The trees have it
Queen have taken advantage of the success of their Alhambra franchise to re-release one of their classic abstract game Carat as The Gardens of the Alhambra. This simple tile-laying game is a struggle for area control where every move you make, helps another player and where the only way to get the big points is to ensure you are only the barest fraction ahead.
This battle is fought over garden tiles as players reconstruct the orchards, groves and pathways of the famous Alhambra of Granada.
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Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Review: Six
Pieces of six! Pieces of six!
There are many abstract games in which players create a row of pieces to win. Six is, at most, a distant cousin to these games who lives in a much better part of town. In Six, players place pieces trying to create one of the three possible winning formations (including a line) while playing for position in two different phases of play forcing them to walk a delicate balance of attacking and defence.
Read full article...
There are many abstract games in which players create a row of pieces to win. Six is, at most, a distant cousin to these games who lives in a much better part of town. In Six, players place pieces trying to create one of the three possible winning formations (including a line) while playing for position in two different phases of play forcing them to walk a delicate balance of attacking and defence.
Read full article...
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Review: Mord im Arosa
Eight floors, one guess. A novel murder mystery
In Mord im Arosa, the players take the roles of amateur detectives attempting to investigate (or at least doing their best to make sure that one of the other players is arrested for the two murders that have been discovered tonight at the Hotel Arosa.
In this light abstract crime game for 2-6 players, sharp ears are the key to making sure someone else takes the fall.
Read full article...
In Mord im Arosa, the players take the roles of amateur detectives attempting to investigate (or at least doing their best to make sure that one of the other players is arrested for the two murders that have been discovered tonight at the Hotel Arosa.
In this light abstract crime game for 2-6 players, sharp ears are the key to making sure someone else takes the fall.
Read full article...
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Review: Linja
Hop, skip and win!
Linja is one of the older abstract games from Steffen Spiele. First published in 2003, it's an abstract efficiency race game somewhat reminiscent of a diceless backgammon in which two players attempt to race their pieces towards their home space, taking advantage of other pieces in the way to make big leap-frogging moves.
Review: Rat Hot
Stacks of Rats
Rat Hot is the Queen small-box release of Michael Schacht's Dschunke: Das Legenspiel, an abstract tile game that was developed from the goods-tile-laying element of Dschunke. In the game, players stack 3 by 1 tiles with crates on them to create large connected areas of goods in their own colour while trying to avoid (or cover up) rats.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Review: Mijnlieff
Tickle your tactical toes
Mijnlieff was an unusual (and somewhat difficult to spell) abstract game brought to Essen by Prime Games. Among the copies of Great Fire and 1860, this simple abstract stood out a mile and I ended up ogling it from a distance several times as I crossed the hall. Mijnlieff also won the UK games expo Best Abstract Game prize earlier this year.
What's this all about?
I'm a fan of many types of abstract strategy games, and I'm continually surprised by how little attention many of them attract. I'm working on reviews and articles to get the many modern publishers of these games a little more attention.
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