The Resistance Alhambra Kingdomino
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The Resistance 22 2009 Designer: Don Eskridge 5 – 10 players 30 – 40 minutes Age 10+ RRP £18.99 MSRP $19.99 Alhambra 2003 Designer: Dirk Henn 2 – 6 players 45 – 60 minutes Age 8+ RRP £34.99 MRSP $44.90 HE Alhambra palace in southern Spain drawing the right combination of ducats, dir- Tis one of the world’s greatest architectur- ham, florins and dinar from the bank. You’ll al marvels. A stunning blend of Islamic and aim to snap up new extensions for your pal- Christian influences, it attracts visitors from ace while your opponents are still busy sort- around the world. ing out their finances. Getting it right takes a This award-winning game puts players in little bit of planning, a touch of opportunism the shoes of the master builders tasked with and a dash of luck. ET in a dystopian future, The Resist- its construction, creating an assortment of Acquiring buildings is only one half of the Sance is a gloriously sneaky game of towers, chambers, gardens and pavilions. equation, though. They all come represent- deception, deduction, manipulation and To do that you’ll need to recruit craftspeo- ed by tiles which you’ll use to build your bluffing. Players find themselves on one ple from the surrounding lands. But there’s palace, and you’ll need to carefully piece of two teams: a group of rebels fighting a problem: each of them wants to be paid in them together in a coherent design. It adds to overthrow a totalitarian regime, or a their own currency. an evolving spatial puzzle to the game, and ring of undercover spies working to keep To win in Alhambra you’ll have to keep a it takes time, practice and repeat plays to it in power. close eye on the buildings available to you, master. The game plays out over a series of rounds, with rebel commanders choosing players to dispatch on missions to de- stroy imperial bases. But with the spies’ Kingdomino identities kept secret, the revolutionaries 2016 have no idea who’s really on their side, or who might stab them in the back. The Designer: Bruno Cathala result is a storm of confusion, betrayal 2 – 4 players 15 – 20 minutes Age 8+ and accusation as the villains attempt to RRP £16.99 MRSP $17.99 pass themselves off as good guys, shift- ing suspicion onto innocent players and undermining the rebels’ faith in their NSPIRED by the traditional game of the biggest, shiniest prize on the table, or teammates. Idominoes, this family-friendly tile-laying hanging back and grabbing something even To win you’ll need a world-class poker game sees players become monarchs vying better on a subsequent turn. It’s not always face, a razor-sharp ability to spot decep- to expand their domains. On each round an easy decision, and with new tiles drawn tion, and the cold, calm nerve to keep a you’ll choose from a selection of tiles, all from a randomly shuffled stack, you’ll need straight face while lying to your friends. showing different kinds of territory to add to to constantly reevaluate your plans as you And if you’re looking for a similarly un- your empire. You’ll lay down a new patch of play. derhand game with a little more depth, land on every turn, growing your kingdom With three or four players, Kingdomino is try The Resistance: Avalon, which swaps and earning points by connecting areas of the tight and elegant. There’s also a more chal- the original game’s cyberpunk setting for same type. lenging two-player variant that sees you and the mists of Arthurian legend, introduc- Some tiles net you more points than others, your opponent building bigger kingdoms. ing a collection of characters like Merlin, but taking a less valuable one means you’ll And if you’re looking to add a little more Oberon and Morgana, all with their own get to choose before your opponents on the complexity to the game, follow-up game special abilities that add new layers of in- following round. It means you’ll constantly Queendomino adds knights, towns and an trigue and confusion to the mix. ask yourself whether you’re better off taking angry dragon to the mix. Star Realms Hey, That’s 2014 My Fish! Designers: Robert Dougherty, 23 Darwin Kastle 2003 2 players Designers: Günter Cornett, Alvydas 15 – 20 minutes Jakeliunas Age 12+ 2 – 4 players RRP £12.99 MSRP$14.95 15 – 20 minutes Age 8+ RRP £11.99 MRSP $12.95 HIS family-friendly but bitterly compet- ing food supply intensifying with every turn. Titive game of squabbling penguins sees You’ll try to strategically block your