Luiz Gustavo Mendes

Preview

Let’s Preview More: 52 Duels

December 12, 2025 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-2 Players

Designer:Matthew Dunstan, Rory Muldoon

Artist: Rory Muldoon

Publisher: Postmark Games

Kickstarter Campaign

Do you ever feel the need of dueling your friends with a deck of cards, and throwing it at them just doesn’t feel right? Well, worry not, as Postmark Games brings us 52 Duels, where 1 or 2 players will fight as classic fantasy characters wielding the power of poker!

It’s Time To D-d-d-duel

Each player gets a character mat and their poker deck, shuffling and getting a hand of 5 cards. Every turn you can do two actions: using a card for their suit power, add cards to your level to unlock permanent bonuses, or add cards to your attacks. Each attack has thresholds of cards to activate and what cards can be played, be it same suit, rank, runs, full houses, etc. Whenever you add a card to your abilities, you can discard them and activate, usually dealing damage to your opponent.

Whenever a player is attack, they can use their chatacter’s defense, and any remaining damage is dealt by putting that amount of cards in the damage pile. At the end of the turn, the player draws back to their hand limit, usually 5. If the deck is empty, just shuffle the discard and continue drawing. If at point a player needs to draw or take damage and there aren’t enough cards, it’s game over.

Solo game is almost the same. The Nemesis adds cards by suit to the abilities, while face cards are added to levels. Each character has their own Nemesis side to their sheet, but they play almost identical to the regular side.

Pulling Straight Punches

The game starts out simple and intuitive, since you have all of your deck you can decide to invest in any ability or level. However, this is an explosive game, where a few turns really change how to handle your investments as damage taken is out of the deck almost for good.

It’s an interesting balance as doing lots of small weaker attacks is not the most effective, but defense usually entails discarding cards so it can also be a way to slow down the enemy. There is an intense push and pull of setting up, unleashing attacks and getting ready for defense.

There are currently two characters in this preview, and each does play very differently. The rogue tends to set up abilities quicker and turn around more hands, and also soaks damage more easily. Meanwhile the barbarian hits HARD and hits harder and harder as the game goes. Knowing Postmark Games, there will be even crazier characters with lots to explore in each.

A Solo Duel? Monoel?

The concept of an automated duel opponent is not novelty, but they are often either too simplifies and a bit dumb or complex and natural. Well, not here. The Nemesis side distributes cards differently, but the abilities and level up powers are as close as their player side can be. The feel of each character is pretty much the same and, as a mostly solo gamer, that excites me. Victories do not come by exploiting the system, but by out maneuvering and playing to your strengths.

Again, Postmark is pretty much a Seal Of Gauranteed Design, but this might be one of my favorites. It’s light, tense, high adrenaline card play with explosive and exciting turns, and that is just the start.

Review

Let’s Review More: Oliva

November 28, 2025December 12, 2025 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-4 Players

Designer: Costa, Rôla

Artist: Marina Costa

Publisher: PYTHAGORAS

Pythagoras brings us the third game in the Cinco Quinas line, full of Portuguese themes, cubes and odd rules. But, as an official hater of olives, does this leave a bad taste or does it flow well like a good Portugese olive oil?

How to Play

You play a number of turns depending on the player count, and each round starts with revealing a new nation card. Then players play cycles, once with each player leading.

Each cycle starts with players drawing five cards from their deck and playing two face down on their board, discarding the rest. Then, they go around revealing a card and activating its action. But, here’s the fun part, you activate the card you revealed and every card that shares it’s symbol.

The actions are pretty standard production business. Get olives, convert them into olive oil, get money, or use those to get cards from the display, which can be advanced actions or scoring opportunities.

After each player revealed both cards, the two cards on the top are discarded, the ones on the bottom go up, and play continues.

With two players, some cards are removed and there is a third “ghost” player that players take turns adding cards so they always contribute two additional symbols.

Solo has a dedicated automa deck that adds multiple symbols and takes cards from the display, but it’s not really an opponent, the game is a beat your own score deal.

Rules and Components

Here things get complicated on both ends. Let’s start with the rules. For the most part they are well laid out and complete, explaining well each card type and the flow of the game. I don’t think the wording is the best, but after a couple of reads I was able to play without major issues.

My biggest problem is with the alternative game modes, meaning 2 player and solo. The changes on the setup are clear, but the flow is often described with vague instructions and implied rulings. For example, for solo it explains that the automa plays the top card each turn, but it is not specified where they are played. Also, for solo, it’s said that it’s setup as a 2 player game, but there is no clear indication that the “ghost” extra player is not used.

Components are for the most part pretty good. The cards are of great quality, the symbology is big and clear, and it has that specific artsy / minimalistic look that is characteristic of the series. Once setup, it is a big sprawling for the box size, but it does have a good table presence.

