A silver stake? A crucifix? What, did you think we haven’t tried everything before?

Another big unboxing! Peter checks out everything for Grimcoven, the new boss battler from Awaken Realms!

Before I say anything more, yes, someone did point out to me I pronounced ‘Grimcoven’ incorrectly throughout this entire video, and I’m deeply ashamed about it. We all make mistakes! But anyway, there’s a lot of exciting stuff to check out here, in my first video about this challenging new game from Awaken.

Grimcoven is a gorgeous looking game with enough boss battling goodness to last you many years, so let‘s get into it!

Don’t forget to download my rules & reference (and of course it’s also on Tabletop Codex), and good luck!

There’s something down here, it’s carnivorous.

Don your black leather and grab your Grimcoven rules and reference!

Awaken Realms are now a decade old as of this writing, and their astonishing success and huge creative output has not only made them one of the best publishers in the business, but the flag bearers for huge, over-the-top productions absolutely drenched in theme and atmosphere. A gaming style I’ve had a soft spot for since I bought my first big box Games Workshop games back in the late 80s.

Grimcoven continues the tradition of wonderful excess, but there are some interesting things here that break the mould a little and tell us that the company isn’t just resting on its laurels. First, it’s a boss battler in which you play one-off games – no overarching campaign here (though you can add a little bit of character development with the Personal Stories expansion). Next, there’s something about this game system that, as I was playing, made me think of that much-used word ‘elegant’ – and I can assure you that’s not a word I use often when it comes to Awaken Realms. Unlike their usual style of dense, many-step phases that you can never remember without a reference sheet close to hand, Grimcoven actually flows smoothly and cleverly from step to step (and where it does get a bit complicated, nice little standees remind you of the sequence of steps).

I’m very happy to see Awaken step back from the long campaigns which demand a commitment of months (and often seem end up in solo play mode as a result), and move more into one-off games and more manageable campaign structures (see Lands of Evershade). Not all of us want to leave a game set up for months, or wish to devote that much extended gaming time to a single game.

Grimcoven is packed with content – there are 6 unique hunters, and each of the 6 ‘big bad’ Griefbounds have 5 scenarios of increasing difficulty (plus combinations of elite enemies and minions), plus expansions give you 2 more hunters and 2 more Griefbounds. Then, if the hunters get corrupted enough, they unlock ‘Pretenders’ – semi-Griefbounds that you can also hunt. The game plays out on modular hexagonal tiles with various terrain setups, and special cards give the terrain even more personality. The dice allocation system that powers the hunters’ actions is nothing revolutionary, but it works smoothly and efficiently here, without all the dice modifier jiggery-pokery that slowed down ISS Vanguard.

And you want the system to be smooth, because this game does not go easy on you, and you have to fully concentrate on your tactics to beat your Griefbound of choice. The game demands careful cooperation between players for success, so this is one of the most engaging cooperative combat experiences I’ve had. Also, as your hunters collect lament (the power currency of the game), you can customise your suite of abilities and gain more dice as you simultaneously become more corrupted, which gives the game a lot of forward momentum. While the difficulty can be frustrating at times, there’s a great sense of wanting to come back and try again if you lose, and there are enough interesting choices to keep you planning what you’ll try next time.

I’m highly impressed by Grimcoven so far, but I have a few more games to play yet before my full review. In the meantime, download my rules & reference (also available on Tabletop Codex) and check out my full ‘boss pledge’ unboxing video, released tomorrow!

I gave my word. I made a covenant.

Peter unboxes the top pledge of Lands of Evershade, the new hybrid RPG/board game from Awaken Realms!

I’ve been very lucky to be the recipient of the generosity of Awaken Realms lately, who have sent me some amazing stuff to cover on the channel. Recently ten years in the business, the company is going from strength to strength, churning out some really great games with absolutely peak production values.

Case in point – the PRG-meets-board game Lands of Evershade, which not only looks gorgeous, but has been receiving rave reviews. And the design isn’t just about pretty pictures and extravagant bits; they’re some very clever component design here, especially in the character board designs and cases that preserve your character from session to session. Check it all out in this comprehensive unboxing video!

