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: 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: Daily Magic Games
Player Count: 1 Player
Game Length: 30-45 Minutes
Complexity 2/5

Siege of Valeria is a solo, tower defense game set in the popular board game world of Valeria. With your castle walls surrounded by a hoard of monsters, supplies running thin and no help in sight, you’re tasked with rousing your troops for one final defense against your ever advancing foe.

During the game you’ll arm yourself with a handful of dice and assign them to enemy cards, earning actions to supplement your efforts. While the troops are trouble, it’s the enemy siege engines that will decide the battle. Defeat the siege engines and raise up champions to power your defense or fail, losing you the castle and the protection of your people. Are you up to the task in this dice-driven, strategic solo battle to the death?

ON YOUR TURN

The play area features your castle wall with 5 turrets you’ll be tasked with protecting throughout the enemy’s surge. A 5×5 grid of enemy troop cards are placed beyond the wall forming 5 columns each facing 1 of the castle turrets. The first 4 rows contain enemy troops while the 5th row consists of siege engine cards.

Each siege engine has an ability that is activated based on its range in relation to the wall. This may mean a siege engine can carry out an action against you if it reaches the 3rd or 4th row of the battlefield for example… and these siege engines will advance. In fact, all the enemy troops will advance if you fail to stop them.

Setup with a handful of red and blue dice representing strength and magic, you’ll roll the dice and begin to map out your plan of attack. Of course, an activated siege engine may require you to re-roll a 5-pip dice, lose a single die or even cause damage to a turret. This is what the siege engines do, which is why it’s so important to stop them before they get in range. Unfortunately, your attack can only target the closest enemy card in each column… But the enemy wasn’t expecting one thing – the mind of a brilliant military leader (whose brilliance may vary from game to game) – but with the ability to scheme and plan your way across the battlefield.

Each enemy card has a defense value and action. To defeat the enemy, you’ll need to apply the necessary dice value which could be a single die or multiple dice. Once defeated, used dice are exhausted and you earn the enemy card and the action available to help you in the future. These actions might allow you additional dice strength, earn new dice to roll, tactical actions on the battlefield or provide you with a way to execute a discounted “overkill”. Overkill actions allow you to defeat an adjacent enemy for a fraction of their defense.

Once all your dice are exhausted, the enemy advances forward and new troops join in the battle. Any troops in the first row you failed to defeat caused damage to that column’s turret. If a siege engine sits in that position at the end of the turn you instantly lose the game. With each defeat of a siege engine, you gain a champion card to sit atop your castle wall. These champions offer single or multi-use offensive benefits as long as they are around.

Each round also includes an optional event deck that can be a pain in the rear. These cards often limit your actions or add strength to certain troops in play.

It’s a tall challenge, but If you can defeat 13 siege engines before you exhaust the enemy troop deck, lose a turret to invaders or fail to defeat a siege engine knocking at your door, you’ll be victorious and the kingdom will celebrate your greatness.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The artwork is beautifully done by accomplished board game artist, Mihajlo Dimitrievski. He always brings color and personality to his illustrations and I never feel cheated as he uses every inch of a card or player board to bring value to the theme and experience.

The components are limited to a player board, decks of cards, red and blue dice and small wooden tokens to mark damage or upgrade an enemy character. The cards are good quality and I feel everything in the box is sturdy enough to support many solo adventures.

PROS & CONS

 Quick Setup gets you into the game almost immediately

 Fantastic artwork immerses you in the theme of the game

 Simple AI actions make for less upkeep and more game action

 Think-y system is challenging and rewards inventive strategy and combos

Rulebook is a little hard to follow, but rules are fairly simple overall making this minor gripe easy to overcome

More of neutral point, but there is a lot of luck from how the dice fall to how the enemy aligns for their attack. There are ways to mitigate the dice, but some games end sooner than others.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Obviously the theme will affect your opinion of this game, but fans of dice-rolling and more straightforward castle defense games are going to find a lot to like. I also think a big selling point is the game’s limited AI upkeep and interesting decisions which let you enjoy more action and less downtime.

WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about this game comes when you defeat an enemy. You immediately gain the card in possession and have the opportunity to use it to your benefit. Every enemy card carries a “good” action. I typically expect a few stinkers I wouldn’t use in a game like this, but I enjoyed all the bonus actions you can earn. Some actions are stronger than others, and you’ll need them since this game can be a challenge.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m a huge fan of how the gameplay in Siege of Valeria is so streamlined. The accessibility and game length is perfect for a solo player looking to pick up a quick game after dinner or right before bed. The mechanics are simple and quickly take a backseat allowing you to spend the majority of your time wrestling with the perfect decisions.

A big part of what makes the process so sweet is the limited AI upkeep. The simple AI is a breeze to activate, yet doesn’t compromise anything by dumbing down your opponent. While I appreciate a meaty AI, I have run into so many that complicate the flow of the game or dumb down your opponent to the point where you can’t even enjoy it. Siege of Valeria brings a really nice cost/reward balance to this solo experience.

This is a challenging game, but one that rewards you as opposed to beating you down. Defeat isn’t always absolute and victory typically leaves room for improvement. I was almost immediately able to begin building a strategy from turn 1 and I really appreciate the system of defeating an enemy and then being able to use that card for your own benefit. This provides an opportunity to really plan out your attack, gain the most out of your dice and even drop a couple enemy-defeating combos in there. The position of the siege engine cards brings a good, consistent level of anxiety to the game. While the defeat of the siege engines are essential for victory, you have to always manage the unending barrage of troops or they’ll breach your castle wall. This tension creates some really interesting decisions that force you to get creative and take advantage of your circumstances… a mentality the publisher encourages.

This is a tower defense game that strips away any fluff or fat and pits you right in the middle of the action. There is a champion deck and event deck that provide variability, but each game plays out differently with just the placement of the enemy troops and the ability of each siege engine. It’s challenging in a really good way and minor victories are really satisfying. This is a game that’s easy to get to the table and provides a fun and challenging experience that should delight a growing community of solo gamers.

Publisher: Tinkerbot Games
Player Count: 1-4 Players
Solo mode: Yes
Game Length: 60 Minutes
Complexity 2.25/5

After being closed for nearly 300 years, Creepstone Manor was temporarily opened to the public. Fortunately the ghostly residents were able to successfully scare off the residents without too much trouble… whew! With the house secure, it’s time for these ghosts to turn their attention to the estate grounds—specifically the gardens. Due to their transparent state, it only makes sense for these ghosts to employ a team of local ghouls and goblins to help with the planting and raking.

Part Bidding game, part deck management and part abstract game, Hauticulture has you building on tiles, upgrading your hand of ghouls and arranging your garden tiles effectively and efficiently in your garden to earn the most points. Played over 3 rounds, players will draft garden tiles through a card bidding process with the goal of achieving patterns and earning points. You’ll even have the opportunity to recruit monsters with special skills to boost your hand and prospects. Build the most aesthetically pleasing garden to please the head ghost and earn the title of head haunticulturalist.

ON YOUR TURN

Each player begins the game with a standard set of individually numbered cards featuring skeletons, ghouls and zombies to help you out.

Played over 3 rounds, each round consists of 2 separate phases. During the first phase players will be bidding on tiles featuring garden amenities. Each unique garden tile corresponds to a different pattern scoring goal within your garden. For example, certain tiles may need to be planted on a diagonal line, while others need to be planted in bunches.

Using their hand of cards, players will play onto a grid surrounded by horizontal and vertical tile opportunities. This grid-shaped bidding system gives players the opportunity to earn available tiles. When the grid has been filled, players with the most collective card values played in each individual row or column choses 1 of the 2 corresponding tiles while the runner up chooses the remaining one. Each row and column is resolved until all the tiles have been selected.

Throughout the game, gardening ghosts will dig up treasure. Players can use this treasure to hire unique helpers, adding them to their hand and using them in the bidding process. Similar to your starting hand, these upgraded cards may have a higher card value or offer additional benefits when played.

