That’s Not Two Minds!
Brock: The long anticipated return of a feature that’s maybe mostly forgotten… We are simply giddy with delight to bring you yet another installment of Two Minds About! How have you spent the two years since last we sparred, Dan?
Dan: Drugs. Also… no, it’s mostly drugs.
Brock: Me? I’ve been bench pressing bloated Kickstarter games and eating bowl after bowl of meeples. I knew this day would come, and I knew I would have to be ready. This time around, we’re looking at a tiny box that gives me some very big feelings: That’s Not a Hat!, designed by Kasper Lapp.
Journeys in the Dark
All I play anymore is trick-taking games. Now and then, fortunately, one of them catches my fancy.
This month’s example is David Spalinski’s Torchlit. A self-published production, and so far only sold at this past weekend’s Indie Games Night Market alongside titles such as High Tide and Out of Sorts — which I wasn’t able to attend, but by all accounts was a resounding success — this is as close to a hybrid trick-taker as one gets without actually tipping over the line.
All Welrod and Good
Every so often I have the opportunity to play what I call an enhanced choose-your-own-adventure game. Not unlike Edward Packer’s beloved children’s series, these are games about making narrative decisions and seeing how they play out, usually with a lot of “turn to page 101” and “turn to entry 344.” The “enhanced” part comes in when these choose-your-own-adventures include tabletop elements from outside the book itself, such as dice rolling, action points, or a story sheet to keep track of narrative consequences — the most recognizable example being, naturally, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s Fighting Fantasy series.
Right up front, here’s my declaration: Dave Neale and David Thompson’s War Story: Occupied France is easily the best of these titles I’ve played. Full stop.
Some Rando Viking
Cards on the table, I have no idea who this Thorgal fellow is. Child of the stars? Some rando Viking? In need of a shave? Apparently he’s the main character of a Franco-Belgian comic book. Until I played Joanna Kijanka, Jan Maurycy Święcicki, and Rafał Szyma’s board game, I wasn’t even aware that there were Franco-Belgian comic books.
But that’s the impressive thing about Thorgal: The Board Game. Its alt-history world is so vibrant, its rough-handed characters so vividly drawn, its gameplay conundrums so compelling, that it hardly requires any introduction at all.
The Fellowship of Bill the Pony
I’m a sucker for unabashed enthusiasm. The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game, designed by Bryan Bornmueller, is brimming with the stuff.
As you might have gleaned from the title, this is a trick-taking game set in the world of The Lord of the Rings. Except, scratch that, Bornmueller has wisely narrowed his scope to Tolkien’s first volume. This affords him some breathing room. Rather than taking us on a whirlwind tour of the entire trilogy — or all six books, if we want to be pedantic about it — Bornmueller drills down into what makes The Fellowship of the Ring so gripping in its own right. Yes, Tom Bombadil makes an appearance, alongside Goldberry, poor forgotten Glorfindel, and Farmer Maggot (now more than a menacing scythe). Even Bill the Pony is a playable character.
Cate’s 2024 Holiday Board Game Guide
Hi! This is Cate, Dan’s kid. I am ten years old and these are my ten favorite games.
You Merely Adopted the Mist
Remember when Mistborn: House War made the uncomfortable decision to cast its players as the eugenicist oppressors of Brandon Sanderson’s much-loved fantasy series?
Oh, you don’t. Well, I do, and that’s the first thing John D. Clair’s Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game has going for it. This time around, you’re an actual mistborn, a metal-guzzling, glass-dagger-stabbing, high-flying superhero in a goofy tassled cape. That’s all good stuff, but the real draw is the way Clair turns the deck-building formula on its head and even remediates one of its long-standing deficiencies, once again proving himself one of the hobby’s most overlooked innovators.
Welcome to Middle-Earf
I realize it represents critical malpractice at this point, but I still haven’t tried Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala’s Seven Wonders Duel. Then again, maybe that’s a good thing, since I’m effectively immune to any questions about how much The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth shakes up the format.
Catapults, Mostly
Between Tales to Amaze and Return to Dark Tower, I’ve reached the phase of my life where Restoration Games ranks among my most anticipated playthings — not for my own sake, but because I know my ten-year-old is going to gush over each new release. Crossbows & Catapults: Fortress War is a remake of Henri Sala’s 1983 original, minus the decaying rubber bands and plus, well, a whole range of things. Better tempo. Action cards. Special ammunition. Mercenaries.
Look, there’s a critical quandary here, but it isn’t a tough circle to square. At thirty-eight, this isn’t my favored way to pass an hour. For my kiddo, it’s the most revolutionary construct in existence. Take one stab at who wins that tiebreaker.
Talking About Games: To Talk or Not
Three months ago, I encountered perhaps the worst board game I’ve ever played. This thing was truly non-functional, less coherent than almost any prototype that gets sent my way, a misbegotten experiment in game timers and open-ended negotiation. Worse, it was supposedly a game “about” something, the passage of time and the rise and fall of civilizations, the way societies are imprinted by their leaders. Surprise surprise, even those concepts were fumbled.
I’m never going to write about it.
Maybe that isn’t what you expected. Space-Biff! features a number of negative reviews. Some of them are scathing. Quite often, I’ve been told that it’s the inclusion of negative coverage that makes my site come across as trustworthy. So why wouldn’t I take this particular game down a peg?
In the interests of transparency, but also hopefully some good old-fashioned uncommon sense, today I’m going to talk about my thought process for what gets covered — and what doesn’t.
SPACE-BIFF! 