Flash Review — Civolution

Players: 2
Age: 14+ (but it's really more like 8+)
Playtime: 30-60 min
Complexity: 3/10

MATRX GIPF is a two-player abstract game that brings Project GIPF—a celebrated nine-game series launched in 1996 by Belgian designer Kris Burm—to a glorious end.

The game is essentially GIPF, where you're putting pieces in play by pushing them (and everything in their path) from space to space in a straight line. If you succeed in forming a row of four of your own pieces, you return them to your reserve and eliminate any opposing pieces that extend that row.
Much like in GIPF, there are two ways to win: by eliminating your opponent's three basic pieces, or by running your opponent out of pieces in reserve. 

However, unlike GIPF, where all pieces move in the same way, MATRX provides five types of different pieces—stacked two-by-two—each with its own capabilities. So you can use a two-piece stack and make a standard GIPF move (pushing it into play) or you can pick the top piece of a stack and perform that piece's special move.

Learning the rules is a tad more difficult than your standard Project GIPF game, owing to the various piece types. But mastering the strategy? Now that's a different matter.

The result is an abstract symphony that may sound a bit familiar if you've ever played GIPF with its potentials (pieces that linked GIPF to other entries in the series), but opens up a whole new harmony of strategic and tactical possibilities. I'm just a few games in, but I can already see I'll be playing this one for decades to come.

I'd recommend you start with GIPF, but you certainly can't go wrong graduating to MATRX once you're comfortable in those 29 year old shoes.

Most easily forgotten rule: When using a TAMSK piece, the extra move is considered an extension of the regular move, which means that no piece can be removed from play until the whole regular+extra move has been resolved.



# # #

Flash Review — MATRX GIPF

Players: 2
Age: 14+ (but it's really more like 8+)
Playtime: 30-60 min
Complexity: 3/10

MATRX GIPF is a two-player abstract game that brings Project GIPF—a celebrated nine-game series launched in 1996 by Belgian designer Kris Burm—to a glorious end.

The game is essentially GIPF, where you're putting pieces in play by pushing them (and everything in their path) from space to space in a straight line. If you succeed in forming a row of four of your own pieces, you return them to your reserve and eliminate any opposing pieces that extend that row.
Much like in GIPF, there are two ways to win: by eliminating your opponent's three basic pieces, or by running your opponent out of pieces in reserve. 

However, unlike GIPF, where all pieces move in the same way, MATRX provides five types of different pieces—stacked two-by-two—each with its own capabilities. So you can use a two-piece stack and make a standard GIPF move (pushing it into play) or you can pick the top piece of a stack and perform that piece's special move.

Learning the rules is a tad more difficult than your standard Project GIPF game, owing to the various piece types. But mastering the strategy? Now that's a different matter.

The result is an abstract symphony that may sound a bit familiar if you've ever played GIPF with its potentials (pieces that linked GIPF to other entries in the series), but opens up a whole new harmony of strategic and tactical possibilities. I'm just a few games in, but I can already see I'll be playing this one for decades to come.

I'd recommend you start with GIPF, but you certainly can't go wrong graduating to MATRX once you're comfortable in those 29-year-old shoes.

Most easily forgotten rule: When using a TAMSK piece, the extra move is considered an extension of the regular move, which means that no piece can be removed from play until the whole regular+extra move has been resolved.



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A Year of Boardgaming, 2024 Edition

 

One more year to look at in the rearview mirror, with a reminder that I've decided to split the main stats in two different categories—to better reflect the time I spent pushing cubes around and slapping cards on the table with humans in the flesh, as well as the hours I spent staring at pixels on a screen while those I assumed to be my friends did their best to beat the crap out of me.

(Which worked more often than I cared for.)

STRATEGIC OBSERVATIONS

I played 149 different titles (ever so slightly up from 145 in 2023) for a total of 715 plays (better than the previous 602, although over half of those 715 plays were sadly online). I spent 672 hours playing boardgames in 2024, versus 588 hours in 2023, which is a nice step up, virtual or otherwise: that's 28 full days (exactly!) devoted to boardgaming bliss.

