IS ALEXANDER THE GREAT AS BEFORE OR HAVE WAR GAMES PASSED HIM AWAY? Most of the war games that have been part of the series for more than twenty years have tended to get more and more difficult in an effort to offer more opportunities and challenges to dedicated fans. Sometimes such games become almost unrecognizable compared to the original games of the series. So I was more than slightly thrilled when I heard about the new gift edition of Alexander the Great's Battles. You see, I smile when I remember the excited Mark Herman and Richard Berg presenting a prototype of the very first version of Alexander, the game that launched the great History's Great Battles series, more than a decade ago at a convention. Me and my wargamer friends Berg and Hermann were "treated" to a drawing of the battle with "Alexander"; Can you imagine a game designer doing that these days? And although I never found out who won that game, I consoled myself with a new box set of The Great Battles of Alexander. At the time, Alexander had its flaws, including more concise rules than were really necessary, but the game was a revelation—it simply changed the way most players viewed ancient warfare, emphasizing the quality of troops rather than their quantity. So, when I picked up the new version of Deluxe Alexander, I had to wonder: After the changes made to the game system in recent games like Devil's Horsemen, could there be a re-release of the original game in the Great Battles series? Was I, like many wargamers raised on hexes and counters, just nostalgic? MY SUMMER IN CAPPADOCIA Certainly, the new Alexander components are worthy of the name Deluxe. Double-sided battle maps are printed on thick paper and aesthetically look much better compared to previous versions. While the terrain is still generally sparse—after all, ancient armies preferred flat plains for maneuvering their troops—a few trees, bushes, and the occasional flowing river liven up the surroundings, a nice contrast to the desert terrain of some of the other Great Battles, especially Devil '. The counters prepared by Roger McGowan for various armies are of the usual excellent GMT standard and do a great job of putting a lot of information into a small space in an easily readable form - very important during the night battles that decided the fate of Persia. If you've never played any of the previous versions of Alexander, the first thing you'll notice are the huge counters representing the Greek and Macedonian phalanxes, which take up two hexes instead of one on the battle map. While Alexander isn't the first game to use double-sized counters (Murfreesboro was another R. Berg game made in the late 1970s), it's still an elegant way to correctly simulate these units without many additional rules. WHY STAY IN THRACIA? The battles themselves give you the opportunity to follow Alexander the Great and conquer the entire "known world" from Greece and Egypt to Persia, ending the campaign in India. Some of the battles, such as Chaeronea, where the young Alexander fought side by side with his father Philip, are mainly useful for understanding the stages of Alexander's rise to fame or for learning the game system. Overall, however, the scenarios offer surprisingly asymmetric challenges, pitting the combined arms and unit cohesion of the Macedonians against larger armies (Persia), different military systems (Greek hoplites), and military equipment both old (chariots) and new (elephants). Thus, Alexander Deluxe offers a journey through military history, as you can easily see in-game how the Macedonian 'art of war' evolved and adapted over time. However, Alexander Deluxe has changed enough battle maps and unit rankings from previous versions to give cabinet historians something to argue about. It seems to me that in general the Persian and Indian armies now have a slightly better chance in some of the updated scenarios, especially in Issa and Samarkand, than they did in the original Alexander version. This is partly because the new rules have removed many loopholes related to movement, grouping, elephant attacks, etc. COLLISION OF COPIES However, at its core, Alexander Deluxe is a fairly simple game. Basically, each player in turn activates the commander. The commander gives orders to fire, moves units and sends them into close combat with the enemy. The fun part is that when troops enter battle, they must pass a troop quality check, and each troop type is compared to its opponent in the aptly named Clash of Cops table. Then the squads converge in melee. Casualties are as much actual troop deaths as receiving 'cohesion hits', the unit's cohesion decreases - and ultimately these troops retreat or flee the battlefield. The rest of the game involves trying to rally routed / retreating troops, chasing cavalry, removing cohesion hits, personal combat of commanders, elephant attacks, etc. However, the most interesting gameplay mechanic, which remains largely unchanged from the original Alexander game, is the idea of continuing your turn with momentum, or even "intercepting" your opponent's turn, allowing one of your commanders to activate troops instead of your opponent. If you take the risk and try to intercept and fail, your commander will be practically useless for the entire turn and may even suffer a "crisis of confidence" that will force his troops to withdraw from the battle. So, to put it mildly, the interception and momentum system makes for a wild game as it puts you and your opponent into a tense situation that few other turn-based games can match; you can never be completely sure when your next move will come. Best of all, especially in a head-to-head game, there are ample opportunities to bluff and talk while the fate of the momentum roll is decided. The original Alexander volume will always hold a special place in the Great Battles of History. But any fan will want to pick up the new Alexander Deluxe—new maps breathe new life into old favorite battles, and changes to scenarios and unit rankings make the game more tactically challenging. While all the Great Battles games are moderately difficult, Alexander Deluxe is more accessible than most games in the series, and the momentum system makes the game very replayable; it's also one of the few war games in recent memory that's fun to play solo. If you're at all interested in the time period, or if you've ever just wanted to see if you could match the exploits of Alexander the Great, then this game is for you. And if you want more fun with less complexity, I've found that Alexander Deluxe pairs well with the simple Great Battles of History rules, which are also available in GMT. Overall, this is a great example of how to update a classic while still keeping the essence of what made The Great Battles of Alexander such a successful game years ago. My guess is that Berg and Hermann would be just as excited to see this version shown off as the original, although I still can't say who would win if they went head-to-head…..

