Publisher: Stonemaier Games
Player Count: 1-6 Players
Game Length: 2-3 Hours
Complexity 2.25/5

In this narrative-driven, open-world, exploration game, players must navigate the terrain of a distant planet, choosing their own path, meeting strangers, gathering resources, gaining companions, surviving the elements and exploring the great and the small of these mysterious surrounding.

Vantage isn’t your typical structure-based, strategy game. While there are mechanics and turns, it certainly doesn’t serve up the gameplay as the main course. This is an experience where the story is the game and developing it within the very loose structure is where the appeal will lie.

While some might be quick to write this off as another “Choose Your Own Adventure”, it couldn’t be further from the truth. When it comes to world-building in the board game space, Vantage brings a richness and complexity that is entirely unparalleled. It takes you down the rabbit hole and then lets you choose between 6 additional rabbit holes… and 6 more rabbit holes and 6 more rabbit holes after that until you’re completely emersed and at the mercy of your choices.

It’s part RPG, as you’ll equip your character with items you may not know the use for yet, companions who may only serve your benefit briefly or goals you’re not quite sure how to accomplish. These resources not only benefit you for their face-value, but serve as sources of experience and knowledge to help grow and expand your character to satisfy greater and more risky challenges ahead.

This isn’t a campaign, but a series of 2–3-hour adventures that begin in a unique way and playout differently every time. Strangely, despite all these lauded aspects, I personally haven’t run across a game this divisive to the extreme in a while. So, my hope with this review is to showcase the structure of the game, the experiential mindset and construct some expectations to help you determine if Vantage is for you.

ON YOUR TURN

Players have 3 primary areas to consider: The player board which tracks your 3 attributes (health, time & morale), your card grid which displays your character and carry-a-longs and your location card.

Throughout the game, you’ll travel across multiple location cards. Each card features an intentionally illustrated look at that location and a series of 6 actions available. These actions, while expressed differently depending on the card’s context, are rooted in 6 basic game actions: Movement, Look, Engage, Help, Take or Overpower. Your character starts the game specializing in one of these categories, but you have the power to continue on that trek or mold your character as you see fix. Just because you’re one more likely to Engage doesn’t mean you can’t Overpower (fight, etc.) or Help.

You can only choose one action per card per game placing more emphasis on each choice. This means rejecting 5 options, their benefit and their storylines in exchange for the choice that best suits you in a particular moment in time.

Actions are always successful, but like choices in life, always deliver consequences. Once you choose an action, you’re directed to roll a specific number of challenge dice. These challenge dice reflect the action’s investment and effect it has on you personally. Did it wear on your morale, affect your health or take too much time? These are the survival pillars of the game and ultimately exhausting one ends your adventure.

Fortunately, travel and choices breed resources and experience in the form of cards that strengthen your ability to absorb these challenges over time. Gaining a weapon might allow you to place a die when you choose an Overpower action. Gaining a companion might help absorb specific die rolls when you’re in a certain terrain. In a sense, your player grid is an evolving tableau that can potentially pattern your player to better accomplish certain types of actions. Additionally, some cards can be upgraded to more power advantages.

As you choose these actions, you’ll be prompted with a story blurb describing the outcome of your choice. This wildly varies and I’d hate to ruin any surprises, but the outcome could be as simple as gaining credits, a new resource card, whisking you away to a new location or opening a door to a new challenge.

Vantage is very loosely structured, but each game will give you a mission objective as well as possible Destiny and Epic victory conditions. How and if these conditions can be met will be up to you. Vantage is very clear that success in the game is first and foremost dependent on how you define it.

This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your possible experience. There are so many different things that pop up throughout the game that might serve as a side-mission or viable distraction giving you loads of freedom to see this one through as you see fit.

WHY VANTAGE IS FOR YOU?

Vantage is your scene if you love the idea of an open world with minimal constraints and structure. Are you ok with “wandering” just to get a look at what’s over the horizon? Do you enjoy the idea of not just exploring the landscape, but the items you discover and series of side quests that can be embraced without the promise of a resolution? It’s all in the spirit of discovery.

Again, this is a game where the narrative takes center stage. You’re not quite along for the ride as you have plenty to do and lots of choices to makes, but the story is the game. There isn’t anything guaranteed and the satisfaction of the game comes in the unknown and being able to interact based on past decisions or just on plain impulse. It’s a bit of a survival game, but the tone is hopeful and almost joyful. There’s a brightness (even in the darker recesses of the planet) that feels almost leisurely and stress free.

WHY VANTAGE ISN’T FOR YOU?

It probably goes without saying at this point, but If you’re hoping for a strategy game with tight parameters or standard board game mechanics, you’re probably going to be disappointed. Not to say there isn’t strategy, resource management, set collection, optimizing or calculated choices involved, but they’re baked deep inside the cake and often won’t let you control them like you would in a standard board game.

It’s difficult to optimize Vantage, especially given that you’ll want to make choices that go against the strengths of your character. The narrative can sometimes feel random and disjointed at points and that randomness can frustrate your personal objectives.

The last thing isn’t necessarily a hard no, but one to consider. The fantasy/sci-fi heavy theme could be a deal breaker for some. Are you inclined to read a fantasy/sci-fi novel? Because of the nature of the game, I can see this being a deal breaker for some.

MY PERSONAL TAKE AWAY

I love my structured, rules-y, optimization puzzles and Vantage is about a thousand miles in the other direction… but I went in with and open mind. Stonemaier has a fantastic track record and the boldness toward innovation–if anything–has to be respected.

This is one of the most innovative game experiences I’ve seen in a long time. It’s much more interactive than your typical Choose Your Own Adventure. It harkens back to the classic Sierra PC games where you arrive on the scene and interact, but it does so in a much more sophisticated way. It’s deeper and each play is so unique – but not a typical “shuffle-the-tiles”, “add-in-a-new-module” sort of way. In my mind it’s better defined as board game’s answer to video games such as Grand Theft Auto or Skyrim where it’s vastness takes on it’s own personality and can even feel overwhelming.

I’m reminded of a recent game called Mythwind that plays out like Animal Crossing with no decisive ending. You can literally play forever. Mythwind is a bit more gamified than Vantage, but the spirit of ingenuity and innovation is similar. I’m thankful that games like Vantage and Mythwind are attempting to push the boundaries of this space. They’re creating new ways to approach analog gaming and redefine what they’re potentially capable of.

