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As a bonafide fan of abstract strategy games I am quite surprised it has taken so long to find and explore Wizard's Garden.

The game was designed by Tim Schutz back in 2004. Known then as Wizard's Garden - The Alesalitis Plant it was a finalist in the 2004 About.com Board/Card Games/Abstract Games Magazine Shared Pieces Game Design Competition.
Now the game is being published by XV Games, a company only launched in 2018, with the neat motto: "one minute for the rules, one life for the play".

No game XV Games will ever produce more closely fits their motto than Wizard's Garden.

The website explains the game as; "a classical abstract game of the Reversi family, Wizard's Garden has its strength in shared pieces and non-intuitive strategical gameplay."

It is the neat shared piece mechanic that really makes this game a winner, but more on game play in a bit.

This first tabletop edition by XV Games comes with embossed wooden discs in a velvet bag with the board printed on it, making the version a highly portable one.
The concern here might be that when you take the game to the coffee shop and it gets coffee spilled on the bag, and such things happen, will the board design be lost if you try to wash the bag? It's a small quibble, but it is a possible drawback.

On the positive side the play area is a 4X4 grid which is rather easy to replace.
This game is brilliantly simple.

Players initially take turns placing four pieces on the board. Pieces are double sided but it does not matter which side is showing in set up. They must however note be connected orthogonally.

A piece is flipped, the other player calling the colour. Whoever wins the flip goes first.

Game play now proceeds with each player in turn dropping a stone of either colour on an empty cell orthogonally adjacent to at least another stone on the board. All stones orthogonally adjacent to the played pieces then flip colour.

After the flips, any four in-a-row (with stones of the same colour) is removed from board, and that player gets one point. He keeps one of the pieces in his scoring pool, and the remaining three go back to the shared piece pool.

The game ends when there are no moves available. The one with the most points wins.

There is a built in tie breaker that is neat but a tad more detail than needed here.

This game is simply fantastic. It's simple to learn, quick to play, with a lot of replay allure, and it's highly transportable. This is a game that is not only recommendable, but should be in any collection if someone liking the abstract strategy genre. I may have taken 15 years to finally play it, but it was certainly a game worth discovering.

Check it out at www.xvgames.it

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

When Shobu arrived and I opened the box I was immediately taken by the aesthetics of this beauty designed by Manolis Vranas and Jamie Sajdak.

The components really make this game appealing out of box before even looking at the ruleset.

There are four etched wood game boards, two for each player. Nothing is better than real wood for game boards, especially abstract strategy game boards.

A player gets one dark and one light board on their side which are considered your home boards.

There is a cotton dividing rope which basically divides the play area to define which side is which players. It is absolutely unnecessary but adds to the overall medieval Japanese feel to this game, which of course starts with its name.

The pieces here, 16 for each player, are black and white polished river stones, which is just plain awesome.

Game play in terms of rules is super simple.

On your turn, first move one of your stones up to two spaces in any direction, including diagonally. The move has to be made on one of the two home boards, (those on your side of the rope). The move cannot jump, nor push a stone of either player's.

You must then match that move with another of your stones on the opposite color board – and this time you may push an opponent's stone. If you can push that stone off the board's edge, so much the better since the goal is to remove the four opponent's stones from any one board.

The game's website suggests the game is "instantly familiar, yet wholly unique unto its own, Shobu feels like a game that has stood the test of time. The rules are amazingly simple and can be learned in moments, yet halfway through your first game, you realize the game has a depth and spatial challenge similar to 3-D chess."
Having not played 3D chess I won't comment on the comparison but as simple as the rules are there is a 'thinky' aspect to Shobu. It would be easy for a game to bog down with analysis paralysis for some players, so a clock might be a good idea for some.

This one is a winner. Certainly in contention as my selection as best new abstract strategy game of 2019, although there is nearly half a year to go too.

Check it out at www.smirkandlaughter.com

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

If you are a sucker for great looking games then you will be blown away by Parks a brand new release from Keymaster Games.

