It’s hard to appreciate Bridge fully until you’ve play it! But, to try in plain language:
The bidding-phase is far from a simple a rule-based exchange. It’s a territorial war in prelude to ‘the actual battle’. Tactically, A rich side with want to occupy bid-space to share information, while a poor side want to render space unuseable to neutralise opponent’s advantage or put them on the wrong ‘battlefield’. Also, players must first identify who are the richer and poorer sides, when the initial distribution of assets is unknown!
Exchanging information with partner is a high priority, but one isn’t obliged to bid when it reveals more to opponents than partner. Mild bluff and deceipt are also embraced, however within prescribed limits to prevent the game becoming simple poker. This all requires considerable judgement and skill with bidding rules that are statistically accurate though individually inaccurate.
Limiting bid-exchange to two-word ‘bytes’ of information achieves two goals: (a) The first-player advantage gets evened out so each player receives a meaningful turn, and (b) The small vocabulary constrains exchange to a kind of statistical ‘meta-data’, that helps keep much of the granular information concealed until the playing phase.
Moreover, for today’s game skillfull bidding is listening to what is NOT said, like Sherlock Holmes ‘dog that did not bark in the night!’ Skilled players ‘read’ the one spoken bid as a clever denial of 5 ‘unspoken’ bids, thus exchanging 5 times more data through one bid. And, advanced bidding systems increase this ratio, giving greater band-width to the players astute enough to decode it!
This all creates immense depth in the bidding, and why it’s quite difficult to master. Meanwhile the asymmetric distribution of information rewards teamwork whilst ‘keeping the murderer’s identity hidden until the last card’ in this ingenious game.
113.7a Once activated or triggered, an ability exists on the stack independently of its source. Destruction or removal of the source after that time won’t affect the ability. Note that some abilities cause a source to do something (for example, “This creature deals 1 damage to any target”) rather than the ability doing anything directly. In these cases, any activated or triggered ability that references information about the source for use while announcing an activated ability or putting a triggered ability on the stack checks that information when the ability is put onto the stack. Otherwise, it will check that information when it resolves. In both instances, if the source is no longer in the zone it’s expected to be in at that time, its last known information is used. The source can still perform the action even though it no longer exists.
Last known information about Legolas is that it’s a 3/6 with deathtouch, so it will deal 3 damage and because of deathtouch, it’s lethal.
Kirk Herbstreit knows how big of a marquee game it’ll be when the Texas Longhorns pay a visit to Columbus to play the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Longhorns are led by one of the most-hyped college football players of all time in Arch Manning, who comes from the legendary Manning family. Texas has been a national championship contender in recent years, reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals in each of the past two seasons. Furthermore, they’re considered the title favorites this year, according to betting odds.
Meanwhile, the Buckeyes are the defending national champions and are one of the top favorites to win the national championship. They’ll feature a new starting quarterback this time around with Will Howard entering the NFL. The projected starter is Julian Sayin, a 19-year-old sophomore who has just 12 passing attempts to his name.
While the pressure is on for both programs entering the big game, Herbstreit believes it’s Manning — which means its the Longhorns — who faces the most pressure due to heightened expectations for the 21-year-old redshirt sophomore. Manning is the projected favorite to win the Heisman Trophy this season.
“To answer your question about pressure, you have the defending national champs that are always under pressure, especially at home,” Herbstreit told The Escapist in an exclusive interview. “You have Texas coming in with Steve Sarkisian and with Arch Manning. I don’t think it’s a lose-the-game, you’re-out-of-the-playoff kind of game. So I don’t know if it’s that kind of pressure, but I think just the expectations on Arch Manning, he probably has the most pressure.”
Herbstreit: Arch Manning Will Be Judged After Opener
Herbstreit, a Buckeyes alum and former starting quarterback of the program, mentions how everyone is going to make a judgment on Manning due to his last name
“Because of that last name, you can only protect him for so long,” Herbstreit said. “Now he’s going to go out there, and everyone is going to make a judgment on how he plays in that game. Not that he can’t correct it the next week or later in the year, but there’s going to be some strong social media opinions on what they see from Arch based on how he plays in that game Week 1.”
While Herbstreit is best known for his work as a color commentator for ESPN and ABC’s coverage of college football, he’s also dipped into commentating for the NFL. The 55-year-old is the color commentator for Amazon’s NFL on Prime coverage for Thursday night games.