But there are a couple of usability issues. For example, there are a few types of cards with the same back, expected as it is a deck builder after all, but they are just differentiated by their backs, which already is not idea for color-blind people. But some, for example the blue player and the grey special action / scoring, are hard to tell apart depending on the light.

Score: 7/10

Gameplay

Does this olive oil feel Greece-y to you?

Half of this game is pretty standard production game: get cubes, transform into different cubes, cash in for cards or money, get points. It’s a streamlined and clean implementation of a familiar mechanism that will make a lot of people feel at home.

But where it shines is on the deckbuilding and card playing side of it. It’s a game where reading your opponents is not good, it’s crucial for wining. Timing well and paying attention to what everyone else is doing creates these huge turns where you can be super efficient, but no opportunities exists in a vacuum. It’s not just playing the most common symbols, it’s being ready with the right resources for when those opportunities arise. This is a wonderful style of table interaction, where you get out of your own situation and are required to notice everyone’s game, but nothing is taken, it’s all positive and adding.

Score: 9/10

Theme and Art

Marina Costa has this particular clean, cartoon-y and very whimsical style that became the heart of the Cinco Quinas line, but here is where it’s displayed more and with more details. It’s very welcoming and warm, and makes you want to dive in this world.

And this ties together with the love that Pythagoras usually puts in with their Portuguese themes. It’s not just a game about olives and olive oil, but specific regions and traditions of that country. I may be biased as it is my heritage, but every small detail is evocative. It’s not a heavy handed theme, not in the slightest, but it’s seen and felt.

Score: 8/10

Conclusion

Oliva packs a punch from its small box, threading a nice line between familiar mechanisms and unique implementations. It’s a game that requires table awareness and promotes an environment where players are present at all times, at all turns, always seeing what’s next, what card each one took, what moves they are making and setting up to make. But that is not overwhelming as turns come and go blazing fast. It’s simple, but very rich.

And that is allied with all the Portuguese love that is a big characteristic of Pythagoras and the Cinco Quinas line. As the game is fluid, it allows you to appreciate the theme and feel yourself at home and sink in all the cubic oily goodness. But not the olives, those black cubes are gross and everyone knows it. Or maybe it’s just me…

Score: 8/10

Review

Let’s Review More: Tend

November 21, 2025 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-6 Players
Designer: Max Anderson, Zac Dixon, Austin Harrison, Toby Sarnelle
Artist: Kelly Nakamura
Publisher: IV Studio

IV Studios comes to us with a “Roll and Write” which gets pretty much everything traditional about the style and goes a different route: the box is huge, there are dice but you never roll them, and there are even scratch-off cards. But do those all crazy ideas form a beautiful garden or is it just a pile of mulch?

How To Play

Don’t be fooled by the huge box, the game is quite straight-forward in terms of rules. You will play for 12 rounds, each round will start with basically some upkeep, like replacing friend bonus cards, refreshing the action row and ticking up your crops and animals.

But the main focus on the game is in the action phase, where from the 5 available action cards, each player chooses two and executes them in any order. There are four main actions in the game. Tending allows a player to till soil and also plant and water crops in your garden. Fishing allows you to roll dice and fish in the coordinates rolled in any available fish spot. Cutting and mining takes you to the scratch-off card and just scratching an available spot, which will give you resources, but sometimes also additional actions and level ups.

In Tend, any resource gained must be immediately spent, either on various upgrades and awards, sold to the commissary, or stored in your bins with cute and super handy stamps included in the game. Items in storage, awards gained and three end of game scoring opportunities will give you points.

Rules and Components

Starting easy, rules are really clear, well laid out and structured with plenty of illustrations to make sure that all areas of gameplay are clear. The only downside is that the rules present all components in details before explaining what they do, so starting off can feel a bit daunting, but once rules start going it’s easy to parse what everything is and how it works.

Components are, well, excessive, in a good way. I mentioned the huge box, and its goal is to house every component comfortably. It’s not that there are too many components, but the game does include an obscene amount of pads and scratch-offs so you can play and play and play. There is SOME overkill, like the stamps in the pens, but absolutely nothing feels extra or unnecessary, and everything comes together to create a beautiful play experience.

Also, the components feel super premium. The pens are nice, the dice are nice, the pads are nice, the cards are of amazing quality. Every upgrade feels like a quality of life upgrade, they have a purpose and do make the overall feel better.

Score: 9.5/10

Tend is the type of game I greatly appreciate in terms of how they handle the rules. The rules themselves are actually simple, nothing too fancy or out of place. From the first gameplay and every single experience since, I felt like every single turns goes like a breeze, everything just clicks in place, the actions feel fluid and you can see the many lines of play the four actions will allow you.