My personal experience playing Vantage strangely had nothing to do with the system. I think the system is fantastic and immersive. It’s a monumental achievement and real work of art. For me, I wasn’t in love with the theme–it’s as simple as that. For the very same reason I love one movie and hate another or obsess over a book and dislike another. I love similar-themed board games, but again, I typically prefer board games where the mechanics are king and the theme can often hide. This is it’s own animal.

The events were often interesting, but circumstances surrounding those events and the characters just didn’t engage me. I understand this isn’t the type of game you can just reskin. Next, we’re getting Marvel Vantage or Cthulhu Vantage! Vantage is what the designer intended it to be. But for that reason, it’s probably not going to be something I take off the shelf too often. I don’t think the time investment is unreasonable, but the time investment combined with the heavily-narrative-driven theme doesn’t get me too excited.

That being said, the accessibility is crazy in relation to the game size. The ruleset is incredibly simple and you can learn, setup and start playing in a matter of minutes. It seems very family friendly and is super flexible at 1-6 players (though I wouldn’t play more 3 or 4 for time purposes). The biggest precept is that you will need to set aside 2-3 hours to play. But if you love the concept and think this is the type of game you’ll find engaging, that won’t be time wasted. Everyone I played with who loves this game (and there are far more than not) felt the time spent just flew by.

Publisher: Pandasaurus Games
Player Count: 1-5 Players
Game Length: 45 Minutes
Complexity 2/5

In this homage to the Planet-of-the-Apes, you are the leader of a future-set society of evolving apes seeking to learn the newfound technology from a long-lost human civilization. Manage your tribe of apes to grow your united knowledge in a race to rise above your competitors.

After Us is a quick-playing, simultaneous-action, deck-builder where you’re gathering resources, drawing more powerful ape cards and waiting for the right moments to cash in and tally your victory points. Make choices to maximize your resource income and set off on your own path to victory.

After Us has the potential to be a huge crowd pleaser with the right audience. It ticks a lot of boxes for me, but it might not be for everyone. I’ll break down the mechanics, describe my own experience and hopefully help you determine if After Us belongs in your game library.

ON YOUR TURN

Like most deck-builders, After Us equips each player with an identical set of 8 cards. Each player simultaneously draws 4 and attempts to line them up side-by-side to form complete boxes thus gaining the resources or executing the actions inside them. Some cards already feature completed boxes, but you’re typically going to have to connect boxes by aligning cards together. You’re not going to be able to connect them all, so evaluating your needs will help direct your path.

Each card has 3 rows and each one typically provides specific benefits and you’ll have to excuse these from left to right, top to bottom. The top produces resources, the second allows you to exchange resources for points and the 3rd provides a variety of things such as allowing you to cull cards. This isn’t always the case, but it gives you an idea what kind of decisions you might have to make since the choices you make in 1 row could have direct implications on another action.

From there, players reveal 1 of 4 medallions providing that player a benefit and allowing them to upgrade their deck with more powerful apes.

Each new ape “suit” gives you more powerful box actions. With 2 levels for each ape type, you can go big or you can go even bigger.

There are opportunities to cash in energy resources for bonuses that change each game or cull cards using your rage points to drop weak cards and gain additional points.

It is a race to the finish and you’ll have to decide when to stop building and when to start grabbing as many points as possible. It isn’t a true, definitive moment since you’ll always be building your deck and you’re always scraping for points, but there will come a point when you feel the shift and you need to go all in for the goal.

SOLO MODE

Solo mode has you competing against the King of Apes as he continually gains resources and builds up his deck. Minor victories are won by drawing your resources from HIS stash, but he primarily serves as a pacer to gauge your proficiency. It’s not too complicated to set up and manage – which is a huge plus. I can tell you solo mode is tough and it’ll definitely give you a challenge.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

Artwork from Vincent Dutrait, one of the best in the business, shines here with a semi-cyberpunk spin on his traditional, realistic style. The graphic design is ultra-vibrant and does a fantastic job placing you in this post-apocalyptic world. As typically the case with big-game publisher, Panadasaurus, the components are quality… the value is definitely there.

PROS & CONS

Fast, simultaneous play makes the game zoom

he resource exchange machine is in full swing loading you up with gobs of tokens and providing amply opportunity to frequently use them

Powerful ape card upgrades make your deck feel strong

Easy ruleset makes this quick to teach and fairly simple to play

Quick game time flies by with almost no downtime

Satisfying actions give you the feeling of accomplishment

Great artwork and production add plenty of value to your experience

Multiplayer solitaire isn’t going to be for everyone

While there are multiple paths to victory, they’re not as distinguished as some would like

Replay ability may feel a bit monotonous over time

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Players looking for a good gateway game that’s fast paced with very little downtown will find a lot to like here. It is incredibly easy to set up and jump into and will likely see more table time because of it. Great or groups where limited player interaction isn’t an issue.

BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about the game is the card mechanics. Connecting the boxes on the cards has been done, but it seems much more accessible here. While the number of choices may be a bit of a mirage, the excitement you get from connecting the boxes and making actions happen isn’t. The simultaneous play and race atmosphere of the game only adds to the thrill of this wild resource exchange.

FINAL THOUGHTS

After Us has been a real sensation with my gaming group. Everything from the production to actions and game-length has been a huge hit with us. We’re coming off of a 5-game stretch where we’ve played it everyday and I don’t feel any fatigue. This is a gateway game full of energy and life that’s exciting and best of all… it’s fun.

The box-matching mechanic feels right. While it could have been AP-inducing, it never feels overwhelming and never slows down the game. I guess a cynic could ask if that means the choices aren’t that deep, but After Us isn’t a heavy game and it’s never intended to challenge you in that way. There is a puzzle here and it will require some application to maximize your actions, but it’s doing so in a way that is accessible to gateway gamers. For fans of the game Hadrian’s Wall from Garphill Games, the resource system here gives off a similar, yet restrained vibe.

Another major point to address is the multiplayer-solitaire angle. Interaction in this game is really limited to shouting out “I just scored 8 points” or ‘I’m trading this energy to exchange these cards”. You can snag your opponent medallion bonus by paying resources, but it’s mainly a put-your-head-down-and-play-your-game sorta experience. We embrace multiplayer solitaire games, so this was never an issue for us. You’ll have to decide if that’s a deal breaker for you.

After Us offers a fast-paced encounter that more resembles a ride than a board game experience. The choices are fast and you feel the rush of the race. The card actions are satisfying and building up your deck feels empowering. It’s not the deepest experience and I can’t guarantee it has extensively long lasting legs, but it’s a solid gateway game that we’ve fully embraced. After Us is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it for the right crowd.