Although the Cleveland Browns aren’t slated on the schedule this season, they’re one of the more intriguing teams in the NFL due to the Shedeur Sanders situation. Sanders was a projected top first-round draft pick this year only to fall all the way down to the fifth round.
Herbstreit: ‘Someone’s Going To Get Cut’ In Browns Quarterback Room
The Browns actually selected Dillon Gabriel — who was picked in the third round — ahead of Sanders and they feature veteran quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett on the roster. That’s not including the injured Deshaun Watson, who still hasn’t recovered from an Achilles injury. He’s expected to miss the entire 2025 season.
Herbstreit — an Ohio native — expects the Browns to go with Flacco as the starter, with Sanders in a backup, “developmental” role.
“My guess would be that they got to go with a veteran, with Joe Flacco, would be my guess,” says Herbstreit. “Camp hasn’t even started, and one thing I read, he (Sanders) looks like he should start. The next thing is, he’s only playing with the younger guys, and he’s still in a developmental role. That’s pretty common for a (draft) pick. It takes time to make that adjustment. My guess would be he makes the team, but he’s more in a developmental role.”
It was only two years ago that Flacco led the Browns to the playoffs as the Comeback Player of the Year. However, the 40-year-old veteran spent last season with the Indianapolis Colts and went 2-4 as their starting quarterback for several games.
If neither Sanders, Gabriel or Pickett proves to be capable of being the starter, Cleveland likely turns back to Flacco to being its starting quarterback. Herbstreit expects Sanders to make it on the 53-man roster despite the team currently carrying four quarterbacks.
“If you take Deshaun away, you still have four (quarterbacks),” says Herbstreit. “Most teams keep three. Someone’s going to get cut and I think it’s going to be based on how things go in camp. If we’re betting on what we think Shedeur will do, my bet is he makes the team, but he’s in a backup role.
“If I’m the Browns, you got to go with a guy like Flacco, just because two years ago, he was the NFL Comeback Player of the Year because of what he did in Cleveland. You hang your hat on him and hope he can stay healthy for most of the year.”
Herbstreit has been a staple on the NCAA Football video games since NCAA Football 04. He made a return as one of the voices of the game with the series’ return last year.
“Joey Galloway, a buddy of mine (a fellow Ohio State alum), we played that video game, Bill Walsh College Football, years and years ago,” says Herbstreit. “It was called Bill Walsh College Football, and that was my senior year when we were playing it. We played it all the way through, and then when I was all of a sudden on the game, because he and I would play for hours, it was quite a thrill. I’m calling all these games in real life, and now I’m on the video game. I was like, ‘Man, I’ve officially made it, being on this video game.’ This is like back in, ’05, ’06, somewhere back there.”
The Emmy-award winning Herbstreit details how “excited” he was that the game returned last year. NCAA Football 25 returned with immediate success and fanfare, becoming the best-selling sports game in the United States in history.
“And then when it went away, it was such a bummer, because I was not only doing the voice work, but I was a consumer,” says Herbstreit. “I played it, and I thought it was gone for good. Then when it decided to come back, and they allowed it back, I was obviously very excited to be part of it again, and the game is at a whole different level now. With technology and the voice work we did, we worked very hard on, I know it was a thrill last year.”
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As we have seen in the general historical overview in Book 1, individual leaders, first and foremost, but not exclusively, kings, drove the historical narrative in Ancient times. Accordingly, Hubris – Twilight of the Hellenistic World has been built around these leaders, their strengths and weaknesses, unique abilities and relationships. Who can you trust to get the job done? Who can you trust with an army? These will be essential questions when you play Hubris…
Introduction
Unlike modern states, Hellenistic kingdoms did not feature extensive administrations and bureaucracies: in many ways, the king was the state. But, no matter how talented he could be, he could not do everything on his own. To govern, he relied on a circle of people close to him, who were traditionally known as his Friends (in Greek: Philoi), though over time the term lost its original meaning to become more of an official title. Whenever a king needed a task to be taken care of, whether leading a diplomatic mission, overseeing a construction project or leading an army, he would appoint one of his Friends, usually selected because of their particular skills or connections, and also with an eye on their loyalty. Indeed, the model of heroic kingship epitomized by Alexander, and through which the original Successors built their kingdoms, was still very much present in the minds of Macedonian officers, leading to a number of rebellions by royal family members or prestigious generals…
In Hubris, whenever you want to do something in the game, whether undertaking an action or triggering a pending event, you will have to activate an available leader, and test their appropriate rating to determine whether you are successful, and to what extent.
