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 ..

 Just recently played another game in IS (already played about 5, which is extremely small for such a game), and decided to describe my first impressions of the game, and now compare it with its predecessor, TS. For those who don't know what these stragglers are: TS was #1 on BGG for a long time, about 10 years ago. And even now, in 2021, it is in 14th place in the overall rating. The genre of the game is hard to say. Some say it's a wargame, some call it area control, and some call it a card game. It's all in the game in general, but it doesn't really matter what genre it is, what matters is that a game from 2005 still ranks better than BGG games, and that's saying something.  Without going into details, both games are a field with a world map and regions/countries that players fight for control of throughout the game. At certain moments, an intermediate count takes place, at which point the players receive points. However, the PO scale and accruals here are not quite ordinary, but are a kind of analog of a rope that players pull. If one player received 5 points, he moves the common marker in his direction, the opponent thus loses his 5. The goal, accordingly, is to "pull the rope" in his direction by a certain amount of PO. There are a few more conditions for ending the game early, but in general, the game plays out in this way. Control over regions here takes place with the help of troops, as in some Dudes on Map, and the so-called "Influence", represented by some virtual points. For example, spent 3 points, threw 3 influences in one of the regions - everything is simple. These points are obtained by drawing cards as in TS, or by simply drafting tokens with these points as in IS. In this way, players spread their influence, either by accumulating more in a certain region, or simply by removing the enemy's influence.  Congratulations, you have learned almost all the rules) Of course, in the games there are a lot of nuances and subtleties that make this process of struggle interesting, and also all this does not take place somewhere in the "elven kingdom", but on our mother Earth in a certain historical period with a large number of historical events and references. These two games are very similar conceptually, but IS, as a newer game, absorbed all the best ideas from its predecessor and added a bunch of new ones. As a result, after getting acquainted with IS, I do not want to return to the old TS, which seems already outdated and abstract against the background of the heiress of IS. Well, let me tell you a little about what was added to the new game. I don't even know where to start. The main difference, perhaps, which immediately catches the eye, is the division of the general influence into three different ones: political, economic and military. If in TS players fought only for influence over countries, then in IS it was all divided into three levels.  Political influence is precisely influence on countries, and here a bunch of connections of these countries with other aspects appeared. For example, the influence on countries in Europe, in addition to simple dominance in the region, is also related to wars that take place "on schedule", namely certain countries can help players in various wars, some only in certain episodes, and some during . all wars And also in the country itself there was a division into alliances (which help in wars) and prestige (another area for which players must fight to gain victory points). However, outside Europe, political influence is already used to interact with various groups and movements. For example, in North America, these are different tribes of Indians: after gaining control over them, the player gets the opportunity to spoil the opponent's life, destroying his trade, and even use them in wars on his side. And in the later eras, you can influence the Sons of Liberty, who want to completely make the USA with can-can and cowboys, expelling the oppressors of the English back to their foggy island)  Economic influence – control over markets. At the beginning of each round, demand is randomly determined: three commodity tokens are drawn from a bag. It is the control over the markets of these goods that will be taken into account at the end of the round. And players will fight for these markets. Moreover, in my opinion, the struggle for markets turned out to be the most interesting. Here you like convoys when exadra are brought into the region to protect trade routes. (In the Caribbean, for example, unprotected trade routes will inevitably suffer from pirate raids.) There are also supply routes that can be actively cut and quickly and cheaply recaptured isolated markets. Throw in the various events and ministry cards that players can play to influence the markets and get extra goodies. (For example, in one of the last games, a player for England played the East India Company, which gives extra points for control of rare goods, seized control of all of India, and ended up winning by a large margin thanks to control of the cotton and spice markets. very interesting and even a little historical.)  