Publisher: Post Scriptum
Player Count: 1-4 Players
Game Length: 60-180 Minutes
Complexity 3/5

Set in feudal Japan, the katana was forged out of necessity to defend against the invading Mongol forces. It was originally brought over from China in trade and used by Daimyo (military nobility), but the forging and fabrication was refined through centuries becoming an art form in itself. Serving as a master swordsmith, you’ll have the opportunity to receive Daimyo commissions seeking specific kantans. Director your workers to gather the right resources and maximize your forge to efficiently produce the most fantastic swords. Prove your worth and even have the opportunity to gift the Shogun, himself one of your masterpieces.

Shogun No Katana is a worker placement and resource management game where you seek to maximize the use of your workers over a limited number of turns. Careful planning and savvy choices will guarantee your production is a success as you compete for points in a variety of different ways. Check out the review below to find out if forging weapons in Shogun No Katana is your next board game adventure.

ON YOUR TURN

Taking place over 4 rounds, you begin the game with a limited number of workers, decorators and family members available for your needs.

While there are a few different ways to score points, your primary avenue will have you gather contracts from Daimyo warriors desiring to have a katana created and processing those contracts through a unique, gridded forging system where you’ll use resources to produce the sword.

Players familiar with worker placement games will find the primary board and its functions fairly standard. You’ll take one of your available workers and visit one of the game’s 5 locations. Each location has it’s own purpose and benefits and after visiting you’ll make the necessary choices and receive the benefit.

The mechanic and components that help Shogun No Katana stand out is the forging board. Each player has their own forging board where they’ll store resources and process contracts. The forging board is almost an abstract, efficiency puzzle where you’ll work to produce as many swords as possible. Each contract requires a certain number of resources and a specific order those resources must be applied. The forge is made up of 4 rows and 5 columns. Each row represents a resource, that if available, can be placed on the contract. To run the forge, you’ll need to place a worker on a specific row or column. Players can then advance these contracts to a single space adjacent to the space that they’re in. Contracts can only advance if resources for that sword are available. This means 2 things, you can potentially process 4 swords at a time, but you’ll have to plan ahead to guarantee you have the right resources available when the time comes.

Visiting the decorators academy on the board will allow you to upgrade sword components in production earning you additional income when they are delivered. I call this “blinging” up your sword.

When a sword is completed, you’ll receive the resource associated with that row and a monetary bonus depending on the final column the contract is delivered. The forge is upgradeable with Daimyo cards earned at both the market and contract area. These upgrades are added to the end of a column or row and add additional benefits for completed katanas.

As you complete more swords, additional workers become available. Family members can visit the Palace where they will lobby for additional or discounted resources. The more family members at the palace, the more actions you can take when visiting this location on the board which serves as its own mini-tableau builder. Monks are available for the right price and can be used at any of the game’s locations to take that action as well as receive an additional benefit or multiplier. Monks increase in cost as the game progresses, but are a valuable commodity if used at the right time thanks to the game’s limited turns.

As you complete contracts, you’ll also produce resources that can be used to create the ultimate gift to the Shogun. This incredibly challenging sword must move through your forge and could be worth big points by the end of the game.

Points are scored from delivering sword contracts, set collections earned through the different Daimyo houses worked with and end game objective cards gained each round. The player with the most points in the end is the true master swordsmith.

SOLO NO KATANA

Shogun No Katana features a story-driven solo mode that takes place over 14 chapters. Each chapter presents new goals as you compete against the game’s ghost player. These chapters typically play close to the standard game, but will take some liberties mixing it up a bit. The ghost player is simulated through a series of cards and is pretty easy to control.

EXPANDING KATANA

The Wandering Characters expansion offers 9 new characters to implement into the standard game. You’ll select 4 of these characters and place them in 4 of the game’s locations. When visiting each location, you can take the wandering character’s special action. These actions provide mini-games that can earn you points, new sub-goals or additional resources. They don’t dramatically change the game, but they can alter your strategy and add a new level of variation to the game creating some fun new approaches. Each Wondering Character has its own unique miniature sculpt and that adds some flair and fun to the game as well.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

Presentation for Shogun No Katana is pretty fantastic. The artwork is extensive, fun and classy and the iconography is clean and clear. There are a good number of components and it feels the developers didn’t cut any corners when it comes to quality. The miniature sculpts are good, but they are on the smaller side and suffer slight bends and deformations similar to any miniatures of that size. I was able to straighten out the majority of them and this didn’t bother me that much.

The rulebook does a pretty bang up job explaining the game’s concepts and area actions. In a game this big, you’ll likely need to keep the rulebook handy for a few plays and the rulebook serves as a fantastic quick reference guide.

PROS & CONS

I really enjoyed forging my swords and pushing my ability to produce as many swords as possible at the same time.

With a limited number of actions through the game, importance is placed on each decision and you can feel the pressure as the game ramps up.

The theme shines through in the mechanics as well as the components – overall the production is super engaging

The game never seems to keep you from prospering, it’s typically your own limitations that minimize or maximize your success. I like to feel like I’m in control of my destiny guaranteeing the best player wins.

Each choice in the game has multiple layers and that creates a deeper system where you’re always trying to make the most return from each of your workers. This can be hugely satisfying if you’re able to effectively juggle these multiple facets.

This isn’t the tightest worker placement game. A good worker placement game will create fun dilemmas when it comes to your choices. Shogun No Katana has that going for it, but I found resources to be too available late in some instances and failed planning can leave you with wasted turns later in the game… and you don’t want that.

I found the Shogun sword nearly impossible to produce… which is fine, but the game is called Shogun No Katana

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

I think the theme is a big sales point. If you like the theme, you’re going to instantly be more engaged with the experience. Fans of worker placement are going to enjoy this one thanks to the forging aspect and the twist that it brings to an otherwise standard (yet good) worker placement game.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THE GAME?

The best thing about Shogun is the forging board. I love this little puzzle and it’s really satisfying to see it come together and be successful. While there is a decent amount going on in the game, it’s the forging system that shines through.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Shogun No Katana is a think-y gamer’s good time. The colorful theme and interesting mechanics provide so much personality and create a really enjoyable experience. I absolutely love the forging process and making sure your resources and contracts are all set up for success. It also provides a nice complimentary contrast to the game’s worker placement style.

The choices are interesting and there is a lot you want to do and few turns to make it happen. That being said, this isn’t the tightest worker placement game. Resources feel just a little on the excessive side toward the end of the game, but that certainly doesn’t detract from the challenge. Shogun No Katana almost feels like a race in some ways to produce the most sword contracts, putting pressure to not waste a single turn.

