[Free RPG Day 2026] Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview

Now in its nineteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2026 took place on Saturday, June 27th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. This included dice, miniatures, vouchers, and more. Unfortunately, due to vagaries of International Customs, Free RPG Day in the UK did not take place until Saturday, 22nd August.

This review is possible due to the generosity of Waylands Forge in Birmingham.

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Quick-starts are a means of trying out a roleplaying game before you buy. Each should provide a Game Master with sufficient background to introduce and explain the setting to her players, the rules to run the scenario included, and a set of ready-to-play, pre-generated characters that the players can pick up and understand almost as soon as they have sat down to play. The scenario itself should provide an introduction to the setting for the players as well as to the type of adventures that their characters will have and just an idea of some of the things their characters will be doing on said adventures. All of which should be packaged up in an easy-to-understand booklet whose contents, with a minimum of preparation upon the part of the Game Master, can be brought to the table and run for her gaming group in a single evening’s session—or perhaps two. And at the end of it, Game Master and players alike should ideally know whether they want to play the game again, perhaps purchasing another adventure or even the full rules for the roleplaying game.

Alternatively, if the Game Master already has the full rules for the roleplaying game the quick-start is for, then what it provides is a sample scenario that she still run as an introduction or even as part of her campaign for the roleplaying game. The ideal quick-start should entice and intrigue a playing group, but above all effectively introduce and teach the roleplaying game, as well as showcase both rules and setting.

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What is it?
The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is the preview of, and quick-start for, the fantasy version of Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game. Published by CoolMiniOrNot and Guillotine Games, Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying is the roleplaying adaptation of Zombicide: Black Plague, the medieval adaptation of the board game of Zombicide, 2nd Edition, which of course, is given its own roleplaying game with Zombicide Chronicles: The Roleplaying Game.

The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is a twenty-eight page, full colour booklet.

How long will it take to play?
The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview includes the scenario, ‘Night Hunt’, which can be played through in a single hour.

What else do you need to play?
The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview needs at least twelve six-sided dice per player.

Who do you play?
The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview includes five pre-generated Player Characters. The consist of a Hedge Witch, Executioner, Pilgrim, Zealot, and Town Guard.

How is a Player Character defined?

A Player Character in Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying is defined by his Attributes, Proficiencies, and Actions. Attributes and Proficiencies are rated between one and three and laid out on a grid with Attributes along the top and the Proficiencies listed down the side. The three Attributes are Muscle, Brains, and Grit, and Proficiencies, whilst the Proficiencies consist of Athletics, Combat, Magic, Perception, Survival, and Wit. In play, the Proficiencies are cross-referenced with the Attributes to give an Action, for example, cross-reference Magic and Muscle gives the Sense Action; Magic and Brains the Cast Action; and Magic and Guts the Ward Action.

A Survivor also has three Talents across three Tiers, though initially, he only has access to the Tier One Talent. During play, if he inflicts a critical strike or loses any Hit Points, he will increase his Fervour, representing the increasing intensity of the situation, and gain access to the Tier Two and Three Talents.

How do the mechanics work?

Mechanically, Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying is simple. A player cross-references a Proficiency with an Attribute to give an Action, the combination of values for the Proficiency and the Attribute give the number of dice to be rolled for the Action. This generates a base dice pool which ranges in size from two to six dice, but to this can be added bonus dice for the right equipment, support from allies, and the situation. Penalties such as being impaired, suffering from fatigue, or facing NPC opposition can reduce the number of dice a player has to roll. A roll of one is always a failure, but any roll of six is counted as a Success with one Success counted as an ordinary success, two Successes as a superior success, and three Successes as an outstanding success. If an Action is favoured, rolls of five also count as Successes. A player can choose to force a success by converting any results of five into sixes and Successes. This inflicts Strain on the Player Character and if done too often, leads to fatigue and a reduced number dice he rolls in a dice pool (though not in combat as adrenaline kicks in).

How does combat work?

Initiative in Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying uses its Initiative Cards, but for the Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview, the Game Master must construct a deck from an ordinary deck of playing cards. Otherwise, combat uses the same mechanics, with only one success needed to hit and weapons inflicting a fixed amount of damage. Combat consists of ‘Opening Shots’ of ranged combat, followed by proper Combat Rounds of melee combat. Zombies are attacked in speed order, from the slowest to the fastest, unless the Survivor takes the Aim move. Damage needs to be enough to kill a zombie in one go, or not at all, and some of the zombies, like the Abomination, can withstand more damage than most weapons can inflict. In this instance, the Survivors need to master their weapons with the right Skills. Zombies attack and automatically do damage in the Combat Rounds with the Game Master not needing to roll. Armour provides protection, but can be damaged. Another option is that the Survivors can take the Evade move.

Most zombies have a Toughness of one and can be dispatched with a single hit, so if a player rolls multiple hits, his Survivor can destroy multiple zombies. Others though, have a Toughness of two and a Survivor must inflict two hits in one go to destroy them. Stronger Adversaries have both Toughness and Hit Points and will need to be hit multiple times to destroy them.

How does magic work?

Two Survivors can cast spells. One has access to a Fire Bolt scroll, the other to a Fireball scroll. It is not clear whether these are single use only or if they ned to be held to cast from, though the artwork depicts both casting magic without needing to use their scrolls directly. There is no discussion of magic in the Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview.

What do you play?

The world of Plague Bearer: Dark Fantasy Roleplaying is one of the Old Kingdom brought low by Necromancers who raised undead hordes from cursed graves and corrupted the lands. Long deserted bar the crunch of zombies staggering, grasping, and searching for prey with bloodshot eyes, the Survivors scavenge what the dead left behind and the zombies impede access to. With no labourers and no farmers, a new threat has arisen—famine, and at the start of ‘Night Hunt’, the scenario included in the Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview, the Survivors are hungry and looking for food. When they come to the rescue of a farmer, she reveals she knows the whereabouts of a cache of food hidden away to avoid paying taxes on it. However, before they can carry it out of the nearby forest, the Survivors must defeat a horde of zombies and a giant-zombie-owl-abomination! It can have up to two attacks per round and is a fearsome opponent.

However, as much as ‘Night Hunt’ is action-orientated, it is short and will completed in an hour. If the Game Master has access to the scenario, Death Out of the Stars, she can possibly combine the two for a longer session.

Is there anything missing?
Yes. The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview does not have any rules for fear which would seem necessary for a horror roleplaying game, and really needed a discussion of magic as it pertains to two of the Survivors.

Is it easy to prepare?
Yes. The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is easy to grasp and prepare.

Is it worth it?
Maybe. The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview includes everything for a very quick demonstration, but anyone wanting more of an experience beyond combat or a chance to explore the setting will be disappointed. For an hour, the Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is fun, but it is all combat and no world.

The Plaguebearer – Core Rulebook Preview is published by EDGE Studio.