Military influence, which refers to the third separate layer in the game, namely the historical wars of the period. By investing in the military, we will be able to gain additional advantages in future wars, we will be able to build forts at key points, build e squadrons and introduce a fleet into the regions to protect trade interests. Moreover, the wars that take place after counting for different controls over goods and markets, in the event of a major victory of one of the parties, in addition to victory points, also allow the winner to gain new footholds, displace the opponent from the regions in a violent way and are capable of reshaping the influence and distribution of forces in the region.  I understand that it sounds extremely complicated, and it seems that all these elements were simply screwed on for the sake of complication, but as soon as you delve into this system, it seems ingenious, everything is so logically interconnected. Moreover, so much so that the system in TS in the background seems to be just a primitive commotion and sketching of numbers. The player is always faced with the choice of where to direct resources. Bet on the markets? Is it thanks to the map of the ministry, which gives a discount on the construction of exadras, to dare a huge fleet to sail and make the local Indians a nightmare for them? And don't overdo it either, because by investing too much, the player won't get more, and the resources spent here could be useful in another region. I will add a few words about event maps. In general, in my opinion, TS has a big bias towards cards: all influence points come from cards (called operation points), even the preliminary calculation is done by drawing a card. IS avoided such binding, but at the same time the event maps remained. And now they are all mixed up in one common deck, and there will no longer be a situation beloved by TS players, when your opponent's cards came into your hand. Event cards in IS, also due to real historical events, affect the world map, but players have the opportunity to increase the effect of such events with the correct selection of ministry cards, which, in my opinion, is an interesting idea, because I don't want to play. As a result, the player also needs to make the correct selection of event cards in connection with ministry cards. And taking into account that different cards will come from party to party, it results in great re-drawability and variety of strategies.  Wars in IS came out as a kind of separate mini-game. And although some combat units in the form of squadrons and forts are present on the field and are even taken into account in some wars, there are no armies or their movements during the war in the game. Instead, we again compare who has more influence (different countries participate in different wars, the alliance with which gives the player an advantage), plus additional power is added to us by bonus tokens that we can buy for military influence during the main peace turn Without these tokens, wars would be completely lost. And by the way, in the first games, until you remember which countries are participating where, you have to constantly compare with the list, see who is in control, which is actually hell. By the way, this is one of the conditions for an early victory: if one of the sides dominates in all four "theaters" within the framework of one war.  There's a lot more to say about this game, but I've only skimmed through the rules. But for a simple introduction to the game, I think it will be quite enough, especially if you have already played TS before. CONCLUSIONS The game, compared to its predecessor, has grown in depth and breadth, a lot of additional layers and decision options have appeared. And naturally, this increased the entry threshold many times over. That's for sure, I wouldn't recommend starting your acquaintance with the world of board games with this game (although, to whom). The historical period may not be for everyone, after all, in order to dive deeper into the game, you need to understand a little, at least roughly, what was happening then. And if the topic of the Cold War is still somehow close to us, then the confrontation between England and France may seem distant and uninteresting. It's a rather specific genre, it's just as difficult to say where exactly to classify such games. And for someone it will be too wise and difficult. Moreover, I heard this opinion from those who played TS, who said that "they made it more complicated, we will make it easier to understand TS". Although for me personally the IS is superior to the TS in all indicators, it already seems like a boring drawing of numbers from the times of the Cold War. USEFUL LINKS Imperial Struggle on the..