Shogun No Katana isn’t a perfect game, but it’s the personality and fun factor that really elevates this one. The solo mode gives the game extra life and there is plenty of variability to keep this one going strong. Euro and worker placement fans are going to find a lot to like here. I highly recommend Shogun No Katana.

Publisher: Renegade Games
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Game Length: 40-60 Minutes
Complexity 3/5

Set in the Middle Ages, King Philip sought to secure sacred holy sites across Europe by waging a series of wars against their enemies. Ultimately, the costly, violent and expensive war secured England’s status as players in the fight for land in the Middle East. As grandmaster of a militaristic order, your goal is to defeat enemies and establish your influence as you progress east through Europe.

Players race against one another in this mancala and rondel powered euro game loosely inspired by Stefan Feld’s euro classic, Trajan. Upgrade your abilities by establishing buildings and mustering troops for battle. Characterized by tight, efficient turns, Crusaders seeks to bring a full-on, euro-style game packed with interesting turns that can be played in under an hour. Impossible you say? Check out our review below to see how Crusaders pans out and if it’s a good fit for your board game collection.

ON YOUR TURN

The game begins by having you select a unique order of knights giving you a special set up bonus or ongoing benefit throughout the game.

The majority of the game’s actions takes place in your personal player board featuring a wheel made up of various wedges, each providing different actions. Players will move tokens in a mancala fashion to build value and execute stronger actions. Once an action is taken, the value of the action depends on the number of tokens available on that wedge. Players then move the tokens out of that wedge dispersing one at time across the adjacent wedges in clockwise order.

Crusaders is made up of a series of actions taken over an unspecified number of rounds. Players will take actions allowing them to travel across the central map board, engage with enemies, muster additional troops, erect buildings to showcase your domain and perform the influence action which… gives you influence. And influence is the key to victory. Each game starts with a set amount available and when the influence bank is exhausted the game ends.

Building buildings and mustering troops upgrade your ability to do everything in grand tableau fashion. Each of the 4 unique building types available provide a unique action enhancement. As you erect additional buildings your basic strengths become stronger while simultaneously increasing the cost of the next upgrade.

Battling enemies is another great way to earn influence. Two of the game’s 3 enemy factions sit on strength tracks. These tracks determine the crusade value necessary to defeat them and the influence earned. Once defeated, that specific enemy increases their strength by 1 for the next battle. The final faction takes a flat 6 crusade strength to defeat. Victory earns you 3 influence or allows you to establish a specific building at no charge. Who doesn’t like free?

Despite the game’s forward thinking nature where players must plan ahead to disperse their tokens in a way to maximize a particular action strength at just the right time, turns are relatively quick. While it’s easy to get caught up in upgrading your actions through excessive building, everything is just a tool in the overall race to snag as much influence from the ever depleting pile of influence tokens. You may have grandiose plans, but the nature of the game will force you to adjust and refine your process asap.

Once the end game triggers, players count up their influence earned and receive additional points from community awards. The player with the most influence is declared the winner.

DIVINE INFLUENCE EXPANSION

With the Divine Influence expansion, players have the opportunity to energize their actions with an additional set of buildable tokens and an alternative way to spend influence actions to upgrade abilities. Crusaders is a tight game and I’m always nervous that an expansion is going to try to fix something that isn’t broken. The Divine Influence expansion sits nicely on top of the existing game allowing you to play as you see fit. For an expansion… for me… that is a huge relief. That being said, the expansion certainly isn’t necessary to enjoy Crusaders.

There are some cool end game bonuses you can activate, but those seem to really require a focus and intentionality to achieve them. The additional hex actions could allow you to camp out longer at a specific location on the board. I can see this working well in small doses. Doing everything you can now do on a hex can up your abilities, but doing it too often will limit your access to bigger and better influence tiles.

I also found that the expansion did ruin some of the tight finishes Crusaders typically has. An additional community scoring goal and achievement multipliers sent some scores into the stratosphere.

Overall, for me, it doesn’t ruin the game (which is a big plus), but doesn’t do anything to make it substantially better.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

Crusaders has a bit of an old school euro meets new school euro look to it. The artwork is going to provide most euro gamers a familiar ease and comfort level they’re used to. It’s not amazing, but it leans toward a more timeless feel that sits well with the theme. While I’m ok with my beige euro boards, I’m happy with the art direction behind Crusaders to bring a more vibrant color palette full of oranges, greens, purples and blues.

As for the components, I am aware of a deluxe version with plastic tokens and buildings, but I am 100% satisfied with the wooden components on full display here. Each building is unique and the player movement tokens representing horses are solid, well designed and everything I could ask for. The cardboard boards and tokens give the entire game a quality feel. I don’t feel cheated here for a moment.

The rulebook is also well done. This is usually determined if I have to supplement questionable aspects of the game with online groups or videos and that isn’t the case here. The rulebook provides a clear source to get you up and running quickly.

PROS & CONS

I love the combined rondel and mancala mechanics

Nice, think-y turn choices

The game has a tight feel challenging you to not waste a turn or an action

The overall presentation brings a lot of value

Quick pace to the game keeps everyone engaged

Multiple asymmetrical knight order player characters bring a fun wrinkle to each game

Games can legitimately be played in under an hour

Game offers a 2 and 3/4 player board option

Setup can be a little bit of a struggle

While the knights order cards seem fairly balanced, there were a few that felt a bit more beneficial.

Short game length could leave some feeling cheated they weren’t able to accomplish everything they wanted to.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Gamers looking for a euro experience full of smart choices in under an hour are going to love this. The quick, think-y turns tied into the mancala mechanics are super satisfying.

What is the best thing about the game?

The best thing about the game is the mancala/rondel. There are so many ways to make this work for your personal game plan. Most games there are multiple instances where I feel like I’ve pulled off some amazing move irregardless of how well I’m actually doing. This is a true sign of something special for me.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Crusaders just might be THE BEST mid-weight euro you can play in under an hour (even at 4 players). The limited choices, think-y turns and fast pace come together creating a truly engaging board gaming experience that really hits the right notes for me. The rondell/mancala wheel sets the perfect tone. It’s satisfying without being overwhelming while providing a deceptively extensive amount of strategic flexibility.

Thematically, Crusaders does what it needs to, but I could see it being a little dry for some players. The turns don’t present a lot of highs and lows. You’ll need to get your kicks from your planning and efficiency. It is a true efficiency race and I love seeing how much fat I can trim with my choices on each subsequent play.

