Category: Mark Rivera

Roleplaying and board games reviews, podcasts, videos and interviews

1989: Dawn of Freedom

Twilight Struggle… I’ve never played it, but I’ve read enough and spoken to other gamers to know you can say no more as GMT’s giant of a game about the Cold War set the bar very high in terms of card driven war games. So what next? Well, a new take on the Twilight Struggle system is available in 1989: Dawn of Freedom, a 2- player game for ages 12+ (I would recommend 14+) focusing on the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

“That Scorpion in the Sea” Malta Besieged: 1940-42

The latest in the States of Siege Series of games brings Steve Carey’s design skills to an interesting aspect of the 2nd World War in the Mediterranean. Having set such a high standard with We Must Tell The Emperor, my expectations were high for Malta Beseiged: 1940-1942.

Review – Wiz War (8th Edition)

A number of years ago, I was introduced to Tom Jolly‘s original version of Wiz War, and although very much an old school production, it was mean & nasty and yet, great fun. I never managed to find a copy and lo and behold,Fantasy Flight Games shows up with their version.

Fortune & Glory

Woohoo! I do love the Indiana Jones films, King Solomon’s Mines and pulp adventure stuff in general. The cliffhanger element has always been great fun and the clarity of goodies vs. baddies has always been very satisfying. Interestingly, there have been some board game attempts to capture the feel of this type of genre. One of my favourites is AEG’s The Adventurers: The Temple of Chac which is great fun but limited to escapades within an ancient temple. There hasn’t been a game which gives you the epic global feel of the pulp adventure, until now, with Fortune & Glory from Flying Frog Productions, a game for 1-8 players age 12+.

U-Boat Commander

I went into playing this game a low level of interest. I did some checking and the DVG Leader series of games is pretty well regarded so I thought that at least the pedigree of U-Boat Leader was good.