13th Nov2025

‘Gloomhaven: Second Edition’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Gloomhaven: Second Edition is a comprehensive overhaul of the original game, featuring rebalanced classes, redesigned scenarios, streamlined rules, improved component quality, and a more immersive narrative structure. It preserves the core tactical gameplay while refining nearly every aspect for clarity, accessibility, and long-term replayability. When Gloomhaven first launched in 2017, it redefined what a dungeon-crawling […]

11th Nov2025

‘Knitting Circle’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Knitting Circle is a cosy, accessible evolution of Calico’s spatial puzzling – retaining the satisfying tile-laying core while softening the difficulty curve and introducing charming new mechanics like yarn drafting, garment knitting, and button collection. There’s also a slight edge to Knitting Circle that gives it another dimension – thanks to the cutthroat way in […]

06th Nov2025

‘Barrage’ & ‘The Leeghwater Project’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Barrage and its expansion, The Leeghwater Project, together form one of the most mechanically rich and thematically cohesive Eurogame experiences of the last decade. With layered resource management, brutal competition, and a refreshingly original theme, this is a game that rewards precision, foresight, and adaptability – and the expansion only deepens that challenge (if you’ll […]

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04th Nov2025

‘Memoir ’44 Refresh’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Memoir ’44 Refresh, designed by Richard Borg and published by Days of Wonder, is a modernised reprint of the original 2004 tactical wargame that brought the “Commands and Colours” system into the mainstream. It retains its core gameplay while introducing upgraded components, a huge number of variable scenarios, and a clearer rulebook. It is fully […]

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29th Oct2025

‘Mission: Red Planet – 20th Anniversary Edition’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Mission: Red Planet  – 20th Anniversary Edition, designed by Bruno Cathala and Bruno Faidutti and published by Matagot, is a reprint of a modern classic that first landed in 2005. This new edition doesn’t reinvent the wheel, nor does it need to. Instead, it refines, repackages, and reintroduces one of the most elegant, chaotic and […]

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22nd Oct2025

‘Doomlings: Legends of Enderas’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Doomlings: Legends of Enderas isn’t just an expansion – it’s a transformation. Where the original Doomlings offered a light, chaotic romp through the end of the world, Enderas introduces a mythic backbone that reframes the game as a layered, strategic ecosystem. It’s still fast-paced and accessible, but now there’s more lore, synergy, and a sense […]

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09th Oct2025

‘Cretaceous Rails’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

As most readers will know, I love a game that literally embodies its theme, and Cretaceous Rails does so with unapologetic flair. Designed by Ann Journey and brought to life by Spielcraft Games, this mid-weight euro game invites players to travel back to the Cretaceous period, build railways through dense jungles, and ferry time-travelling tourists […]

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07th Oct2025

‘Escape From Stalingrad Z’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Whilst a few video games have mixed World War II with occult themes, not least the likes of Achtung! Cthulhu and even Call of Duty: Zombies, I feel this is an underused idea. Thankfully, Escape From Stalingrad Z leans into that premise with grim determination. Designed by Marco Pecota and released by Raybox Games, this […]

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01st Oct2025

‘Kavango’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

There are games that wear their themes lightly, and there are games that live and breathe their subject matter. Kavango is firmly in the latter camp—a game that doesn’t just use conservation as a backdrop, but builds every mechanism, every decision, and every moment of tension around the realities of protecting nature in southern Africa. […]

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11th Sep2025

‘Star Wars: Super Teams’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Some Star Wars games don’t need lore dumps, stat cards, or a sprawling campaign. They just need a handful of iconic ships, a colourful track, and a race to beat the odds in order to make their point. Star Wars: Super Teams (designed by Max Gerchambeau and published by Zygomatic) is exactly that kind of […]

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08th Sep2025

‘Star Wars: Battle of Hoth’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

There’s something about the Battle of Hoth that will stick in my memory forever. Maybe it’s the visual contrast – white snow, those giant dark AT-AT’s and the orange flight suits of Luke and his wing. Maybe it’s the desperation of it all: the Rebels scrambling to evacuate, the Empire marching forward with cold precision, […]

