Project GIPF is a series of eight abstract strategy games designed by Chris Burm. Each game has a hexagonal playing area and involves reducing the number of pieces or mechanics of the playing area. The way they approach these elements is not only unique, but also combines what I think are the best qualities in most theses: simple rules that reveal a complex game. If you've never heard of Project GIPF, GIPF , TAMSK , ZÈRTZ , DVONN , YINSH , PÜNCT , TZAAR , and LYNGK , I encourage you to look them up in cardboard form or digitally online. They are worth your time. Today's game: TAMSK  Before I begin, I know some supporters may object to including TAMSK here. This is because in 2007, when Broome introduced TZAAR , he stated that it would replace TAMSK in the GIPF project. fine. When you write a review about a GIPF project, feel free not to mention it. Having played TAMSK, I know it deserves a mention every time a GIPF project comes up. That's because TAMSK , a game about balancing the falling sands of time against a rapidly shrinking board, is a great game. Great game. GAME PROCESS The game takes place on the hexagonal black field located between them. Each player has three hourglass timers; one takes the black timers and the other takes the red timers. You will also have 32 white rings.  At the start of each turn, you'll take one of your three hourglasses, flip it over and place it in any available pipe next to where it started. You will then place one of your rings on top of the hourglass where it will fall around the tube that holds the hourglass. As soon as one player places the hourglass in the tube, the next player can move. They don't have to wait for the ring to sweep through the hourglass just played. When a tube has rings equal to its height, that tube is out of play. This means that the outermost trumpets can only be played once, the second "ring" of hexes can be played twice, and so on. For an hourglass timer to remain in play, it must always have sand from the top half to the bottom. If the hourglass runs out of sand at the top, it freezes on the board. The pipe he is standing in is blocked until the end of the game. The game continues until neither player can make any additional moves because their timers have run out of sand or they have no valid moves. Again, the winner is the one with the fewest rings at the end of the game. CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE GAME When the taller pipes are toward the center of the board, the gameplay will naturally move toward the center. However, the outer edges can be good places to quickly drop rings in an attempt to block your opponent's hourglass. (Remember that a frozen hourglass cannot move and therefore will not help you get rid of the rings.) By introducing real-time as a game mechanic, players are forced to quickly assess their hourglass, their position on the board, the position of their opponent's hourglass, the areas where their hourglass can be trapped, and how you can catch one of your opponents. sand clock. All in a fraction of a second. With varying degrees of 3-minute hourglass, there is no time for analysis paralysis in TAMSK.  TAMSK is the only game I play standing up. Too much is happening too fast for me to sit and feel like I can take it all in. It's also the only abstract strategy game that gives me an adrenaline rush. True, this type of game is not for everyone. I once played TAMSK with a friend who, at the end of the game we were playing, said, “I play games to relax and take my time between turns. I never want to play that again." Personally, I will play it when I can. It's a fast-paced game similar to Speed Chess, except you don't hit the timer after making a move—the timers are your playing pieces, and you have to manage them both in time and place. TAMSK was removed as an official game in Project GIPF mainly due to production costs. As a result, it has been out of print for years and is hard to find. However, if an exciting abstract strategy game sounds intriguing, then this Pluto from the GIPF project is worth your time...

Hello everyone, we are happy to inform you about our super big product update Meet the fresh arrival and novelties of our store :) Hurry up, the games are great and for all tastes, be the first to buy :)..

 Hello everyone, we are happy to inform you about our super big product update. Meet the fresh arrival and novelties of our store :) Hurry up, the games are great and for all tastes, be the first to buy :)..

