Gameblog

Category: More about games

  • Quackle! (Snorta!)

    Review of Quackle! in Finnish. Snorta! — or Quackle!, as it’s known in Finland — is a light party game. The rules are very simple, the components attractive, the game works for up to eight players and it’s easy enough for kids yet interesting enough for adults to enjoy it as well. The components are…

  • Combat Commander: Europe

    Review of Combat Commander: Europe in Finnish. I’m definitely an eurogamer — fond of fairly simple games that manage to create complex gameplay from a small ruleset. Yet sometimes I want more. This has been particularly true for war games: Memoir ’44 is fun, but ultimately not enough. In the other hand, Advanced Squad Leader…

  • Struggle for Rome (Kampf um Rom)

    Here’s a review of the latest historical Catan game. The same review in Finnish. Struggle for Rome is based on real-life history: it covers the time when the Roman empire was in decline and the eastern barbarian tribes came to loot and pillage Roman cities and then settled down and started their own kingdoms on…

  • Latest crush

    I’ve got this thing with war games. I’d like to have a tactical level war game in my collection. I like Memoir ’44, it works well for what it tries to be, but I’d like something with more detail, more story to it. However, Advanced Squad Leader and other games like it are way too…

  • Age of Steam repackaged

    I went and reorganized my Age of Steam set. The box is now reserved for maps, charts and rules (and it’s full — the new Mississippi Steamboats / Golden Spike set will fit, but no more thick sets!). All the bits are in a tackle box. The 24-hole Shakespeare box I had bought earlier held…

  • Impulsive shopping — Hive and Looping Louie

    Got some games, on a whim. Despite my cool initial feelings towards Hive, I couldn’t resist the new bakelite edition. Just too cool, you can’t beat big, chunky pieces of plastic when it comes to board game pieces. I also bought the new edition of Looping Louie. I’m not sure if I would’ve bought it…

  • Resisting the temptation

    Ah, BattleLore. I’ve read the reports, the blog entries, the praise. How I wish you were mine, and how I must fight this temptation… I really like Memoir ’44, and while I prefer the military theme to the fantasy (medieval warfare isn’t bad — I just get an allergic reaction when in contact with standard…

  • Crystal Code

    Review of Crystal Code in Finnish. Crystal Code is designed by Grzegorz Rejchtman, the designer of Ubongo. The two games are similar: in both games, players race against time and each other to solve pattern recognition problems for rewards. What’s most important, both games manage to avoid the most common pitfall of speed games. Often…

  • Aqua Romana

    Review of Aqua Romana in Finnish. Aqua Romana is a tile-laying game where players build Roman aqueducts. Theme doesn’t make much sense, as usual — the players score points for the length of aqueducts, so efficiency flies out of the window. However, the Roman theme is used well in the art, and the board is…

  • Celtica

    Review of Celtica in Finnish Celtica, a game by well-known designer duo Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling was published recently in Finland. I was curious to try the game; for background, I had read the less-than-favourable comments from the Geek, combined with Bruno Faidutti’s recommendation. The game certainly looks delicious, from the beautiful box cover…