Every leader is typically able to be activated twice per turn, and each activation takes up one activation opportunity, of which there will be at least four, but never more than six, for every kingdom each turn. Since all leaders have different abilities, which leader to activate, to what end, and when, forms the core of player decisions…
Anatomy of a Leader Card
Every leader in the game is represented by a Leader Card. Let us look in some detail at one of these.
This leader is Perseus, the eldest son of king Philippos V of Macedon. You can see that he is affiliated at start with Macedon, and tagged as a member of the Royal Family, with the succession rank of #2. If he is in play (alive) when his father is removed from play (dies), he will automatically succeed as king of Macedon.
He enters play at the start of Turn 6 (195-191 BCE). This means that he is of age to play an active role in politics, war and administration from that turn onward. His has no end turn, which means that, barring other circumstances, he would live beyond the scope of the game.
If he had an end turn within the time frame of the scenario being played, he would be removed from play when the recurrent game mechanism “Ferryman of Souls” pops up if his end turn matches the current turn, or a previous turn – since recurrent events do not necessarily occur every turn. However, irrespective of their printed end turn, every leader must roll 2d6 when “Ferryman of Souls” is resolved, and is removed from play on a roll of 12, representing early death occurrences, such as from a battle wound, a riding incident, disease, or random assassination…
Finally, Perseus’s Leader Card is illustrated, like every other leader’s in the game by a specially commissioned hand-drawn portrait.
Leader Capabilities and Ratings
Perseus has all three Capability icons existing in the game: the Military icon, the Diplomacy icon, and the Admin icon, which means that he is able to undertake all possible Actions and Reactions:
With the Military Capability, he is able to undertake Campaign Actions and all kinds of military Reactions, including Naval Interceptions, Strengthening Defenses and Emergency Muster;
With the Diplomacy Capability, he is able to undertake diplomatic Envoy Actions toward autonomous cities and tribes, try to increase his kingdom’s influence in the Roman Senate or to forestall war with the Republic (though his Special Ability diminishes his effectiveness in this regard, see below);
With the Admin Capability, he is able to attempt to Raise Additional Taxes, Build new naval Squadrons, and undertake Evergetism Actions, various actions to increase the standing of the dynasty through public buildings programs or other benefaction initiatives;
Various events may require a leader with a specific Capability icon to be Activated in order to trigger them.
He is rated for each of these Capabilities, with actually two ratings associated with Military: a Battle Rating and a Siege Rating:
As indicated by its name, the Battle Rating is primarily used in battle, with each Unit under his command rolling once and generating hits if they roll equal or less to his Battle Rating;
The Battle Rating is also used when rolling for Subjugation of Tribes during Campaigns;
The Siege Rating, on the other hand, is used when rolling for Sieges of Cities during Campaigns.
In all cases, the highest the rating, the more effective the leader is, as successes are gained by rolling equal or less to the appropriate rating. Various To Hit Modifiers (THMs) may apply, for instance:
Elite Units get a +1 THM in battle;
A Siege Train grants a +1 THM on Siege rolls;
A number of Cities and Tribes are deemed Strongholds and impose a -1 or -2 THM to Siege or Subjugation attempts against them;
An Envoy attempt against a Place already Aligned with another Power suffers a -1 THM; if it has a Garrison, that THM is -3 instead;
An Raise Additional Taxes attempt gets a +1 THM if friendly troops are in the targeted Satrapy…
Perseus’s Battle Rating of 4 makes him one of the best field commanders in the game, with only the famed Hannibal, who can come in play as an exile from Carthage, having a better rating with 5. His Siege Rating of 2 is average. Diplomatically, with a Rating of 3, he is good though not great. Same thing with his Admin Rating of 3. Overall, Perseus is a very capable leader, though with some flaws as we are going to see now.
