A few weeks back I reviewed Barbarossa, a deck builder based on the Second World War…
Calvin’s Commentaries
Calvin’s Commentaries: Flint and Feather
A handful of miniatures and a table covered with terrain and you have the basis for…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Rone
As a gamer who is fairly confident in saying he had the first Magic the Gathering…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Martial Art Battlefields
It was just a year ago April that Martial Art from designers Adrian Marrs, and Jonathan…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Hardback
This week’s game is one I personally had been very much looking forward to playing. Deck-builders…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Girl Genius: The Works
When it comes to game designers James Ernest is one of my favourite. Ernest’s best game…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Direwild
The idea of using deck building as a core mechanic in a dungeon-crawl game is not…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Barbarossa
Dominion is usually seen as the grandmother of deck building games, hit the stores in its…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Tanto Cuore
Tanto Cuore originally launched in 2009, and the deck builder has seen a number of additions…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Trinity
I have to say out of the mail wrapping I was immediately impressed by the packaging…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Hand of Fate: Ordeals
Sometimes the ‘fluff’ that accompanies a game’s ruleset just grabs you. “You, traveller, have been chosen…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Linear Pursuit
There is always something generally positive about simplicity when it comes to abstract strategy games. And…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Dice Throne
Some games just impress from the time you glimpse the box on a shelf, through to…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Tank Chess
When I first saw that there was a game called Tank Chess I have to say…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Castle Siege Chess
When it comes to chess variants there are dozens, if not hundreds. Most are roughly thought…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Romans vs Britons
Romans vs Britons is yet another outstanding two-player abstract strategy game created by Jon Hather and…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Helionox: Deluxe Edition
Deck builder games have become a definite area of interest for our gaming group. It helped…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Lockwood’s Asylum
Admittedly, horror has never been one of the ‘genres’ I have gravitated to in anything. Yes,…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Age of Thieves
Are you stealthy enough to steal the Emperor’s jewel? That is the question you try to…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Burgle Bros
There is a lot of potential surrounding the idea of being part of a team of…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Brass Empire
This game is different from most reviewed here. Brass Empire is a strategic deck-building card game…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Mini DiverCity
The concept of a co-operative game is interesting among board games in as much as it…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Pichenotte Hockey
In my world, it’s hard to imagine a board game that would interest more than a…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Volfyirion
It is always fun to get a game in its prototype stage, a sneak peek, into…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Kamikaze Chess
There are a few hundred chess variants out there, and finding the ones that offer the…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Tak, A Beautiful Game
Every once in a while you find a game that absolutely has everything you want in…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Front Line No Komrades
Some games are not created with the hope of greatness. Some games are simply created for…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Showdown! The Samurai Card Game!
“Gather your friends and pack your bags for a trip to feudal Japan, where only the…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Covil: The Dark Overlords
Not everyone at a gaming table will feel the same about every game that is pulled…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Button Men
Button Men has been around for a while now. Debuting back in 1999 when the characters…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Dikarya
It is very hard to beat an abstract strategy game that has wood pieces and a…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Pairs
Every once in a while you lay your hands on a game not exactly expecting too…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Expedition
Some games head into new areas in terms of mechanics and even in terms of the…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Triangul8
When you want a game that is simplicity itself, you might want to check out Triangul8.…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Nightmare Forest: Alien Invasion
Ah, the wonderment of a game that surprises the player with what the overall experience of…
Calvin’s Commentaries: The Farmhand #1
The Farmhand #1 Written by Rob Guillory Art by Rob Guillory Publisher: Image Comics I am…
Calvin’s Commentaries: War Bears #1
War Bears #1 Written by Margaret Atwood & Ken Steacy Art by Ken Steacy Publisher: Dark…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Konungar War of Crowns #1
Konungar War of Crowns #1 Written by Sylvain Runberg Art by Juzhen Translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Steampunk Rally
Oh, how I wanted to love Steampunk Rally with all my heart. “It is the turn…
Calvin’s Commentaries: The Hard Place
The Hard Place Written by Doug Wagner Art by Nic Rummel Colors by Charlie Kirchoff Cover…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Xenofera
Xenofera was one of those most pleasant surprises that sometimes happen when you break the seal…
Calvin’s Commentaries: 8 Million Ways to Die
8 Million Ways to Die Written by Lawrence Block Adapted by John K Snyder III Illustrated…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Rome West
Rome West Written by Justin Giampaoli & Brian Wood Art by Andrea Mutti Cover art by…
Calvin’s Commentaries: The Defence of Pictland
It was a month ago that the review was a game by Jon Hather, and this…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Crossroad Blues
Crossroad Blues: A Nick Travers Graphic Novel Written by Ace Atkins Art by Marco Finnegan Cover…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer #1
Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer #1 Story by Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins Written by Max Allan…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Vikings vs Saxons
It continues to amaze me how modern era game designers can still come up with ideas…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Aristeia
Miniature wargaming is a favourite of mine, in particular, skirmish level battles. Skirmish games are small-scale…
Calvin’s Commentaries: 3D Pawn
Ah the joy of a truly intriguing game coming in a small package. Welcome to 3D…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Team UP!
It always fascinates when a game can be stored in a relatively small box, and yet…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Dwarven Miner
Dwarven Miner was one of those games where the expectations were not overly high, and the…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Dominion
Deckbuilding is a great board game mechanic in its own right, best seen in a game…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Bridget
Aesthetics are a huge part of what makes an abstract strategy game stand out for me.…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Partido
You have to appreciate a board game that comes in a small box with rules so…
Calvin’s Commentaries: In the Name of Odin
There is something to be said for savvy marketing, and in the world of board games,…
Calvin’s Commentaries: New York 1901
Among recently reviewed games none have been a more enjoyable experience than New York 1901. While…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Okanagan
Tile laying games are by their nature generally easy for players to get into and are…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Journey To The Overland
If you are a fan of role-playing games you will likely recognize one of the barriers,…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Unbroken
There are always those days we want to game, but can’t find a bud to join…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Martial Art
There are those games which fight above their weight class as they say. Martial Art from…
Calvin’s Commentaries: 40 Thieves
When a game arrives in a cloth sack, and you open it to find a stack…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Get Adler
London, 1937 — Intelligence has discovered that Top-Secret documents are missing. So, too, is MI6 Agent…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Aidan 5
When it comes to being surprised by something on the ‘Net, the web series Aidan 5…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Star Trek: Outpost
With the arrival of Star Trek Discovery on mainstream television last fall, a long hiatus from…
Calvin’s Commentaries: Catacombs
When it comes to board games I have played a rather extensive list over the decades…
Calvin’s Commentaries: V Commandos
There are times when your first impression of a board game can simply be wrong. Such…