After a couple of games of Perseverance: Castaway Chronicles played in Tabletop Simulator, I decided to share my impressions of the game and the solo mode. GAME DESCRIPTION Perseverance takes place in a setting reminiscent of "Stay Alive": a cruise ship is shipwrecked on a mysterious island inhabited by dinosaurs (?!). The game consists of several scenario episodes (there are 2 so far) that tell what happened to the involuntary settlers. In Episode 1, you fend off rampaging dinosaurs while trying to settle on an island. You act as leaders who simultaneously participate in collective defense and try to recruit as many followers as possible (bring victory points). In the plan, the Perseverance mechanic is a worker placement game with an admixture of area control. The action takes place mainly in two zones - the community zone and the defense zone. In the first, you increase influence by placing cubes and settlements, and in the second, you participate in semi-cooperative tower defense, placing soldiers and fortifications. There is also a small third area where players can influence the ship's officers to gain some bonuses and followers. GAME PROCESS The player's turn consists of: draft dice from the general pool, consisting of neutral dice and dice of the main action players; its placement in one of the four community zones; appearance of new dinosaurs; choosing a secondary action; dinosaur attacks (as well as a breakthrough if the defense is not strong enough).  When the dice pool runs out, it's assembly time: in each of the community zones, who has the most influence (cubes, settlements, and leadership) is tallied, and the winners are rewarded with followers and resources. After three gatherings (or two in a party for two), the game is over. Whoever has more followers wins. As with other Mindclash games, the rules are hard to digest. There is no simple central mechanic that ties together myriads of nuanced rules, unlike Lacerda's games. Mindclash games consist of loosely connected groups of mechanics of varying difficulty, sprinkled with a bunch of icons. But once you get the hang of it and start to understand how well-rounded the game's core is, it's impressive, whether it's performing tricks in Trickerion, building infrastructure in Anachrony, public and private objectives in Cerebria, or fighting for an area majority in two zones here. According to Turczi, one of the authors, the complexity of episode 1 is about the level of basic Anachrony, and episode 2 is slightly less than Trickerion. While I haven't gotten around to episode 2 yet, I'm inclined to agree with the first statement; the only thing is that mechanics in a fantasy setting are easier to digest than here. For example, the resources food/debris/stories are less intuitive than the resources water/generator power/building materials. The situation is saved by a generally excellently developed rule book.  Your main task is to ensure that the community zones have as much influence as possible, while at the same time spending enough on defense so that settlements (primarily your own) are not destroyed by dinosaurs. Their attacks are very predictable (it is Euro after all) and the timing of when each zone will be attacked adds interest to the game. In general, imagine something similar to the fire mechanic from IKI, only there are still soldiers, traps and walls. The game doesn't put much emphasis on worker placement - more emphasis is placed on interaction, and that's a good thing, because the worker placement genre is already crowded. However, there are a lot of rules here. Not only does the game have several ways to mine resources (including soldiers), but there are also tons of ways to use them. You can easily get distracted and disperse your forces with too thin a layer. It is much more effective to focus on your strengths, focus on certain areas and try to win the meeting. There are also many small nuances; not that they are difficult to remember individually, but because of their huge number, the first games will certainly be played with mistakes. However, when I finally mastered the rules, the gameplay became noticeably more fluid and understandable. SOLO MODE In solo mode, there are Discords, two NPCs who can't win the game, but can be enough of a hindrance to prevent you from becoming a colony leader. There are four possible endings here; all require achieving a certain number of points and avoiding instant defeat (if N settlements are destroyed). If you're familiar with solo modes other than Turks, you'll find this very useful. Before you is a hybrid of AI with Cerebria and Kanban. In terms of complexity, it is somewhere between them; luckily a bit closer to Kanban than Cerebria. As intended by the author, when playing solo you have to take into account the same factors as when playing with live people. Two dissenters use the same deck of cards and behave only partially predictably. I lost because I relaxed too much in the beginning and allowed myself to destroy too many settlements. For almost two-thirds of the next game, everything hung in the balance (1 settlement before defeat). As a result, I managed to get enough followers, but not enough authority (the number of followers + modifiers received). In general, solo mode is much easier to play than two-player, and I was able to delve much deeper into the mechanics of the game. Looking forward to the arrival of the box, especially the "Chronicles" mode, which gives you bonuses that will be reflected in the next batches. EPISODE 2 Episode 2 takes place a few months later, when the colony has stabilized, the dinosaur invasion is over, and you start going deeper into the jungle (and somewhere deep in the jungle, there's a... temple waiting for you?!). The mechanics of placing cubes are almost changed, and instead of tower defense, the mechanics of research appear. Players can create new cube slots by clearing the jungle (while approaching the mysterious temple). You can also now capture and tame dinosaurs to protect your growing colony and its expanding territory... and then what? I don't know yet, but episodes 3 and 4 should be released on Gamefound in the fall of 2023. So far, I'm moderately optimistic...