 Gloom of Kilforth is an adventure fantasy game in which you try to successfully complete your hero's adventure (write a saga about him) and defeat the Ancient or Ancients. Almost every card in the game has keywords. In each chapter of the saga, you must collect a certain set of keywords, traveling through Kilforth and meeting various creatures and objects. At the beginning, you create your character: you choose race and class cards. Together, a unique combination of skills will result. Over the course of the game, you'll overcome the obstacles that come your way—encounter cards—using these skills: Combat, Exploration, Stealth, and Influence. You travel on a map consisting of 25 (laid out in a 5x5 square) location cards. 24 belong to one of four types of terrain: mountains, wastelands, plains, and forests - and 25, Sprawl City, is your starting location, located in the middle of the kingdom.  Rounds are divided into dawn, day and night phases. At dawn, you regain action points (equal to your current health). All defeated heroes are respawned in Sprawl City. During the day, you take actions: movement, searching locations, buying cards from the market, resting, drawing cards from your hand as assets to strengthen the hero. At night, you draw a card from the deck of the night; one of the locations is enveloped in "darkness" (it turns over), and at the same time, one of the abilities on the card of the Ancient's plan can be activated. As in many other adventure games, here you will have to pass a lot of checks to find out whether you have passed the encounter card or not. Let's say if you want to fight an enemy and you have a combat rating of 4, you will try to roll enough successes (fives and sixes) to defeat the enemy on 4 dice. Also, every day you can add +1 success to the result of any check by discarding a hearing card or using a fate token.  When you enter a location, you draw the appropriate encounter card for the location, then deal with what/whom you encounter. Encounters are divided into 5 types: Enemies, Strangers, Locations, Quests, and Events. For each successful encounter, you are rewarded with gold, adding that card to your hand as a spell, or drawing a certain type of card as a trophy. Your hero's saga is divided into four parts and a finale. You need to find certain keywords in each. They are present on every encounter card besides the events (like villain, forest, stranger, etc.), so you have a rough idea of where to go to find what you want. Cards in your hand are considered "rumors", and if you play them next to a hero, they become "assets". Assets give the hero bonuses to parameters and/or special abilities. Both rumors and assets can be used to complete a chapter, but rumors are reset when applied.  After completing your saga, your old enemy will appear in Kilforth. Battles with them are the same as with other creatures, but as soon as you enter the battle, you will have to fight to someone's death. Ancients have abilities that activate each round of combat. In addition, they get additional abilities from the plans cards that you did not remove from the field during your adventures. In solo or co-op, you win by completing your saga(s) and defeating the Ancient(s). You lose if all heroes are dead or if you fail to win before the 25th day is over. In competitive mode, you win by defeating the Ancient or (in the event that no one has defeated the Ancient by the end of the 25th day) by having the highest combined gold and assets. PROS OF THE GAME The collectible aspect, collecting keywords, is what sets Gloom of Kilforth apart from other fantasy adventure games. Quests give you clear objectives by listing the types of map progression required. This is both thematic and adds interest to the gameplay. The mechanics of progressing through the heads of the saga and level-ups give the feeling of an adventure, in the course of which you become an increasingly powerful hero. The end of chapter four is especially great because that's usually when you get your most powerful skill or the ability to use your most advanced stat as a combat stat (against the Ancients). Love the rumor and asset mechanics. Both of them are suitable for completing quests, but you will lose rumor cards in this case, which can become a big problem. This adds some interesting crossroads to the game: you have to decide which cards to save for the next chapters of the saga, and which to discard in order to successfully complete this part of the adventure. The atmosphere of an adventure game is definitely present. There is a feeling that while you are traveling from location to location, fighting with enemies and looking for things you need for the quest, time is passing: the darkness is gradually spreading over the lands of Kilforth. High replayability. The map is different every time, the terrain cards are shuffled randomly, there are different heroes and sagas. And, of course, the influence of the cube. Together - the feeling of different adventures every game. One of the most beautiful illustrations I've seen. The artist did an amazing job: she breathed life into this fantasy world with only cards. I like how the number of action points depends on your health. It makes you think about the consequences of the decisions made. Yes, sometimes you will have to take risks, but you will quickly understand: taking damage