Phil sold over 1 million copies of his first designed game Sushi-Go! which also was translated into 20 languages.
After 7 years of publishing his own games and working as a freelance for international publishers such as Gamewright, Z-Man Games, Buffalo Games, Big Potato, and Blue Orange, he and his wife Meredith started their own publishing company Joey Games.
Joey Games intends to bring young and old(er) together and allow them to play in a meaningful way, making meaningful connections. While playing, the games celebrate the peoples, plants, and animals of Australia.
Respect throughout gameplay is of essential importance and is frontal in every aspect of their entire business and product development.
With moving towards a more sustainable future, Joey Games’ components and packaging are made from FSC-Certified paper, cardboard, and wood, and with 100% renewable electricity. No plastic shrink wrap is used. Packaging waste is hence avoided and freight is stripped down to a carbon-neutral level via offsetting the emissions.
Joey Games is made for everyone and is rendered by encouraging healthy relationships between kids and parents or helping kids develop essential social and emotional skills.
The board games also contain minimal reading and are visually impaired-friendly.
When engaging with Joey Games, you are not only holding strong and solid gameplay in your hands, you do good at the same time. Under 1% For The Planet Program, 1% of the profits support climate action in Australia through Seed Mob and 1% of the copies of each print run go to local schools and libraries. Illustrators also retain ownership of their art and benefit from a profit-sharing scheme. And that’s not it; each of the games below supports another relevant charity on its own.
Play is an Essential Part of living a healthy, balanced, and restful life.
Games for your Board Game Shelf
Collect your favourite Australian party food and share them with your friends at the right time. But… watch out… Ziggy the mischievous puppy is trying to grab food off the table!
If you can outscore him as a team you will all win the game together.
Play and Learn about Australia’s fascinating birds. In this colourful card game, you are scoring points by gathering bird cards into flocks. But be aware, each bird has a special ability; ie. the Powerful Owl allows you to search in the deck for the card you need or the Mimicking Mapgpie allows you to copy another card. You can keep this game interesting by choosing which bird cards you want to use.
This game is inspired by the beautiful scribbles from baby moths burrowing through the back of a scribbly gum tree. With every turn, your little baby moth needs to eat. The food can be reached by following the given direction on the movement tiles. By scoring food, you also score points.
This game can be played by any number of players and is even set up for classroom play.
You can select a basic or an advanced play version, by including the achievement tiles. And within each version, there is a ‘Kuringgai’ or ‘Mooloolah’ setting, which feels different by playing a different layout.
All three games can be found on our website.
]]>Children’s games are designed with kids in mind, but the best ones will have the big kids engaged too. Children’s games are easy to learn and teach, with a light complexity level and age-appropriate content they are a great introduction to board games for budding gamers aged 3 and upwards.
Children’s Games are a subsection of Family games and are designed specifically to include the younger members of the family that many Family Games may leave behind. For Children 8 and up looking for a slightly higher complexity, we recommend starting here, but for anyone younger or those looking for a lighter game experience, the Children’s game genre is the perfect place to start where everyone can join in.
Below is a selection of Children’s games that we believe exemplify the genre. Whether buying for a gift or looking for something to play with the small ones in your life, you can’t go wrong with these tried and tested favourites.
For those after a classic roll dice and move board game experience, Enchanted Forest is the perfect pick. A Magical Treasure Hunt in the Land of Fairy Tales. Cinderella's glass slipper, Rumpelstiltskin's spinning wheel, Jack's magical beanstalk beans, and other once-upon-a-time treasures are hidden under the trees of the Enchanted Forest! This is the updated version of Ravensburger's highly acclaimed Enchanted Forest Family Game that has enchanted families for decades. New graphics, new fairy tales and updated game play instructions now make this game suitable for ages 4 +.
2-6 players, age 4+, scenario playing time 20-60 min. Complexity 1.5/5
Let’s work together! Co-operative games are a great way to introduce kids to teamwork and open communication in a fun setting, newcomer Outfoxed! does all this in a visually stunning board game that begs to be played. In Outfoxed, Mrs. Plumpert's prized pot pie has gone missing, and you will have to work together to crack the case! To Play, you move around the board to gather clues, then use the special evidence scanner to rule out suspects. You will have to work quickly because the guilty fox is high tailing it towards the exit! Will you halt the hungry hooligan before it flies the coop — or will you be outfoxed?
2-4 players, age 5+, scenario playing time 15+min. Complexity 1/5
Sometimes a game comes along that is equal parts affordable, easy to teach and infinitely fun and it becomes a pretty unbeatable classic, Spot-it (previously known as Dobble) is one of those games. With a small size that can be taken anywhere and a broad player count that will suit most situations, Spot-it is a must in any family game collection. Spot it! is a simple pattern recognition game in which players try to find an image shown on two cards. Each card in original Spot it! features eight different symbols, with the symbols varying in size from one card to the next. Any two cards have exactly one symbol in common. For the basic Spot it! game, reveal one card, then another. Whoever spots the symbol in common on both cards claims the first card, then another card is revealed for players to search, and so on. Whoever has collected the most cards when the 55-card deck runs out wins!
2-8 players, age 7+, scenario playing time 15+min. Complexity 1/5
A game of suspense, strategy, and anticipation. Get rid of the high cards (rats) and go for the low cards (cats). Sneak a peek, draw two, or swap cards for an added twist. Low score wins the game. (A poker face helps!) As children play Rat-a-tat Cat, they develop a sense of timing and an understanding of basic, but essential, mathematical concepts. They learn ways to remember their cards and strategies to figure out what cards other players might have. They also begin to develop an intuitive sense of probability. Rat-a-tat Cat requires skill, strategy, and awareness, challenging both young children and adults.
2-6 players, age 6+, scenario playing time 10+min. Complexity 1.5/5
Orchard Toys' bestseller! In this fun and simple memory game, players must race to be the first to fill their trolley or basket by matching all the items on their shopping list. As they play, children age 3-6 years will develop matching and memory skills and personal and social skills. This award-winning game is a firm favourite with parents and children alike, having captured imaginations for over 20 years.
2-4 players, age 3+, scenario playing time 15+min. Complexity 1/5
Think Fun, the makers of Rush Hour, are the masters of making educational games that kids will love. As a single-player game, Rush Hour is the perfect game to engage kids when their favourite game partner is occupied. In Rush Hour, a sliding block logic game, you have to battle the gridlock as you slide the blocking vehicles out of the way for the red car to exit. With 40 all-new challenges, ranging in difficulty. Players can progress at their own speed, making it the perfect fit for all levels of gamer. The original starts at 8 and up, with Rush Hour Jnr letting those 5 and up join in on the fun.
Rush Hour original: 1 player, age 8+, Complexity 2/5
Rush Hour Jnr: 1 player, age 5+, complexity 1/5
Animal upon animal is a simple stacking game, with 29 cute wooden animals to try and stack upon each other it’s the perfect entry level dexterity game for those who prefer a more tactile gaming experience. The animals want to show how good they are at making tall pyramids! They must be skilfully careful: Who will position the penguin on top of the crocodile, the sheep on top of the penguin, the serpent on the sheep? The hedgehog wants to stand on top of the pyramid but the height is making him dizzy. Each turn a player rolls the die and either places one or two animals on to the stack of animals, passes one of his or her animals to another player for them to place, or places an animal on the table, extending the base for other players to build upon. Of course, if any pieces fall off whilst you are building, you get up to two of them back. The first player to have used all their animals wins. This game, intended for children, is equally popular with adults.
2-4 players, age 4+, scenario playing time 15+min. Complexity 1/5
The Risk Junior board game is a great way to introduce kids to the strategy gameplay of the classic Risk game. The Risk Jr. board game features easy-to-get gameplay, an engaging pirate theme, and bold, colourful artwork. Kids move their boat token around the game board in search of buried treasure as they battle for control of the islands, aiming to collect the most loot to win. The game requires no reading, is quick to set up, and can be played in less than 30 minutes.
