Board Game Blogger, Reviewer, Playtester, Demonstrator, Con Junkie

It’s a well-known fact that dice hate me. I don’t hate them, honest (well, maybe that D4 I trod on once, but that doesn’t count surely?) However, occasionally I like to chuck some dice around with something quick and fun. Qwantum scratches that itch nicely! It doesn’t outstay it’s welcome and everyone can be cursed equally by the dice gods. (plus other people have to deal with my terrible rolls!)

In Railroad Rivals you will be building your stock portfolio of the twelve railroads that stretched across America during the 19th Century whilst connecting cities and making deliveries to increase the value of that stock. Tile drafting and laying combined with stock acquisition may seem like an interesting combination but Railroad Rivals meshes the two effortlessly. Glenn Drover has a pretty good pedigree when it comes to train games (Railways of the World) so the stakes are high!

These days, it’s not often that a game surprises me but Festo! is one that certainly did. I was initially drawn in by its super bright colours and expected a cutesy, family friendly, entry-level game. But no, Festo! Has a bit more meat to it (and fruit, potatoes, salt, spices!) Fed up with cooking for everyone over the festive season? Well, now you can go head to head and create a feast for the halflings and win the title of Master Cook at the Festo!

This year I have failed to buy an Advent Calender and then realised we have one sat in our front room. 25 cubes, ok it will be 24 days until Christmas Day. But we can get a game on the big day too. What is the fun of an advent calender? Well, of course it's spending forever trying to find the right door number whilst trying desperately to contain our desire for chocolate that is ok at best.

This was our sixth year at Essen, and I see so many regular faces be they designers, publishers, fellow content creators and friends alike year on year that this was a perfect opportunity for a fun project. I hope you enjoy it.

29 plays of 25 different games over 6 days can only mean one thing! Yup, it’s BGG Con time. Not only do I get to hang out with some of my favourite people that I only see once a year, but I get to sit and play games for days with no interruption from working in any capacity.

Stimulus Games have launched Movie Empire on Kickstarter today and we produced a short (preview and learn to play) film in celebration. They have already at 25% so if you like the look of it I recommend checking out their campaign. "...A medium-weight movie production strategy board game for 2-4 players. "I love the smell of worker placement in the morning"...." https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stimulus-games/movie-empire?utm_source=iplayred https://iplayred.co.uk

We had the opportunity to visit Dice Portsmouth, UK at the end of last year for an afternoon of gaming with our friends from Games Quest. It's definitely in our top 3 Board Game Cafes that we've visited. Dice Portsmouth - http://diceportsmouth.com/ Board Game Cafe Map - https://iplayred.co.uk/cafes