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We're now in 2026 and and the blogging backlog has only gotten bigger! It's time to look back at last year. 2025 was a slightly quieter year when compared to '24 - which is understandable as for the last 6 weeks of the year I was preoccupied with other issues. 2025 Number of different games played: 156. Of which were new (To me.): 59. Total number of gaming sessions: 634. 2024 Number of different games played: 178. Of which were new (To me.): 78. Total number of gaming sessions: 704. Top 5 games for 2025 were:
For a 2nd year, Tranquility got the most sessions - although it is down from the heady heights of 50 from last year! Railroad Ink gets 2nd as it did last year. With 33 sessions, it too is down, albeit slightly from last year - as is all the top 5. New into the top 5 at 3rd place this year is Super Mega Lucky Box, a quick playing bingo inspired card game. Now it's time for the much anticipated, highly regarded 3 Spellcasters & Dwarf Game Awards. The awards everyone talks about.... or not!
Game of the year: Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-taking Game A few years ago, I gave The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, another trick-taking card game the game of the year award. Mechanically, Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game shares a lot with that game, so it felt like a bit of cop out to also award it game of the year. However the theme in Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is so much stronger than The Crew and I'm a sucker for Lord of the Rings themed games. I really enjoyed this one and look forward playing The Two Towers: Trick-Taking Game this year which has only recently been released. Surprise of the Year: Prey Another Day This simple card game employs an elegant mechanic whereupon a card's gameplay usefulness is diametrically opposed to it's scoring point value. It's also very much a game of playing the other players than playing the game. Honourable mention: Lacuna Usually I'm a bit weary of 2-player games where opponents go directly head-to-head but Lacuna presents this in such a pleasant way with an engaging core mechanic and excellent yet almost minimalistic components that it can't help but be charming. Other honourable mention: Fighting Fantasy Adventures Another licensed cooperative fantasy game! This time one that harks back to the 80's and the classic Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. Fighting Fantasy Adventures swaps out the 400 chapters of a gamebooks for card-driven gameplay with 2 decks of cards instead. Whilst perhaps a touch finicky, Fighting Fantasy Adventures does a great job of emulating the feel of its source material.
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2024 is over and my blogging backlog has not decreased. 2024 was a big in terms of playing board games - more games were played if my counting is correct. 2024 Number of different games played: 178. Of which were new (To me.): 78. Total number of gaming sessions: 704. Compared to '23 2023 Number of different games played: 158. Of which were new (To me.): 77. Total number of gaming sessions: 577. The number of games played were up by 20 which is nearly 2 a month. New games to me were 78 which interestingly is almost identical to '23. Sessions though, is up by nearly 130! This is quite a lot, it means nearly 5 extra game sessions occurred every week! How did that happen? The top 5 games I played in 2024 were:
50 sessions of Tranquility, nearly once a week! It's easy to understand why; Tranquility is a pleasant, slightly undemanding cooperative experience that we frequently play as a palate cleanser after something more high-intensity. We tend to win Tranquility when we play it but occasionally, it throws a curve ball! Just one remains popular with us, it's joined by Splendor and somewhat surprisingly (Considering it's disliked by 'someone' we play it with!) by Railroad Ink. The list is rounded off by Can't Stop, Roll'n Bump & Sushi Go!, all perennial favourites that are played as fillers or enders. OK, now on to what's really important - The 'industry defining' 'prestigious' 3 Spellcasters and a Dwarf annual gaming awards.