Out of those 149 titles, 67 were new to me (basically the same as my 68 in 2023), and I ended up playing 16% of my collection (against 15% the year before)—moving up, but not enough.

The number of different places where I played boardgames in 2024 was 17, which the exact same number I had the year before. I guess I don't change much.

40% of my gaming was done at home (compared to 43% in 2023, so things are pretty stable on that front) while 44% happened on BoardGameArena.

TACTICAL OBSERVATIONS — PHYSICAL GAMES

Here are the 10 physical games I played the most in 2024:

1. Bomb Busters -NEW- (34 plays)

A bomb-defusing co-op game that's like a "complex" party game? Sign me up! The only reason I didn't play even more of this addictive little title is because the game came out so late in the year.

2. Oxono -NEW- (19 plays)

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for abstract games (which is probably why that's what I designed first), and it doesn't hurt that those are the GF's favorite games. Still, Oxono is brilliant no matter what.

3. 🠅GIPF (15 plays)

The starting point of the famous GIPF Project and a game I'll never get tired of. "Get four in a row" sounds boring until you've played GIPF for about a minute and a half; and then you don't go back.

4. Mandala -NEW- (15 plays)

A simple—and beautiful—card game that feels like it must have always existed in the back of our collective mind. Truly astounding.

5. Norman Conquests -NEW- (13 plays)

This medieval tactical wargame is my first foray into the Men of Iron series, and it won't be the last. (Hell, there are two new volumes coming out from GMT in the next couple of years, in addition to the four original ones...)

6. Altered -NEW- (12 plays)

I bent my "no more collectable games" rule for this colorful and refreshing card battler, and I'm glad I did. Always a fun time.

7. 🠅TZAAR (11 plays)

One more abstract game on the list, and one of my favorites in the whole of the GIPF Project. I need to play all of them more.

8. Scout -NEW- (11 plays)

A twisted ladder game from Japan where you can flip your hand of cards over but not reorganize it. Great, great stuff.

9. Skyrise -NEW- (9 plays)

Bidding (buildings) for the right to build (buildings) and thus gain a majority (of buildings) has never been this fun. Super simple and yet deep like a treatise from Descartes.

10. 🠇Combat Commander: Europe (8 plays)

A real shame I got in so few plays of this outstanding WWII tactical wargame. Especially considering it's my favorite game!

The fact that I played a handful of (quite) longer games in 2024 kind of distorts the resulting top 10: for instance, I played Downfall a few times, and each of those occasions took about 10 hours. So of course Downfall doesn't show as a contender amongst games I played *the most times* but I did spend quite a few hours on it.

So I thought I'd start including a list of the 10 games I spent the most time on.
Here's what that looks like for 2024.

1. Downfall (54 hours)
2. Bomb Busters (44 hours)
3. Norman Conquests (19 hours)
4. Men of Iron (19 hours)
5. Combat Commander: Europe (16 hours)
6. RAF: The Battle of Britain (15 hours)
7. GIPF (11 hours)
8. Tank Duel (10 hours)
9. TZAAR (8 hours)
10. Arcs (8 hours)

Seeing some games on both of those lists is impressive, and I guess that makes Bomb Busters the clear winner.

When it comes to people, these are the 10 wonderful persons with whom I played the most face-to-face last year:

1. 🠅Suzie D. (177 plays)

2. 🠇Jean-Luc S. (108 plays)

3. 🠅Michaël P. (27 plays)

4. Héloïse K.L. (16 plays)

5. Gustavo R.A. (15 plays)

6. 🠇François P. (13 plays)

7. 🠅Béatrice V.K. (10 plays)

8. 🠇Ophélie K.L. (9 plays)

9. 🠇Robert L. (6 plays)

10. 🠅Jonathan P. (6 plays)

The GF reclaims the crown! All those short-ish abstract games helped, no doubt.

My three daughters are on the list again, as is my dad. Loving this.

(Also, a warm welcome to newcomer Michaël, who will no doubt become a fixture on those lists!)

