journey through the ruins of an ancient civilization. Each meeples is black on one side and white on the other, and its color affects what actions you can perform with it. At the start of a round, players roll their meeples (just like they roll dice) to determine their party composition for the round, then take turns placing their meeples in various action locations to earn money, collect artifact cards, and deliver those artifacts for victory points. After 5 rounds, the game ends and the player with the most points wins. PREPARATION Each player chooses a color and receives all the wooden components of that color and the Character tablet, as well as some money. One of their wooden markers is placed on the 0 scoring track and the other on the 0 research track. Next, the artifact decks are shuffled, 14 of them are drawn and placed in each artifact location, the circular marker is placed in the first position of the circular track, and the enhancement tiles are shuffled, with 3 of them placed in the corresponding locations on the playing field. Some locations will have tokens that close them with fewer players.  Once that's all set up, the first player is chosen and given the first player token, and you're ready to start playing Quetzal. THROWING MEEPLES In Phase 1 of a round, players collect all of their meeples (their workers as well as character meeples), shake them in their hands, and then roll them onto the playing field as dice. All that land on a side are treated as any color. If one lands on a side, it is considered wild and can replace any color when placed. Ditto for all who get on their feet, but they also bring their owners a coin. The meeple character has always been considered a joker. LOCATIONS, LOCATIONS, LOCATIONS Phase 2, the placement phase, is where most of the game action takes place. During this phase, players will take turns assigning their workers to different locations on the field. In general, there are 3 types of locations: unique, betting and free locations. The unique locations—the Stele of Knowledge, the Temple, the Black Market, and the Village—only accept meeples of certain colors. The pond locations — Temple Precincts, Black Market, and Ships — can accept meeples of any color. However, once a color has been used in that location, it is locked and other meeples sent to that location must be of the same color. Any jokers sent to these spots become any color that is already there, or the player chooses the color that joker will become if there are no other colors. Also, if meeples are already present in that location, the player sending meeples there must send more than are currently in that location. Meeples that were already there are banished and returned to the owner's supply (their colors do not change). Of these locations, only the Black Market crosses the line between unique locations and trading locations. Free locations - Camp Captain's Office and Harbor - can accept meeples of any color, regardless of what may already be there.  Here's a quick rundown of the locations and what they do (in the same order they play during the third stage): Stele of Knowledge - The player receives the first player token and movement on the research track. Temple – Players pay coins to get artifact cards. Some locations reward face-up cards, other locations reward cards drawn from the deck, while others reward a mix of both. Surroundings of the temple . Each of these locations rewards the highest bidder with two cards shown and a coin, research track movement, or victory points. Black Market - This place allows the highest bidder to discard an artifact card from their hand for 7 coins. Settlement - Players pay coins to take 1 of the open upgrade tokens. Tile A player's character can only have 2 face-up tiles at a time. If they already have 2 upgrades, they must replace one of them. This tile is stored face down to the left of the Character tile and will be worth a certain amount of victory points at the end of the game. Harbor Master's Office - Player can spend 2 coins to send meeples here. This will allow them to deliver 3 artifact cards during the third phase. Ships - In these locations, the highest bidder will have the opportunity to deliver 6 artifact cards. Camp - The player takes a coin from the pool and can re-roll one of their meeples. If a newly rolled meeples gets back on its feet, its owner gets another coin. This location is a special case and is activated immediately when a meeple is sent there. WORKERS HAVE TO WORK In the third phase, each location is played in order of numbers (from top to bottom in the case of Temple and Village locations). When a player plays an action, their worker is removed from it. After players have played the Village location and taken their upgrade tiles, it's time to start delivering the artifacts. Each artifact card has a specific type, and the more cards of the same type a player can deliver at once (maximum 3), the more victory points he will receive for delivering them. Players can mix and match artifact cards during delivery, but this is less efficient and earns fewer victory points. Some artifact cards also have bonus icons in the upper right corner and award these bonuses when the cards are delivered.  After all the workers are removed, the round marker moves forward, any empty artifact card slots are filled with cards drawn from the deck, and the village slots are refilled with new upgrade tiles. If it's the end of the 5th round, it's game over and you move on to the final scoring. THIS IS THE END The owner of the First Player marker gets 2 points. Each player gets 1 point for every 3 coins they have left, and however many points are printed on all the upgrade tokens they have collected. These are added to any points scored by players throughout the game, and whoever has the highest total wins. CONCLUSIONS Reading about the game, everything about it sounds like something that would be right up my alley – worker placement, bidding, kit collecting, and even the intriguing meeple rolling mechanic – but the actual experience comes with so much baggage that it ends up being the one that I am in no hurry to repeat never. The problem starts before you even open the box. The game's subtitle says City of the Sacred Birds, and you'd be right to think that birds might play a part in the game. But you would also be completely wrong. Aside from an icon that looks like it could be a bird, Quetzal has nothing to do with any birds; a minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.  First, there is the unpleasant aspect of the "looting ancient ruins for personal gain" narrative. This is not much different from the problem of colonialism, which Thomas Wells talks about in his "What are we playing at?". Researching and understanding the inner workings of an ancient civilization (a la The Lost Ruins of Arnak) is not problematic. However, upload found loot and ship it for victory points or money. The rulebook simply silences this aspect of the narrative, ignoring it or even acknowledging its existence. It seems like the designers were so overly focused on the game and its mechanics that they lost sight of what the game was really about, and that's not okay. Nowadays, we have to do better. We have to BE better. And speaking of mechanics, what's the deal with throwing meeples? It was this mechanic that got me the most excited when I first heard about Quetzal, and I really hoped that something interesting would come out of it. A few years ago I tried to develop a game with the meeple rolling mechanic, but I just couldn't figure out how to make it work in a way that would make anyone actually want to play the game, so I put it on the back burner. I was in awe of how Quetzal was going to do it. It looks really bad. The problem I have isn't so much with the meeples themselves. The fact is that there is no point in throwing them. When you roll your meeples, you get one of three possible outcomes: a black meeple, a white meeple, or a joker. However, at the end of the day, these meeples do the same thing, so there's nothing special about them. What is the difference between an "adventurer" who goes to a temple to collect cards and an "archaeologist" who goes to a temple to collect some cards? There is nothing that sets these titles apart thematically. As a result, I feel the same way and it really bothers me. It feels like the mechanic was added to the game just to give the game something unique to point to. I wish there were more spots on the field where only adventurers could enter and others where only archaeologists could enter, so that the decision between the two would be agonizing. Of course, the Black Market action can only be used by a black worker, and the stele of knowledge can only be activated by a white worker, but this is not enough. It never feels like your decisions really matter. And this is probably my biggest problem: the lack of interesting options. At the end of the day, Quetzal comes down to two things: collecting cards and selling cards. The cards you can collect mostly come down to sheer luck. You drop your meeples and hope for the best. The only mitigation is the Camp, which costs you a worker to recast another. There is no way to give up something now for a better outcome at another time (as in Castles of Burgundy). There's also no built-in conversion factor (à la Catan) so you can manipulate your choice of workers. You never add additional workers to your pool. No, you're just stuck with what you came in with, and the choice of what to do with these workers is always pretty obvious. For example, if you have a large collection of cards on hand, you send exactly one, of whatever color you have the most, to the location that will allow you to deliver..

