Boards & Dice Reviews

More and more I am searching for fun board games that me and my wife can play. I randomly came across this game, and must say it is super fun. It is also very small, so easy to pack in when we go camping! The only downside for me is that even though there is strategy involved, once you've played it multiple times there are some hard to beat strategies. But all in all I would recommend it, kept us busy for hours!

This was just what I needed. I haven't played since 2014 and was gifted a starter deck. That, along with what I had from my 2014 days, was good enough for me to barely make a commander deck. That which I couldn't use from the booster I was able to trade for other strong cards within my community. The cards I could use were amazing additions to my deck and the feel of ripping a booster pack open is always extremely gratifying!

The Matte Jet finish is a superb choice if you enjoy the colour black but don't wish for your deck to look monotonous. The finish reminds me of what fresh grip-tape used to look like on my skateboard, minus the coarse texture of course, and has a great shuffle feel to it! Would recommend it, ★★★★★.

The colours on the deck shell look even better in person, would recommend it if you're a fan of dragon art or awesome-looking illustrations in general.

Feels high quality, popping colours and durable. Felt a bit thin at first compared to others, but has not shown any signs of wear and tear for months. Good product.

I enjoy this game as a light adventure. You build your character over three stages or chapters by obtaining cards which grant you certain abilities. At the end of the 3rd chapter there is a boss fight who you face with your developed abilities. The art on the cards is stunning and the overall production is excellent. The game might feel a bit too easy as a solo game but with a few houserules you can change the difficulty to suit your own preferences. The expansions add even more stunning cards and the replayability is high due to the huge amount of cards. Recommended as a light storytelling adventure.

If you haven't played Gloomhaven in a while this is a much easier way to wrap your head around some of the rules before you head back to the big box. I find that the monster movement description in Jaws is clearer to understand. It also has a nice campaign on its own which I'm enjoying quite a lot. Theres a couple elements of the big box not in the game, but if you don't have a lot of campaign time this will still take a long time to play and give you the same feeling of progression.

This is great engine building game that is very accessible and easy to understand. The artwork on the cards is brilliant and the little facts about each card makes is very interesting.

The game rules can be a bit overwhelming when reading it but once you start playing it can be easy to follow and it can be easily picked up by anyone. Learning to play the specific objectives is a big part of the game and there are enough changing objectives for each game to be unique.

I really enjoy Catan the base game (and have played it hours on hours), this expansion definitely adds a new depth to the game. With this expansion there are more avenues you can take to win, even if you are unfortunate with your dice rolls for 1/3 of the game. Highly addictive!

These are a really nice addition to my commander sets. The sleeves are the same durability and quality as the plain sleeves. Very nice.

Easy to teach and easy to learn. My 72 year old father and 10 year old nephew both enjoy this game a lot. Its a simple, fun miniature skirmish game with enough tactical thought that keeps everyone guessing and on the edge. Theres little luck involved as there are no dice and your success comes down do effective hand management and anticipating your opponents' plans (and hoping yours works). Recommended for players who prefer low-level conflict and high-level group fun.

These tins seems to generally have a really good pull rate.

They come with a coin, a special card relating to the Pokemon on the tin.

What a fantastic little two-player card game that doesn't absolutely suck. Air, Land & Sea creates a clever little puzzle for you and your opponent to solve with just six cards each. The battlefield changes with every playthrough, and the game constantly forces you to decide to push forward with your advance, or withdraw and give your opponent less than they would've got otherwise. Great game. Easy to learn and fun to play. Will definitely get the noodle working.

Raru Admin Note:
Unfortunately COVID-19 has disrupted some of our import deliveries to the degree where it is not always possible to give as accurate ETAs as we would like to be able to. We expect things to take a good while still before we see any hint of a more regular import process if import delivery items. We do most sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.

Unfortunately, my ordering experience was shockingly bad. Ordered on 2 December 2020 and only ended up getting the game delivered on 12 March 2021 - more than three months later. Raru customer support wasn't very helpful in giving me a timeline once they realised they'd sold me a copy and the supplier wasn't able to deliver on time. I was offered a refund, thankfully, but a bit more communicate without me having to prompt for it would have been nice.

Great game, nearly ruined by bad customer support.

Jarl Edition (contains Valhalla and Dark Mountain expansions): Enjoyable ameritrash game, with euro elements, and several option to mitigation luck of dice rolls and events. Prefer to play at a higher player count. Best with both expansions included.

Work placement, auction and city building game with high player interaction and interesting choices. Several strategies to follow based on the tiles up for auctions. Streamlines and scales well with all player counts.

Enjoy the deduction/elimination and worker placement combo. Works well with all player counts, but doesn’t get to the table often because of the weight.

I am going to register some mild disagreement with 'Wiehan T''s review of Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu.

Full disclosure: I do not own the game, but a member of my games group does. That means that I have played fewer games of Reign of Cthulhu than the other implementations of Pandemic. In my view, Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu is great at what it aims to accomplish, but I would not rank it higher than base Pandemic or Pandemic: Fall of Rome, Iberia or Rising Tide.

All the cultists who replace disease cubes are of one type (i.e. you do not have four different diseases or five different barbarian tribes as in Pandemic or Fall of Rome). Overall, the game is quicker and a fraction lighter than the other Pandemics. However, it is brooding and dark. Ill omens and bad luck can dog your steps - which is what Cthulhu games should do. It is far less luck driven than other Cthulhu games like Eldritch Horror or Elder Sign. So as far as Cthulhu games go, it's great. As far as Pandemic games go, it is a little lighter and quicker. If you want a darker, broodier feel for your Pandemic game, this is great. But I would not say it is better than base Pandemic or the other Pandemics - only different. Fall of Rome is, to me, more immersive.

Adds new dynamics and engine building ability; makes for a more interesting game with higher scores. More fun overall, and allows you to play more birds!

This game's concept is so easy yet it is so challenging. Try to get to know the other players and how they think while also trying to get them to know how you think, all without saying a word and keeping a straight face. It's brilliant fun, quick and easy to learn and challenging enough to play over and over again.

Love how it perfectly fits my cards. Makes it easy to double sleeve them.

The 'ultra-snug' description had me all psyched up. However, these sleeves do not actually fit the cards much more tightly than the normal green Mayday 63.5x88mm sleeves. Maybe my particular pack was just a little wonky. Don't get me wrong. The sleeves are still fine. But they were not much tighter. I would still go for the normal green Mayday or the 125% thicker sleeves.

These perfect fit size sleeves, is on top on my list.
Specially for a precise fit for most of the 63mm x 88mm cards.
That is what it is ment to be: A Perfect Fit.

A Viking themed set with many fun mechanics. Always fun to open a pack of these whenever I buy one.

Great board game that many skip out on. Worth a play with anyone who enjoys anime and its surrounding culture.

Love it. A bird engine building game. Beautiful fun and engaging! Maybe a bit heavy gor some family members but most people will enjoy it.