TL;DR — If someone you know is curious about board games, these are the seven I’d put in front of them first. Each one is easy to explain, hard to hate, and good enough that experienced gamers won’t be bored either. Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Azul, Just One, Sushi Go!, Pandemic, and Catan. Any of … Read more
Wine, Workers and the Good Life The Short Version Viticulture is a worker placement game about running a winery in Tuscany. You plant vines, harvest grapes, age wine, and fill orders, all while competing with up to five other players for the same spaces on the board. It is probably the friendliest worker placement game … Read more
I picked up Fetching Feathers at UK Games Expo, played it in the open gaming hall the same day, Several games later, here we are. The short version: In My opinion Fetching Feathers is the best thing Chris Priscott has designed. Given that I already love Zuuli and Molehill Meadows, that is saying something. What … Read more
UK Games Expo 2026 has been and gone, and I’m still processing it. Four days, more games than my shelf technically has room for, blisters, a Viking village, and one slightly emotional moment when I realised the accommodation was already booked for next year before we’d even left the NEC. Let’s do this properly. Thursday: … Read more
UK Games Expo is tomorrow. I’m writing this from Sheffield, bags almost packed, Car full of fuel, and a spreadsheet open with more stands on it than I could realistically visit in a week. This afternoon I’m heading down to Birmingham. Tomorrow morning, the NEC doors open. Lets Go!!!! This is the final part of … Read more
The Short Version – TL;DR Fate of the Fellowship is a cooperative game for one to five players where you’re guiding the Fellowship across Middle-earth, keeping Frodo safe from the Nazgul, pushing back Sauron’s shadow armies, and working towards destroying the One Ring. It’s built on the Pandemic System but feels considerably more complex and … Read more
There is a version of a short board game that feels like a snack you did not really want. You finish it, check your phone, and quietly wonder why you bothered setting it up. Then there is the other kind: the one that ends and immediately has everyone reaching to reset, because twenty minutes just … Read more
You’ll never forget your first time, Make sure it’s for the right reasons Your first time at UK Games Expo is slightly overwhelming in the best possible way. You walk into a hall and there are games everywhere. Publishers are running demos at long tables. People are filling Open Gaming playing exciting things. Someone near … Read more
It is surprisingly easy to leave UK Games Expo having spent three times what you planned. Everything looks good. The halls are full of things you did not know you needed until thirty seconds ago. Someone at the next table is visibly having the time of their life with a game you have never heard … Read more
Five days. That is how long it is until I get in the car and drive to Birmingham. Six days until the doors open at the NEC and UK Games Expo 2026 officially begins. I have been going to this show for years. I have never been an exhibitor as yet though. I have worked … Read more
