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 ..

 Have you ever wanted to lead an army of ninja aliens into battle? Wizard leprechauns? Or maybe robo-pirates? "Zamis" gives you such an opportunity. It's a modern classic that spawned countless dopes and remains popular among players. Personally, I fell in love with the game from the first game a few years ago thanks to the crazy mix of settings and chaos that takes place in it. ABOUT THE GAME  In Smash Up, each player chooses two factions and shuffles their decks, each consisting of 20 cards. As a result, combinations like those described above are obtained. The goal of the game is to score 15 victory points. Points are scored for capturing the base. To capture the base, the total strength of the henchmen on it should exceed the value indicated on it. At the start, players have 5 cards in their hand. During his turn, a player can place 1 of his henchmen on one of the bases and play 1 action. If, after a player's turn, the total strength of the henchmen in the base exceeds the specified value, it is captured, and the VPs are divided among the players depending on whether they took first, second, or third place in that base. After counting the points, the player draws 2 cards, and the next move comes. The game ends after someone has scored 15 points. WHAT MAKES ZAMIS SO GOOD? 1. Great and unique illustrations and setting. For a game of this kind, a mixture of many factions is exactly what is needed. In my experience, newcomers are very attracted to the process of choosing and mixing two factions in the most ridiculous combinations. In the last game, one of the players got really excited about the prospect of playing zombie dinosaurs.  2. In the game, surprisingly, there is a place for strategy. The D&D fan part of my gaming cell became familiar with the strengths of the chosen factions after a few turns of the first game and developed strategies accordingly. Indeed, some factions focus on discard pile manipulation, others pile on numbers, and so on. 3. There are many combinations here and it is interesting to try them out. For a lightweight game like "Smash Up", replayability is simply a must. Yes, you will probably quickly decide which factions are your favorites and prefer to play with them, but if you stick to certain combinations, the game can quickly get boring. Even in the "Smash Up" base there are a lot of different combinations, and if you add 1-2 dops, there will be enough of them for dozens of games. 4. Although it's almost filler, it's comprehensive enough to keep you interested in the game. The basic mechanics are very primitive: play 1-2 cards, follow the instructions on the card, score points from the bases, draw 2 new cards. But there is room for strategy and scrolling through quite complex combinations. And there are also a lot of actions, henchmen and special abilities of the bases, which you need to manage correctly if you want to win. NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE PERFECT 1. Due to the diversity of the text, sometimes there is an information load. Although the game is simple, during the course of the game, so many action cards, constant abilities of henchmen and special features of the bases can be used simultaneously (not to mention the potential possibilities of the cards currently in your hand) that you can lose count or at least forget about some useful possibility. Once you've memorized most of the cards, it gets easier, but the first few games can be confusing. 2. The game has quite strong randomness. Although "Smash Up" is not as random as many other fillers, you will suffer from a bad hand at times. In one recent game, I had no henchmen for 4 moves in a row. And all 4 of my strongest cards ended up on the bottom of the deck. There are ways to deal with randomness in Zamis, but a poorly drawn hand can lower your chances of winning. 3. Beginners will have a hard time. As with most decks ... but a person who has never played a certain faction is unlikely to be able to play it optimally right away. However, for many, this is not a problem, since players still receive a fan. After all, "Smash Up" is a frivolous and not very serious game. CONCLUSIONS  I consider Smash Up to be one of the best light/middleweight card games out there. Thanks to the number of additions, you will always have new interesting combinations to try, and even the fan base of combinations is enough for many games. This is one of the main advantages of "Smash Up": the factions are sufficiently different that there is room for various play styles and strategies. Another advantage is a wonderful (in my opinion) art. Among the disadvantages is the variety of text on the cards, which can overload the brain or at least distract. Especially beginners. In addition, an unsuccessfully drawn hand significantly reduces your chances of winning. But as far as I'm concerned, these flaws don't detract from the fanfare you can get from Smash Up. USEFUL LINKS Batch on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/122522/smash VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 The world sank. Endless downpours caused by a sunken god rising from the abyss threaten to engulf the last bastions of human civilization. Only a few brave captains can stand in his way - to set off to find out the cause of the eternal downpours and stop them. They have to fight, chart a course, investigate and trade in order to win. Everrain is a co-op game for 1-4 players set in a bleak apocalyptic world engulfed by the ocean and Cthulhu-like sea monsters. Game time — about 3 hours + 1 hour for each player, except for the first. There is an elaborate plot, engine construction and placement of workers. GAME PROCESS  Your task is to collect evidence. Up to 5 evidences can be mined in ports, which will speed up your progress. If you collect the required number of evidence (usually 16), then you win. You are faced with a game timer; if it reaches zero, the Drowned God avatar will appear, and the players will only have a few turns before the avatar destroys the world (destroys ports, sinks ships, etc.) and everyone loses. Evidence can be obtained in several ways: by exploring the surrounding world, completing quests, exchanging for artifacts, randomly finding in the moon and buying at the port. In general, there are many options; In terms of freedom of action, Everrain is almost a sandbox.  