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Boardgames S
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S
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Samurai (2-4 Players; 45-60 Minutes) £29.99
Reiner Knizia's hex based game of feudal Japan; rice paddies, buddhas and high hats represent farms, temples and military. Surround a city with your influence markers to gain control. Of course, this is a Reiner game so it's actually a heck of a lot more complicated than that! Great to see this classic back in print. 9/10
San Marco (3-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £19.99
At first glance you might be forgiven for thinking this was a Leo Colovini game, being set in his beloved Venice and all. But this is another Weisblum and Moon collaboration that shares more than a few similarities with Doge. Influence is again up for grabs, and aristocrats are your means to control the city. Build bridges between districts to help your aristos get where they're needed the most, and score big. If you own Doge or Inkognito, you're probably a bit too Veniced out to consider this; if you don't, then San Marco is arguable the better game of the three. 8/10.
Santa Fe Rails (2-5 Players; 60 Minutes) £36.99
Ten years after the original White Wind version comes an updated reworking of the Alan Moon classic from GMT. Still a great train game, even if it's main claim to fame was to inspire Moon's Train shares opus Union Pacific. 7/10.
Save Doctor Lucky (3-7 Players; 10 Minutes) £4.99
Well, it had to happen eventually. After several years spent trying to whack the old codger, now Cheapass try to save him. Can you gather the lifesaving items from the sinking liner before Kate Winslet and Leonardo di Caprio get there first? (Assuming you're playing with the cast of Titanic of course. Like we do every Monday when Fan Boy Three is closed!) 6/10.
Save Dr Lucky on Moon Base Copernicus (3-7 Players; 45 Minutes) £4.99
The world's luckiest Doctor turns up on the moon. Pity Copernicus is about to decompress explosively. Can you save Dr Lucky a second time? 6/10
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Scattergories (3-5 Players; 30 Minutes) £24.99
Making a list, checking it twice; now you know just how Santa feels in the original alphabetised listing game. Course, should the question be' Boardgames beginning with S' just try and memorise this web page! Another classic Hasbro party game. 5/10
Scrabble: Original (2-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £18.99
Scrabble: Deluxe (2-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £31.99
Scrabble: Junior (2-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £19.99
Scrabble: Magnetic Pocket Edition (2-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £10.99
Scrabble: Travel Scrabble Deluxe (2-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £15.99
Scrabble: Turntable £4.99
Here's my own personal ghost of Christmas boardgames past, as my family used to play Scrabble each and every Boxing Day while I was growing up. The undisputed king of the word games - unemployed architect Alfred Mosher Butts gets the credit for inventing the original back in 1948. Draw seven tiles and start thinking what word can get you Q on the Triple letter scoring square. Just make sure you always keep a dictionary (or Gyles Brandreth) on hand to settle that inevitable dispute. 8/10
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Secrets of the Tombs (3-5 Players; 30 Minutes) £24.99
This is a wierd one - a tomb exploration game complete with walking mummy - designed by Martin Wallace for the British Museum. Fans of his spielfreak games are likely to be dissappointed by this family affair, but it's perfect for budding egyptologists everywhere. 6/10 - a good solid family game.
Senjutsu (2 Players; 30 Minutes) £29.99
I'm personally going to take a bit of credit for getting this game picked up for UK distribution, as I played it at GAMA 2004 and liked what I saw. Japanese Vice-Shogun Matsumoto has just been assassinated, and in this abstract Samurai sim you play his two feuding sons who must deploy their legions of samurai, spearmen and ninja in an attempt to protect their sacred scrolls. Samurai are equipped with a stack of equipment blocks that your opponent cannot see, each of which has its own special rule. Bluff, cardplay and stategy all play their part in this absorbing game that plays like a combination of Chess and Stratego. Recommended. 8/10
Serenissima (2-4 Players; 120 Minutes) £34.99
Play one of the great trading powers in the Mediterranean in this excellent Renaissance trading game. Fill your own warehouse with precious commodities like gold, spices and jewels, or trade with your neighbours to increase your gold. But watch out - the more trade goods you carry, the less you move, and slow moving ships are dangerously vulnerable to pirates! A real classic. 8/10
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Settlers of Catan (3-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £24.99
Settlers of Catan: 5-6 Player Expansion £14.99
Settlers of Catan: Seafarers of Catan £24.99
Settlers of Catan: Seafarers 5-6 Player Expansion £14.99
Settlers of Catan: Knights & Cities £24.99
Settlers of Catan: Knights & Cities 5-6 Player Expansion £14.99
