CHRONICLES OF AVEL

Welcome

2022 has been a big year for games.

ANKH: GODS OF EGYPT

Ankh, the third instalment of Eric Lang’s mythology

ALIEN: FATE OF THE NOSTROMO

It’s always seemed odd that Ridley Scott’s seminal

GLASS ROAD

Glass Road is a re-print of Uwe Rosenberg’s

NIGHT OF THE NINJA

Gather your mercenary powers and get ready to

DICE MINER

An idiom that there is beauty in simplicity

DREADFUL CIRCUS

Roll up, roll up! Welcome to the macabre

7 WONDERS: ARCHITECTS

Sometimes less is more. Other times it leads

KINGDOMINO: ORIGINS

Kingdomino is a modern classic. It may only

HEIRS TO HERESY

The Knights Templar have barged their way into

STAR CLICKER

Star Clicker is a cooperative tower defence game,

DRAWN TO ADVENTURE

It’s not often a roll and write limits

THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD

It’s rare that somethings as well put together

SUBASTRAL

Back in 2020, designers Ben Pinchback and Chris

ALONE AGAINST THE TIDE

Call of Cthulhu is often referred to, unfairly

UNFATHOMABLE

` “Bgaming gods in your ear, attlestar Galactica:

ACHTUNG! CTHULHU 2D20

From its punctuation-packed name through to its wonderfully

SMALL ISLANDS

There’ s awhile subgenre of games that is

NICE BUNS

Giving your game a pun name is always

YUKON SALON

I’ve a soft spot for wonderfully silly party

CHRONICLES OF CRIME: 2400

It began in 1400, we dropped back into

BRIAN BORU: HIGH KING OF IRELAND

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking

LAST MESSAGE

Hats off to the artists behind the sprawling

THE BOOK OF GAUB

We’re suckers for spellbooks. Much like a bestiary,

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WRATH OF THE LICH KING

It may be set in the frozen continent

THE DARK CRYSTAL: ADVENTURE GAME

The latest addition to River Horse’s array of

MACHI KORO 2

You may well have played the original Machi

WELCOME TO THE MOON

After teleporting players to the suburban bliss of

MINI ROGUE

Roguelikes have had their meaning diluted. While in

SOULBOUND: SHADOWS IN THE MIST

Stuffed with darkness, danger and ever-present doom, the

CULTS OF CTHULHU

While you don’t strictly need a mysterious cult

SUSPECTS

Think games like Detective: A Modern Crime Game,

DESTINIES: SEA OF SAND

Five minutes ago I finished my first solo

PHOTOGRAPH

Nicely paired with last year’s Saashi designed Remember

PIER 18

Idon’t know if it’s just me but I

THE ONE RING : SECOND EDITION

Capturing the spirit of Middleearth in the confines

WISE GUYS

'Inever seen so much cash in my life.”

LIVING FOREST

For a lot of us, forests provide that

BLOOD ORDERS

Blood Orders has no right to be as

THE SEARCH FOR PLANET X

One of the first things you see on

DOLLARS TO DONUTS

There are fewer things in tabletop gaming more

CORAQUEST

It wouldn’t be far from the truth to

CUPHEAD: FAST ROLLING DICE GAME

Cuphead was an instant video game darling due

NEOVILLE

Phil Walker-Harding games have their very own feeling

MICKEY AND FRIENDS: FOOD FIGHT

It’s not often you can call a game

RUINATION

Right off the bat, Ruination faces steep competition.

CAPER: EUROPE

Unsurprisingly, Caper: Europe is a beautiful game in

WITCHSTONE

Apuzzle-y monstrosity (I say with some level of

ROOT: THE ROLEPLAYING GAME

As with the boardgame that inspired it, Root

NO HONOR AMONG THIEVES

Sometimes, it’s fun to be the bad guy.