 In this review, I want to talk about an unusual board game. It is unusual for two (even three) reasons: firstly, it is based on a popular computer game (no, no, this is not Civilization), and secondly, this game is an action game. A real action game in a desktop version! And thirdly, the game was successful, which, as you understand, does not always happen in games (or movies) based on well-known franchises. So, meet: Gears of War, or "Six of War"! The board game Gears of War is based on the computer game of the same name, released on PC and consoles in three parts, which has gained considerable popularity. To be honest, I haven't played the original, so I don't even know who the Locasts are and why they fight the humans. Then, you ask, how did I buy it if I'm not a fan of this game on PC? For several reasons: FFG, Corey Konicka, and fancy Artificial Intelligence (AI). The game promised a never-before-seen opponent AI (yes, this is a cooperative game in which one to four people face off against a cardboard dummy), and looking ahead, I will say that the developer managed to fully realize the illusion that you are playing with a fairly intelligent opponent. And all it took was a deck of cards! A very unusual game genre. Although there were games with a similar content before that (Doom, Space Hulk), it was quite a long time ago and each of them had a villain player. So, this is a real tactical shooter! I wonder how Konichka managed to adequately transfer the infernal shooter from the computer to the table and also turn it into a multiplayer? Miracles, and sometimes...  Perhaps, I will tell you about the composition of the box. Since Gears of War was released by FFG, the quality of miniatures and maps should not be mentioned separately - and so it is clear that it is excellent. Although, I will stop a little bit on minky - I have not seen such high-quality ones anywhere on the tables (or so I think). The detailing is excellent, you can see every little thing, and they did not skimp on the size. The artist who painted the miniatures for me noted that it was both easy and difficult to paint them at the same time - precisely because of the excellent detailing, where every jamb was immediately visible. In the tabletop Gears of War, 4 heroes are available, each with their own card, which indicates their starting ammunition (it is slightly different for each fighter) and some unique special ability (more details below). There are a lot of cards in the game - as I already said, the II engine consists entirely of them; also, all orders to fighters are given using maps, all weapons, mission conditions and information about locast monsters are displayed on the maps. Ammunition and grenades are made using tokens, very convenient. The terrain tiles are great, the cardboard is very thick and dense. Some expressed complaints, they say that the small ones are too small, the monsters pile up on them, it's inconvenient, but I didn't notice this during the game - everything is perfectly contained and practical. The tiles are divided into zones, along which the fighters and Locasts walk, very conveniently, there are practically no questions about the range of movement and line of sight (unlike the unforgettable Descent, where the tiles are divided into cells and disputes of this kind arise at every step).  Let's move smoothly to the gameplay. All the missions in "Gears" are varied, it may seem to some that 7 missions are too few for the game, but it is not so. Not only are they all different and use different monsters, but each time the tiles of the terrain will be laid out in a different order, and because of this, the optimal order of passage (if there is one at all) will be different. Each type of monster has its own card, where all the information about them is displayed - how much protection it has, whether it can be cut down by a lancer (ooooo, rifles with chainsaws are not only a feature of "Warhammer"!), how many life points it has, how powerfully it attacks. Some have ranged weapons, some only attack in an area with a fighter. Well, each type of monster has its own special feature, which is activated only if a special sign, popularly known as a "skull", or, using the game's terminology, an "omen", falls on one of the attack cubes. By the way, each weapon in the game not only has 2 alternative modes of fire, but also has its own features that are activated by the "omen". Each fire mode shows how many dice the fighter will roll in an attack, attacking with or without spending an ammo token. The "trick" is that with the consumption of cartridges, the attack is much stronger, but replenishing stores can become a real problem. And if you take into account that with the lack of cartridges, even the "gentle" mode of shooting stops working, you will involuntarily start saving ammunition and sawing more often (especially since some order cards hint).  Now about the Locust AI. Like I said, it's just a deck of two types of cards: 1) monster-specific order cards, and 2) general orders. Due to the fact that the orders are formulated very competently, one gets the impression of an "intelligent" opponent. For example, the order on the Locust map indicates that if the drones (men with rifles) are no more than two zones away from the nearest fighter in line of sight, then they move to him one zone and attack. Otherwise (that is, they are two zones away) - they move two zones to the nearest fighter. In this spirit, almost all the orders are kept, it is very difficult to interpret them. If none of the conditions are met - draw the next card of the order, and so on until the order does not work. The difficulty of the missions varies due to which orders are mixed into the II deck. Monsters appear on the map also in an original way - the tiles are marked with "holes", from which they climb out thanks to the general order cards, and the number and type of Locusts that appear depends on how much a person resists them (the game has excellent scalability , although, of course, the most complete Gears of War opens on the 4th). These holes, by the way, can be sealed with grenades (the goal of the first mission is to seal such a hole), and this is one of the tactics of the game.  