You remind me of the Babe...Jim Henson's Labyrinth (2016) board game review

Jim Henson's Labyrinth (2016) -River Horse Games

 Jim Henson's Labyrinth was a big film for me as a child One I'd always watch if it was on TV and a film I've owned on both VHS, DVD and BluRay. Its a film that I bonded with my fiancee over when we first started seeing each other. It has endured from childhood to adulthood as one of my favourite films. I also love board games so when I heard that there was to be a Labyrinth board game, with official Jim Henson Creature shop miniatures I was always going to buy it. Well I have it now, I have played it and I have also read a few unfavourable reviews on sites like Boardgamegeek. Are these fair?

What is best in life? Conan- Monolith games (2016)

Conan- Monolith Games (2016)

Back in January 2015, a time of high adventure, a game hit kickstarter that promised beautiful minis and an authentic representation of the world of Robert E Howards Conan the Cimmerian, backed up with a game that had some of the biggest names in boardgaming attached. That game was Conan by Monolith games. It went on to be one of the largest grossing tabletop game kickstarters and delivered last month some monumental boxes full to the brim with stuff, and things. But are these good things and fine stuff? The game is not without its controversies, more of which later, but more importantly, did it deliver on its promises?

A big box of stuff

Game Review - Koi-koi Hanafuda

 In news that will not surprise anyone I am once again reviewing a relatively obscure game from Japan. However, it is not based on anime, does not have an obtuse and impenetrable theme and so is probably quite good and recommendable to people who aren't weird cartoon people. The game is Hanafuda, a traditional card game from the 1800s designed to be intentionally obscure and unusual to get around restrictions on gambling. If you are interested in learning how this game works, there is a cheap and readily-available computer version on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/364930/) which costs a mere £6.99 at the time of this article's publication.

Zombicide: The Review

In most “dungeon crawl” type games, in which the players move around and discover a map filled with enemies while seeking objectives, the balancing of progression – of the simplified “levelling up” mechanic derived from role-playing games – is in an awkward position. A fully-fledged roleplaying game has a much longer progression track and a much wider design space for gaining abilities; there is a much larger portfolio of things to improve (base statistics, the character's library of abilities, the efficiency of existing abilities, non-combat skills and feats etc) while a board game generally reduces the entire design to a series of, or indeed single, combat encounter. This smaller design space means that each level has a smaller number of possibilities – and thus the rate of progression is a lot faster. Similarly, a board game is designed to be played to completion in a single session – the levelling mechanics in a role-playing game are for a campaign lasting several sessions. Thus a player may well gain several levels in one game.