The second phase has players simultaneously playing tiles on their personal garden board. Certain tile types and scoring goals will likely conflict and it’ll be up to you to choose the best course of action.

After 3 rounds, the player with the highest score is the winner.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The artwork features a variety of silly monsters, like a fish out of water, pulled into this foreign world of gardening. They all hilariously look out of their element, yet are still willing to give it the old college try. While a little dark, the illustrations are solid and definitely embrace the theme and fun behind it. The tiles are a little small, but it’s never felt that big of a hindrance. I am reviewing the prototype and I know the publisher has plans for some overlays and other upgrades. There is a fun assortment of upgradable cards featuring werewolves, vampires and various other Halloween-themed monstrosities.

PROS & CONS

I’m a fan of this crazy theme. Only in a board game will you find ghosts seeking the help of the undead to manage the gardens surrounding their haunted house. BONUS!

I like the marriage between the 2 different phase mechanics. It builds an interesting synergy that keeps things interesting and fun. This is great for both bidding fans and abstract fans.

The fairly simple rules and humorous theme make this great for families.

The unique market of upgradable cards provide many different strategic opportunities helping to keep the game fresh.

While it doesn’t play fast at 60 minutes, it doesn’t necessarily overstay its welcome and seems to move pretty quickly when players understand their objectives.

There are multiple scoring objectives for each garden tile giving you plenty of game play options.

I would prefer the garden boards and tiles to be larger.

While not a deal breaker, setting up and refreshing the play area between rounds is a little tedious.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Players who enjoy pattern building are going to appreciate the added bidding mechanic that brings a fun diversity to the rounds. It’s like 2 games in one – each with the same goal in mind. It also doesn’t hurt if you love Halloween-themed games.

BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing is planning your garden. Each tile features fun, thematic garden items that bring the game’s unique theme to life. With so many different scoring options, you’ll get to choose which ones you want to pursue and how you want to implement them into your garden. You can literally create your own, unique ghostly garden.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

I have a soft spot for games with absurd themes. It doesn’t always mean they’re good games, but there is something that draws me in from the moment I catch wind of the characters and story. I think it takes me back to my younger years when I digested a steady stream of B-grade movies filled with creatures and plenty of low brow humor. Haunticulture certainly fits that modus operandi.

Haunticulture presents itself almost like 2 separate games. One, a simple, yet cutthroat bidding & drafting game and the other an abstract, simultaneous tile placement endeavor. This creature with 2 heads proves to be stronger together than its individual parts as the pairing of these two mechanics produce a more engaging, creative experience.

No matter the time of year, it seems like there is a certain clique of gamers always looking for the next Halloween-themed game to add to their collection. Here comes Hauticulture to slide right into that space. It ticks nearly every notch on the Halloween belt with its all-star roster of werewolves, zombies, ghosts, vampires and more. You’ve got a haunted house, dangerous vegetation and moody surroundings. Fans of this genre aren’t going to have a problem here.

The question remains: Does Hauticulture make the most of its spooky setting and characters by actually creating a fun gaming experience?

I really think it does and here’s why:

I’m a fan of bidding games and I really enjoyed the grid-based bidding phase as you wrestle with your opponents to gather the most desirable garden tokens. You have to carefully manage your hand of cards to play the right values in the right places at the right time. It’s not rocket science, but bidding games get me because I have the opportunity to actually play my opponents (vs competing against the game). No matter what, each game is going to be a unique experience.

Hauticulture does a nice job of adding additional game-ified pieces by allowing you to upgrade your creature cards through the market. Each unique card in the market provides new ways to strategize, target your scoring objectives and create pain for your opponents. Additionally, purchasing these upgraded cards sends you to the back of the bidding line forcing you to potentially delay a critical bidding turn.

The second part of the game brings an abstract, garden-planting/organizing element to the game. I’m an art director in real life and my mind just works when it comes to efficiently processing shapes and patterns. The second phase of Haunticulture has you taking the tiles you drafted during the bidding phase and arranging them to meet a variety of scoring goals. Each unique tile has its own scoring goals and it’s up to you to not only decide what to pursue, but to drop them into your garden efficiently and with enough future planning and flexibility to accommodate the next round’s tiles. I love maximizing a limited amount of space. In a sense, it’s controlled chaos and I thrive there.