TACTICAL OBSERVATIONS — DIGITAL GAMES 

Here are the 10 boardgames I played the most online in 2024.

(Usually not because they're the best games—although they are undoubtedly great—but because they are wonderful implementations of beloved titles that play great on a turn-by-turn basis.)

1. Memoir '44 (117 plays)

2. 🠅7 Wonders Duel (31 plays)

3. 🠅Sky Team (30 plays)

4. 🠅Heat (29 plays) 

5. Altered (10 plays)

6. 🠅Framework (8 plays)

7. Oxono (8 plays)

8. 🠇Applejack (7 plays) 

9. 🠅DVONN (7 plays)

10. 🠇Patchwork (7 plays)

And these are the 10 great peeps with whom I played the most online last year:

1. Fil M. (129 plays)

2. Jean-Luc S. (93 plays)

3. François P. (65 plays)

4. Héloïse K.L. (9 plays)

5. 🠅Michaël P. (9 plays)

6. 🠅Hugues L. (8 plays)

7. Angelo W. (5 plays)

8. 🠅Boris A. (5 plays)

9. 🠇Gustavo R.A. (4 plays)

10. 🠇Béatrice V.K. (3 plays)  

OTHER MUSINGS & RAMBLINGS 

My H-index last year inched up by 1 (12 over 11) compared to 2023.

(In this context, my H-index is the number (h) of games which I've played a number (h) of times. So 12 means there are 12 games that I played 12 times each in 2024.)

My challenges were a mess, except for the 20x5 (play 20 different games at least 5 times each) and the "50 plays of abstract games"—both of which were aced early in the year.

That makes me want to ditch those types of challenges and concentrate on "named" challenges (as in "play these 10 specific games at least once"), partly as a way of replaying games I haven't touched in over 10 years.

Yes, there are a lot.

Shockingly, my "100 plays of wargames" fell short by a wide margin. Again, I blame Downfall, with a typical game lasting up to 12 hours. (All worth it, mind you.)

My very first game of 2024 was Teotihuacan with the GF on January 1st (talk about a great start!) and I closed out the year with a play of Robo Rally (30th anniversary edition) with my daughter Héloïse and my dad, a handful of hours before midnight.

I am blessed.

Out of the games I was looking forward to in 2024, Downfall was at the top of the list, and if you're still reading at this point, you already know that it did not disappoint in the least. I wasn't a fan of The Plum Island Horror, however—not a game for me. I got a chance to try Evacuation and didn't even finish my one and only play before I got fed up with that horror show of a rulebook and threw in the towel.

As for 2025?

MATRX GIPF didn't show up in time for 2024, but I have it in my hands now and I'm excited to explore that conclusion to the GIPF Project time and time again. I'm very interested in SETI, the cooperative Vantage and the deluxe edition of Fields of Fire. Then Luthier should show up at some point, as well as Speakeasy, and I'm hoping both will turn out to be nice medium-heavy titles to while away the long summer evenings—waiting for the return of ski season, of course.

 

# # #

My Top 10 Boardgames Published in 2024

     

Here's a look at my 10 favorite games published in 2024.

(Or else made available in North America so late in 2023 that there was no way to really play them before the calendar flipped.)

#10

RED DUST REBELLION

I've just scratched the surface here, but I already like (a lot!) what I see. Yes, this is another COIN game from GMT—volume 12, if you can believe that—but this one being fictitious makes possible a host of things we haven't seen elsewhere. From truly asymmetric factions (The Church of the Reclaimer is a blast—and a brain twister—to play) to semi-random storms that'll hit your forces hard unless they head for cover, this is a brave new world for the COIN series.

#9

JEKYLL & HYDE VS SCOTLAND YARD

Before The Crew, nobody thought a co-operative trick-taking game was possible; nowadays, it seems there's a new one every other month. Jekyll & Hyde vs Scotland Yard is a two-player game to boot, and a damn clever one, where players try to manipulate the number of tricks they win so that Jekyll/Hyde makes it home before the police can catch him. Rotating trump suits and the occasional potion will keep players on their toes—almost as much as the title character.

(You can read my flash review here.)

