Whilst games based on what is called “worker placement” are fairly common, “worker retrieval” games are much harder to come by. The subject of this review; Stone Age, dates back to 2008 and is probably the earliest example of a worker retrieval game that I can find. Essentially this is a game in which players […]
When I think about nuclear war (or at least the threat of it) in board games, the first examples that spring to mind are usually related to The Cold War, including Twilight Struggle and the like. Coming in to Minion Games’ The Manhattan Project 2: Minutes to Midnight and having never played the original, I […]
Certain things in popular culture – wether movies, games, records or even board games – come with an aura of expectation around them that can be a little unfair. In the board gaming world, products that fall into this category are often the massive Kickstarters from CMON or Restoration Games. For some board gamers (perhaps […]
In DIGITAL SHORTS we review some of the latest video games that are only available digitally (at least in the UK), in a short-form review format. In this edition we take a look at Toby, The Secret Mine – an indie game that has joined the line-up of Nindies on the Nintendo Switch Considering that […]
Band Manager: The Board Game is the result of a successful Kickstarter that was launched by Original Content London a few years ago now. The game is built around the concept of forming a band, assembling successful tours and ultimately on winning a very specific number of fans to symbolise that your band has made […]
Marvel Contest of Champions: Battlerealm comes with the kind of ridiculously cumbersome title that can only come with a heavily licensed title filled with a sense of its own self-importance. Thankfully, whilst I might poke fun at the name, Battlerealm (as it shall henceforth be known) is a brand new creation from Upper Deck, who […]
1500 is a relatively new game from Dan Verssen of DVG (Dan Verssen Games) and it represents a fairly rare foray into the world of lighter games for this esteemed design and publishing house, which is well known for making exceptional war games that can be enjoyed by one or several players. DVG tend to […]
As a fan of trading card games for many years, I’m always interested in exploring new systems and figuring out what makes them tick. My mainstay in this space is most definitely Magic: The Gathering, but I’ve also dabbled Yu-Gi-Oh, Vanguard and more. Of particular interest are TCG’s that weave thematic elements tightly into their […]
I have fond memories of Emerson Matsuuchi’s Century: Spice Road, because it was among the first batch of board games that I reviewed for Nerdly. I’m also a fan of the game play, which has proven to be hugely popular among my family and friends, regardless of age or experience with board games overall. A […]
I’m a huge fan of deck building games and I always have been, from the very first time that I tentatively put together a Magic: The Gathering starter deck to the moment that I began to invest my time and effort into the Game of Thrones LCG. Few, however, are as unique and well constructed […]
Following a recent Kickstarter campaign, Hannibal & Hamilcar represents the final product of a real labour of love from Phalanx Games, lead by popular designer Jaro Andruszkiewicz and with full backing from the creator of Avalon Hill’s original Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage, Mark Simonitch. With a visually overhauled remaster of the original game (that features […]
Whilst we love reviewing board games based on movies and TV series here at Nerdly, there are relatively few based on eighteenth century literature like Robinson Crusoe. Aside from the out of print Fury of Dracula and Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective which are both based on later novels, I’m not even sure I can name […]
Of all the themes in board gaming, one of the most popular to emerge in the past few years is undoubtedly that of the Lovecraftian world of Cthulhu and his demonic/fish creature minions. From Mansions of Madness to Pandemic: Cthulhu, this theme commonly explores the border between what is real and what isn’t, with the […]
If you’ve been longing to recreate the historic conquest of Alexander The Great’s epic career on your own tabletop, then Alexander’s Campaign may well have you covered. That said, if you were hoping for a full on war game featuring the iconic elephants, hoplites and chariots that characterise the popular view of warfare at the […]
Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice is, as the name suggests, a dice game that recreates the chaotic and exciting fun of Mexican Wrestling. Like all dice games, Luchador! includes a huge amount of luck, but thanks to the way different dice rolls interact with each other and due to the inclusion of some advanced rules, there […]
Considering that it was designed by Mark Herman and published by GMT Games (both of whom are well known for producing relatively heavy war games) I was both surprised and delighted to discover how light and accessible Fort Sumter: The Secession Crisis 1860-61 (Fort Sumter from here on out) actually is. A strictly two player […]
In London (Second Edition) between two and four players each take on the role of an aspiring architect during the rebuilding of London after The Great Fire that ravaged more than 13,000 buildings in 1666. Even in the first edition of London, the role of a board (in the form of a map of the […]
Some board game designs prove to be just right first time, whilst others apparently fail so hard (either critically, or in terms of pure revenue) that the risk of re-implementing them just isn’t worthwhile. Others, however, are remade and revamped time and time again – either with completely new themes or mechanics by different designers, […]
At first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that The Climbers was just an alternative, multicolored version of Jenga, but in actual fact it’s an abstract strategy game about climbing a mountain by any means possible – including by moving unoccupied blocks, adding miniature ladders and even blocking opponents progress either with specific tokens […]
In this, the second edition of Darkest Night from Jeremy Lennert and Victory Point Games, one to four players will play cooperatively to tackle the growing darkness of an evil necromancer. To do so, they’ll form a crew of heroes from a selection of around thirty, each and every one of which is highly individual. […]
It probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone that Empires of the Void II from Ryan Laukat and Red Raven Games is a sequel, but what might be a bit of a surprise is just how long it’s been since the original game launched in 2012. It’s also entirely possible that the original game […]