Friday Filler: Lacuna

Lacuna is a very light game that is incredibly fast and easy to learn and quick to play and it also looks good on the table. It is an abstract, highly themed area control game that can be played in ten minutes and set-up again for another go. Published by CYMK, Lacuna is ‘A Cozy Game of Mystical Geometry’ designed for two players, aged eight and over. It stands out for two reasons. The first is the packaging. Lacuna comes as a sturdy tube dotted with flowers in sift pastel shades against a black background. The second is the components. The first of these is the playing surface, a black cloth mat roughly seventy centimetres square, marked with a blank circle in the middle and bordered by different flowers. The second are the game’s wooden tokens, forty-nine flowers divided into seven different shapes and colours. The third are the twelve pawns, six in silver and six in gold, and weighing quite a lot in the hand. The fourth is the tube itself, which serves as a shaker to sprinkle the flowers on the cloth. This is a game that looks good and feels good, but when it is on the table, it is simply pretty.

The idea behind Lacuna is that the players are competing to collect the most flowers from a pond by moonlight. The cloth mat represents the pond and the flower tokens the flowers they are collecting. At the start of the game, the mat is laid out flat and the player who will go first takes a flower token of any colour. This is because the second player will have an advantage in placing his tokens when going last because the first player cannot put a token near his. Then the rest of the flower tokens are placed in the game’s tube and sprinkled onto the cloth, adjust as necessary to ensure that they are not all clumped together. Play proceeds in two phases.

In the first phase, the flowers captured. To do this, a player draws an imaginary line between two flowers of the same colour. If nothing blocks them, he places one of his metal pawns anywhere on that imaginary line between the two flowers and takes the two flowers. This continues until both players have placed all six of their metal pawns.

In the second phase, the players take in turns to collect the remaining flowers. This is determined by the player whose metal pawn is nearest the flowers. If it is unclear whose metal pawn is closer to a flower or group of flowers, the game includes a ruler to determine the exact distance.

Once both phases are complete, the players determine who the winner is. If one player has the most of one colour flower, he wins that colour, and the player who wins the most colours, wins the game. Since there are only seven of each colour, a player only has to win four of a colour to win it, and since there are seven colours, a player only has to win four of them to win the game.

This all sounds a bit simple, even simplistic, and random. Of course, the distribution of the flowers is random, but whilst the mechanics of the play, that is, the placing of the metal pawns, is simple, their placing is not simplistic. There is some nuance to Lacuna. Not necessarily a great deal, but some. And it boils down to this… Where does a player place his metal pawn on the imaginary line between to flowers of the same colour? At one end or in the middle? It all depends on close the metal pawn can be placed to another group of flowers to claim them in the second phase of play. Too close and whilst the player will claim those flowers, the metal token might to far from other flowers to claim them. Too far, and the player might not be able to claim enough of them or any at all because his opponent has a pawn placed closer. After that, Lacuna is a numbers game. Since there are only seven flowers in a colour set, a player only needs to take four of them to hold the majority and claim the point. Consequently, a player cannot simply place his metal pawns at random if he wants to win. He does need to think about the best, or at least, the optimal places, to put them.

Physically, Lacuna is a lovely looking game. It comes in a sturdy tube, the cloth mat is clean and simple, and both the flower tokens and metal pawns are attractive. However, the tube does make the game difficult to store on the shelf along with other board games as much as it does make it stand out. The rulebook is underwritten, not defining quite exactly where the line is drawn between flowers in the game’s first phase. Is it from the middle or any edge? This can matter in play and the players will need to decide on a house rule. The distribution system of using the tube to sprinkle the flower tokens is cute, but there is always the chance that the flower tokens will roll off the table and the players will find themselves on their knees, looking for them on the floor.

Unfortunately, Lacuna is a game that will quickly outstay its welcome. Not because it is a bad game. It is not. Rather, it is charming and simple, and easy to teach and play, but it lacks depth. It is relying upon the attractiveness of its components—and they are very pretty—rather than game play to sell itself. At its worst, Lacuna is slightly fiddly and irksome trying to work out if a line is clear or which is the nearest metal pawn. At its best, Lacuna is cozy and calming, a perfect five or ten minutes between longer, deeper games. Its simplicity and attractiveness make it suitable for play with children and family members who do not play board games, but for veteran board gamer, Lacuna will likely live up to its true meaning.

Peninsular Peregrinations

Since 2007, the 2004 Spiel des Jahres award-winning board game Ticket to Ride from Days of Wonder, has been supported with new maps, beginning with Ticket to Ride: Switzerland. That new map would be collected in the Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 2 – India & Switzerland, the second entry in the Map Collection series begun in Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 1 – Team Asia & Legendary Asia. Both of these have proved to be worthy additions to the Ticket to Ride line, whereas Ticket to Ride Map Collection vol. 3: The Heart of Africa and Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 4 – Nederland have proved to add more challenging game play, but at a cost in terms of engaging game play. Further given that they included just the one map in the third and fourth volumes rather than the two in each of the first two, neither felt as if they provided as much value either. Fortunately, Ticket to Ride Map Collection Vol. 5: United Kingdom + Pennsylvania came with two maps and explored elements more commonly found in traditional train games—stocks and shares in railroad companies and the advance of railway technology. This was followed by Ticket to Ride Map Collection Vol. 6: France + Old West, which provided two maps exploring a common theme—telegraphing each player’s intended placement of their trains; then by Ticket to Ride Map Collection Vol. 6½: Poland, which focused on borders and connecting them; and lastly, by Ticket to Ride Map Collection Vol. 7: Japan + Italy which examines two ways in which long routes affect game play. Thematically, the next entry in the series is connected by peninsulas.

Ticket to Ride Map Collection 8: Iberia + South Korea gives the Ticket to Ride fan with another Asian map and another European map, both of them depicting peninsulas and offering two new, and quite different ways to play Ticket to Ride. The standard game play remains—draw Destination Tickets and attempt to connect them via various routes between cities using sets of Train Cards that match the route colour, scoring points for both claiming routes completing the Destination Tickets. On each turn a player can still draw two Train Car Cards, either from those face up or from the deck, play Train Car Cards to claim a route, or draw new Destination Tickets. Or not, because in this expansion, there are limits placed upon when a player can draw Destination Tickets, and this is not the only way in which Ticket to Ride Map Collection 8: Iberia + South Korea differs from either the base game for Ticket to Ride or other map sets.

Of course, Ticket to Ride Map Collection 8: Iberia + South Korea requires the base game for its train pieces and scoring tokens, and both of its maps are designed to be played by between two and five players. The Iberia map includes one-hundred-and-ten Train Car Cards, fifty-four Festival Cards, a Ticket Draft Card, and fifty Destination Ticket Cards. The map itself depicts the Iberian Peninsula, primarily Spain and Portugal, but routes over the Pyrenees into southwestern France and ferry routes across the western Mediterranean to Palma, capital of the Spanish island of Mallorca. There is nothing radical or different about the map. Rather, the game play is different. This begins with the set-up. After the standard number of Train Car Cards are dealt to the players, the fifty-four Festival Cards are shuffled into the deck of Train Car Cards and the Ticket Draft Card is inserted into the combined deck. The players are dealt a total of Destination Ticket Cards. Instead of deciding to keep several of them and discard the rest, each player drafts on passes the remaining Destination Ticket Cards to the player on his left. This is done until each player has six Destination Ticket Cards, at which point, he can chose to discard two. This will mean that a player will get to see most of the Destination Ticket Cards that the other players have rejected and have some idea as what they have kept. There is the luck of the draw in drawing Destination Ticket Cards in any version of Ticket to Ride, but this draft mechanic randomises the draw even further, and it makes it difficult for a player to tailor his Destination Ticket Cards so that they fall along similar routes. Yet, Ticket to Ride Map Collection 8: Iberia + South Korea adds an extra twist to this.

