To write Flashpoin: Fire Rescue off as a Pandemic clone, or a Forbidden Island clone, is to miss the point. While both of those games and this share elements – controlling the environment through movement of pieces around a board while trying to get to the endgame – all three differ significantly enough to be fun. But what each has, in spades, is theme. Pandemic – essentially Outbreak: The Game – is probably the most...

A lot changes in a year and a bit. 15 months ago I was looking for things to enrich my life as the most desperately dull job I’ve ever had wore me slowly down. I bought an old copy of Space Crusade, then HeroQuest, then a newer game and the rest, as they say is history. This first year in the hobby has seen me pick up old interests, collect more games than I have the time to play, and learn to start painting again. I’ve met new...

  Gosh, has it really been this long? When 2012 started and this nugget of an idea settled in my head for Caution: Small Parts, I wasn’t sure exactly where it would go or take me with it. Unfortunately, just as we began to get something of a pace going the usual thing that occurs early on in every blog’s life happened here: real life. I can’t talk for any other member of the crew, but I know that I’ve been...

Saturday 26th May 2012 shall forever be known as the day I either embrace this new found hobby with both arms and a cock rub, or the day I decided I don’t actually like boardgames much at all thanksverymuchokbye. It’s pretty simple, really; I’m going to the UK Games Expo, being held in Edgbaston, Birmingham. In the UK. It’ll be the first consumer fair I’ve ever really been to. I’ve done plenty of...

New games drive me mad, so why do I keep buying them? There’s that initial rush of satisfaction as you hand over cash, the thrill of looking at the long coveted box, the joy of opening it up and punching it. All of that is swept to one side as I open the rulebook. Or even worse, the rulebooks. My latest purchases – Crossbows & Catapults, Space Alert and Red November – all suffer in different ways. They take something...

I’m moderately obsessed with Kickstarter right now, but purely for board games. I’m not sure why – there are plenty of games out already that I want, which I don’t own, but there’s something more altruistic about this type of consumerism. Though I worry that it’s eating away at revenue streams for indie retailers – we’re essentially consuming our way up the food chain – I do recognise...

was about the most entertaining – and shocking – bit of Contagion, the recent Hollywood remake of Outbreak which doesn’t really need to exist. The film as a whole was a pretty boring, cold, unemotional look at how society breaks down in the event of everyone dying of bat-pig flu. People look sternly at each other, Jude Law has a wonky tooth and strange accent and Matt Damon looks a bit chubby. I had to rewind when one...

The orc warriors fuelled their rage with the blood of the fallen, working themselves into a berserker frenzy. As they crested the hill to attack the dwarven stronghold, a lone figure stood before them, axe planted firmly in the ground and face set in stone. The orcs paused for a moment, then stormed forwards. Their catapult stood ready to hurl the broken bodies of their comrades at the gates if needed but, right now, blood lust was all that...

I genuinely don’t know why my wife bought me Warhammer: Invasion this past Christmas. The fantasy setting is the opposite of pretty much everything she loves, resonating with all the allure of a slimy toad. These wonderful games cross over from “interesting board game” to “geek crap” the instant pictures of dragons are added or miniatures shaken out of a box. It was with some hesitation, then, that she sat forward at the table...

Board games are strange things. iOS conversions of them even more so, and sometimes concepts and mechanics that should be a perfect fit manage to disappoint. Soon after the release of “Omens”, a slightly stripped back digital release of Elder Sign, it became clear there was a very clear divide in the gaming community. This has since spread to the physical release as well, and we figured we’d take a look at it from two...