And the last type of reaction is "defense". Let's say the preemptive strike didn't work, Cole also missed, and Boomer is already preparing to attack with four cubes. You can discard a card with a "defense" reaction before attacking, and then 2 more is added to your defense dice, which is quite a lot and can save your ass from getting hurt. When wounded, let me remind you, you discard cards from your hand, and if you have nothing left in your hands - you are wounded, and all your actions are limited to crawling one zone in a move; you can be picked up by a friend who is in the same zone as you and spends a card from your hand. Then you go up with zero cards in hand, and take two at the start of your turn. Thanks to all of the above, all this fun with tactics arises. As a rule, there are no less than three reprehensible options for a move, what can we say about unreprehensible ones. By ill-judged, I mean moves that completely ignore the Locust's counter move, or ignore a possible harsh response in the hopes of something. But maybe it doesn't flow here; I witnessed the cruel end of the party move to the 6th - II is sometimes inhumanly insightful and accurate. However, even taking into account "good" moves, you can have unpleasant surprises from a seemingly stupid "cardboard". But it depends to a greater extent on the dice and to a much lesser extent on the issued order cards. You can shamefully miss the Thing with 4 cubes (in the last game I personally saw 5 (!) misses on 5 attack cubes at once), but you can throw away 5 "shields" on 3 defense cubes.  Ah yes, I didn't talk about the combat system. Everything is very simple (it is similar to the game Descent) - there are attack cubes with successful and unsuccessful hits, and there are defense cubes with "shields" and without. Moreover, the defense modifier can change depending on whether a fighter or a Locust is in the shelter or not. Those hits that were not absorbed by the shields are applied. Also, depending on the mission, the tactics of passage also change. Rush to the treasured door to the second level on all pairs, or carefully clean everything and everything, covering each other? By the way, at first, when completely clearing the area and wiping out opponents, be careful. It may seem that it becomes boring to play, because the fighters advance without losses, Locasts are cut out in packs, there is a sea of cartridges ... Suddenly, everything can change, and after a pitiful couple of activations, a couple of fighters will already be crawling under your feet with sobs "don't leave me!" or "run, I'll catch them!" depending on the seriousness of the moment. I note that in a game of 4, getting a couple of fighters to their feet and fighting off the Locusts at the same time is like a feat. Although the situations are different, in one game a soldier blew himself up with a grenade, killing four Locasts (and even managed to stay on his feet, although he was all wounded). Although I talked about the fact that it is most fun to play with four, it is quite a raking composition for three, and for two, and even for one! True, many order cards then stop working, because they are designed for at least two, but I assure you that the game does not lose its charm and fun at all! And yes, an add-on was released for Gears of War, which is a set of maps (more), where there are 2 new missions, new types of monsters and new types of weapons. The new Locasts use base miniatures, replacing their stats. Also, I know that fans make up their fighters, creating their own characteristics.  Summing up, I can't help but note some of the game's shortcomings. Some missions are very long,..

 Hi to all! Over the past few days, we've received a ton of great games. Therefore, we are very pleased to inform you about fresh arrivals and product updates in our store. Get acquainted with the novelties and what's new in Lelekan-chiku. Hurry up, the games are great and will satisfy all tastes, be the first in time) ..

REVIEW In Periodic: a Game of the Elements (hereafter referred to as Periodic), players compete to collect sets of elements and advance their research as they navigate the periodic table. Doing this research requires energy, but a lot of it. Players will need to use their reserves effectively to find the items they need to complete the objective cards and progress along the achievement track. When the game ends, points are earned for the objectives achieved as well as the achievement track, and the player with the most points wins. If you're just curious to know what I think of Periodic, feel free to scroll down to the Opinions section. For the rest... PREPARATION Preparing Periodic is relatively simple. The game board is laid out, and 8 element group cards are randomly placed around it, 4 on each side of the board. The objective cards are separated by color and shuffled into four face down decks. They are placed above the playing field, and the top card of each is turned face up.  Objective cards depict specific sets of items. The objective dice that correspond to the objective cards are then placed on top of each of those items, the bonus tiles for each stack of objective cards are placed on top of the corresponding objective cards, and the lab tokens are set aside. Finally, one energy is placed on each of the periodic trends below the periodic table. After choosing their player's color and collecting their pieces, each player gets some energy to start the game. After the starting player is chosen, each player places one of their lane markers on one of the element group cards (dictated by turn order), their flask on the element with the lowest number corresponding to that element group, and then another lane marker on the first place of achievement track. You are now ready to play Periodic. MOVING In Periodic, players will use energy to move their vials around the game board so they can find the items they need to fulfill the requirements of the objective cards. By putting energy into or taking energy from the Periodic Trend, the player can move their flask in the specified direction from 1 to 5 times. If the move causes the bulb to end up on the spot with the target die, then the player places one of their research dice on the corresponding target card to show that they have discovered the item. If the player has placed energy, then the extra energy can be spent during the player's turn to move multiple times and in different directions if the player wishes. If any player discovers all the elements on the target card, that card is scored. Any player with only 1 research die on their card gets 3 lab points. Any player with 2 research dice on their card gets a 5 point token. The player who completed the card does not receive lab tokens, but instead takes the card. The new card is then turned face up to replace it and the corresponding target dice are placed accordingly.  