Obstacles in your way will be the fatigue of the crew members, the attacks of the enemies (both ships and boarding teams), as well as the mechanics of orders. Each turn you have 3 orders recharged, which you can use to control your team, move and attack your ship. But you can give at least all orders per turn, only 3 will be recharged. This adds tactical depth to the game: you have to think about which orders to recharge and which to leave later.  Team management is also not an easy task: crew members must be in certain locations so that movement and attacks are as effective as possible. But at the same time, the crew members accumulate fatigue, which can then be removed either in the port or by letting them rest in the cabin. However, orders are constantly running out — and you won't be able to get all the tired crew members out of the locations in time.  And, finally, the construction of the engine. The engine is your ship, which can be modified (due to upgrades found or purchased at the port) in many different ways. You can make him a powerful monster hunter who extracts evidence by studying defeated enemies. You can make him an explorer by building the fastest and most maneuverable ship capable of turning around at full speed. There are many options. And considering that there are also many ways to obtain evidence, you can make a ship to your liking. You can also hire specialists with powerful useful features on the ship, which, however, are more expensive than ordinary sailors, for example, a ship's doctor or a navigator. PLOT AND ATMOSPHERE  Perhaps the main advantage of Everrain is that the game is very atmospheric. The stunning illustrations and style perfectly convey the atmosphere of a sinking world with Lovecraftian elements. You feel like you've been transported to an alternate 1800s: upgrades, names of guns, passengers and ports, events - these are the bricks that make up the creepy world you've entered. It's easy to get lost in Everrain. Also, the game has a well-thought-out mechanics of quests, which are revealed gradually, in the course of their execution, due to the addition of new cards to already existing decks. The game even has tiny positive and negative trait cards for each crew member, which adds to the atmosphere and affects the gameplay. COMPONENTS  The quality of the components is excellent, albeit with a few minor gripes. The minions of the crew members and enemies are excellent, the models of the ships are excellent and in dynamic poses. The illustrations are very beautiful and thematic. In general, the quality of the components is at the level of the best boards, but in some places convenience has suffered in the pursuit of atmosphere. Especially in the case of the dice: the enemies' dice have 3 very similar symbols that are even harder to read due to the contrasting tones (red, engraved on black...). Some tokens are also too similar to each other. DISADVANTAGES OF THE GAME The game has its flaws. As mentioned, some components are easy to mix up. The game is long: even in solo it takes 3 hours. And the first game will take even longer because the rulebook has a bunch of little nuances that are easy to forget because of their illogicality (for example, enemies roll one attack die except on their first turn). The rulebook is structured so-so; although it contains all the information you need, finding the right section is not that easy considering how many there are. The game is still too easy. After several games, I never even saw an avatar: by the time the final act begins, you already have a ship capable of extracting evidence on such an industrial scale that in the last 2-3 turns you don't even have to do anything special, and then you win. No final boss fight, no unexpected plot twist... nothing spectacular. Everrain wouldn't hurt the final boss, though on the other hand it would further bloat an already massive game that could take a whole day to play - especially if there are three or four of you. Also, while it's formally a cooperative game, there's almost zero interaction between players. There is also the problem of the snowball building up in the middle of the game: the first act takes as much time as the other three combined. CONCLUSIONS  Everrain is a great game, but very large. A party can take almost the whole day, and learning how to play and teaching others will also take a lot of time. On the other hand, the gameplay is very exciting, themed and fan-based - especially when you upgrade the ship by buying new guns and battering rams. Everrain is worth trying if you can: traveling through a sinking world, collecting crew and hunting for treasure is very interesting. Everrain is an ambitious game that has achieved its goals. I happily spent hours traveling around islands, battling sea serpents and Lovecraftian monsters. It also goes well in solo, and noticeably faster than in a large composition. Would love to see an add-on that raises the mid and late game difficulty. Giant monsters and more varied enemy ships wouldn't hurt either; Now, ship-to-ship battles are unfortunately quite rare. All in all, if you want a massive co-op engine-building adventure in an eerie light setting that takes up a solid chunk of your weekend, then Everrain is the game for you. USEFUL LINKS Everrain on BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/252315/everrain VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 In space, no one will hear your scream... However, space marines do not scream. These genetically modified and devoted to the Emperor death machines fight fiercely and die without fear or doubt. A small squad of these armored warriors, armed with saw swords, flamethrowers and psi-powers, land on the Space Traveler - an abandoned ship that roams the vastness of space. It is clearly teeming with the local Zerg variety, the gene stealers. Your space marines have to carefully make their way through the claustrophobically tight corridors of the traveler, blowing the oncoming aliens to pieces and, most likely, dying one by one. Your task is to reach the final location, where the goal of your mission is located: an alien lair, a self-destruct mechanism, etc. According to the plot, the chances of success are about 44% with the loss of 86% of the personnel. Sound tempting? Then go ahead, for the Emperor! GAME PROCESS  "Space Hulk: Death Angel" is a lightweight/middleweight card co-op for 1-6 players aged 12+. Parties take 20-45 minutes. Each player controls 1-3 squads of 2 Space Marines (the number of squads controlled depends on the number of players; i.e. in a party of four each player controls only one squad, while in a solo party you will control three squads). You lay out space marine cards in a vertical axis and thereby form a battle formation. Location and alien cards will be laid out to the left and right of your paratrooper column.  