Publisher: Hobby World
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Game Length: 120-180 Minutes
Complexity 3/5

Ivan IV Vasilyevich, came to power as the Grand Prince of Moscow and later, the first Tsar and Grand Prince over all of Russia. Despite a relatively short life, Ivan the Terrible saw Russia move from a medieval state to a modern empire, introducing new technology, encouraging trade routes and triggering wars which both evolved and took a toll on its population. In The First Tsar, players lead boyar families as they compete for prestige and favor as you work to fortify cities and build your personal empire by any means necessary. Bribe and outwit your opponents in pursuit of the Tsar’s favor and possibly the throne. 

Played over 4 turns or decades, players will gather each round at the Kremlin to choose actions for that decade. Grow your influence over the Russian state, gather resources, trade in foreign goods, acquire new titles and estates, fortify your presence with construction projects or seek fame on the military front lines. The Tsar’s favor isn’t just a turn mechanic, but a pivotal feature essential to gaining an advantage over your opponents. But just as Ivan was prone to mood swings and bouts of anger, aggressive families can force the Tsar’s preference at any point.

Set as a sequel to Rurik: Dawn of Kiev, The First Tsar embraces tight turns, cutthroat actions and multiple paths to victory. As a fan of designer Stan Kordonskiy (Dice Hospital, Endless Winter, Nova Roma), it’s safe to say this is clearly his most mature design to date. In this review, I’ll break down the mechanics, the production and share my final thoughts to help you determine if The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible should be your next euro game purchase.

ON YOUR TURN

The game takes place over the 4 decades of Ivan the Terrible’s reign as Tsar. Each decade, you’ll send 3 boyars, representing your family to the Kremlin where you’ll choose from 5 available actions. While any player can take any of the individual actions, this part of the game promotes tense player interaction thanks to a bidding system where boyars can “bribe” officials to gain additional actions often pivotal to your success. Committing a one-time, open bid with your boyar allows all other players who haven’t played in the space a chance to trump your bid – so bidder beware. A glaring theme throughout the game is the Tsar’s favor, an instrument to determine turn order, but even more critical, a tool to break ties throughout the entire experience. In this initial phase, players with the Tsar’s favor break bidding ties.

In turn order, players resolve their boyar actions one at a time and can only commit to grabbing the action bonus twice, so even if you have the means, you’re going to be limited, creating some very interesting decisions.

The game’s map is broken up into 5 separate regions, not including the military front, where influence will provide resource production as well as end of round control bonuses. These areas are activated by boyar actions either adding warriors to the board or producing in those areas. The trade action allows you to exchange resources for foreign goods which are critical to meeting assignment card goals. Players may also use actions to draft title and estate cards earning you ongoing bonuses and end game scoring respectively or drafting and/or completing assignment cards.

I don’t want to linger too long on the planning phase, but it’s so critical as you play a sort of cat-and-mouse game with your opponents through bidding and planning. The entire game plays very tight, but missteps in this phase can easily lead to your downfall. Not to diminish the following action phase where you execute these actions one at a time. Paired hand-in-hand with your planning, the order in which you activate boyar actions can help you get the jump on an opponent, ensure a greater resource return, grab a more enticing assignment, title or estate card… or even fumble by showing too much of your strategy at the wrong time. It all plays out under the oversight of the Tsar’s favor, which can fluidly trade hands through a variety of different actions and abilities interwoven throughout all the phases of the game. You might think you have an advantage to deploy more warriors on the board with the action bonus, but the Tsar’s favor may change hands prior to your action and a tie may overturn what you thought was a lucrative bribe.

Players can’t even relax during the end of round phase. As you resolve influence in the regions, rewards earned can alter the outcome of future region resolutions. Once again, the Tsar’s favor plays a part in breaking ties, but can shift through the collecting of rewards. These are all things you have to take into consideration from the very beginning of each turn as you plan your strategy. While it’s not a game that’s complex mechanically, every choice you make feels heavy and important. You really see the fruit of your decisions for better or for worse. Mistakes can be punishing, but it’s not a game where you can’t recover either… just don’t make too many of them as you only have 12 actions.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

Overall, the production is solid, but not spectacular. Artwork and graphic design across the board gives off that old-school euro feel, but is paired with more rich and decadent illustrations. The quality of the cardboard and pieces are fine and get the job done. The wooden resources are a nice touch, but the flimsy individual player boards feel like a miss.

PROS & CONS

Deep planning and tough choices present a rich experience

Interaction produces an almost paranoid state keeping you on your toes

Simple gameplay makes way for tough strategic turns

In a lesser game, the Tsar’s favor would simply be a turn order mechanic, but here, it’s thoroughly routed in every facet of the game.

Victories during play or in the end are extremely satisfying, giving you a sense of accomplishment.

Due to the nature of the game, turns are prone to some serious analysis paralysis.

Setup is a bit of chore

While game length isn’t a negative (time to value ratio is solid), the general time investment (2-3 hours) will turn some people off.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

While not complex mechanically, The First Tsar delivers a nail-biting experience full of heavy decisions and game altering consequences. This is great for fans of tight, classic euros who enjoy delving deeply and extolling over strategic decisions. There are some modern twists and fans of the genre will find the interaction and tension anything but dry.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THE GAME?

The Tsar’s favor really takes the cake. In a game of limited resources and tough decisions, having authority over an opponent can either break a tie or cause them to turn in fear. Of course it’s something you need to protect as it’s continually in the back of everyone’s mind. This is such an excellent tool that’s both mechanically and thematically outstanding.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible has been a major surprise. It’s thoroughly captivating and exciting from a thinking, euro gamer’s perspective. It vents those old-school, euro vibes where play is tight and choices can be a struggle. Your limited actions heighten the fact that every turn counts for something and will have an impact on the overall game.

The game’s overall tension really stands out. Meticulous planning is key, but also being able to pivot when necessary stirs a truly engaging experience. Pressure from your opponents will regularly make you question your plans and there is little reprieve throughout any of the game’s stages. Fulfilling assignments efficiently feels validating, but celebrations are brief as you quickly shift to rewards in the next phase.

Game length may turn some players off, but this is the kind of game you’ll want to make time for. Played with the right group of gamers, this is one of those satisfying experiences that you’ll come back to again and again. I’ve really enjoyed those moments when opponents realize the impact of the Tsar’s favor revealing the depth of the game – that nothing is certain and you’ll have to fight for everything you get.

The Last Tsar is a game that will absolutely engage the more strategic thinker and demand your attention.

Publisher: Garphill Games Games
Player Count: 1-4  Players
Game Length: 90-120 Minutes
Complexity 3.75/5

After decades in captivity to the Persian empire, King Cyrus in 539 B.C., moved by God, issued a decree to allow the Israelite exiles to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their city and re-establish the temple and sacrificial offerings.

In the game, Ezra and Nehemiah, you’ll follow 3 unique leaders, each tasked for a different purpose. Zerubbabel first returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple where God’s presence previously dwelled. Soon after, Ezra and Nehemiah return to re-institute the religious rules of the Torah and rebuild the outer city walls respectively. Players will compete to progress each of these areas, scoring points and earning bonuses along the way.

If you’re familiar with previous Garphill Games such as the West Kingdom series or more recently, the South Tigris games, you’ll definitely see some familiar mechanics. A culmination of a variety of actions, Ezra and Nehemiah is a fairly challenging euro-style game where meticulous planning is rewarded. It employs a hodgepodge of mechanics such as card management, set collection, worker placement, tech tree building and chaining. It has a fairly steep learning curve and clearly appeals to more seasoned gamers. So, the question remains: Are you up to the task of rebuilding Jerusalem or is it best to leave the heavy lifting to someone else?

ON YOUR TURN

You might recognize the game’s card system from one of Garphill’s biggest crowd pleasers: Paladins of the West Kingdom. Each player begins the game with an identical set of 10 cards. These cards are the core of E&N. They serve as the jumping off point for your primary actions, auxiliary actions and potential end of round bonuses. Each card features a set of 3 banners, The color of the banner determines the action and their number determines the strength of that action. On your turn, you’ll choose a single card to place on your player board/tableau. Then choosing one of the card’s color banners, you execute that action. Each player board features 3 available card spots and visible banners of the same color can be combined from all 3 spaces. This is a really cool concept that builds on the Paladins model creating a situation where deeper planning can lead to more powerful opportunities.

The game consists of 3 weeks and each week gives you 6 turns. Each turn allows you to play a single card (from a hand of 4), but each of the card locations can only hold 2 cards. When one is covered, that card’s banners are covered and unavailable further complicating the planning process.

The card banners are red, blue and gray and they correlate directly to each of the game’s 3 areas of play.

Red banners allow you to corporately build the temple as well as make sacrifices. Of course sacrifices need Levitical priests – so doing a red action will allow you to commit one of your workers to the priesthood for the rest of the game. The temple is an area of big points and benefits where players will strategically race to claim spots.