When the Ticket Draft Card is drawn from the deck of Train Car Cards, a second draft takes exactly like the first, but going in the opposite direction. This has a player draft six new Destination Ticket Cards and keep four. It forces a player to consider eight new destinations that he has to connect and again they may not fall along similar routes. It also forces a player to marshal his train pieces since he knows will need some in the latter half of the game to complete the new Destination Ticket Cards. This also has another effect, which is to prevent a player from claiming as many routes as he can to speed up the end of the game. Up until this point, the players have not been allowed to draw new Destination Ticket Cards, but the other effect of the Ticket Draft Card is that now they can. However, with eight Destination Ticket Cards in hand, there is going to be less diving for new Destination Ticket Cards in the hope of scoring big.

The other means of scoring that Ticket to Ride Map Collection 8: Iberia + South Korea adds is Festival Cards. When drawn from the Train Car Card deck, a Festival Card is placed on the edge of the board nearest to the Festival City mentioned on the Festival Card. Many of the cities have multiple associated Festival Cards and when drawn these placed in a stack. When player claims a Route that connects to a Festival City, he can take all of the available Festival Cards for that city. At the end of the game, a player scores points for each set of Festival Cards he has for each city. This is a set collection mechanic similar to the railroad shares for the Pennsylvania map from Ticket to Ride Map Collection Vol. 5: United Kingdom + Pennsylvania.

Of the two new mechanics in Ticket to Ride Map Collection 8: Iberia + South Korea, for the Iberia map, the draft mechanic and the Ticket Draft Card are better than the Festival Cards mechanic. The draft mechanic alters some of the fundamentals of play and forces a player to think in the long term, husbanding his train pieces as important resources not knowing how many he will need towards the end of the game, and knowing that at some point the scoring opportunities are going to get more complicated. The Festival Cards does offer extra scoring opportunities that are easier because a player can claim routes even if they are not on any of his Destination Ticket Cards, but is just a bit busy and adds clutter around the edges of what is a large board.

The South Korea map is noticeably different and has a direct effect on play. This is because instead of the route colours being distributed across the map, they are clumped together in zones. There are a few grey routes as you would expect, but otherwise, all of the red routes are together in a zone, all of the blue routes are together in a zone, and so on. This has an immediate effect upon drawing Train Car Cards, because no matter what colour Train Car Cards a player draws, he is signalling which zone he wants to claim a route in.

In addition to the new map, the South Korea expansion includes fifteen Express Train Cards, forty-four Destination Ticket Cars, a Province Mat, and a province Scoring Card. The first rule that the South Korea expansion adds is the same draft mechanic in the Iberia map, but not the Ticket Draft Card. The second is for the Express Train Cards. Each player is given three of these, marked ‘+1’, ‘+2’, and ‘+3’. Each can be used once per game to either increase the number of Destination Ticket Cards a player can draw or the number of Train Car Cards a player can draw. This will give a player a one-time boost when each is played.

A player has another action that he can do after claiming a route. This is to place an extra train car on the Province Board. The Province Board is marked with several lines matching the colours of the Train Car Card and numbered from one to eight. The Train Car must be placed on both the line corresponding to the colour of the route just claimed and on the number equal to the length of the route just claimed. A player can also expend extra Train Car Cards to claim a higher number. If that number has already been claimed, the Train Car is placed on next free number of a lower value instead. An Express Train Card can also be expended to claim a higher number. At the end of the game, each player totals the combined value for the numbers claimed on each line and is awarded points according to their rank.

The South Korea map is a simpler, more direct map than Iberia. It rewards faster, more efficient play because the competition to claim routes is more open. Players telegraph to each other the zones where they want to claim routes when they draw Train Car Cards of a particular colour and so the race to claim routes within a zone can become tighter. Similarly, there is a race to claim routes because having done so, a player can claim numbers on the Province Mat that will contribute towards their final score. The Express Train Cards do give players a one-off advantage each time they are used, so should not be wasted. Overall, the South Korea map is much more competitive in comparison to many other Ticket to Ride Maps.

In addition, both maps offer something to the wider Ticket to Ride family. The drafting mechanics from the Iberia map could be used with other maps as could the Province Mat from the South Korea map. The drafting mechanic would have a greater effect upon play since it counters common game play elements such as collecting Destination Ticket Cards with roughly the same routes, playing Train Cars in order to speed up the end of the game, and drawing Destination Ticket Cards late in the game to score extra points along already claimed routes. Certainly, it would be interesting to see these rules implemented elsewhere and their effects examined, perhaps in a book dedicated to new rules for Ticket to Ride?

Physically, as you would expect, the production values for Ticket to Ride Map Collection 8: Iberia + South Korea are excellent. Everything is of a high quality and both looks good and feels good in the hand. The only item that could have been a better quality is the Province Mat, which is on card and not mounted. It is a pity that there is not room on the South Korea map for it either.

Given that Ticket to Ride Map Collection 8: Iberia + South Korea changes the way in which Ticket to Ride is played—the Iberia map in particular with the far reaching, even structural effects of the drafting rules—this is not an expansion for the casual player of Ticket to Ride. Rather it is for the fan of the game who wants to be challenged in new ways and the board game player who wants to be challenged more than the standard play of Ticket to Ride offers. Of the two maps, the Iberia map is the better, but the South Korea map is still good. Ticket to Ride Map Collection 8: Iberia + South Korea continues to offer new ways to play a tried and tested, even venerable format.

Magazine Madness 44: Senet Issue 18

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

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Senet is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. Bearing the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”, it is about the play and the experience of board games, it is about the creative thoughts and processes which go into each and every board game, and it is about board games as both artistry and art form. Published by Senet Magazine Limited, each issue promises previews of forthcoming, interesting titles, features which explore how and why we play, interviews with those involved in the process of creating a game, and reviews of the latest and most interesting releases. Senet is also one of the very few magazines about games to actually be available for sale on the high street.

As its cover suggests, with the publication of Senet Issue 18, the magazine reached its fifth anniversary and as its cover hints at, there is an Ancient Egypt in the issue. Or rather, the article in the issue that explores a theme in board games is Ancient Egypt. Which is appropriate given the name of the game magazine and it should be no surprise that alongside that article, the magazine explores the history of Senet, the Ancient Egyptian game that inspired the magazine and its name. That the magazine has lasted so long and appeared on the magazine shelves on your local high street deserves to be celebrated and so Senet Issue 18 feels just a bit special.