After the aliens spawn (which is often accompanied by unpleasant events that make life difficult for you), your Space Marines can react with one of the following actions: supporting each other, moving, interacting with the surrounding location, or the Space Marines' favorite option: blowing the hell out of everything with futuristic weapons. But the game prudently limits you, forbidding you to repeat the action played in the previous turn. So you can't just shoot all the time and be forced to resort to various tactics. Each squad (basically there are 6 of them) has a certain special ability for each of the three available processes. For example, a flamethrower can engage a whole group of aliens when firing instead of just one, a paratrooper with a saw sword supported by comrades can simultaneously chop attacking aliens to pieces, and a Lexicanum psionic can freeze in a force field.  You can also "activate" objects located in locations: doors, levers, and fuel tanks — respectively, blocking the way for aliens, receiving a temporary bonus, or destroying a large group of enemies (but the space marine who did this risks getting killed himself) . This provides a variety of gameplay; firing from all barrels and praying is not always the optimal tactic. All attacks are resolved by rolling a single die. The chance of a successful hit is 50% by default. Support tokens obtained by supporting other Space Marines and some game effects allow you to roll the dice both offensively and defensively.  On the defensive? That's right: the aliens who survived your turn attack themselves, trying hard to bite through the space marines' armor. And their chances of success, unfortunately, are quite high: each newcomer has a 33% chance of killing a space marine. The more enemies, the higher the risk of death. If your fighter is expecting an attack, then you can try to avoid unpleasant results with the aforementioned support tokens. However, there are always not enough tokens, and the cube sometimes just mocks you. Especially considering that it is custom, with faces not from 1 to 6, but from 0 to 5. This goes on until you wipe out all the aliens in the current location and move on to the next one. Each mission consists of 4-5 stages that you have to go through to win. If you survive to the end and fulfill the conditions of the mission, you win. IMPRESSION  You shouldn't expect to win, the game is HARD. No, not "complicated" - it's "Robinson Crusoe" complicated. Space Hulk is simply brutal, and you understand this after seeing how easily the gene stealers chew up your space marines. In the course of the game, the game will give you many unpleasant surprises - and you will be defeated more than once or twice. Personally, I win 10% of games. I managed to win, I'm afraid to approach the "Angel of Death" again. As your fighters fall one by one, you feel helpless and frustrated: could you have somehow saved Brother Claudius, or are you just rolling the dice terribly? This cruelty is the essence of the game. On the one hand, this makes Space Hulk even more of a challenge. You won't win on the first or second try; the game will make you sweat to succeed. On the other hand, you will experience a lot of frustration when bad dice rolls lead to one defeat after another. Luck plays a significant role here. No matter how well you plan everything, sometimes you just need a good throw. And such randomness can push some players away from the game.  However, the brutal complexity and sudden deaths fit very well into the Warhammer universe: the paratroopers are both cool and vulnerable at the same time. Their journey through the tunnels is conveyed by an atmosphere of claustrophobia and the sense of impending death that you feel every time an alien creature is pulled from the log. Each success causes an explosion of emotions. Victory is an event worth celebrating. Genestealers are not standard minion enemies; they are a very real threat, and after defeating them I was much happier than after any game of Pandemic. However, I must note that "Angel of Death" is essentially a solo game, to which the rules for multiplayer have been screwed. I enjoyed playing solo the most, and the artificial distribution of roles to several players does not work well. You have to discuss your plans, but you don't have the right to say what you're doing. Does it sound strange? I would! Therefore, many players simply score on planning. In addition, the game is very vulnerable to alpha players; seasoned veterans can easily command novices. However, in solo mode "Space Hulk: Death Angel" is very good and, moreover, compact; to take with you on a trip. If you want a challenging solo game, then this is for you. If you want something easier (that is, games where there are real chances to win) - look for something else. If you want a game where the die doesn't decide your fate, then Space Hulk: Death Angel isn't for you either. As for Warhammer fans, they probably won't be disappointed: the atmosphere of the game and the artistic descriptions correspond to the universe. For those who want similar sensations, but in a more "serious" game, we can recommend the original Space Hulk, which has minions, dueling confrontation, etc. However, it is noticeably longer than the card game. In general, due to the ambiguity of the game, I cannot give it the highest rating. But I can't do low either, because her strengths are very good. Know what you're signing up for, be prepared for a glorious death, and sooner or later victory will be yours. My rating is 7/10. USEFUL LINKS Space Hulk: Death Angel on the portal BGG https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71721/space-hulk-death-angel-card-game Space Hulk: Death Angel on the Game Theory portal https://tg.in.ua/boardgames/601/space-hulk-death-angel-card-game VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 Family games are the most versatile genre of board games. Games from our TOP can be played with children, with parents, with friends and with newcomers to the world of board games. 