Dale Yu: Review of Arkham Horror: Lovecraft Letter

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Dale Yu

Arkham Horror: Lovecraft Letter

  • Designer: Seiji Kanai
  • Publisher: Z-man
  • Players: 2-6
  • Age: 14+
  • Time: 15-30 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3Ysxjje
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Step into the eerie town of Arkham with Arkham Horror: Lovecraft Letter, a chilling twist on the classic deduction card game. Delve into the madness of the Lovecraftian universe as you face eldritch horrors and uncover allies tainted with madness in this gripping battle of wits. Can you maintain your sanity and outwit Cthulhu, or will you succumb to the creeping darkness that lurks within?

Arkham Horror: Lovecraft Letter is a game of push-your-luck, deduction, and risk for 2-6 players that uses the award-winning Love Letter system. Arkham Horror: Lovecraft Letter is played over a series of rounds. Each round, you collect clues to investigate an eldritch mystery while trying to hold onto your sanity—or embracing the horror  The card in your hand represents the clue you’re currently investigating. Each turn, you draw 1 new card, then play 1 of your 2 cards. Playing certain cards will drive you Insane, which gives you access to powerful Insane effects on cards you play but also forces you to make a Sanity check each turn to see if you break down completely.  This is an updated version of the popular Lovecraft Letter with Gameplay and visuals that are reimagined for Arkham Horror.

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Alison Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2025 (Part 8)

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Dale Yu

Alison Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2025 (Part 8)

There are a few in my gaming group who really enjoy It’s A Wonderful World. Which is unfortunate – they’re now only able to play it if I’m playing something else as it’s drawn my permanent veto. It starts as a simple card drafting game 7 Wonders style. Draft 7 cards, chuck some for their insta-resource to help build other cards which will boost production, which at end of round should allow you to build yet more card if you’ve planned properly and got lucky with the draft. Repeat for 4 rounds. As the rounds progress it gets more challenging to keep track of how all the production chain reactions are going to work out, and exactly how many resources you’re going to get at each stage. That’s the challenge. It slows the game down. The other problem is you either draw into the big-scoring cards that match your engine or you lose – which becomes more obvious and more irritating with each play. It’s now a 6 and dropping.

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Solo Gaming 2025: The First Four Months

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Mark Jackson

I’ve been writing these solo gaming reports since March of 2020… yes, early on in the pandemic. This new era of well-designed automata and solo modes for multiplayer games, coupled with excellent new solo game designs, is actually quite heartening to someone (me!) who finds something really satisfying about physically playing a game: shuffling cards, moving pieces, seeing it all spread out in front of you.

Solo gaming is now a decent-sized chunk of my gaming experiences – while I still play a lot of games with friends and family, 33% of my gaming in the first four months of 2025 was solo. For comparison, the yearly total for 2024 was 31%, 2023 was 20%, 2022 was 22%, 2021 was 33%, 2020 was 19%, and 2019 was 6%. With both of my sons well-established in new locations (UT Chattanooga for the younger, Huntsville AL for the older) as well as the crazy pace of my work schedule each spring, it certainly looks like this nearly 1/3 of my gaming is likely to settle in as solo play.

So, what follows are my thoughts on the twenty-five (25) different solo games I’ve played so far in 2025 – ordered by the number of times I’ve played them. (Note: this is not necessarily how much I like a particular game for solo play – for example, I think Voidfall is an excellent solo game design but I haven’t played it [yet!] in 2025.)

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Heroscape News: Zed Nesbitt Soars into View Whilst The Good Folks At Renegade Deal With Tariffs

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Mark Jackson

Welcome, Heroscape friends (and those who don’t play/collect the game but actually like reading my oddball takes on board games laced with pop culture references and other nonsense)! We’ve got two items to deal with today.

First, I’ll give a quick review/recommendation about Air Marshall Zed Nesbitt, the newest BIG figure that releases this month. Second, we’ll talk a little bit about tariffs and the workaround (of sorts) for summer 2025 Herospace releases from our friends at Renegade Game Studios. It’s a distinct possibility that I may insert a bit of personal political opinion into the second discussion. 

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Dale Yu: Review of Azul Duel

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Dale Yu

Azul Duel

  • Designer:  Michael Kiesling
  • Publisher: Next Move
  • Players: 2
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 45
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4jnZiZA
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Decorate the magnificent ceilings of the palace. Will the vaults look more beautiful by day or by night? Azul Duel invites you to play with light and pit opposites against each other.

This competitive strategic game for two players retains the purity and elegance of the original Azul while adding an extra tactical dimension in which you determine the pattern in which tiles will be placed, in addition to drafting tiles to complete that pattern.

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Dale Yu: Review of Air, Land & Sea: Critters at War

Posted on April 29, 2025 by Dale Yu

Air, Land & Sea: Critters at War

  • Designer: Jon Perry
  • Publisher: Arcane Wonders
  • Players: 2
  • Age: 14+
  • Time: 20 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/41ZK9ql
  • Amazon affiliate link: (expansion)  https://amzn.to/4l2xDyV
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

As Supreme Commander of your country’s military forces in Air, Land, & Sea, you must carefully deploy your forces across three theaters of war: air, land, and sea. At the start of each battle, you’re dealt a hand of six cards. Players take turns playing cards one at a time, until all cards have been played — or one player decides to withdraw. The order in which you play your cards is critical, as is whether you play them face up or face down. Playing a card face up triggers its tactical ability, but the card must be played in its corresponding theater. Face-down cards can be played to any theater, but have a strength of only 2 and do not grant tactical abilities.

Sometimes, it may be best to withdraw in order to deny your opponent complete victory as points are awarded at the end of each battle based on the results. The first player to 12 points wins!  Air, Land, & Sea: Critters at War features the same gameplay as in Air, Land, & Sea, but with 100% critters and more vibrant colors.

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