 The Sylla board game is a crisis strategy game. For 2-4 people, although the optimal composition for the game is 4 people. The game consists of five rounds, 7 phases in each. The compact field is a kind of organizer for the placement of components and is very informative, reminding us what and in what phase we need to do.  "Sylla" is a unique game to some extent - here you do not start with zero points, but with ten, although this is done with a completely prosaic purpose - so that you do not have to immediately drop below zero, you will not only get points here, but also receive them. and lose At the very beginning, you have a choice of 10 characters, two of each type (total of five types), and the merchant, slave and senator have both a simple version and a version with the Christian faith, in addition to them there are legionnaires and vestals. At the top of the characters, the colors that will be useful to us in the construction phase are drawn, in the lower left corner there is a feature of the character, indicating the number of the phase when this feature is used. Everything is very convenient and informative.  Each year begins with the election of the first consul. Our senators vote for us, and if there are not enough votes, others can be bribed. The chosen one will solve controversial issues all this year, will be the first to put the buildings up for auction and will even have the right to the first night, sorry, the first round of hiring. The first consul, in addition to resolving disputes and having the advantage of choice, receives as a reward one of the tokens of the republic, which are one of the main ways of obtaining points in the game. There are three types of them: civic pride, health and leisure. One of the most interesting mechanics is that the "winning" value of each of these tokens changes constantly throughout the game depending on our actions. And if the base rate of points per token is two, then by the end of the game, when the calculation will take place, it can be from one to four. In addition, the duties of the first consul include moving the hunger marker, increasing the city's need for food.  After the election of the first consul, we are looking for new followers. Unfortunately, the gift of oratory in Rome is not very much appreciated in these times, and all our efforts are enough only to attract one more associate once a year. An interesting point is that we have to choose from those characters that we rejected at the beginning of the game, and by the fifth round we only have a choice of those characters that we rejected in the first three rounds.  Having received a new associate, we go to help the city in construction. For which we receive a modest reward. When all the constructions are finished this year, the treasurer gives us all some dinars, so that we have something to bribe the senators with during the voting, and if the slaves are released, it will not chivalrously drive them out into the street without money to live on, even if they are free. . Players in the construction phase bid their price for the construction in a circle. This price is revealed in the number of people we will send to build, and the color of the deal shows who can be sent to build and who cannot. The main problem is that when we send characters to build a building, we return them and they become unavailable to us until the start of the next round, and with them all their abilities - so it is worth carefully considering whether to send your allies to build what you need. building or use their features later. In the fourth phase, we receive our income.  Closer to the end of the year, according to a strange Roman tradition, the city gets an ass. Persecution of Christians is arranged, epidemics and famine come to the city, slave revolts and purges in the senate take place, and at the end, for complete happiness, barbarians come to the half-flooded city. Of course, I, as a knight, could not remain indifferent and tried to cope with all the troubles with the help of legionaries and vestals loyal to me, but it is worth saving the city from one, as another came, there was not enough strength for everything. Not to mention the fact that it was impossible to save this city from decadence, as they call decline, only to slightly slow down its destructive effect. In the fifth phase, we will have to face various troubles that provide the main regrabability of "Sulla". In one game, we protect the city from flood and famine, and the raid of the barbarians at the end of the game does not bother us anymore, another time the game begins with a slave revolt and persecution of Christians, and we are already thinking about how to save ourselves from it. Interestingly, some events have a cumulative effect, so if we lose, for example, a Christian senator in the Senate purge, we can't get him back into play until we also get rid of Christian persecution if that event is on the field. In total, players can, no matter how hard they try, prevent two events, one of which leaves the game forever. But all your efforts to prevent trouble, even if it does happen, will still be rewarded with a republic token or a victory point.  In the sixth round, players are given the opportunity to act together - and build one of six large buildings. Depending on the votes and money invested, players will receive victory points, although they may not receive anything, but will now move one of the republic markers, increasing its value. The round ends with starvation penalty points, which pushes everyone back significantly, and possible riots that occur if one of the republic markers reaches the far left value. Riots are interesting because the player with the fewest Republic tokens gets a penalty, and the player with the most, on the contrary, gets extra points, so it's worth thinking twice before doing abominations to an opponent who collects unpopular Republic tokens.  And my five years flew by in such troubles. But it ended all right. The inhabitants of Rome have accepted our Christian faith and are building a temple that is more beautiful than the light has yet seen. They arranged a great feast in honor of this, and at the same time granted freedom to all the slaves, providing them with a couple of denarii as a farewell. This is the end of my story. And this is what I will say to you in farewell, brother knights, this is a troublesome business, to save a city mired in debauchery, troublesome, but worthy and very interesting. Summing up, I would like to say that "Sulla" is a very worthy representative of serious strategies, and more precisely, of their crisis direction. If you are ready for a constant lack of resources, slow progress along the points track and the need to think a lot, then this game is for you. The best way to get to know the game is, of course, with a trial game - be prepared for it to take up to several hours, and the victory points you get at the end will be disappointing. Instead, subsequent games will be much more dynamic (for four it takes about an hour, but the time flies quickly) and will allow you to try out many strategies. Well, I will put a spoonful of tar in this barrel of honey in the final article of the short summary. Personally, in our company, in games for four, it is among the top favorite games, second only to "Burgundy Castles"...

 I did the training missions in Tanares Adventures and I really enjoyed it. The game is really cool, despite the obvious similarities to "Frozen..." / "Bleak Harbor" (tactical battles, settlement construction, etc.). After defeating the gray enemies (gray, because I haven't painted them yet) and the city phase, I was left with very pleasant impressions. There are tons of NPCs on the giant map that you can recruit to your side (since you represent the rebellion) and take on your next mission at will (so each of the four must-play heroes now also has an additional ability from a companion- NPC). I haven't gotten to the jester yet, but I already know that the materials from the jester can be used to improve buildings and attract even more NPCs. Moreover, later some NPCs will leave the settlement, others will come, which gives the feeling of a living world.  Overall, Tanares is a great adventure game. It surprised me, to say the least: in the 3-4 years since the kickstarter campaign, my enthusiasm had died down, and when the box finally arrived, I sat down to try it without much hunting, thinking, "Well, why do I need this cliched fantasy dungeon crawler on based on skyr games when I have such great original campaign games like Aeon Trespass: Odyssey, Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood, ISS Vanguard, Trudvang Legends.” And then he got involved. Dragori Games did not disappoint; it is clear that they put their heart into the game.  Arena the Contest is nothing more than a good skirmish game, but its descendant Tanares Adventures is an outstanding game. Not only is there a lot of content here - as many as 100 missions (as in "Gloomy Harbor") - Tanares also borrows the best elements from Oathsworn (a "choose your own adventure" story phase before each battle), Wild Assent (interesting AI enemies ) ), "Frozen Harbor" (use of loot to build settlements, tactical battles with map management - even better than in "Havana")... There is also an interesting plot (atmosphere of sensations almost like RPG Dragonlance: War of Lance), a lot characters as befits a dungeon crawler, giant scary bosses (and dragon vs dragon mode!), skill trees (much like Chronicles of Drunagor: Age of Darkness), events and faction abilities that change your skills for battle... Oh, there's so much here. WHO WILL LIKE THE GAME ‣ If you're into large-scale campaigns with clever puzzle tactical combat with high replayability and minimal luck (even failed D20 rolls still deal some damage and give you bonuses). ‣ If you like epic storylines that significantly affect the gameplay depending on the decisions you make. ‣ If you are interested in character crossovers with other boards (Oathsworn, Middara: Unintentional Malum - Act 1, Drunagor, Aeon Trespass: Odyssey, etc.). ‣ If you're looking for a balanced, varied dungeon crawler with simple mechanics, but a challenge (with difficulty depending on your performance), then this is the  game for you. WHO DOESN'T LIKE THE GAME ‣ If you are not ready for a dungeon crawler with a large-scale story campaign, then Tanares is unlikely to suit you. ‣ If you already have "Gloomy..." or "Frozen Haven", then Tanares is its close counterpart; not the fact that it makes sense to take a game of approximately the same level. ‣ If you don't want a game where the layout and management of components takes up a lot of space and time, and where the tutorial mode can take up to 20 hours (including flipping through a bunch of books, reading art, learning the rules, and a lot of fiddling), then stay away to Tanares. ‣ If you prefer non-classical fantasy (Agemonia, Kingdom Death: Monster, Bloodborne: The Board Game, The Grail Despised, etc.), you won't find it here. The game is closer to a classic fantasy setting like "Descent: Journeys in the Dark", "Blade and Sorcery", Dungeon Universalis. ‣ If you absolutely do not like rolling D20 (even considering that the role of randomness is minimized here) or if you start to panic when a monster destroys half the HP of your 50-hit hero in one hit. CONCLUSIONS So far I'm giving it a solid 4 out of 5 with the caveat that I'm still waiting for the second wave to arrive; so far I only have the base, not even the much needed Arena Box. But when the rest comes (and I'm silent about the RPG components in the second wave), then the rating may increase to 5, given how Trudvang Legends and HEXplore It: The Valley of the Dead King - Klik's Madness Campaign Book went to me. waiting for Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the Unfolders. Note to board game designers: add more RPG elements to your games. The more such games, the more interesting...

