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Daffodils, dragons, and Dave Coaches. 1st March is St David’s Day where we celebrate all things Welsh. And whilst watching back episodes of Gavin & Stacey is a must, there will also be time for plenty of games. And we at Zatu have a fab selection of games inspired by the green valleys of Cymru. So grab your snacks out of the popty ping and settle down for some lush gaming action!
Flamecraft
There be dragons here, and talented ones at that! Bakers, smiths, butchers – they’re professional shopkeepers and artisans with added heat! From the moment you see it on the table, you know that FLAMECRAFT has cuteness squeezed into every scale. Light hand and resource management with some set collection and worker placement mechanics mix together with undeniably gorgeous artwork. With two main actions – visiting shops or enchanting them, the game won’t overwhelm. And the more you play, the more you’ll leverage the most out of each turn and the abilities you trigger. Shopping has never been so much fun!
Foothills
As well as impressive castles, Wales has another gem; the board game designer, Tony Boydell. If the name sounds familiar, then you may have played Snowdonia Ivor the Engine. FOOTHILLS is a fabulously tactical two player hand management card game. Whilst leaning heavily on Snowdonia for inspiration, Foothills holds its own. Tasked with building six railway lines over the course of a game, your superpower is double sided cards. And once you’ve used one of your 5 actions as part of a line it gets flipped over. Which means that at some point, you know you’re going to have to use the weaker action in order to flip it back to the better side. With bonuses and resources coming from canny use of your Surveyor, as well as trips to the pub to bank cards for end-game scoring, you are only a leek’s length away from scoring VPs in any direction. But in Foothills the dragon is in the detail; knowing what to do to score the most out of all the possible options available in the key!
The King Is Dead Second Edition
The kingdom is divided – England v Scotland v Wales. And no, it’s not about the Rugby this time! In THE KING IS DEAD SECOND EDITION, somebody wants the throne, and this game is laser focussed on giving someone the top spot. Area control and influence are yours for the taking…or losing. And with only 8 actions over the entire game, you need to power-grab by getting your troops where they need to be…preferably yesterday! Yo can play as many or as
few of your 8 actions in any round but every one you do play will be a double edged sword. After making a move, you have to recruit a follower from those moved back to your court. So you’ll be muscling in and becoming less influential at the same time. And this manipulation of the factions is what makes The King Is Dead so tense. The rules are simple, the actions even simpler. But the strategy and tactics to win are as deep as a lush Welsh green valley.
Ticket to Ride United Kingdom and Pennsylvania
Choo-choo! I love a train game and TICKET TO RIDE has to be the grandaddy of them all. Having been a stalwart of modern board gaming for so long, there has been plenty of time for expansion maps to be released. And the United Kingdom side of this pack (#5 in case you are counting!) allows you to run your tracks through Wales. Not only that but it introduces a new twist to the OG gameplay – technology! At the start of the game, you are limited to building short routes in England. But the more you invest in developing tech, the longer the routes you can lay down. You can even create ferries to link those hard to reach places. You will need a base game to add this map pack, but it’s a great addition to the TTR collection.
Dragonkeepers
Have you seen the dragons in DRAGONKEEPERS? Flamecraft definitely has a contender for the sweetest fire-breathers in town.
A drafting, set collecting, game for 2-4 players, it introduces a fun element of push your luck. Playing with four adorable dragon suits (White Pasture Dragon (Billy-Gons!), Blue Slate Dragon (Rocky-Gons!), Red Fur Dragon (Moo-Gons!) and Green Swamp Dragon (Goo-gons!), your aim is to collect (herd) them in order to cast spells, gaining precious amulets and other goodies as you go. But you’re limited to what you can collect as well as where you can lay them down into your area. And choosing between picking up dragons and laying them down is a particularly hot problem. Why? Well, because the top cards on the spell book act as both the draw deck and the spell criteria! So if you take a card, the requirement for the current spell is instantly changed. Merlin’s Beard!
Tell us what you played on St David’s Day by heading over to our Instagram!
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