Release year: 2019. Number of players: 1-6. Game time: 30-90 minutes. (Note: This review covers the first edition of the game.)  Let's start with the components. The box here is just huge. It is even bigger than "Gloomy Harbour"; only the complete edition of Sentinels of the Multiverse can match it in size in our collection. It takes up an entire shelf in the rack. Overall, one of the biggest board game boxes out there. It is also thick, strong, beautifully illustrated, and also shiny and pleasant to the touch.  Inside, you'll find plenty of components that more than justify their price tag. The quality of the cards varies from fair to very good. All the illustrations are great. The colors are bright and cheerful. The minks of the cube heroes are high-quality, with elaborate details. My friend painted the cubes; in decoration they look simply luxurious. The playing fields are clear and nicely illustrated. Overall, the components deserve the highest praise - they are stunning.  Let's go to the actual game. In terms of gameplay, Quodd Heroes is much worse, in my opinion. To begin with, we bought the game in German, skipping the kickstarter. I've downloaded the English rules, so it shouldn't be a problem, right? Here are just a few points in the rulebook that are described differently and contradict each other in different languages. Even more frustrating, the two rulebooks included are not very well structured and leave many questions. Many ambiguous points are not explained in any way, so you will have to spend time looking for answers on BGG (however, you must give credit to the developer: he is active on the forums and answers questions in detail). But there are still many questions, and most likely you will have to resort to home rules. Because of this, there is much more downtime between turns.  The mechanics of Quodd Heroes are very interesting. You can roll your cube hero in any perpendicular direction: it will move there and turn a new face up. Each facet has its own ability (and they can be improved during the game). Planning a move is basically thinking about what you're going to do when you land a certain face up and how to get there.   From the closest analogues, RoboRally immediately comes to mind - a rather chaotic and random game. Quodd Heroes tries to get even more chaotic with a reduced playing field that encourages or even forces cubes to crash into other cubes. When your cube crashes into another cube, it triggers a certain effect, depending on the game mode and objectives. However, this slows down the game every time. Usually players plan where their cube will move and how it will apply its face, but because many playing fields are very tight, crashing into someone else's cube destroys all their plans and forces them to rethink their move, and this process is slow. And this leads to a very large and very annoying downtime - with the aforementioned rules issues in mind. Let's move on to game balance. It is simply not there. This game was clearly not designed with balance in mind. Depending on the map/mission chosen, the character's power can vary from "obscenely broken" to "presumably incompetent". From what I understand, the developer thinks that Quodd Heroes doesn't need balance because it's a gameplay fan, which I disagree with. Enhancement cards also make their chaotic contribution, ranging in power from "moderately useful" to "crazy broken" (for example, I got an enhancement that allows me to flip my cube to any limit once per turn - a ridiculously overpowered ability). And here are the maps of events. Some negative events can spoil the entire game for certain characters, while others can be easily ignored. So, winning in this game depends primarily on luck.  Quodd Heroes is a game about pure chaos and luck, but not in the good sense of the word. I could understand such an abundance of randomness if the game was aimed at a children's audience, but it is too difficult for children (no wonder the box says age 14+) and at the same time too slow for such a chaotic process. Judging by the quality of the components, the developer tried very hard. You can say he put his soul into the game. I have friends who enjoyed Quodd Heroes, and the game will definitely gain its niche audience. But personally, I gave her a chance more than once in a different company, and she definitely did not suit me. Overall score on the BGG scale: 3/10 - bad game: probably won't play again. VIDEO REVIEWS ..

WAS THE GAME GOOD? If you've played Slay the Spire, you're probably wondering how this famous PC game can be brought to the table. You must be skeptical, and I used to be. Slay the Spire has card copying, tons of math, tons of upgrades, and tons of effects that are tracked every round. Implementation of all this on the table will bury any project. Fortunately, the authors noticed this problem in time and in their cash simplified the gameplay as much as possible, while preserving the basics of STS. I will give several examples.  All the numerical values of STS:TBG are greatly reduced so that basic arithmetic is enough for the game. Actually, everything has become easier in the board game: regular battles take fewer rounds, events are resolved faster. The authors also noted that constantly counting the number of cards in a hand in a crowd is not fan-friendly, and removed the hand limit. Double-layered block and energy tracks on the tablets make it easy to track and modify current readings. There are fewer status effect cards, and burns and slime are the same card; only one half is used at a time, depending on the conditions of the current battle. In general, the feelings about the changes are positive. Characters have also been rebalanced and licked. The Armadillo's starting Bash is very useful due to the hanging of vulnerability tokens that double the damage of the next attack and reset. In tabletop StS, almost all effects will not have to be memorized from round to round; vulnerabilities, weaknesses, etc. are reset after the first use. The Silent creates sharpening tokens that can be spent at any time to deal 1 damage: a great way to get rid of the class's overabundance of cards. Defect Orbs are now non-rotating: you can activate any orb from any slot, which makes gameplay easier and at the same time forces you to make more interesting decisions. The Watcher isn't left out, either: a rack of rage deals 1 damage if you keep that rack at the end of your turn.  There are a lot of interesting and convenient changes, so I will limit myself to listing a few more. The Golden Ticket card is waiting for its time in the reward deck; if you draw it, there is a chance to get a rare card. Thanks to this mechanic, rare cards are relatively few in your deck, but it's so nice when you get the chance to get them. As for the travel map, it's simplified compared to the original, but you still have to make a lot of difficult decisions: fight more or sit back and relax by the fire, what's more important - the shop or the events. The game is balanced with a reduced number of key points. And I really liked that the behavior of the enemy and the activation of relics each round is determined by the roll of the dice. At first the randomness put me off, but later I realized how much it speeds up the gameplay. Thanks to this mechanic, the battles are fast - and you will not have time to get bored. I will answer my own question: the authors did a great job. STS:TBG is similar to the original, but at the same time polished and simplified, which is necessary for the deck. It is immediately clear that the authors put a lot of effort into balancing the game and smoothing out the rough edges. WHY PLAY SLAY THE SPIRE BOARD WHEN YOU HAVE COMPUTER  I come across this question all the time. I will try to explain as a player what attracts me to STS:TBG (given that I am not in the habit of keeping many games of similar mechanics and genres). In short, there is a very well-thought-out cooperative mode. STS:TBG is designed primarily for playing with friends. The same event is played out for all players, but everyone can choose the outcome at their discretion. This already shows that the game is perfectly protected against alpha players: no one can know the optimal choice in every event for every player, it depends on your deck and its proportions. The shops are full of relics and potions. You can plunk down some gold and buy some awesome (and expensive) heirlooms together. The choice between buying cards for yourself personally and helping your friends is not easy. By the way, about potions: they can be freely exchanged between battles and thus support the laggards. But cooperation is most clearly manifested in battles. Each player has a row of enemies to attack (or otherwise harass) each round, but can attack not only them, but any enemy in any row. Thanks to this, a completely viable strategy is emerging to amicably overwhelm one of the enemies in the first turn, before he has time to do something. And decisions about who to knock out, how to defend, whether to use abilities or simply maximize damage, cause discussions at the table. Additionally, many cards have abilities useful for co-op, including Defend+. When upgraded, this card gives 2 units of block to any player. It's great when the entire team's efforts save a player who was ready to die (and if one player dies, everyone loses). There are also effects that allow you to buff allies, increase their defense and even change places. Therefore, during battles, you have something to talk about, and defeating tough enemies and bosses with joint efforts is very exciting. WHAT MAKES THE GAME STAND OUT FROM OTHER COOPERATIVES?  