Cosmic horror, pocket-sized. In Lovecraft Letter, you’ll draw 1, play 1, and decide whether to stay sane for steady powers or go insane for wild effects—and risk elimination. Quick turn demo shows how sanity vs. insanity changes your choices.
#boardgames #review #emberleaf If you'd like to support thoughtful and responsible board game media, consider donating to us on https://patreon.com/nopunincluded
Our board game podcast is called Talk Cardboard which you can find on your podcast devices or our website https://nopunincluded.com
We couldn't get our hands on this title in 2024, but we were finally able to get it to the table - over, and over, and over again. This one surprised us both, and might just be the Red Raven game that unites us....
Timestamps:
00:00 🎲 Introduction
00:15 🎨Theme
00:58 ⚙️Mechanics
02:04 ☁️How it Feels to Play
06:52 🎯What Surprised Us
09:45 🛠 What We'd Change
12:57 ✅ Is it Shelfworthy?
Thanks for stopping by! We're Amy & Maggie aka ThinkerThemer. We're an Australian couple with two very different perspectives of what makes a great board game - Amy (Thinker) is all about the mechanics and enjoys tight, competitive games, and Maggie (Themer) is all about the storytelling and the theme of the game, and the 'world' that the designer is trying to create. Subscribe to our channel to hear us talk about these two elements of a game, and how well integrated we feel these are in delivering a cohesive and wonderful game experience.
#boardgames #tabletopgames #thinkerthemer ❤🏳️🌈🇦🇺
Whales are sky taxis now, and you’re using them to sling goods around floating islands while trying to build outposts and out-hustle rivals in just four rounds. Every move feels like choosing between treasure and trash because the action you really want? Yeah, it’s the one you had to discard.
It’s tight, it’s crunchy, and it’s way meaner than it looks. Network building, resource juggling, and sky-whale betrayals all packed into a fast little package that’ll leave you saying, “Just one more game.”
So, apparently being a Meerkat queen isn’t just about looking cute while standing on your back legs. In Meerkat Kingdoms, it’s all cutthroat desert politics. You’re rolling dice, placing meeples, and battling not just snakes, eagles, and hyenas, but also your “friends” who suddenly think they’re the Beyoncé of the Kalahari. And yeah, if you tie on control of a spot, nobody gets it. Congrats, now the hyenas win.
It’s light on rules but sneaky in strategy. You’ll think you’ve locked down that sweet patch of desert until your rival plops down a meeple and wrecks your whole plan. Toss in some secret objectives and suddenly you’re side-eyeing everyone like it’s a meerkat soap opera. Fast, scrappy, and just mean enough to make you laugh, this is the only time I’ll fight for dominance in the Kalahari without sunscreen.
Tanglewoods: Red is the core box for the 20 Strong system, dropping you into a dark forest where the Big Bad Wolf and his pack are hunting you down. Armed with 20 dice and some questionable decision-making skills, you’ll face challenges, manage gold, and try to reach grandma’s cabin before becoming wolf chow. It’s Little Red Riding Hood, but with way more dice and way less chill.
Realm of Reckoning throws you into a shattered afterlife where five rival factions fight to reshape what power even means. Each turn you’ll draft action cards, collect artifacts, and trigger reckonings. Big clashes that drain resources but let winners rewrite the victory conditions. Build monuments, reclaim relics, and twist the rules in your favor as the ages unfold.
It’s part area control, part engine building, and part “make the rules up as you go.” Across three ages, every choice nudges how the afterlife will be scored, so your path to victory is never the same twice. At the end of the third age, one faction claims dominance, and everyone else fades into ghostly obscurity.
Project L is that effortlessly cool friend—easy to teach, easy to love. Perfect for game night with literally anyone. But THEN Square One shows up… and it’s giving post-breakup glow-up. Same puzzle vibes, but a whole new level of satisfying.
General Orders: Sengoku Jidai takes the tight, cutthroat worker-placement system of General Orders: WWII and drops it into 16th-century Japan. Two daimyo square off, deploying commanders to seize forts, choke supply lines, and unleash siege weapons across two battle maps. With ships, waterways, and brutal new tactics in play, it’s a compact 2-player showdown that mixes wargame tension with sharp, brain-burny decision-making. Osprey Games (Part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc) have kindly sponsored this video.
Get ready to race against the clock in Holiday Hills, where you’ll team up with a human and an elf to decorate Jingle Bell Square for the Winter Festival! 🛷🎁 Collect dice presents, fill up your tree with festive decorations, and deliver joy to the town in this delightful holiday puzzle game! But hurry – there’s only ONE lap around the town before the snow falls! ❄️🎄 Will you be the first to complete your tree and earn the Key to the City? Or will your opponents steal the spotlight with their dazzling display of holiday cheer? 🎉 Find out in this perky, fast-paced holiday adventure!
In this video I compare side-by-slide, with commentary, two editions of the classic Dominique Ehrhard game Condottiere: The Eurogames/Descartes edition from the late 90s or early 00s (not sure exactly) and the most recent edition, Z-Man from 2018.
There are a number of editions floating around, and probably the most common one to find used in English is the 2007 edition from Fantasy Flight. I'd strongly suggest avoiding that as it changed the rules. The rules of Z-Man are also changed, but at least it comes with a way to play the classic way out of the box.
Board Gems highlights older board and card games that are still great games today, and deserve to not be forgotten!