Crusaders is going to find the perfect home with a seasoned euro gamer. It plays well at any of the player counts and the game length further extenuates the appeal of a game full of tight choices and challenging pursuits. Crusaders is a real winner and one I’d highly recommend.

Publisher: Lucky Duck Games
Player Count: 1-4 Players
Solo mode: Yes
Game Length: 60-120 Minutes
Complexity 3/5

In Oros, you’re taking on the mantle of a demigod with the ability to move islands and oceans, disrupt volcanos and form mountains. As you build up the land, you instruct your followers in proper worship as you gain wisdom and grow in power.

Oros is a think-y, mid-weight game with a fun, vibrant production that could potentially appeal to both fans of euro-style strategy and abstract puzzles. In this worker placement and tile laying game you’re moving tiles across a gridded piece of earth, dispersing workers to take actions in an often limited selection of spaces, moving up knowledge tracks and building sacred sites as you tussle with your opponents for control of the most valuable land spaces. Points are earned through a variety of means including both how rapidly you progress as well as how valuable you weigh your achievements.

In the review that follows, I’m hoping to familiarize you with what a turn looks like, where Oros succeed and fail and ultimately to help you determine if it’s right for you.

ON YOUR TURN

Each player begins the game with a small group of followers (or workers) they’ll use repeatedly throughout the game to execute actions and initiate achievements. These workers live on a personal player mat where the majority of actions are triggered while overlooking an additional gridded board featuring a map of the known world.

The personal player mat features 6 primary actions that function like a rondel where you move a worker from one action space to another empty space. These actions will allow you to manipulate the map board such as moving land tiles in various ways, forcing volcanic eruptions, sending workers to study, moving workers across the map or building sacred sites.

On your turn you have the opportunity to take any 3 of these actions that are available to you.

The map area begins the game with a humble selection of land tiles. The land tiles are valued from 1 to 4 and feature different geographic shapes allowing or limiting your followers movements. Throughout the game you’ll cause these land tiles to collide and increase in value. The ultimate goal is to bring 2 level 4 land tiles together to form a mountain. It’s on these mountains that your followers can build sacred sites earning you points.

Each of these personal actions can be upgraded by sending workers to study and gain knowledge. Initially, players have the space available to send 2 players to study, but these spaces increase as more sacred landmarks are built. It requires an action to send workers and another to draw them back. Once a worker returns to your player board you can increase the power of any of your 6 primary actions. Each action can be improved up to 5 times earning you bonuses, new abilities and valuable points. One of the key ways to earn points is by upgrading one of the building actions. These upgrades each increase the final value of 1 of the 3 different sacred sites you build during the game.

After each sacred site is built, players advance on the advancement board earning a higher end game point total and ultimately serving as a countdown to the end of the game.

Oros does provide a unique puzzle combining worker placement/strategy and abstract approaches. While your workers trigger the actions, a lot of the gamesmanship stems from forming, destroying and rotating tiles across the map. The map functions like an advanced game of Pacman as tiles wrap around and contour the gridded area. This creates an interesting struggle from both an individual perspective and defensive approach to bring the highly valued tiles together where you can reach them while also protecting them from your opportunistic opponents.

Like any tech-tree based euro, there is always a balance between growing your abilities and securing points. It’s no surprise that doing both well is necessary for victory.

Oros is a 1-4 player game which means there is a dedicated solo mode, but there are also 4 unique AI opponents that can be used to make a 3 or 4 player game. The AI opponents are tied to each of the 4 demigod players and feature varying difficulty levels. It took a game to familiarize myself with the AI icons, but once I got it all straight the AI was a breeze to execute. And it really does need to be a breeze because Oros requires you to have a minimum combination of 3 real or AI players on board. For a solo game you would need to run 2 additional AI.

Once the first player summits the advancement board, the game ends and the player with the most points is the winner.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The artwork in Oros has a clean, friendly feel with bright colors and smooth lines. I found this to be very ironic since the actions focus on violent volcanic eruptions and brutal land collisions. The components including a small army of meeples, tiles, miniature wooden volcanos and much more are all really well done. Initially, I felt the player mats were a little thin, but after a game, they seemed to work just fine. There is a lot to manage here when it comes to setup and tear down, but careful packing takes the pain out of the process.

The rulebook presents everything in an organized and coherent way, but did let me down by failing to address some small rule issues. Fortunately I was able to connect with the Oros community on BoardGameGeek.com and find the answers.

PROS & CONS

Figuring out how to smash and build up land tiles is good fun

The artwork draws you immediately into the game

I enjoy a system where actions are limited based on your previous choices – Oros does a fine job forcing you to carefully consider your actions and plan for the future. Bonus Pro: I also enjoyed how gaining new workers can simultaneously benefit you and limit your actions by clogging up your action spaces.

The tile movement/abstract puzzle is super think-y. The unique way the tiles move across the grid provides freedom, but also an added layer of consideration. Add in the fact that mountains cannot be moved and you find yourself limited in unexpected ways.

I think there is a good balance of complexity and accessibility.

When the board gets congested, I find physically moving tiles around a challenge for my fingers.

The AI can be challenging, but I often audibly called out the AI for cheating.

This isn’t a universal con, but game length varies quite a bit based on player count and decision making.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Fans looking for more out of their abstract, tile laying games are going to enjoy this. Oros brings a fresh and challenging tile-merging puzzle that’s complemented by an entire tech-tree/upgrading system that functions almost like an engine builder.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THE GAME?

Colliding tiles and erupting volcanoes to build new lands doesn’t always work in your favor, but when it does it’s certainly the most satisfying element in the game.

FINAL THOUGHTS

On the surface, I really love everything about Oros. Visually, it’s super attractive—the entire production really drew me right in from the artwork to the components. Huge props to the art team behind Oros.

I love pairing an abstract puzzle inside a euro-game engine. I’ve seen this done quite a bit lately on a smaller scale, but the big map board provides an almost infinite set of opportunities to potentially manipulate these tiles into points, but on multiple levels.

For the most part, my appreciation of Oros as a whole isn’t just on the surface.

I get think-y turns that can be AP-inducing aren’t for everyone. It’s not going to happen every turn and it won’t happen every game, but Oros can be slow to materialize. The issue is, while Oros would appear to benefit the long-term planner, the constantly changing board demands short-term contingencies. Having a player “steal” or move a tile just outside of your action ability (especially early when your powers are weak) can be frustrating. I actually dig the think-y turns and don’t mind the slow gameplay as long as there is an eventual payoff. The real payoff seems to come with time and practice. Early on I wasted a number of turns, leaving my plans exposed and eventually foiled by nasty opponents. The strategy started to become more clear just halfway through the first game and my appreciation for the game’s puzzle grew quickly.