in battle has very unpleasant consequences. While in competitive and co-op modes other players' turns can drag on a bit, especially battles, overall there is little downtime and there is time to plan your turn while waiting for your turn. Ability to choose from several reward options for completing encounter cards. Sometimes gold will be needed, and sometimes it's better to take a risk and pull a token from the loot bag. It's nice to have some control over the situation. It's surprisingly easy to master. Yes, someone will have to read the rule book cover to cover, but Gloom of Kilforth is still easy to both master and teach others to play. I once put a person who was unfamiliar with the boards for her, and after a couple of rounds she already navigated the game perfectly. CONS OF THE GAME Sometimes Gloom of Kilforth requires co-op, but for most of the game you'll be on your own, which I found very disappointing in the early games. In games with 3-4 participants of cooperation, there will be more, since there is a higher probability of being in the neighborhood of one of the heroes. But still, most often you can successfully complete the saga without interacting with others. If you don't play with the dice, the game can leave a negative impression. This is especially problematic at the start, when you have little health and few cubes. Fate Tokens can help with this problem, but only if you're only one success short. The four Ancients are pretty similar to me, even with the concept cards used in battle. The idea is that they are incredibly powerful entities, so I was hoping to see some cool and themed abilities... It's a bit of a let down though, as the main focus of the game is the adventure towards the boss, not the boss fight. You can get stuck in locations for a long time in search of certain types of cards. In solo this is not a problem, but in other game modes it is not very pleasant to stick around while everyone else is doing quests. Preparation takes some time: you have to shuffle 11 decks of cards. CONCLUSION In my opinion, Gloom of Kilforth is an awesome game... solo. I would classify it specifically as a solo game with additional co-op and competitive modes. It's not that the cooperative mode is bad - it's just that you shouldn't expect active player interaction and cool joint combinations from it. If this is not a problem for you, then the cooperative may suit you. I think Gloom of Kilforth will especially appeal to roleplayers, although set collectors will also find it a fan. Our group began to think of the game as a collection of sets after the first few games, not particularly concerned with the artwork, and we still enjoyed it. So Gloom of Kilforth is a great game. I'm not a big fan of soloing, but I enjoyed the solo test so much that I played solo a couple more times and had a really good time. That said, I'm not likely to play Gloom of Kilforth as a co-op very often, as I have quite a few other fantasy card games: Dragonfire, Direwild - that have a lot more interaction. USEFUL LINKS Gloom of Kilforth on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/98527/gloom-kilforth-fantasy-quest-game VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 Cthulhu Wars has often been called a Cadillac game. This is an exemplary Kickstarter project: a niche game that would not have been born without Kickstarter. Features available: miniatures (giant size), extras larger than the Black Goat spawn, and matching horse price tag. Much to the chagrin of those who don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a single piece of fun, Cthulhu Wars is also a great game; A great choice for anyone who likes to cook on the table. That's why Sandy Peterson has been asked for years to release a version of the game with cardboard instead of miniatures, which will allow you to familiarize yourself with the gameplay without emptying your wallet, and also move the box without the help of a crane. And those requests were granted...or not? Now "Cthulhu Wars: Duel" was born - a purely dueling game without miniatures in a small box, with slightly changed rules. Duel area controls are a rather rare and niche thing for a number of reasons. This game does a good job of bringing the feel of Cthulhu Wars into a duel format. However... let's put it this way: not all the components of "Cthulhu War" are in place.  As expected, in terms of components, the game is not as eye-catching as the original. The box and box are much smaller, and instead of plastic - cardboard. The illustrations are a little dark, but the silhouettes of the monsters are very different, so it's easy to tell them apart - especially if you're already familiar with the original. Including only 10 dice in the set, although during large batches each participant of the battle often has to roll more than 10, is a strange decision. Personally, we added more cubes so that we don't have to remember how many people got what results. Otherwise, there are no complaints about the components. A reduced copy of "Cthulhu Wars" with the same sense of scale of what is happening and increased transportability succeeded in glory.  