One of the advantages of STS:TBG is that players get used to it almost instantly if they have played the PC version. All you have to do is help them with the layout and stacking of the decks, pull out the starting Neow's Blessing and immediately start the first battle. You won't have to explain how campfire recreation, bosses, elites, and more work; the gameplay is quite close to the original. This is a big advantage of STS:TBG, unlike some Dark Souls, the gameplay of which has almost nothing in common with the computer version. And even if players are new to Slay the Spire, the rules are simple and easy to learn as long as there is at least one experienced player in the group. Another big plus of desktop STS is the ability to discuss one of my favorite games with friends. Although I actively play the original, I do not have the opportunity to discuss what is happening with my friends. The tabletop is another matter; we sit around the table for hours at a time discussing different strategies for deck building and Spire kills. Each event brings something new to your strategy, and seeing why your friends chose a particular outcome is interesting and rewarding. Discussions where it is better to go are also very exciting, and divide the players conventionally into maniacs (let's kill three elites) and pacifists (let's go through the events). In battles, you can reminisce about your computer games ("Wow, I hate that Jaw Worm so much!") or discuss preparations for the upcoming boss. Overall fun. And another plus of STS: TBG is a campaign that can be completed in one evening. Games of this kind already exist (such as Too Many Bones and Townsfolk Tussle), but they are few and far between. I liked both Too Many Bones and Townsfolk Tussle, but the fights there are pretty boring. STS:TBG, on the other hand, is simple, fast and provides many opportunities to pump up the character with the help of upgrades, trophy cards and relics. CONCLUSIONS  While I don't usually like kickstarters (especially ones that attract people at the expense of a franchise) and co-op (I prefer to play with friends), as well as games that last more than 2 hours, Slay The Spire: The Board Game charmed me. Knowing the franchise here makes it dramatically easier to get into the game and attract newcomers. Co-op mode is surprisingly interactive; players discuss almost every move. And even though the games aren't fast, I can't tear myself away, checking the available card upgrades or wondering which way to go next. True, the layout takes too much time for my taste, but this is not a problem in a large company. In general, STS:TBG is a great co-op, unlike any other and even different from the computer original. I highly recommend trying it...

 I first tried Vampire Empire three or four years ago. During this time, I had time to play, is it time to write a review? Still, a card duel in the original tin packaging from White Goblin Games, with the bluffing mechanic as one of the main ones, plus the necessary protectors for the cards put in the box by the publisher and stylish woodcut drawings - why is it not talked about at all in our country? Such an original game has clearly not received the attention it deserves. We are correcting. WHAT IS THE GAME ABOUT? Vampires lived in the Middle Ages - this is a known fact. They hid under the guise of people and could be at any level of the state society at that time - they could be knights, servants, blacksmiths, and the most sophisticated became monks, skilfully avoiding encounters with crosses and holy water. People did not like vampires, because they are much stronger, more agile and even more immortal, despite their confrontation with everything divine. And they are as handsome as Robert Pattinson. So, there were more people, vampires are cooler, there are not enough horses and girls for everyone - only one race must survive, so two players in Vampire Empire will be engaged in the total extermination of representatives of the opposing side. And all this is on the cards, everyone has their deck in their hands and go ahead. GAME COMPONENTS Separately, I would like to note the design - it is not only stylish and gloomy in the medieval-vampire style, but also very functional. The woodcuts and color play fit perfectly with the game's theme and mechanics. Strictly, simply and clearly. For example, vampires are the same cards as humans, but turned shirt-side up, that is, you take a card from the protector and turn it over to the other side, which shows the same character, but in the form of a vampire. It is still the same, only with the addition of red color to the picture in the right places. Very original in this design, a real unusual design idea. Most of the components of the game are cards. 40 cards for each of the two decks (humans and vampires):  9 double-sided character cards and their protectors:  Taking pictures of this game is quite problematic, because all the components are made in dark colors and glare. A few all kinds of tokens: GAME PROCESS At the beginning of the game, with the help of tokens, three vampires are randomly selected from the nine inhabitants of the castle. They are known only to the vampire player. The human player knows only two random people (also determined by tokens), the remaining four will have to be calculated (as well as the three ghouls). Then, players take turns taking actions, playing cards drawn from their personal deck from their hand. The human's goal is to uncover the three vampires and soak them. The vampire's goal is to kill all six people, or to occupy the castle with all his vampires. The castle is the central part of the table, where three cards from the character deck are always laid out.  The main action in Vampire Empire is battles, which are flipping cards in a battle consisting of a maximum of two rounds. In the first, the attacker says which character in the castle is attacking which character in the castle, after which he lays out from his hand at least one card of the corresponding color (each man has his own color) with some numerical value. (There are only three colors - three characters per color). The defense must be waved away by cards of equal or greater value. After that, the second round begins and the attacker and the one who is defending can throw more cards into the mix. As a result, the winner is determined and the attacked character can be cut from the party. Actually, the result of the game is determined by such fights: six people will be killed - the vampires will win, and vice versa - the victory will go to humans if they can kill three bloodsuckers. The former have a numerical advantage, however, the latter have an element of surprise and the unknown, plus the vampire deck has powerful attacking cards that only work if the vampire has revealed itself.  