Matthew Smail

Updated: 15/11/2024 - Two new entries added Animals have always made for a popular theme in board games, but did you know that not every game about animals is designed for younger players? Whilst some certainly are, some of the most complex…

I have a long and potted history with the Broken Sword series — which begins back in 1997 when 14 year old me would get the bus into Leeds to trade three or four of my older games for one brand new one. Whilst I would often regret making…

For readers of a certain age, Survive: Escape from Atlantis will be a core memory. With its modular island made up of bright, plastic hexagons, this 1980’s classic is a game that I remember well. In keeping with the current fashion,…

Ticket to Ride remains one of the most popular board games in modern history - possibly ever if we exclude Chess, Draughts and other truly timeless games. There's no doubt that when you ask almost any gamer what their go to game for "new…

A couple of months ago when I previewed Empire of the Ants, I was excited by several things — the amazing graphics, the focus on gamepad based control and the kind of things the game had me doing. There were reservations though — a couple…

I’ve heard a lot about Deep Rock Galactic, and we’ve certainly covered it here at B3 — but I’d never played it myself. Dwarves, beer, mining etc — I felt I’d seen and done it all before. But on the tabletop things hit differently. Creating…

Some games are great because they live up to their epic ambitions and blow audiences away with the scale of their vision. Other games are great because they somehow capture a moment in time, a feeling or an idea — even though the execution…

Originally released in 2018, The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls has recently been revitalised via a significant expansion known as The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls: Requiem, and a whole host of smaller booster packs that add between 10 and 15…

With a well respected design team and a fantastic artist in Miguel Coimbra, Sinister Fish Games could be onto a winner with Wizards and Co. Hot on the heels of a string of great games including Villagers and Honk!, Wizards and Co retains a…

We all know by now that Roxley Games make some fantastic products, and in most cases, they are not shy about shouting it from the rooftops. Released initially as an (almost) million (Canadian) dollar Kickstarter with multiple, massively…