Stayed tuned for more folks – a rules & reference is of course in th works, and they’ll be a video review a bit later down the pipe!

I’m just a man who’s good at what he does. Killing.

Control Solid Snake with your Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game rules and reference!

Popular game publisher CMON has been having a rough time of it post-tariff-idiocy period, forced to sell of their most profitable IPs and stop new campaigns, but to their credit they really did seem to hunker down and concentrate on getting promised crowdfunded games out to backers while slowly rebuilding the company. I think I’m even getting my Dune: Arrakis expansions soon, finally.

Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game is one of their underrated gems. I played the original computer game way, way back when, but these stealth and action mechanics are so solid, and feel so good, they could have been attached to any similar theme. The bonus for Metal Gear Solid fans is that the scenarios follow the first game’s beats so closely, which supplies a fun nostalgia hit. And like a video game, the scenarios introduce rules and new situations as you go, so you’re not overloaded from the start.

This game is nicely produced, plays smoothly (despite a long-winded and badly organised rulebook), and just works. Stealth mechanics are hard to get right sometimes, especially when you add patrolling guards and security cameras into the mix, but MGS nails it. In between there are some fun boss battling segments that use a deck of custom behaviours to give the antagonists personality. Apparently the crowd-funded version came with a comic book which fleshed out the scenarios, and it is missed here, but you can easily live without the bonus big walker miniature.

In the end, I’d trade one really solid, fun, well-designed game like this for shed-load of useless Zombicide and Marvel-themed plastic crack, but that’s just me. Definitely recommended!

We should have gone to the beach like I told you

Peter unboxes and talks about the new Reichbusters: Reloaded – and showcases his fully painted set!

Let’s have a good look at the new Reichbusters: Reloaded upgrade set, my painted miniatures from the original set, and explore the million-dollar question – is it better than the original game now?

You’re in it now, up to your neck!

Infiltrate the Third Reich with your Reichbusters: Reloaded rules and reference!

I spent a lot of time and money on the original Reichbusters: Projeck Vril. Painting all those miniatures was a huge job, which is why I was very relieved when Monolith bought the property from the crashing-and-burning Mythic Games and promised a new version with better rules. The original version suffered from a fiddly, clunky ruleset that bogged the game down in the second half and frustrated more than entertained. Could Monolith provide a game worthy of all those characterful miniatures?

Well, it cost me a lot more more money to get it of course, but thankfully they did. I’m very happy to say that Reichbusters: Reloaded is finally a fun game that I look forward to playing. It’s not perfect by any means – after the alarm goes off there’s still a lot of enemy wrangling to do – but it no longer feels like a game of two separate parts, one fun, the other not. Instead of constantly fiddling about with noise rolls, you have a pretty good idea how long you can get away with your team killing bad guys before the alarm goes off and all hell breaks loose; and once it does, controlling them isn’t quite so onerous and you still have a very good chance to fulfil your objectives and get out. I also love the way the objectives have been broken into three levels of difficulty – not only can you decide to go for a more difficult objective on the fly if things are going well, but extra objectives increase replayability by incentivising a return to a scenario armed with the knowledge gained on earlier playthroughs.

Thankfully, all the fiddly little tokens have completely gone, replaced by item cards and clearly laid out character reference sheets. In fact, this version is so well done I find myself looking at the original and wondering “what were they thinking?”. Probably something like “that’ll do, we’ll fix it later with an upgrade pack at huge expense”, which is no doubt one of the reasons Mythic went bust.

But enough of the past, Reichbusters: Reloaded is now the fun, frantic, silly, Nazi-bashin’ and alien-shootin’ game I always wanted it to be, and all those many hours of miniature painting were not in vain. Thanks Monolith!

One does not simply walk into Mordor.

Peter and Will are back with their most famous style of battle report – a War of the Ring one! Beer, laughs and banter ensue.

