Expansion Review

Spice must flow: which Dune: Imperium add-ons are essential? Dune: Imperium is already one of the hobby’s heavy hitters for a reason. It sits at 8.41/10 from 57,859 ratings, carries a 3.08/5 weight, supports 1-4 players, and wraps its worker placement and deckbuilding into a game that usually lands in 60-120 minutes. That alone tells you plenty. This thing is not some niche curiosity for people who alphabetise their wooden cubes. It’s a modern staple. ...

Does Scythe Actually Need More Content? Scythe is already a complete game. Full stop. This is a 2016 design sitting at 8.10/10 from 92,731 ratings, with a 3.45/5 weight, ranked #26 on BGG for a reason. At 1-5 players and roughly 115 minutes, it gives you that very specific Scythe feeling straight out of the box: tense positioning, engine-building with actual tempo pressure, and the constant threat of violence that often matters more than violence itself. The mechs look like they should be smashing everything in sight. Then you play and realise this is really a game about efficiency, timing, and making your neighbours deeply uncomfortable. ...

Is Concordia Worth Expanding? Salsa, Venus, Solitaria, and the Map Packs Ranked Concordia is one of those games that keeps aging like it has a private cellar in Rome. It sits at 8.08/10 on BGG from 45,172 ratings, carries a 2.99/5 weight, and holds BGG rank #29. Published in 2013, it plays 2-5 players in about 100 minutes. All of that tracks. Sit down with it and you get a razor-clean economic game where every card matters, every colonist movement hurts a little, and the final scoring still makes new players blink twice. ...

Are the Azul Sequels Better Than the Original? Look, calling these “expansions” is already a little bit of a cheat. Azul, Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, Azul: Summer Pavilion, and Azul: Queen’s Garden are standalone sequels, not bolt-on modules. You do not shuffle them together. You do not create some cursed mega-Azul. Each one is its own box, its own ruleset, its own answer to the question: what if Azul, but different? ...