10. TICKET TO RIDE, CARCASSONE These games will most likely be offered to you in the store :) They are very popular and sold in large quantities. Moreover, each of these three games has many varieties. Train ticket: Europe, America, Nordic countries... Carcassonne: Classic, Gold Rush, Amazon... They share a common mechanic, but the setting, the place of action in the games are different. If you haven't played these games yet or you're choosing a gift and don't know what the person likes, any of the games will be a good option. 9. POTION EXPLOSION  A very simple and enjoyable game with a bunch of colorful glass balls. During the game, you will collect various ingredients and brew potions. You will learn, for example, how to make potions of wisdom from unicorn tears and dragon smoke 8. THE CASTLES OF BURGUNDY  The events of "Castles of Burgundy" take place in the region of medieval France. Players, playing the role of aristocrats, rule small principalities, building settlements, strong castles, practicing river trade, developing mines and using the knowledge of travelers. The principalities are represented in the game by the personal fields of the players, spread out in a hexagon. During the game, hexagons are filled with settlement tiles. Each tile has its own purpose, and they start working when they appear on the field. One of the best family strategies that opens the way to more complex economic games. 7. SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM  Do you like player interaction, dialogue and bluffing? If so, try the Sheriff of Nottingham game. In it, each participant in turn becomes a sheriff, and the rest try to transport legal goods and contraband through him. You put all the cards in a bag, give it to the sheriff and declare what is there. For example, like this: "Sheriff, you know me, I have never deceived you and always acted extremely honestly. So this time I'm carrying 5 boxes of apples." The sheriff might remember that there weren't that many cards with apples this turn and you're likely to fool him. He wants to open the bag to check, but you stop him: "Maybe something else could have got into my bag, I was going in a hurry ... Maybe 5 coins will help you believe me?" You hand him coins and the sheriff calms down. 6. FOR SALE Quite a brilliant game for its size. You will buy and sell real estate in an effort to make money. Moreover, houses are different: from a cardboard box and a smokehouse to castles and space stations. A simple and dynamic auction game. 5. COLT EXPRESS  Fun in a box! All of you together (up to 6 people, we recommend exactly 5-6) will rob the train. It's every man for himself, whoever takes the most is the winner. You'll be running all over the train, shooting opponents, taking bags of money from them and controlling a sheriff who really doesn't like what's happening on his train! The highlight of this game is how the action cards are played. You lay them out one after the other, but you don't perform the events at once. For example, the first player says that he will get into the wagon, the second player says that he will shoot, the third player will run forward, and so on for several rounds of actions. Then you collect the general deck of cards and start doing all these actions. And from this moment the most interesting begins. Why is he shooting in the air? Why is she going to meet the sheriff? Someone hit a freaking bullet. Real chaos! And an even funnier situation occurs when the train enters the tunnel: everyone puts their cards face down. Anything can happen in the tunnel! This game is not for serious strategy, just relax and have fun, then you are guaranteed to have a great time. 4. TAKENOKO  The cutest and cutest game in this rating. Here you will need to irrigate the area and grow bamboo for the panda to eat. Moreover, the mechanics of the game are quite interesting, that is, you will need to consider how to score more points than your opponents. 3. 13 CLUES Each player sees three clues, which are divided into: Person, Crime Scene, and Murder Tool. Also, players know all the cards of their opponents (except those behind their screen). Your goal is to calculate the set of cards that fits on the front side of your screen, and to be able to do this, you will need to strain your brains. Players investigate by asking each other questions, consulting with an undercover informant, and making accusations to gather clues and frame suspects. The object of the game is to identify which of the 13 clues fits your case before the others! 2. CELESTIA  One of the best family games on the market right now is Celestia. It is based on the push your luck mechanic, i.e. "try your luck". And this means that all your games will be very gambling. You fly with your friends on an airship, and the further you go, the more treasures you can find. But there may be a lot of problems on your way: clouds, birds and even pirates. Before each new city, the captain (and the players take turns being captains) rolls dice that show the obstacles we have encountered. Each player then decides whether to stay on the ship or disembark and receive the current city's reward. Those who remain on board are completely dependent on the captain. If he has the right cards, they fly on. If not, the ship crashes and nobody gets anything. Get off now or hope for luck and fly on? Tit in the form of easy points at the start or cranes in the form of 25 points and the last city? You'll love Celestia for its simplicity and the emotion it brings! And I have not yet said that you can bluff very actively here... That is, there is quite a lot of communication in the game. And isn't that one of the main things we play board games for? 1. PANDEMIC  The best, in our opinion, game from the genre of family cooperative games. In this game you will not need to compete and try to get more points. Here you will all work together as a team to save the planet from terrible epidemics and try to cure spreading diseases. Moreover, each player will have a role with special abilities. This game should be in everyone's collection!)..