Parks is quite simply gorgeous.

The game is a collaboration between Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series and Keymaster Games. The artwork in this game comes from the print series which features more than 40 artists around the world. The illustrations highlight 45 national parks found across the United States.

The art on the cards is thus outstanding.

To see the full collection of national park illustrations and to purchase prints in the series, visit 59parks.net

But, what about game play?

"Players take on the roles of two hikers as they trek across different trails during the four seasons of a year. Each trail represents a different season, and as each season passes, the trails change and grow steadily longer. Each turn, players send one of their hikers down the trail. While on the trail, hikers will see beautiful sites and perform an action when they arrive. When a hiker reaches the end of the trail, they can spend tokens they have received to visit parks and earn points. Your goal is to have the most points from your parks, photos, and personal bonus at the end of the year," notes the rulebook.

In many ways this game reminds very much of Tokaido in terms of the play. Tokaido is a great game with a more minimalistic art style with of course a Japanese theme, but how the games play are most certainly similar.

There are a few additional aspects here, but frankly you could toss the ability to gain gear that plays a small role, and not really change Parks at all, leaving the core again very much like Tokaido.

In fact, at the end of the day if you have Tokaido I'm not sure you gain anything, past the art to look at, by adding Parks to a games collection.

If you have neither game, then I can easily recommend that you add one, the game mechanic of rather leisurely meandering down a path toward victory points is a laid back, yet fun mechanic. Whether Tokaido or Parks is likely a choice made based on the art, both have merit.

Living in North America where you might visit some of the American parks highlighted in the art, and the recent release, might tip the scales toward Parks for many.

Certainly, if you chose parks you will not be disappointed. A game in contention for a top-10 review game of 2019.

Check it out at www.parksgame.com

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

The best games, or perhaps these days, like movies, almost all games, end up with expansions.

That is actually a very good thing.

If you have liked a game then having something new to explore within that game get it back off the shelf and onto the table.

If you haven't enjoyed a game, well you can pass on any expansions – with a little willpower.

When it comes to miniatures gaming expansions, additions, add-ons, etc., are basically part of the genre. They are not just expected, but generally highly anticipated. People who like playing with miniatures covet more minis to play with.
I like miniature gaming quite a lot, so when I first played Aristeia from Corvus Belli I was quite interested and ultimately impressed.

It is part of an emerging segment of the miniatures hobby where players each control a small number of miniatures, maneuvering across a board, bot so unlike chess pieces on a grid board. Such games are very easy for players to grasp in terms of movement, and are ideal as an entry game to freer form miniature game options.

With the background of a well-defined gaming world Aristeia has a build in heritage to draw upon. The rulebook 'fluff' notes from the original game, "... 175 years into the future, humanity has reached the stars. The nations of old coalesced into federated blocs who proceeded to carve up any star systems found suitable for human habitation. Technology has advanced beyond our wildest dreams, but its benefits are still available only to those who can pay. Synthetic bodies, artificial intelligence, a data network connecting planets light-years apart, miraculous regenerative medicine ... The presence of all these technologies has enabled the creation of Aristeia, the high-stakes contact sport that's sweeping the Human Sphere.

"Tens of millions of fans keep their eyes glued to their holo-screens for the thrill that this match could be the last for their favourite fighters, some of whom enjoy an unprecedented level of celebrity adoration on Maya. Aristeia is non-stop action and top-level athleticism. Get connected and enjoy."

The idea of a battle arena watched by fans is not new reasonably starting with the gladiatorial games in the real history of our world, but it still works here.

There were eight characters included in the base game of Aristeia.

And since the game released there have been a rather wide range of expansions by way of new characters.

With new characters of course come new in-game abilities, and the potential to create new synergies with characters previously released.

It is the exploration of what characters compliment others on the battle board that has players always anticipating new releases.

So today, I believe there are about 30 characters released for Aristeia, and more are likely to come, so you can imagine the diversity to game play available. That is a massive plus in favour of this game.