When setting up the map, Element Groups were laid out around the play area, and players would place one of their lane markers on one of them. To advance along the achievement track, a player looks at the next card of an element group clockwise from their current marker position, and then attempts to end their turn with their flask on one of the elements included in that group. If they do, they place their marker on that card and then advance their other marker one position on the achievement track. As we will soon see, this will provide players with points at the end of the game. ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END A Periodic Game End is triggered when a player meets one of the following conditions: 2 stacks of objective cards are empty, 1 stack of objective cards is empty, and one player has reached one of the last 3 cells of the Achievement Track, or 2 players have reached one of the last 3 spaces of the Achievement Track. Each other player then gets one extra turn. When this is done, the scores are tallied and the player with the most points wins. Players earn points for completing objective cards, collecting lab tokens, remaining research cubes that have been placed on unfinished objective cards, and tracking achievement progress. CONCLUSIONS If you've read my past Cytosis and Subatomic reviews, you'll no doubt know that I'm a huge fan of Genius Games. John Covia's ability to gamify the science behind everyday things continues to amaze me. I've always wondered what the world looks like through the eyes of a game designer. Being able to look down on the periodic table of the elements and see the game there is something that puzzled me. Yet John Covey did it, and it works. In his past games, John turned real scientific processes into games. Cytosis changes the way cells take in nutrients and expel waste, while in Subatomic, players manipulate subatomic particles to create protons, electrons, and neutrons, then combine them to create atoms. However, periodicity is something completely different. In Periodic, you don't put things together to make new things. Instead, you learn about what already exists by examining the structure in which the data is organized. It's like finding out about a person by going through their files in a filing cabinet. Although this can be interesting and informative, the process itself is not very exciting. It's easy to get carried away with smashing atomic particles to create things. It's much harder to get excited about looking at a chart.  However, if you can get past the theme, you'll find a game that might surprise you. On paper, Periodic is a game about efficient resource management and route planning. How do you get the most you can in one go using only the energy you have at your disposal? At its core, however, Periodic is a fast-paced racing game. These goal cards fill up quickly and the achievement track is a ticking clock. You are constantly forced to choose between generalization or specialization. Do you focus all of your efforts on one objective card or spread out over several? If you finish your move here, will it be an easy opening for your opponents to capitalize on and score big points? Is the personal benefit of ending your turn really worth it, or should you wait and see what happens next? There is constant pressure to keep moving and at the same time you feel the same pressure to stand still and stay put. These conflicting desires create an interesting tension, and that tension grows closer to the end of the game. Aside from wishing the theme was a little more exciting, the only downside I can find with this game is that there is no way to change the turn order as of this writing. While this doesn't affect gameplay, it was pointed out to me in at least one play session that if two players were racing to get to the end of an achievement track and could progress each turn, the player who goes first in queue order would always wins. This is important because the last 3 spots on this lane can only accommodate a certain number of players. If you reach the end first, the people behind you will have to settle for second to last place. It's only 5 points, but in a tight race those 5 points can make all the difference. I understand that the final round of the game is designed so that each player will have the same number of moves, and this will be impossible to calculate since a player's starting token is constantly changing positions, but the inability to change the move order is still worth mentioning. In the end, I really like Periodic. While this isn't Genius Games' strongest game, it's still very good. I like the fast pace of the game and I appreciate the challenges that are presented to me. And like all of Genius Games' offerings, I definitely approve of Periodic's sneaky educational nature. John Covey's games always teach you something, even if you don't know you're learning it. When you see Periodic Trends as more than just places to place energy tokens, you realize that these are real concepts that are accurately reflected in how your bulb token moves along the periodic table, and before you know it, you'll be re-searching for periodic trends in Google. And that is the magic that Genius Games constantly brings to the table. The experience goes beyond the tabletop. Their games don't just make you a better player, they make you a smarter person...

 Hello everyone, we are glad to inform you about new products and renewal of goods in our store. Meet the fresh arrival and what's new in our store :) Hurry up, the games are great and for all tastes, be the first to buy :)..

