Burning Banners is a bit of a darling. Published by Compass Games, it’s an asymmetric fantasy wargame built upon the foundation of traditional hex-and-counter conflict simulations. It doesn’t boast an innovative action system, there’s no Euro-style engine building, and it includes zero miniatures. It’s progression through reinterpretation, finding expansive creativity in the well-tread mud of…
New York City is a walled maximum security prison. Breaking out is impossible. Breaking in is insane. Have you seen Escape From New York? It’s from another time, when movies were on film and John Carpenter still had creative juice. This gritty thriller has a unique vibe, populating its desolate environment with over-the-top characters while…
I’ve been thinking about semi-cooperative games again. These are of course games where players switch between modes of cooperation and competition, often incentivized one moment to work as a group, and another to secure a selfish victory. While many abhor this board game sub-genre due to its fragility and unreliable structure, they’re some of the…
Arcs is vicious. That was the subject of part one in my ongoing discussion of Cole Wehrle’s latest work. This space oddity’s jagged edge extends beyond the base experience and into the thorny recesses of the campaign. Here, mechanical additions emerge from their stasis with alacrity, the particles of grand stories shed from their animation…
Close your eyes for a moment. The rasps and clicks off at the edge of existence, that’s people talking about Arcs. As they should be. Arcs is designer Cole Wehrle’s eighth release and his third with publisher Leder Games. The supergroup of Wehrle, Leder, and artist Kyle Ferrin continues to astound. I assumed we would…
I’ve always been interested in moral philosophy. I once wrote an article about the ethics of semi-cooperative play. I’ve expressed anguish and confusion regarding police violence. I also shared regret in asking a group of friends to pretend to be German scientists researching the atomic bomb. My latest quandary is the ethical culpability of discussing…
A great deal of effort is put forth to make Ryan Courtney’s Spectral appear spooky. There’s a whole introductory snippet about the Spectral Manor coming to life once a century, with ghosts and curses and sigils and treasure. It looks equally as creepy with large skull tokens and ominous illustrations. While I dig the vibe,…
There’s a majesty in overcoming physical challenge and besting nature. We celebrate those who conquer Everest every year, and we mourn those who perish in the attempt. This spiritual odyssey is continually reconstituted in fiction with the obstacle given new life as a cyclopean foe. Smaug, The Shadow of the Colossus, Moby Dick. And Leviathan…
Jenna Felli has a fascination with frogs. These creatures sit in an awkward spot, adapting their profile depending on perspective and context. They can appear as cute little buggers full of character and personality, or they can be slimy and horrific monsters. Sometimes they’re helpful and wise, the kind of friend you’d want to stumble…
Cascadito is a companion work to the larger Cascadero. While the bigger sibling is a full-fledged Euro-style game of tile laying and track manipulation, this petite chap is a concise roll & write design. Both are Reiner Knizia efforts. Both share a mechanical hub of claiming spaces adjacent to villages and moving up tracks. Both…
Player Elimination 