Tag: Competitive Games

Etiquette (Topic Discussion)

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When you have a long-standing, regular games group, you will probably have already established certain "house rules" that define what's considered good behaviour at the table. Chances are many of them are actually unwritten rules that have just come out over time and are based on the types of people you play with. In this article, I want to try and talk about a few of these rules that are probably generally useful to have at games night, whether this is with a long-established group or people you've just met.

Cryptid: Urban Legends (Saturday Review)

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There is something hiding in the city. I'm sure of it. I keep finding clues and my detectors are picking up very strange signals - but I need proof! Hard facts that I can present to the science community to make them believe that I have found a Cryptid: Urban Legends by Hal Duncan and Ruth Veevers from Osprey Games.

A game about quickly grabbing creatures that are totally different & counting your beetroots (Saturday Review)

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Shuffle your deck of creature and vegetable cards, put the pile facedown on the table and spread the cards out, so everyone can reach them and after explaining a handful of rules, you're ready to play A game about quickly grabbing creatures that are totally different & counting your beetroots by Andrew Beardsley and Behrooz Shahriari from Stuff By Bez.

The final round (Topic Discussion)

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I don't know if you've ever come across it, but the final round, or sometimes the final few rounds, of a game often feel different to the rest of the game. There is the common term "end game" and the concept of an "end game trigger" in modern board games, so there is a relatively clear distinction between how a game finishes and the rest of the game. In this article, I want to discuss how games feel different as they come to their conclusion and what different types of "end game" formats there are.

Condottiere (Saturday Review)

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The city-states of Venice, Florence and Genoa and their economy were doing extremely well. However, their military strength was extremely lacking not only in size, but also in experience and conviction. It was clear that strong soldiers with real battle experience were needed. So when the English soldiers returned from the Crusades, they were welcomed with open arms. Finally, the city-states would be able to extend their reach and influence, thanks to the wonderful Condottiere by Dominique Ehrhard, Duccio Vitale and Justin Kemppainen from Z-Man Games.

Victory Conditions other than Victory Points (Topic Discussion)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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.