Dale Yu: Review of Mesos

Mesos

  • Designer: Yaniv Kahana, Simone Luciani 
  • Publisher: Cranio
  • Players: 2-5
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 30-50 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3C0yJZO 
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Thousands of years ago, a new era was beginning for humankind. The nomadic hunter-gatherers who had laboriously earned their place on Earth organized into small groups, differentiating social roles, building the first settlements, and initiating a great revolution. Scientists call this period “Mesolithic”, and this game talks about those people.

In MESOS, you are the leader of an ancient tribe, and as such, your role is to nurture the growth of your tribe by adding new members, ensuring its sustenance, constructing buildings, and addressing unfolding events. Each round, you must place your totem pawn on the offer track, then following the pawns’ order on the track, you will acquire character or building cards and add them to your tribe. Each card has specific effects and may earn prestige points (PP) as you construct specialized buildings and prepare wisely for the events you will face.  Whoever manages to bring the most prestige to their tribe wins.

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Alison Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2025 (Part 2)

Alison Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2025 (Part 2)

I pulled out a golden-oldie in Trajan (a Feld from years past) the other night having not played it for 9 years. The reason for the hiatus was that I remembered it as rules-heavy and therefore too much effort to get back to the table. But compared to the 20, 30, 40-page rule sets of the big heavy Euros that have flooded my game shelves over the last few years, Trajan’s rules are now positively mid-weight in comparison. We got the game up and going in 15 minutes or so (which was refreshing) and the bonus was it felt like a new game to all of us. The good news is that the game held up well and is still enjoyable. I love that moment of joy when you get the brain-burny mancala mechanic set up just right so that all your desired actions are available together with synergy bonuses.

 

In other gaming, recent new-to-me games included …

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Dale Yu: Review of Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei

  • Designer: Tomas Holek
  • Publisher: Pink Troubador
  • Players: 1-4
  • Age: 13+
  • Time: 60 minutes
  • Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4oOPwDd
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

“And yet it moves”, he said.

Galileo Galilei is a Euro-style game in which you take on the role of an astronomer who will discover new planets, find unknown star systems, develop their telescope, and make a scientific breakthrough in the difficult ages of obscurantism.

Use your telescope to select one of the five actions available, with you being able to evolve these actions into better ones. Collect cards of different planets and star systems. Collect lenses of the three main colors to make a discovery. Be wary of inquisitors as they might arrive unwelcomed and ruin your fame in no time. Better find a way to profit from their visit instead.

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Dale Yu: Review of Polaris

Polaris

  • Designer: Simone Luciani and Andrea Mainini
  • Publisher: Fractal Juegos
  • Players: 2-4
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 40-50 min
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

Looking north, you see a bright star that doesn’t change its position as the night goes on… It’s the star at the north pole: Polaris.  In Polaris, you’ll have to position your Stars in the night sky to form constellations and accomplish the game’s objectives. 5 scoring phases will be played, which will get shorter and shorter, where the different moon phases will be vital to know where you can place your stars in each of them. On your turn, you’ll only have to perform one of three possible actions: Draw Cards, Play Cards, or Take Shooting Stars. Whoever earns the most Victory Points at the end of the game will win. Contemplation of the night sky has been an essential part of our culture on this planet. Its constellations have brought us together since our dawn to tell the great stories that define us.

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Dale Yu: Review of Die Trodler aus den Highlands

Die Trodler aus den Highlands

  • Designer: Carlo Rossi
  • Publisher: Zoch
  • Players: 2-4
  • Age: 10+
  • Time: 45 minutes
  • Played with review copy provided by publisher

”Isn‘t there any vase here?“ The mayor of Cragganmore is upset. Certainly, the neighbors from Knockando and Macallan have once again kept all the vases for themselves! And now you are even getting short of chairs for the festive banquet! Good thing that there are traveling dealers in the Highlands who transport such indispensable items from one village to another. No mountain trail is too steep for them, no moor path too muddy, and no ferry too unsafe. Only with a feel for passable routes can they get where they can pick up or deliver something. If you dawdle, you will be left stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere with your bric-a-brac. Now then… get a move on!

As second-hand dealers from the Highlands, players travel from village to village to collect and sell goods because what is useless old junk for one person is very useful old junk for another — and therefore worth its weight in gold.

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Thorgal: The Board Game

Thorgal front cover

Thorgal: the Board Game

Designers: Joanna Kijanka, Jan Maurycy Święcicki, Rafał Szyma

Artists: Maciej Simiński, Frédéric Vignaux

Publisher: Portal Games

Players: 1-4

Age: 14+

Time: 90-120 minutes

Played with review copy provided by the publisher

Do you want to go on a co-op adventure where each player has true agency? If so, read on. 

Do you like optimization puzzles? If so, read on.

Do you like Thorgal, the Franco-Belgian graphic novel series that started in 1977 in Tintin Magazine (Think a Conan-type character in a heroic Viking fantasy setting)? If so, read on.

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