But it's pointless to attack everyone in a row - a vampire knows his followers and he knows who needs to be killed, but for a human player, holy water is a tool for a painless identity check (these are the cards). She can slap anyone, even a blacksmith, even a lord, and if that someone turns out to be a creature of the night, then she squirms, after which the fight will automatically begin (the water also has a numerical attack indicator). The mechanics of hidden roles in a two-player mob are very interestingly implemented at the expense of character tokens and the purpose of revealing personalities. But such originality was not enough for the author of Vampire Empire and he added another feature - so that the game does not drag on, the cards in the decks are finite, it is clear, but the fact that some cards can be sent to a special reset during the game and after the main deck ends , using them is at least interesting, because some wheel-building element also appears. The game is divided, as it were, into two parts - the battle with the base deck and the finishing touches of the one that will be released after the first part. EXPERIENCE FROM THE GAME There are many of them. I will probably start with the fact that the attitude towards the game and its perception changes with the increase in the number of games played. It takes very little time for thoughts like "what is this, where am I?" turned into a tense consideration of their moves and actions. Vampire Empire is quite a crisis if you have a high enough skill level. In the game, you always need to remember what cards the enemy may have (a card memo helps with this), think about what to put aside for discarding to scroll through the deck, and what to keep in your hands now for battles, try to outwit the enemy and discard less cards than him. Added to this is the bluff of the vampire player, who needs not only to kill all the people, but also not to betray his ghouls, because there are half as many enemies. In general, there is no space for confrontation, even if I rake, the board is very clinch in the sense that you interact so tightly with the opponent that there is not a single move (!) for a break - what is your turn, what is the opponent's turn, you are always involved in which battle . A game about careful hand management + deduction. These two skills, which in Vampire Empire can only be pumped by playing game after game. That is, in a crowd, a more experienced player will win over a weaker player much more often, because he understands much more clearly not only the general concept and picture of what is happening, but also sees the future benefit in the nuances and individual moves. Should you give the holy water now, or can you reveal the supposed vampire to her later? Like, what difference does it make to do it right now or in a turn? You will not have such a question literally after a few batches, when you learn to value each bottle for its weight in gold.  You can improve your gaming skills only through practice. Foresight and strategic thinking are also welcome, because one battle with a vampire in the game is not  the whole battle. Having confidently won one fight, you can beg for resources (weapon cards) and in the future you will simply give your wards to shreds, without having the appropriate items for battles in hand. Planning ahead is one of the key skills required for successful gaming. The game is very subtle, requiring good players to master the hand and overall strategy. There is also a lot of tactical component, you need to know and understand when to hold a card, and when to get rid of or play it. If you get rid of it too soon, a situation may arise when you will drive yourself into the red. The vampire player has more information at the beginning of the game, but has limited power until he reveals the vampires. At the beginning, a person is weaker, in a more vulnerable position, but gains a great advantage due to deduction and simply patience, stretching time.  There is tension in every discard, and every draw means something. Which ones to keep later, and which ones to just delete forever? Lots of player interaction with lots of options, making a relatively simple game the deepest. The fact that both factions have several different options for moves and strategies, as well as different objectives, increases the replayability factor even more. It's not weak for such a short game.  The rules of Vampire Empire are a bit more complicated than normal decks. Rather, they are very simple, but the training is a little more difficult than usual. The fact is that in the game you will really have to get used to the nuances, since the rules are non-standard, this is not another euro for the exchange of resources. However, most likely, after the first game, you will not make a mistake in what and how to do, you will only discover new facets. Asymmetry is very well presented in the game. Each side offers a unique feel when playing it and requires not only a different strategy, but also a different mindset. The vampire needs to throw the human off track by randomly aggressing and chipping away at enemy characters, while not being overly aggressive in order to save the right cards for defense in the late stages of the game. A human will usually proceed more cautiously, especially if none of the known allies are in the castle at the start. At first, he may feel at a disadvantage until the personalities of the characters are slowly revealed. The reset mechanic is also unique and interesting. The use of the second deck (consisting of the cards dropped into the special area) is often the key to victory, as the one who prepares best for the end game will effectively be the winner of all final battles. That..

 Today, PC and console games sometimes delight us with turn-based tactical strategies, X-COM 2 and Phantom Doctrine were worthy projects, although they received their share of criticism from old-school gamers, the same was the case with X-COM Enemy Unknown (Within) and Wasteland 2. However, all the listed games, in addition to critics, have gained popularity among their audience of fans. But not all remakes of classic games were successful. Unfortunately, the Jagged Alliance game series is a prime example of this, after the release of the legendary second part back in 1999, with each new sequel, prequel or remake, JA hammers another nail in the cap of the game series. Therefore, fans of the original first two parts of the strategy can only turn to board games. To the great joy of fans and fans, the German company Underground Games with all rights from THQ Nordic released Jagged Alliance: The Board Game in June 2019. In this regard, I want to share my small review of this board game.  Jagged Alliance: The Board Game is a cooperative board game (1-4 people) of the American genre with wargame elements in a Modern War setting. Before us is a turn-based strategy in which players act as mercenaries from the AIM organization who overthrow dictators in fictional countries of the third world. Everything is like in a classic dungeon crawler: choose a campaign, scenario or skirmish, collect a game modular map, lay out cards, choose heroes, arrange miniatures, and go, De Oppresso Liber, free the oppressed.  Briefly about the gameplay. Players choose characters from 13 mercenaries, equip them with available equipment and begin the task. During his turn, the player performs an action with his mercenary (changing items in the inventory, exchanging items, retreating, moving, team actions or attacking) and ends his turn. Next comes the opponent's turn, which attacks the mercenary who has finished the turn according to his scheme (protocol), during the opponent's turn, the player can only defend himself. Then the next player is activated, accordingly, the opponent then plays his turn. When all players have made one turn, the dictator and his lieutenant enter their phase, who can counterattack, complicate the game additionally with their special abilities, missions and events.  Each mercenary has stamina, a special ability, and team skills that you can use during combat as well as when completing missions. For example, mercenary Kyle "Shadow" Simmons is a master of camouflage in the jungle, which gives him a huge advantage in locations dominated by forest terrain, and ancient Leon Anderson, due to his age, has the weakest stamina of the mercenaries, but he makes up for it with his leadership, veteran qualities and additional cells for partners.  