Tabletop Gaming Issue 71

NOW PLAYING… Ark Nova Welcome to this jam packed issue of Tabletop Gaming. And if you’re reading these words in Manchester on the 17th-18th of September, welcome to Tabletop Gaming Live! We’ve got an issue of awards, big games and big reviews for you this month. Before anything else, check out our award winners on page 6 and find out which games you picked as the best of the year across 13 categories. Solforge Fusion sees Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering) and Justin Gary (Ascension) fusing their game design powers to make the world’s first hybrid card game. It mixes a manaless system, upgrading cards, an algorithmically generated decks to create a deep and strategic experience. We check out Ahoy! the new ‘Root lite’ game from Leder games. And finally,…

After thousands of entries and a hotly contested final round of voting, our winners are announced. Thank you for your votes, and thank you to all of those publishers who have made great games this year. Congratulations to the winners, who will receive a little something from us at Tabletop Gaming Live! BEST BOARD GAME 2022 Winner: Ark Nova (Capstone Games) Runners up: Crescent Moon (Osprey Games), Bitoku (Devir) BEST WARGAME 2022 Winner: Oathmark (Osprey Games) Runners up: The Silver Bayonet (Osprey Games), Lion Rampant (Osprey Games) BEST MINIATURES GAME 2022 Winner: Stargrave (Osprey Games) Runners up: Sniper Elite: The Board Game (Rebellion Unplugged), Gunfighters Ball (Knuckleduster) BEST CARD GAME 2022 Winner: Radlands (Roxley Games) Runners up: Art Robbery (Helvetiq), Floriferous (Pencil First Games) BEST TRADING CARD GAME 2022 Winner: Flesh & Blood –…

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Why do we buy boardgames? Or more importantly perhaps, why do we buy more boardgames than we can realistically play? During lockdown many of us bought in far more boardgames than we could play at all, given that most games need other people around. Playing games gives us a whole load of positive chemical responses – dopamine from doing, oxytocin from doing with other people, endorphins from competition. And when we don’t have that we accept watered down versions. We can get dopamine from shopping and oxytocin from getting a like of a social media post. In the absence of doing, we spend. Each of us has in essence a hobby bank which we can fill with time or money or emotion depending on what stage we are in our…

1 POKÉMON BATTLE ACADEMY Gotta Catch ‘em all! Taking out the obvious aspect none of us enjoys talking about, which is our youth at the first wave of Pokémon, there’s little more joyous than sharing memories of your first Charizard. The great thing about Pokémon Battle Academy is the step by step instructions and pre-constructed decks that make it up, because these are perfect for young and old alike to begin playing, and playing confidently. Generation proof from Grandma to a reading-age kid, and bound to start a new wave of collecting – yet another thing to bond over. 2 MAGICAL KITTIES SAVE THE DAY RPG’s are somewhat perfect for family gatherings, though of course, Pathfinder Second Edition may not be entirely suitable for diving into headfirst with the asymmetrically…

STARFINDER ADVENTURE: REDSHIFT RALLY The fantastical sci-fi world of Starfinder is perfect for exploring some of the weirder adventure concepts out there. For example, an entire quest built around competing in a series of high-powered spaceship rallies. This stand-alone adventure promises to be packed with racing, fighting, and – most dangerous of all – press conferences. Paizo | £20.00 GRAN MECCANISMO Set in an alternate Renaissance Italy where Leonardo da Vinci’s more fantastical creations actually worked, Gran Meccanismo bills itself as a game of swashbuckling adventure and Machiavellian politics. Its clockwork-punk streets are packed with gliders and airtanks, as well as romance, swordfights, and really, really fancy paintings. Osprey Games | £25.00 HOMEWORLD: REVELATIONS Modiphius are exploring yet another videogame world with the upcoming release of Homeworld: Revelations. Based on…