In my third article about teaching games , I want to talk about light games. The advantage of these games is, that they are easy to teach and quick to learn - and often also quick to play. So, this article should be rather short, but as we know, the easier something is, the better you have to execute it and given that lighter games are usually the sort of games new people to the hobby will come in contact with first, we need to do a good job teaching these types of games or we may miss a chance ...
Dec 21, 2021•6 min
Most of us will have a lot of spare time over the holidays and if we have board game enthusiasts among the family, this is the perfect time to set up and play some heavy games. We might also have more time to meet up with our games group and again, now is the time to get those heavy games to the table that we might not feel like playing of an evening after a busy day at work. So, here are 5 heavy board games I think you should play over the holidays. Read the full review here: https://tabletopga...
Dec 18, 2021•12 min
Continuing in my series of articles about how to teach games to others, I want to talk about maybe the best approach - and that is getting your games group to learn a game together. After all, for many of us, playing board games is a social activity and at the very least, it's a hobby we share. So it makes sense to also share the burden of teaching, or rather learning, how to play a new game. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/12/14/teaching-games-learning-together-to...
Dec 14, 2021•7 min
Continuing with my list of 5 board games for Christmas, this week I talk about medium weight games. These games are for those days over the holidays, when the weather is horrible outside and you want to be inside, all cozy and warm, maybe with a mug of hot chocolate and spend around an hour playing a board game with either your immediate family and/or with friends. The games on this list will take a little longer to teach and learn and playing time will be around the 1 hour mark, maybe a little ...
Dec 11, 2021•12 min
Teaching someone the rules to a board game is never easy. I wouldn't say I'm an expert when it comes to teaching, but over time I've learned a few things that have helped me to become a better teacher. I found that different types of games require different types of teaching. So I thought I'd share with you what I've learned so far and maybe you pick up some ideas that help you with teaching new games to people. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/12/07/teaching-games-...
Dec 07, 2021•6 min
Yes, Christmas is just around the corner, so it's time for me to put together lists of games you might want to get out over the holidays and play. I thought I'd start with a list of five games that you can play with all the family. These games are easy to teach and learn and quite quick to play. Most of them can be played up to four players, so if you have a large family gathering, you might need to split into smaller groups. I hope you find this list useful. Read the full review here: https://t...
Dec 04, 2021•11 min
There are so-called "race" games, where the first player to fulfil certain winning conditions takes the victory and the game ends immediately. These games differ from other games where you play so many rounds and whoever has the most points at the end wins. Most race games are highly competitive and it's every player for themselves, but in some of these types of games, the situation is a bit more complicated. In this article, I want to look at race games where positive player interaction is a th...
Nov 30, 2021•7 min
As the Chancellor, I had the people on my side. The Empire was going to thrive and grow and be beautiful. Yet, there were rumours of Exiles stirring in the Provinces and Hinterland, trying their best to claw back control. They were two visionaries, one stomping through the regions, using brute force to exert their influence and letting the wolves lose on anyone who would get in their way, while the other was biding their time in the Salt Flats , enlisting the help of witches and unnatural powers...
Nov 27, 2021•8 min
I think something that many of us in the hobby feel very bad about, are the many board games that are set against historic events, but that make no attempt to respectfully represent what happened and often sweep under the carpet the atrocities that were committed during the time that the games are set. So it's very refreshing to see people come together to create an award that tries to redress the situation and encourages the creation of historical games designed by people from marginalized grou...
Nov 23, 2021•8 min
Takahama was dying. We were tending to him and tried to make him as comfortable as possible. The windows were wide open and a warm breeze filled the room. Takahama was muttering about how he was too ill to visit his love Akiko 's grave and how she would miss the white rose he brought her every day. We told him that he would visit again as soon as he was better, when suddenly, a pure white butterfly flew in through one of the windows and landed on his pillow. We tried to shoo it away, but to no a...
