Daily Magic Games

Hey kids. It's Saturday! If you're like me, you're at the LGS, hanging out and talking/playing games. I hope you're doing that, anyway. I mean, it's what Saturday's for!
It's also for reviews. So let's get to it.

This week we have: Heldentaufe, Monster Trap, Galaxy of Train: New Order, Lords of Hellas, Bestiary 6, New York Slice, Orphan Black, Sailing Towards Osiris, Perdition's Mouth: Abyssal Rift, Moons, Adrenaline, and Terraforming Mars.



Toucan Play That Game:

Heldentaufe Review

In this video you can find out my thoughts on Heldentaufe.

Monster Trap Preview

In this paid video you can find out about Monster Trap by New Comet Games.

Galaxy of Train: New Order Review

In this paid video you can find out about Galaxy of TRIAN: New Order by CreativeMaker.

theMCGuiRE review:

Lords of Hellas Review

theMCGuiRE review takes a look at Lords of Hellas a brand new game from Awaken Realms. This is a prototype version of the game but very special in many ways! Custom painted resin miniatures and a super limited special made box (watch the video for what "special" magic this box does).

The Kickstarter is coming to us end of May/early June and will feature new game play additions, extra miniatures, solo game play rules and much more. This is your chance to get your hands on the game super early before it comes out! So subscribe and have a chance to win my copy of the prototype version with special resin miniatures and epic custom box!

The quality on this one is off the charts and I cant wait to see what all they do with this game in the upcoming Kickstarter.

Nerds on Earth:

Bestiary 6 Review

NerdsOnEarth.com reviews Bestiary 6, the latest hardback book for the Pathfinder RPG.

Board Game Quest:

New York Slice Review

It’s not clear who the players’ roles are in New York Slice, but what is clear is that players will be dividing up and selecting slices of pizza from a random pie. Majority scoring occurs for the number of slices each player has acquired, with the number of points matching the number of slices available in the game. Chalkboard tiles grant special abilities for an additional variety of scoring opportunities.

Orphan Black Review

In Orphan Black, players are assigned a faction and three specific clone targets. They play influence cards to try to move clones to their faction without tipping off everyone to their loyalties. After all 9 clones have been resolved, players score bonus points for their targets and any correct accusations they made. The player with the most points wins.

Sailing Towards Osiris Preview

Sailing Towards Osiris is a game that simulates the building of monuments and tributes to win an election… sort of like in the United States, except in Egypt.

The Pharaoh has died and he has no heirs. Governors (the players) have four rounds to build the greatest tribute to Osiris in honor of the recently deceased Pharaoh, with the wining governor becoming the Pharaoh’s successor.

Perdition's Mouth: Abyssal Rift Review

In Perdition’s Mouth, player’s are delving into the depths of a cultist stronghold to embark on a series of missions. The game can be played as one-off sessions, or as a linked campaign.

During the game, each player choose a unique hero to command and must work together if they hope to make it out of the rift alive. The gameplay embraces the eurogamer style of play, eschewing dice rolling and hacking-and-slashing for a more unique rondel based action system. Players definitely need to employ solid teamwork and tactics if they hope to survive.

iSlaytheDragon:

Moons Review

As a trick-taking card game Moons orbits the genre fairly closely, but also adds some twists to rocket up the fun. It is a plain trick-taking game with no trumps. That is, instead of capturing cards worth points, winning a trick allows you to take a moon token that is worth a point at the end of the game – more if part of a set.

Adrenaline Review

Adrenaline is an action game all about blasting your friends into tiny bits with the biggest, coolest guns.

On your turn, you can move, shoot, or pick up items (guns or ammo). After 2 actions you can reload your guns, then score any kills you made during your turn before play passes onward to the next player!

The weapons are where the heart of this game dwells. Each weapon (in addition to having a cool name and FPS-style design) has an effect that typically deals out damage based on your target’s proximity. Most guns have multiple possible effects, and some allow you to spend ammunition when you put the gun into play to increase its effectiveness. For example, one gun lets you choose to deal a lot of damage to one player, or spread out the damage to multiple players in the same space. There are guns that shoot through walls, guns that suck your target towards you, guns that let you run up, smash someone for damage, and then run away.

You’ll need ammo to power your guns, so you’ll pick up tiles that let you collect ammo cubes and someimtes item cards that grant additional powered abilities.