2-4 players, age 5+, scenario playing time 15-60 min, Complexity 1/5
]]>Have you thought about getting into a fantasy RPG, but struggling to find a Game Master to lead the campaign, or wishing for a unique fantastical setting that you haven’t heard much about? Or perhaps you’re more of a board gamer and wouldn’t be too keen on putting role-playing at the forefront?
You may have heard about it! After all, this game is still holding the number one position on the popular Board Game Geek website, 3 years since being released.
This stellar tactical combat game invites you to explore the world of Gloomhaven and immerse yourself in a fantasy adventure, RPG-style. You can emphasise on the role-playing aspect, or simply have it as a flavoursome afterthought to the tactical element of the game – your choice! The narrative is rich and full of twists and turns, and the strategic side of the game offers depth and dynamism.
In Gloomhaven, players go through scenarios one game session after another, their choices dictating how the campaign will proceed. This is a Legacy-style game, so one game session’s end will be another’s beginning, creating an ongoing narrative. Ultimately, each player’s decisions will shape the story and outcome of the game! Sounds grand, but wait – you say – what’s the catch? With all its vastness and depth, the game might appear daunting with its myriad of components and relatively dense rules. How can we enjoy Gloomhaven without digging through quite literally over 10kg worth of gaming material?
The answer lies in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion – a standalone game that takes place before the events of the original Gloomhaven. New characters, new monster types, unique adventures, but most importantly – fewer rules and components. Learn faster and start playing sooner! Released earlier this year, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is already reaching top scores on Board Game Geek, and who knows, maybe it will push its predecessor off its seemingly unshakable throne.
These great cooperative games, along with expansions and add-ons, are available on Gumnut.
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Are you thinking about picking up miniature painting, be it for a tactical warfare game or an RPG campaign, and you’re not sure where to start? Or perhaps you’ve been painting for a bit and you’re not too happy with the results? Here are a few techniques that will help you make your figuring come to life.
First, what are the different paints you will find on the shelves of a hobby store or online? For miniature painting, acrylic paints are generally used, with a handful of brands being available in Australia. Here at Gumnut, we offer a wide range of paints from Citadel and Vallejo, as well as Army Painter. Most paints can be classified into 4 general groups – primers to go onto the “naked” miniature and prep it for painting, opaque paints that are used for base and layers, washes for shading, and technicals for all sorts of effects - be is slime or rocky soil. Of course, there is more to it, but we’ll keep things simple for now. When picking paints for your next project, be sure to identify what exact use it is for, and do not shun away from acquiring washes. These will provide a fast and effecting shading to your model, creating that desired “3D” look.
This one is pretty simple – make sure the miniature is completely clean, the gaps are filled in and the mould lines removed. The tidier the surface the easier it will be to work with further down the line. You can use a number of tools to smoothen the mould lines, but a hobby knife will do the job. To fill in the post-assembly gaps, you can use Citadel’s Liquid Green Stuff, Vallejo’s Plastic Putty, or Milliput 2-Part putty, along with other brands. Once the miniature is as cleaned up and smooth, you can move on to painting.
No matter how steady your hand is or how vast your product knowledge, if you pick colours that just don’t work - it’s all for nought. A little understanding of colour theory can go a long way, and help you choose a colour scheme that will pop. There is no need to delve deep into the vast study of the fine arts just to paint a few plastic miniatures but having a look at a Colour Wheel online would sure prove useful. This is a tool to not only understand what colours naturally look great together, but also more accurately predict the results of mixing two hues. Putting the chosen colours together on a piece of paper for a quick test won’t hurt either.
As the famous makeup artist and online personality Nikki Tutorials says, “not to prime is a crime”. Beginners are often recommended to go for a black primer. Indeed, oftentimes it is the quickest solution, just build up highlight as you go and - Voila! However, I recommend black primer only if you are going for a dark colour scheme. If you are opting for brighter pops of colour, you will inevitably have to apply too many layers of paint and diminish the amount of details. Red and Yellow washes won’t show up easily, and some less pigmented paints will barely cover the black until 4th or even 5th application. Use grey, light grey, off-white or white primers in most cases, and coloured ones if your miniatures will end up monochromatic. Bottom line is, black primers will let you paint faster, but often at the cost of overall quality.
If you are tossing between a brush-on primer and a spray, sprays are a better choice. The coat will be more even and thinner, allowing you to preserve more details of the sculpt. Additionally, since the primer is atomized into small particles, you run lower risk of producing bubbles. For best results, apply spray primer at room temperature with low humidity.
Blending is not just keeping your shadows and highlights tidy and transitioned, it is also considering environmental lighting that your miniature is exposed to. Ask yourself, is there a light source in the picture? Perhaps a flame, or a lamp? Or maybe there’s an eldritch glow coming from the sword in their hand? In that case, the objects nearest to it and all reflective surfaces will interact with that light and carry its colour.
There are many popular techniques in blending, but we’ll have a quick look at the 3 most often seen used, and perhaps the easiest.
Dry-brushing, if approached with care, is a powerful tool to make an eye-candy out of your miniature. This technique applies paint to the raised sections of your model, while leaving the crevices intact. Equip yourself with a dry brush and keep a light hand – a little pigment can go a long way. A very seamless and smooth transition can be achieved with multiple very light coats, as you shrink the area you are dry-brushing. Similarly, you can achieve a blended look by building up layers of opaque paint without the use of dry brush, or glazing with translucent paint – as long as each coat is light and the layers are very gradual in colour. Thinning your paint down to achieve this gradient is best with mixing or glazing medium instead of water – this will prevent it from being way too liquid and runny.
Another popular technique is Two-Brush Blending, or TBB. This technique, just as the name suggests, uses one brush to apply a small amount of paint to the miniature’s surface, while another brush will drag it out and blending it in while dampened with blending medium… or saliva. Indeed, your own spit serves as a great blending medium, and this technique is widely used by competitive painters. Be wary not to use it with unsafe substances! Luckily, most acrylic paint brands are non-toxic.
Feathering is another great technique that will quickly create a seamless transition. Deposit the paint in a controlled fashion where you want the pigment to be the strongest, then lightly “feather” it out in a zig-zag motion along the surface. The key is to not bring in too much pigment, and keep your strokes light yet precise. Similarly, the Loaded-Brush Blending involves feathering out the pigment, but you will “load” a single brush with two paints that you are trying to connect. Generally, those would be a darker colour and a highlight colour. Which brings us to non-metallic metals.
There is a wide array of metallic paints, from sci-fi magentas and blues to beetle-like purples and greens, to classic golds and silvers. But oftentimes, to really bring the metallic look to a sword’s blade or a polished armour plate, you’ll need more than just some silver pigment. Creating the play between dark and light transitions at one point and sharply contrasting them at another will create a vivid and life-like metal surface.
Non-metallic metals (NMM) is what will make your metals all shiny and chrome, with nothing but solid paints. We have mentioned previously that the miniature must be living in a scene – come alive in its world be interacting with it through physics. If there is a source of light or a brightly coloured item in the vicinity of a metallic object, it may very well reflect it. Of course we do not want to emulate reality – that would be incredibly difficult and largely futile but we do want to be inspired by how real object would look and react in order to “sell” the reflective effect through our painting. Another thing to keep in mind is how polished / scratched the metallic surface is. Be confident to weather your sword with scratched through the addition of abrupt dark and light fine lines, though be careful not to overdo it. Do not immediately challenge yourself by taking up a full armour piece (that’s scary!), start off with something smaller and easier first, like a nice bulky zweihander.
When it comes to varnish, I recommend opting for matte. A matte sealant will improve the contrast of your paintjob and reduce uneven reflections that often obscure details or mess with your painted highlights. For better results, use glossy varnish under the matte one. This will prevent “frosting” – an unwanted powdery effect that happens when it is too humid while the miniature is in the process of drying. Additionally, a blowdryer could help speed up the process and help prevent “frosting”. Just don’t make it too hot!
This one’s a bit of a cheat, but here we go. Even a very mediocre paintjob will look rather impressive with a good base. Pop some textured soil, a bush tuft, and a couple of small rocks together, drybrush it - and suddenly, it’s like we’re being serious here. A middle-of-the-road fantasy warrior towering over a volcanic crack looks fierce and dangerous, and an otherwise unassuming elf ranger placed upon an overgrown temple ruin brings an air of magical mystique.