 Note : This review contains no plot spoilers. The review mentions the plot, but without specific details.  I will start, of course, with the appearance and components. The "Book of Miracles" can be called amazing without exaggeration. 3D elements are beautiful, strong and functional (more on that below). In addition to colorfully painted cardboard, there are also good miniatures and cubes. So at first glance, the game is very attractive, and it helps to immerse yourself in the story that is being told.  As for the basic mechanics, you can get used to it in a few moves. Heroes have essentially four options for action: move, interact with certain locations, fight enemies or use special abilities. Everything is very simple, moves do not take much time. However, the heroes need to act together and coordinate. Where to go, which enemy to attack, when to use a special ability are all important decisions; especially the use of sparks, which occur quite rarely. Moreover, the gameplay is not reduced to "go and kill enemies", and this is good considering that "The Book of Wonders" is intended to be played with children. Enemies often distract you from a truly important task, and you will not only have to deal with them, but also complete the task.  And they are very diverse. During the course of the campaign, you will encounter various tasks: from find-and-bring to sieges and battles with bosses. Each section feels unique, as it has its own special rules that, while not turning the gameplay upside down, add something fresh that keeps players interested. And three-dimensional elements are used very creatively; For example, the game has a challenge of dexterity, which delivers a lot of fan.  In total, the six-chapter campaign takes a moderate amount of time, so the interest in the game will most likely not die out in your game cell. There is leveling in the campaign, so you will have several options to improve your character, which are very cliche by the way (tank, berserker, marksman and healer). This helps to adjust them to your preferred play style. All of the mechanics listed above are easy to master, so the result is a simple and fan-friendly game for casuals and families.  However, there are, unfortunately, disadvantages that spoil the positive aspects described above. How critical they are to you is up to you. To begin with, a small nitpick: there are unclear points in the rules. What does "hero phase ends" mean? Can every character that hasn't descended yet be descended, or does the current round end immediately? "You need a spark to interact with this card" - do you need to spend it or just have it? We interpreted the rules in our own way, but an official explanation would not hurt. It is also worth noting that the parts (with the exception of the introductory section) took us 1.5-2 hours, which I feel is a bit excessive. Not sure if there are so many parents sitting around playing with small children. They may have to split their heads in two.  Another gripe is the unequal distribution of important skills between the four characters in the party. Personally, we thought that Ken and Sid were much stronger than Lara and Tina. Killing enemies, generating sparks, and supporting other characters are very valuable abilities, unlike Lara's and Tina's abilities, which feel very situational. More often than not, they couldn't do anything useful with the remaining actions, because either the other characters had already cleared all the enemies, or the interesting locations were too far away.  But there are also more serious disadvantages. First, the development of the plot.  The second serious drawback is the large amount of randomness. Battles are fought on dice, each dice has a 50% chance of success. You can roll one die per turn, two successes are required to defeat an average enemy. Only enemies do not roll dice, but deal damage automatically. This speeds up the gameplay a bit, but since the behavior of the enemies is dictated by the randomly drawn cards, situations often arise when the heroes lose consciousness without having time to do anything. And the special actions available at the expense of items and special rights are often extremely situational and sometimes completely useless. Often, a series of bad throws and bad cards radically changed the situation on the field and even led to defeat. If it happens once or twice, it can only be annoying, but when it happens regularly—your fate is decided by bad luck, not tactics—it's frustrating. Moreover, in each section there is at least one mechanic, clearly designed to help unlucky heroes; apparently, the authors noticed the problem, but did not do anything about it.  All in all, I'm not entirely sure what The Book of Wonders is trying to be: an interactive story with gameplay elements bolted on, or a dungeon crawler for kids with story elements? For the first one, the plot is weak, and replaying the campaign is unlikely to be interesting - it's all the same. For the second, there is obvious overproduction, and individual chapters are too long for young children to have the patience to sit through to the end. USEFUL LINKS Wonder Book on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/340237/wonder-book   VIDEO REVIEWS ..

Hello friends, We are glad to announce that already today we are getting the super hit Carcassonne in Ukrainian and the not-so-hit Code Names in pictures. Both games will be in the store after 19oo, but we are already opening the possibility to order these games in our online store. In addition, we received a lot of everything, please contact :)..

 If you've heard of Voidfall and aren't sure if it's worth picking up, I'll try to help you out with that dilemma. I immediately invested in the kickstarter campaign and already played about 25 test games. The main advantage of Voidfall: it is a game from Mindclash. The main downside of Voidfall: it's a Mindclash game. As for the game's components, they are of excellent quality, as expected from Mindclash. Plus additional goodies for invested bakers: the ability to replace several types of tokens with metal coins.  However, I will probably immediately go to the description of the shortcomings that may make you abandon the purchase. The main potential problem for a beginner is information overload. If the same company's in-development Septima is (from what I've heard) an attempt at a frivolous game, Voidfall is the exact opposite: an attempt at a Twilight of the Empire-level cosmic 4-X deck. In training mode, players are limited to 4 symmetrical factions that differ only in starting technologies, but in a full-fledged party of players, as many as 14 factions (Houses) are expected - and each of the 10 inactive in training mode has its own characteristics and its own style of play. Plus scenarios with different rules, plus two starting layouts for each House, plus up to 28 different technologies that can be mixed... all this can send a newbie into a stupor. Personally, for me, who fell in love with Mindclash games after buying Anachronism, this is not a problem, but this factor cannot be ignored.  