All scenarios have certain tasks. Despite the fact that mostly the main tasks are the capture of the territory, there are also tasks with the search for liaison officers, pilots, convoys, escorts of civilians, etc. Naturally, all this is accompanied by various conditions. Somewhere you will have limited time and the task must be completed by night, somewhere the enemy will be helped by a dictator's officer, somewhere your mercenaries will be vulnerable due to the landscape of the scenario. The story will develop in Arulka's campaign as in the original JA2. If at some point the game seems easy to you, there are enough mechanics in it that you can use in the main gameplay, making it more difficult, more interesting... or you can introduce additional rules yourself. Now a few words about playing time. Each scenario or skirmish battle lasts 30-120 minutes, but it all depends on the players. For example, you can put all 17 modular cards on a table with experienced opponents, and such a skirmish can take 4 hours, or even more. The game currently has one campaign book - "The Arulco Campaign" - consisting of 12 scenarios. During the campaign, capturing civilian or military objects, players will receive additional bonuses by displaying special AIM cards on the global map of Arulco Island. Thus, a scenario won in the city of Omerta will give players an additional bonus in the form of supporting the rebels in subsequent scenarios, while the city of Drassen will provide income from silver mines. It is worth noting that the second book of campaigns should be released in the near future. "Campaign Metavir" will be free to download from the official website, a small bonus from the publisher. Now about the complete set of the game Jagged Alliance: The Game Board: Rulebook (40 pages). 1 script book (16 pages). 17 bilateral sectors. 13 AIM mercenary tablets 2 dictator tablets (1 single-sided, 1 double-sided). 1 Arulko card (double-sided). 1 game save envelope. 13 colored cubes. 70 wooden cubes. 22 miniatures: 6 redshirts, 3 snipers, 3 shieldmen, 3 blood cats, 1 tank, 6 AIM mercenaries 21 large maps: 5 enemy maps (4 double-sided), 16 mission maps. 255 small cards (44x67): 89 AIM cards, 104 item cards (3 decks), 18 event cards (3 decks), 8 Larry Roachburn behavior cards, 29 enemy appearance cards (4 decks), 7 lieutenant cards. 120 Cardboard Tokens: 20 Encounter Tokens, 16 State Tokens, 2 Mission Access Tokens, 2 Day/Night Tokens, 12 Object Tokens, 24 Resource Tokens, 2 Next Tokens, 16 Sniper & Tank Tokens, 8 Minis, 2 Tokens- counters, 4 threat tokens, 4 counter attack tokens.  The quality of the components is generally good, the mercenary tablets are made of thick cardboard, just like the Arulco modular maps. The miniatures are higher than average, they are recognizable, they have good detail, they are not made in the style of heroic scale, so they can be painted qualitatively by very "even" hands. The cards (I remind you, there are almost 300 of them) are standard, not quite thin, but not dense either, it is advisable to purchase card protectors.  Jagged Alliance: The Board Game - a game, as it seemed to me, with a low entry threshold, despite 40 pages of rules, the mechanics are still similar to similar games. But beginners will have to spend several hours studying the rules and delving into some subtleties of the game. In conclusion, I will say that fans of the Jagged Alliance series will get a unique board game of its kind, with nostalgia, a lot of game components, nice art and favorite characters. Of course, the game is primarily for fans of the JA series, and secondly for those who are tired of elves, dwarves, comic paratroopers, etc. fictional USEFUL LINKS Jagged Alliance: The Board Game on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/231553/jagged-alliance-board-game VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 The goal of the game in Horrified is to defeat all the monsters on the field. Your opponents can be Frankenstein's monster with his bride, a wolf man, Dracula, a mummy, an invisible man and an animal from the Black Lagoon. Each monster has its own unique abilities, and to defeat each of them you need to complete special tasks. On the easiest level of difficulty, you will face 2 monsters, on standard - 3, on the most difficult - 4.  At the start, players receive one of seven available heroes, as well as an advantage card. The hero card shows how many actions he can take per turn (most of them are 4), his special ability, and where he starts. An advantage card gives a one-time ability that can be used during any player's turn. A turn consists of a hero phase and a monster phase. After these two phases, the turn goes to the next player.  In the hero phase, you usually move around the field, collect items and use them in certain locations to gradually get closer to defeating the monsters. You can also move civilians around the map to keep them safe from monsters. Bringing a civilian to a safe location gives you an advantage card each time.  In the monster phase, you draw one monster card and follow the three-part instructions described there. First, the number at the top of the card indicates how many new items should be taken out of the bag and placed in the corresponding locations. Secondly, according to the event, either a new civilian will appear on the field, or a specific monster will be activated (if it is in the game). And finally, at the bottom of the map it is indicated whether any of the monsters in the game will move and attack.  After moving a monster, you first check if there is a hero or a civilian within its range. If so, you roll one or more attack dice. Faces with a hit symbol and a monster ability symbol promise unpleasant results. A civilian is removed from the game after being hit, and the terror level increases by one division. The hero can block the blow with items or absorb it, increase the level of horror by one division and move to the hospital. And the ability symbol activates the monster's special ability. To win, you need to defeat all the monsters. Defeat occurs when the fear level reaches 7 or when you need to draw a card from the monster deck and they have run out. PROS OF THE GAME Atmosphere is the main plus of the game for me. The setting of the game not only suits almost everyone, but also fits well with the mechanics of the game. Monsters, civilians, locations and even objects - all this is taken directly from the classic horrors from Universal. I like that each monster changes the game a bit, bringing something different, and that each combination of monsters on the field is a new puzzle that needs a different approach. Frankenstein and the bride are especially pleasing: you try to teach them to be human and at the same time try not to let them get together in the field so that they do not increase the horror. Horrified is very easy to learn and play. I had no problem teaching the game to someone who had never played board games. He pulled in after the first round. The game process is very smooth and not dizzying. You don't have to think about moves for a long time here, so everything flows quickly - and there is no downtime. All the components are beautiful, but the field is especially beautiful. Moreover, despite the many buildings and other drawings, all locations stand out and are not lost on the field. The rule book is simply excellent. CONS OF THE GAME I have nothing against the pick-up mechanic; yes, she is present in Black Orchestra and Freedom: The Underground Railroad co-ops, and looks very appropriate there. But, in my opinion, Horrified went too far with her. Of course, the position of heroes and monsters on the field matters, but my group has won many games by doing nothing but collecting items and bringing them to the right locations to defeat the monsters. We didn't even bother with rescuing civilians. There are almost no difficult decisions in Horrified. You can't predict where the monsters will move because their actions are dictated by cards drawn randomly at the end of your turn. Therefore, most of the game you just look for the necessary items or go to a location where they can be used. In my opinion, other Pandemic-inspired co-op games are more intense than Horrified, because you can predict with some degree of accuracy where trouble will be and try to put out any outbreaks in time. I found it strange that heroes can block monster attacks, but monsters attack heroes can't. In my opinion, it would be more interesting if the monsters had a way to dodge or parry your attack. Since all information in the game is open, there is a risk that your group will face an alpha player problem (where one player rules everything because he thinks he knows the best solutions). And another little thing: it's strange that the shirts of the hero cards are so inconspicuous. They wouldn't mind some illustrations, for example, from the box with the game. CONCLUSION  We didn't get Horrified. Although the game features my favorite Universal horror monsters and is beautifully illustrated, the gameplay is too monotonous for me, and even the games where we narrowly won were not very satisfying. Perhaps part of the problem is that we were expecting a tense rubilov with monsters, and we got a simple relaxing co-op. While I didn't enjoy Horrified, many others may find the game to be a hit. Especially for lovers of frivolous cooperatives. It has an interesting setting, and the game is very easy to learn, so Horrified is perfect for the role of gateway and/or family. USEFUL LINKS Horrified on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/282524/horrified VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 Dwellings of Eldervale is a grand Euro with a heavy Ameri admixture. It is clear that the author tried to create a hit that used the best principles of boards, and in many ways he succeeded.  