BOARD GAME REVIEW: PAPER TALES (2018)

Paper Tales by Stronghold Games came out of nowhere a bit. A simple card-drafting, tableau-building game on the surface, this game wears its 7 Wonders inspirations on its sleeves (in terms of wars, resource generation, etc.). However, in this case, inspiration does not mean it is just a poor mans copy.

Paper Tales does a couple of things very differently. Firstly, you have to place your units in a front and back rank to determine who fights and who doesn't. For the most part, this doesn't really play a big part as you just stick powerful units at the front and weaker units (resource generating) at the back. The main thing it limits you on is your military strength. Eventually you can play a fifth unit by upgrading a building, which is a really good idea.

The big change, however, is the aging mechanic. Most cards only stick around for a couple of turns (generations) before growing old and dying. Add to this a very tight coin income (unless you specialise in coins at the expense of other things), only 4 rounds to build buildings (the main source of VP outside of wars), and only 4 battles, you have a very tight game. 

This is a very tight game and the hard choices start immediately and only get harder with time. Do you use up your limited income to fill up with 4 units in round 1 or save a bit to try to get a stronger unit in round 2. In addition, you always have to keep in mind people can hate draft against you and keep the strong units from you. The only round that has some easier choices is round 1 as most times you want to get as much out as possible. However, this can be easily solved by drafting an extra card on the first round if so inclined. I never found it much of an issue as the first round gave plenty of other choices already.

Playing through the round also goes very quickly. Drafting, everyone takes turns simultaneously and at only 4 rounds, there are plenty of options you can explore to score points and alternative pathways you can take in following games. Add to that the variable buildings and great solo mode from the expansion, this game is a real winner.

5 out of 5 tearable waffles.

BOARD GAME REVIEW: TERRAFORMING MARS

Terraforming Mars is a game that came out around when there seemed to be a bit of a streak of Mars games. It is a competitive game where you are cooperatively trying to terraform Mars. 

The game is essentially a card game. You use cards to build your tableau, which gives an income and powers to give an advantage over your opponents. How you get points is mainly by Terraforming Mars, which also gives you income and triggers the end game. So it all forms a big circle. 

And it is a very good circle. The game is essentially a sandbox-style engine builder. You build up combos in your cards and on the board to our score your opponents. You are managing your money to make sure you can afford everything. And just in case it feel solitaire-like, there is also activating the game end and achievement scoring. 

The biggest downside is that it feels like a game Stronghold didn’t expect to do well. Compared to similar games, the game feels quite cheap. Thin player boards, bad artwork/pictures, and bad component design makes me believe this was originally a throwaway game. 

Another downside is that it can feel slightly too long to get going and that randomness can lock you out early in the game (unless you play with the drafting variant). The drafting variant should also always be used with people who know how to play to mitigate the luck of the draw. With that, this game is one of the better economic engine building games out there. I just wish more care was given to the components. 

3.5 out of 5 Terraformed Waffles.