oppo- players stranded on a floating iceberg, fight- nents’ penguins, stopping them from reach- ing over tasty fish while the ground beneath ing the spaces they most want to get to. It’s them crumbles into the sea. even possible to set rivals adrift, leaving On each round you’ll move your gang of them marooned on a tiny patch of ice floating penguins around a board of hexagonal to- away from the rest of the board. kens. Each space awards a different num- With genuine tactical decisions, rules that ber of fish. You’ll aim to finish the game take less than a minute to explain and toy- with more than your rivals. But whenever a like plastic figures, this is an ideal game for penguin leaves a patch of ice, it’s removed parents to play with kids. Be warned, though: from the game, melting away into the ocean. things get rough out on the ice, and it’s more It means the board gets smaller as the game than enough to provoke a tantrum, even goes on, with competition over the remain- among grown-ups. 2011 King of Tokyo Designer: Richard Garfield 2 – 6 players 30 – 40 minutes Age 8+ RRP £33.99 MRSP $39.99 TAR REALMS is a head-to-head card Sgame that challenges players to build fleets of mighty starships before throw- ing them into deadly combat against ad- versaries in deep space A stripped-down, streamlined example of a class of games known as deckbuild- ers, Star Realms sees you and your oppo- nent playing cards in order to attack one another, or to buy a variety of new, more ASED on classic kaiju monster movies, and only one can occupy the city at any time. powerful spacecraft. As your fleet grows, BKing of Tokyo hands players control of Smash your way into the centre and you’ll be you’ll open up new tactical options that oversized creatures competing to bring chaos able to rack up bonus points for the destruc- can reduce your enemy’s once-proud to the Japanese capital. You’ll play as a 50- tion you cause. But you’ll also become the navy to a sad, floating cluster of space foot lizard, hideously tentacled sea monster target for everyone else’s attacks, meaning junk. or three-eyed alien invader, striving to inflict you could find yourself beaten to a pulp and It’s an easy game to grasp, but it’ll take as much damage as possible on both the city unceremoniously dumped out of the game. practice to master the art of spotting syn- and your rivals. There’s also a selection of power-up cards, ergies between different cards, balancing The game plays similarly to the classic which give your monster new traits and abili- defence and aggression, and culling ships Yahtzee. On your turn you’ll roll a handful ties like armoured skin, wings or fiery breath. you no longer need to ensure that your of chunky dice, earning points or damaging If you’re looking for a slightly deeper deck remains a hyper-efficient killing your opponents depending on the results. But city-smashing experience, sequel King of machine. while dice-chucking action is at the heart of New York builds on its predecessor’s prem- Fast-paced, tactically challenging and the game, it’s not the only thing you’ll have ise, with multiple city regions for monsters massively replayable, Star Realms packs to consider. to fight over as well as military units that re- a lot of fun into a tiny box. Monsters begin on the outskirts of Tokyo, spond to the unfolding carnage. 36 Mars Open: Tabletop Golf Designer: Dennis Hoyle Ages: 8+ Category: Family, Casual and Party RRP (UK): £31.99 Players: 1 - 8 MSRP (US): $34.00 Time: 30 - 60 minutes HIS quirky, finger-flicking dexterity game sees players become tience, skill and imaginative application. Striving for the perfect shot astronauts on a mission to the red planet. And while you might is powerfully addictive, and where similar games tend to rely on var- Texpect humanity’s envoys to another world to spend their time ious bells and whistles to keep them interesting, Mars Open just has planting flags and conducting scientific research, it doesn’t mean they a selection of 3D cardboard obstacles, with cartoon art in a cheerful don’t have time for a little recreation. Martian pink. The entire game consists of working out ways to flick Mars Open: Tabletop Golf is a game of interplanetary pitch-and- those amazing balls past those static barriers and into the hole. putt. You’ll attempt to propel your ball across your table and into To inject a bit of variety, the rules booklet comes with an astonish- a square cardboard “hole,” with victory on each round going to the ing array of hole layouts.