In conclusion, the key to becoming a better painter is trying things out, not being afraid to experiment, and most importantly not being too hard on yourself – mistakes will happen! Don’t start a new miniature if you think you’ve botched the one you’re working on – you will learn more by completing it or attempting to fix it that from starting anew.
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Ah, Spiel des Jahres, the board gaming world’s Olympics. If you’ve ever wondered what board game awards there are, or what is the significance of the German Spiel des Jahres in particular, have a quick look at one of our previous blog posts. Despite 2020 being a bumpy ride, things are still happening in the hobby world, and this year has seen a few interesting and innovative titles. Let’s have a look at this year’s winners and nominees, shall we?
Pictures, a deduction party game for 3 to 5 players, became the game of the year, snatching the title of Spiel des Jahres. This is a quick-playing visual associations game with very simple rules, in which players will try and depict various photographs from the set of cards with very unusual items – from sticks and stones to shoelaces. Pick a set of materials and try your best to interpret your assigned picture (only you know which one). Your goal is to make everyone guess yours correctly!
Accessible, simple yet fun, and well-received by the gaming crowd, Pictures is sure to become a new top title among party games as well as family games. The game brings about creativity with the simplest of tools. The jury’s verdict reads: “The materials in ‘Pictures’ at first seem to have been randomly thrown together, in reality however they have been chosen cleverly. Each set provides the player with a different challenge and so there is a huge incentive for experimentation. The results are often astounding, so the guessing rounds often seem like a visit to an art gallery: featuring great ‘Aha’ moments and amusing attempts to justify your misunderstood creative genius.”
Nominated for the game of the year along with Pictures were My City by Reiner Knizia, a legacy game focused around city building, and Nova Luna by Uwe Rosenberg and Corné van Moorsel, an abstract tile-laying game.
My City is a building strategy for 2 to 4 players, with a legacy element to it. If you are unfamiliar with legacy games, what it means is that the game takes off wherever you left it last time you’ve played it, in an ongoing gaming experience. My City takes about 20-40 minutes to play per game session, and it consists of 24 episodes, at the end of which a winner will emerge. In the game, each player will be in control of their own city, beginning in its early preindustrial stage and developing it as the game progresses, adding more and more elements to their personal game boards and cards to their deck. Each choice will matter, as it will echo through the entirety of 24 episodes, and every game will carry a very personalised player experience. If you are not too keen for the legacy-style play, or you’ve completed it, My City offers an alternate set-up for repeatable play.
On the other hand, we have Nova Luna. In this strategy game, players draft tiles into their grid, and on each tile there will be a small goal the players will try to accomplish. The tiles are colour-coded, and each goal consists of bringing the various tiles together. Once you’ve reached a goal, you deposit a token on the corresponding tile, and once you’ve ran out of token – you win! The moon dial contains the tiles available for drafting, as well as dictates which player goes first. Once the tiles on the dial are depleted the players may refill. The game goes on and the players search for synergies to build around their tile grid. Choose the right tiles, maximise your points and expand your grid before you run out of tokens! Easy to play, fast to learn, with decent replayability and depth of tactics, this is a great new title for those in the market for an abstract strategy.
Let’s have a look at the Kennerspiel des Jahres award, which expands the prestigious Spiel des Jahres to focus on “connoisseur” games – the heavier complexity games that are usually aimed at a more experienced gamer audience. This year’s winner is The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine.
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a co-operative trick-taking game for 2 to 5 players. In this sci-fi themed card game, players will embark on a journey through space, consisting of 50 missions, each more difficult than the other. As in any trick-taking game, cards of various suits are played and the highest card wins the trick. However, The Crew mixes things up with additional thematic rules and the missions themselves, adding more and more challenges as the game progresses. In the end, the players win only if all team members have successfully completed their tasks.
Fast-playing and very well-received, there’s no wonder this game emerged as a winner! The jury statement reads: “The Crew is a co-operative trick-taking game and that alone makes it something a bit special. But the appeal doesn’t stop with this unique selling point. Hardly any other game before it has encapsulated the special charm of trick-taking games so well. Players gradually come to appreciate the subtleties of the genre and are challenged in an original way. The Crew is simultaneously missionary and mentor.”
The other two nominees were Cartographers by Jordy Adan, a fantasy territory-building game, and The King's Dilemma by Hjalmar Hach, Lorenzo Silva and Carlo Burelli, an interactive negotiations game.
The kingdom is expanding further north into new territories, and as the Queen’s cartographer it is your job to map them out and claim them for her Majesty. Through royal edicts, the matriarch will reveal which territories are prized above others, and to increase your reputation you must meet her demands. Cartographers is a paper-and-pencil game where your goal is to score maximum points while filling out your map grid, Tetris-style. In Cartographers, players will compete to earn the most reputation over the course of 4 seasons. They will do so by carrying out the Queen’s edicts and filling out the map on their sheet before each season is over. Become the most reputable cartographer by winter’s end and win the game!
The King's Dilemma is a highly interactive, Game of Thrones -esque negotiations game, with a legacy elements and ever-evolving storylines. This game is truly only as good as the group you’re experiencing it with, but when it’s good – it’s great! Political intrigues, heated debates, bribery, voting… solve complex ethical dilemmas, vote of nuanced and sensitive issues, fight for the benefit of the state of pursue your own selfish goals. The game offers an expansive narrative full of plot twists that will lead you through generations of courtly intrigues as you take control of a noble house. Embark on a journey of political machinations and fantasy storytelling!
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Many players, both established and new to the game, often ask themselves - what’s the meaning of the different types of mana and their combinations. Are they just portraying the basic differences in gameplay tactics, or is there a deeper, more nuanced meaning to it all? Why the various Magic spells are affiliated to some mana colours and not others? Moreover, how come some characters change their mana affiliation as the time progresses?
Let’s have a closer look at the colour wheel. For those who are new to the game or have never played it - In Magic: The Gathering, there are 5 core mana types – Black, Blue, Green, Red, and White. Each act as a currency through different types of landscape – Swamp, Island, Forest, Mountain, and Plains, respectively. Combinations of manas result in landscapes that represent several types of mana, for example Polluted Delta. All spells, from creatures to sorceries, within the game are paid for with mana, usually coming from lands. This gives us the core understanding that mana is drawn from the plain of existence itself – its landscape dictates the abundance of one type of magic resource over another, thus oftentimes affecting its inhabitants. Which brings us to the fundamental question of how mana affiliation can be expressed through specific characteristics, identity, and personality.
Traditionally, we see Black in creatures like Zombies, Bats, and Vampires, and in spells that leech out life or carry deathtouch, among others. It’s no wonder why many players jump to a conclusion that Black mana = evil (doesn't help that the symbol for this type of mana is a literal skull). That may be true in some cases, but there’s much more to it. Black mana expresses itself in such qualities as ambition, ruthlessness, self-serving pursuits, but also introspective reflection and internal rather than external conflict in a character. This can be seen in such Magic characters as Liliana, the iconically Black-affiliated planeswalker whose life’s quest is that of eternal life and beauty (very selfish pursuit, isn’t it), never mind that she also just so happens to be Multiverse’s best necromancer. For her, ends always justify means. But what’s equally contributing to her lingering Black-mana identity is Liliana’s internal struggle with her past and her brother’s tragic fate. In another, more recent example, Nissa – a historically Green planeswalker – has added Black to her new mana identity, which left many players puzzled.
After the recent event in Magic’s storyline, Nissa as a character was left riddled with internal conflict, plagued by guilt and doubt, which in her case are all a very personal struggles that she projects inwards. No zombies or ghouls, but an introspective quality to a character that previously hasn’t experienced it to the same defining degree.
