 What is this game about? Thunderbolt-Apache Leader from Dan Verssen Games is all about close air support in various U.S. military campaigns from the 1980s to the 2000s. You'll be sending your pilots to locations like Iraq, Libya, and North Korea, or even watching them fly into more fantastical conflicts such as "WWIII North Atlantic." Each game is actually a campaign, the length of which is determined by the number of days in the conflict you choose to simulate. Your degree of success is determined by the number of victory points you can earn before the end of the campaign—as long as enemy battalions don't advance towards your base and ultimately destroy you. Play of Thunderbolt-Apache Leader (TAL) is split between two phases—one is actual gameplay, where you are flying over enemy terrain and fighting it out. But the other, and maybe more important, part of play is all about planning. Before you ever fire your first missile, you will choose aircraft and pick the right pilots to fly them! Each campaign you attempt will give you a starting number of "Special Options" (SO) points, which you will need to budget carefully to increase your odds of success. The bulk of your points will be spent purchasing aircraft, and there are a variety of helicopters and planes to choose from. Once you've chosen those, you will be able to assign pilots, which is also a fun process. There are three cards for each pilot in the game, because they each have several different potential skill levels. It's possible to demote some pilots in order to promote others, or to spend some of those precious SO points on making your pilots better. Pilots can also "level up" as they gain experience, so you will get to watch them develop over the course of longer campaigns. When it's time to go into battle, you will choose an enemy battalion to attack, outfit your planes with various weapons (which also cost SO points), and take flight! While flying a mission, you will have to think about your planes' altitudes, movement ranges, and weapon supplies. While missiles hit based on how well you roll a d10, you can do a lot to modify your rolls by choosing the right missiles and sending in pilots who roll with bonuses to certain attack types (this is why you want more skilled pilots). You also have a limited number of loiter turns to work with, which means you need to attack as efficiently as possible and then get back home before you run out of fuel. However, combat is not all about your pilots gaining glory—enemies fire back, your aircraft take damage, and your pilots take stress. If your aircraft get too damaged to fly, they can crash and force you to perform a search and rescue mission in hopes of finding your lost pilot. Stressed out pilots can become shaken, and eventually unfit to fly. When you finish your battles and come back to the planning phase, you'll have to figure out how to deal with all of that stress and damage. Will you spend precious SO points to repair aircraft? Which pilots are most in need of a no-fly day to reduce stress levels? Every decision matters in TAL, and every decision is fun to make! How does it play solo? TAL is solo only. Enjoy being catered to, fellow solitaire gamers!  Overall Thoughts
I never thought I needed a game about war helicopters until I played TAL. I am so taken with this game, and I can absolutely see why it is a solo classic. It's a fascinating mash-up of a war game and a DnD campaign, and I love getting attached to my pilots, helping them grow, trying to manage their stress, etc. The campaign aspect of the game is a major selling point for me, and it makes TAL something more than just flying a bunch of missions and hoping to get lucky. The choices I make about leveling up my pilots, repairing my aircraft, and dealing with both human and mechanical wear and tear make me feel more emotionally engaged and more challenged. I also very much enjoy flying the missions themselves. Every last choice you make is dramatic, and every die roll is exciting. Will your missile hit the target? If it doesn't, how will you adjust your plans? Choosing when to change altitude, how to move efficiently, and which missiles to deploy at a given time is so much fun, and even when you get extra loiter turns, your missions end all too soon. Of course, then you can get back to planning the next one! While I love the campaign aspect of TAL, I can see it being a drawback for some gamers. If you don't like the idea of taking notes or doing some serious housekeeping between missions, then this game may not appeal to you. I can also see luck feeling like an issue for some, although I felt that it added drama and surprise. While you can do a lot to modify your pilots' die rolls, sometimes you just get unlucky—either because you fire and miss, or because you end up drawing a pop-up enemy that does the most possible damage and ends up in the worst possible location. If you are considering TAL for your collection, you should be sure it's the right kind of game for you. But TAL is definitely the right kind of game for me. I still know very little about close air support, probably don't pronounce the missile names correctly, and still occasionally refer to all the different aircraft as "airplanes." All the same, TAL is a fantastic game where I can experience the satisfaction of formulating a solid plan, as well as the thrill of battle. At this point I'm even curious to know more about military aircraft! As far as I'm concerned, TAL is an absolute keeper. Do I recommend it? YES. I recommend TAL so much. However, you might think twice about it if you hate campaigns/log sheets or if you prefer minimal randomness in your games. Overall Rating: 5 stars Rating scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.
