Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile (Takebacks)

Having played Oath by Leder Games a few more times since my review, I felt it was time to share with you what I have learned since and to see if my view of the game has changed in any way, which is why this article is under the Takebacks heading. There is a lot of ground to cover and for me to put the cards on the table so let's begin.

Divisions (Topic Discussion)

The board game community continues to work towards inclusivity, representation and diversity, which is great to see, but of course, the road is rocky and we're still a long way away from where we should be. It is important we continue to call out bad behaviour and it is great to see more people and companies are prepared to own up to their mistakes and genuinely try to do better. In this article, I want to look at a related question: whether it is better to look for commonalities or differences, not just in respect to calling out bad behaviour, but also more in general.

Pilfering Pandas (Saturday Review)

Things had gone missing - food, to be precise. Someone was taking bits of food here and there and stashing it away somewhere, hiding it from the eyes of everyone, especially the keepers. It quickly became clear that it wasn't any of the visitors to the zoo, but one of the animals - or a group of animals. The meerkats were acting suspiciously as well and were clearly involved. However, as security camera footage was closely monitored over the coming days, it came as a shock that the zoo had a group of Pilfering Pandas by Wren Games.

Fort (Saturday Review)

My two best friends were here and we decided to go out into the yard and see who else was about. Chef and Prince were hanging around the street at the back of the house, while Smoke and Doc were playing tag. Blitz and Sweet Pea were up the ash tree in the neighbour's garden. It was a motley crew, but we usually got up to some fun. Suddenly I had an idea. It would be cool if we had a little competition with all the other kids in the neighbourhood and see who could build the biggest and strongest Fort by Leder Games.

The King is Dead (2nd Edition) (Digital Eyes)

The country was divided again. The Scottish were biding their time in the North, the Welsh were ready to pounce from the West, while the English tried to show some sort of semblance of the controlling power in the rest of the British Isles. At the same time, foreign countries were keeping a keen eye on the developing situation, ready to take advantage of the chaos that was about to ensue. It was up to us to marshal our troops and exert our influence, trying to ensure that the resulting dominant power that would eventually claim the throne was in our favour - and all of this only happened, because The King is Dead by Osprey Games.

Love Letter (Saturday Review)

I had to get my message to the Princess. It was vitally important that she would hear this, but I had to be extremely careful. Many people were plotting against her, and against me, so nobody could be trusted. I had to try and get past the guards, the handmaiden and others to reach her. My heart was beating in my throat and my emotions were welling up. I tried to keep it together, because I was so close to delivering to her my Love Letter by Z-Man Games.

Stasi Raus, Es Ist Aus! (Saturday Review)

The crowds were gathering outside, asking difficult questions, asking to be let in, not sure if we still had any control over them - but we fobbed them off with excuses, sent them to a different office and generally put up a smokescreen. We hadn't finished our final project yet. There was so much left to do, so much evidence to destroy or get out of the back door. We didn't know how much time we might have left, when we finally heard the chanting outside: "Stasi raus, es ist aus!" by DDR Museum.

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine (Saturday Review)

Space, the final frontier. We're on a 50 mission journey to find a new planet in our solar system. We have to work together to seek out new theories, new experiments and new proof. It's no trick and we have to boldly go, where no scientist has gone before. These are the adventures of The Crew by Kosmos.

Doom Machine (Digital Eyes)

I was ready. It seemed like an impossible task, but I was mankind's only hope. I had to do what I could and fight my way through the ever-increasing number of machine parts, which were making the machine stronger and bring it closer to sentience. It was a matter of taking it one machine part at a time until I reached the core and was finally able to put an end to the Doom Machine by Nathan Meunier.

Seasons of Rice (Saturday Review)

The seasons began again. We had to build our rice paddies, fill them with water, plough them with our buffalos, plant our rice and wait for it to grow. We had to be clever about how we divided the land to make the best use of the most fertile soil. We also had to have enough help to get the harvest in, but overall, we had to be patient and wait for the end of the Seasons of Rice by Button Shy.