Choices throughout the game are super engaging and I really enjoy the ability to have 3 actions each turn. This definitely counters some of the challenges brought on by an ever-evolving board. The limited action selection system is its own little efficiency puzzle that you’ll get more out of the more you put in. I also appreciated the ability to send individual workers to study and then bring them all back at the right time. It’s a give and take since your ability to get more workers on the board to study coincides with your ability to upgrade the number of workers you can have on the board (which is earned by studying). It’s a simple engine-building mechanic, but it’s accentuated by the need and desire to do a whole slew of other things at the same time.

The biggest regret I have for the game is moving the tiles around the board. As the board grew, I found myself often knocking tile stacks over as I tried to move tiles across the board. I don’t see a better alternative, It’s just one of those things where the tactile nature of the game rubbed me the wrong way. Unfortunately, this is a pretty prominent feature of the game. As I read back over this paragraph I almost feel guilty about how petty this may come across. This may not be a problem for you, but I really struggled with it.

Lastly, I want to address the game’s accessibility. Oros isn’t a difficult game to teach. In fact, it provides a really nice balance between its complexity and ease to teach. The iconography may seem overwhelming at first, but it quickly comes into focus and shouldn’t deter a new player for too long. I was very pleased with how easy the game was to jump into and how quickly I adjusted and adapted to the game’s experience.

While Oros looks like a family game and has good accessibility, this is a think-y gamer’s game that rewards multiple plays and appeals to tile layers and abstract gamers looking for a more challenging experience. I think it’s the kind of game that will either resonate with you immediately or completely put you off… but that’s typically the case with most abstract games in my experience. Oros is a creative, ambitious production that can be really rewarding in the hands of the right audience.

Publisher: Inside Up Games
Player Count: 1-4 Players
Dedicated Solo mode: Yes
Game Length: 20-40 Minutes
Complexity 1.75/5

Exploring a hidden temple… unlocking secret mysteries… competitive archaeology? Sign me up! In this unique, 3-D polyomino building puzzle game, players will take on the role of archaeologists following key scripts previously lost to time. Restructuring the temple’s blocks to activate the scripts just might hold the key to unlocking the secrets of the temple.

Block and Key is an easy-to-learn, family friendly game where scoring depends on each player’s unique perspective in relation to the game’s multi-tiered board. While not a dexterity game, it is dexterous as players will use 3-D blocks to build and form patterns, scoring and earning new challenges. We’ll break down the game’s key points and see if it’s right for you.

ON YOUR TURN

Block and Key carries a decent amount of backstory and theme, but it’s a relatively simple game. Players will be drafting key cards that feature certain patterns and then using 3-D, polyomino blocks to form those patterns.

Block and Key does bring a unique presentation that requires players to engage the game in a special way. The game board really isn’t a game board, but a game cube. This multi-tiered, square shaped board has 2 levels. Each player faces their own side of the cube and will only score from their perspective. Throughout the game players will draw key cards and blocks from the lower tier and use those blocks to build out the patterns on the key cards on the upper tier.

On a given turn players will only have 2 choices: Place a block or draft new blocks… It’s really that simple. Blocks sit in a 3×3 box grid and you’ll have the opportunity to draft 3 in any specific column or row. When you’ve achieved a certain key card pattern, you score that card and draw a new key card. Key cards are divided in 3 categories representing their difficulty.

It’s in the game’s unique presentation where things get interesting. Since you’re placing blocks in a 3-D environment, each placed block will potentially have implications for both you and every player at the table. There are some limitations to how you can place blocks and this is where the game’s depth really kicks in. Blocks can either be placed corner to corner with an existing block or stacked, but stacking will require you to play a block that sits higher than the block it touches. Did I mention the blocks are all in 4 distinct colors? Each pattern also dictates the block color as well as the pattern to achieve the goal.

There are unique end game bonuses, but it’s ultimately a race to the finish to complete a certain number of key cards—once that’s met, the game ends.

PROS & CONS

 Simple ruleset

 Accessible and easy to teach

 Unique game presentation

 Fun, tactile nature

 Beautiful artwork

 3-D blocks feel really cool

 Think-y gameplay

Think-y games can lead to over-thinking and more downtime between turns

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

This is great for someone looking for a unique game experience that’s light on rules. The multi-tiered game board is going to be new for most players and the production and tactile nature of the gameplay are going to draw gateway gamers in.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about the game is the interactive nature of the game. Scoring your patterns is exclusive to your perspective of the board so it really requires you to get down to the board’s level and plan out your moves.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My first thought when I opened Block and Key was how are we going to build a giant block-shaped game board out of this thin box. The developers did an amazing job with the packaging as the box literally transforms into this sturdy, multi-tiered gaming space. The 3-D blocks are decent-sized and feel heavy… and it all fits in this thin box! I love it.

There is a lot of theme baked into the artwork, components and rulebook. You’re searching through an abandoned temple and the mechanics do their best to emulate that during gameplay. The artwork gives you that Indiana Jones feel and the texture on the blocks really engages you. I say all this because the production goes a long way to invite you into this world.

This is a relatively simple game that’s easy to jump into. On your turn, you either play or draw blocks. The challenge exists in building out the patterns found on your key cards. There are a number of minor rules that complicate this process in the best way. Limiting how you can play blocks really forces you to think through your choices. All the while your opponents are playing on the same 3-D plain and that has the potential to alter your best laid plans. This game sits in that “easy-to-play-hard-to-master” space that works for a variety of gamers.

The only negative I see is turn time has the potential to bog down the flow of the game. The changing environment of the board will often force you to alter your plans without notice. As you attempt to maximize your turns and achieve more complex patterns, this can be frustrating and really force you to rethink your choices. As more blocks are placed on the board, more placement options open up and some players are going to want to explore ALL their choices.

That being said, Key and Block plays fairly quick and smooth. I really enjoyed exploring the 3-D environment to build out patterns. Block colors can exist on multiple plains, but if they form your pattern from your perspective you’re golden! The game is easy to teach and quick to set up, yet the production is really eye-catching. This is the type of game you break out to impress friends who aren’t deep into the board game hobby. The game even works well for younger kids and the interactive nature is sure to keep them engaged. Overall, I was highly impressed with Block and Key. The production is super creative and it brings a neat, unique experience that works well for its intended audience.