Game of the year: Daybreak Sometimes a game comes along that immediately announces its quality and in this instance it's Daybreak, a game about saving the environment. From the packaging and components, to mechanics and theme and even small details like putting QR codes on cards to provide extra info, Daybreak is something noteworthy. More than that; it's presentation highlights some of the stark obstacles we will all face in the future. Disappointment of the year: Horrified: Greek Monsters The excellent formula that powers the original Horrified just doesn't quite work in this iteration. I've played 4 different versions of Horrified and this is easily thematically the weakest. I never felt I was battling against the monsters of Greek mythology. It felt like what it seems to be; a reskin with slightly different monster mechanics. Surprise of the year: Sky Team I'm always a bit wary of 2-player only games, they often seem to resort to direct competition with your opponent. I'm happy to say that with regards to Sky Team, I'm wrong. Sky Team is cooperative dice-placement game where the 2 players take the asymmetrical roles of pilot and co-pilot. It has fantastic presentation with mechanics that fit it's theme. Honourable mention: Things in Rings Things in Rings is a wacky kind of party game about deductive logic and trying to discover the hidden phrases on 3 cards. It's a brilliant lightweight game, however, for me it's a semantic nightmare that drives me crazy and is unlike anything else I've played. it means I have to get a copy. My backlog of games to blog about has not lessened over 2023 - which is not a good thing! This was also a big year for playing games. Breakdown follows as: 2023 Number of different games played: 158. Of which were new (To me.): 77. Total number of gaming sessions: 577. 2022 Number of different games played: 139. Of which were new (To me.): 68. Total number of gaming sessions: 541. All the numbers are slightly up on '22, looks like I'm hitting peak playing! Most played games of 2023
Anyway - enough of that, I know the real reason you're here; for the influential, industry defining 3 Spellcaster & A Dwarf annual game awards!
Game of the year: Heat: Pedal to the Metal It wasn't a hard choice, when thinking about game of the year, this always immediately came to mind. This 50's/60's themed F1 game manages to provide players with some tricky decisions and risks to take using an elegant implementation of hand management mechanics. I'm a big fan of a certain other F1 game that's been around in some form or other for years and it seems blasphemous to think it but Heat: Pedal to the Metal is as good as Formula De/Formula D! There, I've said it! Disappointment of the year: Sushi Go!: Spin Some for Dim Sum It's not that this game is bad per se, it's just that it does not deliver any particularly new gameplay or as good a experience as its previous 2 iterations. Hard to believe, but it's just a bit meh considering the pedigree it originates from. It doesn't help that it's central premise (Or gimmick if you're less kind!) also makes the game a bit fiddly to setup, teardown and sometimes play. Surprise of the year: Bandido There's a heavy dose of luck that can apply to Bandido and I'm not sure if ultimately it's a good game or not. Even so, Bandido distils a cooperative gameplay experience into a single deck of strangely oblong cards in a package so small it easily fits in a pocket. With rules so simple and intuitive that anyone can immediately grasp play. I play games with people who have varying levels experience in table top gaming and this has been a big hit with a couple of them, which is why we've played it so much in 2023. Honourable mention: Joraku Deluxe Set in Feudal Japan, Joraku is typically what you'd expect it to be; a game amount warring factions vying for influence and control. However, all of this is achieved with abstract, almost minimalist trick taking rules and delivered in a fantastic looking package. 8th October 2023 It's a Sunday and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some more gaming. Quibble: 'A minor objection, small complaint, or trivial criticism.' Something I've done a lot of in the past! Quibble the game: Collect sets of cards to score points! Caveat: we've only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game? Cards: Quibbles comes with a deck of 132 cards numbered 1-6 (In terms of card distribution, there's slightly more cards in the higher numbers for reasons explained below). Each card also contains a colourful illustration of one of a variety of cubic looking characters. These also seem to be colour-coded according to number number.  The cartoony, humorous, anthropomorphic and cheerful cubes featured in the artwork here are a bit of a left field choice and is clearly meant to appeal to a family audience. It's very crisp artwork which works well and also very colourful, which is something I generally like and that is the case with Quibbles. In terms of iconography, there's only basic numbers used here. Nothing any players should have any trouble with. How's it play? Setup Display: Shuffle all the cards into a face-down deck. Deal 6 cards face-up into a central drafting area - 'The open display'. Players: Deal 6 cards face-down to each player. First player: Determine a starting player. On to play Players will be collecting sets of cards in order to then play a card into their personal playing area. These cards will be worth their value in victory points (VPs). Quibbles uses a traditional turn order with the active player acting before play progresses to the player on their left. The active player's turn consists of 3 stages. Action stage: The active player must perform 1 of the following 3 actions.