Published in the spring of 2025, the issue adheres to its tried and tested format. Thus it opens with ‘Behold’, highlighting some of the then forthcoming games with a preview and a hint or two of what to expect. The most intriguing of the titles previewed here is Onada, a solo wargame that tells of the story of Hiroo Onada, a Japanese soldier who held out in the jungle of a Philippine island for almost thirty years after World War 2 ended. The player has to gather resources to survive, but doing so alerts the local inhabitants and eventually the authorities. Plus, he must deal with the problems of being alone for so long. The most cute title is Knitting Circle, Flatout Games’ cosy game about knitting in which the cats get to collect the stitches and the most fun game is Interstellar Adventures: The Sincerest Form of Flattery, an ‘escape room’ style game from Minty Noodles Ltd. that combines the play of solo adventure books and looks like a comic book. The other opening sections of the magazine are surprisingly good. The regular column of readers’ letters, ‘Points’, continues to be disappointingly constrained to a single page, waiting for room to expand and build into something more, yet covers a diverse range of matters including the lack of books about board games. Or rather the lack of books about board games on the shelves of bookshops. Actually, there have several such books that have made it to the those shelves, but they are not always easy to find. That said, coverage of such books might be a welcome addition in the pages of Senet. With ‘For Love of the Game’ the journey of the designer Tristian Hall continues towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth—and beyond. In ‘At Your Service’, he discusses logistics and fulfilment and dealing with the companies that provide such services, including shipping and delivery. This is informative and gives the publisher’s point of view when normally we only experience this part as customers.

Every issue consists of two interviews, one with an artist and one with a designer, plus an article about a theme in games and an article about a mechanic in games, and of course, Senet Issue 17 is no exception. The tried and tested formula begins with ‘Family Value’, Alexandra Sonechkina’s interview with designer, Ellie Dix. She is perhaps best known for The Shakespeare Game and The Jane Austen Game—both from Laurence King Publishing Ltd. and both of which can be found on the shelves of high street shops—and having won the Hasbro Women Innovators of Play contest in 2023. As well as discussing her gaming background and her favourite mechanism, deduction, Dix gets to explain her high regard for the family game. Or rather, the good family board game, since too often, she feels that the games that families play are terrible. It would have been interesting to have had her suggest some suitable games, but otherwise this is a solid interview with a designer that it is perhaps not as well known as the names that the magazine usually interviews. Dan Jolin interviews the artist Jeremy Nguyen in ‘New York State of Mind’. It is a less interesting piece because the artist has to date only illustrated three games—Inner Compass and Santa Monica, both from Alderac Entertainment Group’, and WizKids’ Rebuilding Seattle. Nevertheless, Nguyen’s striking artwork, inspired by the ‘ligne claire’ or ‘clear line’ style defined and used by Hergé, the creator of The Adventures of TinTin, is shown to good effect that you expect a Belgian reporter and a small white dog to step into view.

The aforementioned theme in Senet Issue 18 is Ancient Egypt and Dan Thurot’s ‘Pyramid Schemes’ gets off by making a startling point that not all board games treat the subject matter very well and this view comes from an expert, Doctor Julia Cromwell, an Egyptologist who specialises in tabletop games as a medium. She is critical of certain games, such as GameWorks SàRL’s Sobek that oversimplify Ancient Egypt, which either results in the flattening of the history or in the depiction of the people as stereotypes. Equally, she is positive about titles like Amun-Re from Alley Cat Games and Ankh: Gods of Egypt from CMON Global Limited, which acknowledge the differences between the Old and New Kingdoms, and Ergo Ludo Editions’ Pyramidice which brings the gods into play. It is clear from the piece that Ancient Egypt is a very popular theme with designers such as the prolific Reiner Knizia who has created multiple titles based on it with Tutankhamen from AMIGO, Ra from Alea, and Amun-Re amongst them. What these games all benefit from is familiarity. The pharaohs, the pyramids, the river Nile, hieroglyphics, mummies, and more are all undeniably well known and that makes games based on this theme all the more accessible.

As part of the article and for its anniversary, Senet Issue 18 also examines the history and significance of its namesake, the Ancient Egyptian board game, Senet. It is a fascinating article as much for what it cannot say as what it does. It suggests a possible theme to the game, but the absence is really the lack of rules to its play because nobody knows what they are. The other celebration in the issue is the ‘Fifth Anniversary Top Choice Special’ which collates ‘Senet’s Top Choice’ from each of the previous seventeen issues. It is nice to be reminded of them.

For the issue’s mechanic, Matt Thrower’s ‘Little Wars’ looks at skirmish games, board games and war games that are played at a smaller scale with a limited number of miniatures of figures per side. Their origins lie in H.G. Wells’ Little Wars rules and in more recent decades in roleplaying and Games Workshop’s War Hammer Fantasy Battles. Joseph McCullogh, the designer of Osprey Games’ Stargrave and Frostgrave provides an apt definition, “A skirmish game is wargame where you think about naming everyone on your team.” Although it looks at games as such as Star Wars: X-Wing from Fantasy Flight Games and Atomic Mass Games’ Star Wars: Shatterpoint, both based on a very popular intellectual property, it also devotes space to other and as it admits, stranger designs, like Max Fitzgerald’s Turnip28, Napoleonics-inspired post-apocalyptic rules that are in part about root vegetables, and Necromolds: Monster Battles, a game of modelling and squishing your miniatures from Necromolds LLC. The article though is not really about a mechanic, but a type of game, one that is examined here from outside of the wargaming hobby.

Senet’s reviews section, ‘Unboxed’ includes a look at Reiner Knizia’s then latest, Rebirth, published by Mighty Boards, a tile-laying design that is actually two board games in one and described as his elegant best. Survive the Island is Zygomatic’s update of Escape from Atlantis! from 1982 and described as an “’80s throwback”, whilst ‘Senet’s Top Choice’ for the issue is War Story: Occupied France, a game from Osprey Games with an interesting heritage. It is a collaboration between the designers of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective and the Undaunted series. It combines elements of the war game with the solo gamebook to help drive the story along with the game play, which has elements of roleplay as much as guerrilla tactics.

As per usual, the last two columns in Senet Issue 18 are ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. For the former in ‘All for one and one against all’, James Nouch explores the ways in which different players view the play of games, especially in the face of skill imbalance between them. Lastly, the DJ, Andy Bush pulls a game from his ‘Shelf of Shame’. He delves back into gaming history to examine Magic Realm from 1979! He finds it thoroughly old-fashioned and overly complex such that he actually downloads a fan version of the rules for clarity, but still has fun.

Senet magazine always shows off the board games it previews and reviews to great effect, and Senet Issue 18 is no exception. It seems fitting as an anniversary issue that it a rather good read with the celebrations nicely understated. All of the articles are interesting and worth reading, with even the instalment of ‘For Love of the Game’ having something useful to say. Both ‘Pyramid Schemes’ and ‘Little Wars’ are informative and the standout articles in the issue. 

Magazine Madness 42: Senet Issue 17

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Senet is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. Bearing the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”, it is about the play and the experience of board games, it is about the creative thoughts and processes which go into each and every board game, and it is about board games as both artistry and art form. Published by Senet Magazine Limited, each issue promises previews of forthcoming, interesting titles, features which explore how and why we play, interviews with those involved in the process of creating a game, and reviews of the latest and most interesting releases. Senet is also one of the very few magazines about games to actually be available for sale on the high street.

Senet Issue 17 was published in the winter of 2024 and if the cover stands out for its singular look and stark simplicity which makes it stand out on the newsstand, it should be no surprise that the editorial talks about the importance of a good cover. The cover itself is an illustration taken from the board game Emberleaf and the editorial applies that importance to board games as much as its own cover. Which gives space to highlight the artist interviewed in the issue, ‘The Mico’, and the rich detail of his covers that ensure the games that he illustrates standout on the shelves.

