Launchpad

'If I don't get a fuel card next time, so help me....!'

Type: Strategy / Card
Players: 2 to 4

Time to explain to others: About 1 to 3 min

Time to play: About 15-20 minutes

Difficulty: To play 3/10, Game difficulty 4/10

Portability: High (just a deck)
Overall: 9/10

This games holds a special place in our collection, as it was the first game me and the better half played together. I wanted to introduce her to card and board games, but coming from a place of interest but no other knowledge, she was - understandably - cautious of the complexity of some of these types of games.

Then I came across this game. Rockets, the pictures looked very unthreatening, so 'Huh, I'll have a go!'.

We were hooked from the first play.

You play opposing Space projects, trying to get as many of the rockets into space as possible. Each turn you draw cards: rockets (a sort of  blueprints, if you will), fuel and metal (to actually build the things), and the ever present action cards, that will accelerate you construction, sabotage your opponents', etc.

Said rockets need to go through 3 levels of contruction, and you need to draw the right technician to allow the machines to advance to the next stage. As per usual in these games, you are at the mercy of the cards. Tables can turn at the 11th hour, I've seen games change in 2 turns, as someone draws the right fuel card and/or the right tech, and leapfrogs ahead.

Rui's conclusion: A simple, visually pretty and accessible game. Not as strategic as others, but very easy to pick up. A great introductory game, as well as one for the kids. Great fun!

Oddball Aeronauts

Steampunk alien sailors. No word there I didn't like.

Type: Strategy / Card
Players: 2 (with the expansion, up to 4)

Time to explain to others: About 1 to 3 min

Time to play: About 15-20 minutes

Difficulty: To play 3/10, Game difficulty 4/10

Portability: Very High (see below)
Overall: 8/10

This is a little gem of a game I picked up at Games Expo '15 in Birmingham. I couldn't tell you what drove me, I saw steampunk and airships and bought it on impulse.

I was not disappointed.

Now, if you go to Board Game Geek, this game has quite a low score. And I just about see what they mean, but I truly don't mind. Let me explain.

Oddball Aeronauts is effectively Top Trumps updated. You have a deck of cards, and individual cards have power numbers. You choose one of these powers, and compare it with your opponent. As you can see, typical Top Trumps. But here is where things change.

In this game, you can play one, two or three cards in one go, and you add the power of all of these. So brilliant, I hear you say, I'll always play 3 cards, meaning I'll always win! Well, not quite.

You have to discard the cards you play, so if you keep playing 3 at a time, you'll run out very quickly. And I need to add at this point, your deck is your life, the first person to run out, looses. Also, many cards have special powers, introducing the ever-needed randomness.

When you win the duel, depending on what power you chose (3 per card), the rewards are different, forcing the opponent to discard, recovering cards yourself, etc.

One of the main selling points of this game is that you don't have a discard pile, you simply flip the cards round and put them at the back of your deck. So you technically don't need a surface to play, as all you need is in your hand.

Rui's conclusion: Fast, cheap, quick and fun. Don't expect a hugely deep game, just something entertaining you can play on a plane or a train. Recommended for young ones, newbies and for travelling gamers!

Machi Koro

'NEED TO BUILD AN ORCHARD!!!'

Type: Strategy / Card
Players: 2 to 4

Time to explain to others: About 1 to 3 min

Time to play: About 30 minutes, possibly bit more

Difficulty: To play 3/10, Game difficulty 4/10

Portability: High to Medium (just a deck, but money tokens)
Overall: 8/10

This game came highly recommended as a simple, easy and accessible game. You are trying to develop the Japanese town of Machi Koro. The inhabitants need 4 landmarks, but these are way to expensive. The only choice is to build an infra structure, so the money rolls in, so that the landmarks can be built!

Each card represents a different building or area (Forests, Stadiums, Farms, etc). They will have a cost (that you need to pay), and a number at the top. You then roll a die(s). Whatever number comes out activates that card, and generates money, gets money from another player, etc. Whoever buils the 4 landmarks fastest wins!

