On June 12th, 2019, I was sitting in an end seat on the third row of a high school auditorium. It was incredibly dark and eerily quiet as a group of toddlers shuffled out onto the stage and prepared to begin their ballet performance. Just as the lights fired up and the first notes began…
Mark Herman is a fascinating wargame designer. He’s responsible for ironclad classics such as Fire in the Lake, Churchill, and Washington’s War. There are nearly a hundred titles to his name, all things considered. Rebel Fury is the first volume of publisher GMT’s Civil War Heritage Series. This is a new collection of games built…
In a sea of overproduced and excessive board games, NEXUS: Arena Combat System manages to stand out. The box is large and attractive. Emblazoned on the front is a giant crab-arm mutant battling in an arena with a sarlaac in the foreground. It punches you in the face with cool. When you open the box…
There is no “you”. You don’t exist. It seems as though we have an autonomous identity within. We feel as though we are a central being that is inhabiting our bodies. From this focal point we exist in a state of selfhood, an experiencer of experience. We can reflect on our past, present, and future…
Bloodstones is the antithesis of modern production. Instead of heaps of miniatures, it has stacks of oblong tiles. Rather than thick mounted boards, it has silky cloth maps. Instead of vacuformed inserts and trays, it has soft bags emblazoned with faction symbols. Instead of an air of disposability, this Martin Wallace creation feels like an…
Hegemony: Lead Lead Your Class to Victory is a remarkable piece of modern game design. It landed confidently on my top 10 releases of 2023 list, and I’m still going door-to-door campaigning for its consideration. This is an impressive, thoughtfully crafted multi-layered design. It’s impeccable and doesn’t need expansion. Full stop. But… These two small…
You know Trio, even if you don’t. It’s classic Memory, where you’re flipping cards and looking for three of a kind. The main wrinkle is that a majority of the cards are in player’s hands, which you can also flip. The second quirk is that when you ask a player to reveal a card, you…
If you’re not familiar with the U.S.S. Flagg, it’s the Joe’s aircraft carrier that temporarily served as their base during one of the show’s prominent storylines. Most would recognize it as one of the most iconic action figure playsets of all time. Debuting in 1985, this massive plastic toy cost a staggering $110, which would…
Hidden movement and the horror genre are a sinister couple. In The Stifling Dark, one player is a psychotic killer, a monstrous beast, or even a throng of cultists intent on raising an otherworldly being. Everyone else at the table is a snooping investigator riding a high of curiosity into the devil’s mouth. These errant…
2023 hit like a truck. Another year where there are games that I fully expect to make the list, and then they’re ceremoniously jettisoned by late arrivals that are throwing bombs. It’s tough. I want to recognize more titles than this, but 10 is the number. 10. Sky Team I reviewed this one at Polygon.…
Player Elimination 