Gameplay

But, let’s be clear: this is a thinky game. There is a lot to keep your eyes on, lots to plan and everything feels interconnected in an interesting way. The game heavyness lies completely on how you handle your opportunities, how to get the most out of them, and just keep track of everything you want to do. The path for each of the 3 scoring goals is multi-stepped and requires you to hinge your opportunities and have a clear plan ahead.

Score: 10

Theme and Art

IV Studios chose a very video-gamey feel to Tend. The icons are simple, there is plenty of pixelated icons and fonts, and everything is super bright, but somewhat minimalistic. Each individual component seems to be created to maximize usability and simplicity. That being said, everything comes together in an incredibly cohesive package that just looks good and thought out.

This also ties in really well with the theme and feel the game puts out. It’s a light theme, a futuristic farming simulator. That’s pretty much it. But it’s not about depth, it’s about how it makes you feel. It’s a friendly game, with friendly challenges and friendly looks. It’s, overall, a feel good package. For me, it did make me feel good playing, even when my brain was going into overdrive.

Score: 9/10

Conclusion

I was not sure of what to expect from Tend, and I purposefully went in blind. It’s a game of contradictions: it’s a game that is both excessive and minimalistic, easygoing and brain burning, easy to play but hard to play well.

But very rarely a game is so consistent in making me smile. Even in all contradictions, every aspect of Tend clicks and ticks like every single element in this game is on the right place, in the right amount, and it’s all up to the player to make the most out of it.

Every aspect of the game is super friendly, from the visuals, themes, mechanisms, components. It’s a heavy game in terms of tactics and strategies, but it feels way lighter. It will make you work and sweat your neurons to do well, but it never feels oppressive or unachievable. It’s a 60-90 minutes game that feels like a 15-30 minute game. And every single game so far I looked at the completed session and I wanted to just go one more time, try something else, something different, discover more.

Score: 9.5/10

Review

Let’s Review More: Flamecraft Duals

November 2, 2025November 9, 2025 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-2 Players

Designer: Manny Vega

Artist: Sandara Tang

Publisher: Carboard Alchemy

Following the footsteps of its already classic older sibling, the adorable little dragons of Flamecraft now come in Duals form. But is this head to head iteration hold the flame or does it just burns out quickly?

How to Play

Turns in the game are comprised of 3 steps. First, the player draws a token from the bad and places it any open spot or on top of any dragon as long as there is never a stack higher than 3.

Then, the player can fire off the dragon’s ability, and those can be to add more dragons, move other dragons or fire their abilities, which can cause a whole lot of chain effects. Finally, the player can score if they have a pattern in the board that equals the card in their hands. Most points from the scored cards win.

There are a couple of additional modules. Fancy dragons will add player powers, while fountains adds shared scoring opportunities while also adding a fountain to the board, which will get in the way.

Solo is quite simple, every turn the player needs to score a card, from their hand or a fountain card, or spend a coin. If they can’t, they lose. If they are able to score all 6 fountain cards, it’s a victory.

Rules and Components

The rules are fine. It’s a fairly simple and straightforward game, and the rules do a good job in presenting the game in a well structured way explaining briefly each phase and how each dragon works. It does leave some specifics a bit too much to interpretation, which is unfortunate.

I will start the component part with a caveat: I do have the the Deluxe version, so that’s the one I’m reviewing. But, as expected from Cardboard Alchemy, the art is stellar. It’s the gorgeously adorable art of Sandara Tang displayed in all tokens and cards, and they look as good as ever. The dragon tokens are nice and chunky, so satisfying to handle, and the metal coins are pretty and big. I did find the cards a bit on the thin side and quite slippery to handle.

Score: 8/10

Gameplay

This is at its surface quite light and simple, draw a dragon, place it, fire its ability, score. But, in all honesty, this is way more combo-y than expected. There is a lot of chain reaction, specially when 2 types of dragon (breads and leaves) and fire another power, which can in turn fire more and so on.

It’s strikes a great balance of light and gamery, and the results are quite satisfying. On 1v1, your scoring cards are hidden so there is not a lot of hate drafting or spoiling the other movements, it’s more setting up yours and seeing the opportunities immediately. It’s pretty much a tactical game, not a lot of long term strategy, it’s who can be the most efficient in terms of opportunities.

Solo is a bit more strategic, since you do know you have to setup and score all 6 fountains, and each is comprised of a 4 in a row of a single type. But, since you don’t know which order they will appear, there is a lot in making sure you have open opportunities each turn.

Score: 8.5/10

Theme and Art

On one end, the game is for the most part quite abstract. The scoring cards have no names, the dragons are all the same and there is no lore described. It’s a game solidly based on its mechanisms, and in fact you could replace the theme and it could work just as well.