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21st Aug2025

‘The Witcher: Path of Destiny’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Everyone knows and loves The Witcher mythos these days – where monsters are just misunderstood apex predators, and the best-laid plans of the human inhabitants of the world are just one step away from disaster. The Witcher: Path of Destiny captures that chaos beautifully. It’s a tableau-building card game that feels like a narrative brawl- […]

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19th Aug2025

‘Skara Brae’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

There’s a moment in Skara Brae – usually around round three – when you realise you’ve been hoarding bones, shells, and broken tools like a prehistoric raccoon, and suddenly it starts to make thematic sense. The “midden” isn’t just a clever mechanic; it’s the beating heart of the game and of the story that surrounds […]

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04th Aug2025

‘Star Wars Unlimited: Legends of the Force – Spotlight Decks: Darth Maul & Qui-Gon Jinn’ Review

by Matthew Smail

With Legends of the Force, Fantasy Flight Games delivers its most thematically focused and mechanically refined Star Wars: Unlimited set to date. As the third expansion in the series, Legends of the Force narrows its lens to explore the Force itself – not just as a narrative device, but as a fully integrated gameplay mechanic. […]

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16th Jul2025

‘Unmatched: The Witcher – Steel and Silver’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

The Unmatched series has always been about dream matchups – Sherlock Holmes versus Medusa, Bruce Lee versus Dracula, Houdini versus the Genie. But with Unmatched: The Witcher – Steel and Silver, Restoration Games and CD Projekt Red have delivered something a little different. This isn’t just a crossover; it’s a celebration of a world. And […]

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10th Jul2025

‘Altered’ TCG Review

by Matthew Smail

If you’ve been around the trading card game scene for a while, you’ve probably seen a lot of trends come and go- booster pack hype, meta-chasing, digital-only formats, and the eternal struggle of balancing accessibility with depth. But every so often, a new game comes along that doesn’t just tweak the formula – it reimagines […]

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08th Jul2025

‘Innovation: Ultimate’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

There’s something inherently audacious about Innovation: Ultimate. It’s not just a greatest hits compilation – it’s the full boxed set, the remastered edition, the director’s cut where every radical design decision Carl Chudyk ever cooked up finally gets its moment in the spotlight. And it doesn’t apologise for the chaos. If anything, it revels in […]

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18th Jun2025

‘The Adventures of Conan + Expansions’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

With some games, you know just what to expect as soon as you look at the cover art. The Adventures of Conan, designed by Jack Reda and published by Gale Force Nine, is one such game. It doesn’t try to be a sprawling sandbox or a deeply strategic Euro, nor does it focus on fighting […]

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17th Apr2025

‘Dune: Imperium – Bloodlines’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

Well, well, well, what have we here? Another expansion for the already vast and quite confusing Dune: Imperium universe. This time, it’s Dune: Imperium – Bloodlines which you’ll see omits the word “Uprising” from its title, and yet almost anyone who is familiar with the Dune: Imperium series will already know that Dune: Imperium – […]

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15th Apr2025

‘Marvel Champions: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

It’s been a while since Marvel Champions first launched, and without a doubt two of the most common cards to grace any hero deck are the iconic duo of Nick Fury and Maria Hill. Both powerful allies, these cards have been the mainstay of the Marvel Champions concept. Now, in Marvel Champions: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, […]

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31st Dec2024

‘Marvel Champions: The Card Game – The Galaxy’s Most Wanted’ Expansion Review

by Matthew Smail

In Marvel Champions: The Card Game – The Galaxy’s Most Wanted, the two new heroes are the popular duo of Groot and Rocket Racoon – who collectively include the mutually beneficial aspects of Protection and Aggression (I bet you can guess who comes with cards from each.)  For some people, this would be enough to […]

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12th Dec2024

‘Art Society’ Board Game Review

by Matthew Smail

In the rather beautiful-looking Art Society, players compete for the most prestigious art collection as they bid in a dynamic auction system that keeps everyone interested in each and every round. From complete novice designer Mitch Wallace and publisher Mighty Boards, Art Society is an impressive debut. The systems are simple to teach and to […]

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