 Super Dungeon Explore: Forgotten King Number of participants: 1-6. Game time: 60-150 minutes (depending on the selected game mode). Age: 12+. Preparation time for the party: 10-15 minutes.  Forgotten King is the sequel to Super Dungeon Explore , which is a complete base game. New features include co-op mode, new heroes, enemies and terrain, as well as updated rules. GAME OVERVIEW  Super Dungeon Explore is a board that simulates an old-school computer game: hacking heroes through hordes of monsters pouncing on them. Forgotten King has some innovations, but overall the gameplay is very close to the original. COMPARISON WITH SUPER DUNGEON EXPLORE  The main innovation of Forgotten King is a fully cooperative arcade mode. In this mode, monsters that are in a certain radius from the heroes are activated. And most of them are collected in groups of elite and ordinary minion enemies. Minions themselves do not act, but increase the attacks of elite enemies to which they are attached. Monsters take actions according to the command card you draw. It may have instructions to move and/or attack, use special abilities, or summon new monsters from spawn points. Monsters in arcade mode have a fixed attack parameter, so you have to roll the dice only to determine the hero's defense level. Monsters choose targets based on the amount of rage. When killing a monster, the hero receives points of rage, which makes it a priority target.  There are other innovations in both classic and arcade modes. Mini-bosses drop keys that can be used to get additional treasures. Among the treasures can be pets that join the group and choose their master. Pets are activated together with the owner and give him additional abilities.  When entering a new tile, you draw a research card. The find may turn out to be additional enemies, a trap, or (occasionally) something useful for the heroes. When a spawn point on a tile is destroyed, princess coins are placed in its place. With the help of these coins, you can resurrect a dead hero or completely heal any hero.  In addition to the unique actions, special abilities and attacks available to the hero, certain basic actions are available to all characters: bandage a wound (heal a comrade), rummage (search for tokens and items), cheer up (remove status effects), etc.  The original rules and classic mode have also undergone some changes. In classic mode, the consul either activates monsters with a total cost of 4 skulls, or spawns new ones. Moreover, spawning in any mode causes damage to the spawn point and spawns as many monsters as indicated on the card.  For activation, the hero can drink only one potion, and during his turn. The exception is one potion that can be drunk during consul activation. It is still possible to exchange potions, but swallowing bottles at any chosen moment will no longer work.  When you kill an elite enemy or minion, you get a loot card; a maximum of three per activation. This loot does not equip immediately. Now, at the end of each activation, there is a boost phase, in which heroes try on loot and treasures. IMPRESSION  Forgotten King licks the gameplay and rules of Super Dungeon Explore . The new co-op arcade mode is great when no one feels like playing as the consul. And many innovations make the gameplay smoother. The components are about the same level of quality. Great art, excellent (and do not require assembly) miniatures. The rulebook is better developed. I really like the new co-op mode. Once you get the hang of the mob mechanics, it's really easy and I can play with my son instead of against him. You can even play solo. Difficulty is adjustable, good thing there are options in the rulebook. And that's good, because we found the game easy. But maybe we just got lucky. Many new monsters poison the heroes. Some get bonuses by attacking poisoned heroes. This gives the monsters and consul synergy, which is great. The new characters are all interesting and very different from their predecessors.  You can also purchase an upgrade pack for the game, which allows you to use all the cards from the basic Super Dungeon Explore and previously released add-ons in Forgotten King. It's inexpensive and more than worth the chance to play arcade mode with all the SDE miniatures. If you liked the original Super Dungeon Explore, you will like Forgotten King. It adds fan innovations and licks the game a bit. If you haven't played SDE before, you should start familiarizing yourself with the line with Forgotten King. USEFUL LINKS Forgotten King on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/156548/super-dungeon-explore-forgotten-king VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 If there's one thing that captures my heart from a board game, it's a big bag of meeples. I don't care what shape or what color, give me a big drawstring bag filled with the most famous image in board games and I'm good to go! Wait, wait… There's a game with all that and even more wooden components? So, little wooden palaces, palm trees and camels? And it's published by Days of Wonder ?! We dive into Five Tribes REVIEW  Five Tribes is a game in which you control the tribes of Nakala in the hope of becoming the most powerful leader of a legendary city. Set in the mythos of the 1001 Nights, this game is filled with beautiful Arabian Nights Tales imagery. Genies, camels, palaces, oases and mystical lands are soaped on the five tribes to create unforgettable and beautiful art that will truly stay with you.  In this game, each player will compete for power by influencing all five colorful meeples, each representing one of the five castes. Each caste has a special ability that will give you some power when used. In addition, each of the 30 tiles that make up the playing field also has a special attribute that will be useful in your quest for power. Some tiles will even give you the ability to summon a special genie that will give you even more unique abilities. The game continues until there are no moves left or until a player captures eight different city tokens as their own. The player with the most influence by scoring victory points is crowned the Sultan of Nakala and the winner. PREPARATION FOR THE PARTY The playing field consists of 30 tiles randomly distributed in a 5x6 grid. When the tiles are placed to create a field, three meeples are allocated to each tile randomly from the great bag. Nine resource cards are placed in a line on one side of the field to create a market, and three genie cards are flipped over to reveal available genies. Each remaining token (money/victory points, palm trees and palaces) should be placed in stacks near the field. After completing the field preparation, each player receives eight camels and 50 coins. GAME PROCESS My favorite part of this game is the Mankala (Kalaha) game mechanic that is the foundation of every turn. Similar to Mankala, on your turn you collect all the meeples on one tile and place them on adjacent tiles until they run out. There are a few small rules that are important when moving these meeples: You must place a meeples on an orthogonally adjacent tile. (without moving diagonally) You cannot immediately return to the tile you just placed the meeples on. You must place the last