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 Full disclosure: I previewed Maquis for Side Room Games during the initial Kickstarter campaign, and received a review copy of the game after it was published. What is this game about? Maquis is a small-box solitaire worker placement game in which you control multiple members of the French Resistance during WWII. Although this game was originally a PnP as well as an app, there is now a very nice published edition available from Side Room Games. In a game of Maquis, you will draw two random missions that you will have a limited number of days to complete. You will complete those missions by sending your workers out to various locations in your town, where you can either collect resources, exchange resources, or call for more resources to be dropped on an air field. It is also possible to build special rooms at various points in the game, which is good fun because it allows you to customize the board to suit your needs in a particular game. Getting to each location is relatively easy—you just put your worker out and hope for the best. The real trick is in helping that worker get home. While you are working to resist Nazi occupation, complicit police officers in your town are trying to stop you, and they go on patrol every night. If a police officer blocks your way home, your run-in with the law can end in only one of two ways. Either your worker will be arrested and disappear from the game entirely, or you will have a weapon that you can use to kill the police officer and escape. Weapons in this game are hard to acquire, so using one up is a big sacrifice. On top of that, the police officer will be replaced by an actual soldier, who is impossible to kill if he traps you and who causes morale in the town to fall. Low morale means bigger enemy patrols, even if your own force of resistance fighters is dwindling. How does it play solo? Maquis is a one-player game. Solo players, rejoice! Overall Thoughts I hadn't played Maquis between filming the Kickstarter preview and receiving a review copy, but once I got it back out, I quickly remembered why I like it so much. This game has a lot going on for such a small game with such a quick playtime. The main tension in Maquis is between planning your moves carefully and getting everything done in time. Generally, a patrol officer won't move to a location where you have a worker, meaning you can "chain" your workers in an attempt to keep them safe. Doing this, however, takes up a lot of time and can stop you from multitasking within the game. It can also backfire badly—if an officer cannot be placed on an empty location, he will instead run into one of your workers and try to make an arrest! I also like that it is just challenging enough to get the resources you need in Maquis. You will really have to work for a victory, and you'll also have some options, including extra locations you can add to your map. If you need an extra safe house, you can build one, but choose wisely—there are also other uses for that particular space on the board. As you play more, you'll become more aware of how different locations relate to each other, where the bottlenecks are, and how to plan more efficiently. But nothing is guaranteed, and that is part of the thrill! I can see some gamers finding this game frustrating because to some extent, you are depending on the luck of the draw when it comes to patrol cards. The only real drawback of Maquis, at least for me, is that while its quick playtime invites you to play multiple games in a single session, it is also possible to burn out a little bit. There are only 14 missions, which is a lot of missions if you spread out your plays, but not quite enough if you find yourself playing a bunch of times in succession. You'll also develop some go-to strategies as you learn the game and the map, and plays will begin to feel more repetitive. If you go on a Maquis spree, you might need a bit of a break afterwards. That's a common issue for me with small games, though, and Maquis is going to be a great addition to my small box solo rotation. Do I recommend it? Definitely. Maquis is a delightful solitaire game that is snappy, has a great theme with just enough tension, and is a great pick for anyone who wants a quick but satisfying solo game. Overall Rating: 4 stars Rating scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh. If you'd like to see my original playthrough from when Maquis was on Kickstarter, check the link below!  Full Disclosure: I received a review copy of Lisboa from Eagle-Gryphon games. What is this game about? Lisboa is a heavy euro game about the rebuilding of Lisbon after it was struck by a catastrophic earthquake, a tsuami, and several days of fires in November of 1755. Each player represents a noble who is contributing to the relief and reconstruction effort, and you will all be competing to earn the most victory points. In Lisboa, victory points are represented by wigs, which were quite the important accessory for fancy men of the time. To help bring Lisbon back to its former glory, you'll be building shops, helping to open public buildings, producing goods, shipping goods, and more, all across a sprawling board with beautiful, period-inspired art from Ian O'Toole. Although Lisboa is a complex