Publisher: iello
Player Count: 2-5 Players
Solo mode: No
Game Length: 20 Minutes
Complexity 1.75/5

As bus drivers, your job is to transport everyone to their destination safe and sound. Navigating two of the largest cities in the world can be both fascinating and challenging. In Get on Board, a fast-paced, family-style, flip-and-write game, players will need to efficiently plan their routes to pick up the right passengers, avoid traffic congestion and deliver everyone to the proper destination in order to score the most points.

ON YOUR TURN

Players will determine whether they’re traveling around New York or London depending on the player count. A 2 or 3 player game uses the New York side of the game board while a 4 or 5 player game visits London.

Each map is made up of a grid of city blocks with opportunities at each corner. You’ll encounter a number of different passengers heading to work, school or just out to sight see. As you pass by these passengers you’ll add them to your bus. Some have very specific destinations while others prefer you to guide them on their way.

The game takes place over 12 rounds. Each round is represented by a ticket number that activates a distance and direction your bus can travel that turn. On occasion you might get to choose between 2 options, but each player sheet has unique choices providing each player with different options that turn.

Throughout your duties you’ll run into senior citizens, students, tourists and businessmen. Each group serves as its own mini-game within the game. Adding seniors earns points for each individual, but that value increases as you add additional riders. Students need to get to class and delivering multiple students to multiple schools earns multiplied points. Tourists are happy visiting tourist locations or famous buildings. With each stop you earn points based on the number of tourists delivered at that stop. Businessmen pay off similarly but provide you with bonus new passengers based on the number of businessmen dropped off.

Of course it will be up to you to avoid traffic, designated by high traffic areas on the board as well as traveling through areas your opponents have already been. Traveling through too many high traffic areas will force you to lose points, but ending your turn on a green stop light allows your bus to move 1 additional space.

Each player can choose to alter their prescribed path by choosing to take a scoring penalty. These “turn zone” actions are limited and the penalty increases more each time.

At the beginning of the game, each player receives a secret route objective and 2 random community objectives are available on the board.

After 12 rounds, players add up their scores and the highest score is the winner.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

Get on Board features colorful, vintage, mid-century style artwork. It’s light and fun and gives the game a cheerful vibe. The game board feels energetic and clean enhancing the overall gameplay. Bus Ticket cards representing the turn rounds are punched like they would have been back in the 1950s and 60s.

The player sheet pad is double sided and each sheet features a uniquely oriented set of actions – which is a pretty cool feature. Players track their bus route with small, wooden sticks that are a little hard to manage, but they could be worse. The player board feels good and the rulebook is well done.

All-in-all Get on Board is a quality board game production.

PROS & CONS

Inviting, light theme

Easy to pick up

Turns move quickly

Choices aren’t heavy and building your passenger roster is fun

While iconography is generally good, there are a few that are a little hard to make out

Map is limited to player count – meaning I can’t play London with 2 players.

Combos are limited compared to similar flip and write games

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Players in the market for a light, puzzle-y, flip and write are going to appreciate this friendly, fast-paced game. It’s great for 2 players or a family of 4 or 5.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Get on Board checks a lot of boxes that make these light, quick, inviting games popular.

It starts with the friendly, inviting theme and artwork. The 60’s era illustrations take me back to a time of Saturday morning cartoons and sugary cereals. It’s comfort food and it works to set the tone of a game that just wants to have fun.

The game’s accessibility is another key contributing factor. In a matter of seconds you can have the game setup and ready to play. The gameplay moves by quickly and it’s something you can easily play 2 or 3 games in a row.

The mechanics allowing you to move your bus around the city are very straightforward. Picking up passengers and scoring your player board is going to take a little familiarization with the icons and outcomes, but again, nothing too heavy. Typically flip-and-writes are thick with combos and that is something Get on Board is lacking. There are a few combos you can build, but they don’t seem incredibly satisfying. Primarily it’s about building sets and cashing them in at the right moments. The choices still have a nice flow, but feels a little more restrained. This definitely plays more on the gateway side.

I did enjoy the game’s planning. If your bus goes back down a city block it’s already traveled, that bus is deemed “inefficient” and is removed from the game. It’s not too difficult to avoid this, but there are a number of positive and negative things to consider such as picking up a particular type of passenger or avoiding heavy traffic areas. Adjusting your route can be fixed by taking a turn zone action, allowing you to change course, but losing a point in the process. As for traffic, you may want to just brave it and push on through… of course with the risk of losing additional points. While there isn’t a lot of interaction, players can “block” opponents forcing them to take these traffic penalties. This isn’t too painful and it’s a fun addition that gives you something else to think about.

One unfortunate point is you can only play on the side of the board that matches your player count. If you want to visit London but only have 2 players you’re out of luck. It’s not a big deal, but it would have been nice to choose between the 2 maps.

Overall, Get on Board is a nice, airy flip-and-write that gets a lot of things right. The fun presentation and quick game time are going to guarantee this gets plenty of table time. While it doesn’t quite reach the heights of other “…and writes” it’s still a good game with a fun puzzle. This feels perfect for gateway gamers who might want to “challenge” family members or friends with something a little different. As for the more serious gaming crowd, this is a fun filler that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but still manages to be engaging. Get on Board is an innocent game that’s perfect for those nights when you want something quick with interesting choices, but don’t want to think too deeply.

Published by Leder Games
Designed by Cole Sehrle | Art by Kyle Ferrin
2-4 Players  |  60-90 Minutes

The Marquise de Cat (Jerram) felt smug (as cats are wont to do) in their control of the forest. They had control of the clearings and were resting pretty in the winter sun. Though the snow was thick on the ground, they found themselves satisfied that when spring would come, they would continue their reign of terror. But they weren’t expecting the Eyrie (the Electric Eyrie, automated player), once proud bird warriors and rulers of the forest to come out of their winter nests in the trees to wrestle back that which they feel is rightly theirs. Meanwhile, from under the ground, a plot was brewing for the Underground Duchy (Wes), mole-people of political ilk, to seek influence over the above ground world. There was great swaying of the nobles and high ranking members of the underground society, but those who longed for power in the sun were gaining influence.

The Marquise was laying down roots, building infrastructure as though he thought his cats would live there forever. For a long time he seemed superior to all around him, especially the Duchy, who were slow to influence the above ground world as they built their numbers underground. As the birds and moles watched the feline influence grow, their bitterness grew. The Eyrie began to move back out into the sun, speeding across the northern fields and preparing for a full scale invasion. The Duchy dug their way so that they had tunnels and opening to make incursions across the forest.