meeples on a tile that has at least one meeples of the same color as the one you discard. Once all of these rules have been met, you will take all meeples of that color and perform their tribe's actions. Also, if you've completely cleared a tile of meeples, you'll gain control of it by placing one of your camels on it. After checking control, you can (and sometimes should) activate a tile's ability and then end your turn. Simple enough, right? Move some meeples and perform some bonus actions! FIVE CASTES One of the things that makes this game so great yet challenging is that each of the tribes (the colored meeples) has different abilities. Not only are you trying to maximize the number of meeples you can draw from a single tile, but you're also trying to maximize the number of one particular tribe that will benefit you the most. This can be a difficult task because there are so many different options available on the field at once. Each of the five castes has different abilities: Yellow visors just net you victory points at the end of the game. White Elders give you victory points at the end of the game and are used as a means to obtain genies and/or summon their powers. Green merchants allow you to draw an amount of resources from the front of the resource stack equal to the number of green meeples you pick up. Blue Builders immediately give you money based on the number of blue tiles surrounding your end tile multiplied by the number of blue meeples you pick up. Red assassins (assassins) kill one meeple either from another player's supply or from a tile adjacent to the tile where the assassins were selected. Each additional assassin allows you to extend the range by one tile from the starting point. PROPERTIES OF TILES As I mentioned before, once you take your meeples off the last tile you placed the last meeples on, you'll have the option of getting one of several special abilities. The first two mandatory abilities force you to place an oasis or village token on the tile. These tokens increase the value of the tile to the player controlling it and can be activated multiple times.  The second set of abilities is optional. Small Market and Big Market give you the option to pay a certain amount of money to get a certain number of cards in the market. The Sanctuary ability allows you to acquire one of the available genies by discarding either two white Elder Meeples, or one Elder and a special card.  All of these abilities will be extremely important in gaining victory points throughout the game. END OF ROUND AND UPDATE At the end of your turn, you can sell resource cards in sets of up to nine. The more cards in the set, the more money you earn! There are nine different resource cards, and you cannot include more than one copy of a resource card in a set.  After your turn is over, play continues to the next player until all players have had a turn. After all players have had their turn, the resource market and available genies are replenished and a new round begins. Here's another genius mechanic from the Five Casts: the first-come, first-served auction. You can imagine that playing with so many options available will result in some being clearly better than others. Since every player knows that if they don't go first, their plans will most likely be disrupted, the opportunity to go first is a very welcome bonus. Five Tribes presents an ingenious intellectual game to solve this problem.  Somewhere near the field there will be a path of the order of the players. At the end of each round, players take turns placing their rooks of the wrong shape)) on the track, the cost of which they are willing to pay in the hope of being the first player. This track is made up of spaces with a value between 0 and 18. Each player must pay the value they placed their chip on, no matter what, even if the other players choose not to pay anything. This creates tense moments in the game when someone wants to be first more than anything and has to decide whether he or she wants to spend a large amount of money to guarantee it, or spend less in the hope that no other player will outbid them. I've seen people win by betting aggressively to get the best odds, but I've also seen people lose by spending too much money on their turn order bets. The difficult decision of whether or not your move is worth more than the 18 coins needed to guarantee the first move makes for such an intense first player choice. I'm not sure I've ever spent so much time talking about a small mechanic like move selection, but this system is the icing on the cake for such a well-designed game. EXPERIENCE FROM THE GAME Obviously, I love this game. Her tough decisions certainly make you think hard every move, but the constantly changing nature of the field forces you to constantly think on your feet as your turn approaches. While I like that depth, I know it's not for everyone. The sheer amount of choice and variety that Five Tribes offers is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. For some players, sometimes the sheer number of options available will either turn them off or cause significant analysis paralysis. My general philosophy when playing is to go with your instincts so you don't spend too much time thinking about your move. However, many players do not see this as an option and may take more time than desired. If a good game is made up of many difficult decisions (which I believe it is), then Five Tribes is impressive. During a turn, the player must find the best tile to draw from, the best ability tile to place the meeples on, and the optimal color of meeples to place on that tile. The fact that Five Tribes published Days of Wonder gave me confidence that this was going to be a great game before I even opened the box. DoW is a publisher known for several distinctive qualities of its games. Two of the most fruitful characteristic qualities are their quality of arts and components; and their tendency to publish games that are deep enough for gamers, yet light enough for families. Not only are these two mainstays of their games, they usually only publish one new title each year. They seem to take a quality over quantity approach and Five Tribes is no exception.  The first of these two qualities I mentioned are arts and components. The five casts follow the lead of past Days of Wonder games with lots of colorful and hefty figures. There's a huge bag of wooden meeples (oh man….) in addition to plenty of fat wooden camels, palm trees, palaces, and the starting players' pawns. Everything is as colorful as the majestic world in which it takes place. Not only do the meeples look great, the designs on the tiles and cards are equally attractive. Clément Masson has done a fantastic job of portraying the myths of the 1001 Nights in a colorful, mystical and engaging way. The second quality I mentioned is their ability to publish games that are easy to learn, yet deep and challenging to master. Having games that can be pulled with a mix of "gamer" and "non-gamer" friends is invaluable in a collection. This is one aspect where Days of Wonder stretched itself a bit. This is definitely the more sophisticated side of their line. While I don't think Five Tribes is an extremely difficult game per se..

