Victory Conditions other than Victory Points (Topic Discussion)

Victory points (VP) are so common in modern board games, along with the condition that the player at the end of the game with the most VP is declared the winner. Sometimes it is called influence, sometimes just points or it may be money or some other resource or currency. But it is all essentially the same thing. So, we’re going to dive into some other fun and interesting ways that players can win a game, along with examples of each.

Six Greetings Card Games (Saturday Review)

Sending someone a letter seems to have become a thing of the past and sending people postcards is mostly restricted to when you've gone away on holiday - but it's been ages since many of us have done that. However, many of us love sharing games with others, so it would be amazing if you could send someone a card that's also a game and even add a little message. Well, that's exactly what Six Greetings Card Games by Ellie Dix from The Dark Imp does.

Dwellings of Eldervale (Saturday Review)

We were still trying to understand the special powers of the 8 elemental realms and how our dragon, wizard and warriors could take advantage of each and how we could impose our dominance over the other factions in this growing world. Each realm also had a giant monster that would wreak death and cause havoc amongst us, if we couldn't work out how to defeat it first or control it and steer it in our favour. We didn't have much time to build our Dwellings of Eldervale by Luke Laurie from Breaking Games.

Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right (Saturday Review)

It was quiet in the deep, dark wood. Everything was still and nothing stirred - but everyone was ready. The cats had taken up their position in every clearing, six birds were waiting patiently by their roost in one corner of the forest, the racoon had taken cover deep in the woods and the crows were biding their time in a handful of clearings of their choice. The moment was near. It was time to decide who was the best animal in the woodland, who was the Root by Cole Wehrle from Leder Games.

Biblios (Digital Eyes)

You were proud of your large library and your hard-working group of scribes was continually adding new tomes, with wonderfully decorative lettering and illustrations. However, you only had so much gold and the best scribes weren't cheap, but you had to somehow continue growing your collection of books to keep the bishop happy and outdo other abbots who were vying for influence. So you persevered and did what you could to have the most Biblios by Steve Finn from iello.

Dominant Species: Marine (Saturday Review)

Around sixty million years ago on Earth, dinosaurs reigned supreme on land, but at sea, a giant struggle was still unfolding. Creatures were slowly adapting to the changes in their watery habitat and hoping to be victors in this fight for survival. The threat of a giant meteor striking the Earth was increasing all the time, so it was a race to become the Dominant Species: Marine by Chad Jensen from GMT Games.

Board games for everyone (Topic Discussion)

Sometimes I get asked to recommend games for someone to play. As you can imagine, that's never easy and my first question tends to be what other games they have already played. If they're completely new to the hobby, I usually ask how many people they intend to play with, whether they're a competitive group, how long they're happy to play for. It's also sometimes good to find out what sort of films, TV shows or activities they like, because many board games have a setting that might fit. So, in this article, I want to give you a list of different types of games that I tend to suggest to people.

Dune: A Game of Conquest and Diplomacy (Digital Eyes)

Spice, the final frontier. These are the adventures of the Houses Atreides and Harkonnen and the Imperium their five-round mission to explore Arrakis, to seek out new territories and new Spice Blows, to boldly go where no Fremen has gone before. This is Dune: A Game of Conquest and Diplomacy by Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge, Peter Olotka, Greg Olotka and Jack Reda from Gale Force Nine.

Colt Express (Saturday Review)

It's the 11th of July in the year of our Lord 1899. At 10am Mountain Daylight Time, the Union Pacific Express departed Folsom in Union County, New Mexico as scheduled, but only a few minutes after leaving the village's last buildings behind, heavily armed bandits started robbing the 47 passengers, taking purses and jewellery. A short while later, gunshots could be heard and some of the bandits had climbed onto the roof of the train. It was feared that Marshal Samuel Ford, who was protecting the Nice Valley Coal Company's weekly pay, was being attacked. The whole incident went down in history as the "Attack of the Colt Express" by Christophe Raimbault from Ludonaute.

Top 5 Board Games of 2021 (Saturday Review)

Yes, it's the time of year again where I list the 5 board games that I think were the best in 2021. The games don't necessarily have to have been published this year, but as long as I have played them in 2021, they qualify to appear on this list. Of course, as is now custom on the Tabletop Games Blog, the #1 game will receive the exclusive and prestigious Top Table Award. I know you're already at the edge of your seat to find out who got the coveted trophy, but let me list the top 5 board games of 2021 in reverse order, to raise the excitement even further and make you wait a little bit longer.