A quick, lite version of a combat based football game. Movement and possesion of the ball are handled using various dice. Each team has a wide variety of players that they use to try and drive the football into the opponents endzone to score. Some are fast running, fumble prone darts while others are slow moving, football gripping tanks with a few hard hitting lineman thrown in to help you bulldoze your way to victory.

The first half starts you out with a full roster, but this game is rough. By the time the second half rolls around you could be fielding a much smaller team as some of your players, will more than likely, have been seriously injured by now and unable to take to the field.

The turns are quick, the strategies you use will be greatly affected by luck and the overall feel that you are playing a game of football is a little light. But is it fun? In a word… Yes.

A tactical card game with an Arthurian theme that really works! This gorgeous game is a nail biter right to the very end. I have only gotten the chance to play this as a two player game, so my opinion may be skewed somewhat.

It seems as though sword and sorcery themed card games are a dime a dozen these days. So when I initially bought this one a few years back, I looked at the cover art, read the back of the box and nonchalantly tossed it into the cavernous maw of what I like to call “my games library”.  I then promptly forgot about it. Then one day, my wife decided to relocate my collection to a more advantageous location… in other words, I lost my closet. and while I love my new location, what I love even more is that it brought to my attention, the plethora of shrink wrapped games that were gathering dust in the far flung corners of said “games library”.

So I tear off the shrink wrap and shuffle a few decks while my wife reads the instructions aloud.  Within a few minutes I am immersed into the world of Merlin, Morgan and Arthur and half a minute later I realized what a monumental mistake I had made by ignoring this one. The game play is clean, engaging, strategic and down right fun. Overall, you are competing for victory points. These are represented by events that take place in one of three basic locations; Camelot, Cornwall and the Perilous Forest. I say “basic” because with the advanced rules, a few more come into play. These events are won by assembling a company of Knights. Each with his own strength and weaknesses which are measured using 6 traits; Combat, Diplomacy, Adventure, Cunning, Chivalry and Psyche.  If you meet the requirements of a challenge, you get to claim it, thus garnering you the much needed victory points and usually, something else, like trait bonuses, extra cards, etc.

Earlier I made the claim that this game was a nail biter… and it is.  Each game came down to a slim victory by 1 or 2 victory points. Up until the final turn, it was anyones game, and that (in my opinion) is cause for celebration. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who loves Arthurian lore or tactical game play.

Complexity: 3             Strategy: 5             Luck: 3             Overall: 4

With the plethora of pirate themed games that seem to be popping up all over the place. It’s rare to find one that is truly unique and fun. Well look no further.

The theme of Skallywaggs is pretty much secondary to it’s wonderful game mechanics. This game could have easily been done using aliens, cowboys or lawyers. I for one am glad they went with pirates as the artwork is first rate and the text is quite amusing at times.

The simple mechanic of doing as many things as you can per turn really sets this one apart. While tactical planning of future turns is still needed, the ability to take multiple actions really lets the creative juices flow.

Overall, your goal is to create a set number of sea-worthy pirates and “set sail” before your opponents do the same. Each pirate is made up of three matched cards (head, body, & legs), but you can play mismatched cards to create pirates as well, and believe it or not, this is a necessary strategy if you hope to win the game.

While on the surface it may seem like there would be a lot of dead time, as you watch your opponent play card after card, there are quite a few things that you can do to harass, delay and outright screw them.

So, if your looking for a great pirate themed card game, then this is the one. Beware of one thing though… depending on how cutthroat your opponents are, the game can take a while.

Complexity: 4             Strategy: 5             Luck: 3             Overall: 4

Do not let the childish theme of Landlock lull you into thinking that this is just a children’s game.  While the rules are simple enough for an 8 year old to master, the strategy that comes into play will keep any adult on his or her toes.

By placing one tile per turn you score various amounts of points by doing such things as, land locking or water locking your opponent, matching up gnomes, placing creatures and running a continuous path (either land or water) to each of the four sides. Sounds simple enough and it would be, if they hadn’t added a few bridges into the draw pile.

The game is made up of tiles that are placed during the course of a game to form a 6 by 6 grid.  Every tile will have portions of two paths, a land path and a waterway.  In addition to this, there may also be a happy little creature, a gnome or a bridge.  The creatures will garner you a few extra points as soon as there placed, the gnomes as well (if they are facing each other) while the bridge will either play havoc with your strategy or give you a needed break.

Game play is fast, you can play an entire game in less than 15 minutes.  The components are sturdy and colorful.  The artwork is cute and vibrant.

As I said earlier, younger kids can master the rules pretty quickly.  The strategy of playing the tiles will come a little bit slower.  The tactical aspect of the game will really shine when bridges and gnomes start appearing.  You see, bridges not only break up boundaries by replacing an already played tile, they also let you move the tile you just replaced.  This opens up a whole new part of the game, where one shift on the board can send the most well placed strategy back to the drawing board.  There is also the often overlooked ability to set the parameters of the end game scoring with a strategic placement of the 6th tile horizontally and vertically. This in and of itself can give a player a nice advantage if done early in the game.  I won’t go into too much detail here, but it’s there, just look for it.

Overall, this is a good, light, 2 player game that can be picked up  quite easily. Kids will love it for the theme while adults will find its  tactical aspects fulfilling.