 So, class. sit down Today we will learn about "Argent: The Consortium" . It all begins with the resignation of Chancellor Nostros Calagaan and the appearance of a vacant position. They pay a good salary and you can wear your Harry Potter costume without being judged. So you definitely need to apply. But it will not be easy. A group of twelve secret judges choose who will sit in the chair, and you have to win their place. But who are they? And what do they want? Welcome to Argent: The Consortium . To win, you must win the support of the majority of the judging panel, but each judge wants something different from their candidate. The richest, most mana-hungry, most influential, most supported candidate. These judges start the game face down. And open to you only if they have your tag.  You start the game with one marker on the field, but throughout the game you have a chance to place more. Until you put all twelve, you never know where you stand or how close you are to the chance of getting into the chancellery. This creates a level of uncertainty between you and other applicants. Since everyone starts the game with their information, you have to try to guess what they saw, or spend a turn to place a tag and check it. This doubt makes it feel like you are all stumbling in a dark room together. However, the game does not become completely aimless. You keep getting stronger and stronger, regardless of whether you're getting closer to victory. That feeling of doubt is compounded when you do get the label. You immediately check the table to see who won. And usually it's not you. This is where human nature kicks you in the ass, because even though you may win several other tags, you focus on the one you didn't. Because of this, you have a constant feeling of pressure and tension - you are never satisfied with what you have. But when you seek the terms of another juror, it means that the claims you focused on earlier remain open to competition. At this point, you become a plate spinner, trying to spin as many umpire conditions as possible, hoping no one gets knocked out. This is a great solution compared to the boring old victory points.  But let's go back to the beginning. You start in the waiting room where there are students who want extra points. On each turn, you can direct one of these students to one of the buildings on campus, earning you a reward at the end of the round. However, now you need to understand where to place whom. Each student is trained in one type of magic, and when placed, they put their talents to work. For example, red students injure mages already in the room, sending them to the infirmary, while gray mages can be placed as an extra action when you've spent your turn casting a spell. This eliminates the delay between placement and feedback often found in worker placement games. This allows placement decisions to be made without being limited to the basic question of whether I should go here now or later. Instead, you focus on how best to allocate your resources. Should you use your red guys to destroy the opponent early on? Or green girls — immune to injury — to take up defensive positions? But what if it makes you unable to cast spells and cast gray pupils? It's this mechanic that should make you sit up straighter in your chair right now. The way Argent: The Consortium combines tactical and strategic thinking takes board gaming to a new level.  Sometimes you won't want to place a worker. Instead, you can use an item, minion action, or spell. These spells belong to different schools of magic. All of them are unique and very strong. Some spells allow you to make several moves, others can send everyone in the room to the infirmary. Each spell can be upgraded twice more, becoming exponentially more powerful. You get the same feeling as the 1st, 50th, 100th level character from the mobile game ad. You're guaranteed to get spells every game, but they're expensive to cast, and even more expensive to improve. However, when you do, you can control the playing field in a way that other games feel out of place. But here you will feel at home. The game has some crazy moments that stay in your memory long after the game is over. The last action you can take is to take the clock tower card. These cards give you a bonus per round. When you take the last clock tower card, the round ends. You and other candidates can use this mechanic to control the fleetingness of the round like a two-year-old with the last pea on his plate. Sometimes you'll be fighting a slow war of attrition, trying to use each worker as efficiently as possible. Other times, you'll use fast mages to fill the field as quickly as possible. This is another mechanism that creates strategy and tactics in the game. At very little cost. It also allows you to test your luck, as when the round comes to an end, you have the choice of using an action or spell, or putting workers on the field. This is another interesting but difficult choice that this game throws at you. Once the last clock tower is taken, each room and each worker in it will activate in turn. And you get a bonus for where they are. Now you cross your fingers and toes and hope that all your tactical warfare has resulted in a strategic advantage. After five rounds, the game stops and you reveal each judge in a dramatic fashion worthy of a reality show. Once all the judges have been revealed, you will know your winner.  It's a difficult game, but in my opinion, it's not. As with Spirit Island and Great Western Trail, the difficulty of this game comes from the space of decision-making, not from learning and learning the rules. Also, at the beginning of the game, similar to the games listed above, you are limited in your moves when you start playing. This gives you time to familiarize yourself with the rules and how to play before throwing you into the deep end. The highlight of "Argent: The Consortium" is that even if you are in the deep and can't swim, you can still trade. And what I mean is that there are no bad moves here. Everything you do makes you stronger and has meaning. Even if no judge praises you for it. If we talk about depth, Argent has enough of it. And that's before exploring everything inside the box. Each building tile is double-sided with different places to place workers on each side. The same applies to game characters. Also, there are more spells, items, and minions in the game than you'll ever need. There are so many game components here that you may never need another board game again. That's a huge compliment. But let me give you another compliment: this game is special; I get excited just thinking about picking it up again. So much so that while writing this review I was so inspired that I bought the app. This has never happened before. Argent. Magician's Advice is definitely one of the top four games I've ever played. It's a critical hit and I can't wait to play it again. USEFUL LINKS Argent: The Consortium on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144797/argent-consortium VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 Kemet: Blood & Sand looks much more complicated than it really is. You see this big box, this sprawling board, the various parts of the pyramid, the power tiles, the cards that can only be played at certain times, the battle cards with three separate stat categories to track, the miniatures - the scorpion! , phoenix!, witch mummy! — and you'd be right to feel overwhelmed. However, once you get the hang of a few small bits of the rule, it will be a very easy game for you. NEW VERSION OF KEMET A slightly updated version of the 2012 classic Kemet, Kemet: Blood & Sand is a map-based troop game, a subgenre of the board game you can probably guess. Players control groups of soldiers, moving them from region to region as they attack and defend. The ultimate goal is to win enough battles and capture enough territory to emerge victorious. Each Turn - Early rounds of the game involve five turns for each player, although this can change - you choose and perform one of several actions on the player's tablet. These include moving, praying, recruiting, purchasing power-up tiles, and building your pyramid level. This is it. Like I said, it's a lot more affordable than it looks.  