#8

ALTERED

I thought I had weaned myself off collectable card games back in the day, and this year I tried two new games that confirmed those feelings: Star Wars Unlimited (yawn) and Lorcana (visually superb but mechanically generic). Then I gaveI Altered a shot and ended up purchasing two booster boxes. It runs on very innovative gameplay, killer visuals, and nothing short of a revolutionary publishing plan. I'm very much looking forward to what's on the horizon.

#7

DUCTH RESISTANCE: ORANGE SHALL OVERCOME!

Orange is a solo/co-op game of resistance in the Netherlands during World War II. Several scenarios require players to dodge German checkpoints, smuggle supplies (even people!) into dangerous locations, and resort to violence when there's no other way. An impressive system and overall package, and from a first-time designer, no less.

#6

SKYRISE

A cutthroat bidding game about building a city in the sky, with simple rules that pave the way for tense and rewarding gameplay. I played the game this was based on—Metropolys—once, years ago; I never felt the need to play it again. But Skyrise elevates (ha!) the action and makes everything shine.

And while there's no denying the deluxe version is seriously overproduced, it does look great on the table.

(You can read my flash review here.)

#5

WOLFPACK
I tried a few submarine games over the years, but they were either too convoluted or else too much "on rails" with few player decisions and an experience that felt more like watching the game happen around me.

Wolfpack hits the sweet spot: Despite the game's XX pages of (generously illustrated) rules, it's easy to get into a routine of going out on patrols, spotting juicy merchant ships, arming and firing torpedoes... and also evading escorts, dealing with crew injuries, putting out sub fires, fending off flooding and performing a dance of death with depth charges on a daily basis.

What's not to like?

#4

NORMAN CONQUESTS
Not only did this fifth volume in the Men of Iron series convince me to take the plunge, but I enjoyed it so much that I promptly tracked down the four first volumes and am eagerly awaiting #6. The game offers tactical medieval battles with just the right amount of chrome to give you something satisfying to bite into while never overstaying its welcome. 

Just make sure you leave your units room to retreat. You'll thank me later.

#3

OXONO

One of those abstract two-player games with minimal components, a cerebral look, and that ubiquitous "place four pieces in a row" victory condition, Oxono almost looks like a toy. Until you play (and lose) your first game, that is. Players move an X and an O totem, both acting as poles around which you can play a corresponding piece (X or O) in your color. It's those pieces you're trying to align, in any colors. So you win if you put the fourth X in a row/column of Xs, or the fourth O in a row/column of Os, no matter who placed the first three; you can also win by scoring a row/column entirely in your color, whatever symbols end up in there.
You can't imagine how challenging—and addictive—that is until you've tried it.

#2

BOMB BUSTERS

This is one of those rare cooperative games where the alpha player problem (running everyone like puppets in an otherwise solo game) cannot happen, because the whole thing revolves around secret information everyone is trying to deduce from the occasional clues put up by their partners. Your bomb squad needs to defuse bomb after bomb by cutting pairs of like-numbered wires: one facing one of your friends (and whose value you're not always sure of) and one facing you. 
And whatever you do, DONT' CUT THE RED WIRE!

(You can read my flash review here.)

#1

DOWNFALL

Last year's #1 entry (Mr. President) began thusly: "The most complex and longest game on the list..." And I'm forced to recognize that it's also the case this year. I might have to seek treatment.
Downfall is kind of a monster game that eats up an entire table (or two) and whose short scenario lasts six hours. Hey, playing the last act of WWII ain't a walk in the park! But the game flows so wonderfully and without any downtime that I find myself transfixed, for however long the whole thing takes.

It is a stunning design that I can't wait to play again.

(You can read my review here.)

* * *

DISAPPOINTMENTS
I define disappointments as games I expected a lot from, and which failed to deliver. Here are the "top" three from 2024.

I rarely post negative reviews of games on this blog (life's too short!) but my feelings were so negative in the case of Heat's first expansion that I couldn't do otherwise. (So here it is.) I wasn't disappointed: I was thoroughly pissed off.