Settlers of Catan: Travel Edition £19.99
Well, this is it - the Big One. In each generation, one game comes along that will define the gaming experience for the next decade or so. The Seventies had Mastermind. The Eighties Trivial Pursuit. If there is any justice, Catan will hold the crown for the Nineties. No other game has had so much influence; gameshops whose boardgame stocks had been dwindling now have shelves stocked to the ceiling with classics by Reiner Knizia, Klaus Teuber and Wolfgang Kramer, and it's pretty much down to this one game. Learn to play it in ten minutes; you'll master it in ten games. Then the fun really begins. The modular board and random commodity production element gives every player something to do, even on someone elses turn. With the stategy elements perfectly balanced by randomness, the combination of luck, skill and negotiation make settling Catan the ideal game for introducing your non-gamer friends to the very best in German boardgames. Seafarers adds ships and breaks Catan into smaller islands, while Knights and Cities increases the complexity with city walls, pirates, cultural development and more. So highly recommended, everyone should own a copy. 10/10
Settlers of Canaan (2-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £24.99
These wierd little Biblical variants of best selling German boardgames are a curious phenomenon. Here the tribes of Israel are busy conquering Canaan and building the 'longest wall' of Jerusalem. Now you can Bible study and game at the same time! 9/10
Settlers of the Stone Age (3-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £34.99
Klaus Teuber took the Catan mechanism and crafted an all new game about the great diaspora out of Africa during the Stone Age. Spread your tribe to every corner of the earth, earning bonus points for such things as ethnic diversity and cultural development. Highly recommended. 9/10
Settlers of Zarahemla (2-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £27.99
Not content with letting the Canaanites hog all the Settlers glory, Zarahemla comes endorsed and promoted by the Mormon Church. Join the crusade of Samuel the Lamanite and bring righteousness to the Nephites of Zarahemla. By now you're either intrigued or very, very scared. 9/10.
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Snits (2-4 Players; 20-30 Minutes) £14.99
Snits are little. Bolotomuses are big. In one game, the big guys stomp on the little guys. In the other, the little guys get their revenge the way little guys do best - by invading their intestinal tract and kicking their guts in from the inside! More Seventies Tom Wham insanity from the man behind Awful Green Things. 7/10.
Spy (2-4 Players; 30-45 minutes) £11.99
Six continents, six spy tools. Report two or more cards with the same symbol to place a spy in the field, with an additional kicker equal to the number of previously deployed spies. From Reiner Knizia, so worth a look. 6/10.
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St Petersburg (2-4 Players; 90 Minutes) £22.99
A Spiele des Jahres runner up in 2004, St Petersburg is widely believed to have been the product of two industry names working anonymously. Speculation mounts, as this game of baroque palace building, intrigue and scrabbling for rubles on the banks of the River Neva continues to pick up acolades among the spielefreak community. 9/10.
Starfarers of Catan (3-4 Players; 120 Minutes) £49.99
Starfarers of Catan 5-6 Player Expansion £24.99
Whoa mama! Thats one hefty price tag you've got there. It's Catan, Jim, but not as we know it as players blast off to colonise the galaxy using unique retro spacecraft dice shakers. It's great fun, even though an early spacewarp can easily tip the balance in one player's favour too soon. But as NASA might point out, those spacecraft aren't cheap. 8/10.
Starship Catan (2 Players; 60 Minutes) £24.99
This two player Starfarers type game ditches the expensive salt shaker dice for a modular board representing your very own spacecraft. Then it's good clean Catan fun all the way. Nothing's going to stop us now! Recommended. 9/10
Star Wars: Epic Duels(2-6 Players; 30 Minutes) £29.99
Before the Star Wars Miniatures game was ever imagined, Hasbro gave us a boxed boardgame chock full of 25mm goodness that instantly became top of every Star Wars gamer's want list. It's actually a pretty quick and nifty skirmish game, where cards determine the attack and defense options for everyone from Mace Windu to Third Stormtrooper From The Left. 8/10.
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Strange Synergy (2-4 Players; 45 Minutes) £22.99
Steve Jackson games are never dull, but this pretty much takes the biscuit for chaoticness. Assemble your own team of superheroes from the 100 different power, skills, gadgets and mutation cards. Illustrated by Phil Foglio, this is one riot of a game. 7/10
Stratego: Lord of the Rings(2 Players; 30 Minutes) £24.99
The forces of good stand against the forces of evil in this bomb and block based combat to sieze each other's ring. Classic Stratego play, with a light veneering of Tolkienishness thrown in for flavour. 5/10 - however you tart it up it's still Stratego.
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