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Java (2-4 Players; 120 Minutes) £27.99
The second in the Kramer-Kiesling Tikal series; this time your precious action points are spent raising the status of your village and throwing festivals for the neighbours. Also vaguely reminiscent of that other award winning 2K team up - Torres. Buy it, and the only scowling faces you'll see will be the one on the box! 8/10
Jenga (2-8 Players; 20 Minutes) £6.99
Jenga: Extreme (2-8 Players; 20 Minutes) £12.99
Jenga: Truth or Dare (2-8 Players; 20 Minutes) £9.99
Balancing games. You either love them, or if like me you have the dexterity of a drunken walrus, you'll wind up praying that someone else stuffs it up before you do. The original social balancing and block removing game now comes in two additional flavours. 7/10
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Kahuna (2 Players; 20 Minutes) £14.99
Collect the islands by means of bridges, which have a tendancy to vanish as your opponent gets the upper hand. Have you got what it takes to be a big kahuna? 7/10
Kids of Catan (2-4 Players; 15-30 Minutes) £29.99
Look - it was just inevitable that this would happen. But this children's version of Catan is more than just a cut down version. The wooden pieces look like regular building blocks, so its easy to get your four year old into 'adult' gaming without too many obstacles. 5/10 for gameplay, 9/10 if you're just starting a family to go with that extensive games collection!
Kill Doctor Lucky (2-8 Players; 45 Minutes) £4.99
Now that gamers seem quite happy to pay £14.99 for a Fantasy Flight boxed boardgame it looks like the Cheapass Age has finally passed. But it's worth remembering at least some of their greatest hits - like this humouress take off of Cluedo, in which you play Dr Lucky's greedy relations trying and bump the old codger off to inherit his wealth. You'll need to scrounge up many of your own components, but it's well worth the tiny price tag. 8/10
Kingdoms 2nd Edition (2-4 Players; 60 Minutes) £16.99
This was Reiner Knizia's first foray for Fantasy Flight, a US version of his 1994 hit Auf Heller und Pfennig with more of a fantasy tweak. Very good, and more than a little tactical (what a surprise!) 8/10
King's Gate (2-4 Players; 30 Minutes) £14.99
Yet another Knizia/Fantasy Flight collaboration; increase your influence at court by surrounding key locations with buildings you control. But watch out for the Dragon, who can rain down fire and destroy your best laid plans. 7/10
Knightmare Chess 2nd Edition (2 Players; 60 Minutes) £11.99
Knightmare Chess 2 £11.99
Here's something that would make Big Blue's circuits fry. Great fun if you sort of like Chess but always thought it would be better with real monsters like that game they play in Star Wars, or if you're idea of an opening Gambit is the New Avengers pre-credit sequence. 7/10, subtract one per grand master you've beaten in a tournament.
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La Strada (2-4 Players; 45 Minutes) £23.99
I guess all roads really do lead to Rome. After all the train sims from Mayfair Games and Martin Wallace, it was inevitable that sooner or later they'd team up. But the result has no trains in site. Instead you play rival road builders and traders connecting Italian villages together. The more roads connect a village, the less points its worth because of greater competition. Extremely clever; the gameplay will keep you guessing who's in the lead until the very end. 8/10
Liberte (3-6 Players; 120 Minutes) £27.99
Forget Egalite - it's every revolutionary for himself in Martin Wallace's game recreating the turbulent political period from 1789 to Bonaparte's coup in 1799. Another Wallace classic - will you back the Radicals, Moderates or Royalists for victory, or find yourself having a short back and sides courtesy of Madame Guillotine? 9/10
Loco! (2-5 Players; 30 Minutes) £5.99
No, Reiner Knizia isn't churning out hundreds of games each year (just dozens) Play a card, take a chip, score chips when one colour has all six cards on it. Previously known as Flinke Pinke, which I realise sounds like a Fast Show catchphrase. 6/10
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Lord of the Rings (2-5 Players; 60 Minutes) £34.99
Lord of the Rings Expansion 1: Friends & Foes £18.99
Lord of the Rings Expansion 2: Sauron (3-6 Players) £18.99
Experience all the highs and lows of Tolkiens epic trilogy in this astoundingly beautiful game from artist John Howe and game god Reiner Knizia. Collaborative gameplay pits your hobbits against the very board itself to determine victory. A work of genius, but the Sauron expansion (in which one player takes on the role of Mr Conjunctivitis himself) was probably a supplement too far in terms of complexity. 9/10, but only 7/10 for Sauron.
Lord of the Rings Childrens Game (2-5 Players; 30 Minutes) £19.99
Aimed strictly at the junior players, here's one Reiner Knizia race to reach Mount Doom that even the youngest members of the family can participate in. Watch out for Shelob and the flying Nazgul. Recommended. 7/10
Lord of the Rings: Confrontation (2 Players; 60 Minutes) £14.99
Incredibly tactical game featuring Stratego-like block movements and limited hand card play. If the world already didn't kniow it, this game would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Reiner is a game designing genius. Very highly recommended. 10/10.
Lord of the Rings: The Duel (2 Players; 45 Minutes) £14.99
Great components really distinguish this game of the confrontation between Gandalf and the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad Dum. Repeat after me: "You... Shall... Not... Pass!" £14.99
Lord of the Rings Monopoly
Lord of the Rings Risk
Lord of the Rings Stratego
Lord of the Rings Trivia Game (2-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £29.99
Another great collaboration between Fantasy Flight and the Tolkien Estate, but if you don't know how many buttons are on Tom Bombadil's waistcoat, don't even go to the advanced level! 6/10, add a point if you like the films, add another if you've recently read the books and a third if you actually are Professor Tolkien himself (but not even he would get some of the questions!)
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Lost Cities (2 Players; 20 Minutes) £14.99
I've been writing these mini reviews in alphabetical order, and it can get pretty frustrating when you keep having to type the phrase 'another Reiner Knizia classic'. But this really is. If there's a better two player card game with a board on the planet, I've yet to play it. So simple, yet so deep - just when you think you're about to win, your opponent beats you by a whisker. Outfit archaeological expeditions to all the places Time Team only dream about. 10/10.
Lunar Rails (2-6 Minutes; 240 Minutes) £27.99
You know the drill by now; it's Empire Builder - on the Moon! Since the Moon is spherical, you can even build your tracks off the edge of the map and on again the other side. The sci fi trappings might not suit every train buff on the planet, but it's certainly got the lunar contingent covered. 7/10
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