While neither of these puzzles will necessarily blow your mind, the pairing really feels good to me. It’s combining 2 fantastic gaming areas that are dear to me into 1 box and it just works.

I’ll be the first to admit it’s hard to be objective about Haunticulture. There’s a chance it’s not as tight as it should be or it doesn’t play as quickly as some would like. But it’s easy to overlook when the pairing of the theme and mechanics feels like it was made specifically for me. On top of that, the execution is solid. The production isn’t over the top and the play isn’t unnecessarily complex. All that to say is I think Hauticulture is a lot of fun. It’s super accessible and works well as a family-style game. There is plenty of variety in the card abilities and pattern objectives to keep your plays fresh. If you’re in the market for a fun and silly Halloween-style game, you should definitely check out Haunticulture.

Published by Zoracle Games
Designed by Zach Turner
2-4 Players  |  30-90 Minutes

By 846 A.D., the exploits of legendary viking, Ragnar Lodbrok had become world renowned. Upon his death, a feud broke out between the nordic clans as to who would take over the vacancy in leadership. The worthy heir is up to you as you take on the role of rune casters from competing clans. With the help of acolytes, each caster carries the spells to determine the fortune and future of their clan.

BloodRunes is a competitive, card-playing, puzzle game where players attempt to build patterns in an effort to achieve spell cards. Players will need to balance their hand by conjuring both offense and defensive spells if they hope to gain the necessary blood fortunes that will lead your clan to dominance. Are you worthy to take the mantle of kinship among the clans or is this a journey best left uncharted? Let’s take a look at Bloodrunes…

ON YOUR TURN

During a turn, players will work to manipulate the game’s central casting board to achieve personal objectives through a variety of actions. These objectives typically occur in the form of spell cards that can be achieved by playing runes on the central casting board to match specific patterns. This seems simple enough, but there are plenty of challenges you’ll face along the way including limited actions, rune needs and intrusive opponents.

Players begin the game with a handful of rune cards and a single spell card. Each player starts with 3 actions represented by acolytes on their personal board. These actions allow players to draw additional runes and spell cards from a central market. As the game progresses, more acolytes can be gained earning additional actions each turn.

In addition to drawing available runes and spell cards, actions you can choose on a turn are selecting or refreshing the rune and spell card market, playing a rune in one of the 5 spaces on the central board or playing an achieved spell card.

The spell cards are where you’re going to do the most damage. Each spell card requires a specific pattern to activate. This pattern will be 2 to 5 specific rune symbols. The catch is each pattern has a top, bottom, left and right and must be oriented in relation to which side of the board the player is sitting in that game. This means the board will look completely different to each competing player.

Spell cards can be both offense and defensive focused. Spell cards may allow you to steal both opponent acolytes and blood runes—protection cards (or ward cards) can be spun to protect you from individual players or the table as a whole. The more powerful the spell, the more challenging the pattern is to achieve. Players might also have a hex card that discards or steals another player’s active ward card.

The goal of the game is to gain 6 blood fortune. These can be gained by achieving certain spell cards or flat out stealing them from your opponents. It can get pretty nasty,  so you really have to read your opponents and determine what level of defense you need to partner with your offensive game to both protect your resources and pursue additional goals.

While achieving a spell card pattern directly relates to where you’re sitting at the table, many of the spell card actions defend or attack players at specific seats at the table as well. Careful planning and timing are critical to making the most of your hand.

COMPLEXITY

While there is a decent amount of strategic depth to BloodRunes, the learning curve isn’t steep and can be picked up quickly. The rules, cards and concepts of the game are fairly intuitive making the entire game very accessible. I was able to successfully teach both my 7 and 9 year old kids in about 10 minutes. There were a few questions throughout, but nothing (apart from their own indecisiveness) that really bogged down the flow of the game.