 Tales of Arabian Nights awaits you with adventures, quests for glory and funny situations. You will wander through magical lands, meet sultans and beggars, and sometimes thieves. Difficult tests of your skills await you, because the goal is to build your destiny with your own hands and bring the story of the greatest adventure to the Book of the Arabian Nights. COMPONENTS  Among the components of the game, the Book of Stories immediately draws attention to itself, which looks like ancient game books. This fat volume weighs perhaps 75 percent of the total volume of the game. Its constant and important companion is the table of reactions.  Also in the box are 4 decks of cards (encounters, treasures, statuses and quests), reference sheets, skill tokens, fate and glory point markers, 3 time of day tokens and a playing field. Plus cardboard characters for each of the players (up to 6), wealth tokens, origins, objectives and a character sheet. And three cubes: one is a fate cube, the other two are ordinary cubes. The illustrations are very beautiful, the quality of the components does not cause complaints, except for the slightly curved field. GOAL OF THE GAME The real goal of the game is to immerse yourself in the story of your adventures, but there is a formal winner: the first person to complete their goal by accumulating both fate and glory points in a certain amount, and then return to Baghdad, wins. PREPARATION FOR THE GAME The game unfolds quite quickly and simply. Everyone takes their character sheet, matching markers, and a cardboard figure and places it in Baghdad, and the Wealth, Fame, and Fortune markers on the starting divisions on the track to the side of the playing field. After that, everyone draws a quest card. All of them are different and require the fulfillment of certain conditions. For example, visit certain places, learn certain skills, or return home after being enslaved. Completing quests rewards fame and fortune, and sometimes wealth or skills. Then decks of encounter, treasure, quest, and status cards are placed next to the field. It is better to arrange the latter in alphabetical order face up in order to find the ones you need faster. A morning marker is placed next to the encounter deck. The players then take turns secretly choosing how many Fame and Fate points they need to win (the total is always the same), and take and place the corresponding tokens under the character sheet. Then a roll of dice determines who goes first.  Finally, starting skills are chosen: 3 talents for each player. Skills are two-sided: on the one hand, it's just a talent for something, on the other hand, it's mastery in something. GAME PROCESS The course is divided into 6 phases: Books of stories. Activating treasure and status effects. Moving the character. A character's meeting with someone. Playing cards and fulfilling the conditions of quests. Activation of the winning condition.  More details: 1) The story book is passed to the player on the left, and the reaction table is passed to the player on the right. One will read the paragraphs describing the meeting and its outcome, and the other will look in the table for the paragraph that corresponds to the chosen action for that meeting. 2) Many treasure and status cards have special effects that affect before the start of your turn. For example, which allow additional movement or open access to a special location. 3) The character's movement speed depends on your wealth and whether you are traveling on water or land. You can move to the maximum, to a part of the speed or to stay in place altogether.  There are ten special locations on the map that can only be accessed through certain encounters. In this case, a goal marker is placed there and you can enter it while moving.  4) After movement, the meeting card is drawn (or immediately go to the corresponding paragraph, if you are in a special place). There are three types of them: characters, terrain and city. They show who or what you have met. All but city cards are reset at the end of the encounter phase. If a character card is drawn, you see what time of day it is now, after which your neighbor reads a paragraph from the Storybook corresponding to the time of day and the character.  If a terrain map is drawn, the choice of paragraph depends on the terrain where the character is standing; brown - mountains, blue - seas, gold - deserts, green - forests, and blue-green - islands.  If a city map is drawn, then before the actual meeting — the paragraph printed at the bottom of the city map — you roll a die and receive one of the bonuses listed on the map. Sometimes city meetings turn into a meeting with a certain character.  As for special places, they do not have their own cards; the paragraph number is printed right in the margin. The process of playing out an encounter is divided into four stages: finding out who or what your character encountered, choosing a reaction, determining the effect of fate, and resolving the encounter. First, your neighbor looks at the encounter table and determines with a die roll (plus the number printed on the location or city where the character is located, plus 1-2 from the fate die) exactly which ifrit you met, for example: vengeful, sad, etc.  The player then decides how to react. The person reading the reaction table looks at the letter of the alphabet that corresponds to the adjective describing your encounter, which reaction options you have. After that, the storyteller reading the Book finds the corresponding paragraph.  For each reaction option, there are three possible outcomes—three adjacent paragraphs. After rolling the dice of fate, which can give 0, +1 or -1, the corresponding paragraph is read. Thus, even encountering the exact same creature as before and reacting in the same way can result in a different outcome.  At the end of each paragraph, a code notation like [D1 / S2 / W+1(Max: Respectable) / Wisdom / Respected] describes how many points of fate, fame and wealth, as well as what skills (if any, the talent turns into a workshop possessions) or statuses gained or lost by a player. There are various statuses, both useful and not very useful. For example, with the "madness" status, another player decides for you how you will react to encounters. Players can also receive random or specific treasure cards or some special effect from the encounter.  