The acclaim for Uwe Rosenberg’s recently released Caverna: The Cave Farmers interests me. It’s a very conservative design, from an increasingly conservative designer. It offers very little innovation, but the cult of the new have fallen hard for it (with Tom Vasel vocally proclaiming that it has displaced Rosenberg’s 2008 megahit Agricola in his collection). The relationship with Agricola is … Continue reading
From a board game perspective, for me this year has been one of disciplined spending and less disciplined blogging. In the whole year, I’ve spent over £10 on only a single game – Samarkand: Routes to Riches (a 2010 train game in disguise, designed by David V.H. Peters and Harry Wu). Additionally, however, in the year … Continue reading
Starship Merchants is a game of timing. It uses a board which is, effectively, a large rondel of four spaces: you buy and equip a fleet of starships across the first two spaces, collect goods on the third, and sell them on the fourth. if you cannot take an action on the space you currently … Continue reading
In November, the UK qualifying tournament for the Agricola World Championship takes place not too far from me. I toyed with entering, but ultimately don’t think I would very much enjoy the experience. My game play is foremost social and playful; I certainly play to win, but through play I’m ultimately aiming either to establish … Continue reading
In a general sense, it’s easy to credit board games with a purity. In contrast to a number of other cultural products, the board game does not directly require technology to use, and therefore feels less removed from nature. A board game is very often the work of a single auteur and can thus be felt … Continue reading
Exciting news! The second annual Voice of Experience review contest has been launched on Board Game Geek. The contest asks reviewers to provide critical analyses of games they know well – that they’ve played at least ten times. The winning review will be more than a mere rule-book re-write: it’ll be a pleasure to read, … Continue reading