Blue banners give you access to the scriptures and tent camping. The scriptures play out like a tech tree where you gain access to additional tiles as players build beneath. These tiles provide exclusive player action bonuses across the board and can be a good source of direction in the game. The tent area serves as a rondel giving you bonuses as you move around the circle.

Finally gray banners allow you to clean up rubble and rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem. The rubble consists of multiple types of rock-like resources that can be recycled for use in the temple or turned around to rebuild the wall. Another great source of end game points, rebuilding wall segments offers minor bonuses and benefits in relation to the city’s gates.

Additionally, you have access to auxiliary actions that allow you to upgrade your player board and make trades (available on the most recent card played) that are critical to planning and efficiently aligning your resources for future turns.

After 6 turns, players prepare for the Sabbath. During the Sabbath, players will feed their workers, evaluate your success offering sacrifices and earn any end-of-round scoring benefits. Players will “tuck” a card giving them that end-of-round scoring for the rest of the game, but subsequently lose that card from their rotating hand.

After 18 turns, the game ends and the player with the most points gets a high five from everyone else (because we’re really working together to return this city to its former glory, right? … right.)

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The artwork is provided by long-time Garphill Games collaborator Sam Phillips. His work on games like Hadrian’s Wall and Raiders of Scythia have earned him a healthy following. The art is solid and the game’s graphic design doesn’t disappoint. It will take you a minute to get up to date on the iconography since it’s not always 100% intuitive, but it’s well done and does the job soundly once you’ve acclimated yourself.

The components are what you’ve come to expect from Garphill. Quality cardboard, wooden tokens and recessed player boards all fitting snugly in a smaller-than-normal box. Playing the game as often as I did gave me plenty of practice packing away all the pieces into a box that is just slightly too small (but acceptable) for the components.

Finally, the rulebook does a fair job of communicating the information. While everything is there and available… my brain is hard on rulebooks – often struggling to process all the information clearly. As is the norm, I had to revisit the rulebook multiple times. While everything isn’t exactly where I’d like it to be, it does it’s job and will get you the answers to the questions you’re eventually going to be looking for.

PROS & CONS

Beautiful production

Ambitious theme

Great card system that will likely be stolen by other publishers

Think-y choices cater to players who enjoy deep and meticulous planning

Fair amount of replay ability

Serious onboarding time – this is a chore not to just teach, but to get a full grasp of all the game has to offer

Turns have the tendency to bog down the game with overall analysis

This leads to heavy, slow pace that drags down the game

Disconnect between the game’s 3 main sections lost some of the overall synergy

Excitement level for the game never got too high

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

I think people are going to be drawn to Ezra & Nehemiah for 2 reasons: They are likely huge fans of Garphill Games track record of snappy, think-y and satisfying mid-weigh euros or they’re drawn in by the unique, Biblical theme. It may be 1 or the other or a combination of the 2. Ultimately, I think players who enjoy dry, think-y euros are going to find the most value. The game’s combos work hard to provide added spice, but this is a game about perseverance, planning and calculating. It definitely sits on the heavy end of the Garphill library and the theme integration, while pretty well done, will only take you so far.

WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about the game is the individual player cards/decks. The process of cycling through 3 cards to trigger your best possible actions takes so much into consideration. While obviously pairing together the most same-colored banners gives you the strongest actions, the auxiliary trade actions on each card can be just as valuable to your success. I loved this in Paladins of the West Kingdom and it’s taken to the next level here.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Ezra & Nehemiah was one of my most anticipated games of 2024. I’m a huge fanboy of all things Garphill and this looked like a winner right from the get go. The unique theme only elevated things as I’m also a sucker for Biblical history. The game’s designers, Shem Phillips & S. J. MacDonald are 2 of the best in this niche and great designers deserve an honest review. I think it was the combination of my monumental expectations and a few misfires from the game that ultimately led to E&N falling a little flat for me.

First, the positives: This is a solid production. It looks amazing and there is a ton of value for the price point. It’s a bit of a smaller box which pleases my gaming shelf, but there is nothing small about what the game delivers.

The designers did a solid job with the theme. Installing a historical and Biblical theme is a challenging proposition and I think they did it justice. By nature, the Bible doesn’t offer much wiggle room for competitive board gaming. Creating circumstances where God’s will might fail in a game doesn’t sit well with its more devout audience. The deterministic and unchanging nature of God forces designers to be incredibly creative with their choices. I’ve had knowledgeable friends nit-pick a number of things, but I think the general idea of the time and events shines through in a healthy way. Now, that theme only carries the game for so long until you revert to moving cubes and playing cards, but that’s pretty typical with any euro game.

The card system is solid. I touched briefly on that above and look forward to future games using this cool “banner” system.

The challenges of the game hit me right from the beginning. Onboarding was a serious chore. Learning the game and teaching the game are serious hurdles. It wasn’t until I had read the rulebook 3 times and played 3 full games that I started to grasp concepts and strategies. I may be a little slow sometimes, but this really got me. Additionally, a 4-player game early on with my gaming group almost led to a riot. Players rose up in frustration as they struggled to grasp a viable strategy. At this point Ezra and Nehemiah was going to have to dig its way out of this hole.

As I continued to understand the game, the actions became less abstract and I started to realize what the game expected of me. Where I had previously railed against the idea of trading away my hard earned resources, I began to embrace the need to exchange resources for future plans. I also dove head first into the Torah actions that give you on-going benefits, which provided direction and advantages.

None of these revelations could help the game’s pacing. It often bogged down to a slow drip – especially in the 4-player game. There is so much to consider on your turn that even the least AP prone players stumbled in my experience. A lot of this was due to the extensive implications of each card, but it also didn’t help that there seems to be a disconnect between the game’s 3 main areas.

Typically, in a Garphil/Combo-driven game, you can decipher how to best chain your actions and get the most from your turns. The water was a little muddy here. I would often evaluate 2 different options based on my available cards and realize there was no distinctive difference or benefit between the 2 actions. I was going to earn the exact same points and see the same resource result either way. Perhaps that the game was too balanced or maybe it was me failing to play far enough ahead. This all resulted in some very uneventful, unexceptional turns that never let the game rise above a low roar.

Ezra & Nehemiah is a fine game. It’s a solid euro for think-y individuals who like quality productions and exotic themes tied to their games. But, be it expectations, mechanics or indescribable, inaudible subtle waves of dissatisfaction, Ezra & Nehemiah just didn’t get there for me. I’m fully aware that there is an audience out there who will likely love this and cherish it for years to come. I certainly wouldn’t dissuade anyone from trying it outside of this report. I still love Graphill Games, these designers and this artist. I’m still just as excited for their upcoming games as I ever was. But when it comes to Ezra & Nehemiah… I think I’d more likely recommend one of their many contemporary classics.

Publisher: Synapses Games
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Game Length: 45 Minutes
Complexity 1.75/5

As architects under Pharaoh Mido, you’re tasked with designing the most impressive pyramid to serve as the eternal resting place for the pharaoh. Prove your worth and earn the title of Vizier and all its power and benefits.

In this family-friendly, open drafting and tile-laying game, players will score points based on the position of certain domino-style tiles. As the pyramids rise, the opportunity to score in unique ways increases. Careful planning, staunch defense and a little luck will be necessary to outshine your opponents and earn the pharaoh’s favor.

ON YOUR TURN

Pyramido takes place over 4 rounds with each round representing a new layer built on your great pyramid project.

The game plays quickly and is centered around drafting domino-style tiles. Each tile features a combination of 2 colors and an assortment of icons specific to that color.

On your turn you draft 1 of 3 available tiles and place it onto your pyramid grid. Players will attempt to connect as many like-colored tiles. Jewel markers placed on color sections will score points based on the number of icons present across that color block (adjacently connected same-color tiles). Players each have 1 jewel marker for each color and HAVE to play 1 when placing a new color tile. Tile icons vary in number on each tile so you’ll obviously want to group as many higher-scoring tiles together as possible.

As the rounds continue, players will be able to use the edge of previous pyramid tile layers to contribute to future round points. In the end, you may score points thanks to a certain color stair-stepping down the entire side of your pyramid.

This might sound simple and fairly casual, but Pyramido is more of a dog fight than you’d expect. After playing 1 of the 3 available tiles, the active player then chooses a new tile from 1 of 2 adjacent, face-up tile stacks. This new tile will help refresh the available tiles for the next player. Everyone’s pyramid is on display, so choosing a tile to limit scoring opportunities for your opponents is half the battle.

Players also have access to a limited number of resurfacing tiles that can change the color and value of any tile at any time. It’s easy to waste these precious resources, so choosing the right moment to use them is critical.