It helps as well that the minis generally come fully assembled, with fine detail, so no gluing and painters have nice sculpts to work with.

We recently got our hands on a group of recent additions; Master of Puppets and the Chemical Brothers, both expansion boxes containing two miniatures, and then Lunah, an Elven Ranger cast in metal, whereas other minis in the range are plastic.

If you pop over to the game website (www.aristeiathegame.com), there is some great fluff relating to each of the characters, which will be a plus for those who desire an immersive backstory.

Now it should be remembered that expansions tend to add at least some complexity to a game, or in the very least new abilities for the new characters that have to be learned.

The Chemical Brothers, for example, add the ability to poison others characters, something not in the base game.
The Master of Puppets add fire, which wasn't in the base game, and its effects are really explained unless you have the expansion Smoke and Mirrors. Without that you are on your cellphones look for rules the first time fire pops up, as we were. I can say that is a frustrating thing mid game.

Just for information Smoke and Mirrors added a couple of things, although we have note played with the set as its not one we have.

Smoke affects Space visibility, blocking Line of Sight without hindering movement.

A new State is added; Burning. While the blue side of a burning token is up, the player rolls an Orange Dice. For every success, the Character receives one damage, while for each Special the Character receives a new Burning token.

So from the original game, and whatever expansions you might have players select a team of four.

Each character as special skills, its own movement limitations, and learning how work your team to best support other characters is the fun.

Aristeia uses cards to add some randomness to things, with good moves potentially being trumped by the cards of the opponent. Randomness is not a favourite thing for me in general, but in an arena battle it helps reflect a level of mayhem.

The cards are a tad 'busy' with a lot of iconography to grasp, so there is a learning curve which will send you to the rulebook checking what things mean the first game, or two, although experienced mini gamers won't get bogged down too much. A new player though may find it a bit daunting.

"Throughout five game rounds, players direct their character's actions to meet goals of the scenario, earning victory points to win the game. The first player to collect eight victory points wins. Failing that, the player with the most victory points at the end of the fifth round wins. If there's a tie, the player with the most frag tokens wins," explains the rules, and that sums up the game, although different goal-based scenarios are part of the mix as you get into the game in more detail.

There is definite strategic depth to explore here, and more is added with the expansions such as Master of Puppets and Chemical Brothers.

Aristeia is a game with so many possibilities in terms of abilities. There are so many amazing minis to choose from. The company has a long history that suggests support for the game will be ongoing. It all adds up to a can't be missed game for mini game fans.

I know I look forward to seeing more characters and doing more reviews in the future.

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

Personally I like deck builder quite a lot.

Ditto the group as a whole.

But, as we have now played more than 40 games which have deck-building as at least an element within the game, it's not so easy to find a game in the genre that really impresses.

But, it happens.

Forest Fighters is such a game.

I'll cut to the punch line here as they say, and note that the three of us who sat down recently to test drive the pre-production version of Forest Fighters all ended up agreeing it flirts with the top-10 deck builders we've played.

In my case I track that on Board Game Geek where I keep a 'GeekList' of deck builders, and after adding Forest Fighters to the database, it's that new, it ended up number six.

So yes, I like this game a lot.

I'll start with admitting it plays much like Dominion at its core.
Dominion is the granddad of the genre, and some might balk that this plays so much like its foundational ancestor.

But, there is certainly enough different here that the comparison, while natural, is not a steal of concept.

To start the theme is a fun one, focusing on the critters of the forest fighting to secure acorns. The player with the most acorns at the end of the game wins.

From Forest Fighter's Kickstarter; "The winter is fast approaching and with the cold and snow comes a lack of food. The leaves are beginning to fall from the trees and with them the acorns. All of this means that it is time for the squirrel tribes inhabiting the forest to begin gathering food for the winter. There is just one problem! There is only one oak tree left in the forest making the much coveted acorns a source of warfare. The squirrel tribes have gathered their forces and have even resorted to hiring other forest animals to help them squirrel away as many nuts for the winter as possible. Gathering acorns is easy; protecting them from bands of raiders sent out by the other squirrel tribes is a different story. In Forest Fighters you will hire forest animals to help your tribe of squirrels gather and protect acorns while stealing acorns from your opponents. Once all of the acorns have been gathered, the game ends and the player with the most acorns wins."

