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…
Should every game have a solitaire mode? Does the consumer benefit more from crowdfunding or going straight to retail? Is Candyland technically a game? These are the questions that inspire violence. Is Reiner Knizia the hobby’s most accomplished designer? Now, this is a question the sane majority can orient behind. A new Knizia full-sized game…
What does one do when “wonder materials” are discovered on the moon? Strip and exploit it for profit. We have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders after all. Lunar Rush from “Skippy” Brown and Dead Alive Games landed at an opportune time. With the wonderful television series For All Mankind reaching its conclusion, this game capitalizes…
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…
Player Elimination 