Below are links to reviews of games that will be released in shops this week (in the UK):

Note that my Liberté review is of the original release and not the new Valley Games version; however, the only difference is that the new version has better board colouration (which was an issue with the original game).  The Valley Games’ board can be seen here.

Crows was on my radar when I read the rules before Spiel, so I bought a copy there and finally got to play it this week.  Crows is a simple game for 2-4 players but contains a surprising amount of tactical play.  The game consists of tiles (most showing a tree with 0, 1, 2 or 3 crows on each), some special ability tiles and lots of crow meeples.  Each player gets a coloured gem (shiny object) too.

A player’s turn consists of: 1. Draw a random tile and add it to those on the table; 2. Place their shiny object on an empty tile; 3. (Optionally) play one special ability tile.  Once each player has had one turn, the crows move towards the nearest shiny objects and players score points based on how many crows are on the tile with their shiny object.  If there are 6+ crows on a tile, they scatter.  Finally, the starting player moves on to the next player and another round begins.  When there are no more tiles to place, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.

As you can see, it seems like a very simple game on the surface but it delivers some interesting game play.  Read the rest of this entry »

I like Scotland Yard and think it’s a great game for both new and experienced players so Letters From Whitechapel is very intriguing as it sounds like Scotland Yard with more meat.

One player is Jack the Ripper who needs to perform a series of murders and the other players are the police trying to catch him before he has completed his grizzly activities and escaped.  As with Scotland Yard, Jack moves invisibly on the board so the police need to find his trail and get ahead of Jack.  The core element of the game is trying to read the other opponent(s) and predict where they will go next.

First, Jack places tokens representing his targets on the special murder sites but some of them are bluffs.  Next, the police place their men but some of these are bluffs.  The targets are then revealed (bluffs are removed) and Jack can choose to strike immediately or wait; if he waits, the targets wander the streets but Jack gets to reveal police tokens to find and remove police bluffs.  However, Jack can only wait so long and must strike soon.  As soon as he murders a victim, the clock is running – he starts at the murder location and must make it back to his hideout before dawn (15 turns) and without getting caught by the police who start moving as soon as the murder is announced.  An extra twist is that Jack returns to the same hideout after each murder so the police can start to deducting this location as the game progresses. Read the rest of this entry »

7 Wonders was the most anticipated game of Spiel 2010 with a very effective pre-launch campaign and general word-of-mouth. During the game, each player builds various buildings including developing their wonder of the world.  The winner is the player that scores the most victory points (VPs).

The game lasts 3 eras and each era consists of 6 turns.  Each turn, players pick one of the building cards in their hand and either:

(a) Build it
– Paying resources (if their built buildings produce enough or bought from neighbours)
– For free (if they built the pre-requisite building, or if it’s a basic building requiring zero resources)
(b) Discard it for 3 cash
(c) Use the card to build the next stage of their wonder (with the relevant resources)

Sounds pretty standard, right?  Well, there are several game mechanics that make 7 Wonders very different to other games. Read the rest of this entry »

Two games about Loch Ness were released at this year’s Spiel in Essen.  This one is by Ronald Wettering, who designed Lifeboats – a great game where players vote each other’s people out of sinking life boats.  With such a great (and humourously vindictive game) in his repertoire, I was automatically interested in Loch Ness.

Players have 3 photographers (numbered 3, 4 & 7) who are trying to take photos of the Loch Ness monster (Nessie).  The better the position when Nessie appears, the more victory points (VPs) you will score. Read the rest of this entry »

Grand Cru is one of several wine-making themed games released at Essen this year.  Each player owns a vineyard (board) where they will place the wine they make and any tiles they buy – each tile shows either one type of vine or a special action.  There are 5 types of wine each represented by a different colour (which represents a type of grape/vine).  Players take out loans during the game (each worth 7 cash) but must pay interest each round.  Each round players take turns performing just 1 action each.

Developing a Vineyard
As an action, a player can choose one of the newly drawn, face-up tiles and start an auction for it by placing one of their markers on their bid price (1-6).  On their turn, any other player can use an action to raise a bid (max price 6).  If a player is still the highest bidder, they can use an action to buy that tile.  Also, a player can use an action to immediately buy any face-up tile (whether being auctioned or not) for 7 cash. Read the rest of this entry »

Asara piqued my interest because it’s by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling – the designing partnership that created games like Tikal, Torres and the more recent Tikal II.  Over 4 rounds, players build towers to score victory points (VPs) based on their colours, height and quantity and most VPs wins.  Now this all sounds like standard stuff but Asara has some clever game mechanics that makes it very entertaining.

Each round players receive 20 cash and some worker cards (which come in 5 different colours).  Then, players take turns performing one action each until all players have used all of their cards.  To take an action, a player must place 1 of their worker cards face-up onto one of the limited set of spaces for worker cards next to the selected action.  However, if a worker card has already been placed on that action’s spaces then any new cards for that action must be of the same colour as the card already played.  If a player can not (or doesn’t want to) play a matching colour card, they can place any 2 cards face-down instead. Read the rest of this entry »

Prior to Essen, The Boss caught my attention when I read the rules so I pre-ordered a copy and I’m glad that I did.  The Boss is a simple but very clever game of deduction, bluffing and risk-taking with a gangster-theme.  The game lasts 3-5 rounds and the winner is the player with the most cash.

In the centre of the table is a row of cards each showing a different city (the number of cities depends on the number of players).  Each city has its own specific set of cards – each showing either an amount of money or something bad.  One card of each city is placed face-down next to that city – this is what the player who controls that city at the end of the round will win.  The remaining city cards are shuffled together and then dealt out to the players which gives them 5 each.  As each set of city cards has a different colour card back, players can see which cities their opponents have cards for but not their values. Read the rest of this entry »

Era of Inventions has a potentially dull sounding theme – patenting inventions and manufacturing patented items.  However, do not be fooled, Era of Inventions is a great placement and resource management game.

Over 8-10 rounds, players gather resources (materials, money and development cogs) so that they can build factories, invent devices, take out patents, and build inventions.  Doing this scores victory points and the player with the most VPs at the end of the game wins.

Each round, players take turns placing their 2 or 3 action markers on any the 6 different actions they wish to perform that round.  There are only 2 spaces for action markers next to each action so players must try to secure the actions they want before opponents fill up the spaces.  Read the rest of this entry »

When I first read about Luna before Essen, it sounded a bit odd as it focused more on priests travelling around islands than the game play.  However, it’s a game by Stefan Feld (Macao, Roma) so I was interested to see what it was like and, fortunately, I got the chance to play it at a recent games night.

The game lasts 6 rounds and the goal is to score the most victory points (VPs).  Each player starts with some novices and a shrine which are spread across 6 islands and it is here where most of the gameplay takes place. Read the rest of this entry »