Reviews

This is a great new edition of Chronology and is a great game for all ages. There are 200 cards in the set, each with an event printed on it and the year in which that event took place printed in the corner.

Each player gets one card at the beginning of the game. As a player draws a card, he reads the event to the person on his left. That person then has to decide whether or not the card that was read to him happens before or after the card he has in front of him. As the play progresses and each player amasses cards, the choices become more difficult; where does the new event get placed?

The game is great for family play, although some of the events are a bit obscure.

But the system is better than Trivial Pursuit. Here, even if you know most of the answers, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what order they go in.

This game is so aptly named. The scoring system works perfectly here because you never really know whether to race up in order to hit the 18 with one colour so you can play that extra tile, or slowly inch up all your cubes.

The way that players can execute a number of different clever moves never ceases to amaze me. There are times when you will block out other players, and fight with defence. And there are times when you will just let a huge row of the same colour accumulate so that you can get one big score.

But that idea of your worst colour being your score is really what makes this game shine. You are constantly battling with yourself wishing that you could get that one colour to move faster, but it just continues to inch along.

Ingenious!

This is a great Euro game in which you represent a Master Builder and his team of builders attempting to bring glory to the city of Caylus by building the king’s castle.

You use your builders to take actions that vary from building parts of the castle, to building stone or wood buildings that help you accomplish that more effectively, or collecting resources.

While the game is a little abstract, it’s not that difficult to wrap your brain around. You collect resources by doing actions, and then use other actions spending those resources to gain victory points.

Caylus is a great game, with a good theme that doesn’t feel, to me at least, artificial in any regard. The game is a very rewarding experience that will keep you perfecting your strategy for close to a hundred games.

Be advised – this is not the Waddington’s game of the same name which has been out of print for years. But it’s still very good!

The main game pieces are different-coloured sets of 5 large round wooden counters, a bit more than an inch across and a quarter of an inch thick.

Stickers on each counter designate one of five different piratical characters, and the amount each must be paid should you choose to press-gang them into joining your boarding party – ranging from the Pirate skipper, who costs 5 ducats, to the ever-popular cabin Boy, who is will join you for a mere 2 ducats.

One nameless character has a mystery cost which varies according to the ship he boards.

And that’s the objective of the game – to board one of three displayed ships, represented by cards, each of which has a different amount of ducats on board and requires a different number of pirates to board it. The winner is the player with the most captured ducats, including those earned from bonus treasure – treasure chests, barrels, gold candlesticks, or daggers. But to be successful you have to choose your boarding party carefully!

Buccaneer offers plenty of opportunity to wreak revenge or goad your fellow player, is atmospheric, simple to learn and fast to play. I have played it with several different crowds now and it has always gone down a treat. A bit like a sinking galleon to a pirate, in fact. Ooh-arrr Jim Lad!

Be advised – this is not the Waddington’s game of the same name which has been out of print for years. But it’s still very good!

The main game pieces are different-coloured sets of 5 large round wooden counters, a bit more than an inch across and a quarter of an inch thick.

Stickers on each counter designate one of five different piratical characters, and the amount each must be paid should you choose to press-gang them into joining your boarding party – ranging from the Pirate skipper, who costs 5 ducats, to the ever-popular cabin Boy, who is will join you for a mere 2 ducats.

One nameless character has a mystery cost which varies according to the ship he boards.

And that’s the objective of the game – to board one of three displayed ships, represented by cards, each of which has a different amount of ducats on board and requires a different number of pirates to board it. The winner is the player with the most captured ducats, including those earned from bonus treasure – treasure chests, barrels, gold candlesticks, or daggers. But to be successful you have to choose your boarding party carefully!

Buccaneer offers plenty of opportunity to wreak revenge or goad your fellow player, is atmospheric, simple to learn and fast to play. I have played it with several different crowds now and it has always gone down a treat. A bit like a sinking galleon to a pirate, in fact. Ooh-arrr Jim Lad!