As usual, ‘Behold’ begins the issue proper, highlighting some of the then forthcoming games with a preview and a hint or two of what to expect. The releases of note here Emberleaf, from which the issue’s front cover comes, a game about restoring a forest after it has been attacked by a villainous overlord; A Nice Cuppa, a mini-game about relaxing with a nice hot cup of tea amongst today’s travails; and A Wayfarer’s Tale: The Journey Begins, a roll-and-write game about exploring and charting new islands. The other opening sections of the magazine continue to underwhelm the reader, but for different reasons. The regular column of readers’ letters, ‘Points’, continues to be constrained to a single page, waiting for room to expand build into something more, but in this issue, the letters continue to show that the audience for magazine is wider than letters in previous issues have suggested, with letters from older readers and highlight the benefits of playing board games. With ‘For Love of the Game’ the journey of the designer Tristian Hall continues towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth—and beyond. By now, very beyond. In ‘The Art of Success’ he asks how you can measure success when it comes to publishing board games. As he makes clear, it is not money, but rather bringing a project that he loves to the market and hopefully, successfully so. Besides comparing the process of creating board games to creating art, and whilst that is not a bad comparison, nothing is added to the conversation about games and the process of their design that has not be said before.

Every issue consists of two interviews, one with an artist and one with a designer, plus an article about a theme in games and an article about a mechanic in games, and of course, Senet Issue 16 is no exception. The tried and tested formula begins with ‘The Wolf Man’, Matt Thrower’s interview with designer and publisher, Ted Alspach. Through his company, Bézier Games, he is best known for titles such as Castles of Mad King Ludwig and One Night Ultimate Werewolf. The interview charts him from shifting from player to designer via expansions for the highly regarded railway game, Age of Steam, and then the Werewolf games. One interesting fact revealed in the interview is that Castles of Mad King Ludwig was actually inspired by the designer drawing maps as a Dungeon Master for Dungeons & Dragons and wanting originally to apply that theme. It is clear that Alspach is enthusiastic about his own games and seeing other playing them. It is an engaging affair as is the second interview in the issue by Alexandra Sonechkina, which is with the North Macedonian artist known as The Micah. ‘Monster Mash’ showcases his artwork with space given for him to discuss the origins and inspirations for the numerous illustrations he has supplied to innumerable board game designs. The monster illustrations for Monster Lands 2 are amazing, whilst despite his not liking drawing buildings, his cover to the board game Merchants Cove is rich in detail and really could have been benefitted from being larger so the reader could have better seen some of that detail. As with the best of the artwork shown off in the pages of Senet, the illustrations serve as mini-portfolio for the artist, intriguing for the reader to want to look at the games they are for.

Between the two interviews is Tim Clare’s ‘Boards and Borders’ which explores the contentious theme of immigration in board games. The article notes that immigration has actually been a means of spreading the play and popularity of board games, such as that of Mancala across India and the adoption of Mahjong by middle-class Jewish women in the twenties and thirties, but also points out although the subject matter for some board games would historically involve immigrants, the board games themselves do not address this, for example the building of the railways in the United States in almost any train game. However, other board games do focus on immigrants and the immigrant experience, more often than not in the USA, since the country experienced notable influxes of immigrants in relatively recent times. For example, Alea’s Chinatown explores the growth of the Chinese population in Manhattan in the late sixties following the relaxation in immigration laws, whilst Pandasaurus Games’ Tammany Hall sees the immigrant groups being used as bargaining chips and the means to garner votes and thus power by corrupt politicians in the late nineteenth century and again in Manhattan. Manhattan is major location for immigrant-themed board games since it was the key entry point for immigrants coming to the USA. The article does not shy away from challenging nature of the subject matter and highlights the artwork for later versions of Chinatown for perpetuating stereotypes. This is an interesting look at a theme that appears not be commonly explored in board games.

The mechanic is ‘pick-up-and-deliver’, one that is very much more commonly used in board games. ‘Delivering the Goods’ is the double-meaning title of Dan Thurot’s article about games in which the players pick up goods or passengers and transport them to specific locations. Mayfair Games’ Empire Builder series is the first series of board games to make use of this mechanic, but Lancashire Railways from Winsome Games followed by Age of Steam from Warfrog Games, both by designer Martin Wallace have continued and expanded its use. All of them see players not only laying routes between locations, but picking up goods or passengers and delivering them elsewhere. The structure has spread far beyond the romance of the railways to other modes of transport, such as sailing ships in Merchants & Marauders from Z-Man Games and starships in Xia: Legends of a Drift System from Lavka Games though. Oddly, no canals, though. However, what the article shows is that the further designers gets away from the simple elegance of the ‘pick-up-and-deliver’ seen in Age of Steam, the more complex their designs get, even up to the point where mathematics and mass-thrust ratios need to be considered in the early days of space exploration board game, Leaving Earth from The Lumenaris Group, Inc.

Senet’s reviews section, ‘Unboxed’, covers a wide array of titles as usual. They are led by a review of Undaunted 2200: Callisto, the Science Fiction version of the highly praised Undaunted series from Osprey Games. However, whereas titles in the Undaunted series have been awarded ‘Senet’s Top Choice’ in previous issues, not so here, though it gets a big review. Instead, the award goes to CMYK’s game of warehouse organisation, memory, and imagination, Wilmot’s Warehouse, which is bright, breezy, and very colourful, and sound a lot of fun. The oddest choice reviewed is Blackwell Games’ For Small Creatures Such As We, a solo journaling game in which the player controls and tells the story of a crew of a spaceship. It is odd because it strays into the roleplaying space rather than board games and thus feels out of place. This is not the only time that the issue strays into the realm of roleplaying though.

As per usual, the last two columns in Senet Issue 16 are ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. In ‘When board gaming meets therapy’, therapist Alex Roberts explores ways in which board games can be used as part of therapy, as vehicles via which patients can be tell their stories. This is a fascinating subject and consequently, a fascinating article, but again oddly, it uses not a board game to illustrate the possibility of organised play the author suggests, but a storytelling game, a roleplaying game. This is For the Queen, which is not a board game. Simply, there is a disconnect here between the title of the article and the content.

Lastly, the team behind Knightmare Live pull a game from their ‘Shelf of Shame’. This is Blood Rage from Cool Mini Or Not in which the players lead clans of Vikings in battles against monsters during Ragnarök to earn a place in Valhalla. They come away having enjoyed the game, describing as fun, but not in their top ten.

Physically, Senet Issue 17 is shows off the board games it previews and reviews to great effect, just as you would expect. The most interesting article in the issue is ‘Boards and Borders’ because of the difficult subject, but the issue is treated fairly, showing where it has been used to best effect and where it has been poorly handled in board game designs of recent years. Elsewhere, the missteps in roleplaying feel out of place, but otherwise, an enjoyable, if serviceable read.

Magazine Madness 41: Senet Issue 16

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Senet is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. Bearing the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”, it is about the play and the experience of board games, it is about the creative thoughts and processes which go into each and every board game, and it is about board games as both artistry and art form. Published by Senet Magazine Limited, each issue promises previews of forthcoming, interesting titles, features which explore how and why we play, interviews with those involved in the process of creating a game, and reviews of the latest and most interesting releases. Senet is also one of the very few magazines about games to actually be available for sale on the high street.

