Posts By Nick Dubs
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5.4KReviewsKutnà Hora: The City of Silver review — Silver is the new brass
I love Brass: Birmingham. The high interactivity combined with how well it rewards tweezing out every last mote of efficiency is crazy...
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3.9KReviewsDungeons & Dragons: Trials of Tempus review — The god of unmet potential
Credit where it’s due, Trials of Tempus is certainly an ambitious title. For his debut, lead designer Thor Knai tossed Dungeons &...
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5.2KReviewsUnmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze review— I’m amazed
Ever since I bought my first Unmatched set back when Battle of Legends dropped, I’ve been screaming from the rooftops about how...
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4.9KReviewsStationfall review — Despite all my rage, I’m a telepathic rat in a cage
Many board games are designed from the floor up to ape other media and end up being mediocre at best. Nemesis is...
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1.9KPreviewsMolly House PAXU Preview — My excitement won’t be mollified
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know how best to classify Molly House, Wherlegig’s latest cardboard masterpiece. I feel like I’m describing...
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2.2KFeaturesThe GamingTrend 2023 holiday guide — Tabletop edition!
At this point you’ve probably gotten your fill of video games and hardware and gear, but now it’s time for some real...
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3.5KReviewsBig Boss review — More like boredroom
Playing Big Boss for review has been the board game version of going to colonial Williamsburg or any other historical reenactment. I’ve...
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1.7KReviewsMicro Dojo review— Honey, I shrunk the game
Say what you will about crowdfunding, it has really helped drag board game production out of the stone age of beige spreadsheets...
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2.1KReviewsLa Famiglia review — The family disappoints me for once
On paper, La Famiglia has all the makings for a home run. Just looking at the companies involved, it’s another Feuerland/ Capstone...
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1.5KReviewsTerra Nova review— Addition by subtraction
In many ways, Terra Mystica is the quintessence of a middle-heavyweight eurogame from back when they were becoming more mainstream in the...
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850ReviewsMarvel: Damage Control review — Decks are dead, long live piles
I’m pretty over pure deck builders. I’ve been playing them since the OGs Dominion, Ascension, and Thunderstone came out in the late...
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1.9KReviewsIki review — Get in loser, we’re going shopping
Recently, I started watching The Wire for the first time. I know, I should have watched it forever ago, but it was...
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2.2KReviewsWe’re Doomed! review— Exactly what it says on the tin
I’m really not a fan of co-op games. There are a couple exceptions, like Gloomhaven and The Crew, but they are few...
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1.2KReviewsCape May review— Not just a cape, but a cane and hat as well
As the market for gateway games becomes increasingly flooded, publishers have to find a way to make their titles stand out from...
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881ReviewsCrusaders: Divine Influence review— crusading under the influence
I walked away from my base game Crusaders review feeling there was a good game in there somewhere, but there were too...
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1.4KReviewsThat Time You Killed Me review— time is three 4×4 grids
The moment I opened That Time You Killed Me, I had a bone to pick with it. Like most board gamers, I...
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912ReviewsCrusaders: Thy Will Be Done review— whose will is it anyway?
Crusaders wears its inspiration on its sleeve. In the rule book, Seth Jaffee stops just short of naming Feld’s legendary Trajan and...
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3.1KReviewsHeat: Pedal to the Metal review— formula fun
Racing is a weird genre in board games. It feels as if one day in the last decade all the big names...
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1.6KReviewsOrichalcum review—you’ve got to spend boys to make boys
Orichalcum is a game having an identity crisis. Its production, from artwork to components, suggests that it’s a family weight game. But...
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1.3KReviewsRebuilding Seattle review—use lakes to decrease population
What makes a board game great? You’d think that as a game reviewer, I’d have a clever, and concise answer to that...
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1.6KReviewsCaesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! review—abstracted areas
Caesar places its two players in the sandals of Caesar and Pompey, vying for influence in the final days of the Roman...
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1.2KReviewsShapers of Gaia review— We built this engine in a biome
I love games with a good arc, so a well-done engine builder that takes you from barely having enough to do anything...
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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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1.2KPreviewsAn Age Contrived looks gorgeous and promises a solid game⏤PAX U preview
Heading into PAXU, An Age Contrived was on my short list of upcoming titles to check out, based almost entirely upon its...
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2.9KReviewsSPECTRE: The Board Game review— no, Mr. Bond, I expect you to sigh
Every now and then, a game comes around that is so mechanically unique and interesting that I have to make room for...
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1.1KReviewsCatherine: The Cities of the Tsarina review—activating aristocrats
In my continuing quest to collect games that work with both my non-gaming family and my gaming friends, finding Catherine was a...
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922PreviewsDungeons & Dragons: Onslaught preview— it’s okay to be a murder hobo
There is a well-known subset of TTRPG players who are primarily interested in combat and acquiring loot colloquially known as murder hobos....
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2.4KReviewsUnmatched: Houdini vs. the Genie review— a magical melee
I had been faced with a dilemma when writing previous Unmatched reviews. Since each set is essentially a standalone expansion, should I...
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1.2KReviewsSan Francisco review— hit the track, Jack
I’m a self-described Knizia fanboy, so I was extremely excited when I saw we had received his newest design for review. As...
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3.3KReviewsA Song of Ice & Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game – Stark vs Lannister Starter Set review—wily wargaming in Westeros
When this game first debuted a few years ago, I dismissed it out of hand. I was fatigued on the IP, and...
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1.6KReviewsArrakis: Dawn of the Fremen review— well begun is half done
When Arrakis was first announced a few months ago as a reskin/redesign of an ’80s area control game named Borderlands, I was...