Of course, the rules had to be reworked in order to turn the multiplayer area control into a dueling game, but not as seriously as one might expect. Many of the changes are minor in appearance: different numbers in the description of the faction's special ability, a slightly different order of phases... Of all the innovations, I liked the decomposition mechanic the most, which plays the role of a constant threat. As soon as one player uses up all his power reserves, the other player's actions gradually become more and more expensive until he has to pass the turn. This solves the problem of the popularity of the "don't go first" tactic in the original. A fast aggressive style of play rules here, as you spend resources more efficiently this way. As a result, players often compete to be the first to impose the battle on their terms, and in this regard, the duel is more interesting than the original.  However, "Cthulhu Wars" was not easily designed for two participants, just like most games of the "figures on the map" genre, which recommend sitting down to at least three. In this genre, a very big role is played by alliances, battles of several participants and "she wins, let's knock her down!". I didn't even realize how important the social aspect of Cthulhu Wars was until I played Duel. It still feels like a turn-based version of a PC RTS (which makes sense given Peterson's background in PC game development), but the most important part of Cthulhu Wars has always been what happened at the table. Negotiations, alliances, betrayals were all common and could easily happen within a single round of the game. And then repeat again and again. It made you emotionally attached to the game, encouraging you to play it again and again - just to try new strategies. Unfortunately, these feelings are absent in the duel. Since there is only one enemy, there is no reason to hold back and not attack actions at every opportunity. Especially considering another rule innovation - scoring points for each kill - makes the aggressive style more appealing... but other scoring methods suffer. Hurting your opponent and getting points at the same time is the most effective way. Yes, it is meant to be, but it means that every action you take in Duel must simultaneously embolden your opponent with a good interpreter. No tricky manipulations, no spreading the map thinly for strategic reasons... it only matters how many units you kill/lose, because every unit lost makes victory that much further away.  This problem is complicated by the factions chosen for the dueling version of "Cthulhu Wars" . The Great Cthulhu vs Black Goat matchup doesn't look great - largely because Cthulhu has always been an extremely straightforward faction, but the Goat has not. Is the matchup balanced? In my experience, balanced. But only after the Goat player plays a few games and understands how to put pressure on Cthulhu without risking Shab too much, because if Shab dies, the game is almost guaranteed to be lost. Cthulhu is great for beginners who will be able to play with the enemy on equal terms without any problems, but the different entry threshold of the factions will become a plus only after more boxes from the dueling series are released and it will be possible to arrange various matchups. And now on the Internet, a bunch of people, in the old gamer tradition, talk about an imbalance, which in reality, most likely, does not exist. However, the different entry threshold makes the balance feel more precarious than it actually is. I believe that after the release of new boxes, the balance will settle. I wonder what Creeping Chaos or my favorite Cho-Cho will look like in the dueling version. I had mixed impressions of "Cthulhu Wars: Duel" . On the one hand, the game impressed players who were not familiar with the original, and the updated and optimized dueling rules give hope that the dueling line has a decent future (when new factions and maps are released). On the other hand, I cannot praise and recommend the basic "Duel" by itself. This is one of those games that you should try before you buy. Fortunately, the author has released an official digital version of the game on Tabletop Simuator just for introductory purposes. Time and the availability of new content will tell how successful this line will be. And so far, the dueling "Cthulhu Wars" turned out not bad, but we have to wait for a decent expansion of the line. USEFUL LINKS Cthulhu Wars: Duel on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/326485/cthulhu-wars-duel VIDEO REVIEWS ..

COMPONENTS In the deluxe box, everything is very tight, the lid closes only if everything is carefully packed. At the same time, the components are very high-quality: the tablets of heroes, bosses and torches are made of linen, as are all maps of loot, henchmen and goblins. All small components are of good quality, and the wooden henchmen and goblin figures have a stylized shape (all different!) and pattern. The miniatures of the heroes resemble "Blood and Fury" in both size and quality. PREPARATION FOR THE PARTY  Game-mechanically, we have a co-op dungeon crawler with a gradually opening map. The preparation consists of laying out the entrance to the dungeon + 4 rooms around it, as well as pouring the rest of the components from the box onto the table. Choose from 2 to 4 heroes, take their tablets and figurines - and go on an adventure! Well, you still need to mix henchmen and the boss in the deck of rooms according to special rules. It's very fast by the standards of the genre; By the way, cleaning in the box is also