But why would you though? The art is disconnected, yes, but as I mentioned it’s beautiful and evoking, and there is so much cuteness your heart my just explode. It has a small size but great table presence, and the art does vibe well with the relaxed theme of the gameplay.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

First of all, the obvious question: if I like Flamecraft, will I like the Duals version? Sincerely, there is absolutely no answering that. Aside from art, the game are mostly disconnected, though there is a sense of familiarity on a surface level with the dragon powers.

On its own, Flamecraft Duals is a chill but engaging abstract game, quick to play but has enough to keep you coming back. There isn’t a lot to discover, it’s all pretty much at your face, but it’s a game that will reward multiple gameplays in terms of acquired skill and board understanding.

I think Duals fits right into my collection for when I want a quick investment of time and brainpower, but still will come out satisfied with a gaming experience. And, adding to that, manipulating those chonky pieces is so fun!

Score: 8/10

Preview

Let’s Preview More: Doomsday Manager

March 28, 2025 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 Player

Designer: Dennis Kurdiukov

Artist: Dennis Kurdiukov

Publisher: Nuka Zombee Games

So, you would think that a giant meteor coming straight for us would be a big deal, but no… It’s your job to manage the crisis, get funds, bri.. convince politicians and feed the media, without going overboard of course, to have a chance of survival. But is this crisis manageable or should we just let the meteor do its thing?

How To Play

To setup, you just need three sheet and a whole bunch of dice. Each turn is comprised of whopping 8 phases, but all but media phases are optional. On research you roll a pair of dice for each worker, one being the material and the other how many will be added in a spiral shape. Once a shape cannot grow anymore, you start from the next numbered origin. Once all numbers are used and the meteor cannot grow anymore, it’s fully mapped. Doubles will tell the direction of the meteor, that will help spread media attention.

On operations, you roll a die for each worker and add that to one of the weapon matrixes. Each matrix need to be complete and all equations correct for the weapon to be active. During the media phase, you again roll a die for each worker. Ones mean loss of future money, while fives and sixes make will allow you to bump one of the media channels of your current influence level. These can give you money or cause crisis. Once all of one color are filled, the next influence level is unlocked.

Staff phase will allow you to spend money to upgrade one of the previous three departments or get more workers for that department, unlocking more dice. Politics allow you to, well, direct money to one of the politicians so that they can see your point of view more clearly. Each one will have immediate or triggered ability that will activate once they are marked. Once all boxes of one person are marked, it will increase your influence over a certain ideology as well as triggering one political favor.

Fundraiser will allow you to invest money to get a return on the next year. Finally, attack will allow you, once the meteor is mapped, weapons are unlocked and the correct bills are passed, to spend money to use the weapons against the meteor. Different weapons will target in different manners, but the goal is to have all of the meteor destroyed. Some weapons target big areas, while others will break it into smaller chunks, as any area 7 hexes or smaller can be destroyed automatically.

The only way to win is to destroy completely the meteor, and you lose if time is up and the big rock does its thing.

Rules and Components

As I usually stress, this a preview from a prototype so things are bound to change. But this is quite complete at this point I believe.

Usually print and play games are one or two pages long, and I appreciate Dennis spreading to a third. Though there is a lot happening, every section is well displayed and nothing feels cramped. Wording for a few abilities and effects could be clearer, but even at the first few plays, everything feels in place and make sense.

Different from previous games, this time rules are laid out in a more standard manner and I appreciate for a game on this complexity. Every section is well explained, but some wording can be vague or left to interpretation at this point. I did reach out to the designer, and most of my interpretations were correct, and I do hope the final version is even clearer than it is now.

Gameplay

Starting to play Doomsday Manager can be a bit daunting, but its a game that when you start playing is quite more intuitive than it first look. Each section is its own mini-game almost self contained and easy to manage. This is half of the game. The other half is managing funds and investment on each section, and having the proper support on all of them according to needs.

One aspect that I noticed is that the dice mitigation is mostly done through additional rolls, but not through dice manipulation. In a game where specific rolls are needed and, often, crucial, this can make you feel like you’re at the mercy of the dice. Brutal, but on the other hand, thematic.

Theme and Art

Theme is odd and unique, for sure. Honestly, the way it develops is quite like a cheesy classic disaster movie, and I love that the game leans on it and uses that to its advantage. It’s at the same time cinematic and, in a way, administrative, and somehow both work really well together.

Art again falls into the same feel. It uses the Nuka Zombee Classic Comic Book Flow (patent pending) to evoke dramatic moments to highlight each section as a scene, and elevate that from just another system.