Combat is initiated by moving troops into a region that contains enemy pieces. The struggle is mandatory and intense. Strength is determined by the number of soldiers each player has in the region, any applicable strength tiles, any applicable Divine Intervention cards—small bonus cards that can mostly be played during your turn or during combat—and the player's chosen combat card. The combat system is great. Each player starts the game with an identical set of eight battle cards, choosing one to use and one to set aside at the start of each battle. The cards, which are the same for all players, include a certain amount of strength bonus, damage modifier, self-damage modifier, and defense modifier. Strength wins you fights, damage removes enemy troops, self damage removes your own troops, and defense protects your troops from enemy damage.  Troops are not automatically removed from the board during combat in Kemet. Maybe they're just backing off. One of the strategic nuances of Kemet, as an aggressor and a defender, is the determination of its goal. Do you want to prioritize winning the battle and capturing/holding territory, or are you more interested in leaving your troops to fight over the same piece of land again? Do you want to win or try to thin the ranks of the opponent, regardless of the result? Do you want to have a place when the dust settles or just want another player to not have it? Different cards serve different purposes. Another place where Kemet made its name is the power token market, a huge, at first completely overwhelming, but later only slightly overwhelming collection of tokens of various colors. These tiles have a wide range of possibilities. Some increase your attack or defense. Some of them increase the power of various basic actions, giving you more prayer points when you pray or allowing you to move further.  The most attention-grabbing are the various creatures that add a mythical beast or, you know, an elephant to your army. They are represented on the map as large, chunky miniatures. From my point of view, Scorpio is the best. That's why it's pictured on the box. They knew!  The number of tile sets available varies depending on the number of players, and each color encourages different play styles. They are part of an economy that includes prayer points, which are used to recruit new troops, build pyramids and buy tiles, as well as pyramids that players can build throughout the game. The more levels in your pyramid of any color, the more powerful tiles you can purchase. Kemet: Blood & Sand has tons of strategies, combos, bluffs, and great combat mechanics that keep both the attacker and defender on their toes. COUNT THEM  The tablet that keeps track of victory points is unchanged. With an adjusted victory condition—you win if you have 9 or more points and have the most points at the start of your turn—the tablet makes the escalation of tension even more apparent. Your leader is rarely safe, and the VP board highlights when it's time to kill someone. Points in Kemet are measured by a combination of square and round tokens. Square tokens cannot be taken from you. Round tokens, on the other hand, have no loyalty. They bounce from player to player as control of various temples and pyramids changes hands. Round tokens can be earned quickly by helping to defend an early lead or launching a forgotten player into the fray. Given that, uh, it's hard to hold more than two or three round tokens for long. If your advantage is based on round chips, selected shots in selected spots can easily tie the score. I understand if some players would prefer to play in foggy conditions. Some people won't like the idea that players don't have to pay attention to tracking points. Others may not like that they cross the threshold and everyone has a chance to whip them. This makes the game one or two rounds longer. For the money it is worth it. The idea of staking a claim to leadership and then having to hold it is much more satisfying. Games like Root allow you to play last turn, where long-term strategy is abandoned for the sake of victory. You can't do that in Kemet: Blood & Sand. VETERANS TOKENS The addition of veteran tokens is a great design tweak. If you attack in Kemet: Blood & Sand, if you are the aggressor, you get a victory point for winning, just like in the original game. However, now if you lose a battle as an aggressor or as a defender, you get a veteran token that can be exchanged for troop deployments, Divine Intervention cards, or prayer points at the end of the round. If you win as a defender, you get two of these bonuses. It's more satisfying to our lizard brains—I managed to hold my ground, I get something for it—and it scares the dog away. If everyone attacks the same player for the entire round, they will become much stronger going into the next round. I like almost any design tweak that takes the sting out of aggressive targeting.  If you want to play a big board game but are afraid of being overwhelmed by the rules, Kemet: Blood & Sand is a good entry point. This is especially true if you are playing with someone who can teach you the game. The guide is good, but it makes Kemet less accessible than it is. As with most of the hard games I love, the real weight here is not in the game, but in trying to play well. USEFUL LINKS Kemet: Blood & Sand on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/297562/kemet-blood-and-sand VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 Galaxy Defenders is a cooperative game in a fantasy setting about tactical battles on a modular hexagonal field with miniatures, like Gears of War: The Board Game . The key difference from the latter is the presence of a campaign during which the heroes (called agents - members of a secret organization like the "Men in Black" dedicated to stopping an alien invasion) upgrade skills and acquire new types of weapons. The outcome of each mission determines which missions will be available next and which special events may occur in the future. There are a total of 12 missions in the retail base, although you won't see everything in one campaign. Since the game comes from Kickstarter, it includes Kickstarter exclusives. These are agents and aliens who look like popular characters from various franchises: Arnold Schwarzenegger from "Predator", Ripley from "Alien", villains from both films, as well as game authors stylized as "Robocop" and "Men in Black". In general, you shouldn't take the setting too seriously; it's a collection of fantasy clichés. If you were expecting serious sci-fi... these aren't the droids you're looking for. COMPONENTS Kickstarter-exclusive miniatures. If you haven't invested in the Kickstarter, then there is good news and bad news for you. Bad news: there were a lot of kickstarter agents, they are very interesting, and their miniatures look great. Good news: even in the retail base there is a lot of everything. It may not be able to replicate Alien vs. Predator, but you'll still get decent variety for a reasonable price. The components are very high quality: thick cardboard, luxurious custom cubes, not a single broken piece. I especially want to note the two-sided health and shield tokens covering values from 1 to 4, which minimizes token clutter. FEATURES OF THE GAME Being an amerithrash, Galaxy Defenders tries to emphasize atmosphere. The 12 campaign missions tell a connected, not too serious story about the struggle between alien invaders and secret agents. There