Each round players total up their points. The player with the most points after completing their pyramid is the winner.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The majority of Pyramido’s artwork sits on the packaging. Tiles are relatively simple, but the icons are well done. The colors feel nice, but this is a game that could provide a few problems for color blind players.

Component-wise, the tiles are plenty thick and the jewel markers each feature wooden, 3-D Egyptian symbols that add a nice flare to the game.

The rulebook is clear and easy to read and understand. You shouldn’t have any problem jumping directly into Pyramido.

PROS & CONS

 Light, friendly game that plays quickly and is great for families

 Fun, simple choices keep you engaged

 Easy to teach and pick-up

 There is a nice level of strategy that challenges your planning and defensive skills

 Both building your pyramid and connecting and scoring multiple layers are each satisfying processes

 Well produced game with quality components and artwork

 Despite being a fun experience that will be different from game to game, I’m not sold on its long-term replayability. This seems like a game where you could build a strategy to maximize your opportunities thus eliminating any new avenues to victory.

 Randomness of the tiles can either be exciting or frustrating if the color tile you’re looking for either never arrives or is held hostage by opponents.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

There are some similarities to games like Kingdomino. Fans of relatively simple, straightforward tile-laying games are going to find the most enjoyment here. Pyramido is great for families with kids of all ages.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THE GAME?

Despite its simple mechanics, Pyramido presents some interesting strategic choices. While seeing your finished pyramid might be the most satisfying, executing a multi-tiered scoring plan definitely elevates the game.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There are certainly some strategic practices in Pyramido that can only be learned with repeat plays. I’d hate to spoil anything here, but I found my score rising dramatically over the course of my first 3 games. Afterwards, I turned my attention to a more aggressive defensive approach, often sacrificing my own scoring opportunities to keep my opponents at bay.

For a simple, family-weight game, there are some nice, strategic choices available here. Planning and speculation are going to be necessary to put yourself in the best position to align your scoring tiles, but the defensive gamesmanship is where swords begin to cross. While it’s absolutely unnecessary to think this deeply about the game to enjoy it, there is an opportunity to even bluff and outfox your opponent just based on the tiles you make available after your turn. A bit of a “game within a game” that reveals itself with repeat plays with the same group of players.

The majority of players are going to enjoy Pyramido because it’s easy to learn, great for families and you get to build a pyramid… There is nothing wrong with that. My kids had a blast going through the actions and playing with the jewel tokens. More aggressive gamers are going to enjoy the ability to outfox their opponent and bring their personal planning and strategy to life.

I’ve really enjoyed the game so far, but I do think there is a small potential for it to wear out its welcome. As I stated above, I worry that optimizing your approach—despite the built-in tile variability—will limit your creativity and make the game very “same-y” over time. I’ll attempt to update my thoughts after 10 or 15 plays, but it’s true we currently love games that are giving us less in return.

With its easy accessibility, quick turns, fun theme and mass appeal, Pyramido is a game that provides a nice challenge that works well as a gateway game for families and casual gamers. Its surprising strategic depth makes it one that will keep the interest of both gamers and non-gamers alike. I have no problem recommending Pyramido for the right crowd.

Publisher: Greenest Games
Player Count: 1-4 Players
Game Length: 40-80 Minutes
Complexity 2.25/5

Set in a futuristic world of bizarre characters, cyborgs and robots, criminals are still going to seek to bring trouble to the common people. Hijacking a plane is their latest pursuit of anarchy, but the police were able to surround the plane and keep it on the runway. Now it’s your turn. As a hostage negotiator, it’s your job to seek the release of the hostages and even challenge these criminals to surrender before the swat team goes in guns blazing.

In this semi-cooperative, dice placement and set collection game you’ll be using your limited turns to gather resources, gain passenger cards and engage the hijackers as you seek the most points through a variety of different means. Are you going to work together with your fellow hostage negotiators to gain more time or are you going to move fast and save who you can before it’s too late? Check out the review below to find out if Hijacked brings is the right pressure cooker for your board game table.

ON YOUR TURN

With only a limited number of turns available until the police breach the plane, you’ll need to use your dice efficiently to save hostages, break down the hijackers and most importantly, score the most points.

Armed with only 2 dice per turn, players will roll them and place them to activate a variety of locations around the board to build their winning approach.

Resources such as crypto, medicine, intel and food can be gathered and used to meet passenger needs or bribe hijackers.

While I understand the reasoning behind the actions, I wouldn’t necessarily call the game very thematic from a mechanical approach. Visiting the passenger card section requires you to play a certain value to reveal the passenger card and the passengers adjacent. This represents connecting with that passenger and the nearby passengers. You can then gain that passenger card if you can pay a necessary resource and if your trust level is high enough (more on that in a minute). If you choose not to grab the passenger, you can discard them for a single point. Afterwards you can take an additional action which might be reserving one of the newly revealed adjacent cards by placing a dice on the card and hoping your opponents don’t roll a higher number.

You might choose to build trust with the passengers. This mini game is community driven since all players can contribute. Taking this action allows you to play a push-your-luck cube drawing game where you hope to pull the right color out of a bag. You can choose to stop, but winners go big… or fail hard. Drawing green cubes builds up your trust allowing you access to more passengers while drawing red cubes can even end up costing you points.

I mentioned this is a semi-cooperative game. Aside from the trust section, players can also delay the police by working to match one another’s point total at the exact same moment. This is a tricky task, but if achieved, everyone receives a rewards and the police are pushed back giving everyone an extra turn. The bigger challenge isn’t getting everyone on the same page to pursue this, it’s actually getting everyone on the exact same point total which can often feel a little out of reach.

Aside from gathering an extra dice for a future turn (if it’s available), players can reserve their very own hijacker and talk them down over a series of turns. Each hijacker provides a unique set scoring objective, so when persuaded to leave the plane, that player has access to those end game scoring points.

There are some corporate objectives available, but the primary scoring objectives come from gathering sets of passengers to earn passenger and pilot tokens. When a player has been able to negotiate the release of 3 passengers and 1 pilot, the end game is triggered. That is unless the police have breached the plane prior ending the game immediately.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

Artwork from Macedonian illustrator Mihajlo Dimitrievski (The Mico), while not his best, brings a lot of personality and flavor to the game. Each passenger card features a uniquely illustrated character. The hijackers look pretty hardcore and give the game an edge. The fully-illustrated board falls a little flat for me. The composition seems half-baked and could have been presented in.a more dynamic way.

Components are pretty standard with an assortment of wooden tokens, meeples, playing cards and dice.

The rulebook can get you through the game, but it is a little confusing and often feels a little backwards. Be sure to read through it in it’s entirety before attempting to grasp any concepts.

PROS & CONS

 I love the unique theme… it immediately drew me to the game

 The artwork is solid and has a lot of personality

 The semi-cooperative nature, while minimal, does provide some thematic interaction presented a unique way.

 Once you get a good grasp of the rules, turns move by quickly without much downtime

 Actions feel disjointed from the theme. While the designer did their best to bridge the gap, I never really felt like I was saving passengers or negotiating with terrorists.

 Even though I appreciate the semi-cooperative element, it ultimately falls flat. Over the course of multiple games it was nearly impossible to bring all the players together at the same time to trigger the co-op bonus.

 My biggest con is that I often felt like there weren’t any actions available worth taking. Yeah, I could grab another resources or discard a passenger card for a point, but it often felt very programmed. I wanted more demanding and beneficial choices.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

If you dig the theme and you’re looking for a brisk euro that isn’t going to press you too hard, Hijacked might be in your lane. The unique theme and solid artwork will certainly stir up some interest as well.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The idea behind the game is very intriguing. This is a theme that is waiting for the right game. Hostage Negotiator from Van Ryder Games is the only other hostage negotiation game that I can think of and it didn’t quite hit it out of the park.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I went in really wanting to love Hijacked. After a couple stumbles with the rules, we were able to get on track and experience the game as it was intended. Visually, the game is solid, and that along with the engaging theme, sets an intriguing stage.

Overall, the game plays at a nice, brisk pace and different objectives (saving passengers and pilots, building leverage and convincing the terrorists to give up their life of crime) seem motivating. It was the lack of consistently engaging choices that left me a bit empty.

The variable setup is intended to provide new game experiences, but when you’re just rolling dice, it doesn’t necessarily matter. With limited choices and only 2 die per turn, I often felt I didn’t have anything to do. This is unfortunate, because the looming S.W.A.T. breach that ends the game doesn’t give you a lot of time to waste. This led to players often passing on the passenger set collection challenge and just dumping cards for a minimal score… While I guess something is better than nothing, it was incredibly disappointing settling for a minimal score.

Resource management is loose and you’re at the mercy of the passenger deck to help you match up the right cards with the right resources. I honestly just wasn’t that interested in freeing passengers mainly because building card sets doesn’t feel like freeing passengers. The same could apply to talking down the terrorists. It all felt overly simplified and disconnected.

