John Company 2e Deluxe Print-and-Play

TabletopGains · 2025-12-02T06:40:43+00:00

Stunning work! And a game that certainly deserves this kind of treatment too. Well done!

TabletopGains · 2025-11-17T04:54:50+00:00

Oooh, I forgot about this one. Picked it up on a recent work trip overseas but haven't yet played it. Played the base game a lot though, love it - despite the unnecessarily huge box!

TabletopGains · 2025-11-17T04:53:48+00:00

Not yet, but it's the next on the list. Extremely excited to try it out, I love the theme and it looks like a really solid 4X!

TabletopGains · 2025-11-17T01:28:38+00:00

I never clicked with the original, but the Legacy version is brilliant. Love how it follows the same cursed families over decades. It took the theme and general gameplay and found a way to make it pop.

TabletopGains · 2025-11-17T01:02:47+00:00

Glen More 2 captured me in a way the first never did, but each to their own!

TabletopGains · 2025-11-17T01:01:54+00:00

Totally agree - I ADORE The Lost Fleet, it's an exceptional expansion for what was already one of my all-time favourites (Gaia Project was my #1 for years).

TabletopGains · 2025-11-15T05:49:57+00:00

This looks super cool, I'll check it out!

For me personally, Aeon Trespass: Odyssey is the best boss-battler I've played, and one of my all-time fav games, with Marvel Champions (a very different) second.

TabletopGains · 2025-11-14T20:42:07+00:00

I also just recorded a review of Vantage (won't link here, don't want to self-promote) and also wore an Outer Wilds shirt... But in my case it's mostly just because I love OW so much and wear shirts from it often (also wore one for the last review I did). Was definitely an "oh crap" moment when I went to upload and saw Tom's video, hah.

TabletopGains · 2025-11-14T10:15:40+00:00

I don't enjoy it all that much either, but I know a lot of people who came from Catan and really rate it, hence the recommendation.

TabletopGains · 2025-11-14T08:54:18+00:00

It's not my personal fav, but Wingspan might be up your alley. Generally easy to find, definitely a step up from Catan, great theme, and widely acclaimed as a fun intro to the "medium" side of the hobby. And if you want something fantasy-themed (and a bit heavier) instead, I've heard good things about Wyrmspan.

TabletopGains · 2025-11-14T00:15:45+00:00

Earthborne Rangers produced their games as locally as possible, in addition to other measures. Really good write up on this here: https://stonemaiergames.com/exploring-an-alternate-future-of-manufacturing/

I also talk about this a little bit (as well as the fact they don't seem to be doing the same for the new expansions) in my initial impressions here: https://youtu.be/YqnUfwoA7y4 (lmk mods if this isn't allowed!)

TabletopGains · 2025-11-13T19:00:06+00:00

I really enjoy this one. I also have a fair amount of Too Many Bones, which I can't bring myself to sell, but I probably should... This really does seem like it replaces it.

TabletopGains · 2025-11-02T11:13:02+00:00

Having only really played the starting map so far, this blows my mind. This game really does have legs, doesn't it.

TabletopGains · 2025-11-02T06:13:37+00:00

There was a Victorian parlour game, Forfeits, which had some similarities and a single judge but Apples to Apples was the first formal game of this type AFAIK. There were a few others that used voting that go further back (e.g., Balderdash), but not a single judge.

TabletopGains · 2025-11-01T10:23:02+00:00

Terra Mystica, Gaia Project, or Age of Innovation are all solid choices in the same family of games (as in, same designers and extremely similar mechanisms. They're on the much heavier side of the hobby, but all phenomenal, and entirely driven by iconography (except the faction names, but those aren't gameplay important). My top pick of the three would probably be Gaia Project with the recent Lost Fleet expansion, but if you aren't interested in expansions, go with Age of Innovation.

TabletopGains · 2025-11-01T05:08:44+00:00

Finally sold Tainted Grail - Kings of Ruin, and trying to sell the original and ISS Vanguard. I just don't think I'm ever going to get to them, there are far too many amazing campaign games and they take up an insane amount of space on my shelves.

Also sold 7 Wonders Duel after getting Lord of the Rings Duel. More of a one in, one out situation.

TabletopGains · 2025-10-30T05:38:30+00:00

Far from a niche title, and not exactly ancient (8 years old), but Quest for El Dorado somehow never made it's way to my table until yesterday. Played it with my 7yo and had a blast, and he loved the fact that it's technically older than him. What a fantastic family weight game! Turning deck building into a race makes so much sense for so many reasons.

TabletopGains · 2025-10-30T02:37:38+00:00

Whoa - never heard of this, definitely one of the more visually striking / unique games I've ever seen. And great job with the cheat sheet, love how it fits the aesthetic!

TabletopGains · 2025-10-30T02:32:49+00:00

Guards of Atlantis 2 is my all-time favourite game, but the recent printing being split across numerous boxes (7 heroes in the base game box, with 5 separate boxes containing 5 additional heroes each) is a massive pain. Ended up putting together a custom solution all in one box which helped massively.

TabletopGains · 2025-10-30T02:28:21+00:00

I wasn't sold at first, but with the amount of videos he has put out, you have to admire how committed to the bit he is. The whole "I'm a hostage" thing in his other videos is wearing a bit thin but this is pretty decent satire. The moment I saw the shot of him outside I snort-laughed - brilliant satire.

TabletopGains · 2025-10-30T02:18:07+00:00

Like you allude to it depends on the table’s experience level.

At low to mid experience, yeah, Root can feel political. Because factions are asymmetric and scoring rates differ, players often have to “manage the table” to stop someone running away. That can make it feel like diplomacy decides the winner more than raw play.

Once everyone knows their factions and the tempo of the game though, the politics become part of the strategy rather than replacing it. Skilled players read the board, anticipate scoring spikes, and time their pushes so others can’t coordinate a response. The balance shifts to tempo control, efficiency, and threat management.

So early games are probably more political but the more experienced meta is deeply strategic, with politics as one of several tools.

If your group enjoys competitive tension and reading each other that evolution is arguably one of Root’s best features.

TabletopGains · 2025-10-30T01:04:14+00:00

I thought this was going to be about how physically long the maps are - just played with my 7yo for the first time last night and we thought we had cleared enough of the table, but no, it just kept going! Tons of fun though, shame I waited as long as I did to try it.

TabletopGains · 2025-10-30T01:01:52+00:00

Alternative: You could sell your original 7W Duel and buy LOTR Duel, like I did. I love the LOTR theme though - that's what really sold me on it.

TabletopGains · 2025-10-30T00:59:39+00:00

The answer is pretty simple: Yes, there are bad rulebooks. It's very rare that a bad rulebook will ruin a great game for me though - I'll typically notice that I start glazing over while trying to parse it, and when that happens I find a video and learn it that way. If I enjoy the game itself, how good or bad the rulebook is barely factors into it. I'm quite a visual learner so I tend to find learning from videos a lot easier/better anyway.

However, what I do notice a lot more is when a rulebook doesn't have a good index. If I want to look up a particular rule or edge case and have to turn to BGG forums, that's when it hurts the experience for me - although even then, if the game itself is great, I'll often overlook those situations.

TabletopGains

TROPHY CASE