Conclusion

Doomsday Manager is epic, out of control and, honestly a bit frustrating at times. It’s absolutely a game that takes its unique premise and runs with it the whole way. Each individual section is simple and almost mundane. That really forces you to look at the game from a higher perspective, seeing the big picture, almost like setting up a situation and just running the results. The biggest decisions and where the heart of the game lies is the runaround of funding and resources, timing and long term plans.

It’s also a game that breaks expectations in a big manner. It gives you impression of being a big lengthy and grind-y experience, specially knowing one of their previous games, like Recycled. However, it’s not that at all. Turns fly by, and often with little change between them. It’s not a game of epic turns, but a game of slow flow and long term plans materializing over time. It requires a whole type of approach and smart plays, and, honestly, I see so many branching paths to both victory and defeat that I can’t wait to explore it more.

PnP Review

Let’s Review More: Dicebound Heroes

February 3, 2025February 3, 2025 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-4 Players

Designer: Roman Solar

Artist: Roman Solar

Publisher: One Page Creations

Players take the roll of adventures, going into dangerous dungeons full of monsters and treasures. But they have only a day before they perish never to be seen again. Will the heroes find wonders or Blight?

How to Play

At the beginning of each turn, a player rolls 3d6. One of the dice will be assigned to the color, one for time and one for growth.

Using the color selected, the players mark on the time track equal to the time die. For each section filled with the same color, player can mark sections on equipment or abilities. But each of those tracks can only eve have one color.

After that, one of the monster will have a boost for one attribute (chosen by the color) equal to the growth die. This can give the monsters more speed, range, attack, defense etc.

Finally, the player moves equal to the speed added to the time die. On the way, they can get treasures, gems to power up equipment, and face monsters.

When time reaches the last space, and if players managed to either damage all monsters or get all the treasure and get back to the exit, they win.

Rules and Components

In term of components, the game really tries to cram everything in one page, as per the name of the company. Well, sort of. The abilities of each adventurer is not referenced in any way on the main page, neither are monsters abilities. Those are relegated to a second helper page, and I’m honestly glad. It would be just too much. But, even with all the big elements and huge art, the sheet itself is functional and works well even later in the game.

Rules are well written, and quite extensive for a game that is not super complex. The game does have a few quirky characteristics, which makes the flow of the explanation a little off at times, but after playing the game it gets clearer. There are a couple of places where wording could be clearer, but nothing too egregious.

Score: 7.5/10

Gameplay

This game’s quirky, as I mentioned, because there are a bunch of expectations with the theme and genre that are not met. You dont need to defeat enemies, and after a single hit they are out of the game. Also, they guard the treasure, but you can just grab that and speed out (a feat that is quite funny when you imagine a full plate wearing paladin doing it).

This game is not exactly a dungeon crawler, but a dungeon looter per se. But, honestly, once the flow clicks with you, it’s a dynamic and a bit frantic game where I had a lot of fun. Also, the characters and monsters feel well realized, even in their simplicity, and the leveling system is quite flexible.

Score: 7.5/10

Theme and Art

This game has a very particular look and feel that I think people will either love for the gritty nostalgia or hate because it’s weird. Make that quadruple for the fully colored sheets, that are really funky. For me, it reminds me of very old school tabletop RPGs, sitting on my fiends table at midnight surrounded by junk food and colored dice.

As I mentioned on the gameplay, the individual characters and monsters have a lot of personality that, for the most part, shines through. There are spots where theme and gameplay disconnect, specially with leveling (defeating a monster does not actually give you anything in terms of treasure or experience). However, I do appreciate that those were done in order to keep the game simple and fluid.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

Dicebound Heroes is a game made to itch that very specific scratch of just becoming going head first into a crazy adventure where every second counts. It’s frantic, non-stop and quick. And it last just as long as it needs to.

Every aspect of this game is fairly niche, to the look and feel to the rule set, but since I’m in that niche I cannot help but have a good time with it.

Rules and Components: 7.5

Gameplay: 7.5

Art and Theme: 7.5

Score: 7.5

PnP Review, Review

Let’s Review More: The Tracker

December 18, 2024December 18, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1 Player

Designer: Denis Kurdiukov

Artist: Denis Kurdiukov

Publisher: Nuka Zombee

The world outside is a horrible nightmare, full of zombies, mutated beasts, and horrible people just waiting to take you and everything you have. But you insist in going on and trying to find a way to save a little girl. But is your will strong enough or are you going to succumb along the way?

How To Play

Setup is just getting the sheet, it already has all the resources and starting situation. You also need 8 dice, 4 of each color and a marker for your position. On each turn, you may do some trades with the locals for clues, but most often you will try to go to a new area for clues are resources.