The main game mechanic is the banal exhibition of workers, but done in an unusual way. First, workers (after the first) are placed in locations only in the neighborhood of their other workers, which forces you to think over the plan of future moves in advance. Second, each worker has unique properties: wizards ignore the neighborhood rule, dragons fly and are strong in combat, warriors can start spreading immediately from battle, and villagers can be turned into houses. Transform in the literal sense, defying them from above the roof. Moreover, each of the 16 factions gives unique properties to units. Thirdly, the most interesting thing: often the display of workers starts battles - with monsters or rivals, or even with all of them at once. Battles in the game are made very gambling: players throw dice according to the amount of their strength, but the player whose one dice showed the greatest value wins. You can't reroll, so even a frail peasant has a chance to defeat a monster or an opponent's army. It's very intense and fun! Well, it's not fun for everyone - it's sad for the loser. However, the game is not push-your-luck: the reward for winning a battle is not so great, and the units of the loser will be returned to him for free. It is entirely possible to beat the game without winning a single battle. Cards are an important part of the game. They are interesting and diverse, in particular, there are many unpleasant surprises for opponents. Many cards are laid out on the table and later workers returning from the field can be placed there. By the way, a unique point: frequently obtained treasure tokens can not only be dropped for the specified reward, but also placed on the map by pumping its bonus. You can significantly strengthen some cards with spheres, although it is much more difficult to get spheres. Despite the randomness of dice and card output, the game remains a complex euro with a lot to think about. Yes, players receive victory points for their maps and settlements depending on how advanced they are in the element. By the way, you can advance in only 4 out of 8 elements, so it is worth acting in "non-core" elements only to cut the opponent. Another question of strategy is whether to put all the workers on the field or to perform the return action early. When "regrouping", the player can place any workers returning from the field on their cards, which gives powerful bonuses, especially if you buy several useful cards. However, there is a risk that evil rivals will kill your workers. They will also return to the player's supply, but without putting them on the cards. When reading the rules, it may seem that Dwellings of Eldervale is a game overloaded with rules and nuances. However, this is not the case: the rules in the game are of medium complexity, and it takes relatively little time to explain them. For example, there are only 6 types of locations, and their actions are simple: take cards, treasure tokens, hire a new employee, etc. The difficulty may only be the text on the maps for those who do not speak English well, as the game is not localized. I would like to note separately the excellent design of the game, detailed figures of monsters, convenient organizers and even the presence of sound design in the form of stands for monsters that make sounds. But it's in the deluxe edition.  In general, there are very few games that combine a mixture of Euro and American - only "Champions of Midgard" and "Above and Belove" come to mind. However, Dwellings of Eldervale is much bigger, more dynamic and more interesting than this game. For me, it is one of the best board games. I would like to stop at such sweet words, but since the article has not been paid for, I cannot but insert a spoonful of tar. Unfortunately, many players have limited impressions about the game and it will not suit everyone. Euro fans will cringe when their carefully planned strategy is overturned by one bad roll of the dice, and some will be put off by the aggressive interaction between players. American players, who have learned to withstand the variability of randomness, may find the game too difficult. I would recommend the game to those who like to think about strategy, but at the same time are ready to play as a fan and feel the excitement of cube battles. There are no direct analogues of the board, but the game reminded me of a mixture of "Champions of Midgard" and "Blood Rage". Anyone who likes these games should also like Dwellings. USEFUL LINKS Dwellings of Eldervale on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/271055/dwellings-eldervale VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 Dragonfire is a game with deckbuilding, color matching, missions, campaign, grind and RPG elements (in that order) from Catalyst Games. Those who have played Shadowrun: Crossfire (another game from Catalyst Games) will find many similar features in Dragonfire. However, I personally have not played it, so I will not make comparisons. NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS Dragonfire is good for 3-4 players, hard for 3-6, and 1-2 is only worth playing if you really like excruciatingly difficult resource management games, as the 2 player mode is very difficult.  At the start, each player chooses one of the many heroes available in the base (from a gnome-cleric to a half-elf-wizard), chooses his past (a card that gives a small bonus), makes a starting deck from the base cards listed on the character's tablet, takes the specified the amount of gold, and puts the HP marker on the specified division - and you can play. EDUCATIONAL MODE Dragonfire has a training mission designed to teach the basics of the game to newly minted heroes who are excitedly waiting for an exciting game... by poking their faces into the asphalt. Seriously: only a perverted sadist could make this up. It is better to skip it, or play, knowing in advance that you will definitely lose. And for the sake of everything holy, don't try to replay it over and over again on the principle: "Well, since we can't even complete the training mission, how can we play further?". You can play. Just a training mission is a very bad example. PREPARATION Players still debate exactly when you start a game of Dragonfire. Some say that when you build your starting decks and shuffle your market deck. Others say that when you have discussed the role and turn order. Others say it starts in high school, when you're either developing the social skills you need to make friends, or you join a bunch of inhuman nerds and start playing geeky games. Personally, I think the game starts with character creation. CHARACTER CREATION There are a bunch of heroes to choose from in the base, but it's usually best to have one character with a focus on each of the 4 colors (blue, green, red, black), with high starting HP and a large or medium starting hand. This allows you to deal a lot of damage from the start and survive many attacks. A dead monster is harmless, a dead hero cannot play cards. The amount of starting gold does not matter; 2 extra cards in hand or 2 add. HP is much more important than 2 gold. After choosing a character, it's time to choose a sticker: it's time for the character to acquire skills. UNIQUE CHARACTER TRAITS  Your hero is pumped at the expense of magical items (but they will not be available immediately) and at the expense of stickers with features that are glued directly to the tablet. The first distinguishing feature is the origin of the character, which gives a small bonus. Their effect is minor, and you'll usually get rid of them when you've earned 5-10 XP worth of stickers after a few dungeon crawls. So choose whatever you like or thematically for your character; it is not fundamental. The only thing is that traits that allow you to scroll through the market deck are very useful, and at least one of the characters should have one. CAMPAIGN  So, you've chosen your character and sticker - it's time to start the campaign mode! Dragonfire has an art book that describes the adventures of your heroes and the enemies that get in the way. Each section of the campaign has its own card that lists