In Bunny Bunny Moose Moose, players use their hands to make deer antler or bunny ear shapes to score points.  Each turn, one player takes the role of the hunter who reads out a poem and reveals a card at the end of each line.  Only 6 cards are in play at any one time, so the 7th card replaces the 1st card, and so on.  All the other players sit in a row facing the hunter so they can see the cards.  On the table there is a score track and each player has a moose and bunny piece.

The cards show either a moose or a bunny: a moose card can show a mixture of antlers up or down, wide or narrow, and on the left or right or both; a bunny card can show ears straight or floppy, at the side or on top of their heads, and on the left or right or both.  Read the rest of this entry »

The setting for Krysis is a mix of sci-fi, post-apocalypse and fantasy where players play companies attempting to collect gems and relics from a mine.  Players use cards representing their agents who are either fighters or transporters for not only do you need to collect items but you need to protect them (or steal them) too.

The board shows a mine with 6 levels.  Players start on level 1 and each turn they enter the next level down, so the game lasts for 5 rounds.  Each player has a screen – items placed in front are in their campsite, and items placed behind it are safely at their company’s base.  Each player has two decks of agent cards – fighters and transporters.  Read the rest of this entry »

During Spiel 08, I noticed Schmidt publishing a range of games for 2 players, ‘Easyplay for 2’.  As you may have read in my previous articles, I’m always looking out for good two-player games, so this range was definitely of interest.  Burgen Land is one of these games in this range.

During the game you will develop a red, a blue and a yellow castle by adding castle sections which each display the number of points they are worth.  One the board is a circular track called a rondel (if you’re familiar with games like Imperial, Hamburgum, or Finca, you’ll recognise this game mechanic).  The rondel is split into 24 segments – 8 blue, 8 yellow and 8 red – and each segment displays an icon – wall, large tower, small tower, house or crown.  On your turn, you roll your dice and move a crown piece that many segments clockwise around the rondel. Read the rest of this entry »

Nostra City originally grabbed my interest because it’s by the designers of Cold War (CIA v KGB).  The theme was great, the rules sounded good and I enjoyed it when I played it at Spiel (initial review here).  I’ve played it a few times since then and I still really like it for several reasons.  (If you don’t know how the game is played, I suggest reading my initial review before this article.)

WHY I LIKE IT
First of all, each game feels quite different.  The cards that come up for auctions can really alter the shape of the game depending upon their mix.  If there are lots of wiseguys early on, players may be more likely to cheat each other out of income because it will be scarce.  If there’re lots of more racket/turf cards early on, income will be high and players may bid differently and have more options when making the boss more innocent or guilty. Read the rest of this entry »

When I first heard of Opera, the theme didn’t instantly grab me.  However, it looked nice and it was getting good reports so I was looking forwards to playing it.

The players’ goal is to score points by performing Operas in different European cities and this takes money, opera houses and music.  The game is played over 9 rounds and players earn income (ducats) after every round.  Some points can be earned during the rounds, but the most points are scored at the end of every third round.

The game mechanics in Opera are quite unusual and took the new players (including me) a round or two before we started to understand the relationship between the different elements.  Read the rest of this entry »

Cockroach Poker is a very, very simple bluffing game. But for all its simplicity, it is certainly no less fun. The game consists of a deck of cards which have pictures of creatures like rats, bats, toads and, of course, cockroaches. There are 8 cards for each of the 8 types of creature.

The cards are dealt out to the players and the players try to get rid of their cards to other players. On your turn, you pass a card face-down to another player and say what creature is on it. They have three options: They can believe you, or they can say you’re lying. Read the rest of this entry »

Hansa Teutonica had a lot of good reports during Spiel 09, and even more afterwards.  It was on my list of games to check out but, at a glance, it looked a bit dry.  However, having played it now, Hansa Teutonica has a lot of really good things inside it and should not be missed.

The board shows lots of cities and routes in between them.  Each route has spaces along it which can be occupied by player’s traders (cubes) or merchants (discs).  Merchants are less numerous, can be used instead of traders, and for some actions only a merchant will do. Read the rest of this entry »

When Christmas approaches, I start assembling the games I will play with my family when we meet at Christmas.  This year, it’s a varied group of a dozen people including one under 10, two teenagers, seven people in their 40’s and two in their 70’s.  This group like games at parties and even though they don’t usually play board games regularly they are quite open to trying stuff.  I’ve had them playing Carabande and even Ca$h’n’Guns but I’m unlikely to get them playing most simple Eurogames like Ticket To Ride.

This year, I am excited by the amount of fresh, new games I will be taking along.  So, here’re my top 5 games for a family Christmas. Read the rest of this entry »

I admit it – I’ve never played the original Samurai game by Reiner Knizia which is a classic.  I’ve wanted to as I’ve always read that it’s a great game but I’ve just never had the opportunity.  So, I definitely wanted to play the card game version at Spiel 09.

In Samurai, there are two types of cards – a single deck of village cards and each player has their own deck of samurai cards.  The village cards show one, two or three shapes on them: circle, square and triangle.  When a village is placed on the board, matching shaped counters are placed on the card.  Each player is trying to claim these counters by surrounding the villages with samurai cards. Read the rest of this entry »

Letter of Marque is a very light and quick bluffing game with players launching ships laden with treasure and hoping they reach port safely whilst trying to steal other player’s treasure.

Each player starts with 5 ships, 5 treasure cards and 3 cannon cards.  Two of the ships have cannons marked on their undersides (these are defended ships) and the other three are blank (which are undefended).  The treasure cards are numbered 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

On their turn, a player can either launch one of their ships, bring one of their ships home or attack an opponent’s ship. Read the rest of this entry »