Welcome to Totally Decked, a series where I teach and play the best solo board games that use a standard deck of cards. This time I'm playing Empire Solitaire, a solo card game that is reminiscent to Food Chain Island.
We got around to the 15+ player mega game, Touched by Darkness! It only took about 8 hours and to rent an entire event space. This mega game has teams of up to 4 players cooperating to survive while trying to do their team’s specific goals. However, everything is wrapped within the lightheartedness of roleplaying, or even LARPing! We didn’t see so much war gaming in our session, but there was the shadow attack that I did not participate in. There’s plenty of negotiation and worker placement to do, as you try to feed your people and also participate in the ritual. If you’re the servant of the dark one (traitor), you want to be part of the ritual and sabotage it!
Games mentioned: Twilight Imperium 4, Unfathomable, Lords of Waterdeep, Battlestar Galactica
Table of Contents:
Overview - (0:00)
What is a Mega Game? - (1:17)
Cool Stuff & Moments - (6:00)
Concerns & Improvements - (17:48)
Ashton’s Final Thoughts - (24:42)
This week we talk about each of our individual board game quests/journeys. What does it mean to be on a board game quest? How do ours differ? What do we think the different stages are and how do we think the hobby will look for us in the future? All of that and more!
We're proudly sponsored by VICTORY PINTS, who specialize in board games and are located in our hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba. They aim to have the best board game selection in the city and are also happy to special order you anything they don't have available! Pop in and purchase any board games that have been featured on AYCB in the last year and say the discount code "TOP SHELF BILLING" to receive 10% off the games! https://www.victorypints.ca
Check out my teach and playthrough video of the solo-only micro card game Food Chain Island by designer Scott Almes and publisher Button Shy Games. Today I play with all four expansions: Lost Beasts, Friendly Waters, Tough Skies, and Legendary Creatures.
Got through a lot of games last week! Featuring some lighter card games as we were out with friends, and those types are super easy to play at a bar. Finished our Regicide Legacy campaign - feeling emotional! Had a crack at the mode you can play post-campaign and it’s decent!
Made our final conclusions on Forest Shuffle OG vs Dartmoor version after playing both this week 😬
Hey friends! Enjoy this solo playthrough of Conservas with the NEW Exotic Tides expansion from Salt & Pepper Games! This expansion opens up new opportunities with additional markets to explore, a wider variety of boats and upgrades, and new ways to experience the base game. It includes three modular additions: New upgrade and boat cards, a new market book and locations! I hope you all enjoy the playthrough!
✿ Interested in a game I talked about? ✿
Be sure to check out your FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store), check out the publishers website or look up an online game store in your country!
✿ My filming setup! ✿
Camera - Canon EOS 80D or Sony A5100
Microphone - Movo WMX-20 Wireless Lavalier Microphone
Background Shelf - Ikea Kallax in Walnut
Game Table - The Jasper Table by BoardGameTables.com
Dr. Finn's Book of Solo Strategy and Word Games by designer Steve Finn contains 8 solo games. Today I'm playing Cosmic Run: Mission One, a quick and simple roll-and-write game.
Publisher Dr. Finn's Games generously provided a review copy of the book.
The Hobbit: There & Back Again is a competitive adventure game in which players draft dice to make pathways, collect resources, and perform actions that help them to reach their chapter goal.
0:00 - Intro
0:39 - Brief Overview
2:34 - Review
Dice tower is from Crimitidex. If you order their products, use the code below for a discount!
🎥 0:00 Overview
✨ 1:23 Chalices of Power Overview
☀️ 2:08 Curse of the Desert Overview
📦 2:42 Game Unboxing
🧾 4:12 Preparing The Game Materials Booklet
📖 6:02 Campaign Book 1
📔 7:17 Rulebook
🗺️ 11:38 Treasure Cave Map
👊 11:51 Campaign Tracker, Player Dashboards & Punchboard
🤩 12:31 Game Board
📥 13:01 Insert 1 Components Up Close
🎴 14:02 Insert 2 Cards Up Close
👏 30:21 Conclusion
"Aventuria: Chalices of Power is a cooperative adventure card game campaign for 1 to 6 players. Choose one of 10 exciting heroes and compete for the seven magical chalices against wild monsters, devious villains and deadly demons. The campaign consists of 10 adventures with almost 20 acts and a playing time of approx. 60 hours. Gain experience points, treasures, companions and new equipment, and improve your heroes. Aventuria gives you a true role-playing experience in the form of an outstanding card game. Are you ready to become legends?"
Can a civilization game deliver meaningful strategy in under an hour? Rising Cultures from Capstone Games might pull it off.
In this review, I take a look at this fast-playing 2-player civilization game featuring asymmetric factions, engine building, military competition, and clever card management. The real standout for me is how differently each civilization plays—especially Egypt and the Abbasid Caliphate, which completely change the feel of the game from one session to the next.
I’ll cover:
* Gameplay overview
* Asymmetric faction design
* Egypt’s Nile economy mechanics
* Replayability
* Cognitive skills practiced through play
* Final thoughts and recommendations
If you enjoy civilization games but don’t always have 3–4 hours available, Rising Cultures offers a surprisingly deep experience in a much tighter package.
00:00 Intro
00:24 Play Count & Complexity
01:55 Victory Conditions & How It Plays
10:37 Skills
11:50 Final Thoughts
What a variety last week! Continued to explore the Homeland expansion for Root, taught Dune: Imperium - Uprising to a friend who wanted to play since he likes the Dune universe, and also had some great co-op experiences with Bomb Busters and Regicide Legacy.
Check out my teach and playthrough video of the solo-only 18-card micro card game Ancient Realm by designer Steven Aramini and publisher Button Shy Games.
It's time to go and find our next 6 months worth of amazing Asian games from Tokyo Game Market Spring 2026. We've gone deep into the rabbithole and once again we want to share our research into the games we're most excited about.
REMEMBER THOUGH - we haven't played any of these titles! And the rules are mostly in Japanese! So buy at your own risk but mostly, have a fantastic time finding some gems that speak to you and your gaming group.
Come say hi if you see us!
A&M x
Here's some helpful links below. Links to the official Game Market pages are below the timestamps and it is here you can find the links to reservation forms. But be warned these do close randomly, and it's easiest to use if you are able to translate the page from your browser!
Thanks for stopping by! We're Amy & Maggie aka ThinkerThemer. We're an Australian couple with two very different perspectives of what makes a great board game - Amy (Thinker) is all about the mechanics and enjoys tight, competitive games, and Maggie (Themer) is all about the storytelling and the theme of the game, and the 'world' that the designer is trying to create. Subscribe to our channel to hear us talk about these two elements of a game, and how well integrated we feel these are in delivering a cohesive and wonderful game experience.
#boardgames #tabletopgames #thinkerthemer ❤🏳️🌈🇦🇺
Anmelden