is some humor, there are some unexpected twists. Fans of science fiction will notice many references in the names of the missions: "Close Encounters", "New Hopes", "Old Tech", "Doomsday". Briefings, debriefings and special events are also thematic; although I think the fluff could have been given more attention than a few lines. Fortunately, this is more than compensated by the game mechanics. Each of the 5 agents of the base starts with only one special ability, primary and secondary weapons plus a defensive ability, but this is enough to make them feel different and fulfill different roles in the team. For example, Hulk (similar to Mr. T) can take a lot of damage and attack well both at short and long range. Sniper - Don't move to get an attack die roll, which helps maximize damage done. The Infiltrator is invisible until standing next to enemies, and is therefore invaluable as an agent who runs to mission objectives while others distract the aliens and try to survive. The Marine is the most versatile character in combat, while the Biotech is a healer and (with the right gadgets) a designer of sentry drones. Kickstarter agents have a more pronounced specialization: yes, the Xeno-Hunter agent (essentially a friendly Predator) disguises itself even better than the Infiltrator and is armed with the most powerful barrels available at the start, but it has to be reloaded after each shot, and reloading takes most of the turn. One of the Men in Black has the Jackal ability, which allows him to steal weapons from slain aliens (for one use), and the other has the ability to shoot twice if he kills the alien with the first shot. In addition to special abilities, most agents, as well as aliens, have a defensive ability and several attacking abilities: one for each weapon. They are triggered if a lightning symbol lands on the custom die. Effects are diverse: additional hits, reduction of enemy defense, prevention of weapon failure; additional defensive bonus, damage regeneration... As agents level up, they get new skills and tactics. As a rule, they can be used once per turn or once per game. They provide additional variety, so the agent can be equipped as needed for the situation.  Another interesting feature is the signal mechanics. Distant threats are represented by a signal token, which appears to appear on your radar... until the signal comes into your line of sight, at which point it's some kind of minion (and sometimes maybe a human - or an important specialist , or a civilian who will immediately disappear). In this way, the game builds pressure, while not overwhelming the player with the need to activate aliens that are far from the plot. It seems to me that players should try to see as few signals as possible (since signals, unlike aliens, are harmless), which hurts the atmosphere of what is happening.  Each type of alien has its own card, which shows its behavior, available attacks and special abilities. The behavior of aliens varies depending on their species and the situation on the field. In addition, each pimple has several subspecies, differing in complexity (increased parameters) and color, which contributes to diversity. The behavior depends on the distance to the nearest agent. For example, it's a good idea to stay close to the wary Xeno-Bethe, who will double-shoot you if you're mid-range, but spend a turn running away or closing in if you're too close or too far away. And Creatures that prefer close combat are innocent, provided you are able to run away to a sufficient distance. One of the keys to success is skillful maneuvering and the use of cover so that the aliens activate according to the least dangerous algorithm. COMPLEXITY If you think line-of-sight tracking and behavioral algorithms are overkill, don't worry. On a scale of 1 (game for true hardcore players) to 10 (gateway), I would rate Galaxy Defenders a 5. This game is hardly worth getting to know the mobs to start with, but if you already know how to push and want to get to know this genre, then Galaxy Defenders is a good, fairly beginner-friendly option. Compared to Gears of War, this game is clearly smoother because you don't have to bother with the card system. Strategy and tactics are still present (yes, it is very important to understand when it is time to defend, when to attack and demolish a dangerous alien, when to advance to the mission goal), but you cannot call the game overloaded. Controlling the aliens is moderately complex, but not so much that it interferes with focusing on how to be like the players. You'll spend about 75% of the game in combat, rolling dice and comparing results, which can be a plus or minus depending on your preference. GAME PROCESS The game lasts a certain number of rounds, each round is divided into phases. During the start and end of the round, players can recharge used abilities, try to level up or call in reinforcements, and apply event card effects that usually teleport new arrivals to the card. The most interesting thing happens in between, when all the players take turns and after each player's turn comes the aliens' turn. During an agent's turn, he can move, attack and make an extra in any order. action. At the end of the turn, he draws a card of close contacts, which activates some part of the aliens in the game. For example, all aliens of a certain type, or a certain rank, or all wounded, or all in melee. Then repeat with the next player. So Galaxy Defenders scales. However, it seems to me that the more agents, the easier it becomes for players: more opportunities to quickly destroy aliens and maneuver. I have no particular complaints about the basic gameplay, although the alien AI often leads to the fact that they are concentrated on one agent, and it was rare that the mission was completed without any losses in the state of the agents. The latter can be problematic if the player dies early in the game: there is absolutely nothing to do with him. The difficulty is average by the standards of cooperatives, and there are optional rules that increase the difficulty. In addition, missions can be completed with full success, with partial success or failure - the consequences depend on this. In my opinion, average players will more often than not complete a mission with partial success and regularly suffer small losses. But completing the mission successfully and without casualties is a real challenge, especially in the campaign mode.  Many may be put off by the fact that nothing particularly remarkable happens within a particular move. This is because as many dice are rolled in combat as the attacker has hit, so even the most powerful attack can be completely blocked. For example, an Infiltrator attacks a blue Xeno-Beth: 4 attack dice, 5 hits. The first hit absorbs the energy shield, Beta rolls 4 defense dice. 2 shields, 1 hit and 1 lightning - 2 damage goes together. However, lightning activates the ability to regenerate - and 1 damage is healed. During the aliens' turn, the Face attacks the Infiltrator with 3 hits and 1 lightning for +1 hit. The infiltrator rolls 4 defense dice, gets 3 shields and lightning, which the defense ability transforms into another shield. The attack is completely blocked. Together, for the entire turn of the player, after throwing 10+ cubes, the situation on the field has changed by as much as one damage. Thanks to such leisure, there is no risk of sudden unexpected death, but there is also no feeling that you have achieved something serious. The long preparation for each mission can also repel. Lay out the map and tiles, shuffle a certain number of alien and human signals, assemble mission-specific decks of aliens, close contacts, and events. The last is a particularly dark moment: in order to create a certain sequence of the plot, missions usually form decks of 3-4 event cards, which are shuffled individually and..