The game ends quickly enough and even if you achieve the end-game triggering objectives, it leaves you a bit unsatisfied. I feel like there might be something cool going on, but the game really needs to be tightened up. Perhaps it would benefit from some additional play tests. Unfortunately, Hijacked just didn’t engage me like I was hoping it would and while it might be good for a couple plays, it’s not something I can recommend.

Publisher: Hegemonic Project Games
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Game Length: 90-180 Minutes
Complexity 4/5

Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory is a political and economic simulator where players take on a specific class of society and work to better the lives of those people through political reform, social influence and everyday life choices in an effort to establish dominance and leadership throughout the culture.

Right out of the gate you need to know this is truly an ambitious project that seeks to not only create an engaging gaming experience, but one rooted in realistic academic principles such as Social-Democracy, Neoliberalism, Nationalism and Globalism. Hegemony is designed by accomplished designer, Vangelis Bagiartakis (Kitchen Rush, Dice City) and newcomer Varnavas Timotheou who carries multiple degrees with an emphasis on international political economy. Along with a cabinet of academic associates versed in political economy and political science, Hegemony has done the leg work to ensure it puts players in the middle of a true-to-life battle of the classes.

Primarily a hand management and worker placement game, each player will choose a role as either the Working Class, Middle Class, Capital Class or The State. Each of these classes feature their own actions, objectives and goals that will interact with other players, but likely never completely mimic them in any way.

I don’t claim to be any sort of political or economic student. The majority of my economic knowledge comes from playing games like Brass Birmingham. So while I have an appreciation for the source material here and understand the concepts interwoven throughout the game, my main focus will be on the experience and ultimately how it feels from a gamer’s perspective.

ON YOUR TURN

This is a fairly complex game with a number of actions and checks that take place each round. Fortunately, Hegemony does a fantastic job providing each player their own mini-rulebook and clearly presenting the game’s complexity in a point-by-point, easy to digest fashion that works wonders to keep the game flowing as smoothly as possible.

The magic number is 5! The game takes place over 5 rounds with a series of 5 phases each round. During the primary action phase players each take turns playing 5 actions. These 5 actions will either be selected from a handful of class-exclusive cards or by discarding a card and taking a general action specific to that class.

What really makes Hegemony unique is the asymmetrical classes. Each class is playing their own unique game that will both harmonize and conflict with one another just like in real life.

The Working Class is  one of the game’s primary sources of labor. They will supply workers to staff companies owned by all 3 additional classes. In exchange, they will receive money to purchase basic life necessities such as food, heath, education and possibly entertainment.

The Middle Class also provides a working class, but they’re capable of owning their own companies and seek to find a balance between producing, selling and consuming goods.

The Capitalist Class runs the companies that produce goods and services and primarily seek to maximize their income.

The State seeks to increase their “legitimacy” by working to keep all the classes satisfied in a balancing act while dealing with events that pop-up in society.

While a chunk of the game’s actions take place in the daily activities such as working, running businesses and consuming goods, the other major component has to do with legislation reform. The board’s “Politics Table” features 7 areas where players will vote and pressure policy to improve and benefit certain aspects of their classes. This includes fiscal reform, taxation, minimum wage, healthcare, education, trade and immigration… things that affect everyday people every day. Any player can call for a vote in a specific area. Voting outcomes are first determined by each player’s preference on the vote, then ultimately ruled on by drawing a series of influence tokens representing each of the classes (minus The State). Those cubes, in coordination with the player’s preference, determine the adjusted legislation.

Player count does limit your class options. A 2 player game only features the Working Class and Capitalist Class. Three players add in the Middle Class and 4 players bring The State. The Crisis and Control expansions add in AI players as well as a solo mode.

Play continues in this way until 5 rounds are complete and each player adds up their own prosperity in accordance to their objectives. The player with the highest total is the winner.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

There are a TON of components in this one. Each player is truly playing their own game and that often requires additional decks of cards or tokens unique to that player’s objectives. The Working Class has cardboard fists they can use to go on strike while The State has their own event deck among others. There is a mini-game the rulebook doesn’t address and that is packaging each player’s components together so it’s easy to jump into your next game of Hegemony. That’s a game you’ll need to figure out on your own.

This is a really well done production. The card quality and components are all nicely done. The artwork isn’t exceptional, but solid and fits the theme well. The visual communication such as iconography and instruction is phenomenal. It’s the work the publisher put into creating a game that not only functions, but directs its users is key to any success an ambitious game like will have. The structure and written pieces throughout the primary rulebook and the individual player guides is central to the flow of the game.

PROS & CONS

The most thematically/mechanically integrated game I have ever played

I love the game’s ambition

While it’s a serious teach, the game does some of it’s best work in educating, supplementing a teach and onboarding players

The components are fun and help elevate the game

The shifting of policies encourages players to be diplomatic and interact in non-typical gaming capacities

Each class deck features fun actions such as the capitalist class hiding money in off-shore accounts to avoid taxes or The State limiting free speech in order to bully their agenda.

There is a decent amount of replayability here thanks to 4 unique class games.

Gameplay provides a neat, educational look into how our societies function.

Setup is going to be a major exercise and accessibility isn’t high

There isn’t much rule oversight since you’re so engaged in your own actions, it’s impossible to police ignorant (or deceptive) players who are doing their own thing.

I wanted the voting to play a more central role in the fabrication of the game’s tension between the classes and while the vote doesn’t always go your way, the shifts in policy never impacted play like I was hoping.

To piggyback on that last point, I really wanted more tension in the game’s choices. This may just be my own perception with limited exposure, but I wanted choices where I had to determine if the benefits I’m sacrificing for my opponents would be worth the rewards I would receive. The tension is there, but more understated and that dissolved some of the potential satisfaction from a turn or choice.

While you draw 7 cards each turn and choose 5, you’re often at the mercy of draw and success and failure can potentially hinge on this luck factor.

I may have liked to see some mechanics changed at the expense of the real-world theme in order to make it more fun. Could Hegemony be too thematic?

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

If you like deep, heavy simulation games with serious themes, Hegemony is going to blow you out of the water. You can feel the effort and thought put into every aspect of the game. You’ll also likely enjoy how different each class functions and likely want to know each class inside and out in order to get a leg up in future games.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THE GAME?

The best thing about Hegemony is the theme. The designers and developers have gone to great lengths to integrate this real-world theme into the fabric of the game’s mechanics. It’s rich and deep and you see it in the details. Thanks to these efforts, the game serves as a resource for both education and entertainment.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory is a major accomplishment as a board game. It seeks to be taken seriously by not cutting any corners or ever taking the easy way out and it succeeds 100%. This is the most thematically-integrated game I have ever played and it should be respected for that. On top of that, it’s a complex theme that can only be wrangled by those with a true gasp of the source material.

Despite the theme and tone, Hegemony still desires to engage and entertain. This is where things get a little dicey.

I think Hegemony can be a fun experience, but the players need to meet some extreme conditions. Each player needs to be somewhat invested in the theme and be able to play their own role with limited oversight. This is a heavy game with a heavy set of rules, but it’s compounded by bringing a unique set of rules to each individual player. To really get the full experience, you need to play repeatedly with the same group of players. It’s also going to take multiple plays to ensure you have all the rules down. These aren’t bad things, but they do limit the practical engagement Hegemony can receive in the board gaming community.

For me, I deeply respect the effort, thought and resolve that went into creating Hegemony. This is an experience and one that I’m thankful to have taken. That being said, the enjoyment factor just wasn’t consistent enough for me. This is a heavy game, but it’s also a long game and based on the time invested learning, teaching and relearning the game… the outcome feels a bit underwhelming. I imagine 10 or 12 plays will curb the play time and cement the rules creating a more streamlined, enjoyable experience, but I don’t have the resolve to get there. My gaming group seemed to enjoy this more than I did, but we’re nowhere near committed to exploring the depths and riches Hegemony likely has to offer based on the investment.

If you have the means and are willing, Hegemony is one that I would highly recommend you experience. Seasoned and expert-level euro gamers looking for that next unique experience to summit are going to appreciate Hegemony and all it has to offer. Unfortunately, It’s the accessibility and limited return on a major investment that will keep this one from returning regularly to my gaming table.

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: Renegade Games
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Dedicated Solo mode: No
Game Length: 180-240 Minutes
Complexity 3.25/5

Returning home to your family’s large estate, you’ve quickly discovered a room full of scientific machinery and paraphernalia. Passing over the shelves full of bizarre liquids and grotesque curiosities, your eyes come to rest on an old leather book. Full of brilliant ramblings and enthusiastic pursuits, you discover a plan for a project so ambitious that you’re immediately enamored by the possibilities. Like someone possessed, you can’t help but give in to the stirring deep within your soul. “I know what I must do,” you suddenly blurt aloud. “I must follow in these terrifying yet captivating footsteps. I must compete My Father’s Work!”

