Kingdom Builder: Big Box (Second Edition)

EvEvanstar4.6

This game is interesting in that it's a purely tactical euro, where you opponents are trying to block you out of areas, but more often than not your true opponent is the inherent luck of the draw. Essentially, on your turn you flip a card which shows a terrain type. Then you place three houses onto hexes matching that type, placing next to previously placed things when possible. Each game there are three randomly determined victory conditions and numerous randomly distributed special ability tile locations. This serves to give the game a lot more replay-ability than a game this simple deserves. It's interesting because it's so important to have the widest possible build options at times, but then at other times, when a card flips that has a terrain that's not next to you, you can place wherever you like on that terrain type ignoring your previously placed things, which can warp you into new areas of the board you never had hope for before. It's really a fascinating tension of when to diversify the terrains you are adjacent to and when to try to tuck in. That being said, this game is very simple, yet incredibly AP prone, so be prepared for some long downtime between turns without anything to think about while you wait for it to get around to your turn again. ★ Art, Iconography and components functional ★ Clever or interesting mechanisms ☆ Reasonably low downtime between turns with mildly AP players ★ Multiple plays stay interesting ☆ Low or mitigatable luck elements ★★★★☆ Raw enjoyment

Kevin Van Loostar8.0

Super light and quick to learn, a breeze to play. A good game to introduce new players to the hobby.