the special rules and gameplay elements unique to that section. So, you build a starting deck of said cards, collect gold, shuffle the encounter, market, and dragonflame decks and start playing... oops, and here comes the first death. Yes, the Dragonfire campaign is very difficult, and you are unlikely to get through the first chapter until each character has stickers worth 10 experience points and until you develop optimal strategies (more on them below). Therefore, it is wiser to start with the mode of the trip to the dungeon. HIKING IN THE DUNGEON  This is what the educational regime should have been like. Everything is very straightforward. The game even says outright that you will most likely grind this adventure multiple times for experience points. However, at first you will still definitely lose, but the experience is calculated depending on how many scenes (3 of them in total) you started to pass, not how many you successfully completed. Completing all 3 stages nets you extra experience and a magic item that you'll probably want to include in your deck right away...but don't. Magic items are issued only for the first successful completion of any of the adventures. So it's wise to save the healing potion for the campaign. GAME PROCESS  Dragonfire can seem confusing in places, but overall the gameplay is very simple. You determine the leader (usually the player with the most HP) and the turn order (usually from the leader to the player with the least HP). At the beginning of the adventure you: take 6 cards from the market deck, which will be available for purchase at the end of each turn; draw several cards from the encounter deck (usually monsters) depending on the rules of the current scene indicated on the adventure card; draw cards from your hand in the number indicated on the character tablet; lay out the top card from the deck of dragon fire - new ones are laid out every round. The structure of the move is as follows: draw cards - inflict damage - receive damage - purchase on the market - end of turn. Your job is to play enough cards (each monster needs to deal damage to certain colors in a certain combination) to kill the monsters before they do too much damage to the heroes. For killing monsters, you will receive gold that can be spent in the market. That's the whole process. If you do not want or cannot buy one of the cards from the market, then you replace one of the cards lying on the market with a new one from the deck. But in reality, everything is not so simple because... STRATEGY  Being a hero is not easy. Exhausting battles await you. If you want to survive the onslaught of 3-5 animals whose sole purpose is to tear you to pieces, you will have to think through your moves and kill enemies quickly. The optimal solution is to focus on the monster that your party can kill before they are harmed. Thus, if your turn order is Warrior-Cleric-Thief-Wizard, the Warrior and Cleric should play their cards against the attacking Thief and/or Wizard monsters so that they die before they can harm the wounded members of your party. The worst possible solution is to hit only the monster attacking you, or spread the damage thinly over several monsters each round. Focus your fire on one or two enemies, because the longer you kill them, the worse the situation becomes. DRAGON FIRE The game's title is also one of its most annoying mechanics. At the beginning of the group leader's turn, the previously revealed dragonfire card is sent to the reset (the dragonfire level is equal to the number of dragonfire cards in the reset) and a new card is revealed in its place. 99% of the time these cards are just mocking you. They can make you practically helpless, prevent you from buying cards, buff enemies and even summon new monsters (which often means game over). The longer you go through the adventure, the higher the level of dragonfire and the more dangerous the cards with "If the level is higher than X then this happens" effects become. In addition, at the start of each scene, level 2 monsters equal to the level of dragonfire are summoned from the deck. Tier two monsters are durable, dangerous, and/or yield less gold when killed. If 5 level 2 monsters visit you at the beginning of the third scene, you are most likely finished. END OF THE ADVENTURE  So, you either narrowly won, or fell again under the blows of dragon fire. You earn experience points equal to the number of stages you started with, plus bonuses if you complete all stages. You buy new stickers and get ready to hit the dungeons again, or if you're feeling up to it, mix up the magic items in your deck and get ready to go through the campaign. And so in a circle. CONCLUSION  Dragonfire is a game that is complex in appearance, simple in practice, but complex in terms of strategy. Passing Dragonfire is a long and painful process; the game does everything it can to make you want to close the lid of the box and never take it out again. But if you don't give up, a very exciting gameplay awaits you. If you are a fan of Dark Souls-type games where you have to sweat a lot to win, playing the game over and over again, then this is just for you. If you're a Dungeons & Dragons fan who wants to be heroic without a gamemaster, stay away from this game. Dragonfire is not for casuals looking for a simple adventure. I highly recommend the game to hardcore fans. USEFUL LINKS Dragonfire on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/226501/dragonfire VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 Dungeon Petz is a Euro based worker placement mechanic. Unlike most Euros, Dungeon Petz, like other games from Vladi Khvatil, is very thematic. So get ready to learn a lot of small rules that a Euro player may consider poorly integrated into the game engine and do not improve the gameplay. But the rule book perfectly proves all these nuances for thematic reasons. Additionally, the game has plenty of icons to remind you of these minor rules, and eventually most players get used to them. However, Dungeon Petz cannot be called a game suitable for beginners or fans of slick, elegant mechanics. GAME PROCESS  Despite the many nuances, the essence of the gameplay is simple: you, the owner of a pet store that sells pets to dungeon lords, during 5-6 rounds, you send your imps into the city for shopping. At the beginning of the round, each player secretly divides his goblins into groups, distributes gold and places them at the exits of his cave.  After all the groups are revealed, they go into the city, starting with the largest (in terms of total goblins and gold). When a group occupies a free space on the main field, the player immediately takes the corresponding action. After the end of purchases and business comes the phase of caring for pets. This is the most important component of Dungeon Petz, a kind of mini-puzzle. Each pet has its own counter that shows which cards you draw for it (depending on its size).  For example, for an adult hellrabbit, you need to draw three red cards (they usually mean that the animal goes into a rage), two yellow (the animal becomes playful) and two green (starves or defecates). The trick is that the presence of a corresponding need is determined by the symbol on the card, and you do not know in advance exactly which symbols you will encounter (although the distribution of symbols for cards of each suit is printed on the tablet). Therefore, your pets will behave a little unpredictably. Needs are important to satisfy, because otherwise the pet will suffer (and ultimately die, or escape, or be teleported to another dimension) and because the value of pets, which is determined by exhibitions (appearing from the second turn) and customers (from the third move) ), depends on their needs, and the value of pets depends on your reputation points.  For example, this client gives you two points for each aggression requirement, one point for each magic requirement, and minus one point for each game requirement and for each suffering token on the pet you sell him. But there is good news: this randomness can be controlled. First, you draw cards of needs for all pets at once and distribute them as you wish. Secondly, at the start you have one "extra" card of each color, and during the game you can buy additional ones, which gives you room for maneuver. Thirdly, even if a symbol that is not typical for this suit is on the card, it can be played as a double need: the first corresponds to the symbol on the card, the second to the color of the card.  