Archive 3. August 2018

Recently, Iron Curtain has been played a lot at our place. It's almost like a Twilight Struggle as a microgame. 18 cards, a few wooden dice and off you go. Each card can be used for 1-4 (depending on the card) influence dice or for their event, generally it's about influence in countries and regions of the world. And it's impressive how much game depth has been packed into this small box and the little material. Definitely a lot of fun to play. The game is by the same creators as 13 Days, which we also really enjoyed.

Ethnos had been on my wishlist for a while, and I eventually bought it because I wanted a relatively easy-to-explain game for up to 6 players that I can play with any group. Not a long explanation, catchy gameplay (it reminds me a bit of Ticket to Ride, but here influence markers are placed in a country instead of trains on a map) and quick to play. Even with 6 players, we usually finish in one to one and a half hours. And it's really fun. Of course, due to the game concept, you are - just like in Ticket to Ride - strongly dependent on what you draw. But with tactical skill and attention, you can still wrestle a rough direction from chance. The different factions that appear in the game can be freely assembled from 6 out of 12, which can drastically change the game - having Halflings in the game feels completely different (suddenly everyone plays very large combat groups) than, for example, Centaurs (everyone wants some because you can play two or more combat groups). Elves and wizards keep your hands full, dwarves reduce the combat group sizes for points. Very fun and despite the variability, easy to explain.