Endgame As soon as any player has cards in their collection which total up to 21 or more VPs, they immediately win the game! Overall
Thematically, Quibbles is quite abstract, the theme and artwork don't really connect to the game which is a fairly lightweight set collecting game. That's not to say I don't like the artwork because I do, it's colourful and cheery. To be frank, I'm not sure how you'd attach a theme to a game like this - but let's not quibble (SIC) about it. Mechanically, Quibbles is straightforward, players essentially have a choice of 3 ways to discard and draft cards, albeit in a way that feels slightly counterintuitive. I.e., discard a single card to draft sets or discard multiple cards to draft single cards - although writing it down has made it sound a lot clearer! Players will be looking to draft cards as efficiently as possible, that is make as fewer plays as possible to get the cards to be able to put one into their personal area. Quibbles employs a nice little balancing mechanic in this regard; number 6 cards earn the most VPs but they also require the most collecting and discarding to put into a player's collection. Players will also need to think about the cards they'll be discarding as this make break up sets they're working towards. All of this will involve a bit of thought, a touch of luck and some adapting to what becomes available in the open display to make mostly meaningful decisions, Potentially, there's a higher level to play which would involve watching what other players are drafting and trying to anticipate what they're planning to put into their collection and then drafting those cards to deny them but realistically, I'm not certain that it's a efficient use of an action - unless it occurs by happenstance. Additionally I do have one gripe; which is the game ends as soon as any player gets 21VPs instead of playing out to equal turns. I suspect this is to stop ties. I'm probably overthinking it all of this though. I feel that Quibbles is a game squarely aimed at a family audience and not players like me. It might take younger players a couple of turns to grasp the discard-this-to-gain-that mechanic but once they do, It'll probably be a good game for them. September '23 was a slightly quieter than the previous month with 30 total plays compared to 38. First plays however, has dropped from 10 to 4, which has gone from fairly high to fairly low first plays. First plays: 4 Games played: 30 Thursday 28th Simon's
Cascadia Tumbletown Sunday 24th Board Game Arena Can't Stop Roll'n Bump Bandido Railroad Ink Wingspan Just One Space Base The Number - First Play! Thursday 21st Aldershot The Crew Mission Deep Sea HeroQuest: Kellar's Keep - First Play! Friday 15th Board Game Arena Roll'n Bump Azul Just One Codex Naturalis Tranquillity Bandido Thursday 14th Aldershot Cascadia Point Salad Tumbletown Deep Sea Adventure Tuesday 12th The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Love Letter Port Royal Roll for the Galaxy Sunday 10th Board Game Arena Can't Stop Roll'n Bump Loco Momo Just One Forbidden Island DIG UP Adventure - First Play! Thursday 7th Aldershot Deep Sea Adventure Ginkgopolis Sushi Roll Tuesday 5th The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Jump Drive Machi Koro 2 Codex Naturalis Akropolis Sunday 3rd Board Game Arena Roll'n Bump Tiny Epic Defenders Railroad Ink Bandido Knarr - First Play! 24th September 2023 Sunday evening is here again and it means we're all logged into Board Game Arena for a few hours of gaming fun. Your number is up with 'The Number' a highly minimalist and abstract number-driven (Obviously!) bluffing game. Caveat: we've only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game? Scoring board: In the physical version of the game, these would be dry erase boards. There's one in each player colour and every board shows the numbers 0-9. There's also a row of boxes along the bottom to track scoring. Most of these boxes also display scoring bonuses in small lettering at the top. They're also double-sided and the other side is used to track scores across the game's 2 rounds.  Number board: This would also be dry erase in the physical copy of the game. It's a small board with spaces to write 3 digits and comes in each player colour.  Following it's minimalist aesthetic, there's no art in The Number whatsoever. The game also uses no iconography unless you count numbers and that's all very easily understood. That's it for components. Quite possibly the smallest amount I've written about components! How's it play? Setup Players: Give each player the scoring and number boards in their player colour. On to play The objective in The Number is to secretly write down a 3-digit number, reveal it and hopefully score it. There's no turn order in the game and all players carry out their actions simultaneously. Furthermore each of the game's 2 rounds has 5 turns. The following steps occur in each turn Write: Each player secretly writes a 3-digit number on their number board and places it face-down in a central playing area.