Ah, Blue, Magic players’ favourite mana (or not, depending on which side of the table you’ll end up sitting). Traditionally, Blue can be seen in flying creatures, cunning counter-spells, and all kinds of sorcery shenanigans that spice up the game. Trickery, time and information manipulation – these as some of the first things that come to mind when dealing with Blue spells. The colour of logic, progress, technological advancement, and the pursuit of knowledge and perfection, Blue just so happens to contain some of the most powerful spells in the game. One of the most iconically blue characters in recent Magic story is Jace Beleren, a mage whose powers revolve around mind-manipulation.Jace has an analytical mind and an aptitude for planning (some may say, overplanning), and one of his biggest characteristics is his unquenching curiosity. His first instinct is to study the problem rather than face it head-on. He avoids physical combat, preferring illusions and mind tricks as his weapons. As another example, we have Dovin Baan – a character set in both Blue and White. No trickery or illusions, nor does Dovin fly (though he does favour flying thopters and spy devices). So why would he be a blue-affiliated character? Dovin’s talents lie in identifying all possible flaws in any machine, system, or venture. He is a character driven by the pursuit of perfection, which quite unfortunately leads him to become a villain.
Green is most often seen in gigantic creatures, forest-dwelling critters, druids, elves, and spells that stimulate growth. The colour of interdependence and togetherness, of balance and acceptance, of raw instinct and innocence, Green is frequently shown to defy progress, destroy artifacts and enchantments, and favour large surface-dwelling mastodonts while pinning flyers to the ground. Green is rigid and averse to change, favouring stability and the established order of things. A great example of a Green character is Vivien Reid. Her personality is rooted in her connection to the wilderness and ability to bring forth Spirit Animals. She is straightforward, defiant of civilisation, and on the quest to restore the natural order to the Multiverse. Similarly, the legendary Gruul druid Nikya is centred in both Red and Green, her Green affiliation expressed in close connection to her plain’s natural core and her ability to summon constricting vines, but also her and her clan’s resistance to progress and dedication to the “Old Ways”.
Red, the colour of passion. Same is true in Magic: The Gathering. Red mana represents emotion, aggression, impatience and impulsivity, recklessness and fast action. This colour is often depicted through fire magic, rampaging beasts and feisty creatures, brawly warriors, and passionate souls. The most iconic Red character in recent Magic story is Chandra Nalaar. Not only is she a gifted pyromancer (of course she is), but she also possesses a temper to match. Not one for subtlety, she’s quick to act and has a talent for improvisation. She is known for her fire-wielding abilities just as much as her ever-changing mood (as well as her very nature, some might argue judging from the recent book). But what about someone who has nothing to do with fire? Like, perhaps, a vampire? Edgar Markov, arguably the Multiverse’s most revered blood-sucker, is tri-colour – Black, White, and Red. So where does his Red come from. Indulgence and succumbing to impulse and desire, as well as his martial nature and readiness to step into the fight. We may not know all that much about the nuances of his personality from bits and pieces of lore, but his character is expressed vividly through his card – he is fast, he strikes firmly and without hesitation, and his martial prowess is unquestionable.
In opposition to Black, many players view White mana as benevolent. There is some truth to it, as a lot of life-giving spells and traditionally “good” creatures in Magic: The Gathering such as angels are White affiliated. However, this mana type is less about kindness of the heart and more about peace and morality rooted in control and structure, and the value of a community over an individual. For the greater good! You will find clerics and priests, soldiers and heads of state, judges and guards in White. Anything that establishes control and keeps peace and conformity, as well as benefits the group as a whole. White is rigid and inflexible, and always strives for order, which does not always mean benevolence. After all, as Jean-Luc Picard famously said, “there can be no justice as long as laws are absolute.” That being said, an interesting example of a White character is Nahiri, a Korr lithomancer.Nahiri is currently both White and Red, yet she started off as a completely White character. Her main goal is the preservation of peace on her home plane – Zendikar. Nahiri began her journey as a selfless character, ready for sacrifices for the good of her people. She agreed to endure millennia of stasis just so she could protect her world from the Eldrazi. Her character was driven by the pursuit of peace, and still is. Now, Nahiri seeks to restore Zendikar “back to its glory” – establish the status quo and bring forth order that the plane now lacks. By any means necessary. On the other hand, Sorin Markov, the grandson of previously mention Vampire lord Edgar Markov, started off as a Black character only to welcome White into his colour identity later on. The change came about when Sorin took it upon himself to be the protector – read master – of his home plane Innistad. He saw that his own kind were devouring the living of the plane with a little too much gusto, and before long the “supplies” would never be able to replenish. He then made an unpopular choice to establish control over the creatures of the night, quite literally creating a guardian angel to protect the human population from his own tribe. For the greater good!
Most spells in Magic are more than just one colour, some encompassing all five! Each combination of colours brings forth a distinct feature of that type of mana, be it the passion of Red or the community of White, oftentimes interpreted together as heroism. The many combinations of colours are often referred to by names inspired by Magic’s lore, for example Black and Green together would be called “Golgari” after the eponymous guild in those exact two colours. This and many other combinations can be seen in the diagram below.
Understanding the colours and their meaning helps comprehend the personalities of Magic’s characters as well as interpret the cards. It is also a pretty fun system for character alignment in an RPG setting, if you ever wish for something more flexible than the good ol’ Good-Neutral-Evil archetypes.
All sorts of critters, from hedgehogs to squirrels, are labouring in the picturesque valley of Everdell, under the majestic Ever-Tree, to bring about a bountiful harvest and expand their village before winter comes.
Everdell is an award winning, medium complexity worker placement board game, boasting high scoring reviews and a position in the top-40 board games on popular hobby website Board Game Geek. Released in 2018, it quickly became a beloved favourite amongst many board game afficionados.
In Everdell, you accumulate resources to build various structures and employ critters, all to maximise your end-game score. Plan ahead and synergise your buildings and workers to bring victory closer! The game is divided into 3 seasons – Spring, Summer, and Autumn. As the seasons progress, you get access to more workers and more areas on the map, but less time to enact your strategy. Deploy your critters to gather various combinations of resources, send them to events to get special bonuses, or place them at your buildings to unlock more features. The space in your village is limited, however, so make every structure you build and every character you place count! Whatever you choose to do, Everdell gives you a wide range of options and ways to win. Combined with beautifully crafted components, the game is an absolute must-have for all board gamers!
Since its release, Everdell has gotten multiple expansions, big and small; among them – Pearlbrook, Bellfaire, and Spirecrest. Pearlbrook lets you expand the Valley of Everdell to include a river, with its Frog inhabitants and a new resource – pearl! Pearlbrook introduces new constructions and critters, and lets you make adornments and wonders out of pearls. Bellfaire, on the other hand, adds two more players to the game and introduces a grandiose event to commemorate the 100th year since Everdell’s founding. In this expansion you will find a Bellfaire board with a large Market location, as well as new event cards and end-of-game bonus point features. Lastly, Spirecrest takes you to the snowy mountaintops. This expansion introduces new weather card mechanics, discovery cards that let you encounter new critters on your journey through Spirecrest, and Big Critters that serve as mounts!
Play the original Everdell experience or expand the game further to include its many maps and adventures! The game along with its expansions is available at Gumnut.
]]>Let’s start with a little background information about the game itself. Infinity is a 2-player tabletop miniatures game, set approximately 175 years into the future, boasting a distinct Mecha-inspired sci-fi look and feel. Visually, it is a bold blend of Anime and realism, with bright cartoonish designs meeting sharp lines and harsh militarism. Played out on a 4x4 foot battlefield, the game sees small skirmish forces pitted against each other within various missions. Both highly tactical and thematic, Infinity boasts a vast pool of 28mm metal miniatures to choose from – all designed, sculpted and mass-produced at an in-house factory in Spain.
Have you been playing miniature warfare games and pondering if you should try out Infinity, like all the cool kids? Or maybe you’ve dipped your toes once or twice and thought the learning curve is a tad too steep?
