It’s no secret that I have a serious distaste for dice getting in the way of my strategic decisions. Whenever the success or failure of my plans is reduced to the outcome of a roll, some part of me just turns away. I’m also not wild about my actions in a given turn being dictated by what numbers have been randomly produced. On the surface, Stefan Feld’s The Castles of Burgundy would appear to fall into the latter category, as the roll of a pair of dice has great sway over every turn. READ MORE
As much as I love the sci-fi noir game Android, it unfortunately requires a lot of effort to play due to space and time commitments, and as a result I don’t get to experience it as often as I would like. Fortunately, the people at Fantasy Flight Games seem to enjoy the universe they have created as well. They have already published two novels set in and around New Angeles, the Heinlein Moon Colony and the Beanstalk that connects them, with more on the way.
But while I enjoy a good book, I was even more excited to hear of two new games being set in the Android universe coming out this year. The first, Infiltration, was just released. (The second is going to seriously threaten Sentinels of the Multiverse when it comes time to rank my favorites for my year-end column, but that will have to wait a couple more months.) READ MORE
While I appreciate most of the strategic offerings of modern boardgames, I always have a soft spot for the ones that fall under the “abstract strategy” umbrella. The closer I can get to two players going head-to-head, matching wits in a game with incredibly simple rules but forcing each other to think two or three moves in advance, the happier I tend to be. Chess is of course the king of the genre, but there are less intimidating choices out there if you and a partner are just looking to give your brain a workout. Some of the best in recent memory are those in the “Project GIPF” (sometimes “GIPF Project”) series by Kris Burm. I’ll be discussing two of those titles here: the ring-moving YINSH and the marble-capturing ZÈRTZ. READ MORE
Cyclades was one of my favorite new games in 2010, but it has not made it to the gaming table too often since then for various reasons. Perhaps the mix of expansion modules contained within Cyclades: Hades can bring it back a little more often? Three new additions and one optional rules modification flesh out the mythology of the game. Players can use as many of these as they wish, perhaps adding one at a time to get used to them, although adding everything is probably the way to go. READ MORE
Wizards of the Coast (a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999) is best known for their collectible card game phenomenon Magic: the Gathering, now approaching its 20th anniversary, but they are also the current publishers of the nearly 40-year-old Dungeons & Dragons RPG (since WotC purchased TSR in 1997). In the past, they have branched off into more traditional board games, previously under their Avalon Hill brand name (such as RoboRally, Vegas Showdown and others), although that brand has been essentially retired for some time now. READ MORE
