Now that the dust has settled following Spiel in Essen (due to work, sickness, voting on some awards, and life in general), I am finally able to start writing reviews of the games released this year.  Unlike other years, I didn’t get to play many of the big releases until after Spiel, rather than during it; however, I have played many now (and there’s still a sizeable pile still to play too) and can report there were loads of great games this year.

However, in advance of all the full reviews, I thought I’d post briefly about what I’ve played so far.  Last week, was a busy week with a chance to play a lot of games.  I’ve played Russian Railroads with 2 and 4 players now and it’s an excellent meaty eurogame with some pretty tough decisions, especially as there are lots of possible ways to make points but spreading yourself too thinly across a lot of them is not likely to turn out so well.  S0, you need to have a plan as well as a plan on what to do if progressing the first plan isn’t possible because other players get in the way. Read the rest of this entry »

Citrus is a new game by Jeffrey D Allers who has created some great games such as Alea Iacta Est and Sahne (Piece o’Cake), as well as the forthcoming Artifact which is being released this Spiel too.

Citrus is a eurogame where players are growing fruit plantations.  In the middle of the table is the main board showing farming land (grid) with several building sites and fincas.  During the game, players place plantations of different fruits (tiles) onto the board to grow their own groups of matching tiles.

Each turn, a player can either Build or Harvest.  When a player builds, they buy plantation tiles from the market (which is an odd-shaped grid) and pays 1 coin per tile; however, they must buy all the tiles in a single row on the market grid and they must be able to place all the tiles they buy onto the board too.  Players can not hold onto tiles in between turns.

Players can places plantation tiles onto the board to expand a group of matching tiles they already own, or they can start a new group of tiles by placing one next to an available finca.  The four starting points next to each finca must contain a different type of fruit.  Placing tiles on some specific locations gain the player a landscape tile which give extra points or special actions. Read the rest of this entry »