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

 Asmodee is an editor and publisher of table games and game cards. It is thanks to Asmodee that I discovered some of my favorite board games so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with them to discover new and exciting games!

I received the following board games (click on the list to jump to that section of my review):

Lords of Xidit – Takenoko – Splendor

Lords of Xidit

The premise of Lords of Xidit is that we are heirs to the great dynasties of a fantasy kindom. The Southern Host has arisen and turned friendly creatures into vicious ennemies. It is our duty to help regain control of the kindom but it is no easy task. The player that travels through the kindom to recruit all kinds of people in the hopes of defeating as many creatures as possible. As players successfully to do so, they can collect different rewards: gold, bard tokens, sorcerer’s guilds.

Specs: 3-5 players, 14+ years old, 90 minutes

What I like: This game involves an interesting system of turn taking: we each program our next 6 moves simultaneously and secretly then we play them one by one. This means that you have to plan ahead not only according to your goal but also take into consideration that someone may be one step ahead of you and render all your careful planning useless. There is a lot to take into consideration and avid gamers will find it very challenging. I like that there are different types of people to recruit and that each creature can only be defeated by setting up a specific combination of fighters. Each city offers a selection of people but they can only be recruited following a specific order so sometimes, it pays to be patient. There are also different types of reward to collect and in order to win the game, you cannot rely only on one type of rewards. It’s important to try and keep track of the rewards chosen by each player because you do not want to be the player who scored the least for each type of rewards otherwise you won’t be able to claim the title of THE Lord of Xidit.

Takenoko

The premise of Takenoko is that the Nippon emperor was given a Giant Panda from his Chinese counterpart. We are now entrusted with the task of growing a bamboo plantation to care for this panda. Growing bamboo is a more complex task than you would think: you have to farm land, make sure it is irrigated, choose one of the different types of bamboo to grow. As if this alone wasn’t challenging enough, the weather also affects what we are able to do each turn.

Specs: 2-4 players, 13+ years, 45 minutes

What I like: This is a great casual game board. It was designed by Antoine Bauza, who also created the very popular game ‘7 Wonders’. There is obviously some strategy involved but the gist of the game is easy to grasp so anyone can play. In my experience, older children around 9-10 years old can play it so it can also be a great family game. The artwork is beautiful totally in line with the Asian theme of the game and the Giant Panda and gardener figures are gorgeous! I like how bamboo shoots grow by stacking bamboo pieces but unfortunately some of them aren’t perfect drilled so some of them don’t fit as well. Other than that, I really like how the ‘garden’ grows as we play so the board is never the same, game after game. The game will also vary based on the objectives each player gets. The player whose completed objectives add up to the hightest value wins.

Splendor

The premise of Splendor is that we are all ambitious and weathly Renaissance merchants who strive to become the most prestigious merchant of all. Doing so requires acquiring gem mines, transportation, hiring artisans to cut those precious stones and turn them into jewelry, and hopefully create jewelry that is stunning enough to woo nobility.

Specs: 2-4 players, 10+ years old, 30 minutes

What I like: This is a fun game of resource management. The challenge comes from the fact that resources are somewat scarce (and you can only collect 10 at a time) so it is entirely possible that the development card you wanted to acquire is out of reach because other players already collected all the gems you needed! It is also possible that more than one player are trying to acquire the same card so you have to be strategic in order to acquire the ressources you need as fast as possible. This game is quick and relies on your ability to effectively collect chips (gems) and development cards and attract nobles. I like that you can buy cards and keep them secret from your opponents and ultimately surprise them by claiming unexpected  prestige points. The joker gold chips which can replace any gems also had a great twist to the game.

Find Out More: Head over to Asmodee to see for yourself the great selection of exciting table games they offer. 

Rachel