Walnut Grove - Andy Matthews

When I first got started in the hobby, I came across Walnut Grove on BoardGameGeek. It was definitely more in-depth than what I was familiar with, but the theme and artwork seemed quaint and appealing. I always wanted to try it out, but never had the chance. Then recently I was able to trade a copy of Sriracha for Walnut Grove and finally try it out.

Walnut Grove is a tile laying and worker placement game in which players farm the land with workers you hire over the course of the game. Over 8 rounds you’ll expand your property—gathering milk, fish, lumber, ore, and grain. You also have the chance to head into town and hire more workers, buy materials to construct buildings, and buy and sell your bounty.

Walnut Grove is certainly a bit tighter than I was expecting. You’re constantly clawing and scraping to make sure you can feed your crew and keep them warm. And it feels like you have a hard time earning enough money to do more than just subsist. Because it’s a tile laying game, there’s a degree of luck involved in the tiles that you draw from the bag. Sometimes you get what you need, and other times…

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When I find a game I enjoy, or better yet, one my family enjoys, I try to build on that experience. It’s not always as simple as perusing the “Fans Also Like” portion of a game’s listing on BGG. After all, the fact that I like Shakespeare is in no way predictive of the fact that I like Altiplano (which appears on that list), nor does the mechanical composition of either build an effective bridge connecting the two. It just so happens that I like both, as do others, enough so to warrant being connected via BGG’s algorithm. 

BGG also offers title lists sorted by mechanics, but, to quote the great Patches O’Houlihan, that’s about as useful as a poopy-flavored lollipop. A list of 6,365 Area Majority games is not the most efficient path to finding a game that I will enjoy like I enjoy Petrichor. 

I’m grateful that we try here at Meeple Mountain to build bridges. Our step-ladders link games that seem to have a natural progression. Our topics aim to find games that are thematically linked. But the lists are hardly exhaustive at this point—they take time and experience to develop. 

My family’s unexpected love of The Flow of History left us looking for a sequel, or a prequel, or…

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Many co-operative games feature a predictably linear progression: showers of bad things and good things—let’s call them cats and dogs—followed by a series of player actions. Rinse and repeat, ad finitum, until the players either survive or die. 

On a human level, the real mortal threat to co-operative games, the awkward uncle at the family gathering, is the quarterback—the over-assertive player who talks the whole time, telling everyone what’s best. Not every danger fits in the box. Not every danger plays by the rules.

If I’m being honest, I avoid most co-op games because I constantly fight the urge to take over. That’s right. I’m the uncle. Now, I realize I don’t always know best. I’m actually pretty good at suppressing the impulse to speak. I just prefer making all the decisions. Rather than make everyone dislike me terribly, I stick to competitive games.

I initially passed on reviewing The A.R.T. Project for that reason, even though I was struck by Vincent Dutrait’s eye-catching cover and the anti-heist premise of the game. The design pedigree of Florian Sirieix and Benoit Turpin wore me down, however, and I decided to give it a shot. 

Uncle-proof?

While largely sticking to the co-op script, The A.R.T. Project makes a solid attempt at uncle-proofing the proceedings. Players receive two cards at the…

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Before affixing my critical goggles in place, I will say from the beginning: Redwood has been one of the most refreshing titles to hit our table in months. Christophe Raimbault’s (Colt Express) design takes the occasional monotony of board game acquisition by the ears and tosses it out on the doorstep with style. I do not know what inspired him to reassign the mechanics of a wargame for use with nature photography, but it just works. Redwood utilizes templates—components of specific shape and size—both for movement and a wholly different sort of shooting, creating a fairly immersive experience. Refreshing. It’s refreshing. 

Sing as you raise your bow

The game is an exercise in spatial estimation. Players select two templates under a strict look-but-don’t-touch restriction, one a ribbon for movement, the other a range-finder for their camera lens. The rules make no explicit prohibition of the ol’ thumb-and-forefinger measurement, but exploiting that technicality saps the game of its most thrilling anticipations. Redwood’s distinct pleasure is in the success and failure of the eyes—and only the eyes—in predicting possibilities. 

Having committed to the template, players then employ their selections, first moving the photographer into place, then capturing the moment, which is occasionally only the shattered dream of the intended moment, on…

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Vienna - David McMillan

This past weekend, I finally got my copy of Vienna to the table. Vienna, for those not in the know, is the 5th game in the much-lauded (and also highly criticized) Stefan Feld City Collection from Queen Games. Reimplementing La Isla, which I reviewed as part of my Focused on Feld series, Vienna plops the players down right smack dab in the middle of Austria during the early 1950s. World War II has ended, but the Cold War is just getting started. Espionage is the name of the game.

