Changelog 25/8/18 – added an note about the difference between houses and traits, thanks to a correction from Andrew Keddie Version Reviewed English first edition Introduction Like all living card games (LCGs), Game of Thrones is challenging to learn and expensive to fully experience. An aggressive cycle of expansions means…
Category: Accessibility Teardown
Hand of the King (2016) – Accessibility Teardown
Hand of the King is a decent enough game but it’s frustrating because there’s a much better game in the box that doesn’t get a chance to come out. It still got three stars in our review mind you – unlike supporting the Night’s Watch it’s far from a lost…
Fresco (2010) – Accessibility Teardown
I liked Fresco a lot more than I thought I would when I opened the box. It look like a dozen other board-games with interchangeable components, and that doesn’t exactly wet my whistle. It grew on me considerably with familiarity and while I don’t see it displacing certain other games…
Lotus (2016) – Accessibility Teardown
Lotus is a beautiful game with a satisfying hook. It’s perfectly enjoyable but a bit too safe to really blossom into more than that. We gave it three and a half stars in our review. We have enjoyed our time with it but we won’t be putting down our roots…
Tash-Kalar (2013) – Accessibility Teardown
Tash-Kalar is a very fine game and I don’t want to play it. This isn’t like Catan where I begrudge every second it’s in front of me, or even Magic Maze where I think there’s something fundamentally appreciative of joy that’s broken inside me. It’s just Tash-Kalar asks too much…
Ingenious (2004) – Accessibility Teardown
Ingenious is a game that many people seem to genuinely like – I’m just not one of them. I’ve had passably entertaining times playing it but for the most part I can’t remember a single moment from any session. That’s – not a great sign. We gave Ingenious two and…
Concept (2013) – Accessibility Teardown
Concept is about as competent an execution of Charades: the board game as you could hope. It’s fundamentally sound. It’s a three star game if you listen to us, and there’s no reason at all why you shouldn’t. Look – who couldn’t believe a face like this?
This is, swear to…
Imhotep (2016) – Accessibility Teardown
Imhotep is an excellent game that came out of our review with nary a scratch in its immaculate mortaring. Four and a half stars is about as high as we go on this blog, at least to date, and that’s exactly what Imhotep claimed. We had nothing meaningful in the…
Race for the Galaxy (2007) – Accessibility Teardown
Race for the Galaxy is an excellent game that doesn’t care if you want to play it. Its arcane iconography serves to make it as welcoming as the ‘rooms free’ sign at the Bates Motel. Its expectation that you match and master the tempo of its demanding action system requires…
The Mind (2018) – Accessibility Teardown
The Mind is boldly experimental and something that has acquired a considerable amount of appreciation online. We didn’t get on with it, but that is often the case. We live to kill your darlings. We gave The Mind two stars and most of that was down to a ‘best case’…
Cottage Garden (2016) – Accessibiity Teardown
We gave Cottage Garden three stars in our review because in the end it’s hard to justify buying it in a gaming landscape that already contains Patchwork. Even if you need a game that supports more players, Barenpark represents a better investment of your time and effort. That’s especially true…
Azul (2017) – Accessibility Teardown
Azul, or as I think of it ‘Starburst: The Board Game’ is a tightly designed little monster of passive aggressive tile-laying. It’s extraordinarily good, and easily deserving of our four-and-a-half star review. There are few games that give you so many options while simultaneously ensuring all those options are viable. …
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong (2014) – Accessibility Teardown
Deception: Murder in Hong Kong is seasoned through with flavourings of Dixit and big lumps of Mysterium. A little soupçon of One Night Ultimate Werewolf is sprinkled on the top like a fine garnish. Is a soupçon something you can garnish? I honestly don’t know. I often use words without…
Biblios (2007) – Accessibility Teardown
Biblios is a lovely little game that packs an astonishing amount of depth into a handful of rules. It’s very close to being a masterpiece, which is why it got a resounding four stars in our review. I’m sure you’re excited about it – after all, if…
HMS Dolores (2016) – Accessibility Teardown
In our review of HMS Dolores we told a story of a title that drew from the rich mines of game theory but ultimately lost the value of the output along the way. While I have certainly had fun with HMS Dolores, in retrospect it seems that it was mostly…
Clank! (2016) – Accessibility Teardown
Clank is intensely group dependent. If your group doesn’t mind ignoring systems that seek to actively disincentivise your fun you’ll find its somewhat chilly indifference to your enjoyment will warm up considerably. We gave it four stars in our review, but those stars are for when it’s played in the…
Funemployed (2014) – Accessibility Teardown (NSFW)
Funemployed is a smarter, wittier and somehow darker game than Cards Against Humanity. Perhaps it’s because nobody gets to find their excuses in their hand – if you say something terrible it’s almost all on you. We like it a lot – we gave it four stars in our review,…
Sagrada (2017) – Accessibility Teardown
The decoupling of scoring and accomplishment in the local context of your window board was the primary thing that slightly tainted my love of Sagrada – it’s why it got only four stars in our review. Make no mistake though – I love this game a lot and find it…
Hanamikoji (2013) – Accessibility Teardown
No need for a begrudging summary of the review here – Hanamikoji is great and I recommend it to everyone. At least, I recommend it as a game that can be relied upon to generate considerable amounts of fun – our four and a half stars rating isn’t a lie…
Meeple Circus (2017) – Accessibility Teardown
There’s something mesmerising about a good dexterity game – the best combine flow-inducing difficulty and agency that can be magical in brief bursts. Meeple Circus is a great dexterity game, and that’s why it got four stars in our review. We have good reason though to be cynical about how…