 This review will not be about the basic game mechanics, but rather about the dynamics and design. For those unfamiliar with Pacific Rim, it's more of a miniatures wargame than a tabletop game, and with a small number of models. Thanks to this, each model is given a lot of attention, which allows you to achieve a decent depth of gameplay, while not forcing players to command huge armies. The game is fast and easy to learn. If you're looking to dive into a themed miniatures wargame that requires no assembly, no painting, no special terrain, and if you've wanted to try a miniatures game but been put off by the huge investment of time, money, and effort, Pacific Rim is a great choice. However, for veterans of wargames with miniatures, it will also be suitable, as the gameplay is exciting and deep. Just keep in mind that the Starter Box is just a starter: it lets you familiarize yourself with the game, nothing more. A full immersion will require at least one additional hunter and one kaiju.  Let's move on to the gameplay...   At first glance, Pacific Rim: Extinction is a standard batch of miniatures, the depth of which is measured by the number of parameters and abilities of the models. While the models are indeed very different from each other in terms of gameplay, if Pacific Rim: Extinction had nothing else to boast about, it would be lost among the many other games about giant robots and/or monsters. It stands out for its depth, which comes from fairly simple basic mechanics, and asymmetry.  The asymmetry is that the initiative is in the hands of the kaiju player, and the hunter player is forced to react from his action. The game does not teach the kaiju player how important it is to take initiative; he has to guess it himself. The kaiju advantage on the momentum die prompts active action: the chance of success-failure is 2:1, and there is a high chance of a critical success. As such, the basic mechanics imply that the kaiju player must command the initiative.  This is also reflected in another, less obvious aspect of the game - the mechanics of scoring victory points. It is noticeably more difficult for a hunter player to collect software, since a kaiju player can get it not only for fighting with hunters, but also for other activities, for example, destroying buildings. The hunter player gets almost all the software just for the battles with the kaiju. In addition, for destroying buildings, a kaiju receives twice as much software as a hunter for protecting them. Therefore, the kaiju player can follow the strategy of destroying buildings from the start, knowing that the game can end after the third turn (and then the counting of victory points will begin). It is difficult to say whether this is the optimal strategy, but it is quite viable. Asymmetric mechanics lead to asymmetric dynamics. While kaiju have the advantage of greater freedom of action, hunters have the advantage of being single-minded. From the first turn, the player cares about the hunters only one thing - how to kill the kaiju. Again, the victory point mechanics contribute to the asymmetry, with a kaiju always getting a fixed number of points for killing a hunter, and a hunter for killing a kaiju based on level. In addition, killing all kaiju results in the player winning for the hunters regardless of the ratio of the dialed programs. So regardless of whether the hunter player is going to win with SW or by eliminating the opponent, he will always kill the kaiju. Another important aspect of asymmetry is movement restrictions. What is logical, the hunters are obliged to protect civilians and are therefore forced to move through residential areas with caution. But the main thing is that hunters can only return after moving, unlike kaiju. Therefore, hunters can find themselves in an unfortunate position and/or be outplayed by kaiju. Interestingly, this means that the player's relative passivity for hunters (reacting to kaiju actions) is not a bad thing: being overly active and trying to seize the initiative can leave hunters in a vulnerable position. And this is another example of how the game forces the hunter player to watch the initiative more closely than their opponent. And finally, asymmetry manifests itself in different degrees of vulnerability of the parties. Hunters have pilots. Piloted by a single pilot, a Hunter can be disabled by a single point of loss if it kills the pilot. But even hunters with 2-3 pilots are significantly weakened if one of them dies: the neural compatibility bonus is lost, which gives hunters a slight advantage over kaiju - otherwise they are roughly comparable in terms of parameters. In addition, the pilot's skills can make the hunter significantly more dangerous, making the strategy of killing pilots one possible course of action for the kaiju player. All this makes every move exciting and interesting. First, the mechanic of hidden action selection (while you try to guess what actions your opponent has chosen). Second, momentum dice rolls can drastically affect the outcome of these actions. It's very interesting to watch the result, especially after both players have spent their rollovers from the leaders. Also, rollovers make killing leaders an important strategic goal, especially for a hunter player at the start. Thanks to its asymmetric structure, PR:E can boast extreme thematics. There is a real sense of an epic battle between titans hundreds of meters tall, clashing in the middle of a fragile city of people. And playing as robots is very different from playing as monsters. Hunters are not only clumsier, being robots weighing thousands of tons, piloted by frail, albeit ardent humans. When playing for them, there is a feeling that you are trying to catch up, corner and eventually destroy the monsters that threaten humanity. Not quite the same as a fun kaiju frenzy. It's hard to even say which side is more interesting to play for. It is also worth noting that each model has its own style of play. They all play very differently and bring their own unique abilities to the game. For example, Saber Athena has an upgrade that allows her to return before moving, which greatly changes the aforementioned asymmetric spread. Additionally, she has an action that allows her to activate another hunter that hasn't been activated this turn immediately after her turn, which partially offsets the kaiju's initiative advantage. However, the core mechanics are what make the game so good in the first place. It's no exaggeration to say that PR:E's rules are some of the most elegant, well-thought-out, and interesting of any game I've tried...

