Economic

There’s a particular kind of euro game that doesn’t want you to feel clever. It doesn’t hand you a satisfying engine that hums along, spitting out resources while you lean back and admire your tableau. Instead, it grabs you by the collar every single turn and says: “Choose. And know that whatever you pick, you’re giving something up.” Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road is that game. Designed by Fabio Lopiano and illustrated by the ever-brilliant Ian O’Toole, this 2020 release from Osprey Games has quietly become one of the most respected mid-weight euros among people who’ve actually played it - while remaining almost completely invisible to the broader hobby. ...

Trains are the backbone of modern board gaming. The 18xx genre literally predates most of what we’d recognise as “hobby gaming,” and the simple act of connecting two points on a map with a coloured line has launched a thousand designs. There’s something primal about railways - the expansion, the competition for limited routes, the satisfying click of infrastructure falling into place. But “train games” aren’t one thing. They span the entire complexity spectrum, from games you can teach your parents in five minutes to economic simulations that make spreadsheets look casual. The theme bends to fit everything from gentle tourism to robber baron capitalism, from fantasy steam-magic to pure abstract stock manipulation. ...