Terraforming Mars Review

Terraforming Mars is a resource-management engine-building game for one to five players. Players represent corporations who are working to make Mars inhabitable. The game ends when the three global parameter minimums–oxygen, temperature, and oceans–have been met. The player who contributes the most to the terraforming effort is the winner.

Hello Saturday! How are you? Is everything going well? Of course it is! It's Saturday!

So, let's not wait around. Let's get right to the reviews so we can get back to it being Saturday. Personally, I'm thinking of watching a movie and questioning Netflix's algorithms in what "more like this" really means...

Today we have: The Pirate Republic, Kingdomino, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Board Game - Shadows of the Past, Adrenaline, Ave Roma, Hero Realms, Food Truck Champion, Sorcerers' Skirmish, Carcassonne: Amazonas, Oceanos, The Flow of History, Citadels, Broken Legions, Haspelknecht, and GKR: Heavy Hitters.



Toucan Play That Game:

The Pirate Republic Preview

In this paid video you can find out about The Pirate Republic by Green Feet Games.

Kingdomino Review

In this video you can find out my thoughts on Kingdomino by Blue Orange.

theMCGuiRE review:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Board Game - Shadows of the Past Unboxing

theMCGuiRE review takes a look at the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Board Game - Shadows of the Past from IDW Publishing and Kevin Wilson. Man Kevin really made a fun game here and how could you go wrong with the TMNT theme! When I first heard this was coming and Kevin was the designer, I was instantly "in". This is the EPIC Works edition and is packed to the brim with everything you could want. I cant wait to see what they add to this system. I also have the new April O'Neil Hero pack coming out soon to retail.

this is the first in a two part series to unbox this massive game and then play through a few turns. So strap in and get ready to open up this epic game with Part I: The Opening!

Play Board Games:

Adrenaline Review

Adrenaline is a first-person shooter in board game form. It is action-packed but requires good area control and resource management to win.

Adrenaline does a good job of mixing theme with tactics. On the surface it might look like a random shoot-em-up, but it has a solid Eurogame foundation.

Polyhedron Collider:

Ave Roma Review

I received Ave Roma in 2016 following the successful Kickstarter campaign and straight away I was impressed. It arrived promptly and looks great straight out of the box. Due to the Kickstarter, it includes a bunch of expansions which really do make the game very good value. A few nice touches to make the workers pillars instead of discs all adds to the appearance. But this is all so much finery – but very much keeping with the theme. Ave Roma is a victory points game based on a complex worker placement mechanism. Euro games have weights, and I’m not going to lie, Ave Roma is so heavy it could well have its own gravitational pull. There are upsides and downsides to this – the upside is that there’s lots of ways to win so it’s never too clear who’s in the best position at any one time. The downside is that learning the game is an absolute bitch.

Board Game Quest:

Hero Realms Review

Each player starts the game with an identical 10 card deck (unless you are playing with the hero packs) and share an 80 card market deck. During a player’s turn, they will be playing cards from their hand to either attack their opponent or purchase cards from the central market. If you’ve ever played a deck building game before (and especially if you’ve played Star Realms), the mechanics will be quite familiar. The goal in Hero Realms is to reduce your opponent’s life to zero.

Food Truck Champion Preview

In Food Truck Champion, each player is the owner of a food truck out to make a name for themselves. As the owner, you will be hiring staff, taking orders and preparing meals… all with the goal of earning awards and increasing your popularity.

As you complete orders, you will earn the right to expand different areas of your food truck, giving you much more flexibility. At the end of the game, the truck owner with the most popularity is the winner.

Sorcerers' Skirmish Preview

In Sorcerers’ Skirmish, players will take turns drawing, declaring, casting and resolving spell cards. Each sorcerer’s deck has identical elemental spells but how each player uses their deck is key. Aside from their spells, players should also use any other means to win. Players can count cards, bluff, use logic and hopefully have some luck on their side to be crowned the winner!

Carcassonne: Amazonas Review

A boat race along a pre-Columbian Amazon is the setting for this version of Carcassonne. As players place tiles and use meeples to claim locations, they will also be moving a boat down the great Amazon river with the aim of scoring enough points from villages, tributaries, jungles with animals, and maintaining a lead in a river race.

iSlaytheDragon:

Oceanos Review

In Oceanos, you’ll play as a submarine captain rushing out to explore the ocean for fun and profit.