 The plot of the game unfolds in the American Wild West of the XIX century. You are a simple cattle breeder who needs to feed your family in this difficult time. You won't find a lot of money and chances for development in your place of residence. Finally, having collected the last savings, you decide to take a risk and go with your herd to a large station in Kansas, where you can profitably transport it by rail for sale in other cities. Among other things, rare breeds of cows will be needed, and you have a serious task of how to get them. Unfortunately, this thought occurred not only to you. Other racers were not afraid to take risks and entered this race. The fight will be great, the path is full of bandits and other dangers, but when has that stopped you?  The essence of the game. "Great Western Road" (VZP) is primarily an economic strategy. Our task is to build our engine so that the path brings more money and victory points than competitors. For this, the game simply provides a lot of opportunities that you must use competently. The game has a log-building mechanic - you need to select your herd so that not only the value of each cow is high, but also breeds are not repeated. In Kansas, each breed is paid only once. The way to get rich is to bring a diverse herd with rare species of cattle to the city. The cows themselves bring both money and victory points at the end of the game. One of the first tactics to achieve success opens before you — to be the best in the market and have enough cows, for which, of course, you will have to pay a lot of money.  How can we manage to bring different and expensive breeds of cows to Kansas, if our path lies through sparsely populated areas, full of obstacles and dangers? That's right, develop infrastructure. The game gives us another way to develop - contributing to the infrastructure on a large map with winding paths. You can construct buildings that allow you to perform additional actions, hire workers and livestock, clean your deck, move around the field more, even charge other players to pass. You are given a wide choice of what to build and how. You can place your buildings without thinking, but it will bring minimal benefit. You have to design everything to move around the field, collecting all the necessary bonuses and actions that allow you to saturate your deck. But do not forget that you are not alone on this path, someone can overtake you and take a favorable place. Building in the game is an important part of the gameplay, but it is not the only one. It is not necessary to invest all the money, you can limit yourself to a narrow circle of buildings necessary for you and direct your finances in another direction.  When you get to Kansas with the cows, you put them on the train. Here, in addition to the main one, a new field of struggle opens up. The further you can advance your train (each player has his own), the more profitable it will be for you to sell livestock. Railroad tracks are another way to score victory points. You need to move your train, stop at stations, overtake rivals and occupy advantageous seats. All this is possible thanks to the structures on the field and additional actions of the player. Every player will want to get profitable stations with bonuses, so you should hurry.  Game components and details. I suggest you look at their number and variety:  Impressive, isn't it? When showing this game to newbies, they may be horrified, but it's in vain, everything is not as scary as it seems at first glance. Design. As you might have noticed, the game is colorful and looks stunning. A variety of details, easy to understand infographics, great art on the cards, which depict the same cows, the setting of which scared me off at the introductory stage, even the box itself is made of high quality and I want to put it in a prominent place. In the process of immersion, you get pleasure from the design of the game. Just look at how it looks on the table:  Random Any modern game should have an element of randomness that gives a unique note to each game. But many people do not like that sometimes it affects the outcome of the game too much. The WZP provided for this and gave players the opportunity to influence it. We can hire engineers, builders and shepherds from the labor market, which we put out of the bags ourselves, but not directly, but through a special "forecast" department. By filling out the "forecast", we can predict exactly who your competitor will send to the market, and who it is more profitable to send to you. It's a very interesting mechanic that adds that necessary randomness without making it all-powerful.  Players' tablets. A big plus is that they are double-layered, this adds ergonomics (in the first edition, the games were single-layered, which brought a lot of inconvenience). In addition, your tablet is the tool through which you tune your engine. It stores your employees, certificates, displayed additional actions and reminders. When developing a tablet, you will find new opportunities, you should not forget about this.  Other details and subtleties of the game: Objective maps. They allow you to choose a direction for development, bring bonuses, as well as victory points. But don't be in a rush to get too many of them, they'll wind up in your deck and clutter up your hand throughout the game. Robbers A monetary reward is given for their capture. The more robbers on the field, the bigger the reward. Don't miss your chance to be the first to claim the prize. Badge of station chiefs. To grab them first, you have to push your train to the station as fast as possible, pay some amount and replace them with your workers (until the end of the game) to get bonuses instead. This can only be done on the first visit to the station, be careful.  Disadvantages Despite all of the above, the game also has disadvantages: Difficult to learn rules. The actions in the game are simple, but there are many of them, and the amount of nuance will make you go back to the rulebook for the first two or three games. I recommend watching the let's play, it's much easier to understand. The time per game is higher than average. When playing together, taking into account the average level of experience of the participants, the game can last more than two hours. Subsequently, parties will enter the time limit from 1.5 to 2 hours. When playing with a large number of participants, the game can take up to 3-4 hours. Average downtime. It all depends on the players. If those who like to think for a long time play, you will be forced to wait. But this time should be spent with benefit, working out your next steps. Bad organizer. In fact, it is in the box, but it is very inconvenient. Personally, I immediately removed it, there is no more useful space without it. Thin cards. It may seem to many that they will eventually begin to deteriorate. Protectors can solve the problem. Impression. "The Great Western Way" is a game that is incredible in terms of scale, elaboration, replayability, variability, and design. It intertwines many favorite mechanics that closely interact with each other. The game has no "proven tactics" and no imbalance. Each batch is individual. How the market of workers and cows will develop, the starting positions of standard buildings, on which path there will be more obstacles and dangers, when your rivals will overtake you, and when you will overtake them, who will choose some development tactics - no one knows. Thanks to this, you want to return to it again and again. And thoughts about the same "dubious setting" disappeared without a trace. Moreover, he began to like it. You look at the cards in your hand with delight during the journey, and when you receive your well-deserved reward for them, it brings double pleasure...