game where several different actions are woven together and impact each other, designer Vital Lacerda is not entirely wrong when he jokes that gameplay is simple—you just play a card, take an action, and draw a card. On each turn in Lisboa, you will play a card in one of two ways. In the game, there are three nobles you can visit—the chief architect, the Marquis, and the King—and each can help you to do certain actions in the game. On your turn, you can either play a card directly to the court in the middle of the game board, which allows you full access to one nobleman's actions, or you can play a card to your portfolio, which will grant you an in-game bonus and allow you to spend goods to trade with the nobles and access a more limited set of their actions. Playing to the court gives you more options, but also opens you up for follow actions by other players. Playing to your portfolio gives you more limited actions, but also helps you sell goods to make money and keep a bit of your tempo against your opponents. At the end of your turn, you choose the top card of one of the available decks, and you're all done. In addition to cardplay, there are several other game elements to keep track of in Lisboa. If you manipulate the cardinal track, you can get several bonuses and gameplay advantages. Make sure you pick up decrees, because they provide scoring bonuses at the end of the game. And when you build shops, you must place them strategically, both to score the most points possible and to collect sets of rubble cubes that represent your contribution to damage cleanup in the city. How does it play solo? In contrast to the rest of the game, Lisboa comes with a solo opponent, "Lacerda," that is fairly streamlined and easy to operate. The AI will essentially rotate through the three nobles throughout the game and take actions accordingly. It will have some advantages over you—it doesn't require money to construct buildings, etc. But it will also be highly predictable because it moves in a set pattern. To offset this, your goal in the solo version of the game is not only to beat the AI in terms of victory points, but to pull off a number of in-game achievements that will affect your overall performance rating.  There is a LOT going on here. And this image doesn't include the personal player board! Overall Thoughts
Lisboa is a euro game, but it is one of the more thematic euros I have played, and I love it for that. I had no idea about the earthquake in Lisbon before I decided to try this game, and I ended up learning so much about the disaster itself and about the people and policies involved in its aftermath. In fact, I was so taken with the historical aspects of the game that I recorded a video about it with Jason Perez from ENGN! I also found Lisboa easier to learn than I expected, because I was able to learn so much of the game thematically. I love it when I get to appreciate both a game and the historical events it represents, so on that front, Lisboa really did it for me. I also loved the way that all of the different actions and options in Lisboa weave together. The game takes a bit of time to fully grasp, but I can say with confidence that multiple plays have made me like it more, not less. Everything you do in Lisboa will have an impact somewhere else, creating a rich experience that is worth its weight. Solo mode in LIsboa is something I enjoy, but I both appreciate and have concerns about it. Having to control a highly complex AI opponent would probably have made Lisboa too complicated for enjoyable solo play, so I love that Lacerda is so streamlined. And honestly, I still find solo mode a challenge right now—I'd need to play a lot more Lisboa to feel confident that I had mastered it. At the same time, I think it will eventually be possible to play the solo mode out a bit, just because you can see what the AI will do before it actually does it. That predictability makes solo Lisboa a different game from its multiplayer counterpart in ways that make sense, but that also take a little bit away. I should also say that because Lisboa is a sprawling game with a lot of pieces and a lot going on, solo setup and takedown is an investment in itself. Depending on the kind of solo gamer you are, you may not mind that. But if you do, consider yourself warned! Do I recommend it? If you want a heavy euro with an awesome historical theme and deep, rich gameplay, then Lisboa might be for you. Just make sure that the solo mode it offers is one that is to your tastes. Overall Rating: 4 stars Rating scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full Disclosure: I previewed this game while it was on Kickstarter, but I backed the project and bought my final copy of the game with my own money. What is this game about? Dreams of Tomorrow is a tableau-building game in which you are a dream engineer. The idea is that you are living in a future that is pretty bleak, so you're sending dreams back into the past to encourage people to make different decisions and improve the outcome for humanity in the future. The way you'll ultimately do this is to catch dreams and weave them together into the most compelling sequence possible. The first player to weave five dreams together triggers the end of the game, and the player with the highest score will