My Father’s Work is an app and narrative driven, worker placement game where you take on the role of a family of mad scientists over 3 generations looking to bring your father’s lifelong pursuits to fruition. Set in a historic, gothic, horror fantasy, your choices will change the story and the landscape of the nearby town. Complete science experiments, restrain the forming mob unglued by your bizarre antics and pass along knowledge as you slowly slip into insanity.

3 SCENARIOS, MULTIPLE PATHWAYS

The driving element behind My Father’s Work are the interactive storylines. Choose from 1 of 3 scenarios, each with completely unique tales. While the game’s core mechanics basically stay the same, each scenario introduces new game pieces and choices creating different experiences. In the first scenario, The Cost of Disease brings yellow fever to the village. Fear of the Unknown centers around the village’s accusations and fear of witchcraft. A Time of War circles around a civil war brewing between the separatists and loyalists. Choices you make during each scenario affects how it will play out, meaning each story is highly repayable and full of variations stemming from the smallest choices.

A VISIT FROM THE GOOD SCIENTIST

Each game takes place over 3 generations each comprised of 3 rounds. Your family will begin the game consisting of you, your spouse and a helper. Each character in the game has certain abilities and limitations depending on where you can visit. While you only start out with 3 workers, available characters can be unlocked increasing your actions during a given round. Players take turns performing actions until all players have passed that round.

The play area consists of an open village map and your own castle-like manor. The village map allows you to interact with townspeople, gain resources or do various actions that will evolve as the game progresses. The village map is part of a book of many village maps that change over the course of the game as story events or player actions unfold. Visiting the manor is where you perform experiments or record knowledge to your journal. While you can’t always pass along knowledge to the next generation, information recorded in your journal is shared with your future relatives.

The heart of the mechanics revolves around placing your workers and fulfilling experiment cards. You’ll receive multiple cards throughout the game that present smaller experiments ranging from things like Microscopic Experiments to Brain Transplants or Refrigeration. More extreme options might be Sinister Metal Masks, Cryogenic Chambers, the Inside-Out Crocodile or a Gateway to the Underworld. These experiments are all in addition to your master work, chosen at the beginning of the game, which is typically something more grandiose such as a Time Machine, Giant Spider Chariot or even Love Potion.

Experiments each require hard-fought resources to accomplish but provide valuable benefits that can be used to fulfill other more complicated experiment cards. You’re typically limited to the number of experiment cards you can carry over to the next generation and most often can’t share ingredients with your future family. I use “typically” and “often” because there are plenty of upgrades throughout the game that can allow you to break rules.

As you take actions and fulfill experiments, you have the potential to stir up the town’s people who may not understand your work or are just completely against it. This will be something you’ll have to manage corporately as your opponents have the opportunity to affect the mob with their own actions. In addition to managing the town’s people, you’ll have the benefit (or unfortunate circumstance) of slowing falling into madness. This madness track can provide benefits or can lead to limitations. I didn’t find this track to be too difficult to manage, but a player looking for big rewards might gamble a little harder here.

WORKING WITH THE FINEST TOOLS

My Father’s Work is a highly thematic experience, and a major contributing piece to the experience is the game’s components. These deluxe-deluxe components come standard and bring a rich, engaging element to the gameplay. In addition to well-done miniature and metal coins, players will be using small, glass containers, a handful of wooden animals (all uniquely shaped), metal gears and a number of unique wooden tokens-most with screen printed graphics. No matter what anyone says, the game is worth playing just for the components alone. The production is truly a work of art and it’s a joy to experience.

THE STORY UNFOLDS

Throughout the game you’ll face choices that will affect your success as well as the direction of the story as a whole. These choices can swing the story in completely unexpected ways. I was pleasantly surprised to see a time where the story changed based solely on my father’s master work that I chose at the beginning of the game or another where a random choice paid big dividends at the end. Sometimes the choices may have minor effects on the scenario and other times the results will create new and interesting ways for players to interact, score benefits or participate in unique scenario mini games.

The app does feature quite a bit of text and some of it is narrated. I’ll address this more in my final thoughts, but it’s professionally done and its dark music provides a nice backdrop for the game.

After the 3rd round of the 3rd generation, the game ends and players add their end game bonuses and any points gained through last minute story twists. The player with the most points is the winner.

ARTWORK

Similar to the components, the artwork is top notch. It’s eerie and moody and further proves the production team wanted to create something that would be talked about and sought after long past the game’s release.

PROS & CONS

Beautiful production
Strong theme
Fairly easy game to dive into
 Despite only 3 scenarios there is plenty of replay ability
 The limited ability to transfer resources each generation creates a fun urgency
 Experiment cards contain tons of fun flavor text and personality
 While it varies per game there is a vein of humor throughout the game that I enjoyed

The heavy narrative slows down the game’s pace
Old English used in the story embraced the theme, but limited clarity
Despite amazing Game Trayz, it’s still a bit of chore to set up
Audio narration was only available on a small portion of the story
Gameplay (especially at 4 players) can take awhile
Solo mode would have increased repeat plays

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

If you’re looking for a thick, thematic, narrative-driven, gothic experience… My Father’s Work is probably number 1 on the list. Considering the story and components, this is truly an immersive experience. The worker placement and choices are interesting, but not over-the-top keeping the game accessible.

BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about the game is the luxurious components. Playing with glass containers and metal coins and gears makes this one special for that fact alone. The components command your attention and give you a high-art, high-end experience.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My Father’s Work is an enormous accomplishment, but one that can be divisive. While the care put into the game is clearly visible, the story, which should be central to the experience, often ends up bogging the flow of the game down and feeling dry and drab. It’s written in an old English style that, while very thematic, is often difficult to follow. Yes, I can see some players eating this up. It feels authentic to the time period and further immerses you in this bygone age. On the flip side, it’s bloated and a tad indulgent and that may be too much for players lacking the patience to follow this through.

As a worker placement game, it’s fairly standard, but well done and the wrinkles revealed by the scenarios can sometimes create exciting and unexpected circumstances. The experiment cards are each a mini set collection game that feeds into a larger tableau-builder running the length of the game. There are plenty of opportunities to enhance and upgrade your abilities. With a limited number of workers and only 9 rounds over the entire game, each action is costly and there is a nice push and pull to your choices.

The mob and sanity tracks aren’t necessarily new, but they’re nice touches that keep you in check while adding extra spice to the game. These tracks seemed to come into play more on some scenarios than others and a bit disappointing when they didn’t truly effect any actions.

Upgrading your manor can be expensive (both in coins and track positions), but can provide incredible value. There are plenty of valid paths to victory and balancing these (such as how much and how often should I upgrade my manor) is another of the half-dozen “good choices” vying for your attention throughout the game. It’s rare for anyone to have a excess of resources throughout the game, so planning and budgeting for your future projects are essential.

Where I really struggled was with the app and the story. I’m not going to find fault in a few glitches on the app – I’m sure they will be fixed prior to the publication of this article. What really damaged the flow of the game was the lengthy, uneventful reading between rounds and generations. It’s certainly not poorly written from a technical standpoint, but the vocabulary is tough to follow and it’s incredibly LONG. Even when the story inched towards being more entertaining, it always held back, taking itself a bit too seriously and never quite reached the heights I wanted it to. Some of the story lines were better than others, but I still struggled to stay engaged on the better ones. Overall the story really bogged down the pace of the game and felt way too dry for me. I found myself wanting to skip over them and get back to the gameplay.

The app claims to have audio narrations, but they’re so few and far between I was surprised when one popped up. My group was really worn out by the end of this one and it would be difficult to bring them back for a 2nd go. There were moments when it seemed the story was going to go to the next level… but then it didn’t. In the end, any good fortune the game built up was lost by end of this incredibly long exercise.

Going into this, I wanted to snuggle with it like a mad scientist and his monstrous creation on a Friday night. The deep gothic horror setting and beautiful production and components call to me even now as I peer over the edge of this massive game box. But the disconnect from the story is going to keep this from getting the replays the designer and publisher intended. I think it’s fair to say this could be a home run for gamers fully committed to the literature and theme. If you’re willing to be patient with the story there is a lot to like. The production alone elevates the game to a whole other level.

My Father’s Work definitely provided the aesthetics, but failed when it came to delivering the substance for me. Perhaps I came in with too high expectations, but I can’t in good conscious recommend My Father’s Work.

Publisher: Board & Dice
Player Count: 1-4 Players
Dedicated Solo mode: Yes
Game Length: 90-120 Minutes
Complexity 3.4/5

The first emperor of unified China, Qin Shu Huang, has died. Representing a group of talented craftsmen, it is your responsibility to create an army of terracotta warriors to protect him in the afterlife. Compete against your opponents by collecting resources, training advanced workers, placing the concrete warriors and appeasing the emperor’s advisors.