COMPONENTS AND ARTWORK

My review copy was a prototype and I’m assured there are still some things in flux. The final edition will contain a neoprene mat in place of the central casting board. Much of the artwork is temporary and the designer does promise a fairly portable box size. It’s difficult to judge the art and components since a fair amount will be changing.

I will say, based on what I had available, the symbolism is clear and successfully communicates most of what it needs to.

My primary criticism may be addressed on the final copy of the game, but I’d really like to see the theme more played up in the game’s graphic design. The designer and I have had conversations regarding this and I’m confident he’ll produce a final product that’s visually appealing.

Components as a whole are fine, but I do look forward to seeing the final product.

MY THOUGHTS

I really enjoyed the abstract puzzle BloodRunes brings to the table. I think there is a nice twist here on the standard set/pattern collection game and there is a TON of player interaction.

While the mechanics of the game are fairly straightforward, the strategy requires a good amount of planning and resolve to execute. This means the accessibility is there for more casual players, but the depth is in place to please more serious gamers.

There is a nice push and pull when it comes to drawing and playing cards throughout the game. While your spell cards are face up for all players to see, there is still an element of not wanting to “show your hand.” I found patience and planning to really pay off as you gather runes to meet patterns and seek to find the perfect time and order to play your spell cards. Of course, it’s easy to get distracted by a new spell or rune card that just surfaced. These can really derail your plans since you only have a limited number of actions per turn. It always felt like I was 1 or 2 actions short of accomplishing my goals each turn—which is a sign of a good game!

I think it’s fair to say BloodRunes is also a bit of a mean game. In fact, there is a bit of player paranoia floating around the board through the game. At any time, another player may steal a hard fought acolyte or blood rune from your collection. This requires players to carefully defend themselves as well as take advantage of opportunities to pillage another player’s stash. That might not be for everyone, but I really loved the aggressive interaction present in each play. Now you could play it straight and just target rune stones when they appear minus the interaction, but a) that’s not as fun and b) you’ll have a hard time winning the game against more aggressive players.

I mentioned the strategic depth and planning, but the game still brings plenty of uncertainty and luck. You’re often a bit at the mercy of the rune and spell deck cards available. I found myself on the wrong end of the spell deck a couple games. My opponents were able to upgrade their acolytes (additional turns) while I sat at only 3 actions for what felt like forever. This seems like an obvious advantage to my opponents, but while they were busy upgrading their actions, I was planning attacks and gaining valuable blood runes. It all balanced out later in the game and my lead didn’t last, but it does prove that the luck can potentially be strategically mitigated.

FINAL TAKE

Again, I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this one! I think it’s a satisfying, competitive puzzle that’s going to require patience and planning. When your careful planning pays off—it feels great. The game is super accessible, being quick to teach and quick to set up. Now It can be pretty nasty, so if you don’t like negative player interaction, this might not be for you. But, if you embrace that competitive spirit, there is plenty to reward you here.

The game length can vary quite a bit depending on the player’s style of play so you really do need to plan to play between the recommended 30-90 minutes.

Everyone who played BloodRunes really enjoyed the abstract puzzle and cutthroat race to the finish line. Fans of abstract puzzle games will appreciate the unique approach here. I LOVED that each player had to achieve their patterns from the perspective of their seat at the table. While it provided a little freedom knowing that someone couldn’t “steal” my pattern—they could play a rune on top of it or even use it for their own advantage. You just have to be constantly aware of your opponent’s spell cards and their objectives. You can easily end up helping an opponent while trying to help yourself.

I really hope fans of more strategic, abstract games will take a closer look at this one. I’m glad I did and I really enjoyed it.

Visit BloodRunes at: www.zachturner.me/bloodrunes

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

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

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

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

OVERVIEW

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

A TURN

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

SCALABILITY

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

SOLO PLAY

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

VARIABILITY

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

LENGTH OF GAME

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

COMPONENTS

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

EXPANSIONS

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

NEGATIVES?

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

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

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 9.3/10 

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.