Nov 20, 2021•6 min
Someone once said that board games are basically just a framework to arbitrate a victor. Even though that sounds quite cold, at its heart, it describes how many of us, especially competitive players, feel about board games. There needs to be someone at the end of the game who has won. The emphasis here is on the singular victor rather than winning as a team. In this article, I want to look at what it means not to have a single victor. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/202...
Nov 16, 2021•7 min
There was darkness everywhere. The surface of the Earth was empty and cold. There was no noise, nothing stirred or moved. It was an arid place, void of everything - a blank canvas - but you would change all that. You would command the energies of the Earth and mould lifeless piles of mud into creatures that would populate the world. It was the time of the Golems by ThunderGryph Games . Read the full review here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/11/13/golems-saturday-review/ Links Golems : http...
Nov 13, 2021•7 min
Learning a new game, playing it for the first time, probably with a few rules mistakes, then playing it again, now with a better understanding of how the game works, then playing it once more, after having formulated a rough strategy and feeling you know what the game wants from you is a lot of fun. We've all experienced this, I'm sure, but there is another level to playing games that only becomes apparent after several plays. It is what is often called the "meta" of a game. Read the full articl...
Nov 09, 2021•8 min
"Bubble, bubble, my lovely potions," you cackle gleefully as you carefully stir more solvents into the vial that's slowly being heated over the Bunsen burner. The library you're working in is full of old, musty smelling books full of alchemic knowledge, carefully annotated and added to by the many generations of scientists who have come before you. You can't stop now. You're so close. The light is fading but your candles still provide enough light. Then you hear the familiar voice of your housek...
Nov 06, 2021•9 min
With a climate catastrophe looming on the horizon, more and more people do what they can to try and turn things around or at least do their bit to slowly steer things in the right direction. The board game hobby is no different. More and more games now not only try and raise awareness of environmental issues, but the games themselves strive to be more environmentally friendly or even carbon-neutral. In this article, I want to highlight a handful of projects that do what they can to help the plan...
Nov 02, 2021•9 min
"Hands up! Give me all your money!" you shout at the passengers on this express steam train to Colt City as you wave your revolver from side to side. You're in for a big haul and already imagine how you're going to spend all this money and how you're going to pawn the jewellery and become rich - but you hadn't expected the marshall being on board, as well as other bandits going from coach to coach trying their luck at getting rich quick at the same time as you. Your carefully planned heist seeme...
Oct 30, 2021•8 min
We're used to seeing epic movie-style trailers for video games. They feel like million-pound productions that were directed by a famous Hollywood director with a cast of blockbuster actors. Of course, these are all animated sequences, often showing in-game footage, which makes sense, because modern 3D video games look very realistic and are often set in an epic conflict of some sort. Board games are a bit different though, but because CGI and 3D animation have become so highly accessible these d...
Oct 26, 2021•5 min
The Moon was big enough for all of us, but of course, we were still competing like any other business would. We had to invest a fair amount, 3 credits, to build new modules and expand our base. We needed to make sure everything was connected up correctly and functioning as expected. If we succeeded and outdid our competitors, we would be the first to either get 10 colonists safely homed, make 5 different scientific discoveries or gain a profit of at least 20 credits from our Lunar Base by Joosep...
Oct 23, 2021•7 min
Maybe you're reading this now, because you saw the title of the article and wondered what it meant. Maybe you clicked on the link, because you disagree with my statement about the effectiveness of clickbait and have come here to put me right. Maybe you've come here because you do agree with me and want to back me up. Whatever the reasons, in this article, I want to talk about the effectiveness of using clickbait titles to get views. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/...
Oct 19, 2021•7 min
We had been on this planet for decades now, exploring its riches, mining for crystals and ore, building factories, markets and other public buildings, growing our pool of experts and increasing our commerce. Now it was time for the steam guilds to move to another section of the amazing planet Tharos by Spielworxx . Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/10/16/tharos-saturday-review/ Links Tharos : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tribune/tharos Spielworxx : https://ww...