The Eyrie brought the hammer down upon the Duchy. Though some low-level squires were convinced that the takeover of the forest was best, the Nobles remained unconvinced, while the Lords considered and wavered. Several times the Duchess of Mud lent her support to them, but when the Eyrie showed their air-powered superiority, she withdrew her support to save face. The Marquise de Cat was losing his own foothold on the forest. Though many bloody battles were fought, the Eyrie eventually regained their rightful place as lords of the forest, while the Duchy limped back to their underground lair and the cat headed home to sleep in a window. 

OVERVIEW

Root is the cutest (and possibly most brutal) war game in existence. In this area control war game with asymmetric factions, you will take control of a group of forest creatures vying for power over the woods. Each faction plays completely differently from any other faction, making this a challenge to learn and teach, because you could be playing by a completely different set of rules every time you play, and that same dynamic is why this cut-throat game will never become old or boring. But one way or another, you are trying to be the first player to 30 victory points.

A TURN

Because each faction plays so differently, unless I wanted to write a small book, there is no way to describe a standard term except in the broadest of strokes. Each turn there will be roughly 3 phases, which will have completely different actions and goals depending on which faction you are playing. But somewhere during each turn you’ll probably be able to move your warriors, get more cards, build some sort of buildings, battle other players, and possibly expand your army; you’ll also likely be doing something specific to how your faction plays and tries to get points.

SCALABILITY

With expansions, this game goes anywhere from one player—against some fantastic A.I.s— to six players. While playing this at different player counts definitely changes the dynamics, they have a fantastic algorithm that helps you choose factions that will make for a great game no matter the player count, and with the Clockwork expansion of A.I.s, you have even more flexibility.

SOLO PLAY

The A.I.s are at the core of what makes the solo mode work. Essentially you’re just playing the game normally against any number of A.I.s. While this can involve a lot of book keeping from one faction to the next, none of the A.I. factions is difficult to work with, making the solo mode very enjoyable. This works especially well because, as I went through the turns for each faction I was playing against, I was still able to think through my own strategy based on what the A.I.s are doing. And while they have programming so you know what they could do and what their limits are, there is definitely a level of unpredictability that makes it where an A.I. will never play the same way twice. And the fact that each A.I. also has 8 different ways to vary the difficulty means you can make it as hard or easy as you like.

VARIABILITY

The variability in this game really comes from how differently each faction plays, and how the combination of factions that are playing interact. On a less significant level, there is a light “luck of the draw” element having to do with what cards you get into your hand from the deck, but you are never (well, rarely) without a possible winning strategy just because of what you’ve drawn.

LENGTH OF GAME

This game is going to take anywhere from one hour to two and a half hours to play, increasing with player count.

COMPONENTS

The cards are good quality and the the little wooden miniatures are adorable!

EXPANSIONS

If you like this game, the expansions are essential simply because they add even more factions, different maps, and if you want solo options and the ability to make games more interesting by adding in an A.I. player (especially at lower player counts), the  Clockwork expansion is a must! We own them all and will buy every expansion that comes out.

NEGATIVES?

The battle system is a simple roll of the dice with very few, if any, ways to mitigate the rolls, and that is going to be very frustrating at times. The impact of any one battle is limited, and you can further limit how much a battle can affect you. It’s not without strategy and calculated risk, especially because it’s more than a “highest number wins” system. You roll two dice that range from 0–3, and you lose one warrior per point the other side rolled. That makes for some more strategic thinking about how many warriors you want to commit, and means that rarely is a single battle, or even a few battles in a row, going to make or break your game. But sometimes, the dice do not love you and it feels brutal.

While I really believe that every faction in Root is balanced, some factions are simply easier to learn than others, and some factions will be at significant disadvantages at lower player counts.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?

In years beyond measure, the Marquis de Cat (robot) had taken control of the woods. Little did they know that lurking in the shadows underneath the dirt the Underground Dutchy (Wes) was watching, waiting, debating. One leader saw an opportunity. Above ground, a cult of religious lizard zealots (Kaitlin) had risen up, and these lizard zealots had begun to push back against the cat monarchy, believing that pagans—cats and birds alike—should be converted or killed for not offering proper religious devotion to the dragon god. 

The raccoon vagabond (Jerram) had no stake in these matters, all he wanted was to get rich and retire somewhere comfortable. Unfortunately, he never could gather the goods required. What none of them realized was that there was a movement of restlessness growing amongst the woodland creatures who were tired of being walked on by every great power that came through the woods. Quietly, the Woodland Alliance (Abigail) began to quietly host meetings, gathering sympathy and strength through these gatherings that spread their influence, especially gaining sympathy with the unheard people of the woods. 

Suddenly the underground primary residence of the Duchy was ambushed by the alliance and destroyed, sending the blind moles back into the darkness. The religious cult realized they had not been listening to the people of the forest as the Alliance tackled their gardens of worship, toppling their temples of devotion to the dragon god. The Vagabond, in the meantime never could find a faction to align himself with in order to gain the wealth which he sought, and he would have to settle for middle-class mediocrity as he was unable to wield the influence that he self-deludedly told himself that he had; for the once unheard woodland creatures, rallied by the alliance, rose to power and had no interest in his greed. Rather they were seeking the freedom of their people!

No one could hold back the Alliance. The cats suddenly began to fumble and started offering supporters many times over to the Woodland Alliance and each time the Woodland Alliance had a chance it took full advantage of organizing and deploying its supporters, warriors, and officers in order to show that they were the ruling power in the forest now. They would not be stopped. They would not be challenged. And they were victorious! (A victory from a first time player!) 

This is one of our favorite games of all time. There is simply nothing better than taking control of adorable little animals, and brutally murdering everyone else in the forest. This is a game of big plays and big emotions. There is a good chance that you are either going to beat the feathers off of everyone else, or you’re going to be left crying in a clearing surrounded by the bodies of those who were once your friends.

The thing is, every faction plays so differently, I imagine that anyone can find a faction they really enjoy playing. But don’t be fooled, despite how adorable this little game is, this is a game that takes a lot of time, and is filled with direct conflict. This is a game that will ruin friendships in the best of ways, as you absolutely destroy their plans, or find everything you’ve been working so hard for in the last hour completely wiped away. This is a game where you may be filled with the ecstasy of triumph or feel absolute hopelessness and frustration. And we absolutely recommend this game!

Overall 9.3/10