Published by Stronghold Games
Designed by Sydney Engelstein, Jacob Fryxelius & Nick Little
Art by William Bricker, Garret Kaida, Nio Mendoza, Justine Nortje, Naomi Robinson & Andrei Stef
1-4 Players  |  45-60 Minutes

As one of a number of competing interplanetary corporations, your goal is to create a habitable (and profitable) environment on the planet Mars. Investing in programs that promote breathable oxygen, warmer temperatures and life-giving water will guarantee high returns as the terraforming process moves closer to completion. Do you have what it takes to win the race to establish your corporation as the most profitable in the pursuit to establish life on Mars or are you just a terraforming poser?

In Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition, players will corporately activate phases which will allow them to build new projects, take special actions, receive production and do additional research. Finding the right combination and balance to your projects is essential for your corporation’s efficiency in this engine building adventure.

ON YOUR TURN

Players begin the game by receiving an asymmetrical corporate identity which provides the player a starting credit/money total along with additional player-specific abilities and a handful of project cards.

The game takes place over a series of turns in which players individually choose to activate 1 of 5 unique phases. When activated, each phase allows ALL players to perform a specific action with the activator earning a bonus. If multiple players activate the same phase, they still only get to perform that phase’s action once each.

So what are these phases and what do they do? The phases dictate things like which project cards can be built or activated, which actions can be taken as well as resource production and research.

Terraforming Mars is an engine building card game which means every card played has the ability to benefit you on a later turn or provide added benefits (such as extra resources or discounted costs) when paired with a previously played card or series of cards.

There are 2 types of buildable cards in the game. The development cards (activated during the development phase) improve your resource production which in-turn, earns you resources during the production phase. Construction cards (activated during the construction phase) have the potential to earn you bonus actions and reoccurring benefits.

Performing the action phase allows players to activate any card with an action (gaining credits, resources, etc) as well as perform any of the game’s standard actions. These standard actions require players to trade resources in exchange for improving the oxygen level, planet temperature and establishing oceans. The pursuit of these 3 areas not only trigger end of game conditions, but also provide players higher terraforming ratings (which contribute to your credit production as well as points at the end of the game).

Players may also take the production phase which earns you money and resources based on your company’s current production totals or activate the research phase which gives you the ability to draw additional project cards.

Once the end of game requirements are triggered, players add up their victory points and a winner is declared.

PLAYER COUNT

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition plays 1-4 players. The solo mode gives you a limited number of turns to meet certain objectives, but the gameplay doesn’t really change. I actually really enjoy the solo mode here because it’s so easy to get into and there isn’t a ton of added upkeep to bog down your play.

I don’t really see too many differences in any of the player counts. More players leads to a slightly longer game, but since you’re encouraged to resolve each phase simultaneously, the turns go by pretty quickly for groups who know what they’re doing.

There’s also a co-op mode where 2 players play together, but again, the rules stay pretty similar.

This game seems to definitely maintain its integrity at any of the player counts.

COMPONENTS AND ARTWORK

I am reviewing the deluxe edition of the game so your copy may vary when it comes to components.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the components. The duel-layer production boards are nice. They hold your resource cubes nicely in place and there is enough room for everything you collect. While I appreciate the game board being smaller (which equals to the game box being smaller), it isn’t quite big enough for everything that goes on. The ocean tiles are easy to knock around because they’re in such close proximity and the tracks don’t really provide enough space for all the cube action. This hasn’t ruined my enjoyment of the game, but it is kind of annoying.

The cards all have a nice finish and feel great in your hands. There’s also 2 cube trays that are a lifesaver. Since you’re moving so many cubes around during the game it’s so nice to have these plastic trays to keep things organized. They also benefit a ton when it comes to setup and cleanup – huge bonus points!

The artwork is really good here. Each card features unique artwork and it’s all really well done. The graphic design throughout is ok, but it’s colorful and tech-y and it gets the job done.

Outside of the small-ish game board, my only complaint is that the red cards look pretty orange. Not a huge deal – but it did throw me off at first.