 At film school, they told me: "Don't work with animals." Where am I? Filming in the wild nature of the Serengeti. Your goal is to earn the most stars and make the biggest wildlife documentary. It will be much easier for you if the animals do not move. Some hide in trees, others crawl on rocks. Pastures stretch across the entire territory, and the river serves as a coolness support. The varied terrain of the Wild: Serengeti can provide amazing scenes if the animals are in the right place at the right time. This is the second Kickstarter game from South Korean company Bad Comet. The first was Shaolia - a duel game with placing cubes, managing resources and building an engine. WHAT CAN YOU FIND IN WILD NATURE? The beautiful leopard print on the lid of the box perfectly reflects what is inside. The animals (animiples) are gorgeous and you will spend an eternity just looking at them. You can place them on the playing field to see how they look. The area is well drawn on the map. Terrain icons are clearly displayed on each square. This is the central part, and above it is the action tablet. The tablet is double-sided, which allows you to use an alternative terrain of the Serengeti for filming. There are 4 types of animals on the action board. There are 8 action areas in total, from placing animals on the field to moving/replacing them and accessing scene maps. The action costs less if you choose it first. Place all castle tokens on action cells that have a value greater than the number of players. HOW TO SHOT A SCENE? There are 168 scene cards that depict the objective and your reward (if any). The icons on the right side of the map are easy to read. Each card has a fact about the animal, which is a nice touch. The artwork on the back of the card is simply stunning. Create a scene pool of 6 cards, each player draws 8 scene cards and chooses 4. The others are placed in the discard pile next to the deck of scene cards. WHAT RESOURCES ARE NEEDED FOR Coin, food tokens are designed to clearly show what they mean. In terms of quality, these are standard cardboard tokens that you get in most games. They are placed as resources around the field map. Coins are spent performing an action. Food helps the animal to move 1 cell to the desired area. vfx tokens allow you to change the terrain to create the perfect scene. WHY IS THE CENTURY STONE NEEDED? The Stone of Ages (a cardboard 3D structure like the tree in Everdell) is a great way to keep track of your round count. A rhinoceros bird is placed on the cage at number 1, showing the coin reward, limits and events. Place the prize tile on the spaces below rounds 4 and 6. The prize tiles are solid and the icons represent the 1st and 2nd place prizes. The number of coins listed for each day is taken from the supply. The Great Migration takes place three days in a row. The migration maps have the same quality art as the scene maps and are placed next to the stone of centuries. Each migration card has a picture on it, and if there are animals on that field square, they migrate (remove from the map). ALL YOU NEED IS A CAMERA Each player chooses a color and takes 2 cameras (player markers) and a video bar. The cameras are beautifully designed, one of them is used as a star counter (PO) located on the edge of the field. The video bar is used for executed scene maps. Everyone receives a two-sided souvenir for the player. Specialist cards are optional and have a difficulty rating. Each player gets only 1 card. Benefits can be both permanent and one-time. The quality of the cards is the same as the others. The rulebook clearly shows each step with lots of illustrations. The rules are simple and straightforward. HOW TO BECOME THE MOST FAMOUS After 6 days, if you have the most stars, you will become the most famous photographer. The stone of centuries will help you understand the events of each day and spend your coins wisely. Place the camera on one of the 4 spots next to a group of animals and place 1 animal from that group on the map. The cost is 1 coin, unless the seat is already occupied, then the cost will be 2 coins. Buying scene card(s) from a pool costs 1 coin each or upgrading the pool and hoping for the best pick. You can swap or move animals for the same cost as placing the animal, but you cannot do this in the 1st round. As soon as these animals create the desired scene, the card is placed above the video bar. Earning a reward (if any) includes both stars and food/vfx tokens. Other free actions are spending food tokens and vfx. Also, selling 2 incomplete scene cards gives you a coin. A player can save at any time during a round only if they have less than 3 coins. The day ends when all players save. WHY ARE THERE ICONS ON THE MAPS When the scene map is in your video bar, the icons become active. Food and vfx tokens are activated daily. The flower, leaf, banana, and diamond icons are used to count the stars you receive as rewards on some scene maps. Animal paws are classified as wildcards when counting the number of animals at the awards ceremony. Hearts are the number of likes for your scene. Get enough likes before the end of the game and they will be converted into stars that will increase your final score. CAN I HIRE SPECIALISTS TO SUPPORT? Yes, and you can choose one of the two, but all players must end up with one. Specialist cards provide unique opportunities for which you can get additional stars or bonuses. Each specialist is rated from 1 to 5, from the easiest to the most difficult. ARE THE CO-OP/SOLO MODES HARD? The goal is to collect the minimum number of stars after 6 rounds. There are 6 scenarios and most of them add objectives based on stars, food tokens and vfx as well as scene maps after each round. A specialist can also play a role. The gameplay is the same as in the competitive game, with some variations for single player. Completing the objectives at the end of the round can be a challenge. In co-op, the interaction is great and makes a big difference in how you plan your actions. CONCLUSIONS  Wild: Serengeti is a fantastic family game. The puzzle element is very enjoyable and the planning is not overwhelming the brain and at the right level. The quality of the game is excellent and the animals are beautifully designed. Unfortunately, the quality of the cards could be better, and they need protectors. Scene maps are easy to make with careful planning. You might make a move and then gasp: someone just moved an animal to the wrong place. Other times, you're happy because someone just moved an animal that completes the scene for you. Some rewards are based on the icons of completed scenes and require additional thought. Specialist cards range from adding great bonuses and objectives to unlikely actions and challenging late-game objectives. You may feel at a disadvantage. Difficulty rating is a very good idea, and depending on the composition of the participants, you can use cards with the appropriate rating. Why are there only 3 maps with a difficulty rating of 1 and 4? It would be logical to have at least 4 cards for each rating. I understand that they can be dealt randomly, but some players will get harder cards than others.  Wild: Serengeti immediately reminds you of The Lion King. And the stone of centuries and places of action will evoke associations with "Everdell". USEFUL LINKS Wild: Serengeti on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/335427/wild-serengeti VIDEO REVIEWS ..

