Amazing issue of The Games Journal this month! Tom Vasel’s interview of Greg Aleknevicus has brought in an avalanche of material and I do hope that trend continues.
I wonder what the bloggers will think of Lewis Pulsipher’s article The Classical and Romantic Game Playing Styles. I thought it was a nice way to put a rather obvious dichotomy. Articles by Bruno Faidutti (on game design) and Chad Ellis (on game publishing) are excellent, but I think the best one was Boards by Dave Shapiro, where he gives a rather thorough analysis of different types of game boards and the games they beget. Interesting!
Greg’s article My Favourite Game Boards probably makes everyone list their favourite game boards, but why not. I’m not that huge fan of Doris Matthäus, really, my best of best artist is Franz Vohwinkel — especially Tikal and Mexica, but also his work for Phalanx games. I also quite like Dawn Under, which is not by Vohwinkel and has a different, cartoonish style.
The reviews were good, too. On Tantrix, I’ve tried it and it certainly is an entertaining and physically pleasant game.