 "Hara"... At first glance, the game looks picturesque, but not particularly impressive. Six adjacent tiles with six hexes each (plus a seventh, central, inaccessible hex into which the stack of cards corresponding to the tile is placed). Everything is abstract, everything is divided into hexes, everything is subject to the strict geometry of the number "6".  But do not rush to conclusions. After just one round in one of the hexes (the one with the lowest number) of each of these tiles, something will appear - a monster or an event. And it's still morning. At dusk, a new wave of monsters/events will appear; this time they will be drawn from another deck and placed on a random hex according to the result of the dice roll. Cracks in reality will open on the tiles, alien monsters will appear. But again, that's not all. At midnight, Hara itself changes: the two tiles switch places. You will always have a safe haven in the center tile, but only Hari knows what will happen to the others. Hara has perhaps the most well-thought-out field of all adventure fantasy decks. In one game day, it turns from a wasteland into a home for many unfriendly creatures. Safe hexes are rare and usually at opposite ends of the map, and most of the hexes are occupied by unfriendly (mostly) monsters, events, and traps. Together, this creates a whimsical, ever-changing landscape where the desert can instantly turn into an oasis...a thorn-fenced oasis. Here there will be a monster with a ranged attack, there, on the key passage between the tiles, there will be an almost invincible enemy, and here is a place where you can take a short rest. At least until the ground under your feet shifts. In general, Hara is very changeable. A typical reviewer cliché: "In this game, you'll have a different playing field every game." "Hara" will have a different playing field every 15 minutes. A wound that stood in your way, an obstacle can evaporate, and a previously open passage can become deadly.  Of course, it is much more interesting to try to cross this changing landscape than to look at it. In this regard, "Champions of Hara" does not disappoint. The complexity of movement is reminiscent of "Mage Knight": a simple path from point A to point B can be fraught with dangers, and even a successful outcome is not guaranteed due to the changing composition of the hand. However, Hara is a completely different game, and the movement mechanics here are better than in Ointment Knight: a more polished system that gives a similar feeling when you realize you're only 1 movement point short, but - yes! — these two maps can be combined to get exactly where you need to go. Only instead of the depressing atmosphere of trying to get out of the cage ahead with a timer, there is a spirit of adventure. The basic mechanics revolve around a hand of 4 (starting) cards. Each of the six heroes of Hara starts with 4 cards and can acquire new ones during the game. Nicely, the new cards usually expand your capabilities, rather than just amplifying the existing ones, rendering the old cards useless compared to the tricks you've learned. This is partly because the leveling options are very limited in this game, and partly because you can only play 3 cards per turn. But the main reason is the mechanics of using these cards. Let's take Lyst, for example, a muscular man with a belly. His 4 starting cards are Dash (a basic movement card common to all heroes), Falling Pine (movement and damage), Syncopation (damage, and with enough resources played out of limit) and Careful Walking » (movement and collection of resources). List's card synergies are immediately apparent: he gains resources by moving, then trades a bunch of resources for a bunch of losses. His personal resource - which every hero has - is called driving force, because his cards are tied to receiving movement bonuses. However, the effects of List cards are as long as you have them in your hand. After use, they are put aside, returned - and now they are a completely (or completely) different effect. Dash now gives half as much movement, but does a bit more damage. "Falling Son" deals pure damage, but can increase its effect due to the driving force resource. "Syncopathy" turns into a dual purpose card: healing or movement. Mindful walking still brings movement points and special resources, allowing you to move faster and faster, even running through some monsters. If you think that the changes are small, believe me: they are not.  Each of Hara's heroes has their own mini-puzzle: calculating movement and damage plus accounting for smaller, but also important aspects such as immunities, cash resources, and power-ups. Cards move between your hand and the table, forming new combinations with each turn. At the core of their mechanics, they are very simple, but they leave room for surprises, miscalculations and creative solutions. And for planning, although the landscape changes and sometimes turns the most carefully prepared plans to dust. And each hero has his own special approach. Inventor Thomas Evening reinforces his trunks with runes, achieving stunning results. However, runes can be found mainly in rifts, forcing him to periodically deviate from his intended route to stock up on ammunition. Kaoru and her bear Kuma are very resilient: their stamina is restored every morning. However, her reserves are limited, and if you overdo it and quickly spend a lot of resources, then with the onset of dusk, you will still have a hard time. Persephone becomes more frightened each time she is wounded, and gives vent to her fears in the form of nightmares. The special rules are few, but they perfectly give individuality to each character. This does not mean that all cards are equally useful. One of the few disappointments for me is that every now and then there's a new map that doesn't impress at all, doesn't really expand the character's abilities. This doesn't happen often, and each levelup (levelups occur when you reach certain reserves of blue, red, green energy) is usually an important event, because it gives the opportunity to, say, kill a monster blocking the passage. But it does happen. Fortunately, this is a minor flaw, like the game's other weaknesses. You can turn a blind eye to them, because the "Champions of Hara" succeeded in something very important. Unique characters. Unique cards. Unique items. Many unique abilities.  "Hara" offers a thoughtful and interesting adventure without annoying obstacles in the way. In this regard, it surpasses the Mage Knight, not to mention everything that happened in the Terrinot setting. From start to finish, in every scenario, with any number of players, co-op or competitive, Hara tells the story. And although the story is a bare mechanical skeleton on which your actions are layered, the result is an interesting narrative. Actually, this is often the best way of storytelling: describe the setting, issue a task, step aside and watch the actions of the characters. The tasks are standard for fantasy adventures: collect tokens in a certain sequence, defeat the boss, be the first to reach the maximum level, etc. However, you will encounter or avoid various threats and potential bonuses along the way. There are very few key features, but each of them changes the geography of the playing field and creates an atmosphere no worse than dozens of hexes and modifiers in other adventure games. Aggressive monsters attack before you. Friendly monsters can help. Armored monsters cannot be attacked with a ranged attack. Critical attacks require an additional die roll to determine if additional damage is dealt. Dangerous monsters counterattack when defeated. That's all - only 5 properties. Together with the basic characteristics (such as health, damage, attack range) they sculpt a living adventure, like a human from clay. For example, you are roaming the wastelands of Aerchi and you see three monsters in front of you: the Blue Spawn of the Rift, which you can befriend and which will heal your wounds, the Forgotten Sentinel, which will deal damage, but will share energy after defeat, or the Fatbeard pirate - a dangerous one who possesses a deadly a captain's hook that can be plucked from his weakening hand and used against new dangers in the future. By the way, did I mention that all the item cards are numbered and certain enemies don't drop randomly, but a specific reward? There is no random extraction of objects, no extra garbage. Each item is useful in its own way, each step moves you forward toward some goal and away from other potential possibilities, and each action moving across the table and back brings both new constraints and new possibilities to your plan.  Champions of Hara, with its colorful shifting field, well-crafted map management, and atmospheric characters and enemies, is one of the best adventure games I've played. An almost perfect combination of storytelling and gameplay. You'll have to put up with the vagaries of the event maps and read the art from time to time, just like any adventure game. But these elements are made so elegantly and unobtrusively that they are not annoying at all, but on the contrary, they delight every time something new is discovered; A little joy before we focus again on achieving the main goal. In short, "Hara" enchanted me. Perhaps its landscapes are changeable, but the sophistication of the game remains at the highest level...