Rui's conclusion: A fantastically easy game, perfect for newbies. Non-threatening, instinctive and fun. Very colourful and engaging, kids will love it. Recommended!

Neuroshima Hex

'Target in sight. Do I have the order, general?'

Type: Strategy / Board
Players: 2 to 5 

Time to explain to others: About 1 min, although tile knowledge might take a few plays

Time to play: About 30 minutes, possibly bit more

Difficulty: To play 3/10, Game difficulty 5/10

Portability: Not great, many tiles, but the board is fairly small.
Overall: 8/10

In 2020, mankind developed a series of networked AI's to use in the military (what could possibly go wrong, right....?) These promptly rebelled and wreak havoc upon the world.

30 years have passed. The AI's have split, and evolved independently, now using technology and biology. The human survivors have banded together and organised themselves, using captured machine technologies. The game starts in the blasted landscape of a destroyed city. Two (or more) armies are there to destroy each other.

Welcome to the world of Neuroshima Hex.

I picked this up of the shelf last week and I am completely addicted. Onto an hexagonal-tiled board (see picture above), you play a Headquarters tile (one per player). You then get hands of 3 tiles, discard one and then play one or two.

The tiles are the difficult part of the game. They represent units or events, and most are directional (damaging another unit in one direction, but not the other 5, for example). Some will be melee units, attacking neighbouring tiles, and some will be able to attack units at a distance. Some will do both. Some will prevent units from working at all. All units have a initiative number on them, from 0 to 3. This divides the units into the 3 phases of combat (3 attack first, 0 attacks last). So a 1 initiative unit might be destroyed by a 2 initiative unit before it has a chance to fire.

The game quickly turns into chess. A combat round only starts when special tiles are played, or when the board is full of tiles, or when a player draws the last tile. Location, orientation, distance, all of these issues need to be thought of. Your intention is to cause 20 damage to the enemy HQ. If no HQ is destroyed, the one with the most damage loses. 

All 5 armies are radically different, with different strengths and weaknesses, and they play accordingly differently. The 3.0 rerelease brings a series of cards, showing a number of scenarios (displays of tiles), that can be solved solo. Like you'd get a chess problem in a newspaper: 'White plays first and wins in 3 moves).

Rui's conclusion:  Not an easy game (due to difference of tiles, however the icons therein are easy to follow), and it might need a bunch of plays to get down. Intensely strategic, the closest to chess I've seen in years. Oddly, possibly one for chess and strategy loving newbies. The quick play time might also attract. Recommended!

Zombie Dice

'Braaaaaaaaaaaaaainssssssss.......'

Type: Strategy / Dice
Players: 2 to whatever (Elimination based)

Time to explain to others: About 1 min

Time to play: About 15 minutes, possibly bit more

Difficulty: To play 1/10, Game difficulty 3/10

Portability: High. Just a set of dice.
Overall: 10/10

You are a hungry zombie, in what looks like is a fairly busy part of the world. Some of your victims are, well.... victims, but others have fairly big shotguns. It is up to you to decide how many victims to attack, but watch out! The first zombie to get to 13 brains wins!

This game is as fun as it is simple. To dictate what your zombie does, and out of 13 dice, you randomly select 3 and roll them. You can get one of three outcomes, a blast (you were shotgunned), some footprints (the victim escaped) and a brain (Mmmmmm.... braaaainsss......). You hold on to shots and brains and reroll the feet, adding new dice if you need to always roll 3.

If you get to 13 brains you win! However, if you collect 3 shots in a turn, you're knocked out, losing all brains you collected on that turn.The game quickly becomes a race against time, with zombies pulling back, when they accumulate 2 shots (they reset at the end of turn), and pushing forward again and again, trying for those yummy brains.

Rui's Conclusion: Fast, entertaining and endlessly fun. A good warm up game, fun for all ages and abilities. A must-have! 

Fluxx

'Draw one, play one, draw one play one, draw five play three, draw three play two... Wait, what??'

