That's What Jenni Said

A few months ago, I shared my thoughts on Fate of the Elder Gods in a lengthy review . The team at Greater Than Games has released an expansion, Beasts From Beyond , and I picked up a copy at GenCon earlier this year. This expansion adds fifteen new spell cards (2 of which can be used with the base game even if you don’t use any of the other expansion components), four new Elder Gods that cults may serve, and eight monsters who enjoy tampering with the cultists that can be called by the new spells or through Elder God powers. As with the base game, the artwork featured in the expansion is beyond extraordinary, given the retail price point. The monster minis are rich in detail. The only improvement possible would be for GtG to offer a release with pre-painted minis for those of us with no painting skills. The new figures are not only beautiful but also sturdy. They should endure game after game with little wear or tear. Each new monster provides strategic advantages to the summoning cu...

I received a preview copy of All Manor of Evil from Kolossal Games a couple of weeks ago just in time for the Kickstarter launch. FYI, Kickstarter campaign page is HERE . If you’ve already backed the game, then the information I’m going to give you will help you to better understand the details of gameplay so you’ll be prepped to play. If All Manor of Evil (AMOE) isn’t on your radar yet or you’re still on the fence about backing the game, the information will help you decide if AMOE is a good fit for your game library. While the artwork is still in development, everything printed in the preview copy is beautiful. Kolossal has high production standards and I’m certain the finished copy of AMOE will delight. Let’s dig into the game play. As with many games set in the Lovecraft universe, in AMOE, we try to minimize the steps toward insanity our characters take as they go about their activities. Under the baseline rules, the player who accumulates the most madness is devoured and elimina...

In our family, we are avid board game collectors (as well as players). Because so many games come into our home (over 800 and counting), sometimes games sit on the shelf for quite awhile before they are played. Arcadia Quest was one of those games. We’ve owned it since it was published in 2014, but it only recently made it to the table as part of our Quick Brown Fox challenge. For this challenge, we are working our way through our entire collection of games, one letter of the alphabet at a time, using the famous pangram “A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. Arcadia Quest is a goal oriented combat game. Kill your opponents’ heroes, kill the monsters on the board, and/or find hidden objects placed on the board (and sometimes deliver them elsewhere) to win the game. The components for Arcadia Quest are extremely well-made. They include finely detailed miniatures that are sturdy and long lasting. As an aside, can I take this opportunity to again beg publishers to offer a pre-...

A handful of years ago (before the good relations our country with Russia began to dissolve) a fortunate wave of discounted fares to Russian destinations from Washington D.C. caught my attention. Straightaway, I booked three weekend trips to this country of which I knew very little other than it was previously a member of the USSR, an entity once considered our greatest national enemy. The first trip was a sightseeing getaway in Moscow, scheduled to begin on my birthday in March and my friend Penny agreed to join me on the adventure. It will be lovely to see Moscow in the spring , I thought, and that will give me enough time to line up the visas required . Luckily, as I lived in the D.C. area at the time I was able to complete the rather tedious process of applying for and picking up my Russian visa at their embassy. It's definitely the most extensive visa application process I have done to date. They wanted to know every country I'd visited in the past 10 years (that's ...

About a month ago, I spotted an attractive board game in my Instagram feed and followed the breadcrumb trail back to the publisher and designer to learn more about it. The more I read about Kill Merlin!, the more I was sure my kids would enjoy it and it looked fun for adults as well. A few days later a review copy showed up on my doorstep and after unboxing it for my IG audience I set it up on our family gaming table and called the kids (Helenipa 13, and our twin boys Max and Locke who are 9) over to take a look. They were quite impressed with the artwork (as was I; this is a well-illustrated game with beautiful colors). There were some ooohs and ahhhs immediately followed by demands to PLAY RIGHT NOW PLEASE. Everyone wanted in on the first game so one of our sons partnered with my husband, allowing us to all play within the constraints of the 4-player maximum. Right away my husband relocated the wizard tokens from the side of the board where I’d set them up (following the i...

Exciting news this week! The Spirit Island Jagged Earth expansion launches on Kickstarter October 16 th , 2018. I had the chance to preview and play this upcoming release from Greater Than Games multiple times this week, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Update: the Kickstarter is live here . Our Spirit Island collection keeps growing. First there was the base game, which debuted in 2017 and turned the traditional narrative of the conquering colonists on its head, allowing players to take on the role of island spirits determined to keep the colonists at bay through any means necessary to preserve the serenity of the island. My husband and I picked up the game at retail (having missed the Kickstarter window) and fell in love with it immediately, enthused to work together as powerful spirits and put the invaders down. Next, we added the Branch and Claw expansion. This expansion (also part of the original Kickstarter) expanded the board, added new spirits and powe...

I picked up  Dȗhr: The Lesser Houses   from the Devious Weasel Games   team  at GenCon earlier this year. This is the first game from their catalog that I've had the opportunity to play and it has been a wonderful introduction. On a recent late summer evening, my husband and I invited another couple over to play  Dȗhr,  and we included our 13 year old daughter and their 12 year old son  around the game table as well.  The artwork, including the font, compliments the game's nobility theme.  The components (cards) are well made with a thickness that promotes durability.  The rule book is clear and concise and a handful of player reference cards are provided. We would have liked to see more copies of the player reference cards included so that the six of us crowded around the table didn't have to keep reaching for the communal reference cards.  Win Condition: Most Points Inputs:    Status of my house (f...