You start with a basic submarine – a single periscope to find your way, a small aquarium to store fish specimens, a diver for treasure collection, and a little extra fuel.

The Flow of Time Review

The Flow of History is a card based game that has players guiding their respective civilizations from the agrarian age to the modern. Whoever has accumulated the most culture by game’s end will be the winner. But before learning how the game plays, it’s important to know a couple of things about the cards themselves.

There are six types of cards categorized by color. Whenever you gain a card you will add it to a stack in front of you arranged by type/color. Each card will have at least one production symbol on it as well as an effect written out in the middle. When a new card is placed over an existing one, it will overwrite the previous effect, but leave the production symbols showing.

Every player starts with a single card in their civilization and 4 resource tokens. The rest of the cards are placed in a deck arranged by ages. Cards are drawn off the deck and placed in the middle of the table to comprise the market. Players take turns taking a single action until the deck is depleted. Whoever has accumulated the most culture at this time will be the winner.

Citadels Review

Citadels is ostensibly a city-building game because you earn points by building city districts, represented by cards. The goal is to have the most points when you or someone else builds eight districts (seven with 4-8 players in the new edition), triggering the last round of the game. You start with four of these and a couple gold. Each turn you either take two gold or draw two district cards, adding one of them to your hand. Normally, you may build one district each turn by paying the cost indicated on the card, which is also its point value. You can nab bonus points by building the maximum number of districts, owning at least one of the five different kinds of districts (noble, religious, trade, military and unique) and finally with certain unique district cards.

Meeples & Miniatures:

Broken Legions Review

Broken Legions is a ‘warband’ style of skirmish game, so players will each need a warband of between 7 and 12 models a side. Since the game is set in a mythical Ancient Rome timeline, warbands consist of miniatures from the armies of the time: Imperial Rome, Gladiators, Barbarians, Dacians, Parthians, Argonauts (Greeks) and Cult of Set (Egyptians). Most of these miniatures you will find in any 28mm Ancient army that you may have to hand, or maybe one that has been lying in a corner unloved since its days of playing WAB?

Drive Thru Review:

The Flow of History Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:34); final thoughts and review (13:00)

Haspelknecht Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:00); final thoughts and review (12:43)

Giant Killer Robots Preview

Giant Killer Robots: Heavy Hitters Preview

Hello Saturday! How are you? Is everything going well? Of course it is! It's Saturday!

So, let's not wait around. Let's get right to the reviews so we can get back to it being Saturday. Personally, I'm thinking of watching a movie and questioning Netflix's algorithms in what "more like this" really means...

Today we have: The Pirate Republic, Kingdomino, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Board Game - Shadows of the Past, Adrenaline, Ave Roma, Hero Realms, Food Truck Champion, Sorcerers' Skirmish, Carcassonne: Amazonas, Oceanos, The Flow of History, Citadels, Broken Legions, Haspelknecht, and GKR: Heavy Hitters.



Toucan Play That Game:

The Pirate Republic Preview

In this paid video you can find out about The Pirate Republic by Green Feet Games.

Kingdomino Review

In this video you can find out my thoughts on Kingdomino by Blue Orange.

theMCGuiRE review:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Board Game - Shadows of the Past Unboxing

theMCGuiRE review takes a look at the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Board Game - Shadows of the Past from IDW Publishing and Kevin Wilson. Man Kevin really made a fun game here and how could you go wrong with the TMNT theme! When I first heard this was coming and Kevin was the designer, I was instantly "in". This is the EPIC Works edition and is packed to the brim with everything you could want. I cant wait to see what they add to this system. I also have the new April O'Neil Hero pack coming out soon to retail.

this is the first in a two part series to unbox this massive game and then play through a few turns. So strap in and get ready to open up this epic game with Part I: The Opening!

Play Board Games:

Adrenaline Review

Adrenaline is a first-person shooter in board game form. It is action-packed but requires good area control and resource management to win.

Adrenaline does a good job of mixing theme with tactics. On the surface it might look like a random shoot-em-up, but it has a solid Eurogame foundation.

