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

Across a crowded room, I saw you. Your bright colours, yet slightly sinister, artwork drew me in and I knew I had to look. Motora is simply put, beautiful. So, then we sat and played it. We proceeded to have one of the most bloodthirsty games we have had in a long time! Don’t let looks fool you, this game is brutal.

If you've met Andrew at any gaming conventions, you will know this his unlimited enthusiasm and excitement is infectious and Yay Games is suitably named! He also has a rather silly sense of humour as does Ominoes Hieroglyphs - An ancient tile laying game proves. However, his designs are wholly serious and are great family games. In Ominoes Hieroglyphs, players take on the role of rival priests trying to gain the favour of the Gods in order to build their temple before everyone else.

I hope you are all sitting down, as I am going to be talking about a co-operative game *gasp* OK, well it’s a semi co-op so don’t know if it really counts!Based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name, players are racing to get a message to the Czar's brother. However, you are also racing against an assassin who is also trying to get to him, whilst dealing with the Tartar forces who are trying to reach Moscow.

Last but not least, this year's must have releases. I boiled it down to 9 releases and then kept finding more...

While there are lots of new games released at Essen, there are many Kickstarters that are finally reaching fulfilment stages that we've almost forgotten about and are starting promotion to new retail customers. Plenty of games are available in limited quantities or reduced prices so it's worth checking if they are available for pre-order to ensure you get them at the best price and before they sell out completely. Here is my current list of definite picks ups for the weekend.

With so many new releases at Spiel 18, Essen it's easy to get distracted by all the new releases, so here are the expansions we are looking forward to that are being released this year.

We met up with Luke from Muster at Airecon 4 to talk about how their app could revolutionise the way we meet up for games and make new connections to gamers locally.

Last weekend, we spent around six hours on trains in order to get to Edinburgh. Yes, of course, board games were involved! We were en route to the inaugural Tabletop Scotland in Perth. Here's a quick walkaround the halls to see who was in attendance and what people were playing. https://iplayred.co.uk/posts/tabletop-scotland-2018