Another potential problem is the cooperative mode. In some games, cooperative modes are easier than competitive ones. Everyone works together, so it becomes easier to seat a newcomer at the table: he does not have to play against the rest. Voidfall is different. The co-op mode here is closer to Arkham Horror / Ancient Horror: the game constantly pressures you, and one wrong move or bad card can upset the entire strategy and potentially lead to a loss. Also, the co-op mode is a bunch of extra pages of text with rules and mechanics that are not present in the competitive mode. They are quite thematic and fit into the setting, but they can be overloaded out of habit. Before trying the co-op mode, you need to make sure that at least one of the participants knows the rules well to avoid mistakes, and be prepared that it will not be easy. Again, some tabletop gamers like myself like these heavyweight games, but this factor cannot be ignored.  If you haven't lost interest in Voidfall yet, I'll tell you more about the competitive mode (and then the co-op mode). The field here is hexagonal, with a layout that depends on the scenario. For the most part, the placement of players is symmetrical, except for some unique tiles that can be further or closer (balanced by other unique tiles). The game is divided into three rounds. Each round starts with an event (1 of 3 possible for this scenario) that determines how many cards each player can play in the round. These cards are drawn from the player's hand of 8 cards (the 9th is added at the beginning of the second round). Each map has 3 sections; the player chooses which 2 of the 3 to activate. Cards are played in a circle: each player plays one card and chooses 2 sections (or can sacrifice a certain resource and activate all 3), after which the next player goes - and so on until everyone has played a certain number of cards. At the end of the round, each player receives an attack from the Wildborn NPC and potentially receives bonuses from the event if they meet the conditions listed there. At the end of the third round, points are counted - the one with the most wins.  In each scenario, the player can choose one of 3-4 different Houses, and each House has two starting layout options: a more economical one and a more militaristic one, which makes each scenario highly replayable and gives room for customization starting from the layout phase. There are a lot of opportunities in the competition mode. Certain Houses and scenarios encourage a certain style of play, but the variety of options available allows for many different strategies to succeed. Despite being competitive, the need to guard each sector through the attacks of the Wasteborn means that an economy-focused player can defend against an aggressive player with the distance separating them, and develop through construction, gaining more points for their not-so-large, but more developed holdings than an expansionist with large undeveloped holdings. And the corruption mechanic, which forces players to spend actions cleaning it up or risk penalties (like zero points from a corrupt sector), means you have to make even more difficult decisions each turn about what to play, and you're constantly thinking, "Eh , let's play one more card..." Every action is important and there are no unnecessary cards.  The co-op mode is based on the same basic rules, but here the hollows behave more diversely and pose a greater threat. Scenario cards here are completely different. New tiles and objectives appear that cannot be ignored. The choice of Houses is not limited by the scenario, unlike the competition mode, so players can choose optimal combinations that complement each other. There are also additional decks of cards that essentially give the Wasteborn an "action" at the start of each player's turn (and not just at the start of the event round). You have to respond to their activity or risk unpleasant consequences. Also, each player must now beat the Wasteborn's score at the end of the game or everyone loses. Unlike players who accumulate points throughout the game, the Wasteborn only score points at the end when counting VP, so the players' job is to deprive them of the opportunity to earn them, earning points themselves in the process. The balance of co-op depends on the scenario, but in general the Wasteborn score points from tiles that can be cleared from it through economic and military means. Therefore, in a cooperative mode, it is simply necessary to balance economic and military power, unlike in a competitive mode, where everyone can emphasize the economy, run to their corners and succeed. If your fleet is weak in co-op, then you will not be able to clear the field of ships and tiles of the Wasteborn, and they will score so many points that even the most optimized economists will not defeat them. It's true and backwards: you can't emphasize only the war, otherwise the Wasteborn will win at the expense of economic tiles.  In both modes, one of the main distinguishing features of the game is the lack of randomness. The set of available technologies and events is fixed and depends on the scenario. Although the order in which the three potential events appear (as well as the Wildborn cards in co-op) is formally random, it can be leveled. Completely deterministic battles are also a feature of Voidfall. As the game progresses, your fleet's strengths and modifiers will change, but you can always predict who will win the battle before it even begins. It's a breath of fresh air compared to games where your strategy depends on dice rolls. I hope my review has helped you decide if you need Voidfall. USEFUL LINKS Voidfall on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/337627/voidfall VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 The game is a small gray box with meeples of four colors, a deck of small cards, wooden coins and dice, and several cardboard tablets for scoring, for a tech tree per player, and for the three public actions. The cards contain possible actions (eight pieces), civilizations (34 pieces!) and wonders of the world (10 pieces). INITIAL GAME SCHEDULE We put a meeple on the division 0 of the winning points track. We choose five random maps of the wonders of the world, the rest will not be needed.  We reveal five cards from the deck of civilizations.  And in random order, we lay out eight action cards, placing above the first three tablets with three constantly available actions.  We give each player a technology tablet. We give out three coins to everyone, and one more to the first player (yes, yes, why so, it will become clear now). General appearance of the game at the beginning. Even the first player's token is visible. FLOW OF THE GAME Players take turns, and the active player performs all three phases listed below at once. The next player will have the same actions as the first player. Thus, the interaction in the game is limited and is reduced to competition for peoples and wonders of the world and - at times - to a comparison of military power, which is simply the number of shields on technologies and civilizations. 1. The choice of civilization The active player chooses any of the open civilization cards, places it in front of him and takes the number of meeples of his color drawn on it. At the beginning of the game, this step is mandatory (without minions - nowhere), in subsequent rounds it can be skipped. On the map of the people, in addition to the population, two characteristics are indicated. The upper one is active while the selected civilization is active. The bottom one will work the whole game.  If the player already has a civilization and he decides to take a new one, then he has two ways.  The first way : update the civilization. The new card is placed on top of the old one, leaving only the bottom property of the predecessor. The player leaves exactly as many meeples as are indicated on the new card. Almost like in "Small World".  