Vienna comes with two modes of play: the basic mode—which plays almost exactly like La Isla— and an advanced mode that introduces a whole lot of new elements. I got to play the basic mode. A few mistakes were made, but I enjoyed the experience overall, and I feel like that was the consensus among the other players at the table as well. I’m really excited to get it to the table again so that I can dig into the new material.

Keep an eye out for my upcoming review!

Ease of entry?:
★★★★☆ - The odd bump or two
Would I play it again?:
★★★★★ - Will definitely play it again

Read more articles…

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There are no happy endings in Viking sagas. Oh sure, someone lives, but usually not the one you had hoped, and they’re bound to be miserable. Regardless of the outcome, though, sagas are rippin’ good times defined by endless and often widening bouts of deeds and consequences.

Knarr is an engines-building card-game from designer Thomas Dupont and publisher Pandasaurus Games. It is the longship of card games—swift and highly effective. The action escalates and the game sails off into the sunset in 15-30 minutes.

Calculating like Signy

Play a card into one engine, or weaken that engine to build another. These are the choices in every turn of Knarr. Players build a cascading tableau of stunning viking cards arranged by color. When a new card is added to its stack, it provides every boon depicted in the stack—points, reputation, bracelets, and/or helmets. By the time there are four or *gasp* five cards in waiting, the resource engine sings like a tagelharpa.

Undercutting the joy of the engine, however, is the knowledge that those cards are fated for the discard pile, viking brethren spent as currency in the name of exploration. The exploration cards stack near the player’s longship board as part of another engine—one which features three ribbons triggered…

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I am one of many who have come to know the story of George Méliès through the pencil drawings of Brian Selznick. The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a magnificently illustrated story of belonging and purpose that surrounds the trials and triumphs of the French filmmaker. You can bet it’s a compelling story if it rouses Martin Scorcese to create a three-hour family masterpiece—Hugo sits firmly as my third favorite movie of all time.

Before I knew about the 19xx series of titles from Looping Games, I had marked 1902 Méliès as my most anticipated release at 2023’s SPIEL in Essen. Given my relationship with the subject matter, I never hesitated in wanting to join Méliès here in creating his best known film, A Trip to the Moon. When four games from the series arrived at my door, I set the others aside and opened 1902 like a kid on Christmas. Anticipation always pays off, right?

Imagine my horror when I realized the board wasn’t in the box. I was ready to fire off an email when I thought it best to open the rest of the boxes to see if anything else was lost in the shuffle. Much like my rulebook laugh with 1987 Channel Tunnel, I…

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If you’ve ever tried pushing two drinking straws into a mound of mashed potatoes from opposite sides, hoping they’d meet in the middle, you’re already halfway to loving 1987 Channel Tunnel. And if you’ve not tried, have you really lived?

Two nations boring a tunnel 50km in length to a depth of 75km below sea level, each headed right straight for the other, give or take two feet. Now that’s drama. It’s also one of mankind’s greatest achievements in engineering. The Channel Tunnel is actually an interconnected set of three tunnels that pass under the English Channel connecting Britain and France. Two primary tunnels carry high-speed train traffic back and forth while a third service tunnel travels between. If you’re interested in how such a thing came to be, a visit to YouTube (after reading this review, of course) will serve you well. 

1987 Channel Tunnel is a 2019 release from Shei S. and Isra C. (The Red Cathedral, White Castle) that seeks to mimic the nationalistic competitive streak that drove the Channel Tunnel to completion. Two players, as France and Britain, bore toward one another while engaging in struggles over diplomacy, financing, and technological advancement. The first player to the center triggers an immediate end.

Historically concerned

With their 19xx titles, Looping Games has proven…

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Chénier La Salle’s biography includes international travel, law degrees, marriage, children, and the promotion of Canadian beef. It also includes one board game design, a game which happens to hold a special place in my heart. 

New York 1901 is one of those early titles in my collection, a title that showed me something more than the games of my childhood and whispered to me the sweet nothings of the marriage of mechanics and theme. Area control, polyominoes, variable public objectives—these were relatively new ideas for me. We owned a few modern games with thematic potential in those days, but New York 1901 was the most approachable of the bunch and the one that saw the table the most. 