Enter Infinity N4 - the edition that marries a less hardcore, medium learning curve and incredible tactical depth. The new Reactions system allows you to find your own balance between setting up your defences and planning out your offences - counterplay your opponent’s move while trying to reach your own objective. Another big highlight is the Camouflage feature – deploy a secretive unit that’s hidden to your opponent and play it a-la Predator. Extra sneaky! Offering a rich world and engaging narrative to back its mechanics, the new N4 edition puts an even bigger emphasis on player interaction. The 4th Edition is undoubtedly an improvement on its predecessor, and there has never been a better time to pick up an Infinity rulebook, whether you are an established player or a newcomer to this system.
But what about those of us who are new to the hobby and have not played miniature warfare games before? Or simply would prefer a more casual approach to the game, with more streamlined rules and a lower barrier to entry? The recently released Infinity system Code One is the answer. Faster playing time, condensed rules, and lower complexity level - all whilst delivering the same dynamic signature Infinity gameplay. The first product to look at in the Code One lignup is the Operation Kaldstrom box. You’re getting 7 miniatures for 2 factions each - Panoceania and Yu Jing - a rulebook with some worldbuilding introductory information, as well as a handful of missions to get yourself started. But wait, that’s not all. You’re also getting accessories like a set of dice, a scenery pack and a game mat to form a battlefield, and all the tokens and markers you’ll need for your missions. This is the ideal product to begin your Infinity journey!
Infinity has never been more new-player friendly. Whether you’re already a fan of tabletop miniature gaming, or just getting curious about the hobby, take a peek into this system - you won’t be disappointed!
]]>Family games are generally light to medium complexity, ranging from lengthy strategy board games to quick and easy card games. In other words, it is a rather broad genre, but what defines a family game? There are some simple rules that need to apply - the theme has to be child-friendly, and of course, the complexity level should not be out of reach of an average 8 to 10 year old. With that in mind, family games have to still be interesting for the adult audience and engaging for everyone - both people that are new to the hobby and those who play board games on a regular basis.
Whether it be a cosy game night to bring several generations of family together, or just a casual gaming day with your friends and housemates, family games are for everyone.
Let’s have a quick overview of some of the most popular representatives of the genre, be it a good ol’ classic board games or a newly released quirky card game.
Let’s start from the classics, shall we? Cluedo, also known as Clue, was first released in 1949 and quickly became a staple. Truly a game that came to transcend generations, it is still one of the most popular classic board games today. A classic murder mystery and deduction game, Cluedo offers simple and easy to learn rules, comprehensive and relatively fast-paced gameplay, and an engaging theme. In a classic game of Cluedo, you are one of the guests at a soiree, when suddenly a murder occurs. It is your job to figure out who is the killer, the room in which the killing happened, and which tool was used. Explore the mansion, go through the cards turn by turn, keep your facts straight, and you may become the new Sherlock Holmes!
2-6 players, age 8+, scenario playing time 45+min. Complexity 1.5/5.
Here’s a new family classic! Introduced in 2004, this award-winning board game quickly became a family favourite and has sold over 8 million copies worldwide. The rules are simple - players collect cards of various types of train cars, then use them to take control of railway routes. The longer the routes the more points you get! Here’s the catch - once a segment of the railroad is taken by a player, that’s it, it’s no longer available to anyone else, and the railroad itself is finite. "The rules are simple enough to write on a train ticket – each turn you either draw more cards, claim a route, or get additional Destination Tickets," says Ticket to Ride author, Alan R. Moon. "The tension comes from being forced to balance greed – adding more cards to your hand, and fear – losing a critical route to a competitor."
2-5 players, age 8+, scenario playing time 60+min. Complexity 2/5.
A newcomer to the world of family board gaming, The Quacks of Quedlinburg was released in 2018 and quickly gained popularity among casual players and board game aficionados alike. With a good handful of prestigious awards under its belt, the game boasts simple rules and dynamic and engaging gameplay. In The Quacks of Quedlinburg, you are charlatans busy creating snake oils at a medieval town’s market. Each player has an array of ingredients (chips) at their disposal, and each round they draw the chips simultaneously to create a potion. The higher the value of the ingredient, the further it is placed in the swirling pattern. At the end of each round, players earn victory points and coin for new ingredients. Careful with those brews though, a pinch too much will explode the cauldron!
2-4 players, age 10+, scenario playing time 45+min. Complexity 2/5.
This fun card game has the most unambiguous goal - make the kitties happy! The players draft 3 cards each turn, collecting all sorts of cat supplies, and of course the fuzzy critters themselves. Make sure you have enough kibble for your growing cat collection though, for hungry kitties will cost you points. The player that best takes care of the pets - wins!
2-4 players, age 8+, scenario playing time 30+min. Complexity 1.5/5.
Fresh as lettuce, this fast-paced card game was released in 2019 and quickly gained popularity. With easy-to-learn rules and dynamic gameplay, Point Salad offers over 100 ways to score points, providing a high degree of replayability. Simply draft cards with different veggies, each coming with a scoring method. Some cards will reward you for one combination and deduct points for another. Find your own strategy amidst the ever-changing scoring possibilities and amass the most points to win!
2-6 players, age 8+, scenario playing time 30+min. Complexity 1/5.
Elegantly simple yet with a strategic depth to it, Santorini is a revised and improved version of the 2004 abstract game by the game designer, Gordon Hamilton. In Satorini, each turn consists of two steps - move and build. You move your builder pawn to a neighbouring space, up or down a building, then construct a level of a building adjacent to the builder you’ve just moved. The first player to complete the 3rd level of a building wins the game. Sounds simple enough? Well, to spice things up, Santorini offers 40 cards with thematic god and hero powers that affect the way the game is played. Besides, your opponent could always use your moves to their benefit!
2-4 players, age 8+, scenario playing time 20+min. Complexity 1.5/5.
Designed by Australian board game designer Phil Walker-Harding! A card game with a Bingo-like roll and write mechanic, Silver and Gold provides you with a vast array of treasure maps, draft cards to complete the treasure maps, gather gold coins and claim palm trees as you go, combine different value maps together to maximise their score - there are many ways to gain points and win! A bit of luck and a bit of planning, and you just might be the most wealthy pirate across the seven seas!
2-4 players, age 8+, scenario playing time 20+min. Complexity 1/5.
In this card drafting game, players compete to create the most beautiful - and highest-scoring - quilt on their 9x9 grid board. Each player is awarded buttons, which act as in-game currency and points. Use the buttons to purchase different patches, advance your time-track, stitch your quilt together, or maybe even pass your turn to cash in on more buttons. At the end of the game, after numerous stitching shenanigans, the player with the most points (and the prettiest quilt!) wins.
2 players, age 8+, scenario playing time 30+min. Complexity 1.5/5.
]]>A limited edition, ace Astra Militarum Catachan Colonel.
Enter our raffle! Each $150 spent on Games Workshop products will grant you a raffle ticket
Show your love for miniature board gaming, support our store and maybe you’ll be the one to take the Colonel home!
]]>We’ve got something special in store for you.
A limited edition, ace Astra Militarum Catachan Colonel. Check this guy out! In the best tradition of 1980’s action movies, the classic Catachan lack of armour exposes his athletic features in the most glorious way. He practically exudes stoicism. From the very first glance, you can tell this rugged fella ain’t got no time to bleed.
How do you get this badass man’o’war, you ask? Enter our raffle! Each $150 spent on Games Workshop products will grant you a raffle ticket. Now, we’re talking anything GW - from paints to miniatures to hobby tools. Non-Games Workshop products within the same transaction will not count towards the $150 per raffle ticket. The raffle runs until the end of June and will be drawn on the 1st of July. The winner will be contacted by phone, and in writing by email, and announced on our Facebook page.
Show your love for miniature board gaming, support our store and maybe you’ll be the one to take the Colonel home!
What are “thematic” board games, exactly? These are the kind of games where a theme is at the very core of the gaming experience rather than just a flavourful afterthought. Like reading an adventure book or watching an action movie, thematic games create a dramatic narrative and are driven by a story. Some of the more popular examples of such games are the legendary Twilight Imperium, Arkham Horror, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, and Gloomhaven – the game that has been holding its number one position on the prominent hobby website BoardGameGeek for the last couple of years.