Polyhedron Collider:

Ave Roma Review

I received Ave Roma in 2016 following the successful Kickstarter campaign and straight away I was impressed. It arrived promptly and looks great straight out of the box. Due to the Kickstarter, it includes a bunch of expansions which really do make the game very good value. A few nice touches to make the workers pillars instead of discs all adds to the appearance. But this is all so much finery – but very much keeping with the theme. Ave Roma is a victory points game based on a complex worker placement mechanism. Euro games have weights, and I’m not going to lie, Ave Roma is so heavy it could well have its own gravitational pull. There are upsides and downsides to this – the upside is that there’s lots of ways to win so it’s never too clear who’s in the best position at any one time. The downside is that learning the game is an absolute bitch.

Board Game Quest:

Hero Realms Review

Each player starts the game with an identical 10 card deck (unless you are playing with the hero packs) and share an 80 card market deck. During a player’s turn, they will be playing cards from their hand to either attack their opponent or purchase cards from the central market. If you’ve ever played a deck building game before (and especially if you’ve played Star Realms), the mechanics will be quite familiar. The goal in Hero Realms is to reduce your opponent’s life to zero.

Food Truck Champion Preview

In Food Truck Champion, each player is the owner of a food truck out to make a name for themselves. As the owner, you will be hiring staff, taking orders and preparing meals… all with the goal of earning awards and increasing your popularity.

As you complete orders, you will earn the right to expand different areas of your food truck, giving you much more flexibility. At the end of the game, the truck owner with the most popularity is the winner.

Sorcerers' Skirmish Preview

In Sorcerers’ Skirmish, players will take turns drawing, declaring, casting and resolving spell cards. Each sorcerer’s deck has identical elemental spells but how each player uses their deck is key. Aside from their spells, players should also use any other means to win. Players can count cards, bluff, use logic and hopefully have some luck on their side to be crowned the winner!

Carcassonne: Amazonas Review

A boat race along a pre-Columbian Amazon is the setting for this version of Carcassonne. As players place tiles and use meeples to claim locations, they will also be moving a boat down the great Amazon river with the aim of scoring enough points from villages, tributaries, jungles with animals, and maintaining a lead in a river race.

iSlaytheDragon:

Oceanos Review

In Oceanos, you’ll play as a submarine captain rushing out to explore the ocean for fun and profit.

You start with a basic submarine – a single periscope to find your way, a small aquarium to store fish specimens, a diver for treasure collection, and a little extra fuel.

The Flow of Time Review

The Flow of History is a card based game that has players guiding their respective civilizations from the agrarian age to the modern. Whoever has accumulated the most culture by game’s end will be the winner. But before learning how the game plays, it’s important to know a couple of things about the cards themselves.

There are six types of cards categorized by color. Whenever you gain a card you will add it to a stack in front of you arranged by type/color. Each card will have at least one production symbol on it as well as an effect written out in the middle. When a new card is placed over an existing one, it will overwrite the previous effect, but leave the production symbols showing.

Every player starts with a single card in their civilization and 4 resource tokens. The rest of the cards are placed in a deck arranged by ages. Cards are drawn off the deck and placed in the middle of the table to comprise the market. Players take turns taking a single action until the deck is depleted. Whoever has accumulated the most culture at this time will be the winner.

Citadels Review

Citadels is ostensibly a city-building game because you earn points by building city districts, represented by cards. The goal is to have the most points when you or someone else builds eight districts (seven with 4-8 players in the new edition), triggering the last round of the game. You start with four of these and a couple gold. Each turn you either take two gold or draw two district cards, adding one of them to your hand. Normally, you may build one district each turn by paying the cost indicated on the card, which is also its point value. You can nab bonus points by building the maximum number of districts, owning at least one of the five different kinds of districts (noble, religious, trade, military and unique) and finally with certain unique district cards.

Meeples & Miniatures:

Broken Legions Review

Broken Legions is a ‘warband’ style of skirmish game, so players will each need a warband of between 7 and 12 models a side. Since the game is set in a mythical Ancient Rome timeline, warbands consist of miniatures from the armies of the time: Imperial Rome, Gladiators, Barbarians, Dacians, Parthians, Argonauts (Greeks) and Cult of Set (Egyptians). Most of these miniatures you will find in any 28mm Ancient army that you may have to hand, or maybe one that has been lying in a corner unloved since its days of playing WAB?

Drive Thru Review:

The Flow of History Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:34); final thoughts and review (13:00)

Haspelknecht Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:00); final thoughts and review (12:43)

Giant Killer Robots Preview

Giant Killer Robots: Heavy Hitters Preview