The artwork from Vincent Dutrait brought the early 20th century vibe to life. We had been to New York City several times for various reasons, giving the setting a bit of heft in our collective memory. The mechanics captured a time of building and rebuilding with pizazz. The game just had a spirit that we enjoyed and still do. 

Building a bigger, better apple

New York 1901 takes place over several blocks of lower Manhattan. Players each have a collection of polyomino buildings in bronze, silver, and gold, representative of the development of the age. The aim is to…

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The Fox Experiment – David McMillan

Have you ever backed a game on Kickstarter without knowing anything about it solely based on the game’s designer pedigree? This was the mistake I made with The Fox Experiment. I’d meant to read the rulebook. I had every intention of watching some videos. I swear that at least going to the game’s entry on BGG was on my to-do list. Before I knew it, the campaign was over and my pledge had been collected.

Fortunately, some accidents are happy ones.

This past weekend, I finally had a chance to get my copy of The Fox Experiment to the table and it was delightful. That first game was…rough. I quickly learned that there was a vast difference between reading the rules and applying them. After a few rounds, though, things began to fall into place and I was gleefully rolling dice, breeding pups, and fulfilling research projects without a care in the world.

I quite like this game and I look forward to the opportunity to explore its inner workings even further in the future. 

Ease of entry?:
★★☆☆☆ - Not an easy onboard
Would I play it again?:
★★★★★ - Will definitely play it again 

Read more articles from David McMillan.

[mm-productlinking…

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There are games with flawed rulebooks. There are games with unfortunate misprints and iconographies that make you second guess yourself and the production. There are even games whose endings seem fraught with inconsistencies that make you wonder if you’ve missed something very important. When a game, rarely, boasts all three, I have no choice but to ask: 

Why do I like The Flow of History as much as I do? 

Get thee a government

The game’s sixty-seven cards are divided into six types and span five Ages. The heart of The Flow of History is the bidding mechanism by which players gain these cards. Players declare their intentions by investing resource tokens on a card and waiting for the investment to clear on a forthcoming turn. Opponents have the option of sniping that investment, though, compensating the investor and instantly claiming the card. This means investments may not be investments at all, but rather deft machinations designed to entice neighbors to act rashly in exchange for compensations and a smug sense of control. 

When an investment succeeds, the goofy iconography kicks in. Potentially, cards have icons in three places: across the bottom, in the center, and under a magnifying glass north of center. Upon acquisition, the icon depicted under…

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We play a lot of games here at Meeple Mountain. Some of them are brand new, not even on shelves yet, and some of them are classics. But no matter who's playing, or what, we all have our favorites. Here's a list of the best games we played this year, including a few games that might surprise you…and no, they're not all from 2023!

Root

Andy Matthews

Last year I joined a gaming group which skewed towards heavier games. This allowed me to indulge myself with games I might not normally play with my other groups…games like Root. This is a “battle royale”, set in a forest, where the players are cute and fuzzy creatures like birds, cats, mice, rabbits, and raccoons. And Leder Games has added many more factions like otters, badgers, moles, rats, and even lizards.

You might say 2023 was the year I went all in on Root. Thanks to a great group and amazing and varied games, I decided to pick up all the expansions. Root is such a satisfying challenge because no two gaming sessions are ever quite the same. While everyone plays within the same basic framework, each faction has their own unique play style and win conditions. This rewards people who play Root more often.…

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Without a doubt, Namiji would have been the first Kickstarter I ever backed—had I been into that sort of thing at the time. Instead, months later, that honor fell to Marvel United, a far less frustrating venture in the end. I watched the anticipated fishing game from a distance as delay after pandemic-fed delay pushed the eventual release back years from the original projection. I can only hope those who persevered got a badge or a really nice sticker for their troubles.

But here I am, four years later, with a copy of Namiji on my table, the seafaring sequel to the chillest game in a white box, Tokaido. Our family has walked the Tokaido road countless times, often in both directions. We have expanded and deluxified our copy and guarded it with our lives. Well, except for that one piece that my sister’s dog mangled. Consequently, if anyone has a spare purple base ring for the Collector’s Edition minis laying around, drop me a comment and I’ll make you an offer.

When the first copies of Namiji delivered, I had a chance to play a friend’s deluxe version, complete with painted ships and 3D paper boats. I never really doubted that I’d enjoy it; but I hadn’t seen it again until now. It has all the…

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