 Blue player is eliminated because their 7 matches the red player's 7. Green is also eliminated because their 6 also matches one of the red player's numbers. Red is not eliminated and scores 4VPs (plus bonus) by virtue of having nothing to compare against..
 Since the red player scored with 476, they earn 4+2 = 6VPs. They must also cross off the numbers 4, 6 & 7. Next turn: Once all player have resolved the outcomes for the numbers they played, the next turn starts. Players should wipe those numbers off of their number board. Now players begin another Write step with a new 3-digit number on their number board, remembering they cannot use numbers they have crossed off. End of round: Once 5 turns have been completed, the game goes to end of round scoring. Players gain 1VP foe each number they used during the round. Then players total their score for the round and record it on the back of their scoring board.  The red player crossed off 7 numbers, thus earns 7VPs. Next Round: All numbers and crosses are wiped off of all player boards and a 2nd and final round begins. Endgame Once the 2nd round has been completed, all players total the scores they gained over the 2 rounds. Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
The Number is about the most abstract game I've played and makes no attempt to shoehorn in any theme. It is indeed purely a numbers game! Whilst this is mechanically a simple game (I mean - players write a 3-digit number!), there's quite a lot going on under the surface here. I'd say the primary decision comes choosing whether to play a high or low number which is a clever trick as it creates tension between those 2 options. It also give players meaningful decisions to make. Players will also need to be wary of what numbers may get crossed off when choosing their numbers Obviously using a high number is beneficial because; provided it is not eliminated, it will earn more VPs, but if it is eliminated it earns nothing and will have also squandered a high value number. Playing a low number has the advantage of going later in the reveal step and consequently less chance of being eliminated. Additionally, a low number gives the player an opportunity to try and anticipate what numbers their opponents will play and eliminate them. However, players will need to be careful they don't accidently cross their own high value numbers when doing this. Finally, playing lower numbers only generates lower VPs. There's also higher level of play at work here. Players will need to pay attention what numbers their opponents have crossed off and conversely, which numbers they have available. Not only does it provide clues to what number they might choose next, it also shows which numbers their opponent cannot play and thus are safe to play themselves: E.g., if all opponents have used their '8's, then a '8' should be safe to play. All of this means that there's a whole lot of indirect interaction between players in The Number and a need to adapt to the numbers played as well as sharp eye to spot an openings when they appear. However, despite all of this interaction and decisions making, I did not find The Number an engaging game. Usually, theme is not important for me but here, I think it the lack of it here made me bounce off the game. It's just too abstract for my taste. One to avoid if you don't like abstract games or if theme is important to you. If that's not important to you: The Number is straightforward to learn and easy to pick up, it should work as a crossover game as the core concepts are pretty simple. With just 10 turns, it should also have a fairly quick play time and might prove a good filler game. If that's what you're looking for, The Number might do it for you. 21st September 2023 It's a Thursday night and we're in Aldershot for some gaming fun. HeroQuest - Kellar's Keep was the first expansion released for the original HeroQuest game back in the 1990's. When HeroQuest was re-issued a few years ago - so was Kellar's Keep. Kellar's Keep is an expansion pack (The first expansion I believe) for the HeroQuest game and as such, it more or less uses identical rules as HeroQuest, which I've already blogged about here. Everything I wrote there also applies here to Kellar's Keep. I'll not repeat that, instead I'll just talk about what's new or different What's new? The campaign Most significantly, the Kellar's Keep expansions adds a new 10-part campaign that builds upon the original HeroQuest and is meant as a follow up to the 14 part campaign presented there. Theoretically, players can carry over their characters from the original to Kellar's Keep. However, the rules state no items, weapons or potions, etc, are kept. This means that players are essentially starting fresh with what amounts are new characters which I felt was a little frustrating but also