 I bought "Galerist" at a time when the wow effect from the variety of board games and mechanics had already subsided, and I stopped writing reviews for everything in a row. However, "Galerist" is still worth mentioning, since this game is distinguished by a good overlay of mechanics on the theme and without unnecessary conventions. Players become competing gallerists with empty galleries, two assistants, and a dozen bidder profiles. The task of each player is to fill his gallery with works of art, invite visitors who have nowhere to spend money, and sell canvases and sculptures at a reasonable price. The most successful gallerist wins. Success is determined by earned money, which is more pleasant than a counter of abstract software around the perimeter of the playing field. And since you have to spend a lot of this money during the game, you have to use it wisely. "Galerist" does not pretend to be hardcore. On the contrary, its rules are so simple that people without desktop experience can easily learn them; tested on relatives who did not follow Rummikub. But our party was in some sense phenomenal: we managed to increase the popularity of five artists as much as possible. The endgame trigger is a popularity boost of at least two. The game does not have a fixed number of rounds, but there are three events that mark the approaching end of the game. As soon as two of them are triggered, the game is over. The second trigger is visitors who gradually enter the field and at some point run out. The third is tickets to the box office, which are needed to attract these visitors. Visitors are divided into VIPs, investors and collectors. VIPs increase the gallerist's influence, collectors help popularize artists, and investors bring money. And the fact that the gallery is filled with them increases the capabilities of the gallerist many times over.  There are only eight actions in the game, divided in pairs between four locations. In "Artists' Settlement", players buy works of art or search for unknown talents in order to promote them. With the latter players, they make a kind of agreement, according to which the artist will sell his first painting at a starting price, regardless of the level of popularity, the price of an entrance ticket to the world of great art. His further works will be available at the current price. With each purchase of a work, the artist becomes more and more popular, and when it reaches its peak, the artist becomes a celebrity, and his works become masterpieces. And then he stops creating. And it is very important to have time to purchase it before this moment. Sales contracts are concluded in the "Sales Office" and, in fact, the sales of paintings themselves are carried out. Sold paintings leave the gallery together with one of the visitors of the player's choice and are stacked next to each other. At the end of the game, you can get extra money for a certain set of sold paintings. In the Media Center, gallerists use their influence to advertise their artists in the media, increasing their popularity, and also hire new assistants to help them in this difficult business. The more famous the artist, the more influence units are needed to "rock" him forward. But it easily pays off with bonuses for these actions and the selling price of the painting. Assistants are needed to be in several places at the same time. They work on contracts, promote the player at the international level, help to make more actions on the playing field. "International market", where gallerists earn a reputation by sending their assistants or participate in an international auction for world masterpieces. Reputation is revealed in Reputation Tokens, which provide extra money at the end of the game. For example, a coin for each visitor to the gallery or two for each sold work. At the auction, there is a fight for works that you can add to the gallery and thus collect a set (it is also available here). Or add to the pool of sold paintings to collect a set there. The works for auction are randomly selected at the start of the game and are placed next to the field on cute little wooden easels, but there is one oddity about the auction. In fact, this is a bet on the possibility of taking an additional picture at the end of the game first. Only one can lose in it. Others will get it for one work. And every time it turns out that their value is approximately the same, when the players' investments can differ by almost half.  Players perform their actions by placing a gallerist token on a location that interests them. They then call out one of the two actions available in that location and perform it. Point by point, according to the memo. By the way, the monuments are made very well: all the actions are briefly but comprehensively described and an explanation is given for all the iconography that is found on the field and on the game tablets. In "Galerist", the player who performs more actions per unit of time wins. This is facilitated by Vital's very interesting idea as "kick-outs" (kick-out action in the original), or "action-compensation", as translated by the localizer. The point is that a player gets the opportunity to perform a location action out of turn if his chip is knocked out by an opponent's chip. And during the game it will happen constantly. But on such kick-outs you need to spend influence, which may not be there, or which should be saved for a more effective move. Moreover, when the player leaves the location, he can leave his assistant there, and if he is knocked out, this will also be an opportunity to perform an out-of-turn move. And "if" is because the assistant can be taken at any moment and used in another place, if he suddenly "stuck" in the location or there are no other options. When I say influence, I mean an influence track. This is the most important element of the game and another amazing find of Lacerda. The impact track is versatile and elegant. It can be spent on performing actions, on additional "infusions" into the popularity of artists, it can simply be used as additional money if suddenly there is not enough to buy a painting. The main thing is to monitor the occupancy of the track.  I fell in love with this game precisely because it explains how and why it works and what it interacts with. And there are no artificial restrictions, which are, for example, in "On Mars", where you can build buildings strictly across the cell from previously built ones, or in "Vignos", where the player is obliged to buy vineyards from different regions in one turn. Everything works well at "Galerista" and you don't wonder why. The design of the game is also at a height. Capacious organizer, thick cardboard, colored soaps. The field is decorated in calm tones, but not pale. It perfectly contrasts with the bright elements of the players. Assistants on the field will not get lost and you can always quickly list the visitors in the gallery. For me, this standard design in terms of ergonomics. You can find something similar only in "Lisbon".  The game, of course, is not fast. With a full team, taking into account the knowledge of the rules, 1.5-2 hours will go. Despite the visible triggers, it will be possible to accelerate the course of the game only with joint efforts. However, these will be the most interesting hours...

