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Lost ruins best friend1/6/2023 ![]() I like Cain as a character, he’s much less 2-Dimensional than he’s generally thought of – so straight away I want to love him. I’ll start with Juggernaut, because I’m really, really conflicted on him. There’s a strong mutant presence this month, with Colossus & Magik, Juggernaut, and Gambit & Rogue all hitting the table, along with Hulkbuster (it’s HUUUUGE!) and Ms Marvel. Speaking of wishlists, there’s a whole batch of new releases for Marvel Crisis Protocol that have us slavering over paint-desks (it’s a pleasant distraction from not getting to see The Batman yet). Lost Ruins of Arnak is a really wonderful game, beautifully illustrated and with challenging, but not inaccessible, gameplay highly recommended for families of gamers or non-gamers age 12+ – and the expansion is already on our wishlists. There’s also now the exciting addition of first expansion, Expedition Leaders, which assigns asymmetric Leader roles to each player (giving extra money at the start, or reducing the requirements for travelling to the island’s interior, for example) and adding a new layer of depth – as well as adding a stack of new artefact and item cards (which are already fairly diverse) whilst making them all the rarer, as in the new rules 4, rather than 2, items are exiled (removed from play) each turn. We’re only scratching the surface here, but it’s a game with plenty of depth and 3 modes built in from the outset: two separate island temples to explore and an app-driven solo campaign to find a lost expedition that failed to return previously. At its core, you have to collect the different in-game currencies (exploration tokens, and gold to start with, but latterly tablets, relics and rubies) and spend them in specified combinations to unlock knowledge and defeat guardians along the way, you can hire specialists to help you and use the cards in your hand to travel by car, boat or even plane. This slightly confusing nomenclature threw us initially, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s remarkably quick.Ī five-turn game takes a couple of hours, and can get pretty cut-throat: though you’re never actively against one another, you are often racing to complete the same objective, for example getting a particularly valuable treasure (which is also against the clock, as two items disappear each turn) or unlocking the next step in research. It is a big beast of a game, but everything is logically organised on the game board, with a rulebook that is mostly extremely clear and well-laid out – with one exception: it’s not immediately obvious that you can do more than one thing per round, as you can only take one “action” however, most of what you do each round isn’t considered an action, but rather, part of your turn. In the game, for 2-4 players, you take on the role of the leader of team investigating a mysterious, mythical island, exploring its temples and treasures whilst avoiding mystical guardians – and one another! Lost Ruins is a board game that combines lots of familiar elements – Worker Placement, Action economy, deckbuilding, skill paths – to give you multiple paths to victory, and it feels like all the best elements of thrilling Dr Jones and Lady Croft adventures (well, perhaps minus some of the pit-traps… but there’s definitely snakes). I freely admit it’s taken us a couple of goes to get our heads round all the mechanics, but it’s a deeply satisfying experience and well worth your time, patience and money. ![]() ![]() Over the last couple of weeks, the elder spawn and I have been getting to grips with Lost Ruins of Arnak, the Euro game that’s been storming the BGG chart and many other “Best of 2021” lists. Huge thanks as always to Jess, Rae and the team at Asmodee UK for the product to review and Ellie at Hasbro UK for this month’s giveaway goodies. ![]() PLUS, we have the results of our latest Geeky Giveaway as well as a brand new competition with the chance for you to win some retro toy mash-up goodies! ![]() LOST RUINS BEST FRIEND SERIESThis week we’re taking a deep dive into the outstanding adventure board game Lost Ruins of Arnak, providing our thoughts on the newest wave of Marvel Crisis Protocol releases, and taking a look at some new Transformers Studio Series figures! ![]()
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