WHAT’S HOT?

Join us as we take a look at some of the new games that are getting people talking. What’s being viewed and reviewed, and is it right up your street or something you’re crossing the road to avoid

UPCOMING INDIE RPGS

The world of indie roleplaying games (RPGs) is

THE INDIE ROUNDUP

Sports and tabletop games have always had an uneasy alliance and there have been numerous unsuccessful attempts to bridge the divide. In recent years, boardgames have started to reverse that trend with titles like Heat , Rallyman GT , and Long Shot: The Dice Game . The world of sports is full of drama off and on the arena of play, and it is here that RPGs can shine

ESSEN SPIEL 2025: HOTTEST GAMES OF THE SHOW

Four days, more than 1,700 games and only so much luggage space? Chris Marling sorts the wheat from the chaff at Germany’s monster games event

A HONKING GOOD TIME!

Two nights away from the world in the company of great games and great gamers, what else could you ask for?

DRAGONMEET 2025

John Dodd, Owner and Director of Operations, gives us a tour around Dragonmeet’s new location, as the show successfully up sticks from Hammersmith to London Excel

LUCCA COMICS & GAMES 2025

Italy’s premier pop culture celebration rocked our world

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: THOMAS KOEGLER

The asmodee CEO talks acquisitions (but not his fave game) and inviting a superhero to dinner!

50 YEARS OF GAMES WORKSHOP

From living in a van to being one of the most inspiring figures in gaming, Sir Ian Livingstone on the highs and lows of an iconic UK brand

GAMING: THE GODFATHER OF

From Deep Blue to DeepMind, Arthur Tonnerre ponders what chess , Go and Settlers of Catan can teach us about thinking machines

EPIC SUCCESS

Game designer Matt Gilbert introduces the refreshed Mantic Games releases bringing all-out war to a tabletop near you Written

ON THE CORDA

We’re done when I say we’re done!

EXCITED WHISPERS

Can you hear the Whispers : Gargoyles are coming to Disney Lorcana

KEEP ON RUNNING

A whopping 361 players from 29 countries facing off in a game kept alive by the fans? Iain McAllister jacks into the Netrunner World Championships to gauge the state of this early collectible card game

tabletop Glossary

Welcome adventurers, to the tabletop – where deck building has nothing to do with the patio, and worker placement isn’t part of a recruitment agency. If the terminology used to describe the games we know and love can feel like trying to learn a new language, let our glossary demystify, and have you speaking tabletop in no time at all

SET COLLECTION GAMES

BLOOD ON THE CLOCKTOWER Clocktower is a monster

UNBOXED: MOONSTONE

Tom Greenway, creator of Moonstone , describes what it’s like being an indie publisher and the challenges of making it in the world of miniature gaming

FROM WOODCREEK WITH LOVE

George Chrysostomou heads to a 19th century town in Toronto to hear GM Deborah Ann Woll and player Anjali Bhimani tell spooky Tales from Woodcreek

WITNESS ME!

It all went a bit Mad Max when Apocalypse World was hammered out in The Forge. But husband-and-wife writing duo Meguey and Vincent Baker have more everyday apocalypses on their mind as the 15-year-old RPG gets a third edition

tabletop Legacy... ALAN EMRICH

Few figures in the gaming industry loom as large as Alan ‘4X’ Emrich, despite not having a solo authorship of a game to his name

INK

Ink is a messy medium, not to mention,

KIKAI: BRICOLAGE HEADS

Two-player-only games have made a real comeback, thanks

KNITTING CIRCLE

A follow-up to 2020s quilting and tile-laying game

PROPOLIS

Sometimes, a simple play on words is all

SHRINKOPOLIS

The sheer weight of unoriginal themes for board

TOKAIDO: CROSSROADS & MATSURI

If you’ve never played Antoine Bauza’s Tokaido ,

BOREALIS: ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS

I’m sure that, like me, when you think

COVENANT

Those who are unfamiliar with Eurogames may first

GATSBY

Everything about this game is magnificent. The boards

HORRIFIED: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

H orrified has been a monstrous addition to

ICHOR

Released in parallel with Reiner Knizia’s Iliad ,

KOKESHI

I have some properly ugly, badly produced games

NIGHT SOIL

Theme is often a divisive topic in tabletop

OLD KING’S CROWN

O ld King’s Crown tells the story of

RONIN

As someone who started playing modern board games

THE WHITE CASTLE DUEL

One of the major recent trends is the

BOHEMIANS

B ohemians paints a picture of Paris at

ORIGIN STORY

It’s not just the villains that get up

RIFTBOUND

There’s a risky kind of swagger when a

RUINS

Climbing and shedding card games have a rich

SHALLOW REGRETS

Button Shy games has been making dependably tiny

STAR WARS UNLIMITED: INTRO BATTLE HOTH

What is it about the Battle of Hoth?

EPIC WARPATH: 2-PLAYER STARTER SET – BATTLE FOR PHROVOX

Back in 1999, I owned a game called

MAC ATTACK

From OGRE to Battletech , giant mech combat

UNMATCHED: THE WITCHER – STEEL & SILVER / REALMS FALL

U nmatched is now a very well-established game

YOUR WORLD YOUR RULES

Coming up with inspiration for a new campaign can be difficult, but in this issue we revisit a classic RPG trope and give it a fresh spin. Dungeon crawling is a critical part of the format and despite being a tried-and-tested idea, there’s a versatility to the concept that can transport players into a seemingly never-ending mix of conflict and heroism. Feel free to take this premise and incorporate it into your RPG, while making the changes you need!

THE HOODED MAN

Having taken the figure of Robin Hood as

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED… BOMB BUSTERS

One of the standout games of 2025, if

COMMUNITY CHATTER TABLETOP EMPORIUM

Cardiff’s only TTRPGfocused hobby shop will whisk you away to worlds you’d never imagined