BATTLE SHEEP GAME REVIEW  Battle Sheep is an abstract strategy game for 2-4 players that takes 10-15 minutes. It was developed by Francesco Rotta and released in 2014. In Battle Sheep, players start by building a "pasture" by laying out tokens, each consisting of 4 hexes. When the pasture is finished, players place their sheep in a single stack of 16 tokens, then compete for more pieces of the play area by moving stacks of pieces (their sheep) from space to space. The winner of the game is the player who has the most occupied seats. Players make moves clockwise, starting with the first player. The trick is for the player to choose one of their stacks of sheep and move from 1 to all the sheep in that stack (always leaving one sheep on your current cell). To move, you take a selected number of sheep and move them in a straight line until you can move no further. WHAT I LIKE ABOUT BATTLE SHEEP The components are of the highest quality, from the thick, heavy discs (seriously, these tokens are just gorgeous) to the hilariously gorgeous artwork of sheep belching), showing their behinds, or winking obscenely. Each tile has the same shape, but consists of differently depicted hexagons and is made of thick, durable cardboard. The organizer holds all the pieces together very well without much shifting. WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE The only negative thing I can say about this game is that the parts of the piles that you move do not connect together. The tokens are made of high density plastic which means they are very smooth. This means that when you try to move or pick up a bunch of them, there's always a chance they'll fall. If only the designers had tried some means of connecting the pieces, perhaps a thin ridge around the top and a recess at the bottom. But this is a minor gripe and shouldn't stop you from picking up this great game. IMPRESSION  Battle Sheep occupies an interesting place in gaming. This is a short strategy game with an amazing theme. Sheep are peaceful, beautiful, calm creatures whose sole purpose is to eat as much grass as possible. Not sheep in THIS game. They are mean, mean and will block you as soon as they can, making sure they keep the tastiest grass for themselves. Ignore or accept the theme of this game and go straight to the great gameplay. Laugh at your opponent's screams as you block an entire stack of his sheep. Enjoy the funny illustrations of sheep dominating the pasture. USEFUL LINKS Battle Sheep on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/54137/battle-sheep Battle Sheep on the Game Theory portal https://www.tg.in.ua/boardgames/1369/battle-sheep VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 Undaunted: Normandy is an interesting hybrid. Part deck-building game and part traditional wargame, it's as accessible to wargamers as it is to those who've never placed a cardboard token on a hex on the battlefield. Undaunted: Normandy tells the story of the exploits of the US 30th Infantry Division in June 1944 as they move into France to fight Nazi Germany. The development of scenarios reflects real events, adding a sense of authenticity and seriousness to the game. To start the game, players take the side of the US 30th Infantry Division or a mixed platoon of the German Wehrmacht and choose one of 12 scenarios. The scenario booklet tells players how to build their decks, how to build stocks from which to draw new cards, how to place tiles to create a unique scenario environment, and the victory conditions for each side. FROM D-DAY TO THE BLOODY STREETS OF MORTAIN Scenarios vary by objective, but their progression acts as a tutorial, linearly adding more complex troops and effects as players play through them. The problem with this approach is that it hinders replayability, as players who are familiar with the mechanics are forced to play with reduced decks for most scenarios. The tragically unwarranted solution is that the final scenario works as a sort of "standard battle" with all card types in play and symmetrical starting situations for both players. It's a little weak compared to more robust card war games like Command and Colors . A campaign that combines each scenario into a long game with many battles helps solve this problem. Wins are the primary measure of campaign success, but minimizing losses is also important, as certain thresholds forfeit campaign victory points. In practice, this resulted in several games where my wife and I had to consider abandoning our objective and losing the scenario rather than holding on to the end. Is it worth prolonging almost certain defeat to get the result of our campaign? Brave: The Normandy campaign adds nuance that is sorely lacking in a standalone, scenario-based game, and adds weight to the game's themed world. This is important when your soldiers die. EXCITING COMBINATION OF MECHANICS. HOW INTERESTING IS THE UNDAUTED: NORMANDY Deck building mechanics are cleverly used to subtly nudge players closer to World War II small-unit combat tactics. Each card in a player's hand represents either an individual soldier belonging to a designated unit, a commander capable of influencing the deck, or a useless fog of war card. Soldiers can be played to activate their squad token on the game map and perform one action. All of these activities weave wonderfully into the mechanics of deckbuilding and the core element of war. Scouts can shoot, but they can also add a Fog of War card to their opponent's deck or remove it from their own deck. Machine gunners can shoot with two dice or lead suppressive fire by doubling their attack dice to knock up an enemy counter instead of damaging it. This forces the card player to flip that unit back before it can act normally. These examples highlight how skillfully David Thompson weaves the military theme into the mechanics of Undaunted: Normandy . TRY YOUR LUCK WITH THE INITIATIVE On a given turn, players draw four cards before laying one down to determine initiative. This card will be discarded after the initiative phase, thus players will lose the ability to use it on the field. Each card has an initiative value that corresponds to its overall utility and importance. This is a crucial move, as the initiative player will play his entire hand before his opponent. Refusing the commander to go first can cripple the player's turn, but he has to evaluate whether it's worth it to make sure he can move his squad to cover before being ripped apart by an enemy machine gun. After initiative, players play all their cards in turn, taking one action for each. There are some minimal deck-building synergies that players can employ, such as stacking cards of a particular troop into their deck and then trying to use commanders to draw additional ones. However, in most cases, deck construction works to enhance the combat gaming aspect of Undaunted: Normandy , simulating the degradation of command and control, the relative effectiveness of depleted squads, and abstracting away officer intuition. A VISUAL ASPECT THAT PAYS OFF Visually, the game is fantastic. The tiles that make up the battlefield are solid, their coverage values are clearly marked, and the terrain they model is nice and crisp. The cards on both sides consist of cartoon-style names of individuals, and I admit it took me a while to appreciate. Playing the game now, I can't imagine it looking any other way. The fact that individual soldiers are named helps players relate their actions. When a unit is hit and the player is forced to permanently discard a card from that squad, they say goodbye to that person for the rest of the game. It's a subtle but impressive part of the thematic aspect. The deck building mechanics are a revelation, even after all this time. My wife and I enjoyed Undaunted: Normandy as much as we did a year ago when we first played it. The campaign is definitely the way to play the game, and because of the nuances it adds, we may even be playing it again months later. Undaunted: Normandy is definitely worth a try for fans of war games, fans of deck building. USEFUL LINKSUndaunted: Normandy on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/268864/undaunted-normandyUndaunted: Normandy on the Game Theory portal https://www.tg.in.ua/boardgames/414/undaunted-normandy VIDEO REVIEWS ..