Oct 16, 2021•11 min
Once you've been delving into the board game hobby for a while, you discover there is more to it than just the games themselves. There is a whole swathe of board game accessories that lures you deeper into the rabbit warren of our wonderful and amazing hobby. In this article, I want to look at some options and give you an idea of what you can add to your collection to make your gameplay experience even more exhilarating. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/10/12/bits-a...
Oct 12, 2021•8 min
Humans were close to becoming extinct. No, this wasn't some sort of natural disaster. It was what many films had predicted. An artificial intelligence had seized power and started to manufacture parts that it added to itself. The longer we waited, the bigger this monstrosity grew and the more powerful it became. If we did nothing, it would eventually become our Doom Machine by Nathan Meunier. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/10/09/doom-machine-takebacks/ Links Doom ...
Oct 09, 2021•7 min
I think it's always worth reminding yourself of what you have in your life. It gives you an opportunity to appreciate the people, connections, things and everything else around you. It's so easy to go through the day and take everything for granted. So, maybe this article is a bit of a fluff piece, but I still want to share with you what it is that I appreciate in my life and maybe it reminds you of what you have in yours - and if you're happy to, please share those things in the comments below....
Oct 05, 2021•7 min
Our spaceship had safely landed on Mars and it didn't take too long to convert it into our base station. A few other corporations had done the same and we could just about see them in the distance. There was even an embassy station that was there to try and keep the peace. However, we were quite some way off thinking about politics. All of our energy was spent mining resources so we could build tunnels and other buildings to grow our settlement and increase our population. It would take a long t...
Oct 02, 2021•7 min
For many of us, me included, playing board games is about escaping from the day-to-day worries, thoughts and general dross and give us an hour or two, maybe more, to think about something else, to occupy ourselves and to have fun with friends, old and new, family or alone. We don't want to think about the horrors going on in the world. We don't want to worry about politics. That's fine and that's what board games can help us achieve. However, the hobby itself isn't apolitical and we do need to c...
Sep 28, 2021•7 min
Being halfway up the mountain, in bad weather, the time when we were still acclimatizing at base camp felt like an eternity ago. I knew that "Squiggle" was ahead of me and had erected their tent, but I had to save mine for nearer the top, where we needed the shelter more urgently. I could only imagine the relative comfort my fellow climber was in, while I was hunkered down behind a small collection of rocks to take the brunt of the storm. I kept thinking how dangerous it was, but I also kept rem...
Sep 25, 2021•8 min
Over the years, I've played many games where you produce and have to manage resources of one kind or another. These can range from traditional things such as coal and ore or wheat and sheep to money, gems, energy or similar. Different games represent resources differently, so in this article, I want to look at what you might come across when you play a resource management game. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/09/21/resourceful-components-topic-discussion/ Links Set...
Sep 21, 2021•8 min
The bazaar was busy. Traders were displaying their colourful wares on their rickety stalls, shouting into the crowd how they offered the best prices and the best quality. It was mesmerizing to watch, but I had to focus and make sure I found the goods I needed to exchange for rubies. If I could get five rubies before everyone else, then I would be the best trader in Istanbul: The Dice Game by Alderac Entertainment Group. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/09/18/istanbu...
Sep 18, 2021•5 min
Card drafting, and other forms of drafting, can be found in a large number of games and takes many different forms. In this article, I want to describe drafting in more detail and look at the benefits and disadvantages this board game mechanism offers. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/09/14/breezy-drafts-topic-discussion/ Links Near and Far: Amber Mines review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2019/09/21/near-and-far-amber-mines-saturday-review/ Terraforming Mars revie...
Sep 14, 2021•7 min
Being a city planner isn't easy. You need to balance out the needs of your citizens for green spaces, living accommodation as well as offices and industry. You also have to ensure the infrastructure allows everyone to get around easily, without taking over. With that in mind, we went ahead to collaborate on the design of Sprawlopolis by Button Shy. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2021/09/11/sprawlopolis-saturday-review/ Links Sprawlopolis : https://buttonshygames.com/pr...
Sep 11, 2021•5 min