Senet Issue 16 was published in the autumn of 2024 and what the covers hints at—if, that is, the reader recognises the style of illustrator Kyle Ferrin—what the focus of the issue is, and that is, a big interview with Cole Wehrle, the designer of several popular, and critically acclaimed board games, including Root, Oath, and Arcs. If not, then the cover is not giving away very much, but then that is what the editorial is there for, and indeed it explains all. As well as the interview with Cole Wehrle, the editorial highlights the issue’s game play and theme articles. The former is that of solo play, once that the editor admits having enjoyed with a series of games, whilst the latter is all about witches and witchcraft. Not only appropriate for the time of year when the issue was published, but coincidentally, appropriate for the time of year when this review is being written (even if, unfortunately, a year late!).

As expected, ‘Behold’ begins the issue proper, highlighting some of the then forthcoming games with a preview and a hint or two of what to expect. The notable titles include Ada’s Dream and Tenby. The first is a complex game about Ada Lovelace and her program designs for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, involving as it does dice, character cards, and a rondel. The preview is clear about the complexity of Ada’s Dream, but the subject is fascinating enough to warrant a closer look. The second is simpler, a tableau game about laying out the fronts of houses in the Welsh coastal resort of the same name, in part based on their colour, a common feature of Welsh towns with their pastel-coloured buildings. ‘Points’, the regular column of readers’ letters, contains a mix of praise for the magazine and a discussion of gaming culture. It still feels limited at just a single page and it is clear from the letters that the magazine is well liked, so it seems a shame that it cannot be expanded to build a community around the magazine via the letters page. Hopefully, this will change in the future when the page count for the magazine is increased. Similarly, ‘For Love of the Game’ continues the journey of the designer Tristian Hall towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth—and beyond. By now, very beyond. In ‘Time to Play’ he explores what he does in in downtime away from designing and publishing games, which surprisingly, is playing games, running counter to the idea that you should never take your day job home with you by working on other projects. This though is a variety of games, including roleplaying games and games from other designers. Much of it is to spur his creativity, but he cannot avoid doing a little market research too. By this point though, the column has left its remit way behind, and it would be interesting to see another designer share his diary.

The sixteenth issue of the magazine keeps to its tried and tested format of two interviews, one with a designer and one with an artist, and two articles about games, one about specific type or game or mechanic and the other about a theme. As mentioned previously, the interview with the designer is with Cole Wehrle in Dan Thurot’s dubiously titled ‘Give It A Wehrle’. Wehrle is the designer of some very high profile titles, mostly from Leder Games, including Root, Oath, and Arcs, but also some more controversial, but arguably more interesting titles like John Company and Molly House from the company he shares with his brother, Wehrlegig Games. Here he discusses the development of Root, and then Arcs, in particular how it differs from typical Science Fiction civilisation board games that adhere to the 4X format—eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Surprisingly, the focus is less on Arcs, at the time his latest game, than still on Root. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating interview, one which also examines the differences between how Wehrle designs for Leder Games and his own company. It does feel as if it could have been a longer interview looking at his other designs in greater depth. Perhaps in a later issue?

The other interview is with the artist, Joan Guardiet. In ‘The Explorer’, Dan Jolin talks to him about the games he has illustrated and the varied approach he takes to each. Senet always gives the space to showcase an artist’s work and this is no exception, enabling the reader to look at the different styles across several games. For example, Mazescape series of solo map exploration titles from Devir, are inspired by MC Escher and the computer game, Monument Valley, and have an angular look, whilst La Viña, also from Devir, has a delicate, intentionally ethereal look in its depiction of its various grapes and vines. Across the six games depicted it is almost a surprise to see they are all illustrated by the same artist.

In between the interviews, ‘Game of Crones’ by Alexandra Sonechkina explores the role of the witch has in board games, tracking her role as villain from early titles like Hexenhaus from 1952 and Milton Bradley Games’ Which Witch? from the seventies to more positive depictions in games such as the 2015 Kennerspiel des Jahres Winner Broom Service from Alea and KOSMOS’ Techno Witches from 2005. Common themes in witch-based games include broom races, potion making, and spell casting, but the most common is that of witches on trial, which of course, has a strong historical precedent. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 figure strongly, as in games like Façade Games’ social deduction game, Salem 1692, but Septima from Mindclash Games counters this by having the players working to solve the problem that the witches are accused of and are on trial for. Lastly, the article points out that the subject is controversial because perceptions of witchcraft differ, but suggests that more positive depictions might counter this controversy.

Matt Thrower’s ‘Party of One’ examines a style of play that has become increasingly common over the last few years as an increasing number of publishers offer extra rules for their games that allow them to be played solo. The article lists the Mage Knight Board Game, Wingspan, Dune: Imperium, Cascadia, and the Imperium series as all possessing good solo variants to what are well regarded games, but notes that the origins of solo play in board games lies in card games and puzzles which do not offer the narrative possibility that a solo board game can. Even playing board games solo can offer this as well as the means to learn the rules, and that is before you get to games that are deigned to be played solo. Here there is possibility to tell stories and have play experiences that other board games with more players would not. Overall, this is an interesting article, but it could have better highlighted games designed to be played solo rather than games with solo variants.

‘Unboxed’, Senet’s reviews section covers a wide range of games, top of which is Arcs, designed by the issue’s star interviewee, Cole Wehrle, and here awarded ‘Senet’s Top Choice’. The game is given a very good review, and it does look like a terrific game. Elsewhere there is courtly theme to the reviews with a look at both For the Queen from Darrington Press and Courtesans from Catch Up Games, but one of the more interesting titles reviewed is Hollandspiele’s Striking Flint, a game about the General Motors strike of 1936 to 1937 in Flint. Michigan. The game involves placing workers to stop actions being done and so resist the police and other strike breakers, so is described as an ‘anti-worker placement game’. The issue does not ignore more commercial fare with a review of Disney Lorcana: Gateway from Ravensburger.

As is traditional, Senet Issue 16 comes to a close with the regular end columns, ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. For ‘How to Play’, ‘How to be a Games Guru’ by Will Brasher, talks about his role as a games guru working at the games café, Chance & Counters, in Birmingham. This provides the reader with an interesting and quite detailed perspective of actually providing recommendations and helping people play games. Lastly, Banzainator of Board Games Anonymous, pulls Everdell for her ‘Shelf of Shame’. The reason why she has not played is because it was too light for her and this proves to be the case with some caveats. She would only play it again with two players rather than more.

Physically, Senet Issue 16 is shows off the board games it previews and reviews to great effect, just as you would expect. The highlight of the issue is the interview with Cole Wehrle, which definitely feels as if should be longer, but the article on witches and witchcraft as a theme is also good. This is another good issue providing solid and informative discussion of board games and their culture.

Magazine Madness 38: Senet Issue 15

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Senet is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. Bearing the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”, it is about the play and the experience of board games, it is about the creative thoughts and processes which go into each and every board game, and it is about board games as both artistry and art form. Published by Senet Magazine Limited, each issue promises previews of forthcoming, interesting titles, features which explore how and why we play, interviews with those involved in the process of creating a game, and reviews of the latest and most interesting releases. Senet is also one of the very few magazines about games to actually be available for sale on the high street.