win. There are two ways to score for dreams in Dreams of Tomorrow. The first is just the point value of the dreams in your sequence—some dreams cost more resources to weave, but are also worth more points. The second way is through resonance. The top and bottom of each dream card will contain one or more symbols, and if you manage to line up multiple symbols across multiple dreams, you create resonance. More resonance thematically means that your dreams are more coherent and more likely to inspire the recipient to act. In game turns, more resonance means more points. To catch dreams, to weave them, to collect resources, and to take special actions, players will move around a rondel. You can move up to three spaces for free, and up to six if you pay resources. But what is most interesting is that the rondel can be manipulated. Want to make a move easier for yourself or harder for someone else? Good! The cards that make up the rondel can be rearranged or flipped based on the actions available to you. Dreams themselves are worth more than just points, and if they are not woven into the middle of a dream sequence, you can use them for special actions. How does it play solo? As with any game developed and published by Carla Kopp, Dreams of Tomorrow comes with a solo bot—in fact, three levels of solo bots so that you can increase the difficulty of your game. When you play against the AI, your opponent does move around and manipulate the rondel, which means you get to fully enjoy the most exciting part of the game. However, the AI will not score points the way you do—instead, it will score for the number of turns it takes. This forces you to play very efficiently, weave some good dreams together, and bring the game to an end before the AI's turn count gets completely out of control.  The rondel is made up of cards, which you can manipulate throughout the game. Overall Thoughts
Dreams of Tomorrow is a mostly typical tableau building game with one very interesting design element: the rondel. Being dependent on the rondel to get your actions completed in the game, combined with the fun of manipulating it using special actions, really gives Dreams of Tomorrow some zing. I also appreciate the multiple levels of solo difficulty, and the addition of the Night Mare, a mini-expansion that brings added chaos to the game and that can be used in both solo and multiplayer games. When I think about Dreams of Tomorrow, the first thing I think of is that rondel. As usual for a game from Weird Giraffe, I also like the streamlined AI turns. Carla Kopp is excellent at making a bot opponent difficult, but not too much of a burden on you in terms of upkeep. I also have a few quibbles with Dreams of Tomorrow. I am not entirely won over by the theme—"dream engineer" sounds potentially interesting, but it doesn't really come through in the gameplay, and is ultimately too abstract. As is typical of Weird Giraffe games, you should also expect Dreams of Tomorrow to be interesting, but not necessarily tense. Resources are easy to get, and you will rarely feel desperate or worried that you won't get something done within the game. You'll still have to play smart to win, but the game doesn't feel particularly dramatic, so be aware of that if you are considering Dreams of Tomorrow for your collection. Do I recommend it? Possibly. Dreams of Tomorrow is a pleasant, light game with a cool rondel and an easy-to-operate solo opponent. If that's what you're looking for, then this one may be a good fit for you. Overall Rating: 3.5 stars Rating scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Life has been crazy for me in the past month or two, but I'm getting back into my groove! And part of that groove involves perusing Kickstarter and finding games of potential interest to solo players... so without further ado, let's look at some. 1. Hour of Need I am a huge fan of the Modular Deck System developed by Adam and Brady Sadler, and Hour of Need is another MDS game based on superheroes. MDS games share quite a bit of DNA with my current favorite superhero game, Sentinels of the Multiverse, so I am very curious about whether a more tactical version of Sentinels with a few more Sadler twists will make Hour of Need my new go-to. The KS campaign is offering you quite a bit for your money, and an all-in pledge is $109. I personally won't be missing this one.  2. Thunderbolt-Apache Leader (and others)
One of my top solo games is reprinting right now! Dan Verssen Games is doing a reprint and expansion of Thunderbolt-Apache Leader, along with Fleet Commander Nimitz and Tiger Leader. I haven't played the latter two, but TAL is a phenomenal solo game that I recommend for anyone who loves the idea of a campaign game where you carefully choose your pilots, aircraft, and weapons for maximum destruction against the enemy... with some luck thrown in for good measure to make a mess of all your careful planning. If I didn't own TAL already, I'd back it, and I'm definitely eyeing the expansion! There are several other active Kickstarter campaigns I could mention, but you know what? I won't. These are the two games I am legitimately excited about right now, and ones I would drop my own personal money on.  Full Disclosure: A review copy of Mint Delivery was sent to me by Five24 Labs.