In short, I thought they did everything completely wrong, making Heavy Rain the worst expansion I've come across in 30 years of boardgaming. It almost deserves an award just for that.

This one is kind of a mild disappointment, in that I expected great things from this narrative game, and in the end only got "things" that were more often than not on the right side of fun without really making me feel like I'd need to replay the campaign, or get my hands on eventual sequels. Fun enough to borrow from a friend and try once, I guess, but that's pretty much it.

I think it's the first time a game from GMT ends up in this section of my yearly Top 10, and it breaks my heart. I had high hopes for I, Napoleon, but the decision space ended up being way too narrow for my taste. And I really wish there were just one or two lines of historical text at the bottom of each card, so that I could at least learn new things if I'm not actively choosing stuff.

A pity.

* * *

STRAGGLERS
Let's end on a high note with three games that would have made my Top 10 had I encountered them back in the year when they were published.

Scout is the second trick-taking game on the list this year, and deservedly so. It's a clever, twisted and fun little bundle of joy—you should see that diminutive box—you can carry anywhere, that plays great with any number of players (including two!) and that will surprise and entertain anyone you ensnare with it.

Two abstract games on the same list might be a first, but I won't shy away from my admiration of this as-clever-as-it-is simple (and elegant) little game. Move a piece according to the pattern highlighted on one of your three cards, then give that card to your opponent. THAT'S IT. And since there are oodles of different cards (did I mention expansions?), no two games are ever alike.

Mandala is one of those games that feels so classic, so elemental, that you can't help but think the design already existed as a traditional thing played by generations past. Right? Nope: made up by two guys a few years ago.

But no matter how (not) old the game is, it's a splendid example of a simple system yielding remarkable depth. 

# # #

Flash Review — Jekyll & Hyde vs Scotland Yard

Players: 2

Age: 10+
Playtime: 20 min
Complexity: 4/10

Jekyll & Hyde vs Scotland Yard, in addition to being a mouthful, is a co-operative trick-taking game that unfolds over 10 brief chapters: you can either link those together to form a campaign, or tackle them individually, in any order you wish.

Each round sees the play of eight tricks, with each trick comprising three cards: one from each player and one from the City deck. You know the drill: follow suit if you can, otherwise anything goes. The first color to hit the table becomes the most powerful suit for that round, while the second color to make an appearance becomes the second most powerful suit—leaving third place for the game’s remaining color.

Each trick is won by whoever (including the City) plays the highest card in the most powerful suit, and those cards remains in full view for future reference. Clever use of potion cards allows players to manipulate the relative strengths of all three suits, exchange a card with the City deck, or even steal a trick previously won by the City.

When eight tricks have been played (and won), the round is scored: the Jekyll/Hyde pawn moves forward one step on the board for each trick taken by the player who won the fewest tricks, plus one step for each 8-card found in the tricks of each player. But be careful: every 1, 2, or 3 also found in those tricks will move the Scotland Yard pawn forward one step.
Play a second round, and then you and your buddy succeed if Jekyll/Hyde made it home before the police caught up with him.

But it’s not enough to avoid losing. Each chapter presents different ways for players to earn points: win a trick by playing an 8, win the final trick, etc. Tally your score for the whole campaign, and then try to do better.

The game is simple, fast, devilishly clever and addictive.
You should be playing it right now, instead of reading this!

Most easily forgotten rule: Turn order is indicated on the Character token, and moves either clockwise or counterclockwise.



# # #

Flash Review — War Story: Occupied France

Players: 1-6 (but see below)

Works well with just 2: Yes but… 

Age: 14+ 

Playtime: 45-60 min 

Complexity: 4/10

As agents of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) at the height of WWII, your job is to infiltrate German-occupied France and link up with the resistance movement there, in order to carry out a string of missions from which there is likely no coming back.

War Story: Occupied France is essentially a solo game that you can play with friends: there are four agents in play at all times, but none of them is assigned to any given player. It’s just a pool or resources that you—and your eventual partners—can use as needed.
It’s also very much built like a choose-your-own-adventure novel, with numbered paragraphs to read, decisions that send you to further paragraphs, and so on. I would go so far as to say that it’s not quite a game: it really is more of an interactive novel, with some light game elements peppered throughout. (If you want an actual hybrid of interactive story & boardgame, This War of Mine delivers in spades.)

