My Kingdom for a Trojan Horse (A Review of Iliad)

It was a time of myth and legend.  When fabled warriors inspired lesser men by the thousands to rise above their mundane lives and march into history’s pages.  While old kings squabbled over land and power and wealth, they fought for glory and honor and love.  Now you can relive the most epic conflict of the ancient world.  All because of a woman.

Let Your Lights Shine (A Review of Candle Quest)

This year Hanukkah comes to a close tomorrow, December 5, at night-fall.  The familiar – at least in name – celebration commemorates the rededication of the Temple which the Jewish people wrested back control of from the Seleucid Syrians during the Maccabean Revolt.  Today I review Candle Quest, a light card game not about that revolt or politics or history; but instead acquiring candles with which to light the menorah so famously associated with the holiday.  There may not be any tactical, political intrigue and big battles.  But you’ll need a dash of strategy in spending your shekels wisely before your opponents snuff you out.

If I Only Had a Brain (A Review of Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead)

Zombies!  Relentlessly, they sweep over the globe in wave after wave of evil hordes.  Rising in all corners of the earth, the unremitting infection grows and spreads like a plague from Hell.  Armies are overwhelmed.  Cities fall.  Civilization crumbles.  Humanity sits precariously on the precipice of extinction.  Bands of survivors fallback to dwindling strongholds and vulnerable safe havens in desperate efforts to stem the dark, rotten apocalypse…or simply to survive.

Sounds like the new World War Z flick opening this Friday?  Alas, there’s no Brad Pitt to be seen here.  Instead, you will take charge of a world region reeling against an inexhaustive onslaught of walking corpses in the board game Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead.

Wakey Wakey (A Review of Sleeping Queens)

Oh, no!  A mysterious potion has put all of the queens to sleep.  And for some reason, rather than enjoy the peace and quiet(!), you must find the kings, who are the only ones able to wake the slumbering highnesses.  But do it quickly!  The player with the most queens wins, so you may have to steal a fair lady or two from others, or use potions of your own to send them back off to dreamland.  Hmpf!  Royalty.  How typical.

No Prey, No Pay (A Review of Loot)

Avast, me hearties, and steel ye nerves for this game of high stakes on the high seas.  Be ye a Pirate King?  Find out as ye gather yer band of cutthroat, scurvy scallywags and sail forth under the brave, black flag in search of plump, defenseless lubbers with hoards of booty.  'Cause it’s ne'er too early to teach yer wee ones how to pillage and plunder the buccaneer-way, eh?  Argh!

A follow-up to Intrigue - too many cooks? (A mini-review of 6-player Dominion/Dominion Intrigue))

8 player dominion is highly NOT recommended

In the past week I had a chance to play the 6-player variant of Dominion made possible when one possesses both the base game and the Intrigue expansion.

The reason for creating this variant is obvious:  sometimes you have more than 3 friends over to play a game, and Dominion is one of the best games out there.  It's fun, it's easy, you never know what to expect, and it's fast.  Games are meant to be a social experience, after all, and why should such an experience be limited to 4?

Unfortunately, adding more players creates a problem that just about EVERY game has to face - downtime.  Waiting for 3 people to take their turns? Not so bad.  Waiting for 5?  Now that's a different story.  In addition, the more players you have, the more likely that one or more of those players will talk a long, slow turn, thinking too hard when they should have been planning ahead during the other players' turns.