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When I was about 8 years old I found an old book at a book sale called "What is Dungeons and Dragons". It described some bizarre sort of game where the players wandered about being minor heroes in some Tolkeinesque fantasy world, which sounded like it might be fun. But right at the back of the book was the passing mention of something that sounded even better - a game where the players got to be god-like rulers over tribes of bizarre and frightful creatures such as sentient pumpkins, mutated bats and talking duck warriors. As a...

As you probably all know I make periodic statistical checks on games that are highly rated amongst players in the Ameritrash community. For these numbers to have any meaning, inevitably I have to have a cut-off point, a sample size, a minimum number of gamers who've chosen to play that game and make their opinions on it know. With this in mind I thought it might be fun, and useful, to run through and review five games that were well respected by those who had played them but which missed the cut, in the assumption that these were all games...

One of the pieces of swag brought back from the gathering by local gamers was a copy of Planet Steam.  The hype engine has been strong for this one.  It currently goes for around $130, and sells out in the USA wherever it appears.  My friend was able to get a ding and dent copy for $45, and we played it at game night shortly after the gathering.  I have only played it once, so this game is going to be one part review, one part session report, and 2 parts baseless speculation. ...

Last week I wrote about people giving up on games because they don't think they have time to get them on the table often.  This week, I'm writing about a similar issue:  people who give up on a game because it contains one or two mechanics they don't like.  You've heard the bitching:  "Oh, that has player elimination, we don't do that," or "Roll and move, what are you, a muggle?"   Of course, this particular whine isn't just for the eurogamers out there.  Plenty of ameritrashers have probably said "not another worker placement game." I am not without sin;...

OK, so if you _are_ going to buy a game against my rants against doing so, make it this one.

I read a lot of comments on board game sites that say things I like "sounds interesting but for me, that would be hard to get to the table due to length or complexity, so I won't even bother."   This irritates me to no end.  I feel sorry for these people. Who lives their life this way?

Age of Conan first caught my eye when I heard it described as a simpler, shorter, multi-player version of War of the Ring. Being someone who loved WotR but thought it suffered somewhat from being complex, long and two-player only I was instantly intrigued. Further investigation revealed that the game appealed to me on a number of different levels: I’m a sucker for multi-player conflict games of any type, but the fantasy theme has proved the hardest for designers in this area to pin down. I was quite content to pursue my usual policy...

Prophets of the Horse Lords foretell the coming of a leader who will unite the hordes into one great, unconquerable nation! They say when one of their Khans sacks the City of Brass Pillars and sits on the Golden Throne, then all the Horse Lords will band together to unleash a human storm! As the Golden Horse they will triumph over their enemies and rule Terris!