Even though Phoenix Point has been out on PC for a couple of years now (more or less, anyway) it has only just landed on consoles. Thankfully, it appears on both PS4 and Xbox One (with next gen upgrades apparently due in the future) in the form of the Phoenix Point: Behemoth Edition. This version […]
Bearing the weight of a theme that features heavy industries extracting coal, iron and oil from the Earth during the early 19th Century, it may be a surprise to some that Furnace is a relatively lightweight teach, with simple rules and mechanics giving away to a feverish optimisation puzzle. Variant rules can increase the complexity […]
Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû | Directed by Akira Kurosawa When it comes to critical review of the legendary Akira Kurosawa, one has to be extremely careful. There’s no doubt that the master of Japanese cinema directed a catalogue of films that is almost flawless in its production, drama and sheer […]
Back in 2015, a game called Potion Explosion was released. Despite a relatively average rating on BoardGameGeek (just over 7) Potion Explosion has steadily crept its way into the top 100 family games. Honestly, I’ll be damned if I know why, because Potion Explosion is almost impossible to find – it is reprinted very infrequently, […]
Not that it matters really, but I have quite the love/hate relationship with panda bears. My kids love them, and of course I agree that they look cute and cuddly, with almost as many amusing YouTube videos featuring their antics as there are for cats and dogs. That said, their reluctance to mate or eat […]
Everyone likes surprises, and they are even better when something you thought might be actively bad, turns out to be pretty fantastic. Having opened Khora: Rise of an Empire a few weeks ago, its beige boards and pastel-coloured tokens really didn’t do anything for me, but ten or twelve games later, and I am hooked. […]
Originally released in 2012, Kemet is one of Matagot’s famous “dudes on a map trilogy” which also includes Cyclades and Inis, along with a one or more expansions for each. Whilst Cyclades is the oldest of these three games, Kemet has perhaps – and I do mean perhaps – been seen as the most popular. […]
Sometimes in board gaming, we talk about games having a “relaxing theme” or perhaps of being a game that suits players who want a less competitive vibe. I imagine for designers, it must be tough to translate this idea from theme into mechanics – with perhaps a good example being Wingspan, which uses both “friendly” […]
I recently reviewed the Black Widow and Hawkeye pack for Atomic Mass Games’ Crisis Protocol, and I remarked at the time that it was the first expansion I had encountered that featured a re-release of a character that existed in the core box. Where Black Widow was concerned, the updated model and character card featured […]
You’ll forgive me, I hope, for my lack of initial excitement at learning about the Hawkeye and Black Widow pack for Atomic Mass Games’ Crisis Protocol. Whilst I think Natasha Romanoff’s alter-ego is a fairly interesting character, I didn’t realise when this pack was first announced that this would be a very different Black Widow […]
With loners like Thanos and Hulk having recently joined my Crisis Protocol ranks, the popular combination of Rocket and Groot offers a welcome change. In keeping with their relationship in the movies, this interstellar duo work best when taken together – in particular, because of the Deadly Duo Team Tactics card bundled with them, and […]
Thanos (much like the Incredible Hulk) is a Threat 6 character in Atomic Mass’s Crisis Protocol game. Unlike Hulk, however, Thanos is a newer release and comes with a variant designed for play in the “normal” game as well as offering players the first “Ultimate Encounter” variant, which is considerably tougher. Think of these two […]
It seems like an age since I last played Crisis Protocol, and what better way is there to celebrate the easing of restrictions across the UK than with a few friendly games using some new miniatures. The first in a series of these reviews is this one, for the iconic Incredible Hulk. This expansion was […]
The board game market is a fickle place – some games seem to gather huge momentum, selling out immediately and attracting reprint after reprint before you’re ever likely to see them sitting on a shelf waiting for a buyer. Others, on the other hand, don’t quite hit the mark for whatever reason, and it’s not […]
Here at Nerdly, we love a game with a lot of table presence. Usually, our preference is for the kind of gothic and horror inspired miniatures you might see in a game like Dark Souls, or perhaps the kind of art you’ll see in Big Book of Madness. Occasionally though, we need a break from […]
In Tungaru, two to five players will each take on the task of spreading their own unique culture across the islands of the Tungaru archipelago. To do this, they will navigate their boats between the islands gathering and trading resources such as fish, shells, coconuts and pearls, whilst persuading nomads to join them – adding […]
Everyone has a collection of favourite films, CD’s or books that they return to time after time. Even so, the titles included in such lists tend to adapt over time – a remake might replace a classic (or not) or a new artist might replace something at a different time in our lives. With board […]
For reasons that I can’t explain, I tend to shy away from cooperative board games. The likes of Pandemic (especially Pandemic Legacy), Arkham Horror: Final Hour and Horrified always seem to go down well when we play them here, but I think my family thrives on the competitive nature of direct confrontation. Regardless, when we […]
During 2020, I found myself playing more and more games with family. This meant a need to find games that could appeal to both my wife, children and other close relatives or friends who, at various points, were able to visit us. My main gaming groups were largely unable to meet and so the games […]
There is no doubt that board games – like all games – are based on iterative cycles of innovation and improvement. Almost every game made today is based, somehow, on a mechanism or idea that has been used elsewhere. After all, as the saying goes, “there is nothing new under the Sun.” The relevance of […]
I don’t think I would be exaggerating if I said that Roll and Write games had become the hottest genre in board gaming during late 2019 and onwards into 2020. This phenomenon had a lot to do with accessibility, both in terms of gameplay and price point, but what would happen if you took the […]
Cats seem to be making quite an impression in the board gaming world lately. The Isle of Cats is one example that I spent a lot of time with last year, and Twitter seems awash with cats in box lids and cats making cameo appearances in games with themes of all kinds. Calico is a […]