True to form, Board & Dice is back with another medium/heavy weight historical euro with multiple paths to victory. In this worker placement game, players will select actions from a rotating wheel to gain resources, fabricate warriors and strategically place them in the emperor’s tomb amidst a tight and evolving scoring puzzle. Points are earned at every turn forcing you to carefully consider your choices to maximize your actions and come out on top as the most respected craftsman.

A THEMATIC EURO

I’m always reading how well developed the mechanics of Board & Dice games are. This is true—they are probably the most solid, polished and consistent publisher of euro games going right now. Board & Dice games are like eating pizza… even when it’s bad it’s good. The “solid mechanics” statement is then often followed by, “…but the theme is lacking” or “the theme could be anything.” Maybe I’m in the minority, but I absolutely love the themes, tone and moods tied into these sprawling euros. I’m speaking in generalities, but I absolutely love building the Egyptian temple of Amun-Ra in Tekhenu or constructing the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan.

Despite being a little further out there than these historical simulations, I could still get into the arrival of ancient aliens and their influence on primitive cultures in Origins: First Builders from designer Adam Kwapinski. Adam is co-designer of Terracotta Army and the man behind big-name games such as Nemesis and Lords of Hellas. He seems to know how to create a tension and fun-filled experience. All this to say I was pretty excited about the potential of Terracotta Army.

Visually, Terracotta Army is on par with some of the best Board & Dice productions out there. I’m accustomed to quality materials, great art direction, clear communication and little cardboard tokens—all which Terracotta Army delivers. The 2 ambitious elements here are the rotating selection board and a box filled with 60 miniatures. While the miniatures are pretty good, I’m not quite ready to buy Board & Dice as a premier publisher of miniature games. The sculpts are solid, but there were a few things in the design that left them a bit out-of-whack. Despite those minor issues, the look and feel of everything is good and only fueled my own excitement for the game.

HOW THE GAME PLAYS

The game play in Terracotta Army is so incredibly satisfying. The choices are meaty, the outcomes fulfilling and there are so many paths to keep things interesting.

The game board is divided into 4 distinct areas and it all begins with the Action Rings. This 3-tiered system of rotating icons is the beginning point for each turn. A set of 3 icons (or actions) align at each of the 12 stops on the rings. After choosing your actions, you resolve them in order. Each stop on the Action Ring provides you with positive results that range from good to “I just committed highway robbery” good.

If chosen as an action, players may visit a master on the board. These masters can be hired at different costs and provide immediate bonuses as well as end-of-round benefits.

The primary goal is to build the terracotta statues. There are 2 primary types of statues: Warriors and Specialists. There are 4 unique sculpts/types of Warriors. Each warrior is worth a certain point value depending on how many have already been built. Activating tokens called Weapon tokens after building can provide additional points and unique action pertaining to the placement or relation of the statues in the emperor’s tomb. Additionally, there are 4 unique Specialist statues. Each Specialist provided scoring or special bonuses in the tomb.

Finally, the tomb itself is a grid broken up into 4 quadrants. Players can place statues nearly anywhere in the tomb, but earn points by their relation to other statues as well as meeting end-of-round and end-of-game objectives.

PRIMARY MECHANICS

Terracotta Army employs a series of mechanics focused on worker placement and an area control, spatial puzzle.

There are 360 different possible combinations and 12 active spots on the action rings. Players will have 3-5 craftsmen (depending on player count) to activate these actions each round of the game. Initially these choices can seem overwhelming (and potentially lead to overthinking) if it wasn’t for how rich each choice is. There always seems like there is something beneficial to do, making each turn exciting. Players can also spend coins to rotate rings. Now placement spots can be limited by upgraded caretakers later in the game, but each turn is really about passing on all the “good” plays and choosing the “best” one. Since you have a combination of 3 potential actions with each choice, choosing the right spot involves weighing each choice and figuring out the best group of 3.

The other half of the terracotta challenge revolves around placing concrete warriors in the late emperor’s tomb. This is a fairly complex area control puzzle that provides lots to think about. In the tomb there are multiple ways to score at multiple points in the game with some more fluid than others. For example, players score each round by having a majority on a specific row or column. These points are rotating and can be manipulated through the game. Each of the game’s 5 rounds also have a special randomly chosen scoring goal that a player might pursue. Then there are additional points from specialist statues and end game points that include grouped, like-style statues. I’m almost exhausted just thinking about it. Scoring, especially end game score can be a chore, but it’s also rewarding to see the fruits of your labors add up.

KEY STRATEGIES

While you can often execute an action without too much resistance, one of the keys to excelling in Terracotta Army is to chain bonuses together with your standard actions. This means pairing the right resources with the right actions at the right time. For example, you can build a statue if you have the right amount of wet clay, but you can only take the statues bonus action if you have an active weapon token for that particular statue. This is where careful planning (and a little luck) comes into play and likely begins 3 or 4 turns prior to that action. While the perfect action might not be there when your plans come together, there are so many deviations and variants on each plan and so many paths to score, that you’ll still likely be able to do something you’ll feel good about.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I absolutely love a good euro, but Board & Dice always takes things to the next level for me. Terracotta Army is no exception… The turns are more interesting, the context more engaging and the production never lets me down.

The success of Terracotta Army starts with its interesting turns. While decisions can be think-y, they never seem to bog you down and always feel full of flavor. There is always something positive to do and being able to accomplish multiple goals in one turn almost feels euphoric. While planning and timing are necessary to build on multipliers and gain critical bonuses, the rotating resource area is always in flux. This means you need to institute long-term planning as well as be able to think on your toes. This becomes second nature as the game progresses and you learn you have to institute alternative goals to keep your progress moving forward. Despite all these things to juggle, the game never feels like work. Yes, it can be brain burning… but in that really satisfying way.

As far as the theme goes, I think it’s tied into the actions beautifully. I never lost sight of what we were doing: building an army to defend the emperor in the afterlife. The swapping of wet and dry clay, the different statue figures and the team of specialists always felt grounded in the context of the game. This was another big plus for me.

Terracotta Army is easily one of the best games I’ve played all year. In fact, it’s one of the best euros I’ve played in a long time. I love the turns, the decisions and the results. The different scoring points throughout the game elevate this one even further—lots to think about, but oh so pleasing. I’m still not ready to crown Board & Dice as the next great miniature game publisher, but the production is top notch. If you’re a fan of great board games, you need to do yourself a favor and grab Terracotta Army.

PROS & CONS

So many fun decisions… the process is so enjoyable that I honestly didn’t care if I won or not

Planning is critical and really gives your brain a workout

End of round and game scoring makes this special

Plenty of paths to victory

Excellent rulebook that clearly explains concepts and actions

The board is beautifully tight near the end of the game

Potential for a lengthy game with the wrong players

 Your action choices can change on a dime throwing out your plans

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Players who love medium/medium-heavy weight euros are going to be in Heaven. The turns are think-y and planning is going to give your brain a workout. The personality from the theme also provides added enjoyment.

BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about the game is pretty much everything. It’s tough to choose between the statue placement and the action rings… so I’m going with the scoring opportunities. It’s these creative and unique goals (that also change from game to game) that make Terracotta Army a real standout experience.

VERDICT: Highly Recommended

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

Survival of the Fattest shouldn’t have any trouble reaching its funding goal. The artwork is enchanting and will appeal to a large audience. The gameplay is simple and familiar and should play well to families with budding gamers. For me, this feels like a slightly more mature strategy game trapped in a kid’s body. Despite the kid-friendly art, The amount of card text and some of the game’s decisions will be a little too complex for a young audience. I was actually surprised at some of the challenging decisions later on in the game where options were scarce and each turn means more. I’d probably recommend this for kids 10+ who have a decent exposure to hobby-style board games.

The game says 2-4 players, but I wouldn’t recommend it at 2. At 2 the board feels too loose and I’d really like to see some rule modifications to keep things more challenging. Turns, interaction and decisions were all more satisfying when we went from 2 to even 3 players.

I was pleasantly surprised by how strongly different each character is in the game. As I played through the characters I noticed I had to really adjust my play to maximize my animal’s special abilities and trick cards. While all the actions are the same, I found each character really commanded their own strategy and forced you into their world to be successful.

I had a few minor issues here and there, but overall this is a good game for families with older children (or kid’s at heart in general). The artwork is brilliant and will easily draw the kids in while the gameplay and surprising challenging decisions will keep adults satisfied. The different characters will keep the game fresh while the simple rule set provides an accessible experience. There is certainly plenty of replay ability with the unique characters.

Survival of Fattest looks and sounds like a fun, family game… and it is. I think the special, hidden bonus is there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye. The gameplay and strategy isn’t overwhelming, but it certainly adds to what is really a well-rounded game. I look forward to seeing this in its final form.