What is this game about? Mint Delivery is a follow-up to Mint Works, a pared-down worker placement game that fit into a mint tin. Mint Delivery is a highly streamlined pick up and delivery game, scaled down to fit into a slightly larger mint tin. In Mint Delivery, players will race for the most victory points by racing around the city to pick up orders, acquire the mints necessary to complete them, and jet to the correct locations to fulfill them. Once players want to move beyond the base game, there are some additions they can play with, like road blocks and special abilities. How does it play solo? Mint Delivery has a solo mode that plays differently from the multiplayer game. Solo mode does not, however, include road blocks or abilities—only the basic solo game. There is a solo-specific city map, where players can face off against one of five AI opponents, each of which has a special ability and has an easier time getting mints. (To acquire mints, solo and AI players pull mints off of one of two conveyor belts, and then return them after fulfilling orders—ideally in ways that are disadvantageous to the opposition!) The AI's priorities will shift based on whether the AI needs to acquire more orders, pick up mints, or fulfill current orders, and it's possible to use what you know about those motivations to block your automated opponent or slow it down. Much of the strategy of the game is advancing your own interests while throwing a wrench into the AI's plans. Overall Thoughts I definitely appreciate that Justin Blaske put so much work into creating a solo-specific mode of play for Mint Delivery. It's nice to be catered to, and it was great to have five different opponents to play against, right out of a small mint tin. The game is also easy to set up, easy to carry around, and easy to learn—in that regard, it is definitely doing what it set out to do. However, Mint Delivery just doesn't do it for me. I enjoyed my first few plays well enough, but I got less interested in it as the games went by. It may be that the game is too streamlined—the actions quickly start to feel repetitive, especially in solo games, where you are unable to use the special actions and roadblocks that are included to spice up multiplayer. In some ways, it feels as though Mint Delivery is straining hard to fit the mint tin constraints. Unlike Mint Works, which really was the size of a box of Altoids, Mint Delivery's tin is deeper and straining under the weight of more and more varied components—all of which are tiny. It might have been better to just let it grow into a fuller, and full-sized, game. My other quibble with Mint Delivery is that while the game is simple and the AI rules are pleasantly streamlined, there are ambiguities that players will have to resolve for themselves when managing the AI turns. For example, how would the AI player put mints back on the conveyor belt after fulfilling an order? According to the rules, the player may return mints "as they see fit." There is a lot of room in that rule for players to be easier or harder on themselves, depending on their choices. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it can frustrate players who want to play a game "correctly" or who want to be consistent when managing the AI. Do I recommend it? Personally? No. There are other small-box games that I'd prefer to spend my time with. (For example, Sprawlopolis, any of my top 5 roll and writes, even an aging classic like Friday.) That said, Mint Delivery is a fully functional game, and if it seems like your kind of thing, it's entirely possible that you will enjoy it. Overall Rating: 2.5 stars Rating Scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Image from BGG page. Full disclosure: Familiar Games sent me a review copy of Mageling. What is this game about? Mageling is a dice-rolling, tableau-building game about young mages who must travel through dangerous locations. The multiplayer game is essentially a race to be the first to traverse each of five different locations in Mageling's world. However, moving to new locations costs energy—more than your character will be able to generate at the start of the game. So you'll have to grow your powers and use them wisely. Each turn, you will roll five dice, and then be allowed to re-roll as many of those dice as you like. Then you'll need to decide what to do with the dice you've rolled. Each die face will display the symbol of either a school of magic in the game or a "finesse" symbol, which is a hand. If you have multiple dice of the same type, you can build up energy and us it to buy cards from a market row—as well as to potentially activate a card in that market row without actually buying it. You can also use pairs of dice to gain mana, which is energy you can keep from turn to turn, or use finesse to remove cards from the market (and, in solo mode, to activate a special ability). As you acquire cards, you'll be able to use your dice to trigger card abilities in addition to these basic actions, and the fun of the game is in acquiring effective combinations of cards. You'll also need to spend your energy to move from location to location, which can be expensive and which can trigger some surprising side effects. How does it play solo? Mageling has a solo/co-op mode that keeps the core of the game intact, while adding elements that keep things challenging. Rather than race other players to the end, in solo mode, players are racing to get through every location before the Evertree—the first location in the game and your home base within the world of Mageling—runs out of life. There are ways to give extra life to the Evertree, but you are working against the clock, and there are Ancient Ones who will awaken throughout the game and try to stop you. The solo game is also played as a short campaign, where your race to save the Evertree gets more difficult and desperate in every chapter. At the same time, you'll gain access to a personal market of spells that you've handpicked, in addition to the market row that all players can access in every game.  A solo game set up, with ancient ones on the top row. Overall Thoughts
