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 One does not play LOTR LCG with just the Core Set.

Licensed games based on well-known films or books are nothing new, and while of variable quality. generally rather better than their digital counterparts. But since its publication, the love for War of the Ring has been little short of astonishing. It’s not hard to see why. The biggest achievement of the game is to allow players to re-tell a plausible version of The Lord of the Rings on each play through whilst still enabling plenty of strategy and freedom of choice while doing so. When you consider how difficult that balance is to maintain, and how...

 This game is great and all...but REVENGANCE!

Come on in for this sexily-numbered Next of Ken, where the 2012 F:AT Reader's Choice nominations are in, and voting begins!  I've got all the gory details inside.  Also, a review of the most excellent Core Words: Galactic Orders.  Join us, won't you?  

Any game can have one good expansion. It’s the second good expansion that’s tricky. To my recollection, the only game that really released two amazing expansions was The Settlers of Catan. Even long-runners like Talisman and Arkham Horror just release more and more stuff, which is fine. The point is, it’s easy for the second time through to suddenly feel like overkill, as if the game has taken it one step too far. Innovation is my favorite card game. Over the past few years it’s stayed fresh and dynamic when lesser games have gotten into a...

About the only major issue there was with FFGs reboot of Netrunner in the Living Card Game format was that the starter box encouraged deckbuilding but didn’t give you the tools to do it. Whether it was the somewhat mean choice to only supply one or two copies of powerful cards when the maximum was three, or the limited pool of cross-faction cards, it didn’t quite make the grade when it came to constructing your own decks. But Living Card Games of course get boosters from time to time. Now the first ones are available for...

 Coulda been a Warriors game...

  Come on in for this monumentus edition of Next of Ken, where nominations are now open for the Fortress: AT's Reader's Choice 2012 Awards! I'll give you all the details inside. Also, reviews of two great games from independent publishers this week as I'm featuring BattleCON: Devastation of Indines and Sentinels of the Multiverse: Enhanced Edition. Join us, won't you?

Let me set the scene for you. I have only been in the hobby a matter of months. I’ve cut my teeth on most of the important Eurogames of the day, methodically going through and marking games off the list as I finally experience them for myself. I’d done the “gateways” like The Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne. I’d hit some of the most important “heavier” games like Puerto Rico and El Grande. So when a friend invited me to play his copy of Tigris & Euphrates, I was excited. This was a classic from the great Reiner Knizia!...

 Worker Explosionment.