I’ve been sitting staring at this damn screen for what feels like an eternity, the ghastly flu I’m battling having basically stripped my mental reasoning down to that of a brick. A really stupid brick. I’m supposed to be writing an intro, but I can’t think of one, so instead I’ll say this: flibble. Hornswaggle. Butt. That is all.
Assault of the Giants is a game that places players in control of their own faction of giants within the Dungeons & Dragons universe, waging war across a board and claiming event cards all in the name of scoring Ordning points. Don’t worry, though, no knowledge of the Dungeons & Dragons universe is required to delve into this quite sizable box. You don’t even need to know about Owl-Bears. But now you want to know, don’t you?
At the start of the year I made a resolution to review some heavier, deeper boardgames during 2017. Having played through all four eras of The Colonists in a single sitting, though, I’m beginning to regret that decision. This is no small game; in comes in a sizable box that doesn’t have any form of insert, just a whole lot of cardboard tokens and a pile of plastic bags to store it all in. The whole thing weighs over 3KG, takes up most of an average kitchen table and playing through the entire game can take up to eight hours. And oh man does it make my head hurt.
There is a type beauty to be found in so many of the huge, sprawling boardgames on the market, a type of beauty that exists within the majesty of chaos. Right now I’m playing The Colonists, a massive game that can take anywhere up to eight hours to play through all of its four eras , weighs over 3KGs and has piles of resource tokens and tiles and wooden pieces. It’s dauntingly vast, a game that sucks up brainpower and spits it out like a particularly horrid brussel sprout. There’s beauty in its webs of rules, though, in the same way I find beauty in other huge games with complex rules and systems that take hours and hours to learn. I’m looking at you Arkham Horror and your myriad of fiddly mechanics.
Would you just look at that box art? Isn’t it just so damn pretty? In Kanagawa you’ll be taking on the role of a painter trying to make a name for himself/herself, studying under a master while working on your own ever-growing masterpiece and studio. I can’t say the game is dripping with theme, but that artwork and just the idea of it draws me in, so let’s take a look at Kanagawa, shall we?
I was practically raised on Star Trek. Not the original series where Shatner was so hammy you could have a lovely Sunday roast, but with the philosophical musings of The Next Generation, the tenacity of the Voyager crew and the wonderful characters of Deep Space Nine. What I’m attempting to say is that Star Trek is ingrained in my personality and it’s a franchise which I have quite the fondness for, so a boardgame that uses the famous Gene Roddenberry license is one that has my attention.
Designed by: Mike Elliott Published by: Asmodee Players: 2-4 Playtime: 15-30 minutes Review copy provided free of charge by Esdevium Games. Ah, the sophisticated, wonderful world of art. On this very site I reviewed The Gallerist, a hefty, complex game which was based around running a successful gallery, […]