Mechanically speaking, a thematic game features a lot of player interaction, can sometimes have direct conflict between players, and normally they include miniatures to enhance the overall experience. Since the theme is the most important aspect, the rules and mechanisms of the board game will aim at translating the theme to a table-top game-play experience. So, the mechanics of the game serve the theme, rather than vice versa.
It is worthwhile to note that thematic games are often called ”Amerigames”, or American-style board games, mainly because some of the staples of the genre were invented in the USA, these style of games are focused on immersion and action-packed game-play. This is contrasted with “Eurogames” – a popular style of strategy board games – where the concept is elegantly built around a set of mechanics and the themes are more general, simply spicing up the dryness of the game with a bit of fun flavour.
A thematic game could take you to any number of locations, offering a plethora of adventures and scenarios. Some of the more typical themes include a sci-fi or a fantasy setting, oftentimes a pre-existent setting taken from pop-culture; for example Hellboy: The Board Game and War of the Ring are both set in popular works of fiction – Mignola’s eponymous comic book series and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, respectively. Another common theme is the good-vs-evil conflict, often involving combat, mystery solving, exploration, and co-operative play - as seen in Massive Darkness, Pandemic Legacy, and Nemesis.
Let us have a look at a few more great examples of thematic board games that have not yet been mentioned above.
An exciting and highly immersive blend of role-playing and card game, Arkham Horror is one of the most well-loved and top-selling Living Card Games (LCGs). Bringing the Lovecraftian world of madness, mystery and monsters to life, it offers an on-going story that you can live through quest by quest, chapter by chapter.
You are invited to a seemingly quiet town of Arkham, New England, where something evil stirs in the shadows. You are to become the protagonist of the story, but do not be mistaken - you are no hero. It is a world of ordinary people facing extraordinary terrors… and, hopefully, persevering!
1-2 players (up to 4 if played with two Core Sets), scenario playing time 60+min. Complexity 3/5.
Embark on an adventure in pursuit of the Last Ruin, the legendary city containing a long-lost artifact with the power of granting one’s greatest desire. You are a wanderer on the expedition to find the precious artefact, but are you ready to face the dangers that the journey holds, and most importantly – your own avarice?
Live through your own unique adventure every time you play the game, exploring new maps and fighting off bandits and mysterious monsters!
2-4 players, scenario playing time 90+min. Complexity 3/5.
You’ll be alright, they said – a hyperspace jump, a quick sector scan, then a hyperspace jump back. Just in and out. What could possibly go wrong?!
In Space Alert, you are part of the reconnaissance team on a mission to scan some of the more obscure and dangerous sectors of the galaxy. Each mission lasts only 10 minutes, during which your goal is to let the system complete the scan while deflecting all possible threats and keeping your ship safe. Players must coordinate their tasks in order to survive and make the jump back to safety, whilst also facing interstellar abominations, hostile battleships and asteroid fields.
The game offers various difficulty levels and variability of encounters and scenarios that provide high replayability.
1-5 players, one mission lasts 30min (including setup and evaluation). Complexity 3/5.
Recreate the fascinating world of Frank Herbert’s DUNE, on your own terms. Take control of one of the 6 powerful factions and compete to control the most valuable substance in the known universe – the Spice, which can only be found on the otherwise barren planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. Courtly intrigue and brute force, politics and warfare. Allying and bluffing, bartering and bribery. Anything goes in the pursuit of unimaginable wealth and influence. After all, “he who controls the Spice controls the universe.”
2-6 players, playtime 120+min. Complexity 4/5.
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Know Your Award
The true board game Olympics are, perhaps, Deutscher Spiele Preis – the German Game Prize. It all started in 1990, with the German magazine "Die Pöppel-Revue" collecting board game reviews from industry professionals, game clubs, and hobby stores. In time, this award rose to incredible prominence. Even being nominated is kind of a big deal! Today, the results are announced annually in October, at the much talked about Spiel convention in Essen, Germany, together with other awards like Essen Feather and Spiel des Yahres (Game of the Year).
Now, here’s how these are different. Typically, Essen Feather focuses on Eurogames – a particular style of strategy board games, while Game of the Year is focused on family-oriented games that can be enjoyed by anyone, and a more inclusive experience if you will. In contrast, the German Game Prize is aimed at innovative board games that are truly remarkable, the kind that the picky connoisseurs of the hobby would fall in love with - the gamers’ games so to say.
There are plenty of other awards happening around Europe, and across the pond we’ve got our American Tabletop Awards, Dice Tower Annual Awards, and Board Game Quest Awards, with different categories available for all types of board games. The popular hobby website BoardGameGeek has its own award, and so does the Mensa society! And, of course, there are specific awards for kid’s games as well.
Now, let us have a look at the most recent winners, shall we?
Bronze, Silver and Gold Award Winning Board Games
2017 Deutscher Spiele Preis Best Family/Adult Game Winner, 2017 Kennerspiel des Jahres Nominee, As d'Or Grand Prix 2018 winner, 2016 Swiss Gamers Award Nominee, Dice Tower Best Strategy Game 2016 winner, among others.
A stellar example of a Eurogame done right, Terraforming Mars takes you to the 2400’s, with a mission to, well, terraform Mars! You are a giant corporation sponsored by the World Government on earth to make Mars habitable – raise the temperature, balance humidity, and oxygen levels, keep an eye on your income, and be the first to complete the task and bring Humanity a step closer to Space Colonisation!
1-5 players, 120+min playing time. Complexity 3.5/5.
American Tabletop Awards in Early Gamers 2020 winner, 2020 As d'Or – Game of the Year Nominee, 2019 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee, among others.
In Draftosaurus, you’re running your very own dinosaur park! Draft dinos, place them in pens and make your park attract the most visitors. However, it’s not as simple as it seems – each turn, a dice roll will determine what new constrains the players must face when placing their dinos into pens. Draftosaurus is a light, fast-paced drafting game for the whole family to enjoy!
2-5 players, 15min playing time. Complexity 1/5.
2018 Spiel des Jahres Nominee, 2019 Origins Awards Best Card Game Nominee, 2018 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year Nominee, 2018 Golden Geek Best Card Game Winner, among others.
A highly experimental card game, The Mind challenges your understanding of card game experience and brings teamwork to a whole new level. Now, hear me out. The whole premise of the game is collectively arranging the cards from your hands into the centre of the table in ascending order, but you cannot communicate with one another in any way. You simply read the other players as best you can, and when you feel the time is right, you play your card. “They’ve played a 5. I have a 12 and a 26. Do I play my 12 now, do I wait for someone else? Ok, here it goes...”
2-4 players, 15min playing time. Complexity 1/5.
2018 Kennerspiel des Jahres Winner, 2018 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Winner, 2019 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Best Family Game Nominee, 2019 UK Games Expo Best Board Game (European Style) People's Choice Winner, among others.
Have you ever sold Snake Oil? In this game, you are a charlatan – or Quack-Doctor - ready to make some sweet gold out of hapless passers-by. Create your secret brews by adding ingredients one at a time. Be careful though, you don’t want to spoil your mixture and have your pot explode!
2-4 players, 45min playing time. Complexity 2/5.
Architects of the West Kingdom
2019 International Gamers Award - General Strategy: Multi-player Nominee, 2019 Mensa Select Winner, 2018 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year Nominee, 2019 UK Games Expo Best Board Game (European Style) Judges Award Winner, among others.
Carolingian Empire, circa 850 AD. You are a royal architect, competing against your peers to impress the King. Maintain your prestigious title by constructing new landmarks within the domain. Collect materials, hire and control the workforce, and keep a close eye on your rivals, who will undoubtedly attempt at slowing you down and sabotage your projects.
1-5 players, 60min+ playing time. Complexity 3/5.
]]>Board game mechanics 101
Now, rarely do games only limit themselves to one mechanism only, some games are complex engines that rely on quite a few things to make its gears run smoothly. As a rule, heavier games have more elements, or more mechanics, while light games are simpler in their design. Let’s have a look at some of the more prominent mechanics seen in the majority of popular board games available.
