era medieval age

Its time for our weekly out pouring of “ooh, look at the shinies” as we collate some of the brightest tabletop game news from the last seven days.

Speaking of shinies we have Matt Leacock’s latest endeavour, which you can be seen in our header image and there isn’t a disease in site (because all the plague ridden rats will be in the basements), as well as all the latest news from Portal Con.


Call for the ambulance, because the boys from Polyhedron Collider have got a fever for cardboard, as well as a severe case of acquisition disorder.   We go through some of the games we have been playing over recent months, including Dice Hospital, Detective, and Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

Stonemaier Games - Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig

Avid readers of this blog and listeners of our podcast will be aware that I have a bit of a soft spot for all things Stonemaier. Despite this, I raised a quizzical eyebrow when I saw the teasers for Between Two Castles of Mad king Ludwig, which incidentally sounds like more of a mashup of a few reality TV shows. All we need now is to Strictly Get me out of a Jungle on Ice and we’d have the set. 
News Collider - Board Game News 23/01/19

It's Wednesday so that can only really mean one thing, it's board game news day!

This week we look to the heavens and gaze upon the red seas of Mars. We dream of terraforming it only to find it's infested with robots, Skrulls, and roll and write games.  So join us as we discover Legacy games from Stronghold, Big Trouble in Little China and some beautiful Harry Potter miniatures.
Awesome Games Coming in 2019 Part 3: Traditional Publishing

So it comes to the final section of our 2019 preview, those games coming to our shelves via conventional publishing means and not crowd-funding. Last year it was a tricky part of the list to complete, this year it has been very difficult and a testament to just how much sway Kickstarter has over our board gaming hobby.

If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to check out our top picks for the games coming to Kickstarter over the coming months, and the games that we backed in the past that we are most looking forward to receiving this year. Also you can hear Andy and I discuss our top picks in our latest podcast episode.
Awesome Games Coming in 2019 Part 2: Kickstarter Arrivals

There is a natural order to things in life. The sun shines, plants grow, animals eat the plants and then I eat the animals. The same circle is present in board gaming; publishers announce upcoming Kickstarter campaigns, we go nuts to back them, the game is made, we receive it then there’s some miserable sod who reviews it and says it’s shit. 

Now that you’ve read our first of three articles telling you which campaigns to look out for in 2019, it’s my job to go through what we can look forward to receiving from some 2018 (or earlier!) campaigns that are currently either in production or on their way to us as I type this.

Awesome Games Coming in 2019 Part 1: Kickstarter

I’m just going to come right out and say it.  I’m probably going to ruin one of you New Year’s Resolutions.  If you’ve promised yourself that you WILL pay-off that credit card, or save money, or even, dare I say it, trim down your board game collection *gasp* well, my goal here is to tempt you away from all those very adult and responsible goals and show you some of the shiniest of this coming year’s shinies.

And I’m not alone in this task, Andy and Steve will be doing much the same in their articles for Delivered Kickstarters and Upcoming Mainstream Publishers and, of course, Andy and Steve have already had a nice long chat about these games in the latest podcast episode.  But here and now, let me excite, tease and tempt you with our most anticipated games coming to Kickstarter in 2019

Where I’ve been able to I’ve dug through the various Board Game Geek forums, scoured Facebook and Twitter, and, in one instance, I drove to the publisher's house, broke in, kidnapped their cat and held it to ransom until they told me roughly when the launch date is.

board game news lord of the rings

Judging by the Fellowship of the Ring theme being blared out of Steve’s laptop speaker, it’s safe to say that he’s a little excited about our first news article today. 

And so he should be because there’s a lot to get excited for this week; such as a Dice Forge expansion, a series of gateway games from Board & Dice, another board game set in the Expanse universe (or should that be solar system) and, a sequel to Ganz Schön Clever. Of course there’s also a new Lord of the Rings board game coming out.
Coral Islands Review

Coral Islands presents gamers with a bold concept, two games in one box.  Linked by theme and components these oceanic games utilise dice stacking in different ways to give us two games that would likely have never been made had they swiped left.  Lucky for us, when they met, using the Alley Cat Dating app it was a match made in cardboard heaven.  Coral (who loves bright colours, 3D Tetris and jigsaw puzzles), saw something in Islands (who loves long walks on the beach, music and occasionally bending the rules) that they didn’t even see in themselves.

So, dear reader, this combi-review will look at what you’ll get in the box, one game at a time.  Starting with:
The Polyhedron Collider Cast Episode 54 - The Game We are Looking Forward to in 2019

Its 2019 and we have a whole year of exciting new board games to look forward to, so Andy and Steve take us through the tabletop games we are looking forward to playing—and backing on Kickstarter—over the next 12 months.

We also discuss getting old, blowing all your board game budget on soft furnishings and announce the highly prestigious “Andy's Insert of Choice Award 2018”.

Dice Hospital - Alley Cat Games - Board Game Review

It is said that one must work at a relationship. That you only get out what you put in, which mathematically makes no sense as if you’re making no profit, why bother? I imagine that’s missing the point somewhat, but I am not exactly the sympathetic, caring type. Insensitivity aside, it could be said that have been somewhat lax regarding my relationship with Dice Hospital. You could say we’ve had a tumultuous beginning. Before I go full Claire Rayner on you, let me explain.

Welcome to the sleepy suburb of boardgamesville. That elegant chirping you can hear is the early morning bird song of the lesser spotted News Collider. It wakes at dawn, ready to catch juicy tabletop gaming news worms to feed to its nest of board game chicks.

Today the lesser spotted News Collider has managed to bring back a bounty of board game news including housing developments, bird watching and dungeon Disney damsels – enjoy!

The King's Will Review

Writing this review of the King’s Will, from Blackfire, feels like wading through treacle. It’s not the King’s Will is a bad game, it’s nothing of the sort, it’s full of that all-important ‘meaningful decision’ and has plenty in the box to keep your brain ticking over nicely. The problem is, King’s Will is just, well, bland.
Santorini Review

Santorini is as picturesque as the island it is named for, with its brilliant white cuboid buildings and wonderfully aquamarine domes, it is a seemingly simple, yet refreshing abstract strategy game that will satisfy many a gamer should they chose to visit.

I have a great fondness for the simple, perhaps because I am so, but games that can be taught and explained in a handful of rules will forever hold a special place on my game shelf.  Santorini takes pride of place on that shelf.  As can often be the case, just because it is simple, does not mean it is not capable of great depth, with Santorini its depths, despite the simplicity, are easily overlooked.  When explaining the game to people I was frequently met with “Is that it?” and a barely concealed sneer of indignation that this was my offering for game’s night.  Oh, how quickly those sneers were replaced with puzzlement and dumbfoundedness as the little green board blooms with white cuboid blocks, where each is a new opportunity, each is a risk and often at the same time.
News Collider - Board Game News 2/1/19

Happy New Year! And you know what a New Year means, new tabletop games! We may all be suffering from turkey overdose and the crushing realisation that we can no longer start drinking Baileys at 11am, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bring you some of the freshest board game and roleplaying game news.

Today we’ll be talking Lord of the Rings, Italian Harry Potter and a tainted Grail PC game.