Matthew Smail

Banished from their homeland, players must set out to a new, unsettled area and build a new home against the odds.

Playing games with the kids is what it’s all about for me, so I am always especially delighted when we get offered a game that is simple enough for them to play, but chunky enough for me to enjoy alongside them. In Paleo Vet, one to four…

In the reviews business, context is everything. Because everything written or spoken is subjective, it’s important to understand where the reviewer is coming from and what makes them tick — otherwise you can never be sure that what you’re…

Maybe I am biased here, but I often find myself thinking that confrontational card games like For Glory: Premium Edition are at their best when the experience is focused on just two players. In this head-to-head game about life and death…

If there is one thing I love about tile-placement games, it’s how a simple premise can lead to some very interesting gameplay. Even better when such a game can be accessible to some audiences, but deeply strategic and challenging for…

In Leaf, a forest-themed and environmentally friendly game from Tim Eisner and Weird City Games, the players will use cards to place leaves and build an expansive tapestry that represents a forest floor during fall (or Autumn, as we call in…

I must admit that I’ve lost interest in Warhammer over the past ten or fifteen years — mainly because the rank-and-file gameplay of “classic” Warhammer Fantasy was more my cup of tea than the squad-based skirmishes that have replaced it.…

I am all for new ideas in board games — especially when they are designed and implemented to a high standard. In Terracotta Army, there are several good ideas including more than one that I’ve never seen before, but what I’m struggling to…

Of the many things I love about board games, one of the most prominent is the stories they tell that wouldn’t normally get much of the spotlight. Whilst I am no comic book history buff, I love the theme in Age of Comics: The Golden Years…

We’ve all been there — you’ve had a hard week, Friday is here and your mates are coming over for a games night. The thing is, whilst they might be expecting to spend four hours slogging through a heavy eurogame, you’re just not feeling it.…