This popular game mechanism revolves around the idea that Board = Value. Players strive to occupy the space and get benefits proportional to the area they control. This mechanic can be seen in games like Carcassonne, where your board presence gives you victory points.
Grid Movement
Have you ever played Chess? Grid Movement is as old as the concept of board games itself! Of course, in the modern times there’s more to it, but the general concept is that the pawns move from one segment to another, be it a square or a hexagon, and that drives the game forward. This mechanic is especially noticeable in games that incorporate combat and “dungeon crawl” elements, like Gloomhaven or Descent: Journey in the Dark.
Hand Management
Managing your hand means optimising your card play, depending on the circumstances. The same card can wield different results depending on when it is played, what cards are already in play or what the consequences are. Generally speaking, there are two main kinds of Hand Management – aggressive, when you are trying to beat your opponents with the cards you play, or as part of resource management. This mechanic is one of the most common ones and can be seen in such board games as Raiders of the North Sea, Race for the Galaxy, and Brass: Lancashire.
Modular Board
A modular board changes every time you play the game, adding to its replayability. Usually it is made up of different tiles or incorporates a scenario that can be randomised. This mechanic is at the core of Catan, one of the world’s most popular board games. Modular Board is also seen in games like Istanbul and Spirit Island.
Tile Placement
This mechanic generally comes in two forms. The first is when players draft tiles and place them as part of building the board, on which the gameplay will occur. This can be seen in games like Betrayal at House on the Hill. The second is when the tiles are drafted and placed as part of scoring points and are a principle way of winning the game, as seen in Azul or Patchwork.
This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Players send out their workers (whatever they may be) out onto the board to complete different types of actions, which vary depending on the context of the game. This mechanic is especially prominent in games like Caverna or Stone Age, where the emphasis is on resource gathering, and in Lords of Waterdeep, where your “workers” are in fact characters for hire that you can send on missions and gain victory points, as well as scythe where workers are placed to gain resources for other actions.
One of the most common mechanics, card drafting is when players collect cards from a limited source, usually a common pool of cards, and either gain advantages or use the cards to assemble a hand to meet an objective. This mechanism is at the core of many games, such as Agricola, 7 Wonders, and Lisboa.
Teamwork is at the core of these games. Rather than competing against each other, players collaborate to reach a mutual goal. It could be any number of things, like solving a mystery, beating a common foe, achieving a complex task, or simply surviving the numerous perils thrown at them. Popular co-op games include Pandemic, Mansions of Madness, Tiny Epic Zombies, and Elder Sign.
Deck Building
Deck building is both a mechanic and a board game genre. If the game has deck building in its core, card acquisition is of principal importance. Players seek to improve their card decks as they progress through the game. This category also covers Bag Building, Pool Building, and related mechanisms. It is at the core of such games as Dominion, and Clank!, as well as in various collectable and living card games, like Magic: The Gathering and Legend of the Five Rings.
Dice are used in a board game for several reasons, be it to add the element of randomness or as counters. Dice can be a game in itself, but in most, it serves as an engine element; particularly in wargames like Risk or dungeon crawlers like Escape the Dark Castle, where they reflect the results of a battle.
Simply put, one or more players are assigned roles that are not revealed to the rest of the group. This is a classic traitor scenario, like in popular social deduction party games Coup, Ultimate Werewolf, and Secret Hitler. It can also be seen in more complex games, like Legendary Encounters: Alien.
We hope our rundown of these mechanics will help you have a better understanding of how a lot of popular board games work, so that you will be able to discern what elements will appeal to you the most and help you in identifying your next game night contender! Happy hunting!
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1 Player Games
Friday - A Solo Adventure: This deck-building card game is based on the famous Robinson Crusoe novel. You are Friday, and you must help Robinson survive on the island and defeat the pirates. Optimise your card deck, fight alongside Robinson Crusoe, and allow him to escape the island!
Choose Your Own Adventure - War with the Evil Power Master: A co-operative game that both lets you enjoy it solo or with a group of friends! The galaxy has been at peace for centuries, but now the Lacoonian System, one of the most advanced civilisations, is facing a rebellion lead by the Evil Power Master. Can you follow the clues and find his lair before it’s too late? Save the galaxy from his diabolical plans!
U-Boat Leader: If you are after something a little more grounded in reality and on a lengthier side, have a crack at U-Boat Leader - a World War II inspired nautical wargame. This board game includes 4 different campaigns covering various stages of the Battle of the Atlantic. Develop your war strategy and strike against the enemy!
One Deck Dungeon: A dungeon adventure that is different every time. The game lets you jump right into bashing down doors, rolling dice, and squashing monsters with style, by utilising cards in different ways you can customise your character and improve there skills and gain equipment. You can choose to venture in alone or bring along a friend for a cooperative game.
2 Player Games
Mr. Jack: Here’s a perfect murder mystery for two to enjoy! One of you plays as Jack the Ripper, fleeing from one district of the city to another and dodging as many accusations as they can. The other player becomes an investigator, pursuing the infamous killer. Will they correctly guess the identity of Jack among the eight characters on the board?
The Fox in the Forest Duet: an elegant trick-taking card game, where two players co-operate in collecting all treasure off the forest path, without wandering off the trail and becoming lost! Use your cards’ special abilities, plan ahead, and most importantly – stay on the path!
Watergate: The year is 1972. The Nixon administration is chasing re-election and trying to smoothen all possible scrutiny, while the suspicious journalists are working hard at trying to uncover Nixon’s dirty dealings. Two players are pitted in a game of wits and information.
Star Realms: A fast paced deck-building card game of outer space combat. It combines the fun of a deck-building game with the interactivity of a Trading Card Game style combat. As you play, you make use of Trade to acquire new Ships and Bases and the ships and bases you acquire to either generate more Trade or to generate Combat to attack your opponent and their bases. A fast paced game that is easy to learn, with the aim to reduce your opponents score to zero to claim victory!
3 Player Games
Pandemic - Rising Tide: A different twist on a classic board game. Fight off natural disasters and keep the shores of the Netherlands safe by constructing modern hydraulic structures in principle locations across the map. The sea is restless, and the century-old dikes and pumps will not defend the country from imminent tragedy! This is a 2-5 player game, but it is especially great with 3 players.
Welkin: Have you ever thought about becoming an architect? How about a celestial one? In Welkin, you are constructing and selling floating islands. Collect resources, assemble them, and fulfill contacts. Keep an eye on the market and maximise your gains, those prices are not fixed! This game can accommodate up to 4 players, but 3 players are optimal.
Brass - Birmingham: An excellent economic strategy game on the heavier side. You are an entrepreneur, competing ruthlessly for your spot under the sun during the Industrial Revolution. Develop your industry and exploit the everchanging market.
The Quacks of Quedlinburg: Players in the game are charlatans / quack doctors each making their own secret brew by adding ingredients one at a time. Take care of what you add, though, for a pinch too much of this or that will spoil the whole mixture! Each round, players simultaneously draw chips to add to their pot. At the end of each round, players gain victory points and coins to spend on new ingredients. Push your luck as far as you can, but if you add too many cherry bombs, your pot explodes!
4 Player Games
Tiny Epic Mechs: The year is 3030, and the entertainment industry offers unimaginable spectacle, pitting Mechanised Entertainment Combat Heroes, or Mechs, against one another. You are piloting these Mechs into an epic battle royale – power up your armour, deploy defensive turrets, plant detonators… whatever it takes to eliminate the competition and amaze your audience!
Sonar - Family edition: In the blue depths, two enemy submarines find themselves face to face with one another. Each crew consists of two roles – the captain and the radio operator. Together, they must work in a succinct manner to sink the enemy vessel.
Gaia Project: Looking for something a little more complex? This well-reviewed strategy game invites you on a journey of space colonisation. Gaia Project presents 14 factions living on their own planets, each very different from one another. In order to successfully terraform neighbouring planets, they must first sufficiently develop as a civilisation. Take them on this voyage of space exploration!
