Alison Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2025 (Part 2)
I pulled out a golden-oldie in Trajan (a Feld from years past) the other night having not played it for 9 years. The reason for the hiatus was that I remembered it as rules-heavy and therefore too much effort to get back to the table. But compared to the 20, 30, 40-page rule sets of the big heavy Euros that have flooded my game shelves over the last few years, Trajan’s rules are now positively mid-weight in comparison. We got the game up and going in 15 minutes or so (which was refreshing) and the bonus was it felt like a new game to all of us. The good news is that the game held up well and is still enjoyable. I love that moment of joy when you get the brain-burny mancala mechanic set up just right so that all your desired actions are available together with synergy bonuses.
In other gaming, recent new-to-me games included …
BARCELONA (2023): Rank 694, Rating 7.8
The theming feels good: building up the streets, trams and buildings of Barcelona. In a very cool mechanic, the action spots are the 25 city intersections where each street provides a different action. Each turn you claim an intersection and get its two actions, which often chain into a third action and occasionally a fourth. The good is that you have so many options to implement your strategy. The bad is that downtime is excessive as a result. But the good is that there are 157 ways to score points – churches, buildings, goals, trams et al – and you can’t do them all leaving plenty to explore for the next game. But the bad (and the reason it’s not an 8, well, that and the downtime) is that the required rules teach takes forever. A first impressions piece here.
Rating: 7
BONSAI (2023): Rank 1598, Rating 7.2
Build a Bonsai tree from tiles representing branches, leaves, flowers and fruit, but first you need to spend turns picking up card/tile combos from the display (much like Trekking Through History). Various cards will increase your tile storage capacity and the number/type of tiles you can build on a building turn, or provide extra tiles, or end-game points. The question you face each turn is whether it’s more important to take the tiles you most need (and whichever card is there) or the card you want (and whichever tiles are there), and hope for turns where both align. What elevated this game over TTH was the common race goals – these required attentive play – and the feeling of accomplishment when admiring your beautiful Bonsai tree on completion. Dale’s review here
Rating: 7
CIVOLUTION (2024): Rank 1044, Rating 8.3 – Feld
The latest gaming love of my life. The scoring criteria change just enough each game to change the value of the various 22, yes, 22 actions (most of which can be upgraded twice). As does your choice of starting cards from those available. The challenge is rolling with the fates thrown at you by the dice gods and seeing how closely you can navigate your strategic path; and the decisions to be made when alternate paths are required. I love how you can make some games all about the map, others all about the cards, or finding the right blend to make the best of the card effects you draw into. Even after a bunch of plays there’s still so much left to explore.
Rating: 9
DRAFT & WRITE RECORDS (2024): Rank 2458, Rating 7.3
Play centres around a 7 Wonders style draft of cards, ticking off bits on your sheet that your chosen card dictates, pass the rest on. Continue with new hands. Cards allow you to tick things off in three different areas, each of which have different ways to earn bonuses. That’s your game – have a plan but do the best with what you get. It’s difficult for an X and write game to get more than a 7 because there rarely seems much to explore after a first game but this one’s close due to all the different ways to obtain different types of chained bonuses. It’s one of the better ones.
Rating: 7
NAISHI (2024): Rank 5309, Rating 7.5
A nice quick little 2p card collection game. There are 12 or so different types of cards which score for being in the right column, or next to others, or if you have sets of them. There are 5 piles of cards in the middle, and when you take one it moves into the equivalent column in your line (which your opponent can see) or your hand (which they can’t). There are additional powers to discard or swap cards around which are oft used and require sacrificing a turn to replenish. The game usually ends just as your score is about as good as it’ll get. It’s nice exploring all the different ways to build your score. Long term replay may diminish once you find your games feel like combinations you’ve built before but maybe that familiarity will be comforting.
Rating: 7
TREOS (2024): Rank 19132, Rating 5.9
Your aim is to race around a map collecting gold and destination cards (which score when your meeple gets there). Each round you’ll program 3 moves from your hand of 5 cards. These show allowable compass directions, road types, and number of moves. Each round you can also move a blocking highwayman either out of your way or to block someone else. It’s an hour of grinding away, moving from one side of the map to the other and back again to eke out your points. Despite the lack of story arc, it was ok as a 2p – I always liked Roborally, and fulfilling quests hits my buttons – but the next play will be the same as this one and I can picture it being aggravating with more players and more blocks. Dale’s review here
Rating: 6
XYLOTAR (2024): Rank 5620, Rating 7.0 – Wray
An interesting trick-taker. The 8 suits have ranges 0-3 to 0-10. You sort your LH neighbour’s hand by card value and they lay them out in front of them from low to high without looking. Then it’s normal trick-taking. The backs of the cards show their suit so you know what to follow a lead with, and where it is in your low-to-high spread gives an idea of its rough value. At any point during the hand you can flip two adjacent cards and use the value of one of them to declare how many tricks you aim to win for bonus points, Oh Hell style. The challenge is working out what’s likely given the spread of remaining cards around the table (and knowing your LH neighbour’s cards!) and ensuring you place your bid before you’re forced to play the cards you think you may need for your bid. Failing that, score as many tricks as you can because they’re all points. It’s easier to make low bids – making a high bid means sacrificing a winning card – which balances the scoring a little between low hands and high hands. The game is slower and thinkier than normal trick-takers which doesn’t make for an instantly lovable game (like Texas Showdown) but it’s certainly engaging and interesting. Oh, and kudos for the outstanding thematic back-story which never fails to get a laugh. Another review here.
Rating: 7
THE YELLOW HOUSE (2024): Rank 8862, Rating 6.4
A 2p shedding game. There are 4 suits of 7 numberless cards and, with only a few cards missing, you know your opponent’s hand is pretty much the mirror of your own. If you play a colour that’s a higher rank than the previously played colour, you only get to play one card. But if you play a lower rank, you have to play enough cards to move it up the ranking track to be higher. And given it’s a shedding game, they’re crux moves. We found you need to formulate your going-out strategy from quite a long way out so there’s mucho look-ahead planning. Which is engaging but … after my first game I felt I’d played the same game 5 times (it went the full 5 rounds) and did I need to play more than that? A full review here.
Rating: 6