To get into a dangerous area, first you spend a water roll your 4 dice to create your pool, and set one of the enemy dice as the danger of the area as stated on the map. One die at a time, you assign one die for the scout test, roll another for the enemy and assign a final one if needed. If you match or exceed, scout is successful and you proceed to battle. If not, you just lost time and a water.

Battle is similar, you assign your dice then roll two for the enemy. If it is enough, you win the loot, if not you lose a medpack and, if able, spend bullets to finish off or accept defeat.

Each time you get a clue from locals or secure an area, you mark the clue or number into the main quest grid. Your goal is to make a continuous path from the starting arrow to the finish where the girl is. If you are able to do that and defeat the final boss, you win. If you ever run out of resources, you lose.

Rules and Components

The iconography is pretty clear for the most part, and it may seem overwhelming at first it does make sense once you start playing the game. Even though there are a ton of icons, I never felt the game got too cramped or messy as I went along.

Rules are, as usual for Nuka Zombee, laid out nicely in a kind of a comic book flow type of way. Rules are organized progressively, as if you are playing the game and reading the rules along for the first time, explaining as they are needed in the play. It’s an interesting approach, but not the most friendly at times.

It takes a bit to really internalize everything, but this is a game with a fairly unique flow and I honestly don’t know if any other layout would be better beneficial. I do appreciate the lengths they go for different examples.

On the other hand, there are terms and functionalities there are left to be understood by context, and I usually prefer things clearly laid out, like spending bullets to adjust dice or finishing off enemies.

Score: 7.5/10

Gameplay

Unlike many games within the genre of apocalyptic survival, this game never feels oppressive. Instead it takes the other common facet of such games, dwindling resources, and makes it the heart of the problem. You know what is your dice pool BEFORE deciding where to go, and it’s up to you to be open in terms of choices and how much you’re willing to spend to achieve a certain objective.

It is a slow and analytical game, where along with the resource management, luck mitigation is key. You will have to take risks, no questions, but it’s all about how and when. That being said, it is also a game of patience and repetition, and getting into the game knowing that it is not going to be an in and out situation. You will never win quickly, and very rarely will lose quickly either.

Score: 9/10

Theme and Art

The artwork is stark and evocative, and it does a great job in setting the mood. The muted color scheme also adds to the feel, while also helping the game sheet feel less overwhelming.

The setting is left vague, only with a brief explanation of what is the current situation and not how it got there. It is left to the player to fill in the gaps. But I didn’t feel that this stopped me from being immersed into the theme and caring for the characters around me.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

The Tracker is a tense, methodical and analytical roll and write with a continuous sense of dread and slowly building up your path to the end. And I described this game as slow many times during this review, but yet not once I felt the game was sluggish. Instead, it is a game that takes its time in progressing, and encourages the player to do the same. It is also engaging for the whole duration, and the scouting and combat setup is both thinky and exciting.

In the PnP realm, this one for me easily stands out if you read the description and see yourself in this world and you understand the pace of the game you’re getting into. But, if those things are for you, you will find here a well crafted and well designed game that will reward smart plays and will engage your brain (or leave them on the floor if you’re not careful enough).

Rules and Components: 7.5/10

Gameplay: 9/10

Theme and Art: 7.5/10

Score: 8 / 10

Review

Let’s Review More: Storyburg

December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-4 Players

Designer: Kyle Walters

Artist: Kyle Walters

Publisher: Dancing Koala Games

On Storyburg, you will take characters from different stories to try to face the perils that are breaking the world. Foes will appear, tough choices will be made, and pages of the story will grow. But will your story have a happy ending?

How to Play

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Storyburg is that there is no fixed play pattern. Players will follow the story book, make decision and navigate to chapters. On some of those chapters, a challenge or enemy will be presented, and only then players will take their turns.

Turns are a mix of playing cards, equipping items, purchasing new cards and preparing your dice pool. Challenges are a single roll depending on the attribute, while combat are a simple rolling attack versus defense back and forward between characters and enemies.

The end of each chapter is also variable depending on the choices of the players and where the story leads you. The whole campaign goes for 5 chapters, but how to navigate these chapters can vary from play to play.

Rules and Components

The main issue on the rules of Storyburg is that, by the very non-linear nature of the game, rules are explained in chunks without any of the flow. That can a bit overwhelming at first, so it starts to really click once you playing it makes more sense. The game is, however, not particularly complex so one read before reading and a few consultations on the first few games are enough. However, there are a few spots where the rules are vague or not clear enough, mainly on what occasions players take full turns and when they do not.

One thing I wish it was clearer on the rules or any appendix is the initial organization of cards once you first open and setup the game. It would help to set the initial flow and organization.