Senet Issue 15 was published in the summer of 2024 and as its cover hints, the issue includes an article exploring Ancient Rome as a theme in board games. The theme is also linked to the issue’s exploration of a gaming mechanic, that of dice rolling, as well as highlighting a joke reference in the article about Ancient Rome that is very obvious. It is surprising to see a pair of roleplaying games advertised in the issue, but this not worry the regular reader. Senet is still very much about board games.

The issue proper begins with highlighting some of the forthcoming games with its regular preview, ‘Behold’. Highlights here include Power Vacuum, a game about power and power in a government of power household appliances after their dear leader, a vacuum cleaner (hence the title, a glorious pun), has died; Final Cut, a card game about making horror films; and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. There is a filmic theme running through several of these previews, both in terms of inspiration and title. ‘Points’, the regular column of readers’ letters, contains a mix of praise for the magazine and a discussion of gaming culture. It still feels limited at just a single page and it is clear from the letters that the magazine is well liked, so it seems a shame that it cannot be expanded to build a community around the magazine via the letters page. ‘For Love of the Game’, continuing the journey of the designer Tristian Hall towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth—and beyond. By now, very beyond. In this issue, he focuses on the joys of being a solo designer as well as the pitfalls of working with others. Of course, he cannot name names, but the lack of details or examples means that there is no important advice to learn or dangers to warn about, and the article is simplistic and obvious.

The tried and tested format of the magazine continues in Senet Issue 15: Two interviews, one with a designer, one with an artist, and one article exploring a game mechanic whilst another looks at a game theme. It is a format that works well since it throws a light on different aspects of the hobby and its creators. The first interview is with Bruno Cathala, a designer whose output is often eclipsed by other designers. His notable designs include Shadows Over Camelot with the late Serge Laget, which was an early co-operative design with the innovative addition of a traitor mechanic—later reimplemented in Battlestar Galactica, the Spiel des Jahres-winning Kingdomino, and the delightful Sea Salt & Paper. Cathala talks about his most notable successes and their development, often leading the reader to realise that they have played more of his games than they had realised. It closes with a list of just some of the stats related to his games—numbers, popularity on BoardGameGeek.com and some of the themes he has explored and some of Senet’s own picks of the best. It would have been interesting to expand on the latter as to why the magazine staff liked those games.

The second interview is with the artist, Cinyee Chiu, whose dream-like depictions of nature can be seen in games such as Harvest Island and Dragon Castle. Just three games are highlighted, so the interview does not feel as expansive as other interviews with artists in previous issues.

Dan Thurot’s ‘Roll Playing’ examines dice as a mechanic in board games. They have the longest history as a mechanic, going all the back to knucklebones of sheep, or astragaloi, used as dice. At their most basic they are rolled in ‘roll and move’ games and they are used in gambling games too. Pointing out that dice add tension and suspense, the looks at a number of different games and ways in which dice are used. The primary means is to generate a result, or ‘output randomness’, but the opposite of that is ‘Input randomness’, where the dice results are used to decide actions. In addition, because they have different numbers on their faces, these can be manipulated, the example cited being Roll Player, the board game of creating fantasy roleplaying game characters. Dice Realms, a game of improving medieval realms, goes even further, by allowing players to actually chance the numbers on the faces of their dice. There could have been a list of other mechanics involving dice that Senet has covered in previous issues, but this is an interesting overview of dice and their use beyond simple ‘roll and ‘move’.

The issue’s theme is Ancient Rome and ‘Empire Building’ by Alexandra Sonechkina starts with the Monty Python reference promised by the editor. The article points out that with a thousand years of history and culture, Ancient Rome has much that can inspire board game design. In board game history, it starts with the many wars and battles fought by the Roman Empire, but there is the gladiatorial arena and chariot racing, the ruthless politics, and ultimately, the construction of Rome itself. From Avalon Hill’s mammoth The Republic of Rome to Matt Leacock’s Pandemic: Fall of Rome, which organises the last defence of Rome as a tower defence game using the Pandemic engine, the article highlights a wide range of games. Magna Roma and Foundations of Rome both deal with the construction of Rome, (though sadly not Glory to Rome), Chariots of Rome and Chariot Race both deal with chariot races, and Gladitores: Blood for Roses, is a crowd-pleasing, blood and guts treatment of gladiators in the arena. So, lots of history and multiple themes in article which could have been much longer. The only issue are the illustrations which focus too tightly on parts of the games rather than the whole games themselves.

‘Unboxed’, Senet’s reviews section covers a wide range of games. The most notable of which is Osprey Games’ Sankoré: The Pride of Mansa Musa, a big, heavyweight Eurogame of rival North African school teachers at the University of Timbuktu is awarded ‘Senet’s Top Choice’, whilst the reviews actually start with big review of small games such as Rafter Five and Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs. Another heavy game reviewed is Wyrmspan, the draconic sequel to the highly regarded Wingspan, which has been the subject of previous issues of the magazine. Overall, a pleasing selection of games reviewed.

As is traditional, Senet Issue 15 comes to a close with the regular end columns, ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. For ‘How to Play’, ‘How to serve up a great game night’ by Meeple Lady, suggests a recipe to creating and running a game night, which is quite common within the board game hobby. It is good advice, though hosts are likely to swap out the suggested games for ones that they prefer. If the article is surprising that has taken so long for the magazine to talk about hosting a game night. Lastly, Calvin Wong Tze Loon pulls Lands of Galzyr for his ‘Shelf of Shame’. What is interesting is that this a game that he and his partner worked on during the Lockdown, so coming back to it was a kind of rediscovery for him and the strange adventures that the game takes the players on. The article is a change of focus in that the subject is a game designer rather than a reviewer.

Physically, Senet Issue 15 is shows off the board games it previews and reviews to great effect, just as you would expect. It contains a good mix of interesting and informative articles, but the illustrations in ‘Empire Building’ are not as clearly handled as they could have been. There is a sense that Senet is beginning to outgrow its page count at this point. Some of the articles feel as if they should have been longer, ‘Empire Building’ and the regular ‘For Love of the Game’ being examples. Nevertheless, Senet Issue 15 continues the showcase that the magazine has been for the boardgame hobby with very readable content and pleasingly sharp design.

Magazine Madness 37: Senet Issue 14

The gaming magazine is dead. After all, when was the last time that you were able to purchase a gaming magazine at your nearest newsagent? Games Workshop’s White Dwarf is of course the exception, but it has been over a decade since Dragon appeared in print. However, in more recent times, the hobby has found other means to bring the magazine format to the market. Digitally, of course, but publishers have also created their own in-house titles and sold them direct or through distribution. Another vehicle has been Kickststarter.com, which has allowed amateurs to write, create, fund, and publish titles of their own, much like the fanzines of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest. The resulting titles are not fanzines though, being longer, tackling broader subject matters, and more professional in terms of their layout and design.

—oOo—

Senet is a print magazine about the craft, creativity, and community of board gaming. Bearing the tagline of “Board games are beautiful”, it is about the play and the experience of board games, it is about the creative thoughts and processes which go into each and every board game, and it is about board games as both artistry and art form. Published by Senet Magazine Limited, each issue promises previews of forthcoming, interesting titles, features which explore how and why we play, interviews with those involved in the process of creating a game, and reviews of the latest and most interesting releases. Senet is also one of the very few magazines about games to actually be available for sale on the high street.