But is this interactive story any fun? Yes.
The game runs on very simple rules, making it possible to crack the box open and start playing right there and then; it also comes with three scenarios that throw you deep into occupied France and force you to make difficult decisions from the get-go. You can play each scenario individually or link them up in a three-part campaign. Best of all, each scenario is replayable, despite the absence of randomness anywhere in the system.

I would however dock War Story: Occupied France quite a few points because of the sheer number of errors in this first edition of the game. You’ll frustratingly have to spend a while correcting the various paragraphs (and cards…) highlighted in the FAQ before you get going. And we’re not just talking typos (although they do exist: just ask the unfortunate Domonique you’ll encounter in the game): these are wrong paragraph numbers, erroneous instructions, as well as missing icons and various indications. It’s unacceptable; especially from Osprey, a publisher that should know better.

Also, I can’t for the life of me figure out why—much less how—you’d play this with more than two players. Remember, it’s an interactive story: there’s not much to do, even for one person playing this solo. So if a buddy wants to enjoy the ride with you, fine. More than that, and they’ll start asking themselves what they’re doing there.
But SIX players? That’s insanity.

Most easily forgotten rule: You can only spend special tokens when the current paragraph shows the chevrons icon.



# # #

Flash Review — Bomb Busters

Players: 2-5

Works well with just 2: Yes!
Age: 10+
Playtime: 30 min
Complexity: 4/10

Bomb Busters requires a team of players to work together to defuse one bomb after the other (after the other). Sure, you’ve got cool gadgets to help you along the way and more than one trick up your sleeve—assuming you’ve got any arms left—but will you manage to keep your cool long enough to avoid triggering that damn thing?

The game is all about cutting (the right) wires, which are represented by narrow cardboard tiles that each show a number between 1 and 12, with four copies of every number. Each player gets a stand where those tiles—distributed at random—are stood up in ascending order, with the wire values facing the owner of the stand. So you know what your wires are, but nothing else. Using a clever system of very limited clues, you may eventually deduce some information about a few of the wires held by your teammates.
Now since wires must be cut in pairs, if you want to cut, say, your 5 wire, you must first cut a 5 wire on someone else’s stand. So when you think you’re sure (...), you point to a specific wire, say “I’m cutting this 5 wire!” with as much confidence as you can muster, and hold your breath. If you’re right, your teammate lays down that wire tile face up in front of their stand (and the position of that revealed tile in your friend’s spread hopefully feeds you with further information you can use) and you do the same with your like-numbered wire.
And if you’re wrong? Boom.
(Okay, each mission allows for a handful of mistakes before everyone gets blown to pieces. That counter goes down fast: don’t get too comfy.)

Oh you thought that was all? That’s so cute.

There are also yellow wires, each numbered as a .1; so you get a 1.1, a 2.1 and so on all the way to 12.1, with a few of them thrown into the mix before tile randomization. The trick here is that yellow wires must also be cut in pairs, meaning you must point to a tile on someone else’s stand, say “I’m cutting this yellow wire!” and hope to God you’re right, so that you can also cut a yellow wire on your own stand.
Red wires? Of course we’ve got red wires, each numbered as a .5: 1.5, 2.5, etc. Those you CANNOT cut at all. And there are no oopsies when you cut whatever circuit was keeping the bomb from embracing entropy.

Each mission consumes at most 30 minutes of your time (sometimes way less, trust me) and the box comes with a whopping 66 increasingly difficult missions for your exploding pleasure.
Plus there's a very nifty twist that makes the game work like a charm with just two players.

If this doesn’t win the Spiel des Jahres for 2025, I’ll eat my bomb suit helmet.

Most easily forgotten rule: If one player has all four copies of a numbered wire on their stand (say, all four 2s), they can do a “solo cut” and reveal them all at once. Same thing if anyone holds the two remaining wires of any one number.

# # #