Welcome to Which Game First where we boldly explore the hilariously huge world of board games. Did we unearth any hidden treasures you’ve been missing out on? Let’s find out!







First: We get our palace staff running smoothly one flipped card at a time in Castle ComboNext: We provide a rainbowy paradise for our furry and feathered friends in HarmoniesAnd lastly: We’re race for knowledge to beat our fellow mages in the great tournament called Time Masters







Castle Combo







Designed by: Grégory Grard, Mathieu RousselPublished by: Catch Up Games (2024)Players: 2 – 5Ages: 10 & upPlaying time: ~ 25 minutes







Castle Combo is a tableau building card game, where players are trying to put together various characters in a kingdom to maximize the kingdom’s productivity.







A player can take up to 4 actions on a turn in this order: 1) use a key, 2) buy a card, 3) place the card onto their tableau, 4) activate any immediate special abilities.







The community market of cards to choose from consists of a row of 3 cards with characters from the upper part of town, plus there is a second row of three cards populated with characters from the lower part of town.  A player can only purchase a card from one of the rows. But if they would rather switch rows to choose from, just use a key and you can suddenly choose from the other row.  Or if you like the row you are in, but not the cards, use a key to sweep the cards away, and choose from 3 new ones.







Once purchased, the card is placed on the player’s tableau. They will build a 3×3 grid – maximizing the placement of the cards so that they trigger effects when the other cards are placed in the same row, or the same column, or perhaps just anywhere on the grid. The idea is to maximize the synergies, and unlock as many VP’s as possible.  When everyone has placed nine cards, the game is over! Count the VP’s  – overthrow the king, assume the throne, and become the tyrant you’ve always dreamed of.







Harmonies







Designed by: Johan BenvenutoPublished by: Libellud (2024)Players: 1 – 4Ages: 10 & upPlaying time: ~ 30 minutes







Harmonies is a tile placement game where players are crafting beautiful landscapes, populated with exotic animals. 







In turn, players will be drafting one of 6 landscape cards. Each landscape card contains:  first – a pattern for placing landscape tiles on the player’s tableau – and second – the card will have a type of animal on it, perhaps several of that type of animal.  Each card is unique.







To build a pattern, the player will choose one of 6 sets of tiles.  There are 3 tiles in each set, randomly chosen.  There are 6 types of landscape: fields, mountains, rivers, trees, the ground, and towns







Place the tiles on the tableau to complete the pattern, and then populate the land with one of your animals from that card. 







A player may have no more than 4 pattern cards at a time. If all the animals are placed from the card, the card is removed, opening a new space for a fresh card.







Play until a player has only 2 hexes left on their tableau, and that signals the final turn for everyone. Animals are points, and certain terrain patterns are points. Most points wins, and wins a prize – they get to play the harmonica.







Time Masters







Designed by: Nicholas Bodart, Pierre-Emmanuel LegrainPublished by: MushrooM Games (2014)Players: 2 –...