Publisher: Dirty Rascal Games
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Solo mode: No
Game Length: 90 Minutes
Complexity 2.25/5

The natural instinct to gather and store food for winter is as old as time… But times have changed and these woodland creatures are more sophisticated today. They’re not just looking to survive, but to thrive. The critters in these woods are looking to use the fruits of their gathering labors to complete delicious recipes to keep them satisfied all winter long. Taking on the role of 1 of 6 unique forest critters, you’ll use your special abilities to gather the most food, fulfill the best recipes, and of course, score the most points in this worker placement, deck-building adventure.

Visit the Survival of the Fattest Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dirtyrascalgames/survival-of-the-fattest

I had the opportunity to play a prototype of Survival of the Fattest and the thing that immediately stood out was the fantastic artwork. We affectionately referred to the game as Everdell Junior since artist (and designer) Lee Smith’s work here is on par with that other popular nature/animal-themed, worker placement game. While all crowd-funded games are a bit of a work in progress, this felt pretty polished.

The mechanics are relatively simple. It’s a deck-builder and worker placement game with limited opportunities. With only 12 turns in the entire game, it was clear that making each turn count was essential. There is also an additional bit of card drafting and tableau building thrown in to keep things interesting. Let’s briefly look at how the game plays in a little more detail and finish it up with my personal thoughts:

ON YOUR TURN

Each player’s woodland creature comes equipped with an asymmetrical deck of cards and their own unique animal ability.

After drawing a hand of cards, players have the opportunity to visit 1 of 6 different places throughout the forest. You might visit the market where you can complete or grab recipes to reserve. The trading post lets you blindly grab a food card or trade one of yours in for something more desirable. If you have plenty of food on hand you might want to tuck it away by visiting your private stash. The final 3 spots allow you to forage for food. The kicker is players aren’t allowed to visit the same spot twice in a row and you always feel the need to be in multiple locations at once.

Along with their own unique ability, each animal’s deck comes with 3 unique trick cards. These trick cards allow you to perform a special action prior to choosing a spot that turn. These “tricks” may gain you additional food or even limit your opponents that turn. Paired with your players ability, these trick cards can potentially provide strategic direction and unique game experiences.

Much of the game’s interaction comes from the 3 separate foraging spots in the forest. As with any location on the board, multiple players can be at the same spot at the same time. When visiting a foraging location, players commit a certain number of foraging cards (played from their current hand). Food cards from that location equal to the number of foraging cards will be revealed at the end of the round. If multiple players are in attendance, food cards equal to all players’ contributed foraging cards will be revealed and the player with the most cards will be first in a food card draft. The draft will continue until all food cards are selected. Along with a variety of food, you’ll have to watch out for traps that appear that can bog down your deck and lead to negative points.

The game takes place over 3 seasons, with 4 turns each season. After a season is completed, players have the opportunity to fulfill reserved recipes. Each recipe requires a different set and number of ingredients. Each player only has a limited number of reserve spots so they must be efficient in fulfilling their recipes. Additionally, players have the opportunity to fulfill a recipe while visiting the market—baring they have the necessary ingredients in hand. Fulfilling a recipe directly from the market allows you to activate the recipe’s bonus action earning you one-time or ongoing benefits. These are a great way to maximize your turns.

At the end of the game players add up points earned through their fulfilled recipes. The player with the most points is the winner.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

As I mentioned before, Lee Smith is obviously a talented artist. The illustration work is very strong and commercially appealing. While there is a natural link to the work of Andrew Bosley in Everdell, the artwork here definitely has its own style and spin. Artwork on the cards really draws you into this woodland world and the food cards are good enough to eat.

We received animal minis as well as cardboard figures to use in the game. The miniatures are really well done and reflect the artwork nicely. I look forward to seeing the final version.

The only place I didn’t feel the same quality was on portions of the game board. Not that it doesn’t look great—it’s just not as great as some of the card art.

PROS & CONS

The artwork is fantastic.

The character mini’s look incredibly promising and add a lot of fun.

Great rulebook… super easy to understand and teach.

I enjoyed the dual action recipe cards that provide a special bonus when purchased directly from the market. Taking advantage of this creates some fun combos and really multiplies your opportunities.

The foraging drafts create some fun interactive moments in the game.

The asymmetrical player abilities are pretty strong. Each one really forces you to adjust and play to those strengths. They really do produce some unique gameplay experiences.

The game plays a little differently at each player count and 2 players didn’t really work for me. I believe this can be fixed with some minor rule tweaks.

While I really enjoyed the asymmetrical player abilities, I still didn’t feel like they were all equally balanced. Some were definitely stronger and some played much better at different player counts.

I know this sometimes resolves with additional plays, but I still felt the game ran a little long. Upkeep during the reset phases and some card actions definitely contributed to this.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

If you’re looking for something similar to Everdell with a new spin—this is definitely for you. The characters and the forest world they live in are a lot of fun. The actions are simple and straightforward, but the choices can be challenging.

BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about the game is how the board tightens up and decisions become more critical as the game progresses. This really took me by surprise my first game since I expected something loose and a little more kid friendly. Food resources become scarce and the best recipes go fast. I really enjoyed how the game ramps up.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

Survival of the Fattest shouldn’t have any trouble reaching its funding goal. The artwork is enchanting and will appeal to a large audience. The gameplay is simple and familiar and should play well to families with budding gamers. For me, this feels like a slightly more mature strategy game trapped in a kid’s body. Despite the kid-friendly art, The amount of card text and some of the game’s decisions will be a little too complex for a young audience. I was actually surprised at some of the challenging decisions later on in the game where options were scarce and each turn means more. I’d probably recommend this for kids 10+ who have a decent exposure to hobby-style board games.

The game says 2-4 players, but I wouldn’t recommend it at 2. At 2 the board feels too loose and I’d really like to see some rule modifications to keep things more challenging. Turns, interaction and decisions were all more satisfying when we went from 2 to even 3 players.

I was pleasantly surprised by how strongly different each character is in the game. As I played through the characters I noticed I had to really adjust my play to maximize my animal’s special abilities and trick cards. While all the actions are the same, I found each character really commanded their own strategy and forced you into their world to be successful.

I had a few minor issues here and there, but overall this is a good game for families with older children (or kid’s at heart in general). The artwork is brilliant and will easily draw the kids in while the gameplay and surprising challenging decisions will keep adults satisfied. The different characters will keep the game fresh while the simple rule set provides an accessible experience. There is certainly plenty of replay ability with the unique characters.

Survival of Fattest looks and sounds like a fun, family game… and it is. I think the special, hidden bonus is there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye. The gameplay and strategy isn’t overwhelming, but it certainly adds to what is really a well-rounded game. I look forward to seeing this in its final form.

Published by Brookspun Games
Designed by Jason Brooks
Art by James Churchill & Yoma
1-6 Players  |  90-180 Minutes

Life moves by pretty fast… We work hard, play hard and wrestle to find our place in the world, yet it all comes to an inevitable end for both the rich and poor and weak and strong. The only proof we were here and the lasting impact we can give is in the legacy we leave. I love the idea of living for a legacy because it’s the opportunity to shape the thoughts, values and lifestyles of people generations from now. Living not just for today, but to have our voice echo hundreds of years from now gives each decision we make so much more credence in both our personal lives and business ventures.

The idea for Legacies from designer Jason Brooks began while watching the movie the Greatest Showman. The fictional relationship between Hugh Jackman’s P.T. Barnum and Zac Efron’s Phillip Carlyle, who would serve as the successor to the Barnum’s Circus, sparked the concept of a game centered around passing along a business empire over a long period of time as it changes hands. In the game, players will grow their fortune, build valuable relationships and achieve fame over 3 centuries and 6 generations of successors.

In this economic-focused game, players will be investing in industries, developing relationships and earning fame in a dynamic environment where friends and enemies mean leverage, harmony with your successors can spark growth and private foundations and heirlooms build reputations. Turns are limited and choices are plentiful, but can you make the right decisions to build the most successful lasting legacy?

ON YOUR TURN

Players begin the game by choosing from 1 of 10 unique characters. These characters serve to define the identity of the legacy you’re looking to build. You might choose the Politician, the General or the Corporate Mogul. Or you might decide to play things a bit more deviously by choosing either the Master Thief or Underworld Boss among others. Each character is equipped with their own special abilities, starting resources and list of friends and enemies. In addition to the character choice, players will also have the opportunity to choose between playing aboveboard or underhanded. These choices determine how you will interact with other players during the game (harmony or cutthroat).

During a turn, players will initially choose from a hand of cards defined by the current game century. Each card provides multiple choices for the player. Players may choose the opportunity to purchase investments in 1 of 10 different industries, develop relationships with other players, gather gold by exploring the city, obtain resources or acquire an heirloom.

While each of these choices can lead to complicated, long-lasting implications, I’ll try to summarize them conceptually so you can get a good feel for the decisions you’ll face.