completely understandable from a game balancing perspective. Components Kellar's Keep also adds a number of extra miniatures to represent new (or more) monsters as well as some extra tiles for situations players will encounter. Also added are some cards for potions and like which players may purchase between adventures. Finally and very importantly, a pair of doors are also added to the game which changes one aspect of it quite a lot. What's changed? The 2 new doors represent the entrance into and exit out of a map. Instead of having the stairwell tile on the map. Players now enter the map through a door on the outside edge of the map and must find the exit door. Players can now only exit a map via the exit door, they cannot retreat back through the entrance. Once players are in, they're in! This can make the game a lot trickier, whereas before players could beat a hasty retreat if things turned bad for anything reason, now they're in it for the long haul regardless. This greatly increases the chances of a party wipe - which is bad! The other notable change is in difficulty; it definitely feels ramped up in Kellar's Keep. No doubt the designers took on board comments that adventures in the original were too easy! Players will find Kellar's Keep more challenging and will have more to think about. These are the significant changes that come to mind Overall
There's not much to write here: If you're expecting something different from the original HeroQuest or revolutionary, you won't find it in Kellar's Keep. If you enjoyed the original campaign however, then it's very likely you'll also enjoy this campaign. This is very much a case of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it!' 10th September 2023 It's a Sunday and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some gaming. Digging up stuff can be hard work and quite the chore, unless what you're digging up is precious treasure. In this case it becomes an adventure... A DIG UP Adventure to be precise! Caveat: We've only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game? Cards: DIG UP Adventure uses only a deck of cards of which there are several types in the game.
 DIG UP Adventure employs a colourful cartoony art style that depicts a pulpish 1930s era of treasure hunting and well.... adventure. While gemstone cards have pretty nondescript and functional art, a series of evocative illustrations appear across the adventure cards. It both looks good and suits the game's lightweight game play. The game doesn't really make use of iconography, the closest would be the gemstone cards but their information is self-evident. Other than the idol and skeleton cards, all remaining cards relay their actions via text. Players should have no trouble understanding DIG UP Adventure. How's it play? Setup Deck: As per the rules for player count, it may be required to remove all gemstone cards of 1 or 2 colours, add all other cards into the deck, then shuffle it into a face down deck. Players: Give each player a player card matching a colour in the deck. This will the player's 'favourite' colour in the game. This is also public knowledge. Mines: Next, deal 9 cards face-down to each player. All players should then place them face-down in a 3x3 grid. This grid is 'numbered' 1-9 going from left to right and top to bottom. Finally each player should flip the centre (position '5') card face-up. This grid will constitute each players personal 'mine'.  A player's mine at game start along with the purple favourite token. Hand: Now deal 3 cards face-down to each player to form each player's hand. First player: Determine a starting player. On to play In DIG UP Adventure, each player has the objective of placing face-up gemstone cards in their personal mine. They want to do this by placing gemstones of their particular colour in the 9 spaces numerically from 1-9. The game uses a traditional turn order with the active player taking their turn before play progresses to the player on their left. The active player's turn consists of 3 phases. Play phase: During this phase, the active player may play up to 2 cards from their hand as per the following rules.
Draw phase: The active player draws cards until they have 3 in hand. Next player: Once the active player has finished their turn, play progresses to the player on their left. Endgame Play continues until any player has flipped the 9th and final card in their mine face-up, in which case the game continues until all players have had equal turns and then goes to scoring. First any player who had any face-down cards remaining must now flip them to face-up. Then players total the victory points (VPs) of all cards in their mine. The value, position and colour of gemstone cards in a player's mine will determine how many VPs those cards score according to following criteria.
Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
Despite the game's relative simplicity, I liked DIG UP Adventure thematically. I found the concept of revealing the face-down cards by digging them up quite appealing. The game's art also helped convey the theme of adventuring and treasure hunting too. DIG UP Adventure is clearly a very light game. When making decisions players have a hand of 3 cards to choose from which can limit their options. Even more significant is that gemstone cards are all essentially no-brainer decisions: E.g., if a player has a gemstone card of their favourite colour in their hand, it's obvious that it should be placed into their mine. The same is more-or-less true of cards which would only score 1VP. Theoretically, a player could keep a scoring card back to stop other players swapping them out with adventure cards but they can be swapped out of a player's hand too and the game can also end quickly: It only takes 8 good card plays to trigger the endgame and players can do 2 per turn, in principle a game could end in 4 rounds! Players cannot actively place 'bad' cards that score 0 into their mine either (they can only be swapped in through the use of adventure cards) is even more limiting. Ultimately it means that meaningful decisions come in the form of using adventure cards well - if and when players get them. Stealing useful cards from opponents is obviously a good tactic for example, or hitting them with skeletons. There's also arguably a higher level of play in watching what opponents are doing and denying them useful cards. Even so, there's still a degree of luck in what and when players get adventure cards. Players will also need to adapt to what they draw and what gets played against them. While players will be working towards the perfect score which in this case is (9x3) 27VPs, it will be elusive to reach, especially since other players, either by choice or coincidence will be interfering. For me, DIG UP Adventure was something of a frustrating experience. It's a game which involves a lot of luck and a lot of 'take that' from the adventure cards. A little of both or lot of one is fine but a lot of both just doesn't do it for me. However, I'm probably overthinking it. I don't think that this is aimed at dedicated gamers. While I think it could work as a filler, it seems to me with its quick to learn gameplay and easily relatable theme, it feels more like a family game, especially with it's rambunctious 'take that' gameplay that will probably appeal to young players. One to play with the kids I think. 3rd September 2023 It's a Sunday and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some gaming diversions. Knarr: A type of Norse wooden ship which was used for trading and exploration. Knarr the game, can you guess what it's about? Caveat: We've only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game? Board: This is a rectangular, landscape orientated board which depicts what I would imagine is a Viking coastal settlement - which fits with the game's theme.
 Game board. Player board: Each player board (Ship sheet.) comes in a player-colour and is double-sided, displaying a 'normal' and 'advanced' side. They are unusually shaped (looking a bit like sails) with 3 circular indentations on both the left and right sides which are used to slot tokens. The left side is for recruit or 'crew' tokens and the right for silver bracelet or 'trade' tokens. Along the top are 3 vertical tracks or columns which will display 1 or more of the game's resources. Along the bottom, it displays the each player's starting resources.  A player's personal 'ship sheet'. Cards: Broadly speaking, Knarr uses 2 types of cards, destination cards (which are landscape) and Viking cards.
 Type A cards.
 And type B.
 Viking cards looks great with their clear detail and bright colour. Tokens: Knarr makes use of several types of token.
Knarr features 2 types of artwork, that which appears on the Viking cards and that which appears on the destination cards. The Viking cards use a kind of line-art illustration style with high quality illustrations that is clear and colourful with detailed and interesting looking characters. In slight contrast, an excellent painted art style is used for destination cards. Depicting a variety of vistas and landscapes with evocative artwork using moody, distinct palettes. All-in-all, Knarr has top notch presentation. There are a few icons used throughout the game and the optional rules introduce some more but they are mostly self-explanatory or easily understood, I imagine they will be quickly learned. The game also uses colour-coded icons on the bottom of Viking cards to increase accessibility. It's good to this done and shows that care and thought has been put into the game.  Destination cards feature excellent, evocative artwork. Note: The 'normal' version without variant cards was played. How's it play? Setup Cards: Sort the cards into their 3 types (decks A, B and Viking deck) and shuffle each into face-down stacks.
On to play Players will be playing Viking cards in order to then spend the resources on those cards, this can have a number of results. Viking cards can then be spent to acquire destination cards which will in turn, give them further resources and Reputation/VPs. Knarr follows a typical turn with the active player acting before play progresses to the player on their left. A player's turn consists of 2 phases. Reputation: The active player increases their VP score according to their position on the reputation tracker. This will be 0-5 points. Action: This is where the bulk of the game takes place and the active player must perform one of the following 2 actions plus they may choose to also perform the bonus trading action.
 A destination card is placed 'above' the ship sheet to extent its 3 columns upwards and add resources to each.
