Reviews - The Thoughtful Gamer https://thethoughtfulgamer.com Board Game Reviews, Analysis, and Strategy Thu, 31 Aug 2023 08:54:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/cropped-TTGlogoWHITELETTERS-5-32x32.png Reviews - The Thoughtful Gamer https://thethoughtfulgamer.com 32 32 124167274 Dawn Review https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2023/08/31/dawn-review/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2023/08/31/dawn-review/#comments Thu, 31 Aug 2023 08:54:24 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3897 A friend of mine recommended the Battlestar Galactica board game to me years ago, back when it was in print and I was new to the hobby. At the time it was a beast to wrap my mind around, with a long rulebook and so many components to manage. But even while trying to comprehend …

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The post Dawn Review appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2023/08/31/dawn-review/feed/ 1 3897 Oceans: Legends of the Deep Review https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/10/26/oceans-legends-of-the-deep-review/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/10/26/oceans-legends-of-the-deep-review/#respond Thu, 27 Oct 2022 03:57:20 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3875 Oceans: Legends of the Deep will be on Kickstarter November 1 If there’s any doubt that Oceans is the wilder, freer, more combo-tastic game in the Evolution series, the Legends of the Deep expansion puts that doubt to rest. The original Evolution game is a rather stolid experience, albeit one that rewards repeated play and …

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The post Oceans: Legends of the Deep Review appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/10/26/oceans-legends-of-the-deep-review/feed/ 0 3875 Wind the Film (aka Photograph) Review https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/09/23/wind-the-film-aka-photograph-review/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/09/23/wind-the-film-aka-photograph-review/#respond Fri, 23 Sep 2022 13:16:56 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3866 Wind the Film, blandly re-named “Photograph” in its English printing, is one of the best card games I’ve played in years. It’s the kind of no-nonsense, airtight design you expect Knizia to pull out a couple of times a decade and most other designers to dream of making once in their career. Along with Let’s …

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The post Wind the Film (aka Photograph) Review appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/09/23/wind-the-film-aka-photograph-review/feed/ 0 3866 Silent Ships Review (w/ bonus: Can’t Touch This) https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/08/17/silent-ships-review-w-bonus-cant-touch-this/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/08/17/silent-ships-review-w-bonus-cant-touch-this/#respond Thu, 18 Aug 2022 03:43:32 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3861 Silent Ships, from independent designer Jorge Zhang, tries to capture the sneaky mind games of Stratego in a small-box card game. In doing so it, unfortunately, reminded me of how much I disliked my one play of Stratego a decade ago. To Silent Ships’ credit, it’s a lot quicker than the game that inspired it. …

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The post Silent Ships Review (w/ bonus: Can’t Touch This) appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/08/17/silent-ships-review-w-bonus-cant-touch-this/feed/ 0 3861 Medici: The Card Game https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/08/01/medici-the-card-game/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/08/01/medici-the-card-game/#respond Mon, 01 Aug 2022 16:36:12 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3844 Knizia’s Medici: The Card Game rides a thin line. Like so many other simple games that rely on a healthy dollop of luck, it’s at constant risk of feeling arbitrary, leaving players with the impression that they’ve wasted their time. It can also inspire moments of genuine thrill as someone decides to defy the odds …

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The post Medici: The Card Game appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/08/01/medici-the-card-game/feed/ 0 3844 Catch the Moon Review https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/07/18/catch-the-moon-review/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/07/18/catch-the-moon-review/#respond Mon, 18 Jul 2022 21:59:19 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3820 A version of this review was published on a site, I have discovered, no longer exists. Catch the Moon is delightful, with its tone somewhere between the destructive madness of Jenga and the serenity of a collaborative art project. Indeed, the win/loss conditions are the slightest form of incentive possible, and I can’t imagine anyone …

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The post Catch the Moon Review appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/07/18/catch-the-moon-review/feed/ 0 3820 Can’t Stop Review https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/07/11/cant-stop-review/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/07/11/cant-stop-review/#comments Mon, 11 Jul 2022 13:31:44 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3808 Sometimes you feel like you’ve arrived late to the party. Everyone’s moved on from a game, but you weren’t there when it was popular so it languishes in your “I should play this some time” list. Thanks to Board Game Arena, I crossed Sid Sackson’s classic, Can’t Stop, off that list, and I’m glad I …

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The post Can’t Stop Review appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/07/11/cant-stop-review/feed/ 1 3808 Spades and the Appeal of Trick-Takers https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/27/spades-and-the-appeal-of-trick-takers/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/27/spades-and-the-appeal-of-trick-takers/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2022 14:40:00 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3742 I’ve played Spades more than any other game the past two years. It’s become our go-to game on those nights when we’re too exhausted to learn something new or struggle over something complex. We’ve argued over Spades. We’ve fallen into fits of buckled-over laughter. We’ve spent half an hour on a single hand because we …

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The post Spades and the Appeal of Trick-Takers appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/27/spades-and-the-appeal-of-trick-takers/feed/ 3 3742 Anno 1800 Review https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/21/anno-1800-review/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/21/anno-1800-review/#respond Tue, 21 Jun 2022 16:37:40 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3729 Martin Wallace’s Anno 1800 is an odd duck. It shouldn’t work. I’m not yet convinced it does. It’s the sort of thing one would make when attempting to satirize eurogames in a bad sitcom. It’s the game people who still use “nerd” as a pejorative think nerds play. No one unaccustomed to the sort of …

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The post Anno 1800 Review appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/21/anno-1800-review/feed/ 0 3729 Shobu Review https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/14/shobu-review/ https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/14/shobu-review/#respond Tue, 14 Jun 2022 18:50:12 +0000 https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/?p=3713 It’s all about the rope.  Shobu looks and plays like a game that’s been around for centuries. The genre trappings—black and white pieces, square grids, simple rules—set high expectations and essentially doom the game to obscurity. I’ve heard from more than one publisher that abstract games, especially ones that look like this, are a one …

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The post Shobu Review appeared first on The Thoughtful Gamer.]]> https://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2022/06/14/shobu-review/feed/ 0 3713