Overall, Mageling is a good game, especially as a first entry from a new designer and publisher. My favorite thing about it is that the game rewards repeated play, which means that as you continue to play Mageling, you'll have new insights into what cards and combinations are most effective. There are multiple paths to victory, so learning how to work the game and see its possibilities is very enjoyable. I also like that there are multiple uses for both cards and dice, so you can choose how to apportion your resources and whether to use a card immediately from the market row—meaning you use it only once—or whether to expend energy to buy it for your tableau. I also personally like the way the solo campaign is done. It's meaty enough to make the game challenging, but not long enough to feel like a slog. It's also possible to just start a game at any chapter of the solo campaign, or to stop playing whenever you want. I'd say the campaign creates a sense of growth and deeper gameplay, but without a matching sense of obligation. Mageling is not, however, without its flaws. Because it is a dice game, you will have inevitable dead turns due to bad luck, especially early on, before you've acquired cards that let you make more of bad rolls. This issue can be exacerbated in solo mode, where the market doesn't fluctuate enough, which can leave you with cards you don't want and not much that you can do about it. Most vexing for me, however, is that Mageling is a good game with a rulebook that doesn't give the best first impression. I had to go to Familiar Games's website to check the FAQ, or onto BGG, to check multiple rules ambiguities, and I found that very frustrating. In a hobby where many players are constantly in search of novelty in games, where they want to play more games than they have time for, and where they move on quickly from games that aren't working, it's a big ask to expect that level of patience. Do I recommend it? Potentially. If you liked One Deck Dungeon and want a different game with a similar vibe, if you like dice games, and if you like discovering interesting card combinations, then you will like Mageling. Just be patient as you work through the rules at first. Overall Rating: 3.5 stars Rating Scale: 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full Disclosure: I received a review copy of Assembly from Wren Games. What is this game about? Assembly is a short, quick puzzle game set on a spaceship. After a deadly virus kills off most of the crew, you (and potentially one friend) have survived because of your natural immunity. The ship, however, wants to quarantine itself by making sure nothing makes it off the ship alive—and that includes you. There is hope, however! A partially-built ship remains on board, and if you can finish it up in time, you'll be able to escape. The puzzle of Assembly lies in manipulating module tokens so that you can lock them into place on the correct cards (they will have matching symbols). To do this, you'll play through your deck three times, only using one card at a time to deploy modules, rotate them, swap them, or lock them into place. If you can finish locking the modules by the end of the third cycle through your deck, you win. Otherwise, in space, no one can hear you scream—and you won't have any oxygen to scream with, anyway. In addition to some "malfunctions" in the base game, you can play with an expansion called Glitches, which adds difficulty by messing with your best-laid plans. Even if you win regularly, you can try to challenge yourself further by seeing how many cards you have left over at the end—and there is a score chart to help you determine how well you did. How does it play solo? Assembly has both a solo mode and a two-player co-op mode. Solo works very smoothly—you just draw a card, play a card, and reshuffle or manage malfunctions as needed.  All laid out. Overall Thoughts
I have mixed feelings about Assembly. I'll start by saying that there are definitely a lot of things to appreciate about it. The gameplay is very smooth, the puzzle is fun to complete, and it's a quick game with a small footprint. I genuinely enjoyed my plays of Assembly, and I would absolutely try another game from the same designers. Janice and Stu Turner have worked together to form Wren Games, and I think that Assembly is a very good early outing from a small, independent publisher. I also feel, however, that Assembly is a little too easy. Once you get used to the basics of solving the puzzle, you will generally win the game unless you get incredibly unlucky. That means that after enthusiastic initial plays, I burned out on the game too quickly. I also found that while you can challenge yourself to reach higher performance levels in the game, your high score will ultimately depend more on luck of the draw than on your skill in the game. A lot of the more difficult in-game achievements depend on a lucky draw or shuffle—something that I didn't find satisfying. I do suspect that Assembly shines brightest as a two-player cooperative game, rather than as a solo puzzle. The co-op version of this game has some interesting communication restrictions that I think might really give the game some teeth. Do I recommend it? If you want a small, quick puzzler from