The second way : to conquer a new civilization with its active people. The new card is placed under the active card so that only the bottom property of the subordinates is available. In this case, the player receives one meeple in addition to his own. Players place one coin on all four remaining nation cards. The money accumulated from the card will go to whoever chooses it later. A new civilization opens from the deck. The properties of nations are diverse. They improve standard actions, save money, add action cells, increase military power. Their combination is one of the advantages of the game. It is worth remembering that a player can have a maximum of four meeple and a maximum of three civilizations can be played. And there are six rounds in the game, and workers can easily die - see further. Therefore, it is necessary to choose a new people carefully. 2. Execution of actions The active player can now send his workers to available action cells in the classic style of worker placement. Unless, at the end of his turn, the player takes the miplov from the cells and blocks only himself from using the action again. Actions from the tablet above a row of action cards are always available to activate, and actions from the three cards below the tablet are also available. Some actions require sending two workers at once, many - additional payment in coins. Workers will not return to the player from some cells (red). Technologies can only be studied using the always-available Research action for four coins. Learned technologies are marked with cubes on the technology tablet. There are nine of them in total, the bottom three are available first, then the next ones will open according to the arrows. Almost like its big game brothers, only, of course, it's more of a stunted bush than a technology tree.  It is possible to pay seven coins and send the meeples to the red window of the Wonder of the World to choose any of the open Wonders of the World cards. They will give a one-time bonus or extra points at the end of the game. There are few meeples, they can be replenished only by upgrading the civilization, and as we remember, only three civilizations can be played, so the choice should be made difficult. Money is needed, because without it many actions are not available, but at the end of the game, coins are useless. Do I send my meeples for two coins irrevocably to the Enslave action, expecting to grab a Chinese card with four meeples at the start of the next round? But the ability of the Chinese is too weak. There are usually six to seven actions available, a maximum of four meeples, so the action phase flies by quickly. 3. Return of workers Finally, the player takes his workers from the action cells. From the white cells, the meeples return to the owner, from the red cells, they go to reset. Currently, these three phases are conducted by the next player. End of round When everyone has gone down, the first player's token is passed counter-clockwise. A tablet with always-available actions moves along a row of action cards to the right. The card that came out from under the faceplate on the left goes out of the game, but a new case begins. If it is a Mora card, all players lose a meeple. If there is a sword in the corner of the new map, then the players compare their military power, that is, simply the number of shields in their technologies and on the maps of nations. The weakest player in military terms loses a worker, if there are several of them, all the weaklings suffer. The sixth round, in which there is nowhere to move the tablet, is the last. We count the points and determine the winner! EXPERIENCE FROM THE GAME We only played the prototype, which looks grey. Maps are small, illustrations are minimal. But all the information is well presented, the infographic is clear, the game is very compact.  Age of Civilization does not compare and does not aim to compare with famous civilization building games. Having only coins and workers as resources, the player has to squeeze the main thing out of his subjects in six rounds - victory points. We have exhausted the current civilization, we are finding a new one. Too bad you can only get three, you have to hold back and plan. And this is the beauty of the game — in a short time and in a combination of the simplest actions, a lot of interesting game decisions are made that affect the entire course of the fight. It is interesting to select a "combo" of the properties of peoples and technologies, choosing between a card with a large number of workers and a card with a good property is difficult and therefore interesting. Yes, sometimes a strong combination of civilizations can come out and someone can easily win thanks to it, but the brevity of the party does not give this problem. The constant diversity of the game is also worth noting. Both the variety from party to party due to the large number of people cards and the random sequence of actions, and the variety within the party - each round one action goes and a new one is added. USEFUL LINKS Age of Civilization on the BGG portal https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/264647/age-civilization Age of Civilization on the Game Theory portal https://tg.in.ua/boardgames/1893/age-civilization VIDEO REVIEWS ..

 Board games have a significant drawback: you need to allocate time and space for them, as well as gather the appropriate company. It is problematic to play a game even at a fast table when you are standing in a traffic jam, riding a bus or having a snack. Mobile versions of your favorite games come to the rescue. In this selection, I have collected 10 board games for iOS that I personally liked, do not require an Internet connection, and play well for one player. The selection is purely subjective, and the article is informative. 10. Neuroshima Hex! Not only the desktop, but also the digital version of the game became a classic. Many factions are fighting in the ruins of post-apocalyptic America. These are the supercomputer Moloch (which destroyed the old world), the remnants of the military, and gangs of savages. All factions have their own sets of combat units and orders and generally feel different. In terms of gameplay, this is a quick and simple wargame with a random arrival of cards into the hand. All players take turns fielding soldiers and applying orders until a battle card is played. At this moment, the Mexican duel begins - and usually it becomes more free on the field. Each side has a base of 20 health, whoever has more HP left at the end of the game wins. From 2 to 4 players fight, there are bots, it is possible to play from one phone and via the Internet. Some time ago, the creators of the digital version decided to upgrade, as a result, the graphics changed and only 4 basic factions remained. They promised to return the rest, and to those who bought it for free, but so far Steel Police and New York have returned it. 9. Mystic Vale In ninth place is a non-standard, but very nice deck building strategy. Each player initially has 20 cards, each slot with 3 upgrades. In 9, one of the slots is occupied by cursed earth (+1 to filth and +1 to mana), in 3 inserted by improvement +1 to mana and 8 are empty. This deck will be pumped by the players during the game. Laying out the cards is similar to the game "21", only you can't sort through the dirty ones. The player opens the cards one by one, for each withered tree icon on the map he receives +1 to filth, for each growing tree icon -1. The maximum amount of defilement is 3, if it is more - the