The cards are fine quality, not great, but they are well laid out and organized with a good mix of iconography and text. The player boards could be a little bigger and more well organized. The main example of this is the fact that you can only have one item of each type, but there is no spot for each type. Not a huge deal, but not ideal either.

Score: 7.0 / 10

Gameplay

I’m going to preface this section to make something very clear: Storyburg will not be for everyone. This is a narrative experience backed by a game, not the other way around. If you go by a strictly gameplay perspective, this game is a bit on the simplistic side, with quite a bit of randomness from the dice rolls and a slow paced deck-building and character progression flow.

When you take that, and combine with the actual narrative flow and use that as the main driving force of the game, it makes much more sense. Gameplay is designed to be unobstructive and direct, making the actual narrative choices the main gameplay element of the game. In a sense, this is an elevated version of the old choose your own adventure books.

Since this is a story driven gameplay, your enjoyment will depend on how much you enjoy the narrative aspect of the story, as both cannot be considered separately. As I am a theme driven gamer, my score on this will be reflected as such.

Score: 7.5/10

Theme and Art

I will be brief here on the theme so I won’t discuss much on the actual narrative choices on the storybook. That is a big part of the game, so I will analyze that but not give much context.

Before getting into that, I will start by saying that I absolutely love the art. It is whimsical and child-like, as if they were actually part of a children’s book. That helps to set the tone of the whole adventure. Even the iconography and dice faces follow this style.

On the narrative side, between the book, events and enemies you face, it does still follow this same whimsical feel, but it has just enough depth to keep players interested and engaged.

Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion

I can’t be clear enough on this: this is a game about narrative and theme, so your enjoyment of this game will depend completely on how you are engaged by the story elements. Even though it is meant just to be an introduction, you will know on chapter one if this game is for you or not. This is, in my opinion, a niche game.

It is my niche though. I love the unique flow of the gameplay, the simple game choices that are there to aid the narrative choices, and the story kept me engaged throughout. I never took this game too seriously, nor do I think it takes itself too seriously. This is a cozy game to enjoy over a cup of hot cocoa (with a lid, please, don’t endanger the components).

It works great as a simple solo adventure, but I do feel like having more people to share the narrative and choices enriches the game a lot. I had a great time going through all the chapters, and I can easily say that I don’t feel like even after concluding the story that it is done. I feel like coming back, approaching it through different lenses, make different choices and see where it will take me that time.

Rules and Components: 7/10

Gameplay: 7.5/10

Theme and Art: 7.5/10

Score: 7.3/10

PnP Review

Let’s Preview More: Rollin’ Campus

December 3, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-5 Players

Designer: Rafael Lozano

Publisher: My Turn Games

Link for the Campaign

Live (or re-live) the days of university in Rollin’ Campus. Using dice, live the Greek life, get a lousy job, try to live up to your family expectations, and maybe, just maybe, go get some study done. But is this an A+ effort or does it just flunk the rest?

How to Play

At the start of each turn, first thing is to activate your add-ons. These will give you free bumps on their respective tracks and additional moves if you assign dice to them.

Then the active player rolls the event dice and all the regular dice. The events affect everyone, adding some tracks, preventing others from being used or other various effects.

Then the active player will use a number of dice depending on the player count. Each dice is associated to one of six tracks: study, classroom, Greek life, student job, sports and, least but not less important, PARTY TIME.

Each track will move in different ways. Study and classroom are complementary to advance in classes, sorority / fraternity house will move up in groups, sport are a simple linear (well, spiral really) and so on. Moving up the tracks will also give you movement on other tracks. There are also three tracks that cannot be directly be assigned but move according to the others: money, family expectations and maturity.

After a certain number of turns, game ends. Each track gives you a number of points according to completion. There is also happiness and sadness tracks that are accounted, most points win.

Rules and Components

Rules are well organized and nicely illustrated. They are a bit sparse, leaving some areas unclear, but this is an early prototype and, as it appears with my interactions with the designer, they are quite keen on improving quickly.

The sheet itself is super duper busy. I mean, we have tracks and tracks and tracks. But, I appreciate how the iconography is clear and easy to distinguish, and I feel a big Hadrian’s Wall influence, which is always a compliment.

I would love to see this as a double sheet just to have bigger icons. That might be my old man’s eyes, but I prefer to have clearer glance. And, again, that might be a possibility in the future.

Gameplay

As I mentioned earlier, this takes great influence in big ping-pong-y comborific roll and writes and condenses it down to a 10-15 ordeal which, at least for me, the exact length it needed to be. Most games I end with that feeling that I wish I just had a turn or two more to squeeze in more points. That leaves you wanting to be even better next time.

I also quite enjoy how different the tracks feel. While I’m not totally sure about the balance as it is now, that is something that could be easily tweaked. But in my many games, be it as a nerdy hard working fellow or a party time jock, my scores have been all within a fine range.