TALES FROM THE LOOP: THE BOARD GAME

Adapting a board game from an RPG, without

STROGANOV

As Ilook at the endless planes disappearing

PATHFINDER: ABSALOM CITY OF LOST OMENS

One of the greatest lures of the Pathfinder

OLTRÉÉ

Oltréé might be one of the prettiest games

ELECTOR COUNTS

Elector Counts is a card game set in

SANCTUARY: THE KEEPERS ERA

Oh Ido love me an enjoyable duelling card

IT’S A WONDERFUL KINGDOM

Over the years there have been a number

THAT TIME YOU KILLED ME

This review will contain some spoilers. But if

MINT BID

One of the first Kickstarters I ever backed

COLORFUL

Colorful is a ‘you know what I mean’

CLOUDAGE

Like Mad Max with airships, CloudAge conjures up

ALMADI

Ialways love when a game takes me by

HIPPOCRATES

Pasty, gouty Greeks are turning up at

WONDER BOOK

What does the popular children’s book Dear Zoo,

ARC : DOOM

Where some games sprawl and spread their focus

CAPE MAY

I’m very partial to city-building games and Cape

HAUNTED ALMANAC

The indie RPG scene is a little ephemeral

BITOKU

Y’know that part in Indiana Jones when they

NEMESIS: LOCKDOWN

Any ‘serious’ board-gamer will assert (correctly) that the

CANOPY

Sometimes the theme in board games are just

TABANNUSI: BUILDERS OF UR

Becoming an architect is a long and arduous

LOCO MOMO

Loco Momo proceeds from the – obvious if

DÉCORUM

We’ve all been there. You’ve moved in with

KINOKO

Mushrooms love company, as the saying goes, and

DINOSAUR ISLAND: RAWR ‘N WRITE

Running a dinosaur theme park can be thrilling,

SOBEK: 2 PLAYERS

Sobek: 2 Players is the slightly clunkily named

DEATH IN SPACE

With its cut-down ruleset and murderous combat, Death

CAESAR!

All roads lead to Rome, which could well

ORIGINS: FIRST BUILDERS

Do you want to know who built the

VIVID MEMORIES

Vivid Memories combines abstract, pattern-making Azul-like gameplay with

MOUNTAINS OUT OF MOLEHILLS

Tunnelling is a mucky job, but someone has

L AST ONE ALIVE

Last One Alive is a quick and light

THREE SISTERS

Three Sisters is an agricultural technique where three

LUNA CAPITAL

Sometimes being good is enough. Too many board

FJORDS

Australian designer Phil Walker-Harding (Sushi Go!, Bärenpark) cites

ART DECKO

Procure works of art from galleries of varying

CRESCENT MOON

Event games are those rare breeds of strategy

ZOMBIE PRINCESS AND THE ENCHANTED MAZE

“Oshe’snce upon a time, she was looking for

THE THING : INFECTION AT OUTPOST 31

Much like the titular entity, the allegories attached

FLICK OF FAITH

Tabletop gaming is a multifaceted beast, not least

LIBERTALIA: WINDS OF GALECREST

If ever there was ever a game that

KOHAKU

From time to time I take my son

BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

It’s the late 1920s and strange things are

DICE THEME PARK

In the high-octane world of Alley Cat Games,

GET ON BOARD: NEW YORK & LONDON

Aroute building game with the spirit of a

ROLLING REALMS

Your aim is to earn the most stars

ROAR AND WRITE!

The boom of roll-and-writes has begun an interesting

FIRST RAT

In First Rat, junkyard rodents are racing to

MARVEL CHAMPIONS: THE CARD GAME – SINISTER MOTIVES

In the fourth expansion to the living card

NOW OR NEVER

The very first impression you pick up from

WONDERLAND’S WAR

Aristotle famously said “No great mind has ever

CREATURE COMFORTS

Adecade ago, when I first got into tabletop

EXIT: THE GAME – SHADOWS OVER MIDDLE-EARTH

The Exit series is a workhorse. Grab a

COSMIC ENCOUNTER DUEL

Of all the games I was expecting a

HERO : TALES OF THE TOMES

If you’ve ever found yourself tempted by Magic:

PARIS

We shouldn’t see the effort. That’s the key.

SNIPER ELITE: THE BOARD GAME

Sniper Elite, the hit video game of sneaking

PHANTOM INK

There certainly are a few party games with

BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS BOARD GAME

Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is considered

LONG SHOT: THE DICE GAME

If Long Shot: The Dice Game proves anything,

SCOUT

If you’re not familiar with Oink Games’ output,

TUSK!: SURVIVING THE ICE AGE

TUSK! asks us to separate the hunters from

SWITCH & SIGNAL

We’re all familiar with the Trolley Problem –

MEEPLES & MONSTERS

Bags are becoming more commonplace in the tabletop

PLAINS INDIAN WARS

Plains Indian Wars, despite its wargame looking appearance

GUTENBERG

The term ‘elegant’ gets thrown around a lot

LUNAR BASE

Ilove the experience of enginebuilding in a game.