Type: Strategy / Card
Players: 2 to about 5

Time to explain to others: About 1 min

Time to play: About 30 minutes, possibly bit more

Difficulty: To play 3/10, Game difficulty 4/10

Portability: High. Just a deck.
Overall: 10/10

Fluxx is the card game equivalent of watching 1980s british comedy. It is amazing, you laugh your head off, it's great fun, and the recipie could not be simpler.

Your deck has a bunch of cards. Actions, that perform actions, Keepers that you.... Well, keep. And goals, that you have to.... Reach.

The designers went out of their way to make a game that was as physically instinctive, non-threatening and reachable to newcomers as you can possibly make it. The cards are colourful and simple, they are colour coded, and there's only three different types.

And then the carnage starts.

The main rule is 'Draw one card, Play one card'. There are however many cards in the gamer that change this, making you draw more (yay!) and/or play more (boo!).

Also, the Goal can change at any time. So you finally have the missing Keeper to end the game (by completing the Goal), but the opponent changes it. Lovely. Oh! And the Goal you had in your hand, sorry but now you have to Play all your hand, so you now changed the Goal on the table!

There are a number of themed variations of Fluxx (Monthy Python, Zombies, Sci Fi, etc), all great fun, and with the same dynamics.

To have a strategy in Fluxx is to court madness. The game is literally evolving and changing before your eyes. This just makes it more fun than I could possibly describe!

Rui's conclusion: Simple, newbie friendly and great fun. A perfect party or after dinner game. A must in whatever of its variations!

Carcassonne

'Where the hells is this road going to go....?'

Type: Strategy / Board
Players: 2 to about 5

Time to explain to others: About 1 to 3 min

Time to play: About 30 minutes, possibly bit more

Difficulty: To play 3/10, Game difficulty 4/10

Portability: Medium. Loads of board tiles
Overall: 9/10

Carcassonne slipped through my fingers like sand through the hands of a toddler. I had totally forgotten about this lovely and simple Eurogame (Eurogames or German Games are games that focus more on strategy and resource management to get victory points, and not Player v Player conflict). A soul brother to Catan, although even simpler (if that is possible).

In each turn in Carcassonne, you play a tile, and have the possibility to play a person marker (the ever iconic Meeple). Depending on where you play the Meeple, it might become a farmer (in a field), a highwayman (in a road), a knight (in a city), a monk (in a monastery), etc. The game comes into its own because every played tile needs to connect fully with a previous one (roads can't start and end in the ether, cities must be closed by walls, etc).

You only have half a dozen meeples and although you can claim them back once you score an area (city, road.... you get the idea), you are at the mercy of the tiles. If you need to finish a city with a city tile, with a diagonal city wall running from upper left to lower right.... You might be in a lot of trouble, as your meeple knight is now stuck there, in a place where it will still score some point at game's end, but a fraction of what it would if you actually finished the city. There are by now about a dozen expansions with new tiles and new types of meeples, that keep adding to the story. You can still have a lot of fun with the base box though!

Rui's conclusion: Fast, engaging, simple and fun. A good warm-up game, or one for newbies. A hit, and rightly so!

Boss Monster

Type: Strategy / Card
Players: 2

Time to explain to others: 2 minutes 

Time to play: About 20 minutes

Difficulty: To play 2/10, Game difficulty 5/10
Portability: High

Overall: 9/10

Boss Monster is the first card game I'm covering, as I draw a deep long breath before I cover the Leviathan that is the card game to end all card games, I mean of course....

But I digress, that is talk for another time.

Boss Monster is a fun and fast cardgame, originally funded by Kickstarter, the haven of everything that is kitch, retro and 80's. Instead of being a hero fighting its way into a dungeon, you are the boss monster at the end, building you neat little dungeon, to try and obliterate any incoming heroes.

Keeping with the 80s look, the cards are pixelated, and the dungeon works linearly, from left to right, like on a 2D scrolling arcade or early ZX Spectrum or really early PC game. There are a handful of rules, that can be explained in a few minutes, and then its Hi-oh, hi-oh, to build our dungeon we go.

Rui's conclusion: Fast, easy and visually compelling. The retro look will attract the 1980-early 90s generation, as well as the more curious kids. Ultimately, really entertaining!