We wanted to write a quick post to say, “yes, we know we have not written in awhile” – The reason comes down to how busy we’ve been with the Detective Hawk Games side of the business and unfortunately its pulled us away from doing more blogging about the games we love. We recently got a few new games to the table: Burncycle, Return to Dark Tower, and we’ve even revisited Scarface 1920 as a 3-player game (which works much better!) We’ve also got our copy of Descent: Legends of the Dark – Act II which we want to dive into once we finish Artisans of Splendantvale which we love. Outside of this, w ..read more

HEAT – Pedal to the Metal Review Welcome to our latest review! Today, we dig into Days of Wonder HEAT: Pedal to the Metal. It’s been a while since we wrote a review. The store side took off in July, and we’ve been in recovery mode since August. All our focus has been on that! So now we’re ready to get back to writing these reviews! Heat is a fascinating racing game for up to 6 players. It brings all the excitement of a racing video game to a simple yet intuitive board game. Let’s drive into this game and find out why it’s one of the hot games out there! Game Overview In Heat, you take on th ..read more

Welcome to our review of The Witcher: Old World Deluxe from Go On Board. This game is an interesting Kickstarter we picked up a few months back and just got to the table. Fear not; this game comes in a retail version published by Asmodee. You can play this game in multiple ways. It is primarily competitive, but it is also cooperative if you have The Wild Hunt expansion. It’s for 1-5 players and takes 90 – 180 minutes. If you enjoyed the books or the Netflix series with Henry Cavill or the video games, you’ll love this game with its perfect mixture of fighting and adventuring. Let’s check it ..read more

Have you ever dreamed of being a master potion brewer? Now you can with the board game “Brew” from Pandasaurus Games. Players compete to create the most valuable potions using various ingredients in a strange world where the seasons happen simultaneously. If you’re new to the game, this guide will explain the rules and strategies to help you brew your way to victory. Game Overview Brew is what’s known as a dice drafting game. Each player gets their own set of dice that they roll at the beginning of each round. This is called the dice pool, and players alternate turns by drawing dice and placin ..read more

Today we’re looking at a fascinating campaign game, Artisans of Splendent Vale, designed by Nikki Vales and published by Renegade Studios. In this narrative-driven game, you take on the role of one of four friends living in Splendant Vale, each with a technical specialty. This game will take a fair number of sessions to finish, and there is quite a bit of reading to be done. Let’s get into our review! Game Overview In Artisans of Splendent Vale, you are playing through a grand adventure. The game is split into two distinct halves. One half is the action scenes book. This spiral-bound book has ..read more

Verdant is a board game for 1-5 players, created by Alderac and Flatout Games. The game’s objective is to gain the most victory points by achieving each plant’s verdancy and potting plants and placing plants next to rooms of the same type. The game is designed by Beth Sobel, who also worked on Wingspan. Let’s find out how to play! Game Overview In Verdant, players compete for victory points at the end of the game. The primary way to gain points is to achieve each plant’s verdancy (leaf value printed on the card). Points can also be achieved through potting plants and placing plants next to roo ..read more

Looking for a fun and engaging board game to add to your collection? Look no further than The Gardens from Grail Games! This 2-4 player game challenges players to create the most impressive version of the Sydney Botanical Garden. Let’s check it out! Game Overview In The Gardens, players take on the roles of landscape designers as they choose elements to add to their individual gardens. Each row on the board is populated by one visitor meeple, who always moves to the most recently placed garden card. Players score points differently based on the type of garden card laid down. The game has fount ..read more

Welcome to our review of Fantasy Flight Games‘ Twilight Inscription! This game is our first foray into the world of Twilight Imperium, and we had a blast playing this unique Roll and Write game. After the Lazax Empire has fallen, you and your fellow players take on the roles of a faction who each have individualized abilities to help them win the game. The game’s goal is to have the most Victory Point assets at the end of the game. With so many ways to gain those, you must be strategic in playing the game. Come check out our review and insights into this fun, competitive game. Game Overview In ..read more

Welcome to our review of the fabulous game Vindication from Orange Nebula. This is another of the Kickstarters we backed during the pandemic. The version of this game we got is called the Archive edition. This includes the core game, the Guilds & Monuments expansion, the Chronicles expansion, the Treachery expansion, and the Myths and Wonders expansion, amongst others. We will focus our review on the core game and touch on the other expansions as appropriate. Vindication is a 1-4 player game for ages 14 and up, and it will take you 90- 180 to play, depending on how many players you have. A ..read more

We wanted to provide an update on our online store. We have been closed since November 30th. Our plan was to reopen the store today, January 12th; however, we are delaying that opening. We are going to now reopen on Monday, January 16th.  If you’ve been following our newsletter and website, you’ll know we’ve been traveling abroad in Australia. It was a fantastic trip, and we saw and did many things while there. That said, this was indeed a “working vacation” for us. While there, we decided that the store needed an overall refresh. We had heard your feedback that sometimes t ..read more