an independent design team, then maybe. Especially if you plan to play the game solo and co-op. Assembly is truly snappy and fun. But it's not one for the ages. Overall Rating: 3 stars 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Full disclosure: I received a review copy of Rurik: Dawn of Kiev from Piecekeeper Games. What is this game about? Rurik: Dawn of Kiev is an area control game set in Kievan Rus, an area you and your fellow players all seek to rule. Your goal is to earn points in the game and bolster your claim to the throne, something you can achieve by controlling multiple areas with your soldiers, building across regions, and collecting large amounts of goods. The heart of Rurik: Dawn of Kiev is without a doubt its "auction programming" mechanic. In this game, actions are taken in a specific order, and players may carry out more or less powerful versions of the same action. That is because players bid to take actions by placing their advisors on the auction/action board. Advisors are labeled 1–5, and you'll need both high- and low-value helpers to advance your cause in Kievan Rus. A 5-level advisor is more likely to sit at the top of a turn track, ousting other players and allowing you to take the most potent version of an in-game action. However, lower-value advisors get to act first, meaning that you can sneak in and beat someone else to the punch—plus, you can use coins as bribes to give even the lowliest advisor a significant amount of clout. Scrambling with other players to carry out specific actions on the board is one of the most exciting and frustrating aspects of Rurik: Dawn of Kiev. How does it play solo? Real thought went into the solo mode of Rurik: Dawn of Kiev. In a solo game, you play against Sviatopolk, who is leading a rebellion in the area and who will do his best to give you a run for your money. There are four difficulty levels, which means you can ramp up to a higher level of challenge. The game also comes with an AI deck that allows you to place Sviatopolk's advisors according to his shifting priorities, which change from round to round depending on how he is doing against you.  There is a lot to be said for Rurik's table presence! Overall Thoughts
Rurik: Dawn of Kiev is a solid game overall. The auction programming aspect of it is unique and adds some drama to the proceedings, especially in multiplayer. I appreciate that the game's solo mode does a good job of mimicking the surprise, frustration, and tension of placing advisors on the action track, and that while the AI cannot act as intentionally as a human, most of what Sviatopolk does in a solo game at least makes sense according to his priorities of the moment. However, I am also not convinced that Rurik: Dawn of Kiev is a keeper, particularly for solo. It's a solid game, but it hasn't made much of a lasting impression on me—aside from the auction programming, the game feels fairly generic, and the awesome theme (paired with awesome art) doesn't come through in the gameplay. And while much of the solo game works well, the rebellion's attack and movement actions are a little clunky. Movement, especially, is odd, in that the way your AI opponent moves troops actually changes according to his priority. I found myself checking the rulebook more often than I'd prefer. Do I recommend it? In the end, while Rurik: Dawn of Kiev is a solid game, I would not purchase it specifically for solo play. There are wilier and less cumbersome AI opponents out there. That said, it's a solid experience, so if you are super in love with the theme or particularly into area control games, you might enjoy it. Overall Rating: 3 stars 5 stars — I love it! 4 stars — I really like it. 3 stars — I like it. 2 stars — It's okay. 1 star — Meh.  Hey there solo gamers! Kickstarter has a lot going on right now—and I mean a lot. Let's at least talk about a few of its offerings! These projects are ending fairly soon: They also have one other thing in common—they are all projects that I am personally backing with my own money. 1. Everdell: Spirecrest & Bellfaire I think it's finally time for me to go in on Everdell. Worker placement, tableau building, and adorable creatures that remind me of Redwall make a potent combination. I considered it during original campaign, I considered it during the Pearlbrook campaign... and now I'm ready. The game has proven staying power, as well as a deeply discounted "all-in" pledge. Spirecrest will allow for further exploration of the world of Everdell, while Bellefaire centers on a celebration put on by all of the woodland creatures in the game. If you want some Everdell expansions, or are like me and ready to hop in, the campaign ends on October 3.  2. Detective: City of Angels and New Expansion I backed this project on Day 1, and I am genuinely excited about it. I have truly enjoyed the Detective: City of Angels base game, and I want more! I have had fun playing Detective both solo and with my game group, and if you are into detective games, I definitely recommend it. Also, it's a KS exclusive game, so waiting for retail is risky at best. The campaign ends on October 8.  3. Upstairs, Downstairs: An Obsession Expansion
I did not back Obsession the first time around, but I did end up with a review copy—and it ended up being one of my surprise hits of the year! I like Obsession so much that not only am I backing the expansion, but I'm paying for the reprint with my own money. I am looking forward to sipping tea with an even fancier version of this game. The campaign ends on October 15. |
AuthorMy name is Liz Davidson, and I play solo board games. A lot of solo board games... Archives
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