Warehouse 51

Welcome back once again to Saturday. I hope it's treating you well.

Lots of things to look at today, so let's just get right to it.

Today's articles include: 7 Ronin, Adventure Land, Karuba, Warehouse 51, Aether Captains, Rattle Battle Grab The Loot, Istanbul, Wings for the Baron, Shenanigans The Musical Kickstarter, Brass, Star Realms, Star Vixen from Kabuki Models, and Mage Wars Academy.



Drive Thru Review:

7 Ronin Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:36); final thoughts and review (11:35)

Adventure Land Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:09); final thoughts and review (08:52)

Karuba Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:01); final thoughts and review (05:39)

Board Game Quest:

Warehouse 51 Review

Warehouse 51, designed by Bruno Faidutti, Sergio Halaban, and Andre Zats, focuses mostly on a closed-economy auction. The game is essentially a series of auctions where players try to accumulate sets to score the most points at the end of the game.

Relics are one of four colors and three different values. Players earn points at the end of the game for having the most or second-most value of each color. Additional points are scored for having sets that include each color. However, some relics will turn out to be fakes and not counted in the final tally. Managing limited money and using a small amount of hidden information to your advantage is key to successfully purchasing the best collection.

Aether Captains Preview

In Aether Captains, one player takes on the role of the Commander and controls a powerful navy zeppelin (or two), while the rest of the players control one of the Sky Captains. The Zeppelins are massive, lumbering warships with multiple hull sections that will fly around the skies of Arkady, punishing the nimble sky captain ships. The other players, each controlling a specific faction and three of these smaller ships, will be tasked with not only damaging the Zeppelin(s), but also completing a specific objective.

Rattle Battle Grab The Loot Review

You are the captain of your very own pirate ship. However, you are not famous yet and your ship is still somewhat mediocre. But that’s OK because it’s time to go on an adventure. Each game of Rattle Battle is played out over a number of rounds. Each round, divided into two stages. The first stage is the sea battle (quest stage), where players go out on an adventure that is resolved by dropping dice into the box lid, fighting other ships, and collecting loot.

In the second stage, players head back to port to upgrade their galleons, hire crew, and maybe buy some victory points as they prepare for the next round of plundering. After a few trips out to sea, the pirate with the most victory points will be the winner!

iSlaytheDragon:

Market Leaders (A Review of Istanbul)

Nothing captures the heartbeat of a city like the local market. It’s a blur of sights and movement, a well of sounds and smells. The movement of vendors and shoppers melds with the colors of the food and wares sold by the hawkers. The haggling and advertising creates a relentless murmur that’s impossible to escape. It can be overwhelming to some, but not for you. This is your territory. This is your home. It’s where you’re most comfortable. It’s probably why you became a merchant in the first place. But simply being a merchant isn’t enough for you. You want to be the best and you’re out to prove it. Though it would be a lot easier if the competition weren’t so tough.

Those Magnificent Companies and Their Flying Machines (A Review of Wings for the Baron)

In Wings for the Baron, players are German plane manufacturers during the Great War competing for government contracts by creating effective designs. But with a war on your struggle isn’t just against rival companies, but also a deteriorating economy. One can be just as cutthroat as the other!

Polyhedron Collider:

Shenanigans The Musical Kickstarter Review

Shenanigans is a light hidden role and deduction party game. You are all members of an orchestra, along with your classical instrument of choice, but one player is the artiste, who is obviously a pompous prick as another player is the Manager and their job is eject the Artiste from the orchestra.

Shut Up & Sit Down:

Brass Review

OH MY GOODNESS! Just one week on from Paul tackling Through the Ages, Quinns is cracking open another board game classic. Brass is an incredibly nuanced game of carving out the industries of England's industrial revolution that dates all the way back to 2007, when Elvis Presley was on the radio and Vietnam was all anyone could talk about.

Will we recommend this game? Will Quinns have anything informative to say about England? Click play, and find out.

Toucan Play That Game:

Star Realms Review

In this video you can find out my final thoughts on Star Realms by White Wizard Games.

Noobs and Their Paintbrush:

Star Vixen from Kabuki Models Unboxing

Earlier this year, Kabuki Models (Now Kabuki Studios) released the Star Vixen as the first model in their new Cal 75 Range. Being a rather big Star Wars fan that has so far missed out on every Knight Models Star Wars piece that has popped up on ebay at a reasonable price, she was an insta-buy.

Play Board Games:

Mage Wars Academy Review

Mage Wars Academy features a more streamlined ruleset and is quicker to play than its big brother Mage Wars Arena. But that doesn’t translate to this version being less fun.