Senet Issue 14 was published in the spring of 2024 and is physically notable for its four-part, split cover inspired by the game Art Society and some classic pieces of artwork from around the world. The editorial highlights the fact that 2024 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons and that as well as being the first and most successful roleplaying game, it has had its own influence upon boardgames, the editor noting that the first Eurogame inspired by Dungeons & Dragons—2012’s Lords of Waterdeep—was the editor’s first Eurogame. Which means that the editor has been playing Euro-style games for less time than you would think and playing roleplaying games for longer than you would think! Plus the article is a bit of nostalgia upon his part.

The issue proper begins with highlighting some of the forthcoming games with its regular preview, ‘Behold’. There is an unintended theme running through the previewed games, the board game Nature exploring evolution through a series of modules; players finding undiscovered animals on an unexplored mythical island and establishing nature reserves for them in Wondrous Creatures; and critters living in ice floe villages fighting monsters in FLOE, and that is animals and creatures of various kinds. The combat continues in Tibetana, but this is a game in which the aim is to grow by spreading cultures rather than being a game about war without confrontation. It is the most intriguing of titles previewed in the issue, though perhaps not as quite as intriguing as in previous issues of the magazine. ‘Points’, the regular column of readers’ letters, contains a mix of praise for the magazine and a discussion of gaming culture, including suggestions of how to interact with other gamers by focusing on them rather than oneself and a quick report on board game display at the Young Victoria & Albert museum in London. It shoehorns in more letters in than normal, rising from four to five, but as with the previous issues, there is scope here for expansion of this letters page to give space to more voices and readers of Senet, and so build a community. ‘For Love of the Game’, continuing the journey of the designer Tristian Hall towards the completion and publication of his Gloom of Kilforth—and beyond. Here he looks at what to do after the game has been fulfilled via Kickstarter and what the options are if a designer wants to keep the momentum going for his game. As Hall points out, the designer is in sales now. The question is, how more life is there in this journey and should space be made for other voices?

The tried and tested format of the magazine continues in Senet Issue 14: Two interviews, one with a designer, one with an artist, and one article exploring a game mechanic whilst another looks at a game theme. It is a format that works well since it throws a light on different aspects of the hobby and its creators. The mechanic in the issue is ‘Conflict of Interest’. Dan Thurot examines the prisoner’s dilemma, the classic scenario in game theory that shows why two rational individuals might not cooperate, even if it is in their best interest to do so. It begins with its historical origins and development by the RAND Corporation and sees how it has been extended into board game design. In doing so, it hits some classic board game designs from the last seventy years. Most notably, Diplomacy, but also Cosmic Encounter from EON and its subsequent reimplementation, Avalon Hill’s Dune. The article looks at the balance between self-interest and the needs of the group, often expressed as the semi-co-operative style of play, and what becomes clear is that the mechanic is used to explore some really interesting themes. In Cosmic Encounter, Dune, and Diplomacy, this was the balance of power, but in games like We’re Sinking! A Pirate’s Dilemma and HMS Dolores, it is about the division of loot, and in the very recent Molly House, from Wehrlegig Games, this is between the need to maintain a group lifestyle and being forced to inform.

Dan Jolin also conducts the issue’s first interview in ‘Larger Than Life’. This is with Brazilian board-game illustrator Weberson Santiago. His artwork was first seen in the international version of Coup, but his art, which he describes as possessing personality, has been seen since in The Bloody Inn, a game of murderous innkeepers from 2015; Avalon: Big Box, a re-implementation of The Resistance: Avalon, the Arthurian version of The Resistance, set in the same universe as Coup; and Kelp, the octopus versus shark game previewed in the previous issue of the magazine. The style is varied, but there is a theatricality and a little of the gothic to much of the artwork on show here. What is always enjoyable about these interviews is that they give an artist the chance to talk about his inspirations and how he interpreted a project.

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the world’s first roleplaying game, Senet Issue 14 does not sidestep into the world of roleplaying, but explores how the world’s first roleplaying game has sidestepped into board games. In ‘The Advance of D&D’, Matt Thrower goes all the back to the first Dungeons & Dragons-inspired, but not an actual official Dungeons & Dragons board game, Dungeon!, before looking at more modern implementations. It points out how Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition was more board game like with its grid-based play, annoying some of the roleplaying game’s players, but attracting board game players in its board game implementation, starting off with Castle Ravenloft. Many of the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired board games are battle rather than dungeon-based, so Lords of Waterdeep is one of the most radical designs to be based on the roleplaying game. This has interesting history, having been developed during lunch hours, but to date, the application of Dungeons & Dragons in board games has mainly been on battles rather than subtler conflicts as in Lords of Waterdeep. The article also suggests some other board games inspired by roleplaying games, but the inclusion of a trading card game like Vampire: The Eternal Struggle, feels like a stretch. Overall, an interesting read that explores Dungeons & Dragons-inspired board games which do more than simulate roleplaying or offer very light roleplaying.

The issue’s designer interview is with David Thompson. In ‘The Good Soldier’, Alexandra Sonechkina interviews the co-designer of Undaunted, the squad-level infantry wargame set in Normandy. The notable feature of his designs, nearly all of them with other designers, is how they focus on the individual. He talks about how the original design came about and then how the Science Fiction version of the Undaunted series, Undaunted 2200: Callisto, was developed. Another good interview which really piques the interest in the designer’s titles.

‘Unboxed’, Senet’s reviews section covers a wide range of games. The most notable are of Le Scorpion Masqué’s Sky Team, the two-player, limited communication board game of landing passenger aeroplanes and of the ecology and climate control-themed, 2024 Kennerspiel des Jahres Winner from CMYK and co-designer, Matt Leacock, Daybreak, and it is the latter that is ‘Senet’s Top Choice’. The inspiration for the issue’s cover, Art Society, is reviewed too, as The Fox Experiment, the new game from Elizabeth Hargreaves, the designer of the highly regarded Wingspan. The review strays into roleplaying a little with Acturus’ Endless Destinies: The Clockwork City, but with a card rather than dice mechanic, but its inclusion reflects another cross section of interesting games put under the lens.

As is traditional, Senet Issue 14 comes to a close with the regular end columns, ‘How to Play’ and ‘Shelf of Shame’. For ‘How to Play’, ‘Lord of the flies: how to win at Hive’ by Joe Schulz, in which he explains how he switched from judo following a shoulder injury to the two-player game Hive in 2015 and has since been world champion four times. Lastly, Pasan Fernando and Damian Armitage, the duo behind Meeples Abroad, pull out Merv: The Heart of Silk for their ‘Shelf of Shame’ and discover a strategic, city-building game and the wealth of options it offers.

Physically, Senet Issue 14 is shows off the board games it previews and reviews to great effect, just as you would expect. It contains a good mix of interesting and informative articles, ‘Conflict of Interest’ showing off a surprising mix of games that the prisoner’s dilemma has been applied to and ‘The Advance of D&D’ explores another side of the roleplaying game in its anniversary year. This is all backed up by some informative reviews. Senet Issue 14 is another good issue with a wide rage of content in a well presented package.