Thank you Fantasy Flight Games
for providing me with products to review, free of charge.
These are my own honest opinions.

I love table games. It’s my favorite activity to do with friends and family and with the Holidays just around the corner, I look forward to the great time I’ll spend playing countless games. Of course, I always like to bring a few new games every year. This year, I am thrilled to have received games from Fantasy Flight Games. Have you ever heard of them? They offer some of the most popular table games at the moment including Twilight Imperium, Wiz-War, Civilization, Battlelore and much more.

For this review, I received 5 fun table games. To jump specifically to the review of a game, click on the title of the game you like: Cosmic Encounter, Eldrich Horror, Games of Thrones: The Board Game, Game of Thrones: Westeros Intrigue, and Hey, That’s My Fish

Cosmic Encounter

The premise of Cosmic Encounter is that a long long time ago, there was a race of intelligent beings who searched through galaxies for other intelligent life forms. Their quest remained unsuccessful and in an attempt to leave a legacy behing, they created life pods which they sent through space using their advance technology and hoping that new life would emerge. Each player represents an Alien race that has evolved independently with its own power and is a descendant from these long-gone beings. The game begins when all these new races meet and being a war to gain cosmic supremacy.

Specs: 3-5 players, 12+ years old, 1-2 hours

What I like: This game is awesome! I love the premise and there was a lot of thought into creating a game that is strategic and well-balanced. There are 50 different alien forms categorized according to the level of difficulty associated with playing them. This means that even if you were to play this game dozens of times, the chances of randomly choosing the same races are very slim so you really have to adapt your strategy every time based on your own race as well as your opponents’. You can also adjust the difficulty level depending on the experience of each player so everyone can join in and have a great time. The goal of the game is to colonize new planets (in your opponents’ ‘galaxies’) and to do so, you rely on your power, your cards, and also on the help of other players who may choose to ally with you and turn the tide in your favor. Careful though because alliances are short lived! The game is designed to bring an element of surprise because you don’t choose who you attack each turn. This can be good or bad… Also, you never know which cards your opponent has to fight back your attack and it’s possible that what looked like an easy conquest ends up costing you ships. The balance between strategy and chance is perfect!

Eldrich Horror

The premise of Eldrich Horror is that we are investigators travelling around the world, working around the clock to prevent an ancient evil from rising. There are mysteries to solve, evil creatures to confront, challenges to test our limits. This game is based on the mysterious and creepy universe of H.P. Lovecraft and has a great level of details both the story itself and the illustrations.

Specs: 1-8 players, 14+ years old, 2-4 hours

What I like: This is a cooperative game. I am a huge fan of cooperative games because it means as long as 1 or 2 players have mastered how to play, even novice players can participate and have fun because we can help each other out and make group decisions. And this game requires a lot of strategy! Who will destroy this monstrous creature? Should we focus on this mystery or explore this town and hope for a skill bonus? Each player has a different role so we all have our own strengths and weaknesses and there are many different evil beings and ancient ones to battle so each game will require a different approach. This game is really epic! You’ll need a few hours to fight your way through it and don’t expect to win every time because this game isn’t easy at all. But the challenge is fun whether you win or lose and it’s all about working together. One word of caution though, don’t expect to open the box and figure out the rules in one quick read of the instruction booklet. This game has a lot of depth and many rules, tokens, and types of cards. Be patient, allow yourself some time to learn the game and I guarantee you you’ll be happy you did.

Game of Thrones: The Board Game

The premise of Game of Thrones: The Board Game is that we represent the different Houses of the Seven Kindoms of Westeros in the popular universe of Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Just like in the book and the TV series, we can’t seem to live in peace so it’s all about gaining control of the infamous Iron Throne through diplomacy and warfare.

Specs: 3-6 players, 14+ years old, 2-4 hours

What I like: First off, being a huge fan of Game of Thrones, I love the theme! The story is well carried into the game and it’s clear that they didn’t just use the theme to arouse interest: they researched it and took into account many elements of the story. In fact, the first edition of this game was published nearly 10 years ago, way before most of us had even heard of Game of Thrones. The second edition has some new improvements. The game is quite complex, especially in the first few games until you get the hang of all the rules  (the rule book is 30 pages long!) and figure out which strategies work best. There are many events along the way that can help you but also many obstacles that you cannot easily plan for such as Wildlings cards and Westoros cards which will affect your supply, the recruitment of your army, etc. There is a lot of planning because you have to decide which ‘orders’ you give your men, which territories are worth seizing control of, how to counteract your opponents’ attacks, etc. Part of the challenge comes from the fact that we plan all our actions at once, without knowing what our opponent is going to do so you may end up preparing for an attack that never comes or gathering your troops to invade a territory that has an army twice the size you expected. And even with the best of plans, there are ‘Tides of Battle’ cards that can change the outcome of a battle. If you love the Game of Thrones universe, you’ll love this game. The only downfall is that the board, even though it’s beautiful, is quite busy visually and with all the army tokens and orders we add, it can be a little overwhelming.

Game of Thrones: Westeros Intrigue

The premise of Game of Thrones: Westeros Intrigue is that we have to play our cards right, both figuratively and litterally, to reach to top and finally sit on the infamous Iron Throne.

Specs: 2-6 players, 8+ years old, 15-30 minutes

What I like: This is a fast-paced game. The idea is to literally reach to top of a pyramid of influencial Game of Thrones characters to claim the Iron Throne. This game is super easy to explain and can be played by anyone. There is only one rule: play as many of your cards as you can, creating a pyramid (8 cards on the bottom row), making sure that each card matches at least one of Houses represented on the 2 cards below it. For example, if there is Targaryen card and a Stark card side by side, the only 2 cards that can be played directly above them are a Targaryen or a Stark card. You would not be able to play a card from House Baratheon nor House Lannister. Obviously, at some point along the pyramid, you will get stuck with cards that can’t be played anymore and gain penalty points. The person with the fewest penalty points after a specific number of rounds win the Iron Throne. Like I said, this game is quick and easy so everyone can have fun but I would have liked a little more depth or the option to play with more complex rules. For example, it would have been nice to have ‘advanced rules’ that state that Tyrion and Cersei can never be on the same row or that Tywin is always above all 3 of his children. I feel there is a great untapped potential for a more developed game using the complex relationships that make Game of Thrones so interesting.

Hey, That’s My Fish!

The premise of Hey, That’s My Fish is that we are all hungry penguins, competing to gather as many fish as possible, while maneuvering around an ever shrinking ice floe.

Specs: 2-4 players, 8+ years old, 20 minutes

What I like: This is a fun family game! It was first published over 10 years ago and has quickly become very popular. Kids love it and with it’s compact size, it’s a great portable game. The penguin figures and the artwork is beautiful. The rules are easy to understand: gather as many fish as you can by travelling in straight lines across the ice floe but each time you move your penguin, remove the ice block underneath its starting point. After a few turns, the ice floe will begin to shrink and segment meaning you’ll have to plan ahead to make sure you don’t get stranded or get cut off from yummy fish by your opponents. If you’re looking for a casual game that the whole family will love, this is it!

Find Out More: Head over to Fantasy Flight Games to see for yourself the huge selection of exciting table games they offer. 

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Rachel