Print & Play update: cardboard marathon

Well, hundreds of cards and many hours later, I’ve finished putting together a couple of great looking print & play games.

Mobile gaming gets good?

Recently I’ve been playing the mobile versions of a few tabletop games, and I’ve noticed something. They’re getting good.

Followers of this blog will know I love Boss Monster, a great little card game. Today Boss Monster was launched on Android (yay!). I’m going to play through a few times before I attempt a review, so watch this space, but at first glance it looks like a very faithful adaptation and one I’m looking forward to spending time with.

But this is just the latest adaptation of a tabletop game that I’ve been impressed with.

A Love Letter to micro-games

What is Love Letter?

Love Letter is a ‘microgame.’ These are pretty popular right now thanks to the likes of Tiny Epic Kingdoms and Coin Age, and I’ve heard it said that the economy is partly to thank for this. We just can’t afford some of the high prices charged for larger games right now.

I guess that’s partly true, and for me there’s something neat about a small game. It takes real talent to make a smaller game that’s well thought out, complex enough to be challenging yet usually simple to fit onto a few cards or tokens.

The original Love Letter (there are lots of alternative versions which maybe weaken the brand a bit – Batman Love Letter, The Hobbit Love Letter) is widely regarded as a modern classic, and its been on my shelf for a while. I just hadn’t had a chance to play it. I’m glad I did.

Carcassonne – a mini review

What are Carconnonne mini expansions?

They’re mini expansions. For Carcassonne.

Carcassonne, see my review here, is a classic Euro game, and was also the very first game my wife and I bought. It will always be a little bit special for us as a result, and some of our best gaming nights have involved Carcassonne and the friends who first introduced us to the game.

There are a lot of expansions to Carcassonne. Some are fairly large ones, with a bunch of new cards or scenarios – introducing bridges to the game, for instance – but some are mini expansions which hold just a handful of new tiles.

I was recently bought two of these as a present – The Messengers, and Mage & Witch.

Star Realms: Crisis expansions

What are Star Realms Crisis expansions?

So far, there are four small packs of expansions. Available for a few pounds/dollars, these contain 12 cards each to add to the base deck.

I’ve previously reviewed Star Realms, here. It’s a neat little deck building game with a sci-fi theme and is one of my favourites at the moment.

I won’t go into too many details about how to play, as I’m hoping you’ll go and read my original review (go on!).

The expansions – Heroes, Fleets and Fortresses, Events, and Bases and Battleships – add a total of 48 cards to your deck.