done quickly. GAME PROCESS  Heroes have 3 stats: Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence, which can vary from 1 to 3, indicating how many dice will be rolled on the corresponding checks. It is they who determine the path of the hero's development, because they almost never change during the game (there are things that can increase one characteristic by 1, not higher than 3, but there is always a lack of space for them). There are starters, which are the maximum values of lives and energy, a special skill of each hero and 2 items. One of them is a basic weapon, the other is usually a skill, like running or learning spells. Unfortunately, this skill is usually replaced by something more useful by the middle of the game. Special skills stay with the heroes permanently, rather than being valuable. The barbarian can add +2 to melee for 3 energy (it's pretty strong, believe me), and the sorceress can shoot a long-range, magic arrow, perfect for shooting goblins.  Our goal is to find and kill the boss of the dungeon, and first his two henchmen. So that life does not seem like honey, goblins are constantly climbing on the heroes,  and if there are 4 of them on the field, a fifth instant loss should appear. That is, you need to constantly reduce their population, because they die from any scratch, having only 1 life. The battle is simple: we choose the weapon we attack with and roll the dice according to the characteristic to which it is tied. We choose one, get bonuses from the rest, apply modifiers. We compare with the defense of the enemy and deal as much damage as it exceeds this defense (now it is clear why barbarian +2 is so strong?). The values of 1 and 2 on the dice are +1 and +2, respectively, and can be added to the base. Well, you can collect energy and health from unused cubes if they fall out. And here's why it's bad to do something other than your own: some "non-combat" classes have -1 dagger and 1 dice for strength at the beginning of the weapon. To kill an ordinary goblin with armor 4, you only need to roll a six, and if you fail, he will also crack in response. It remains to cast a spell. For magic, we roll on intelligence and on success we always deal fixed damage that ignores armor, although we will have to spend energy. Warriors, of course, can learn cool spells, but they struggle with maximum energy, and even 5 or 6 checks are difficult to cast from one cube.  After all, there are henchmen and a whole bunch of different bosses. Henchmen have a lot of health, nasty abilities and can ruin the heroes' lives. Bosses are a separate topic. They can't just be thrown with dice like "I hit, he hit." To win, you need to drag the boss through 1-3 altars in the dungeon, and then kill, even the ability to "tease" appears. After all, he does not just follow the hero like a sheep on a leash, but actively snaps, and no one canceled the goblins that appear. All this is strange, but interesting.  What's a dungeon without loot and treasures? Swords and staffs, chain mail and rings - all according to the laws of the genre. The most desirable are the equipment sets: they give bonuses for the set, even if it is incomplete, and the items themselves are very strong. The point is to collect such a set. There are rooms with treasures or traps, but you have to spend a turn searching for them, which is wasteful, so goblins remain the main source. From each green you can get an item and either keep it or drop it in the open for allies to pick up later. Heroes have a limit of two items in hand, armor, two accessories, and 2 spells. This is how we develop characters, no levels or skills are provided in the game. Our heroes cannot be killed, only knocked down — and they will spend a turn climbing. There are two main defeat conditions: 5 goblins or a timer that has popped up. The gradually decaying torch is responsible for the latter. It drops by one division each turn, as well as for particularly unsuccessful monster counterattacks or the failure of some tests. The torch is raised for the murder of henchmen, which is rare. After meeting the boss, the torch switches to a new track, allowing time for the final battle. The third defeat condition is quite rare: the dungeon is ringed and the boss cannot be found. EXPANSION The deluxe version adds potions, new goblins (potion-bound), a potion room, two henchmen, and two bosses (without potions). Can you guess the name of the mini add-on? Disposable flasks are a bit controversial, but they are not included in the normal equipment limit and can help a lot against the boss (or not).  