You might gather from the introduction that this game allows for more player-to-player confrontation than a game like Dominion.

Most critters have an attack and defence rating and on your turn you can attack an opponent. If the attack rating is higher than their defence you get to steal acorns, or send critters back to the supply, or rob them of blackberries, a key resource in the game. Even in a battle win you face decisions.

Of course if you battle, then you likely won't have resources left that turn to buy acorns – remember you need them to win, or to add other critters to your hands.

Most critters come with special abilities too, all well thought out here. For example a rabbit attracts another rabbit when played, the old multiplying rabbit theme. Bees get you honey. Moles can bury acorns.
I like that the abilities fit with the animals.

The game comes with 326 cards: including 21 different characters and 3 items. This allows for a lot of replay as you don't use all of the animals every game. Different strategies emerge depending on what critters are in play.

The artwork, again this is a prototype has a school student artist appeal that might not please all, but if it is the final art I'd be quite satisfied.

This is a game where cards have neat special abilities and so far we haven't found a broken combination which detracts from the game.

There are always choices for players to make, and there does appear to be different strategies, based on card combos, that can put you seriously in the race for a win.

If you like deck builders at all this is a game I'd rate a must have.

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

So let's start out here with a statement of preference, I do not like dice.

I'm pretty sure dice do not like me either, so it is a mutual thing.

In games I like at least the illusion of having some kind of control over things, and the minute you pick up a handful of those nasty little cubes you know there is no control with the outcome of the roll left to the fates.

So when we put a game with the word dice right there in the title (Dice Settlers), there was a level of trepidation.
"Players control a band of settlers and pioneers, aiming to explore, settle, and rule the new land. Dice Settlers features a mix of dice management and action selection, while maintaining the traditional characteristics of the 4X genre: map exploration, area control, player conflict, and technology development," explains the rule book in a quick intro.

Essentially you have some dice in a bag, you select some, roll them, and use the icons that result to do a bunch of things related to the game.

It is that there are a bunch of different things players can do, all that have merit in terms of inching toward a victory that set this game ahead of the pack in terms of dice games.

You may not always get exactly what you want when you roll your dice, but you can still do things that are generally positive, so the fates can't monkey with you too much in this one.

It helps too, that there is a tile laying element to Dice Settlers since I have typically like tile laying games.

"In a game of Dice Settlers, a board will be formed from the Map tiles. Players will then use their tents and houses to compete for control of these tiles, which are worth points at the end of the game and/or give bonus abilities to players who are present," details the rules.

"The dice represent various people who are able to work for you, using their skills to explore, trade, research, and expand. Your dice are drawn from your bag, rolled, used, and then returned to your bag when your bag is empty.
Tents are used to mark your presence on the map. Whoever has the most tents on a tile has control of that tile.

Tents can be upgraded to houses, which mark permanent control of a tile.

Technology cards are both a source of points and a way to gain special abilities which will help you throughout the game."

The game plays rather slick, the board changing as tiles are laid, and there are different ways to win, which is a plus.
The dice are nice in terms of size, and iconography.

The game does come with solo rules too, which will be a bonus for some.

So when it all comes together Dice Settlers was a most pleasant surprise, a dice game that rates very highly for me.

While still months to go, this one will most definitely be in consideration for top-5 reviewed game of 2019.

Check it out at ww.nskn.net (Note this company also did the excellent In the Name of Odin game).

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

As a lover of abstract strategy games, it's always interesting to get my hands on essentially a prototype version of a new game.

Such was the case with Up and Across from designer Ellis Hendriksen.

The game is at its core about moving your pieces across the board (a 7X7 board), to get to your opponent's home row before they accomplish the same goal.