Yes, all yellow cards can be played as "needs of the game", even if the main symbol on the card is not a ball. EXPERIENCE FROM THE GAME  As you've probably guessed, Dungeon Petz is a non-stop, full of surprise battle against adverse circumstances and competitors. You never know exactly how your pets and other players will behave. More often than not, a competitor will get their paws on the cage you really wanted to tame a troublesome Fire Fairy, or Bubble will suddenly want to play when you've run out of imps to keep him entertained. Animals require constant care, but at the same time, you need free imps to buy new pets, sell to customers and win over judges. All this is not easy - probably more intense than harvesting in "Agricola" - and every round is repeated. Dungeon Petz is not suitable for casuals, but boasts very intense gameplay; I rarely find myself so deeply involved in the game and biting my lip as I anxiously wait to see if everything goes well this round. Dungeon Petz is very much a puzzle game, as each round you have to work your brains out, figuring out how many imps to send where, how to distribute pet needs, etc. There's a bit of multiplayer solitaire here, but at least this solitaire is very well done; you think a lot, but the downtime is small, because thanks to the original interpretation of the mechanics of placing workers, everyone plans their actions simultaneously and in advance. The result is quite a lot of interaction by Euro standards, with quite a few action slots, with only one or two slots per action, so you'll have to be quick if you want to get what you want. And if you don't buy it, you'll have to somehow do without this action for the whole round. If someone has stolen a pet you wanted, feel free to steal the cell or cell mod you need to properly care for that pet. It is also useful to keep an eye on competitors' shops and how well they score at trade shows. Dungeon Petz is a rare beast: unmistakably Euro, but more themed than many amerithrash games, with randomness that forces you to bet and hope for the best while preparing for the worst, but with tools to control that randomness. The fosters feel very much alive, and running a business with imps is like taking turns stabbing each other in the back. CONCLUSIONS Briefly by points: A very, very themed game. Medium difficulty. Very puzzling. Tense parties. You plan actions 2 (maximum 3) rounds ahead. A lot of randomness for the Euro middleweight, but there are enough tools to control it. Scales well; works best with 4 participants and is good with 3. Quite a lot of all kinds of rules. The game punishes mistakes (but not as harshly as Dungeon Lords) There isn't a lot of interaction between the players, but it's very intense. USEFUL LINKS Dungeon Petz on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/97207/dungeon-petz VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 My first gaming love was Dungeons & Dragons. Like many people my age, I started with the red and blue boxes, then moved on to the D&D advanced rules and played several other editions over the years. Many board games try to be that elusive RPG in a box that doesn't require a game master. Many of these games are basically tactical combat with character leveling and some story. Maybe there is a choice, but you follow a linear route, just punching monsters until they drop loot like an armored piñata with teeth.  Roll Player Adventures is more of a convoluted choose-your-own-style story with dice-based puzzles that drive the plot forward. Is Roll Player Adventures an RPG in a box for those who want to go beyond just fighting the whole game? OVERVIEW OF THE GAME PROCESS To start your campaign playthrough, you can use your own characters from the Roll Player or choose a ready-made one. Each scenario has its own booklet, reminiscent of late first edition D&D modules, and a map. The booklet contains a brief description and information about the preparation. Then you follow the instructions to place the XP tokens and cubes, place your team miniatures, and you're ready to play.  Throughout the game, you will acquire different skills and go through combat encounters. In both cases, you can spend stamina dice (one for each character on the team) to add a specific color of dice to the starting set. You can blindly draw new dice until you reach the dice limit. After rolling these dice, you match the color and the required values. If you are just rolling the dice, there is a chance that there will be open slots that require dice to complete successfully. And here the cards in your hand will never let you down. However, if this happens, the monsters will turn against you and deal damage. Each player can play cards up to the allowable game limit. Players can receive Bonus Action Tokens that will allow them to use additional cards within the limit of Bonus Action Tokens players have. The cards allow players to add more dice to the dice pool, count the dice as different numbers, and change values with re-rolls, assignments, or flips. As you adventure, you'll earn and buy new cards, expanding your toolbox to tackle more challenging challenges. Battles can last three rounds, with enemies dealing damage for each open slot on their map and inflicting other negative effects in the second and third rounds (usually damage, lost treasure, or experience). If a character's stamina tokens in the spent token box equal or exceed their health, they are eliminated from the challenge. If all characters are out, players lose the scenario and read the text in the encounter book for this mission. Tin Scraper Lock Pin XL Puzzle Eye of Needle (2249) ( 6035 )  Players gain XP for closing certain slots during a skill check, even if they fail the check. After each challenge, all cards from the discard pile may be returned to players' hands. When players rest, they can reclaim spent cards and regain stamina. Stamina recovery is based on a dice roll equal to the amount of XP spent. But you should be economical in spending XP, because with their help you improve your characters. At the end of each adventure, XP and gold can be spent on character improvements, called development. XP is spent to upgrade abilities on the mastery track, increase health, increase the limit of combat dice, and add additional bonus action tokens. Gold is used to buy items, with some cards giving discounts on a character's race or abilities. GAME EXPERIENCE The experiences I look for in an RPG-like game include character development, a sense of adventure, character choice (which is an RPG aspect), an immersive narrative, tactical combat, and a general sense of discovery. Aside from tactical combat, Roll Player Adventures delivers on all of these aspects. But the lack of tactical combat comes with very quick setup and assembly times, at least in part thanks to trays that conveniently house most components.  Characters develop by adding found or purchased cards, and even by increasing abilities by advancing through the mastery track. It's generally simple and nice, but — especially for solo players playing multiple hands — there are a lot of cards to keep an eye on. On the plus side, as the game gets more difficult, you have more dice and more cards to use. And, with a few exceptions, I've found that after a few scenarios I can handle most challenges fairly easily. Overall it was very enjoyable, but especially towards the end it started to feel a bit tedious, especially as the dice pools got bigger and there were more dice to manipulate. But such a feeling may not arise in everyone. One of the strengths of Roll Player Adventures is the sprawling plot and overall world building as you travel through locations on beautifully illustrated maps. Throughout each scenario, you'll mark keywords and collect scenario-specific items that you can interact with in various locations (sometimes with funny results when used in combination). Keywords can lead you to different paragraphs and to a different story event than those with a different keyword. You'll also earn title cards, which contain a couple of small sentences of text that can influence the plot in future scenarios. By "may" I mean that there will be an impact, but you won't know if it's good or bad, or sometimes both.  