The Story Pack adds a ton of everything: 8 new heroes, new rooms, gear, kits, bosses, henchmen, goblins, as well as quests and story mode, all for $10. I would recommend it, even if there were only 8 heroes, so it is mandatory to purchase. The only downside: you won't be able to stuff the add-on into the basic box. MINUS I cannot call the high difficulty of the game a drawback, rather a feature. Once they've mastered the game, mature adult players will win about a third of their games. But in order to figure it out, you need not only to carefully study the rules, but also to study the FAQ. It is also advisable to have a file with the decoding of abilities, items, monsters, etc. in electronic or printed form at hand. Of course, all this is in English, but on the game components themselves, only the names of items, monsters, classes, etc. are from the text. USEFUL LINKS Tiny Epic Dungeons on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/331787/tiny-epic-dungeons VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 "Burgle Bros." - another great game in a long list of great games from one of our favorite creators, Tim Powers. One to four players become members of a team that tries to pull off an elaborate heist in an office building in search of valuable items. Gameplay takes place from a set of 16 room tiles, each of which is a floor of a building. In total, the building has three floors, through which players will have to make their way, with the hope that they will not be discovered. Each floor has walls that affect how players can move from tile to tile. On each floor, players must work together to find a safe and crack it to retrieve their loot inside. Guards patrol each floor, moving around the building according to the coordinates indicated on the stack of event cards. If players cross paths with guards, they will lose one of their invisibility tokens, which serve as your hit points or lives in the game. BANK HACKING Room tiles are full of all kinds of traps and surprises that can ruin your plans. Many tiles can trigger an alarm that will cause the guards to change course and head towards the source of the trouble. Other cards affect your movement, such as ventilation that allows you to move through a floor faster, or passages that collapse beneath you and send you to the floor below. In general, players must always be alert in order to successfully reach safes. Your job isn't over once the safe is found, because you have to crack it! To do this, you need to roll the dice to match the numbers found on the tiles in the same row and column as the safe. Not only does this add a bit of randomness to the game, but it also forces you to carefully explore each floor to be able to roll the right values on the dice, even if you find a safe quickly. I HAVE POWER! Don't think that the game will leave you to your own devices when you solve these tasks. There are several different ways players can recharge their energy to overcome the difficulty of each mission. First, each character has several unique abilities, and at the beginning of the game, players choose which one they want to use. Each of these abilities will come in handy to overcome various obstacles on the way. An acrobat, for example, can move on the same tile occupied by a guard without losing his invisibility. The gunner can look at the top card of the patrol deck to see where the guard will go next. All of these abilities will make your life a little easier, so you'll have a hard time choosing which one you want to use. Additionally, there are tools that can be purchased in various ways throughout the game. Perhaps you will get dynamite, which will allow you to destroy the wall. Or a donut that allows you to distract a guard and delay his movement for one turn. You'll need your tools, your skills, and excellent interaction between the robbers if you and your team hope to find the safes, open them, and escape through the roof before one of the players is discovered and caught. Do this and you win the game! TEAM IS MORE FUN I'm a big fan of co-op games, but there are certain elements that need to be present for a game to be good. The game should be challenging enough to keep players engaged. In "Burgle Bros." this is definitely true: players never know what rooms are hidden under the flipped tiles and where the guards will go next. To succeed, players will have to find a balance between good strategy and a little risk. Cooperative games should also allow everyone to participate. Some games can result in one or two people taking over, while the rest of the players just sit back and move their pieces around as they're told. In "Burgle Bros." it's possible to play that way, although character abilities and tools help prevent this a bit. I LOVE ROOT GAMES! It's hard to describe what I love about Burgle Bros. so much. The theme definitely plays a big role, you just feel like you're part of some heist of a classic movie. Artwork and components give each role individuality. There is also a good balance between strategy and luck. There are times when something terrible happens due to randomness: a guard moves right to where you are, or the dice roll is not in your favor. In general, you retain control over the course of the game. CONCLUSIONS ON THE GAME Plus : The game is simply wonderful, thematic; stylish design, starting from the box to cards and tiles. A solid co-op experience with adjustable difficulty. Many characters and layouts provide excellent replayability.Minus : The game is a real challenge; so that some accidents cannot make the game unfair, you should try to control the situation.  Burgle Bros. - a great game that looks just as great on the shelf as it does on the table. It fits the theme perfectly: not too light, not too dark, but full of exciting twists. Overall, this is a game that I think most players will want to have on their shelves after just one game. If you like what happens in the movies Italian Heist or Ocean's 11, be sure to check out the Burgle Bros. board game! USEFUL LINKS Burgle Bros. on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172081/burgle-bros VIDEO REVIEWS ..