One day, when the Esoteric Order of Gamers finally comes to its natural end and all about it and concerning it is forgotten, one thing may be remembered – the battle report videos documenting games of War of the Ring between myself and my old gaming buddy, Will. It‘s been quite a while since I’ve had the opportunity to film one, but the day has finally arrived! So grab yourself your beverage of choice, get comfortable someplace where you won’t be interrupted by any non-gamer who just might not understand, relax, and enjoy this hugely fun new session of my favourite board game, War of the Ring!

That’s the last goddamn hitchhiker I ever pick up.

Escape the farmhouse with your The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse rules summary!

Despite being a huge aficionado of horror cinema, I got around very late to watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – too late really, as unfortunately the transgressive, dangerous aura it had when I was young had long rubbed off by that time. This can happen as I finally get around to watching a few films that were once deemed ‘video nasties’, long past the cultural zeitgeist they were born in.

A lot of people would consider it their favourite horror film however, though my taste runs to the fantastical rather than slashers. Be that as it may, this board game version by the sadly defunct Prospero Hall studio could become a tabletop favourite. It’s a tight, lean, enjoyable horror romp in the old Sawyer house that nails its theme and provides lots of (nervous) laughs and tension alike.

One player plays the unhinged Sawyer family, the others the ‘trespassers’ – the clueless young people who stumble across the house and quickly learn the error of their ways. Most actions as a trespasser carry the risk of generating noise tokens that you may have to hand over to the Sawyer player as fear tokens, who can use them to power their actions. Not an original mechanic – The World of SMOG does something similar – but it works perfectly here.

The Sawyer player starts with just one character, but as the panic meter (a big cardboard chainsaw) increases, more characters emerge, culminating in the appearance of good ol’ Leatherface himself. At which point the trespassers are really in trouble. And while the trespassers can quite easily be killed (a clever system of drawing 4 different injury cards), attacking the Sawyers only reduces their number of actions. Everything reinforces the cat-and-mouse feel of the gameplay, as the trespassers uncover horror tokens throughout the house and can briefly hide in rooms for a brief respite from pursuit. The basic rules system is enhanced by several scenarios with different goals, plus a very simple legacy system that adds item cards left behind by previously killed trespassers to the common item card pool.

Unusually, there are no win conditions as such – the goal is simply to survive, which is thematic and all, but raises questions if one player is playing 2 trespassers, and 1 escapes – is that a win, or do you keep playing? One of the game designers told me players can come up with their own ideas about success, and that the goal was to make a game that felt like a horror movie. Which is fine, though this is still a game … anyway, it’s a small issue. There are also some omissions in the rulebook, but all that is fixed in my summary.

Overwhelmingly however, this is a huge success and a fitting swan song for the creative people at Prospero Hall, all of whom, I hope, are still gainfully employed in making more games that blend theme and gameplay with such success.

I can remake you, just as I was remade.

Control the city with your City of the Great Machine rules & reference!

This game was brought to my attention by a great review on Charlie Theel’s Player Elimination website, and as usual, Charlie didn’t steer me wrong (well, there was that Fate of the Fellowship review, but there’s always an exception to the rule). City of the Great Machine is one of those rare games I like so much in which mechanics and theme are inextricably intertwined.

It’s a one-vs-many struggle set in a steampunk city dominated by a mechanical overlord – sort of George Orwell meets H. G. Wells. Players are Revolutionaries trying to inspire citizens to riot against oppression; the Great Machine has time on its side and a legion of automata to quell the dissent.

City of the Great Machine blends hidden movement, resource management, and asymmetric gameplay in a wonderfully thematic package – and it can also be played solo or co-operatively. It’s a stunning production with an excellent artwork, a well-written rulebook and comprehensive support material, and some very nice miniatures as a bonus. I enjoyed this at 2 players, but I’m very much looking forward to to playing this at a higher player count so players can scheme amongst themselves in the presence of the Great Machine (the rulebook expressly tells you to refer to players as Revolutionaries or the Great Machine, in one of many thematic touches). And, dare I say it, its theme of revolution against autocratic technology is more relevant than the glossy layer of steampunk initially leads you to believe.

There’s a wealth of strategic material in the rulebooks, but this summary distills the rules into an easily digestible few sheets. And of course, it’s available on my app, Tabletop Codex!