Investing in industries is a major source of both funds and fame throughout the game. There will be multiple “scoring” points where players will receive gold or fame based on the position and value of their investment in particular industries. Players will also have the opportunity to influence industries directly connected to their business for better or for worse as the game progresses. This is such a vital hub for the game’s play because it can not only mean benefits from investments you directly influence or own, but other players’ choices can directly affect your success. Players can invest different sums for larger shares and the value of the stocks fluctuate as it’s bought and sold.

The other primary card option is to build strategic relationships with other players. Each character comes with a handful of opponents defined as friendly and others serving as enemies. Building relationships with friendlies provide discounts to the cost of the relationship while enemies are going to cost you more. Each character has a bonus track that can be activated through these relationships. Each track is completely different, but will offer benefits such as gold, fame or resources. As the game progresses, players’ relationship tokens advance along these paths earning additional bonuses until they are eventually exhausted.

Exploring the city and obtaining resources both serve as ways for players to gather much needed tools such as gold or items to purchase heirlooms.

Heirlooms are another prominent piece to the game. Each player begins the game with 7 family heirlooms. These heirlooms can be purchased by any player (including yourself) during the game if they meet the resource requirements. These heirlooms earn players gold or fame depending on the heirloom’s owner and the value of the industries that player has influence over.

This brings me to the game’s global actions. In addition to generating heirloom income or fame, players will have access to 8 different global actions that allow you to gain benefits such as collecting dividends from your investments, contribute to your private foundation or host trade conferences. These are divided into mandatory and non-mandatory global actions and will ultimately trigger the end of the generation. All players benefit from these actions, but players triggering the actions earn bonuses.

I’m getting a little long-winded here, but I can’t forget identifying a successor to your business. Each generation, players will choose a successor. Each successor provides some type of benefit, but not all are beneficial to what you have going on. Choosing the right successor can expand your ability to build relationships or invest in business as well contribute to your foundation or protect your heirlooms (along with many other benefits).

This is probably a good point to emphasize the game’s variability. Along with 150 unique player cards to choose from, there are 60 successor cards—each with their own illustrated character and ability. I haven’t even discussed the 8 legendary characters you build relationships with or the 45 event cards that take effect at the end of each generation. Considering the 10 different starting characters, you can realistically play a completely different game of Legacies each time it hits the table.

Not only do the players progress over 300 years, the board evolves during that time as well. Relationship tracks add new tiles that change their value and the industry tracks evolve to reflect inflation over that time. These are neat little additions that bring the game board to life and prove to me that a lot of thought went into this.

The game plays 1-6 players and there is a couple different AI modes that can be implemented solo or added to spice up a 2 or 3 player game.

COMPLEXITY

Legacies is a fairly complex game that has a lot going on. It can definitely be punishing during your first couple of plays if you don’t have a solid teacher. The iconography is fairly easy to pick up on, but there are little rules here and there that can derail your gameplay. If you’re not careful, it’s really easy to miss some of these details. Like any heavy-weighted game, once you grasp the concepts and functions, you’ll come out on the other side feeling good about everything, but it may take 2-4 plays before you get there. The rulebook isn’t bad, but it did seem a little vague in a few areas and that did add to some of the challenge.

COMPONENTS AND ARTWORK

I had the pleasure of reviewing the deluxe edition of the game and I can’t say enough about the premium pieces.

The artwork from James Churchill and Yomo is fantastic. There are SO many different character illustrations and elements giving this production loads of personality. The main board is beautifully illustrated and engaging while the character boards really draw you into the world of each character. I loved how all 60 successor cards had a uniquely illustrated character and name… and they’re all incredibly distinct and fun. The board’s relationship track upgrade tiles that show up after the end of the first century bring a lot of life to the board and the game.

The graphic design is pretty strong throughout. The icons are easy to make out (maybe minus the tiny explore the city icons on the player cards) and clearly communicate their purpose.

One area that could have used some improvement was the rulebook. I didn’t love its layout and presentation. It often felt more like a list of bullet points rather than a guide to helping me engage the game. There are some decent examples that help, but I often found myself struggling to locate rules on specific topics. It does the job—just wondering if it might be a better resource if it was reorganized a bit and cleaned up.

Finally, let’s talk about the components: For the most part, they are WOW! The metal, gold coins and bars are worth your time alone. The wooden, silk-screened player tokens look and feel great as well. The boards are double layered making them a real joy to use. I did have some trouble with the primary player board once it interacted with the humidity in my house—slightly curling up. I really appreciate the ambition here, so I don’t want it to hold it too much against them. I’ve actually been able to work it out for the most part. The cards, tiles and additional tokens all feel great. The production of this one is one of the better ones I’ve seen in awhile.

MY THOUGHTS

I was immediately drawn into the theme and charm of the production. There is so much personality in this game. I’m also a sucker for economic games—so this had me pretty hyped from the get-go… but would it be fun and engaging?

This is a heavy, and lengthy game that requires both your attention to detail and a deep strategic ambition.

So many of the game’s mechanics intertwine in almost a tug-of-war feel beginning with the investment track. Everything in the game seems to pull from the position of each industry, how they’ve been manipulated and where you’re at in the flow of the game. This will trigger your income and fame, but it’s not as clear cut as it seems. On my initial play we bought and pushed prices higher without any regard or restraint. More is more, right? And why in the world would anyone ever sell an investment? Yes, there were repercussions, but it wasn’t until my second game that I considered a more balanced approach with timely stock sales.

I can only hint at the complexity here, but owning a certain stock can potentially earn you dividends, funding and fame. The higher the stock goes, the more benefits you receive. On the flip side, growing stock, especially those you hold influence in can come back and bite you in the rear. As players obtain your family heirlooms, they will potentially receive fame—and a lot of it–if you aren’t careful with your own industry levels. On top of that, your opponents can jump on board sending your industry stock even higher. Balancing these pursuits to optimize your gameplay really requires proper timing based on your own strategy as well as your opponents actions.

Where the game really succeeds is in its attention to detail. I mentioned the unique card illustrations, but each character has its own name and each player card has a (often witty) thematic title given to it—100% unnecessary, but still fun. The characters feel very fleshed out despite not having any backstory or flavor text. For example: the 6th and final heirloom for each character represents some deep, dark secret they’re trying to hide. The socialite has a forged birth certificate while the scientist has knowledge of an alien spacecraft. It’s these details that really brought the story to life for me.

As I mentioned before, the components are a lot of fun and the artwork shines.

The weight of each decision can get hairy and lead to a fair amount of down time. As the game progresses, you feel that weight escalates only leading to longer turns toward the end. Part of this can be attributed to having a lot of good choices with limited actions. This is really a strength of the game, and I’d imagine gameplay speeds up as you get more plays under your belt.

I really stumbled early on trying to remember all the little rules and additional pieces. This is where a lot of the game’s complexity lies… and it probably wasn’t all necessary. Each end of round triggers 2 or 3 additional actions while each end of century has 5 or 6 different scoring points. Nothing in and of itself is overly complex, but everything together as whole can feel a bit much. It was really easy to forget certain details… a few of which the game could have done without.

I really did appreciate the player cards and the many choices available. There is some luck with what’s available, and I did find myself wanting to build a relationship or trade an industry and the option just wasn’t there… But, there always seemed like there was something beneficial to do which was nice.

I’m also a fan of the relationship tracks. Every round you move forward and gain much needed resources. There is also a nice strategic/planning approach here as each track is unique earning you different resources in different increments each round so you can almost choose the track that best harmonizes with where you plan to be 2, 3 or 4 rounds from now.

It took me 3 games before I really began to appreciate the depth of the game. By that point, the primary strategy was clear, but achieving it wasn’t always as straightforward. I”m not sure how that will affect replayability, but as long as you have strong opponents, I don’t see anyone “mastering” the game anytime soon.

I think my main complaint about the game is that it runs pretty long. I really wish it was about 30 minutes shorter. As you hit the 3rd century and everyone’s game moves into that “turn maximization” mode, the AP starts to kick in. I appreciate that the decisions at that point in the game feel heightened, I just think if the game was 30-45 minutes quicker I’d be more likely to get it to the table more often.

FINAL TAKE

I really enjoyed my experience with Legacies. The theme and production really hit a lot of the right notes for me. This is a heavy game that’s going to require you to think through your choices, consider your opponents actions and plan ahead if you hope to be successful. There are a lot of rules and small details to consider during the game… a few they could have left out to quicken the pace and it still would have been just as good. There is a ton of replayability here—I just hope the length of the game doesn’t limit how often I break this out. While Legacies isn’t the best economic game on the market, it does have a lot of unique parts and it all adds up to a pretty solid and fun experience. Fans of theme, variety and details are going to get the most out of this challenge. For me, I had a good time with Legacies and look forward to playing this with my more serious gamer friends.