SKULL CANYON SKI FEST

This light set-collection/routeclaiming title from Pandasaurus Games puts

APAWTHECARIA

Usually, I have no interest in being a

ULTIMATE RAILROADS

In an industry filled with brilliantly creative minds,

MYSTHEA

There are good looking games and then there

AIR, LAND & SEA: SPIES, LIES & SUPPLIES

Hold it or fold it is the first

SOUNDS FISHY

When you bring a Big Potato game to

LEGENDS OF SLEEPY HOLLOW

Legends of Sleepy Hollow comes in a large

THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI

Ah, history-themed games. That phrase is either a

MERCHANTS OF THE DARK ROAD

Set in a frozen fantasy world, Brian “Winterborne”

IMMUNOWARS

Not so long ago, we all suffered through

VILLAGE RAILS

The English countryside needs a few train lines

PAX: EMANCIPATION

Fans of Phil Eklund know that he’s not

KARAK

In school I wasn’t particularly fond of maths

DISTANT SUNS

The (sort of) roll and write Distant Suns

DISNEY SORCERER’S ARENA: EPIC ALLIANCES CORE SET

Disney Sorcerer’s Arena: Epic Alliances isn’t the game

INTO THE ODD

When it was first released in 2014, Into

BATMAN: EVERYBODY LIES

Crime is rife in Gotham city, a new

ZAPOTEC

Among the ever-growing series of other Mesoamerican Eurogames,

SQUARING CIRCLEVILLE

Nostalgia can be debilitating. A fetishization of the

DICE REALMS

The deck builder has settled in a something

BLOOD ON THE CLOCK TOWER

It feels like a decade since Blood On

DEAD RECKONING

At first glance, John D. Clair’s nautical 4X

MESSINA 1347

The beautiful island of Sicily is a gorgeous

CANVAS

I’ve never been referred to as any kind

SPACE STATION PHOENIX

They say it takes a village to raise

THE ISLE

Rarely does a skinny adventure book do as

PARIS GONDO : THE LIFE- SAVING MAGIC OF INVENTORYING

I’ll be the first to admit that when

DOMINATIONS: ROAD TO CIVILISATION

Ever wondered who would win out between the

AMELIA’S SECRET

Amelia’s Secret is an augmented reality game set

GOLEM

Place yourself, if you will, in the labyrinthine

PETRIS

In area control games, you can always rely

BEQUEST

In Bequest, players take on the role of

A BATTLE THROUGH HISTORY

When it comes to Swedish metal, my tastes

UNDAUNTED: STALINGRAD

Having thrown us into the desperate maelstrom of

CLACKS: A DISCWORLD BOARD GAME COLLECTOR’S EDITION

Typically, when a games publisher secures the rights

JOURNEYS THROUGH THE RADIANT CITADEL

The latest adventure anthology for Dungeons & Dragons’

ARRAKIS: DAWN OF THE FREMEN

Sometimes, you just wanna take over a planet.

OATHSWORN: INTO THE DEEPWOOD

The shadow of Gloomhaven stretches far across the

AQUARENA

In Aquarena, 2-4 players fight for survival within

THE MARCH OF PROGRESS

The first time you play this it’s likely

CARNEGIE

It’s a funny word, competent. A word that

CHICKEN VS HOTDOG

When a game like this one lands on

DODO

The egg wibbles and wobbles. That, if you

DOG PARK

As aform of escapism, board games allow us

FIREFLY: MISBEHAVIN’

Joss Whedon’s space-western Firefly first hit television screens

HUNGRY MONKEY

Sometimes you thumb through a rulebook and find

SWATCH

Of all the riveting moments in adult life,

ARMADA: TWO PLAYER STARTER SET

Armada is the latest release in Mantic’s range

CRESCENDO OF VIOLENCE

Blending the neon-tinged aesthetics of cyberpunk with the

TWILIGHT INSCRIPTION

Twilight Imperium is the behemoth of board gaming;

STAR WARS VILLAINOUS: POWER OF THE DARK SIDE

Villains are almost unquestionably the most interesting part

FLAMECRAFT

The much hyped Flamecraft arrived on our desks