Despite all the branches, the main story campaign is linear, and you'll likely run through the same main story points on repeat campaigns. By favoring different factions or making different choices, you'll unlock alternate story episodes and small events, but probably without changing the brief description of the overall story arc. As for the overall replay value, I think it's still pretty high if enough time passes between campaigns. It often happens that you have a choice of how to act in this or that situation (various skill checks are offered), so playing as different characters, with different cards in hand, you will also solve different puzzles. In addition to the main plot, dozens of characters you will meet and interact with give the game a lot of depth. I went through the first four or five scenarios pretty quickly once I got my pledge and then put it aside to play other games. Returning to the game, I decided I wanted to finish the campaign and played the remaining scenarios in short order. When I started again, I couldn't remember some of the names and their relationship to me (the title cards gradually reminded me of this). So this is a game that's probably best played regularly until you've finished the 11-episode campaign (plus a recurring side quest that can be played after a certain point in the adventure). Rushing through the game starts to feel tedious, and the three-month wait between sessions can cause you to miss out on the finer details of the world and story arc.  In the end, I have two small complaints, one mechanical and one stylistic. Mechanically, my gripe is that combat and skill checks are too similar. Fights last up to three rounds and sometimes have modifier cards that do something (often bad for you) to tweak enemies, but fighting an ogre, gnoll, or dragon isn't all that different mechanically from one another or from performing different skill checks. I was still having a ton of fun with the game and was stressing out when I was calculating how hard I was going to get hit because I couldn't place enough dice, but I didn't want to waste a card this turn because I didn't have enough bonus action tokens to manipulate new dice that I would draw. Stylistically, I had some difficulty trying to distinguish some of the colors on player tablets, maps, and skill checks. The blue and purple colors were hard for me to distinguish. Since some maps had a dark background and others had a light background, the appearance also changed, which was a little confusing to me at first. I have a mild form of color blindness, so not everyone may have this problem. CONCLUSIONS Roll Player Adventures was ahead of Solomon Kane in my picks for the best game of 2021 when I started the campaign. And even now, there's still a battle between the two, and Chronicles of Drunagor (which I first played in 2022) is also in the mix. Roll Player Adventures is a very solid option for those looking for an RPG in a box, especially if story and world building are more important than tactical combat. Overall rating: 4.5/5 stars. Roll Player Adventures provides players with interesting choices as they progress through a fantastic story, with exciting puzzles and dice manipulation in a deep and vivid world. USEFUL LINKS Roll Player Adventures on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/254708/roll-player-adventures VIDEO REVIEWS ..

A LITTLE ABOUT THE BASE GAME  To begin with, it is worth briefly talking about the base itself, suddenly someone does not know. Players are divided into two teams and receive four clue words per game, arranged in a strict order. Each team sees only their own words. The goal is to either get two white tokens or two black ones. White tokens are given for correctly intercepting other people's encryptions. What is encryption? In each round, one of the players becomes the captain and draws a card with 3 numbers that only he can see. His task is to come up with three association words, according to which his team, based on the hint words given at the beginning of the game, must correctly guess these numbers. But since the captain invents and pronounces the word-associations out loud, the opponents also hear them. So, if the opponents were able to intercept, that is, guess these three numbers before your team did, they receive a white token. They won two - their victory. Guessing the numbers is easier for your team, because they have something to base their reasoning on - four starting words, clues, visible to the captain; therefore, his associations adapt to them. But the opponents act randomly at first, but with each new round they have more and more information about your words (since they do not change during the game).  The second option for victory is black chips. It's even easier here - if you don't guess your captain's numbers, you get a black token. Got two - the opponent's team won. That is why the captain needs to come up with associations that correspond to your clue words as precisely and transparently as possible. The whole strength of "Decoder" lies in the ability of players to be able to guess such sophisticated associations, which are both transparent to their own players and incomprehensible to their opponents. It's quite difficult to explain in words and may look like the rules of some ordinary verbal nonsensical patty game, but if you've tried Codenames, you'll perfectly understand the difference between a tru deck with clear rules and "Mafia" with its "psychology". "Decoder" is about mechanics and rules, and at the same time it remains a real game, where all participants are cheerful, cheerful and involved in the process, even the most gloomy ones, because the challenge of the board is very unusual - each round invent more and more perverse associations, preferably confusing opponents and not leading to a stupor their own NOW ON TO THE EXPANSION  And now the most interesting thing - what's in this little addition? New mechanics appear in the Decoder: Laser Disc box. More precisely, one - laser disks; these are tokens that can be obtained in a cunning way and with their help win the game in another way. So, there are disk cards in the box. One such card is revealed from the deck at the start of each round, and now one of the associations issued by the captain to his team must match that theme. This is a mandatory condition. Well, it would seem that there is such a thing - restrictions were added and added, however... However, players had the opportunity to match all three of their clues to the theme and receive a treasured laser disc token for it (regardless of whether their friends guessed the code or not). Why do you need these laser discs? If you collect two pieces, you can spend them to try to correctly guess your opponents' clue word. That is, you can throw two discs and say: "Your first word is "Bird" - and if it turns out to be true, then your team will receive a white token. And two white chips, as we remember, is a victory.  Thus, another way to get tokens appeared. It does not affect the other options for victory, but the additional possibility is nice. On the one hand, the game became a bit more difficult/easier (depending on which way you look at it) by limiting one of the associations to a theme, but on the other hand, it also brought more opportunities to use some tactics thanks to the discs. In fact, the captain was given even more functions - and with his wide horizons, he will be able to pull out his teammates at the expense of a brilliant idea that dawned on him. On the other hand, coming up with all three associations suited to one theme is not only difficult enough, but it also gives your opponents more information about your clues. Undoubtedly, there are tricksters who are able to come up with such triples on a regular basis, but this is already some other level of the team - very high. Is this addition good and is it necessary in principle? Decrypto, like Codenames, is a very self-contained thing. But those who want bells and whistles for their favorite game (and there are many such people) are always missing something. So why not make them? =) Yes, probably, the author of "Decoder" thought too, adding a little more options to the basic version.  If you've played this board game, you no doubt know that the most common question at the end of a game is: let's guess your clue words? Almost everyone does this, and, apparently, in the author's tester groups in particular, so he decided to make this element part of the mechanics. Why not? This is just my guess, but it sounds plausible, doesn't it? The idea lies on the surface, and in "Laser disc" it is well implemented. You can not consider this box as a mandatory addition, but if you managed to get it and mix it into the base, then there is nothing to remove from the gameplay - extra features are not superfluous, unless they are sewn with white threads. USEFUL LINKS Decrypto: Laserdrive on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/273938/decrypto-expansion-01-laserdrive VIDEO REVIEWS ..