We LOVE Tokyo Game Market and the Spring 2025 (May) convention was as spectacular as always. It felt as though the hit rate was really high this year - it was a joy playing through the 50+ games we bought (even though it took us a very long time hehe). This video showcases our top 10, which are all wonderful games. We hope you enjoy this list. A&M xo
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:05 Number 10
02:58 Number 9
05:40 Number 8
09:25 Number 7
12:30 Number 6
14:54 Number 5
18:01 Number 4
21:09 Number 3
24:48 Number 2
28:49 Number 1
33:07 Games we thought would make our top 10 but didn't...
35:03 Quirkiest games
38:46 Wrap up
Thanks for stopping by! We're Amy & Maggie aka ThinkerThemer. We're an Australian couple with two very different perspectives of what makes a great board game - Amy (Thinker) is all about the mechanics and enjoys tight, competitive games, and Maggie (Themer) is all about the storytelling and the theme of the game, and the 'world' that the designer is trying to create. Subscribe to our channel to hear us talk about these two elements of a game, and how well integrated we feel these are in delivering a cohesive and wonderful game experience.
#boardgames #tabletopgames #thinkerthemer #ゲームマーケット春2025 #東京ゲームマーケット #ゲームマーケット ❤🏳️🌈🇦🇺
Join me for an exciting hybrid stream where I sit down with designer Wolfgang Klein to talk about Assault Sicily ’43: Gela Beachhead, and then jump straight into a fast-paced demo of the game!
Set during the 1943 Allied landings at Gela, this tactical wargame puts you in charge of combined arms across 40 gripping scenarios—ranging from isolated beach assaults to a sprawling dynamic campaign. With modular geomorphic maps, a unique formation–card driven system, and a bespoke dice mechanic, every battle unfolds with high tension, deep decision-making, and cinematic flair.
We’ll explore the game’s design principles, its storytelling ambitions, and then showcase how the systems work in practice— from landing waves to firing squad engagements. Whether you're new to tactical ops or a seasoned grognard hunting for jewel-like gameplay, don’t miss this revealing and action-packed session.
If you would like to donate to Drive Thru Games, you can use the "Thanks" button under the video, or please check out the Gamefound Pledge Manager - https://tinyurl.com/2p8tbhpu
Intro (00:00);
game overview (01:47);
final thoughts and review (11:06);
This time last year I went to a friend's cottage, and recorded one of three mailbag episodes. This year, as I prepared to visit that same cottage again, I realised that I never finished answering all the questions I received! So, here they are: The last Q&A of 2024. Only eight-plus months late. 😔
00:00 Intro ▶️
00:53 Most intriguing gem? 🤔
02:45 Most wanted but hard to find gem? 🔎
05:22 What designer deserves more recognition? 📣
08:06 What designer you wish still made games? 🔚
10:56 Games from only one designer for rest of life? 🧓
12:15 Most want to see on virtualtabletop.io? 🛜
15:55 Heavy game? Small-box game? Unexpectedly good game? 🧑🧑🧒🧒
Board Gems highlights older board and card games that are still great games today, and deserve to not be forgotten!
At PunchedCon earlier this year, Pierre Vagneur-Jones and I sat down with Mark Benson and Alan Hardy for an After Action Report of an epic Commands & Colors: Napoleonics Grande Battles game. A fully customised game on the battle of Waterloo, complete with hand-built terrain and beautifully upgraded components!
Mark and Alan share how they created this incredible setup, why they tour UK conventions with it, and how it’s helping to bring new players into the world of wargaming. We also recount the key moments of our battle, from daring cavalry charges to the final desperate stands.
Timestamps:
00:00 🎲 Introduction
00:26 🎨Theme
01:06 ⚙️Mechanics
02:17 ☁️How it Feels to Play
08:07 🎯What Surprised Us
08:37 🛠 What We'd Change
11:53 ✅ Is it Shelfworthy?
Thanks for stopping by! We're Amy & Maggie aka ThinkerThemer. We're an Australian couple with two very different perspectives of what makes a great board game - Amy (Thinker) is all about the mechanics and enjoys tight, competitive games, and Maggie (Themer) is all about the storytelling and the theme of the game, and the 'world' that the designer is trying to create. Subscribe to our channel to hear us talk about these two elements of a game, and how well integrated we feel these are in delivering a cohesive and wonderful game experience.
#boardgames #tabletopgames #thinkerthemer ❤🏳️🌈🇦🇺
If you would like to donate to Drive Thru Games, you can use the "Thanks" button under the video, or please check out the Gamefound Pledge Manager - https://tinyurl.com/2p8tbhpu
Intro (00:00);
game overview (01:55);
final thoughts and review (23:19);
Timestamps:
00:00 🎲 Introduction
00:35 🎨Theme
01:00 ⚙️Mechanics
03:26 ☁️How it Feels to Play
09:45 🎯What Surprised Us
11:57 🛠 What We'd Change
14:30 ✅ Is it Shelfworthy?
Thanks for stopping by! We're Amy & Maggie aka ThinkerThemer. We're an Australian couple with two very different perspectives of what makes a great board game - Amy (Thinker) is all about the mechanics and enjoys tight, competitive games, and Maggie (Themer) is all about the storytelling and the theme of the game, and the 'world' that the designer is trying to create. Subscribe to our channel to hear us talk about these two elements of a game, and how well integrated we feel these are in delivering a cohesive and wonderful game experience.
#boardgames #tabletopgames #thinkerthemer ❤🏳️🌈🇦🇺
Anmelden