Starship Samurai: Across the far reaches of the Lotus Galaxy, a civil war is waged by massive machines piloted by skilled warriors. Take your place as daimyo of one of the major clans and fight for your right to the title of Galactic Emperor in Starship Samurai, an epic fast paced game of warring clans for two to four players. Players can use diplomacy, massive fleets or deploy the most fearsome weapons the terrifying Samurai Mechs to crush your enemies and seize key locations.
5-6 Player Games
Marrying Mr. Darcy: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Relive the events of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice as one of the female characters. Engage in social events, collect character points, and use your personal charms to attract the most eligible bachelors!
Forgotten Waters: Welcome to a fantastical pirate adventure! Embark on a mission with your crew, work together as a team to progress on a common goal, but don’t forget to further your own personal agenda. You’re a pirate, after all! The game features 5 different scenarios and a large array of locations to choose from.
Paranormal Detectives: Guess what… you’re a ghost! You look around, only to find your lifeless body, surrounded by a group of detectives, eager to reach out to you in the afterlife and solve the mystery of your demise! Using their paranormal abilities, the detectives will attempt to communicate with the ghost and try to solve the murder.
Magic Maze on Mars: The first settlers of mars are arriving soon, but the colony is not ready yet! You are the robots that are trying to build the colony before the settlers arrive. The goal in Magic Maze on Mars is to build "domes" where the settlers can live, then to guide them to their domes when they arrive. Its a race against time to get the settlers to the domes before they run out of oxygen.
7-8 Player Games
Incan Gold: This is a fast-paced press-you-luck game, in which players journey deep into the mines or explore the jungle to find treasure. There are dangers at every turn, but you can already feel the golden coins in your hand! How far are you prepared to venture in pursuit of wealth?
Obscurio: Escape the sorcerer’s library before it’s too late! The Grimoire guides you through the labyrinth of illusions by providing images – interpret them correctly, and you will find the exit in no time. There is a traitor among you, however, who will attempt to lead you astray!
Citadels Deluxe: Plot, scheme, and deceive as you build fantastical cities in Citadels, a classic game of card drafting, intrigue, and cunning characters. In Citadels, two to eight players must shrewdly draft characters and use their abilities to create the best city possible. Each round players will take on new roles to represent characters they hire in order to help them acquire gold and erect buildings. The game ends at the close of a round in which a player erects their eighth building.
Decrypto: Join the greatest Encryption team in the world! Your mission is to transmit secret codes to your teammates without letting the opposing team intercept them. Decrypto is a scramble communication game where you give clues to your teammates that only they can understand, but vague enough to make sure your opponents don't decipher it!
8-10 Player Games
A Fake Artist Goes To New York: It is an art collaboration night, and one of you is a fraud! Each artist knows the piece they are collectively working on, and it is their job to oust the pretender. Keep drawing, one contiguous stroke at a time, but don’t be too obvious, or the impostor will figure it out!
Wavelength: are you and your friends on the same frequency? In Wavelength, players attempt to guess each other’s minds. Teams take turns rotating the dial, and one player from each team, chosen as a Psychic, is trying to direct them towards this round’s “bullseye” by giving away clues, hot-or-cold style.
Concept: In this deduction party game, players communicate via icons on the board to express a word or a phrase to their teammates. Similar to charades, Concept challenges you to bring the clues together into a cohesive idea.
Saboteur: You’re digging for gold deep in the shadowy maze of a mining tunnel, when suddenly a pickaxe shatters your lamp and the cavern goes pitch black. The saboteur has struck again... but who is the saboteur? Can you and your fellow miners complete a path to the hidden gold, or will the saboteur thwart your efforts? With a unique combination of cooperation and betrayal, Saboteur reveals new secrets every time it’s played.
10+ Player Games
Monikers: A party game based on Celebrities, but with an awesome twist! Players take turns trying to help their teammates guess the name of a well-known person. In the first round, clue givers are allowed to say anything they want, except the name itself. In the second round, they can only say one word. In the final round, they can only communicate via gestures.
Two Rooms and a Boom: Players are divided into two teams – Red & Blue. The Blue team has a President, while the Red team has a Bomber. Each round, some players are swapped between the two “rooms”, and if the President and the Bomber meet, the whole game goes Boom and the Red team wins! Can the Blue team figure out the Bomber and keep their President safe?
Ultimate Werewolf Legacy: A village plagued by werewolves, with every new dawn another villagers grizzly remains are found. With the villagers scrambling to solve the mystery as to who among them is the werewolf before they are overrun. Players will secretly be allocated onto two teams and it will be a race against time to find the hidden menace among them, as the villagers don't know who the werewolves are, and the werewolves are trying to remain undiscovered while they slowly eliminate the villagers one at a time.
Town of Salem - The Card Game: Let the witch trials begin! The players are distributed secret roles and are either Good or Evil. In a classic social deduction scenario, players bluff their way out of trouble and vote on who’s going to by lynched next! Similar to the popular game Werewolf but with its own unique roles and game phases, Town of Salem will quickly become your new favourite party game!
This wraps up the list of some of our favourite board games for different player group sizes, we hope this helps you find something to suit the number of players in your group. If you have questions please feel free to ask our friendly Melbourne based team, they will be happy to help you find the right game for you.
]]>If you’re after a game that’ll appeal to kids and adults alike, we can recommend Patchwork, a competitive game of Tetris-style quilt-sewing; Jaipur, the fast-paced card game of risky market trading; and The Fox in the Forest, a trick-taking game with stunning fairy tale art.
If you’re a chess fan looking to try something new, the abstract games to check out are Hive, the game of strategic bug placing and shifting; Tak, a beautiful wooden game straight out of a fantasy world; or the GIPF Project, a series of award-winning mathematical strategy games.
For games that will tell you a story as you play, look at Fog of Love, the game of romantic-comedy simulation; Seven Swords, the epic and timeless tale of samurai standing against bandits; and Star Wars: Empire vs Rebellion, where you match wits and resources during key events of the Galactic Civil War.
When you feel like a game with a little more strategic crunch, try Pixel Tactics, the retro-inspired series of head-to-head tactical combat; 7 Wonders Duel, the two-player version of the renowned civilisation development game; or Pro-Bending Arena, modelled after the exciting sport featured in Avatar: The Legend of Korra.
Finally, if you want some old-fashioned conflict simulation, the wargames you can’t go past include Twilight Struggle, longtime holder of the top-rated spot on Board Game Geek; Heroes of Black Reach, which takes the universe of Warhammer 40k and presents its battles in a ready-to-run box set; and Band of Brothers, the fast-paced game of squad level combat in WWII.
Let us know in the comments which games you and a gaming buddy will always go back to!
]]>Welcome to the new Gumnut blog! Here we'll be looking back and highlighting games of the past and present that might have escaped your notice. Each post we'll take a look at a different game genre, designer, mechanic, or theme, to introduce you to new favourites to add to your collection.
First off, we thought we should begin with the finest games published in the last 40 years - those that were nominated by and awarded with the Spiel des Jahres award!
The Spiel des Jahres (German for 'Game of the Year') was established way back in 1979, with the aim of rewarding innovative game design, and promoting top-quality games available in the German market (including Austria and Switzerland). Before this time, the UK was the biggest European audience for board games, so German-speaking game critics founded the award to draw attention to their insatiable need for gaming.
Since then, the award has grown to become the most coveted in modern board game publishing. According to co-founder Tom Warneck:
"An average board game with a retail price between 20 and 35 € is put on the market with an initial print run of 3000 to 5000. If such a game wins the award “Spiel des Jahres” circulation in the current year shoots up to 300,000 to 500,000 copies. This is a multiplying factor of 100. No relevant game producer can afford not to strive for this wonderful carrot."
Every year, around 20 independent judges are each sent up to 400 games to play and consider. From that, just three games will come away with an award; one each for the Spiel des Jahres ('Game of the Year'), Kinderspiel des Jahres ('Children's Game of the Year'), and Kennerspiel des Jahres ('Connoisseur Game of the Year').
Click through to the lists above to see which previous nominees and winners are available right now on Gumnut. And let us know in the comments which game(s) you reckon are up for nomination this year. We hope to send one of these gems to your collection soon!
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