It's also worth noting that the outcome of the encounter differs depending on whether you have a certain skill (which can be applied or not applied at will before you know the result), status, treasure, etc. Generally, applying a skill leads to a more profitable result. Sometimes it happens that the character dies. But that's the end of the game; in this case, the player takes the brother or sister of the deceased and begins the journey again in Baghdad - keeping, however, the glasses of glory and fate. END OF THE GAME When someone has accumulated enough fame and fortune to fulfill their secret goal and reaches Baghdad, they declare victory. After that, it's up to the others to complete their goals and return to Baghdad. One of the potential winners with more total points wins. IMPRESSION Tales of the Arabian Nights is definitely not a thoughtful game; what happens to you is mostly out of your control (or completely out of your control if you go crazy). The essence of the game is to listen to the adventures of the characters that are formed during the game. I had a lot of funny and memorable stories. Who wins is essentially irrelevant; the main thing is laughter, smiles and friendly shaking of heads when someone's character goes to jail again (like me for six turns in a row). As an option, you can use the home rule "you can have no more than one status at the same time"; with it, the game runs faster and smoother - there is no need to keep in mind the effects of five statuses in addition to your goal. Even in the game, IMHO, playing your character is welcome; For example, Sinbad should fight (attack) more often than steal, and Scheherazade should prefer conversations to fights. Getting used to the role of your character is easy and interesting. By default, the game is designed for a large number of participants, but it works great for two. It is simple, so even people who are unfamiliar with tabletops can easily join the process. So come quickly to the glorious city of Baghdad, good traveler, and enjoy the Arabian nights. ..

 Designer Scott Almes is best known for the Tiny Epic series of games published under his Gamelyn Games label. Our team reviewed about five of them, and we generally found the games to be okay—nothing incredibly special, but nothing incredibly bad either. Then I reviewed Roller Coaster Rush, another Almes design, and it was probably the worst game I've played in 2023. Really terrible. So, based purely on recency bias, I was a little freaked out when I opened the box for Capstone Games' US-published Beer & Bread 2022 edition. Almost immediately, these fears disappeared. If Beer & Bread landed on my desk in 2023, I'd probably name it my favorite two-player-only game, just ahead of Sky Team. A LITTLE OF THIS, BUT NO MORE OF THAT My review of Beer & Bread starts with a scoring system. A bit like Between Two Cities, New Ark, Tigris and Euphrates and other classics, Beer and Bread is a race for points by completing orders on two different sets of cards, beer cards and bread cards. The lower of the two scores becomes the player's final score, so balancing is key to victory. Each player represents an unnamed village upstream from the opposing village. For six years, the villages will hold friendly competitions to see who can make the most beer and bread. Each year is a circle, and each circle is simple. Given a hand of five cards, players must use a card for one of its three functions. Harvest and Store, which produces one of the game's five resources, which will be stored in a nine-room warehouse. Craft and Sell, an order fulfillment feature that requires the player to spend 4-7 resources to obtain a card Upgrade and clear by requiring a player to slide a card under certain parts of their side of the board to have permanent or ultimate power. It also allows you to move score cards from the bakery and/or brewery to get points at the end of the game. In odd-numbered rounds, players play one card each and then exchange hands. In even-numbered years, players keep previously played Harvest and Store cards and add new cards to their hand for new play options.  Beer & Bread instantly became one of my favorite multiplayer card games because the card options are usually very complex. Over the course of three games—once with a very experienced player, once with my wife, and once with my nine-year-old daughter—I was surprised how often I was torn between two or even three options on a card before making a choice. That said, it didn't slow down the game significantly, as all of my activities lasted less than 30 minutes. The card system is so smooth. The Collect and Store action stacks, so if I play the second card of the Collect and Store action, I get all the resources on both cards on my tableau. This means that you can fill up your warehouse quickly, and if you have a good selection of the five resources (water, wheat, barley, rye and hops) you can usually fill the card in the "Produce and Sell" step a couple of times in each round. I like that the upgrade system is unlimited. Some enhancement cards align with end game points and can be great for setting up early game strategy. I also like that it's aligned with the Cleanse action. By limiting the storage of completed beer and bread cards, it encourages players to use upgrades strategically, and also helps create a production engine or add points in the late game. It was easy to teach, and the back of the rulebook serves as a common reference aid for players. The box is small—not Tiny Epic small, but still pretty neat—and the rules even go into too much detail about each card upgrade, even though I thought it was unnecessary. If you don't want to read the rules, there's a seven-minute video on the box that you can link to. ESSENTIALLY Flawless Beer and bread is fantastic. Easy to learn, easy to play at the table and play in half an hour. I can play with gamers, I can play with non-gamers. Each game will play out slightly differently, and the upgrade system allows players to customize the experience to their liking over six rounds of play. My only issue, and admittedly a nitpick: hops, the green resource in Beer and Bread. Hops appear as a required recipe on only 19 of the game's 60 cards (only the beer cards, and yes, I counted). In all three of my games, it never felt like I needed the jumps. This is because the other 11 beer cards don't require hops, and instead of spending a Harvest and Store action on a card that contains hops, I'm going to get pretty much anything else. This way I have maximum flexibility when it comes to stocking items that can be spent on beer cards AND bread instead of just beer cards. Beyond that? I thought Beer & Bread was the perfect game for just two players. It doesn't dethrone 7 Wonders Duel, but Beer & Bread is really good and immediately the best Scott Almes design I've tried. I save it for games with my family!..