WELCOME TO THE MOON  Welcome to the Moon is a game for 1-6 players created by Benoit Turpin and Alexis Allard , with illustrations by Anna Heidsik . This is a remake of Welcome To... ("Paper Quarters"), which was first published by Blue Cocker Games in 2018. Welcome to the Moon includes eight scenarios that describe the story of humanity's resettlement from Earth and its attempts to find a new home. These scenarios can be played individually in any order or as part of a sequential narrative campaign with additional features added as you progress. This provides a huge amount of content in a very small but very heavy box (heavy because it contains six copies of laminated player tablets for each scenario). There is a basic format that each scenario follows, with additional rules, mechanics, and scoring methods that vary depending on the scenario itself. Each player takes a tablet corresponding to the scenario being played out. The main deck of playing cards is shuffled and divided into three equal piles face down in the center of the table. Three mission cards are drawn from the six available for each scenario and placed face up in front of all players. After that, you can start playing!  The central deck of cards is the engine of all the decisions you have to make. In each round, the top card is played, which is placed face up next to its deck. Each of these cards has a number (1-15) on the back and a symbol on the face. So in each round you will be presented with three numbers and three symbols. For example, 14/Energy, 3/Astronaut and 11/Water. Each player then chooses a combination of number and symbol and applies it on their tablet. By writing the number in the appropriate place, according to the rules of the script, and if possible, taking the action that follows from the symbol. This review would be very long if I were to list all the possible actions, as they are different in each of the eight scenarios, so the best way to illustrate the situation is to use one scenario as an example. In Scenario #2, humanity travels from Earth to the Moon, collecting food and water along the way. You will need to complete the 40 odd steps of the route with numbers in ascending order. This is complicated by the fact that you only have access to numbers 1-15 on the cards, using the energy action to get breaks/stops. This will allow you to break up your long route into several smaller sections, with the increasing numbers starting over after each break. This makes it much easier to fill in all the numbers, but also makes it much harder to get points. There are several space stations along the way, which can be reached using the "robot" action and then using the "plant" action to score points. However, the action "plant" can be used only if you wrote a number in the section with this station. The more you break up your route into smaller sections, the fewer places and chances to use the plant action with the correct number.  The "water" action gives you points if you place a number in the "water" space. It's as simple as it sounds, but it gets really complicated when you have to balance getting the right number in the right place and using the right action at the right time to avoid running out of space to accommodate larger numbers. The "plan" and "astronaut" actions give you limited bonus actions (wildcards) that allow you to use any action with any number. They are extremely useful and often allow you to break a large pot or advance further. The player with the most points is the winner: in this scenario, points are awarded for space stations, water collection and changing mission maps. For example, one of the mission cards gives you points for being the first to place numbers next to four consecutive water spaces. This scenario, at first glance, is very simple. After all, this is not rocket science! However, after only 15 minutes of play, we found ourselves staring intently at our tablets, muttering to ourselves and trying to figure out what number and action we should be using. As the game got closer to the end of the game, it escalated to the point where a misplay on my part would practically kill me from continuing the game, while my opponent raced ahead to victory.  Welcome to the Moon is a tough game to review, as it's essentially eight games rolled into one, with a campaign to boot! It strongly resembles Wolfgang Warsch's Ganz Schon Clever, also known as That's Pretty Clever! ("The Right Move"), the classic Roll & Write game from Schmidt Spiele, albeit with a slower pace and more planning elements. The combination of scenarios allows for a truly huge level of replayability, not to mention the campaign and single player options. The pure and simple core of the game includes a lot of smart, thoughtful improvements and mechanics that I've only just begun to explore. With scenarios ranging from the very simple to the cerebral, Welcome to the Moon really has something for everyone. I think you'll be hard-pressed to find a better deal on the gaming market. Six player games are hard to come by. There are almost no six-player games that work equally well for large family gatherings or intense one-on-one battles. I will definitely be adding Welcome to the Moon to my collection and look forward to playing through each of the remaining scenarios before embarking on the big campaign. An excellent, elegant little game that exceeded my expectations in every way. A must-have for any collection! USEFUL LINKS Welcome to the Moon on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/339789/welcome-moon VIDEO REVIEWS ..