Complexity: 1             Strategy: 2             Luck: 4             Overall: 3

Tried this out last night. Not bad, but nothing innovative here. Game play is simple and straight forward.

The game components are sturdy and exactly what you have come to expect from a Eurogame with the exception of the 20 sided die, which looked like a photocopy of a fax of a bad drawing that someone spilled coffee on.  In other words, if they could have found a cheaper die, it more than likely would have only had 19 sides.

Rules are simple; each turn you do one of three things.  You either roll a die to build houses (up to 3 times), build canals or dig a well. Wells and canals are important as only those houses with water will be scored at the end.

With only two players it quickly became a race of who could drop the biggest houses and most canals the fastest. Which, I guess, is this overall objective of the game itself, it just felt a bit rushed with only two players. Placing wells far enough apart (a minimum of 5 junctures) was pretty easy too, as there was plenty of room on the board. In the end though, there were too many empty lots left and too many unplaced single houses. The next time I try this I will have to try breaking up the fields with a few mountains.

Overall, it is decent as a two player game but I think this is one of those times where you could technically play with as few as two people, but it seriously impacts the enjoyment of the game..

Complexity: 1             Strategy: 2             Luck: 4             Overall: 3

The wife and I just got done with a few rounds of Carcassonne followed by a few hands of Lost Cities.  Wow!  The graphics are almost as good as the originals, the game play is flawless and the price is outstanding!  (That means free.)  However, there is a downside.  If your not fluent in German, navigation can be diificult.  They do have an English front end, but once your in, its all Deutsch.  Luckily, the Boardgamegeek site has plenty of helpful articles.  While this does not replace or even come near to the fun I get from playing face to face… It’ll do in a pinch.

Icehouse is not only a game, but it’s also a game piece. Let me explain further. Icehouse pieces are more akin to a standard deck of playing cards or a standard 6 sided die.

Currently, there are hundreds of different games that can be played with these pieces. Some games must be purchased, like Treehouse, (and occasionally come with the required pieces) while others are fully free to print and play (these will never come with the pieces). Trust me… someone was going to ask.

There are a few things, every house should have when it comes to a games closet. One is a standard (poker) deck of cards another is five 6 sided dice,and finally, at least 5 sets of Icehouse pieces. BTW a set consists of 3 cones of differing sizes and the same color. Currently, Looney Labs, has 11 different colors. Ten of the colors are regular playing pieces and one color is a special ‘volcano cap’ piece used in a few of the games.

Seeing as I can’t really rate a game piece, I mean… how strategic is a 2 of clubs? I will rate a game I played with them instead.

The basis of Martian Coasters is that you want to move all of your pieces through a maze and onto the center of your own coaster. Unfortunately, your opponents can mess with you by re-orienting the coasters to create an ever shifting maze. Thats about it really. It’s very simple and deceptively fun.

Complexity: 1         Strategy: 5         Luck: 2         Overall: 4

Don’t let the name fool you. This is not a die hard, grognard title like Civilizations or Axis & Allies. The focus on this game is more in asset management than killing your opponents people. Although, there is some of that involved.

One of the best things about this game is its multiple paths to winning. You can go with the militaristic view of kill and conquer or try the more commercial strategy of acquiring resources and money… then again, maybe you want to flood the new world with religion. Of course, nothing stops you from using multiple strategies during the game and to be quite honest… you should. While the price point of this game is a little hefty, you get what you pay for. A beautiful board, top notch playing pieces and a fun filled hour and a half.

I’d like to thank Tim for bringing this over last gameday. I had a blast playing it. I’m just glad nobody caught onto my ‘lose by 20 points’ strategy and tried to thwart me during the third age.

Complexity: 3             Strategy: 5             Luck: 1             Overall: 4

We played this while waiting for the others to arrive last Gameday. First impressions: It’s fast, it keeps you on your feet and I like it . This ‘press your luck’ game will keep you wanting to see ‘just one more card’.

The basic idea of the game is that each player takes on the part of an intrepid, yet not very brave, explorer. As you explore the Incan temple, you will uncover hidden dangers and ancient treasures. But the game does not end there. In order to keep your new found wealth, you must decide each turn whether or not you should abandon your piers and high tail it back to camp to stow away what you’ve found or to look down one more corridor and continue deeper into the ruins. Only treasure that you leave with counts towards winning. Anything that is dropped while you flee is lost forever and that is the heart of the game. Push on to more treasure, or take what you have before you are forced to run away in terror.

Complexity: 1         Strategy: 3         Luck: 5         Overall: 4

The wife and I have been playing this one a lot lately. As a 2 player strategy game I can think of few that play as well as this one does. The game art is first rate, the pieces are solid and the mechanics are quite enjoyable.

You and your ‘opponent’ are lost in an unknown sector of space. Luckily for you, most of the natives are quite friendly. Each player has a starship and you set forth into this newfound piece of sky with the intention of spreading goodwill, shooting down a few bad guys and establishing a few colonies and trade posts. I use the word opponent in quotes because your not openly hostile towards each other. Your just competing over the limited number of resources available. These resources range from food and fuel to livable planets.

Starship Catan is a great 2 player strategy game. I highly recommend you get a copy.

Complexity: 2         Strategy: 4         Luck: 3         Overall: 4