move is missed. Everyone decides for themselves whether to risk or open new cards when taint = 3. Then we collect mana and runes from open cards and use them to buy inserts in cards and valley cards. The latter are bought for victory points or small effects and are laid out in front of the player until the end of the game, reminiscent of investments. Inserts into cards give more mana, more runes and victory points, and the deck is pumped. There is really no interaction between players, there is no need to follow the progress of other players. The account is always on the screen, the card market is small, and if rivals bought something, new cards will simply be added. For a board game — a significant minus, for the electronic version digging in one's own deck the whole game is not so terrible. The pictures are pleasant (they even move when hovered over), the process is meditative and relaxing. From the minuses, the parts are quite similar to each other, there is nothing memorable here, not even close There are two paid expansions to the game that add new maps, hero mechanics, and amulets. If the process has started, it is worth looking closely, otherwise there are not so many cards in the database and they will quickly get boring. 8. Potion Explosion We arrange explosions, cook potions, become the best student. A fairly simple game, more on attentiveness, although a little logic will not hurt. Each turn we get one ball, higher balls fall down. If balls of the same color collide, they also fall into our cauldron, and other balls fall into the vacated place. We pour potions from the cauldron, we get points, and the potions themselves can be used to get the necessary balls. 2-4 players participate, you can play with one phone. It is worth noting the high level of bot play: it is interesting to play against them and it is not always possible to win. A little variety is added by the choice of 6 types of potions out of 8 possible, although you don't really go wild here. The application allows you to choose up to two professors who give indulgences to students or punish them for neglecting components. A new white essence is added, which plays the role of a joker both when collecting components and when brewing potions. There are also 4 new recipes, we are already choosing 6 out of 12 potions per batch. 7. The Castles of Burgundy It's time for a classic euro about the Middle Ages. From 2 to 4 participants rebuild the duchy. Each turn, the player throws 2 dice, these are his actions, and there will be 25 such throws in total, that is, 50 actions per game. For example, a 4 was rolled on the die, we can: take a token from market position 4 into reserve; place a token from the supply on the area with the number 4; sell goods with the number 4 from stock; take two workers (the value of the cube does not matter). Each worker can adjust the die by ±1, which reduces the impact of randomness. Reduces, but does not completely eliminate, and here every move is important. Tokens please with variety, each with its own effect, especially yellow ones, which give a bonus until the end of the game and set the vector of development. The release of tiles on the market also has elements of randomness: one of the players collects chickens, and the other sheep, and what will appear for sale in the next rounds - you can't guess. In general, the rules are quite simple, and there is a good training, after which there should be no questions. As a result, we have a sound euro, without long calculations in advance, with a large influence of chance. The competition for tokens and goods is intense throughout the game, the bots play at a very decent level. You can complain a little about the pale design, but you get used to it in one game. 6. Small World I have to admit that I adore this game. The combination of simple gameplay, high replayability, excellent scalability and low turn waiting time is a rarity for games of this genre. My personal preference is the design: feral hobbits, elf flower children, beer-swilling dwarves - it's a pleasure to look at. Before the game, two stacks are shuffled: races of peoples and abilities of peoples, the combination of which gives many combinations. So nomadic ghouls, diplomatic orcs or heroic rats can turn out. Since the world is really small, there will not be enough room for everyone and conflict is inevitable. It is worth noting that bots play quite aggressively, but, unlike live players, they are not offended by attacks and do not sweep the game off the table. Conflicts inevitably undermine the fighting potential of the chosen people, but no problem: a weakened race can be put into decline and a new one can be chosen by missing a turn. For additional money, there are 5 mini-additions to the game, but unfortunately, they only add new races and abilities. No "Riverlands", "Sky Islands", "Necromancer Islands" or "Leaders" were imported. However, the game is great even with computer opponents (though with live people it's even better). 5. Terraforming Mars One of the most famous Eurogames, flattered by both critics and the most ordinary players. The bottom line is that several corporations (by the number of players) are terraforming the red planet, namely creating oceans, green zones, raising the temperature, building cities. Each corporation has its own specialization: one skillfully builds mines, another is better at planting forests, the third specializes in expensive projects, and so on. The arrangement of Mars occurs by drawing cards of projects that differ in cost and effect; yes, the card allows you to reserve one cell for future construction, it costs 1 credit, to build a power plant - 8 credits, and Open City - 23. Many projects give profit in the long run, for example, Migrant City costs money, but it does not bring profit, but it increases your income when any player builds a city. And pets give victory points for built by all players of the city. We add a project that gives 2 credits for each new city on Mars, and we get the rest of the party passive income. It is on such simple combinations that the well-being of the corporation is built. You can play on the same phone, with bots or online - and unfortunately, all three options have a cover. When playing from one phone, the already slow game takes a long time, and I'm not a fan of this process. But it doesn't compare to playing online. All my opponents thought about each move for an incredibly long time - and I wanted not to win, but to end this torture. Having played three games online, I am not going to repeat this experience again. Well, bots... when you start playing, they are normal, then, unfortunately, they have few chances to win. Only the Prologue application has been released for the game, and it is strictly recommended for purchase, allowing you to choose 2 of the 4 proposed powerful and free projects at the start, which speeds up the boring start. Well, the new corporations and the solo mode, in which you need to colonize Mars alone, will not be superfluous. 4. One Deck Dungeon Next we have a cube puzzle. Although the name of the game, classes of heroes, names of skills and monsters will try to mislead you and pretend to be a dungeon crawler, you should immediately understand that the adventures here are tight, but the tasks, on the contrary, are good. Before the game, we choose the dungeon we will go to (they differ in overall difficulty and the final boss, the rank-and-file enemies in the deck are the same) and 1-2 heroes. If the hero is alone, he is almost twice as..