Endgame Once any player reaches 40 VPs on the score tracker, the game end is triggered and play proceeds until the end of the round and all player have had equal turns. Points are tallied and the highest score wins. Overall
While Knarr is something of an abstract game but it's also fairly strong thematically. Players will be recruiting Vikings with specific skills to utilise and then sending to faraway lands to either explore or settle and create trade routes. The game play matches that well. Gameplay-wise, Knarr sits in a sweet spot of having easily learned mechanics (At its core there are only 2 types of action in Knarr.) while also providing players will some nuanced decisions to make. Recruiting is likely the most common action a player will take and there will be several considerations to make even though they will only have a choice of 2 cards in their hand at any one time. Obviously the resources Viking cards provide the player is vital, increasing reputation for example will create a consistent way to generate VPs, gaining tokens will provide flexibility etc but colour is also important. Creating a large column of a single colour can generate a lot when it's activated provided it is activated. Sometimes however, a player might want to hedge their bets instead though. Building up a column in a single colour will also probably limit a player's choices when it comes to gaining destination cards. The other area where colour becomes important is when drafting Viking cards. A player may decide to play a card of a certain colour just to draft a card in that colour's slot on the board - although a recruit token may be spent to mitigate this. Exploration is the other action that a player may select and it comes with it's own choices. Firstly, the player must spend Viking cards in order to acquire a destination card. This alone can be a bit of a tricky decision as it will probably entail losing cards that have proven to be useful. Next the player will need to consider what the rewards will be. The instant rewards are pretty straightforward in what they provide but the 3 trading columns are a different kettle of fish. Similarly to the columns of Viking cards, the columns on the player board and destination cards can be activated to gain their respective resources. However, the resources on the rightmost column are expensive (in that they cost 3 silver bracelet tokens to activate), so theoretically, loading up the leftmost column is the most efficient way to trade for goods but it's likely that the cards won't be so obliging. Once again players will decide how build up the columns and this will be affected by which destination cards are available to draft. Ultimately, players will need to balance the efficiency of concentrating on a smaller number of columns with need to diversify for the purposes of flexibility. This will require a mix of planning and exploiting opportunities as they arise. There's not much to fault here, at times I did find it somewhat frustrating that I couldn't draft the Viking cards I wanted but I think sometimes that it's par for the course for a drafting game. I also feel that perhaps the reputation track and its mechanics are a bit over strong. Otherwise, Knarr is an accessible, fairly quick to play drafting and engine-building game that presents players will tricky, meaningful decisions. It also has a strong Viking theme and equally strong style and presentation. If this appeals to you, then Knarr is worth giving a try. August's '23's numbers are up compared to July. Games played went from 35 to 38, however, first plays went from 7 to 10 and while it's quite a lot it's actually only the 3rd highest new plays ever, even so, it's still nearly 1 first play every 3 days! First plays: 10 Games played: 38 Thursday 31st Aldershot
Kingdomino Origins Isle of Cats Tuesday 29th The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Bandido Deep Dive - First Play! It's a wonderful world Sunday 27th Board Game Arena Can't Stop Loco Momo Tranquillity Just One Wingspan Bandido Thursday 24th Aldershot Fluxx Scout Burger Boss Tuesday 22nd round Simon's War of The Ring: The One Ring - First Play! Monday 21st on Board Game Arena Martian Dice Can't Stop Nidavellir Roll'n Bump Just One Railroad Ink Tranquillity Color Flush - First Play! Sunday 20th round Matakishi's - 1st Gaming Extravaganza Machi Koro 2 Durian The Crew: Mission Deep Sea Parks Bandido Saturday 19th round Matakishi's - 1st Gaming Extravaganza The Pursuit of Happiness - First Play! Kingmaker Point Salad Machi Koro 2 Sunday 13th Board Game Arena Can't Stop Sushi Go Party Via Magica Spots Just One Nidavallir Tranquillity Sunday 13th The Sovereigns Parks Oh Captain - First Play! Saturday 12th Board Game Arena Martian Dice Tranquillity Bandido Thursday 10th Simon's Flash Point: Fire Rescue - First Play! Dorfromantik - First Play! Tuesday 8th The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Deep Sea Adventure Codex Naturalis Kingdomino Origins - First Play! Sunday 6th Board Game Arena Lucky Numbers Can't Stop Roll'n Bump None Shall Pass Just One Railroad Ink Setup - First Play! Friday 4th Simon's Zombicide: Undead or Alive - First Play! |
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