Tag: open draft

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Game Reviews

Nemi: The Strawberry Festival

Nemi is a small Italian town in the hills near Rome, overlooking a lake of the same name. It is best known for its wild strawberries and the Strawberry Festival, which has been held there since 1922. During the event, the streets fill with flowers, music, and market stalls, while women dressed in traditional costumes, known as Fragolare, hand out fruit to visitors.

This colorful festival became the theme of Nemi: The Strawberry Festival, a game designed by Valeria Cavasin and Edoardo Elbenstein and published by Fiammingo Games. As participants in the preparations, we will gather fruit and other ingredients, make strawberry desserts, and decorate the town. The player who contributes the most to the event’s success will receive the Golden Strawberry.

We received a pre-release copy of the game for testing. How did this sweet trip to sunny Italy turn out?

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Game Reviews

Habitats

Rezerwat (eng. Habitats), published by Allplay, is a board game in which players take on the role of wildlife reserve managers. The goal is to create a thriving ecosystem filled with animals, suitable habitats, and attractions for visiting tourists.

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Game Reviews

Altay: Dawn of Civilization

Altay: Dawn of Civilization is a board game combining deckbuilding with area control and direct conflict, designed by Ole Steiness and Paolo Mori. In Poland, the game was published by Galakta.

Players take on the roles of leaders of one of the four Elder Peoples, developing their civilizations in a secluded region of the world. The core of the experience lies in expanding your faction—building settlements, developing technologies and wonders, spreading across the map, and competing with rival factions. The game is aimed at players who enjoy when a card engine directly influences board presence and territorial control.

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Game Reviews

Dice Realms

There’s a good chance that Dominion from Rio Grande Games has caught your eye, or that you’ve even played it. It’s a classic example of a game built around the deck-building mechanic and is widely considered one of the genre’s flagship titles. The same publisher has another game in its portfolio that strongly resembles Dominion—at least in many aspects, it repeats the mechanics that made it such a great game. The key difference is that this time, instead of building a deck, we build dice that we roll every turn. That game is Dice Realms. It sounds great. Let’s see whether it actually delivers.

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Game Reviews

White Castle: Duel

White Castle: Duel from Portal Games is a compact two-player strategy game built upon the core ideas of its larger predecessor, The White Castle. This time, however, the experience is tailored exclusively for head-to-head play, with a streamlined structure and a brisk tempo. While the inspiration is unmistakable, several elements have been redesigned to suit the duel-focused format. So—how well does it work? Let’s take a look.

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Game Reviews

Removal

Removal is a title you can find on your table thanks to Albi. Designed by Michał Reszka, this game lets you step into the shoes of a moving company employee and feel the weight of all those boxes—and some rather unusual objects too (people really do collect the strangest things!). 🏠🚚 Let’s get moving with our review!

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Game Reviews

Hens

In Hens from Little Rocket Games, players become poultry breeders trying to create the most beautiful and harmonious backyard. This is one of the titles by Italian designer, illustrator, and publisher Giampaolo Razzino, which made its way to us during this year’s Planszówki w Spodku convention—and it immediately caught attention, because honestly, who doesn’t love chickens? 😀 Let’s take a closer look!

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Game Reviews

Mycelia + North American Expansion

The forest is a living organism, where beneath the surface an intense, silent struggle for survival takes place. In Mycelia, you take the role of a mycelium that expands, fruits, and spreads spores to gain dominance in a world full of competition. This title combines the feel of biology with tactical competition over space. And if things get too cramped in this underground realm, the North American Expansion comes to the rescue, introducing trees, symbiosis, and an option for a fifth player.

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Game Reviews

Whispering Woods

Whispering Woods, published by Muduko, is a title that many board gamers following the international market have been eagerly awaiting. Created by Cristian Bustos and Bernardo Vásquez, this engaging abstract game puts you in the role of animal guardians of the forest, expanding it while fulfilling goals whispered to you by the trees.

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