Category: boardgames

The Downfall of Pompeii Designers: Klaus-Jurgen Wrede Manufacturers: Amigo, Mayfair Games Year: 2006 Players: 2 - 4 Time: 45 minutes Ages: 10 and up In the year 79 A.D., the beautiful city of Pompeii sits at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. For years, the lovely town has attracted the best of Rome's citizens, and it is famous for both its businesses and luxuries. But a terrible secret lies deep beneath the slopes of the mighty mountain. A secret that will unleash unspeakable horrors on the fateful afternoon of August 24th... (funagaingames.com) The first half of the game is spent living in Pompeii and encouraging your Roman friends and family to join you. The second half is spent fleeing from the city in terror, trying to survive the explosion. The theme is great, the game plays well. The rules are easy to learn, and there is both strategy and a little luck involved. Everyone enjoys it, from Amber (9) to my husband and our friends, except me....

Abalone Designers: Michel Lalet, Laurent Levi Manufacturers: FoxMind Games Year: 1999 Players: 2 Time: 30 minutes Ages: 8 and up I played this last weekend with my brother and sister-in-law. I had honestly forgotten how much I enjoy this game. Of course, it helps that I won. Basically each player has a set of marbles and they take turns pushing the marbles around the board. The goal is to push six of your opponent marbles off.  But there is a catch. It takes two marbles to move one, and three to move two. With six possible directions, it's difficult to defend yourself perfectly. This is a fun game that I wish I played more often. It's a balance between being of the offensive and making sure your troops aren't separated too much. My husband's not a fan. He doesn't like other people pushing his marbles around, which is the whole point of the game. It's a very easy game to learn, with only a couple...

Arkham Horror Designers: Kevin Wilson and Richard Launius Manufacturer: Fantasy Flight Games Artists: Brian Schomburg and Scott Nicely Year: 2005 Players: 1 - 8 Time: 120 - 180 minutes Ages: 12 and up The town of Arkham, Massachusetts is in a panic. Horrific and bizarre events have begun to occur with increasing frequency -- all seeming to point towards some cataclysmic event in the near future that may spell disaster for everyone. Only one small band of investigators can save Arkham from the Great Old Ones and destruction! No fan of the Cthulhu Mythos will want to miss this opportunity to acquire this classic Call of Cthulhu boardgame! Fair warning- this is a tough game. We've only played a couple of times.  There are a lot of rules, which is tough for David, and his character spent two-thirds of the first game we played insane. I enjoy it, even if we don't play it often.  Basically, each player has a character and all the characters work together to kill an assortment of...

I just saw this over on Boardgame News and had to share. Small World is currently one of my favorite games and it looks like we have some expansions to look forward to. See what Days of Wonder has to say here. Three small expansions that will debut at Spiel 09 in October and appear in game stores shortly afterward. Thank the goddess for some new female races in the Grand Dames of Small World. Priestesses, White Ladies and Gypsies will be staking their claims. The Cused! mini-expansion will  have new powers, including Cursed, Hordes of..., Marauding, Ransacking and Were-, and a couple of new races. The third, Leaders of Small World, is a special non-race, non-special power game play option that will only be distributed through BoardGameGeek. Tales & Legends of Small World, the fourth expansion, will apparently be released in 2010....

Tigris & Euphrates Designer: Reiner Knizia Manufacturer: Mayfair Games Artist: Stephen Graham Walsh Year: 2008 Players: 3 - 4 Time: 60 - 120 minutes Ages: 12 and up Step back to the dawn of recorded time. Take command of a young dynasty in fertile Mesopotamia. Here, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, lies the cradle of civilization. Here, as the Bible tells, rose man's first cities: Ur, Nineveh, and fair Babylon. The game of Tigris & Euphrates lets you play a part in the epic saga of the rise of these great urban centers. Your dynasty struggles to develop and control the most vibrant culture in the rich land between the two rivers. Create the best balance between markets, temples, settlements, and farms, as you and your people try to forge your own new civilization and dominate the storied valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. My thoughts: I would consider this one of the newer classic board games. You have four different leaders: farming, trading, religion, and government, each a different...