There is a bit of a theme pasted on to the game, with the key pieces called wizards. You must get two of wizards to the other side of the board where they end up on one of your own towers.  Towers are the other pieces at play in the game.

The wizards begin atop your smallest towers, and move across the tops of the towers in the game, but you only win if you finish on your own towers.

On your turn, you may choose from the following actions: move towers or move wizards.
If you move towers, you always move two of them. 

"One tower moves all the steps in a straight line, the other tower moves all the steps in a diagonal line," relates the rules.

The order in which you do this is up to you. Towers must take a number of steps, depending on the size of the tower, the smallest moving one, the mid-sized towers moving two, the largest moving three.

"If you move towers, you can step over other towers, if there is another tower at the place where your turn ends, you cannot make the move," notes the rules.

If you collide with the edge, the tower continues in the opposite direction to where it came from.

I will note here that this rule does seem counter intuitive in the sense of simply passing over other towers. It seems more natural that towers would block each other, so this takes some getting used to.

"By moving wizards, you can move three steps. You can divide them as you like. If you move wizards, they must always move one step up or one step down," notes the rules. "You may move several steps up or down.  Moving from the smallest to the largest tower (and vice versa) is always two steps and is only possible if the middle one is used."

You may walk with your wizards on the opponent's towers and end up on them, but it is not as a winning condition.
You only get a score if your wizard is on your tower on the opponent's starting line.

Interestingly, Hendriksen said he has not always been an abstract strategy game fan.

"Not always to be honest. I've learned to love it and now that I love it I'm crazy about it," he said in an interview via email, adding, "That doesn't mean that I don't like other games either."

So what was the seed of an idea that led to the creation of the game?

"Sometimes it's hard to figure out which thought, word, small event eventually leads to a game concept, but with this one, it was very clear," offered Hendriksen.

"I was in a movie where there was an extensive scene with all kinds of object movements. These movements eventually led to a concept that I worked out into this game."

In creating the game Hendriksen said he wanted something different.

"What I always try to do, be unique or try to do," he said. "I know this isn't always possible, but that's my goal. In addition to trying to be unique, I think it's important that people enjoy it and come up with solutions that I wouldn't have thought of myself."

Hendriksen said from idea to end result, development took about a year.

"I tested it extensively in games clubs, at fairs and with very experienced other authors," he said. "I like the test phase. Initially, you work with a small group to see if it's something that could work and that's also unique enough to embroider on. This is always an exciting phase because the same goes for the same thing."

The hardest part of the development "was bringing in the 3D aspect/feeling, not making too many rules and giving the player as much freedom as possible to make their own strategic and tactical choices," said Hendriksen, who added it is also what he feels is the best element of the game.

"The 3D aspect/feeling, the separate movement of towers and wizards because I think that combination makes the game unique and gives it a surprising amount of depth," he said.

This game has some neat mechanics that offer definite depth to explore, and even in prototype, being made of wood is nice. I might stain the towers to add to the difference in pieces, and ultimately the meeple wizards might be more 'wizard-like' but as is it's a nice set.

Check it out at www.henmargames.eu

If you like fishing, and I count myself among those who do, then Coldwater Crown is most certainly a game to try.

If you are not into riding around in a boat tossing spoons into the water in hopes a pike will attack it, well this game might be of less interest, although it plays so well, it's still a fun game, if theme does not matter to you.

So what is this game all about?

"You've secured your spot as a competitor in the world-renowned Coldwater Crown fishing tournament, and the contest has just begun! Will you be able to cast the right bait at the right time to reel in the biggest fish? Will you be able to strategically balance your efforts at the different fishing locations to win the most trophies? Very little is certain on these frigid waters, but it's guaranteed the fish will be biting," details the fluff in the rulebook.

As in fishing, he who catches the most and biggest fish, gets bragging rights for the day.

"During the game, you will catch a variety of fish from the Shore, River, and Lake. You will compete with the other players to win various contests based on the fish you catch to earn victory points. At the end of the game, the player with most points is crowned champion!

