Posts By James van Tonningen
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1.7KReviewsThunder Road: Vendetta Maximum Chrome review – Witness me!
Cars roar across the blasted wasteland and broken highways. The retort of heavy calibur gunfire rings across the salt-wastes. The greatest, and...
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1.1KReviewsWatergate review – The conspiracy grows
In 1972, one of the nation’s greatest scandals occurred. A sitting president was accused of illegally wiretapping and spying on his political...
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1.1KReviewsCourt of Miracles review – Thieves prosper
In old Paris, there is a place where the crippled walk, the sick are cured, where gold appears like magic and beggars...
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1.1KReviewsTesseract review – Hyperdimensional bomb squad
Something not of this world arrived. Initially, it was the size of a city, but it quickly shrank, and shrank, and shrank,...
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848ImpressionsThe Origins unpublished board game extravaganza
In the sheer amount of stuff available to see at a major board game convention like Origins, it’s easy to overlook the...
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1.1KPreviewsMagneterra First Look – Magnet Wizards
Magneterra sleeps in the darkest reaches of the cosmos. A rocky, rugged world, Magneterra possesses a unique attribute in the many worlds:...
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849PreviewsPower Well Origins first look – Puzzle duels!
Let me set the scene. GamingTrend’s Origins interview booth was set up in the back-right corner of the convention. About 5 spaces...
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3.8KReviewsExpeditions review – The sort of sequel to Scythe
The world of Scythe is intriguing. Mostly told through the rulebook of Scythe and most especially Jakub Rozalski’s art, it follows a...
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1.2KTabletop ThrowdownKinfire Council is a game for the BGG crowd—Tabletop Throwdown S1E9
Incredible Dream has been publishing hit game after hit game since their co-operative adventure Kinfire Chronicles, with long-time game designer and Fantasy...
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1.5KPreviewsKinfire Council hands-on preview – hidden cultists and Starless Nights
Being a leader isn’t easy. Being a leader of the refugee city Din’Lux during an apocalypse is much worse. Since the Starless...
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5.2KReviewsCandela Obscura review — Ill omens
Candela Obscura is an RPG from Darrington Press, Critical Roll’s print division. The game’s focus is on the titular Candela Obscura, an...
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1.6KPreviewsMonarchs of Camelot Preview — Post-Arthurian Legend
King Arthur has been slain by Mordred, and the Empire of Britain is leaderless. His old companions and advisors all have designs...
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925PreviewsCretaceous Rails preview — Dinosaur choo-choo!
From Jurassic Park to science class, dinosaurs have captivated the human imagination.. The impossible size, ferocious power, and incredible majesty of dinosaurs...
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1.8KReviewsThe Arkham Asylum Files: Panic in Gotham City review — Through the black mirror
Someone got her medical license back, and she’s ready to get back to working at Arkham Asylum. That’s right, Harlene Quinzel, AKA...
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693PreviewsCities of Venus preview – Sacrificing meeples on the altar of progress
Humanity has left Earth and chose one of the most inhospitable planets in the solar system to start a new life on,...
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1.8KReviewsScythe review — For Polonia!
A diesel powered mech crunches through a pastoral field in the distance, smoke pouring from the artillery mounted to its chassis. In...
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934ReviewsMechanical Beast review — Lost in the labyrinth
Our greatest creation has turned on us. The great mechanical monstrosity just kept growing, devouring resources to fuel its own growth. It’s...
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1.6KReviewsRaccoon Tycoon review — Cutesy capitalism
The industrial revolution has begun in the country of Astoria, a land of animal-folk. The railroad boom has begun, and you are...
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1.9KReviewsEschaton Review — Discount Hot Topic: the board game
The world is ending, and here we are, arguing about a bunch of dirt. Eschaton is about armageddon, and the cultists bringing...
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2.0KReviewsTill the Last Gasp review — Missing the point
The duel: two combatants enter, one combatant leaves. That is the basic premise of Till the Last Gasp, a two player collaborative...
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1.6KReviewsDeal with the Devil review — The worth of a soul
The world is clawing its way out of centuries of barbarism and religious stricture, and our little game centers on 4 particular...
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1.5KReviewsIn Too Deep review — In the deep end
New Dawn City is under attack. The insidious Syndicate has set its sights on the last bastion of order in the not-so-distant...
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768PreviewsAEGIS: Second Ignition preview — And I’ll form the head!
Giant robots were my childhood, from watching Voltron and Transformers on early Saturday mornings to Gundam Wing on late nights, there was...
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1.2KReviewsRise review — Getting on track
Rise is a board game about tracks. No, not railroad tracks, though it is a game set in the industrial era. We’re...
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1.4KReviewsViticulture World review — Every country is wine country
Wine is enjoyed across the entire world, though those disparate cultures’ relationship with wine is very different. Viticulture: World is dedicated to...
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1.8KEditorialsBest tabletop games of 2022
2022 was an amazing year for Gaming Trend’s tabletop team: We more than doubled our crew, reviewed more tabletop games than any...
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1.3KPreviewsTabriz Preview — Persian rug industrial complex
In ancient Persia, in its time the cultural center of the world, the art of making rugs was held as a high...
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875PreviewsBloodRunes preview — Favor of the gods
Odin’s favor is waning. The runes speak. There are other tribes, other seers, who fight in this land, and only one can...
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4.5KReviewsHues and Cues review — Brilliant fun
What color, exactly, is “lavender”? How about “traffic cone”? “Human Tongue”? Knowing the answer is the difference between winning and losing in...
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1.9KReviewsViticulture: Essential Edition review — A new beginning
Italy is world famous for its pasta, its idyllic plains, and of course, wine. In Viticulture, you are in charge of your...
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1.2KReviewsUsurp the King review — The tangled web we weave
Knives in the night, poison in the banquet, conspiracy and betrayal abound. A revolution is brewing, and you are among the architects...