Finally, the rulebook is both good and bad. It definitely gets the job done and I appreciate that they clearly separated each individual phase. That being said, it’s a little half baked and I feel they could have cleaned it up just a tad to make it less wordy and more visually helpful.

MY THOUGHTS

I couldn’t be happier with Terraforming Mars: Area Expedition. I really love almost everything about this. I’ve avoided comparing this to the original board game up to this point, but some of my excitement exists in how well it compares to the original.

The gameplay is really quick and smooth here. Each round is triggered when players all simultaneously choose their phase—it’s really simple and clear. And then all players simultaneously resolve each phase together. In a game about efficiency, I love the efficiency built into the game’s process.

The strategy here is awesome! There are over 200 project cards in the deck, they’re all unique, and all clearly communicate its benefits in both icon and written form. I’m not sure if I’ve played every single one of them yet, but I just expected a couple to lead to some debate… has not happened. With so many cards, every game is going to require some variance to your strategy. Every one of my games has been dictated by that game’s unique card draw which means you have to stay on your toes. I LOVE how the cards interact. The engine-building aspect is done really well here. Master TM crafters are going to be able to chain cards together in really exciting and fun ways.

There is also a nice amount of depth to the gameplay. There is a lot of luck when drawing cards, but being able to make the most of the cards available and turn them into productive pieces of your corporation requires a good amount of finesse and can be really satisfying. Wise players should still be able to stay competitive even with the luck factor working against them by creating an engine that cycles a ton of cards through their hands.

If you’re looking for player interaction… you’re not going to find it here. This is essentially a solitaire experience where the only engagement depends on card requirements relating to global achievements (how many ocean tiles have been turned over, etc.). That hasn’t stopped me from enjoying it when playing with other players, but interaction in euro games doesn’t mean that much to me to begin with.

There are some minor production issues with the board, but I really like the size of this game. It’s compact and the storage seems to be really well thought out. So I’m willing to compromise on those minor issues to keep my nice, tight Terraforming Mars package.

FINAL TAKE

I’m a huge fan of this edition of Terraforming Mars. While it doesn’t do everything the original board game does—it does more than enough and even adds a fun element with the phase selection.

I have had some resistance to this strictly based on the theme. This is pretty hardcore sci-fi theme, but it’s done in a very logical, realistic way. I suppose the theme could turn you off, but the game play, for me, really transcends the theme.

I’ve never been a super fan of Terraforming Mars, but I’ve always enjoyed the game. With this new edition, the quick setup, accessibility and shorter game length makes this something that’s going to get regular time at the table. In fact, I’ll probably end up selling my old version of the game. Whether it’s in a group or solo, this is a game that hits a lot of the right notes for me. So if you’re looking for a deeper engine-builder that’s quick paced and think-y… I don’t really think you can go wrong with Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition.

Published by WizKids
Published by Stephen Avery & Eugene Bryant
2-6 Players  |  30 Minutes

Developed in 1964, the Kardashev Scale represents a method of measuring a civilizations technological and cultural advancement on a cosmic level based solely on the amount of energy they use.

Using this hypothetical approach as a backdrop, players will take on the role as individual cosmic civilizations competing to achieve the greatest technological achievements while progressing through 3 civ types (planetary, stellar and galactic). Players will take actions triggered by a Rochambeau mechanic (rock—paper—scissors). Earning resources, players will be able to upgrade their own set of cards in this interstellar, engine-building game.

Scythe + Invaders from Afar Expansion
Designed by Jamey Stegmaier | Art by Jakub Rozalski
Published by Stonemaier Games
1-5 Players  |  90-115 Minutes

After a the long war, there was an uneasy peace across Europa as eccentric new leaders, empowered by ungodly steam technology began to assert their influence across the land. What remained of the Scots, Clan Albion, entered the fray along with the Nordic Kingdoms of the North, whilst the Rusviet Union encroached upon the land from the East. However none of them could win the hearts of the people like the Crimean Khanate, who was serving the people as he blessed the farms, ending the famine that had wracked the continent after the war. But no one saw what was coming next…