When Punchboard was just starting to prove itself as something that might actually last, I started making contact with lots of smaller publishers and designers. Most of them are based in the UK, and I met (virtually, at first) loads of really decent people. I wrote reviews and previews for their games, and I started to realise just how many amazing games there are out there that most people will never even know exist, let alone play.
I decided very early that one of the things I want to do with my - admittedly small - platform, is to shine a light on these people and their games. So whenever possible, I’ve jumped at the chance to write reviews and previews and to promote their games.
I realised at the end of last year that I hadn’t covered as many as I’d like to in 2022, so I made a promise to myself to rectify that in 2023. So far, things have been going great, so I wanted to take the chance to give them a quick bump in this newsletter, and maybe point you in the direction of a game you’ve never heard of before, that I think is worth your time and money.
The games
Let’s start things off with one which I felt bad about. Pugs in Mugs, from SDR Studio. I felt bad because the lovely team at SDR sent me a copy of this game aaaaages ago. I played it a bunch with my family, and then my son stole the game and stored it with his games. It fell off my radar (which games cannot do any more!), and my review ended up coming out a year later than I hoped. If you like lightweight, family card games with utterly gorgeous pug artwork, check out my Pugs in Mugs review right now.
And if you’re thinking “Yeah right, shill, we know you only like heavier games!”, then think again. I’ve been playing games of this on BGA with folks for weeks on end.
Next up was Crown of Ash, by Card Noir Games. I bumped into Richard (the designer) at a few conventions throughout the last year, and instantly fell in love with the artwork and table presence of his game. The fact that it’s a worker-placement game and has dual-layer player boards just sealed the deal for me, so I was delighted when he asked me to write a preview. You can read my Crown of Ash Preview right now, with a Kickstarter to come in the coming months.
Achroma is a finished game, and the product of a lockdown project from a group of friends which turned into an incredibly polished duelling card game. Think Pokémon TCG, Magic: The Gathering, Mindbug - that sort of game. Achroma threw me at first with its lack of rulebook and dependence on an app, but buried beneath my old-man grumpiness is a brilliant, stylised, evolving card game which I’ve had a lot of fun with. Read my Achroma review right now, I dare you.
Finally, for now, at least, is Fatal Knockout by Niall and the team at Crab Studios. I haven’t even had a chance to promote my review yet. It’s a 1v1 fighting game in the style of Exceed, if you’ve ever played that. It plays right into my love of arcade fighting games like Street Fighter 2 and Fatal Fury, and it has the most unique use for a box I’ve come across - it transforms into a tiny arcade cabinet. It’s coming to Kickstarter some time in the not-too-distant future, but for now you can go read my Fatal Knockout preview.
Keeping up momentum
I’m going to keep this level of exposure up for the rest of the year to come, interspersed with the more well-known stuff that’s sitting on my shelves to cover. I’ll be chatting to people at conventions, keeping up with social media, and just generally being a nosy bugger.
I’m really enjoying covering these games, and on a purely egotistical level, it makes me feel so happy when I bump into people I’ve only chatted to online, in real life, and they tell me how pleased they are with my coverage, and what it’s done for their games. These games are their babies, after all, so they’re far more precious to them than they are to me.
Suggested reading
I’ve only scratched the surface of the UK-based indie games I’ve covered, here in this newsletter. If you want to trawl back through games over the last year or so, here are some links to reviews and previews that came out before those above.