To catch fish, you'll cast bait from the four Zones (Zones 3, 4, 5 and 6) on your player board. Whenever you cast the last piece of bait from a particular Zone, take note of the bait's color and the Zone number. You catch a fish from the same Zone number on the game board that matches that bait's color. You'll also catch the special Master Angler fish by casting the right combinations of bait as the game goes along," denotes the rules.

What designer Brian Suhre has accomplished here is to mimic the actions of a real fisherman on a game board. Frankly, I was skeptical it was possible, but Suhre manages it in almost every sense.

Players get to fish in four different areas; river, lake etc. with a definite element of luck on what species you catch, and how large the fish is, which of course is exactly as it is in real life.

You can't always fish where you want to either, as other players may have beaten you to the favoured spot, again nicely reflecting reality.

Tagged fish are good, if you have the right coloured tag at game's end.

And this is a game that mimics a fishing tournament, so you can earn points at the end based on size, species caught etc.

You require bait, and when you are out of it, you need to sacrifice at least part of a turn to essentially get to the bait shop for more.

It really all comes together in a rather bang-on representation of actually being out fishing without the sunburn, mosquitos, or touching slimy jackfish.

Coldwater Crown surprised and impressed me, and is flirting with top-five games of 2019, at least six months in.
Check it out at www.bellwethergames.com

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

There are times when your first impression of a board game can simply be wrong.

Such was certainly the case with V Commandos from Canadian manufacturer Triton Noir.

Our first play through seemed to drag on, starting with the lay out. The game has a lot of bits and pieces, from a modular board, to the tokens for gear and soldiers. On the initial play through you spend a fair amount of time sorting through it all.

The good news is we bagged things for future layouts which will expedite the layout. The game box does not come with an insert to compartmentalize the bits, but bags do work, just have some on hand.

The first game was also one where the dice hated all three of us, and we were killed by the Germans quickly. It was underwhelming, especially after the slow first layout.

The second play though, we changed the commandos we played, altered our tactics, and the result was a much, much more enjoyable experience.
But, on to the game, and its background.

"The German army occupies the majority of Europe and nothing seems to be able to slow its progression," details the introduction to V Commandos. "The Luftwaffe launches air attack upon air attack against London and the major industrialized British cities. Great Britain withstands and gets ready to face an imminent invasion. But Winston Churchill was not one to sit back in a defensive stance. Convinced that the Allied Forces must take the initiative and strike blows behind enemy lines, he orders the creation of elite airborne units. Simultaneously, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) is established with the objective to 'set Europe ablaze'. After intensive training, these units will conduct audacious operations of all kinds, striking like lightning bolts before withdrawing into shadows. Their numerous successes, although often unknown, weighed heavily in the outcome of the conflict."

So if you are a gamer with an interest in the Second World War this is one for you. It is not a game with fancy miniatures, cardboard tokens are used here, but they work, and in this one the atmosphere is everything. Be sneaky, or be in big trouble.

"V-Commandos is a cooperative game in which one to four players team up against the enemy forces controlled by the game," details the ruleset. "Each player selects a commando specialist and together they form a squad. Then, they can either choose to play on one terrain (quick game) or to select an operation, composed of several objectives that must be completed across various terrains. Each turn starts with an event that may affect the commandos' plans. Then, each commando alternately, in the order chosen by the players, takes three actions, hopefully making progress toward the squad's objectives.

"Finally, new enemy reinforcements, playing by their own rules, enter the terrain, move and attack. Game turns continue until the operation succeeds or fails."

The theme here works perfectly.

"During World War II, Allied commandos performed dozens of spectacular operations across the world," details the rules. "What is less well known is that the first missions of this kind took place on the Axis side. For example, the 18-day campaign that saw the invasion of Belgium by Germany began with the capture of Fort Eben-Emael, defended by 1,200 Belgian soldiers and deemed impregnable. On May 10th 1940, 85 German paratroopers were dropped by combat gliders directly on the superstructures of the fort. In less than an hour, most of the fort was captured thanks to the element of surprise and intensive training of these elite troops."

