Released at Spiel 2012 – at a push because of customs delaying the delivery of the games – Guildhall, from AEG, has been very well received and, with a short play time and simple rules, was very promising from the start.

This is what the the description of the game says:

Progress! That’s what these Dark Ages need, someone with a little get-up-and-go. You’ve been a serf in this one-pig town long enough, and it’s time to shake things up. You’ve opened a guildhall for like-minded professionals from all over Europe to work together, build their trades, and get some economic stability.

Now if only everybody else didn’t have the same idea…

Well, you’ll just have to do it faster than those other guys! Gather professionals into chapters, and use their combined might to reach for victory. Collect complete color sets of professions (all five colors of Trader, for instance), which you use to buy victory points (VP). The first player to gain 20 VP on her turn wins.

In Guildhall, each profession grants you special abilities, and these abilities grow stronger the more of the set that you complete. When you cash in the set for victory points, however, you lose the ability until you can build it up again. Which professions are worth risking VP to keep?

So was the wait from customs worth it? Are the contents of this box worth the money you pay to get your hands on it?

Let’s find out!

Incoming search terms:

• soccero game last night

For someone who doesn’t like football, I was well excited to get this game in the post and open the box.

Like most of us of certain age, I played Subbuteo with my brothers and friends. It was the only version of football I had a chance of scoring any goals and neither of us understood the off-side rule anyway, so we didn’t have to bother. Also, we didn’t have to go and fetch the ball after one of us kicked it too hard. That was annoying.

Soccero comes all the way from Finland, from a company called Gamina Ltd. and it is the only game they have listed in their website.

So, have they lived up to expectations with the production values of this game?

Incoming search terms:

• soccero

There are a lot of companies out there that claim that for them the gameplay is what matters, not the game components. And I mean a lot.

Victory Point Games, though, is one that lives by that motto. They have been producing games that came with next to nothing components and in a little bag. And there have been some gems in those bags!

Now they’re stepping up the production value of their games and have found a way to make the games boxed in an inexpensive way so they can have more market penetration.

Of course they don’t want to compromise on the quality of the game, but have they done enough to compete with the big boys and grab shopper’s attention at your FLGS?

Let’s open the box and find out!

Incoming search terms:

• darkest knight game reviews
• darkest night board game
• darkest night game

Grim Tree Games shows a game overview of the board game Mice and Mystics from Plaid Hat Games.

From the publisher’s site:

In Mice and Mystics players take on the roles of those still loyal to the king – but to escape the clutches of Vanestra, they have been turned into mice! Play as cunning field mice who must race through a castle now twenty times larger than before. The castle would be a dangerous place with Vanestra’s minions in control, but now countless other terrors also await heroes who are but the size of figs. Play as nimble Prince Colin and fence your way past your foes, or try Nez Bellows, the burly smith. Confound your foes as the wizened old mouse Maginos, or protect your companions as Tilda, the castle’s former healer. Every player will have a vital role in the quest to warn the king, and it will take careful planning to find Vanestra’s weakness and defeat her.

Mice and Mystics is a cooperative adventure game in which the players work together to save an imperilled kingdom. They will face countless adversaries such as rats, cockroaches, and spiders, and of course the greatest of all horrors: the castle’s housecat, Brodie. Mice and Mystics is a boldly innovative game that thrusts players into an ever-changing, interactive environment, and features a rich storyline that the players help create as they play the game. The Cheese System allows players to hoard the crumbs of precious cheese they find on their journey, and use it to bolster their mice with grandiose new abilities and overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.

Mice and Mystics will provide any group of friends with an unforgettable adventure they will be talking about for years to come – assuming they can all squeak by…

Order the game from us here http://www.grimtreegames.com/mice-and-mystics-board-game-p-3632.html. Visit our web store at http://www.grimtreegames.com. We also have a forum and blog at http://www.grimtreegames.com.

Incoming search terms:

• mice and mystics video review
• the role of a tree game

A little while ago, Robert Sullivan, aka The Grumpy Celt, posed the question Are Games Art?

This is indeed a very tricky question to answer, as the concept of art is very subjective and some people consider things to be art forms only when they understand and respect that form of expression.

So, since the answer to the question Could Games Be Art? is a resounding yes, answering the question are they art is a different kettle of fish.

The creative elements are indeed there. There is art within the books, there is a relationship between the writer, the reader and the players and is a flexible medium in which people can have an artistic input, from the creation of the adventure to the interpretation of the characters.

So, apart from the general public’s perception, what is missing?

And are there any games that have come close to being works of art?

This is my take on it!

Hive is one of those games that, once you get to grips with, it is pretty awesome to play. It’s been going on for quite some time and still goes strong.

With an iPhone app so you can play on the move with a rather clever AI, it offers a great deal of strategy and it is rather fun, and Pocket Hive means you can take it in your pocket (literally!) any time if you don’t have an iPhone.

This is what the publishers say:

Hive is a highly addictive strategic game for two players that is not restricted by a board and can be played anywhere on any flat surface. Hive is made up of twenty two pieces, eleven black and eleven white, resembling a variety of creatures each with a unique way of moving.

With no setting up to do, the game begins when the first piece is placed down. As the subsequent pieces are placed this forms a pattern that becomes the playing surface (the pieces themselves become the board). Unlike other such games, the pieces are never eliminated and not all have to be played. The object of the game is to totally surround your opponent’s queen, while at the same time trying to block your opponent from doing likewise to your queen. The player to totally surround his opponent’s queen wins the game.