Gameblog

Category: More about games

  • 18RoyalGorge first impressions

    18RoyalGorge first impressions

    The latest addition to my 18xx collection is 18RoyalGorge: The Rails of Fremont County and the Royal Gorge Wars. I bumped into this on BGG, I think, and the game sounded good enough so I bought a copy. This was on Kickstarter in 2024 and came out in 2025 with less than 500 backers, so…

  • She made another one

    For-Ex had the “why on earth did you buy this game” letter on back of the box. I’m exactly the kind of person to buy a game after reading that. I played the original four times before passing it on. It was a weird game, hard to understand, and while it looked nice, it was…

  • Chicago & NorthWestern redraw

    I wanted to do a redraw of the Chicago & NorthWestern board. I own the original Winsome Games edition. The Rio Grande version has a nicer board, though it’s a bit plain and doesn’t include the most obvious usability fix I wanted to include in my version. Let’s start with the original version. It’s usable,…

  • Spring 2025 notes

    Spring 2025 notes

    Thoughts on Innovation Ultimate, Fellowship of the Ring: The Trick-taking Game, Faraway and Black Forest.

  • New game notes, December 2024

    New game notes, December 2024

    Short comments on the best new games I’ve played in the later half of 2024.

  • Forest Shuffle and new games

    Forest Shuffle and new games

    The post provides reviews of multiple games. I enjoy Forest Shuffle, particularly when played with two players, and find All Roads to be a compact, minimalist game with cooperative elements. The urban tactical combat game Invasion: Free State is also noted. Other games mentioned include The Quest for El Dorado: Dragons, Treasures & Mysteries, One…

  • Horseless Carriage and more

    Horseless Carriage and more

    Horseless Carriage is Splotter’s latest game tackling the early automobile business where players try to fulfill customer needs and manipulate market trends. Other games mentioned include Brass: Birmingham, a fine game; Spots, a quick, dog-themed game; and Cascadia, the Spiel des Jahres award-winning, tile-laying game ranked well on BoardGameGeek and comparable to another game, Akropolis.

  • Forest Shuffle and more

    Forest Shuffle and more

    I write about my experiences playing three different board games – Forest Shuffle, Fit to Print, and Moon. I had mixed feelings about Forest Shuffle’s balance and gameplay but plan to explore it further. I found Fit to Print, a tile-laying, real-time game about creating newspaper layouts, exciting and enjoyable. However, I remain indifferent to…

  • SpellBook

    SpellBook

    SpellBook by Phil Walker-Harding and Space Cowboys. I received a review copy from Asmodee Nordics. Elevator pitch: SpellBook is a race of collecting magical resources, using them to unlock spells and then using those spells to unlock more spells. What’s in the box? There’s a bunch of spell cards and a familiar board for each…

  • Xiangqi, Shogi, Riichi and Brass: Birmingham

    Here are some random notes on games I’ve played recently. Xiangqi and Shogi. Thanks to a book project, I’ve returned to Chinese and Japanese chess. I tried both about 15 years ago, but those were just single attempts. Now I’ve delved slightly deeper, thanks to a son who is keen to explore these games with…