 Co-op board games are an important part of my collection. Constant rivalry with opponents, struggle for resources, bluffing, race for victory points - all this you will not find in this genre. Sometimes you want to be on one side of the barricade, unite with everyone against the impending threat, and walk this path side by side. In general, there is not too much variety of such cooperatives in our market, and only a few representatives in the topic of knights. So I couldn't get past this game. Did I like her? Let's figure it out.  About the game. "Oltre" is a cooperative board game for 2-4 people. Everyone has to take on the role of one of the heroes-knights, who were assigned to go to the old fortress to restore justice in those lands and take the peaceful citizens under their protection. The plot will move as we go through the annals, the pages of which we open by throwing a special die. On our way there will be interesting meetings, unexpected events and not always easy challenges.  Layout and components. This is clearly Oltre's strong point. The field looks voluminous and detailed, the design is colorful, the cards have amazing art, what are the figures of knights worth, each made in its own way. Two-layer tablets of characters add ergonomics, and a convenient organizer is made in the form of boxes that give the game sophistication. Pleasant to the touch components, unusual cubes and elegantly designed chronicles in the form of books. The authors clearly did not spare money and time to work out these details. Personally, I have no complaints in this regard, I want to show it to my friends, especially those who are far from the world of board games and think that, except for Monopoly, there is nothing worthwhile. Separately, I would like to emphasize that the game will clearly affect children as well.  Gameplay This is where the questions start to arise... There are only 7 chronicles in the base game, 2 of which are short. "The Living and the Dead" add-on adds only 3 more. At the beginning of getting acquainted with the game, you will be interested in reading them, they really have new interesting stories every time, somewhere you will be offered a choice of which way to move forward, somewhere you will be rewarded for successes or, on the contrary, insert several sticks into the wheels. But when you finish the last chronicle, the question arises: What next? Yes, the game adds replayability by introducing new objectives into the game, but they don't change the plot at all, the essence remains the same. You will already know which characters are better to play in this or that case, which buildings to build first, which can be neglected, which resources will come in handy, and which can simply be forgotten. All this leads to the fact that the game quickly annoys you, you will forever miss something. The only thing that can be done about it is to increase the time between games, return to the game no more than once a week, maybe twice, and then once a month. Over time, the nuances of the annals will be forgotten, which will allow you to fully (without advantage) return to them. The game is clearly not for every day, you can't play it to the core. Separately, I would like to talk about mechanics. At the beginning of the turn, each player rolls a special die that brings a new page of the chronicle closer. This is complete randomness that you cannot influence. There were cases when the chronicle rushed to its end, leaving no time for the players to take the necessary actions. The game itself decides how this party will go. But sometimes randomness is on the side of the participants, even with an excess. There are extra steps that are not worth spending on. This mechanic is an "Oltre" chip, but it does not always show its best sides.  Difficulty level. On the way there will be troubles and events that we will have to solve. But most often, any problem can be solved by giving some resource from the general inventory or simply by passing an inspection. In all cases, even if you fail, the event is considered complete, bringing you closer to the goal of the game. It turns out that, in principle, it does not matter who goes there and how to deal with this event, you will still get the desired result. Yes, successful completion will bring you bonuses or resources, but there will be no further benefit from it. Diluting the situation is that in some tasks you will be given a choice of how to act, but again, it will not change the course of the game too much. In the first games, you will build your tactics, think through each move, face new difficulties, but then all this will enter the usual course and will not be so interesting: the mechanics will become clear, events and troubles will begin to repeat themselves - and everything will turn into a routine. There is clearly not enough crisis in the game. You shouldn't expect "Ancient Horror" from her. It is for those who do not want to think over strategy for a long time, do not like long stories, do not wait for serious tests and upheavals of the entire plot. The process in "Altra" proceeds peacefully, your character cannot die in principle, the game often does not break the plans of the players. Still, it imposes some restrictions, but they disappear quite quickly. Over time, you will understand what the game requires of you, and it will become easy. The whole strategy will be based on which player to send where and what to build first. As a rule, whoever is closer is the one who goes to deal with the events.  Characters There are as many as 8 characters in the game, but they all differ only in appearance, one individual ability and a symbol that will allow you to roll more dice on a certain check, and a small difference in "hearts". All this makes a stingy asymmetry, you often forget about personal qualities, because you use them very rarely. In fact, the difference is only in the figurines.  What is missing? There is a lack of versatile characters, longer chronicles, more opportunities to influence the plot, work out your plans several moves ahead, more  complex checks and tests, new scenarios. In short, those sensations that the "Ancient Horror" gives. Perhaps someone does not need them at all, for someone a calm environment, the absence of complex monsters and difficult decisions is more important.  What in the end? I can recommend Oltre, but not to everyone. If you like this genre, theme, you are looking for a colorful design with elaborate components, a simple and short story game - this is your ideal choice. Do not wait for challenges, this is primarily a calm, family game. Personally, I expected more from her, but I had no desire to sell her. "Oltre" should be compared to a book that you have read and put on the shelf. There is nothing to get her very often, she has a completely different purpose. "Oltre" will be a good addition to a collection where there are other, more difficult games that you want to return to more often, but sometimes take a break from...

 Hi to all! Over the past few days, we've received a ton of great games. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we want 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)..