 Sipping rum from a deep mug, tucking a dagger and a couple of pistols into our belts, we set out to set sails on ships and furrow the seas playing Merchants and Marauders . GAMEPLAY What is this game about? This is a game about sailors who wander between several islands of the Caribbean basin and trade some with honest trade, and some with robbery (caravans) of merchants and colleagues who pass by.  The essence of the game is very simple: swim, trade, steal, earn 10 glory points and you are the winner. Overlaid on this simple system is a set of rules that specify exactly how this is done. For example, you can trade every time you enter the port, while each city has a "scarce" product for which you can get more money, and by selling 3 pieces at once, you can get a glory point and be one step closer to victory. Also, with the money earned, you can buy various minor (but nice!) improvements for your ship, such as sails, guns, hammocks for team members, etc. In general, the non-combat part of the game revolves very much around the ports - in addition to trading and buying improvements, in some ports you can get missions (which are more often reduced to swimming somewhere and passing a check of one of the parameters there by rolling one or more dice), even in the city you can get a rumor map (roughly the same as missions, but available in all ports). For both missions and rumors, you also need to check the "influence" parameter of your captain with dice, no dice rolled - no rumor/mission. You can also repair a damaged ship at the port or buy a new one (a glory point is also given for the purchase).  A player has 3 actions on their turn that they can spend moving to an adjacent sea zone, entering/exiting a port, or trying to find a merchant/other player hanging out in the same zone (by checking the "reconnaissance" option with the dice). Here we smoothly approach the description of the combat unit. For attacks on neutral merchants, the combat is quite simple: you get several goods cards (which also indicate the amount of money and the area of the ship in which the merchant's return fire "hits") if none of the parameters of your ship's stability have fallen to zero after the return fire . you successfully rob a merchant, receiving money for drawn goods cards, the opportunity to stuff the goods themselves into the hold, and if you looted 12 or more coins - an additional glory point. Ah, yes, completely forgot - after attacking (even unsuccessfully) the first (and all subsequent) merchants, you automatically become a pirate. Each merchant is listed as belonging to one of several nations represented on the table (English, Dutch, French, and Spanish). You gain one search token for that nation and can no longer enter its ports on the field. A few words about how bad it is to be a pirate. First, the game has random events that periodically bring neutral MILITARY ships of various nations into the field. Most event cards will also activate ships already on the field and send them off in one direction or another, BUT if you're a pirate and you're hanging around, they'll swim towards you instead and start looking for you (neutral ships and captains have the same set of parameters, as well as players).  If they discover you, then a fight will begin (another player will play neutral), and you have every chance to go to feed the fish, if you did not prepare for such a meeting in advance. Even if you are sitting in the port, the warship will not sail anywhere, but will wait until you are about to sail out of there, and will try to "hook" you again. But that's not all! Since pirates rarely stop at one robbed merchant, the number of search tokens on their ship gradually increases, and if another player sinks the pirate's ship, then for each token he will immediately receive 5 gold coins, and he himself will not be considered a pirate. However, in addition to warships, pirate ships also hang around the field, which, on the contrary, do not touch fellow pirates, but curiously begin to circle around the ships of peaceful players. And for the sweet - a fight between two players. Here you can evaluate how random the game is. The captains compare the maneuverability parameters of the ships, then roll navigation dice (initiative), whoever has more successes can fire all his guns, whoever has less can only fire from guns equal to the number of successes. Hits lower the ship's parameters (guns, crew, masts/hull, hold), accordingly reducing its combat effectiveness / destroying the cargo being carried / mowing down the crew. If it turned out that the crew of the enemy ship is quite ragged, you can try to board it (at the same time, each captain rolls dice for the number of surviving crew members). If you're lucky, you can appropriate an enemy ship with all the goods and improvements. Well, if you're not lucky, welcome to the bottom. (Yes, you can try to flush, but