Is the Automa Worth Playing? Most board games tack on a solo mode as an afterthought. A set of rules buried in the back of the manual, a borrowed app, or a vague instruction to just play two hands and see who wins. Wingspan is not most board games. The Automa system in Wingspan is … Read more
The worst thing you can do when someone asks to try board games is hand them Monopoly. I say this as someone who has been handed Monopoly. Two hours later, one player has all the money, everyone else is just waiting to lose, and the newcomer decides this hobby is not for them and the … Read more
A Forest at War with Itself The Short Version – Tl;Dr Root is the most ambitious board game on my shelf, and also the one most likely to cause someone to quietly fold their arms and say ‘actually, I don’t think this is for me.’ It puts 2–4 players in control of rival factions fighting … Read more
At our table, we own a cat. Her name is not relevant to this post but she has sat on Wingspan cards, knocked over a Catan water hex, and once ate a Codenames word card so thoroughly we had to write the replacement in biro. So when someone brings a cat-themed game to the table, … Read more
The industrial revolution, reconstructed in card and wooden disc form. The Short Version – TL;DR Brass: Birmingham is the kind of game that takes about ninety minutes to teach someone properly and then about three years to fully understand. It is a two-phase economic network builder set in 18th and 19th century Birmingham, where you … Read more
If you live in a flat (or Apartment), you already know how the square footage maths works. The average one-bedroom flat in Britain is around 46 square metres. Every bookcase, every ottoman, every sideboard is already doing two jobs. And yet the hobby board game market in this country has never been bigger or more … Read more
Not every game night calls for intensity. Some evenings, the game is the frame rather than the point. There is food on the table, someone is mid-story, drinks are being refreshed, and the room has a particular relaxed energy that you want to keep rather than interrupt. Bringing out a game that punishes distraction or … Read more
You’ve been excited about this all week. There’s a new game, a fresh box, and a table full of friends ready to play. But as soon as you start reading the rulebook out loud, everyone’s eyes start to glaze over before you’re even halfway through. If you teach a board game poorly it’s a sure … Read more
Small Box, Sharp Edges, Serious Table Presence Some games arrive quietly, sit on a shelf for a while, then suddenly reappear with confidence. Tacta is one of those. Originally designed by Jason Tremblay and first published by The Op Games, it drifted past a lot of players the first time around. Then a fresh edition … Read more
Campaigns rarely collapse in flames. They fade. A missed week becomes two. Energy dips. Someone forgets what happened last session. Then the group quietly pivots to a board game night, or just drifts away and never returns. It feels dramatic when it ends. The reasons are not. Most campaigns fail for mundane causes. Scheduling drift … Read more