"Stealth is critical for those wishing to survive when they are deep in enemy territory, outnumbered by opponents!

"The majority of Commando missions took place at night to ease discreet infiltration. Stealth was required for as long as possible and a quick escape was necessary after completing the objective. Rain was always appreciated: the enemy patrols preferred to take shelter. Since they were always outnumbered and deep in enemy territory, it was better to be unnoticeable, like Captain Patrick Leigh Fermor and Lieutenant William Stanley Moss, who abducted a German general and managed to escape while facing a garrison of thousands of soldiers in Crete!

"Stealthy characters are invisible to the enemy: they can never be targeted or hit by a weapon requiring a dice roll. They may also perform lethal close combat attacks. The two sides of this token represent a commando's state: stealthy or visible.

"A visible commando is a commando who's not in a stealthy state. A commando whose token is placed on the visible side is always visible."
While it comes down to dice rolls, there is a surprising feel of realism here.

This is a game that gained a lot of love with the second play through, and is a game that might not be top-five of 2019 by year's end, but I suspect I consider its inclusion.

Check it out at triton-noir.com

Thanks to fellow gamers Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.

Sometimes the 'fluff' that accompanies a game's ruleset just grabs you.

"You, traveller, have been chosen to play The Game, and ancient artefact of terrible power that can twist reality and call forth horrors from the past to test its players. You now sit at the table before Kallas, the current master of The Game, to play for his entertainment and your life.

"You enter the fray with only a rusty axe and the most basic of skills. Trace the steps of your past and explore the vast lands of the kingdom. Hone your abilities, outwit your opponents, and slay the greatest of foes in order to claim the title of Hero."

Welcome to Hand of Fate: Ordeals an adventure deck-building game for one-to-four players that can be played in competitive or cooperative modes.

As regular readers will recall a deck-building game is a card game where construction of a deck is a key focus of gameplay. Readers will also recognize this is one of the Meeple Guild's favoured game mechanics.

Each player begins with a deck of 10 basic cards, consisting of resource generating cards, and then throughout the game they use the resource cards to perform actions, or to purchase additional cards to add to their deck.

Acquired cards are typically placed in the player's discard pile. When the draw deck is depleted, all cards in the player's discard pile are shuffled to form their new (larger) deck.

In specific terms Hand of Fate: Ordeals is a deck-building game where adventurers fight monsters and acquire treasures on their quest to obtain the most fame. If this sounds a lot like the role playing game (RPG) Dungeons & Dragons, it is not surprising as this deckbuilder holds a lot in common with D&D.

Each Adventurer starts with a basic set of cards that allows them to move and fight. Better cards will be acquired throughout the game, allowing you to move farther, or fight better. It is much like gaining experience in an RPG.

"Players will move around the board, revealing and interacting with Encounter cards, until they defeat the Royalty of that level, starting with the Jack on Level1. This will cause the board to advance to a new level and a new set of Encounter cards," details the rules.

"Defeat the Queen of Level2, and finally the King of Level 3, to finish the game. The player who has gained the most Fame will be crowned 'The Hero'."

There is a lot of like here, starting with the artwork. From the box top to the game board to the cards, and even the card backs, the art is simply outstanding. It is not the most detailed in the work, being more old manuscript illustration in style, but it works here.

Players get a miniature to move around, not super detailed, but a nice touch.

And the moving around is a key feature. Like a role-playing character, you move from place to place seeking to find and buy neat things. Along the way you may encounter some bad guys which often you can chose to fight, or to simply ignore.

For a long time RPGer who grew disillusioned with the homogenization of D&D fifth edition, Hand of Fate does a fine job of scratching the itch of at times missing a fantasy RPG.

The RPG elements, the pleasing artistic aesthetics and the rather straight forward game play all make this one an easy game to recommend.

Check it out at www.handoffateordeals.com

Thanks to fellow gamers Jeff Chasse, Trevor Lyons and Adam Daniels for their help in running through this game for review.