it usually either won't roll at first because any hit "cancels the flush" or won't roll at the end because you're clearly near death and so your chances are, again, very little). Well, that's roughly how this yoho-ho-and-a-bottle-of-rum-game goes. =) And now impressions! IMPRESSION I played twice, won once, lost once. I liked the game, but the second time, unlike the first, I complained for a long time about the game balance (in general, I always complain about the balance when I lose, so I often can't understand whether the problem is with the balance or the fact that I don't know how to lose =) ). WHAT'S GOOD IN THE GAME? - Pirate atmosphere, romance of the seas and so on - you wander around the ports in search of profitable goods / errands, rob other ships or, on the contrary, try to wash away from them, the pirates get a headache from the military that cruises around, trying to find them and the eternal "let someone fix the ship" after another fight. In addition, the game is beautifully designed (and the version of the friend we played is designed on 10/15). — The feeling of satisfaction from a "spoiled businessman": whether it is a successful sale, a completed mission or a robbed caravan - sailing to the next port, you feel like a "sea wolf", with a sense of fulfilled duty, going "to taverns and brothels" under time for a short rest. - Dynamics. Something is constantly happening in the game: warships are sailing, pirates are sailing, a storm is raging somewhere (and the wind must also be taken into account), every turn you get a map of events, it can even start a war between nations on the field. And you should always keep a close eye on the movements of your comrades, because if you are torn apart in a fight, even a peaceful merchant floating by may think: "Why not?" WHAT DID NOT LIKE — The battle between the two ships greatly distorts this very dynamic: while all this commotion with "initiative-shot-hit" is going on, other players make their moves and then, sadly, wait for the resolution and the next round. — If your ship was sunk in a fight, you start the game over. Only the accumulated glory points are saved, and in the rest - the new captain, the starting trough and the starting 10 gold. As they say, "technically" you can still win, but I will believe in such miracles only when I see it with my own eyes. - Actually, about these troughs. Why such a fatal loss of ship? Because a new ship costs 30-35 gold, which is several ROUNDS of dangling cargo between several ports or looting (while also taking into account repairs and the inability to enter some ports). But the balance of ship parameters is very controversial: for 35 coins you can choose a frigate or a galleon. The frigate has all the parameters of 3, the galleon has fatness of 5, the rest have 4 and only maneuverability is 1. But what does maneuverability give so much to raise the parameters of a ship with low maneuverability? Each of the captains has a navigation parameter (initiative), which is usually equal to 2. When two ships are fighting, the captain of the more maneuverable one rolls 1(!) additional initiative die. It doesn't matter if you have 4 maneuverability and your opponent has 1, you still roll 1 bonus. a cube However, first of all, an additional dice of maneuverability does not mean a gain in initiative at all, you can not throw a single success on three (well, cubes, you understand). Second, there are captains who have a base navigation value of 3, so your maneuverability will only allow you to match the initiative of a "trucker" commander. And, thirdly, even if a truck hits you once (and, let me remind you, trucks have more guns), it is quite possible that, even if you win the initiative, you will have nothing to shoot at or a second hit will destroy your frigate, in whose all "vital" indicators are lower. Well, for the second game I have the feeling that there is practically no sense in the frigate (and if you have a captain with navigation in 3, then none at all). - The last, most annoying thing is how much, IMHO, the game is skewed towards trading and peaceful extraction of victory points. ADVANTAGE OF PIRACY — Piracy brings less money on average (and there is a chance to waste the action, because the victim ship still needs to be found with an intelligence check, and if not found, you can search again only when you enter this zone again). — Actually, a large part of your money will be eaten up by repairs / constant purchase of improvements in order not to go to the bottom. — If you didn't get 12 or more coins from the robbed merchant, you won't get a victory point (glory points) either. — You are constantly pinched by warships and are hindered by the impossibility of entering some (and the more you pirate, the more) ports. If the reward for your head will be decent, then other players will not mind sewing your masts. — There is a chance to..