I know this one is coming a little late in the day to be looking back at April, but I still wanted to get this out before May closed its doors on us. April wasn’t as good a month for getting games to the table, physically and virtually, but still a few new things and some old favourites. As with previous On the Table articles I’ll list the games alphabetically, I’ll provide a link to my review where it exists, a Boardgame Geek link, and a brief overview of my impressions. I’ll also add BGA to the title if I have been playing it on Boardgame Arena.
Azul
A teach of this game to a new player and a refresher for some of my group. Its such a tight, beautiful, and ultimately mean game. The mean streak is emergent rather than explicit which I really like.
Blokus
An early progenitor of the modern craze with polyonimo games, trying out Copenhagen just now. Blokus still holds up. Satisfying to play with a good click as pieces pop into place. Its simple to explain, I picked it up after about a minute explanation, and has a good streak of strategy running through it.
Kingdom Builder (BGA)
A modern phenomenon when it came out, I never really had the chance to play it. I can see why it was so highly regarded. Simple rules augmented each game with a different set of victory conditions, makes for a very replayable and varied game each time. The recent big box announced is grotesque and everything wrong with Kickstarter, but the original seems like a good value game full of things to explore. Keen to play more of this one.
Lords of Waterdeep
Yes its light, yes the theme is pasted on so thinly you can see the cracks, but I don’t care. It’s easy to teach, there is just enough depth to explore and it has a great pace to it. This one is staying in the collection for a while.
Marvel: Crisis Protocol
There has been a load of skirmish level miniature games come out in the last decade. I’ve not played a lot of them, but of those I have Marvel: Crisis Protocol is the best. It’s everything I want from this level of game: small miniature count, a core system I can easily hold in my head, the chance for dynamic plays, and a lovely emergent narrative. Unlike a lot of miniature games it really feels like every action and roll counts which I really love.
Space Base (BGA)
I’ve been keen to they this out for some time, and finally got a chance through its arrival on Boardgame Arena. Roll dice, get resources, improve your fleet, all very Machi Koro. There is a more complicated twist though with you building up combos on numbers as you repeatedly replace ships. Definitely keen to play some more and dive into the potential of the system.
The Split
The first game out of new studio Wayfinder games shows a lot of promise, alongside some rough edges. I enjoyed this game of Blackjack with powers, and Michael was good enough to give me an interview as well.
Come and chat about these games in our Discord. Have you played any of them? What do you think?