Theme and Art

The way each track abstracts the experience with it is really smart. Some jobs earn more, but leave you unhappy, while working on the library pays nothing, but it does make you smarter. Being good at sports is tiresome, but makes you mature and your family proud. And you have to party either too little or so. much to become a legend. Anything else is just waste of time.

The sheet itself has a nice sloppy look, it does feel like college. The icons are a bit bland and generic, but then again they look very Microsoft Word-ish, which is entirely appropriate. That’s how I would put it: this looks, very thematically, as a college student was creating it.

And the reason why I say it is like this by design is because the rules are other materials related to the game are beautifully illustrated with very refined art.

Conclusion

Rollin’ Campus is a game with purposed contradiction: it is comborific but quick, smart but chaotic, tense but silly. It’s great game if you want something the offers the feel of intricate strategy but in a coffee break (or beer break more appropriately) timeframe. There are some refinements needed from now to release, but not that gets in the way of fun.

Preview

Let’s Preview More: A Very Merry Made-For-Tv Movie

December 2, 2024December 2, 2024 Luiz Gustavo Mendes

1-99 Players

Designer: Jake Burgoon

Publisher: Self Published

Link for the Campaign

In this cozy game, we are trying to create a classic cheesy romantic comedy where two people fall in love over Christmas, snow, cookies and caroling. But is this movie going to warm everyone’s heart or will everyone just change the channel?

How to Play

Before starting the game, just select three out of six characters to be the leads. For those characters, their once per game ability is available from the start. Then you’re ready to go.

Each turn you roll 3d6, one of one color, two of a different color. Obviously those need to be christmas colors.

With the singular die you can add a character to one scene. You can add them in any order, but within each scene values need to be ascending. Some spots are also just for the leads. Each time you add a character their development goes up by one. On the third spot, you will advance in the development track, and you unlock the once per game ability for the secondary.

Once a scene is complete, you get their bonus. For the top row, it’s ornaments (more on it later), reuse of dice or money (that allow you to modify the rolls). For the bottom row, it’s points. Once you complete both top and bottom on the same column, you get an extra bonus.

With any dice (including the singular one if you wish), you can add to your set. Those values can be used separately or combined. These are either shapes, that will allow you to complete more of the tree, or ornaments that will advance in their individual tracks.

After 15 rounds, game is over. You tally the points for the ornament and development tracks, scenes completed and left over money, losing points for an incomplete set.

Rules and Components

The component is, basically, just a sheet. It’s simple, cute, very Christmas-y and all the game information is clearly laid out. It’s nothing super crazy and unique, but it does get the job done.

The rules are a pleasure to read. They are infused with charm, wit and made-for-tv lingo, but also do a great job in conveying the rules of the game in a clear manner. Even for a prototype, I was able to get into the game and play without any issues or doubts.

Gameplay

The game if fairly straight forward at first. With your singular dice, you pretty much always want to go for a scene, then fill up as much as possible of the tree with the other two. There some tricky aspects though.

For the scenes, it’s quite tough to fill them all, so you need to decide when to go for the bonuses (and which ones), and when to go for points. Setting yourself up for later is key. Also, you will need to use characters if you want to maximize scenes, specially the leads, after the third time, which is a bit inefficient since you don’t get development benefits, so it is not always obvious.

For the tree, you have to balance advancing in the tracks (since they require high dice combination), or just filling up a lot. Also, setting up proper shapes and how to fit them is important, specially in late game.

Overall, this is a quick playing easy to learn game, but I was very gladly surprise to see a good decision space. As I mentioned earlier, I hope there will be additional content for this game to expand this even further and add variety.

Theme and Art

I absolutely love the theme here. It is cheesy silly Christmas comedy in a nutshell. Personally, I always randomize the leads and try to come up with the stories from there. I honestly wish the scenes were a bit more open, mad-libs style, to take that even further. I mentioned that to the designer, and he did say something like this was coming, not only for the scenes but for the character themselves. And I’m here for all the silly stories to come!

The art style is a bit too simple for me, with the icons being a bit on the generic side, but the elements on the sheet are done in a cohesive and very charming way. The art on the six characters is lovely and fun, though.

Conclusion

Ever since the designer contacted me I can’t stop playing this game. It takes the theme and really runs with it. If you are a theme first gamer looking for a quick and satisfying time, you are not going to be disappointed. It is not, and nor does it try to be complex, the same way made-for-tv movies are not meant to be blockbusters. It is charming and dainty with a small town charm to it.

I noticed I repeated some words on this preview: charming, lovely, cheesy. This game not only is themed like a made for tv movie, it’s designed like one. That should tell you all you need to know if want to back this or not.