Special Abilities
Most leaders have Special Abilities. Perseus is afflicted with a negative Special Ability: as he was strongly disliked in Rome (which preferred his younger brother Demetrios, who had been a hostage there for a number of years), he suffers a -1 THM on every Diplomacy Check involving Rome, whether trying to increase influence in the senate or to forestall war. This brings an interesting choice for the Macedon player in the late stages of the game, as an event may force them to pick an heir to Philippos V: Perseus is the most capable, but Demetrios may be better able to avoid a confrontation with Rome. However, his ties there prevent him from undertaking anything against Rome and its allies, including the Greek cities…
Other Special Abilities found in the game include military or diplomatic bonuses in certain circumstances, or powerful actions unique to this leader, such as the ability to suborn enemy leaders, train troops or improve the ratings of one’s king…
Loyalty and Intrigue
While not every leader has all three Capability Icons nor Special Abilities, they all have Loyalty and Intrigue Ratings, which define how reliable and potentially troublesome they are.
Loyalty in Hubris represents both how personally ambitious and how faithful to their king leaders are. This is especially critical for leaders entrusted with military commands, though some events will check the loyalty of leaders at court. Should a leader fail a Loyalty Check, typically during a recurrent “Ambitious Generals” game mechanism, he will rebel, setting himself up as an independent power, controlling troops and places, and will usually have to be eliminated by military force.
Intrigue on the other hand represents both the ability of a leader for shady undertakings and the likelihood that they will create trouble at court. Some events will require Intrigue checks, making high Intrigue leaders desirable. But the most common use of Intrigue ratings is when the recurrent game mechanism “Intrigues At Court” is resolved: then, the Intrigue Ratings of all Friends at court – i.e. not in the field with a military command – are totaled and compared to the Intrigue Rating of the king or of his Chief Minister. If this total exceeds various multiples, a growing number of plots will oppose various Friends who are at court, possibly targeting the king himself if things really get out of hand, and often resulting in the elimination of courtiers, fallen victims to deadly court intrigue! Some other events, such as the dreaded “Succession Crises” which are put in the Events Deck upon the death of a king, also require testing Intrigue of key leaders.
It should be noted that Loyalty is most critical for leaders in the field with a military command, while Intrigue typically plays with Friends who are at court. This introduces another balancing act, with Loyalty, Intrigue – and Renown, as discussed below – being key considerations when deciding who to send out with an army and who to keep at court close to the king…
In the case of Perseus, his Loyalty of 5 is below average, reflecting his ambition, which may make him a liability if he were to accumulate Renown before acceding to the throne. His Intrigue of 4 however is above average, again making him something of a liability when at court, but also positioning him well to handle his court easily once he becomes king – if he survives long enough…
Renown
Where all other Capabilities and Ratings are set – though some Ratings may be modified by the Special Abilities of the leader or of another leader in the same court – Renown must be earned, and can be lost, usually on the battlefield, though not exclusively.
Renown is capped between a maximum value of 4 and a minimum value of -2.
Renown is intimately linked to Loyalty, in that a leader’s own Renown is directly subtracted from his Loyalty, and his king’s Renown applied as a THM on Loyalty checks. As a result, leaders who have more Renown than their king are at a significantly higher risk of rebelling! This can prove especially problematic under a regency or under a weak king: would you rather risk defeat on the battlefield with an inferior commander, or risk an abler commander develop ambitions of his own?
Renown may also modify Intrigue Ratings, although only to a reduced extent, for some game mechanisms, including “Intrigue At Court” and “Succession Crisis” checks. Here again, a king with high Renown will more easily be able to keep control of his court, and high Renown Friends will create more trouble, while being less likely to fall victim to court intrigues…
Another key aspect of Renown is that the Renown of a king is directly added to his kingdom’s Total Victory Points (VPs). This can prove decisive, as 4 VPs exceeds the VP value of most Satrapies in the game, but negative Renown can also offset gains on the map! When a king dies, half of his Renown is converted to Dynastic VPs, a kind of essentially permanent VPs independent of the strategic situation or the current king.
As you can see, Renown is a very precious commodity, highly desirable on your king, but fraught with risks on other members of his court, even on his heir apparent…
Courts
The leaders currently affiliated with a kingdom form that kingdom’s Court. Every kingdom includes two permanent positions: those of the King and his Chief Minister.
A King must be a member of the Royal Family of that kingdom. When a King dies, he is automatically succeeded by the member of the Royal Family who is next in line as per Succession Rank on their Leader Cards. If there is no member of the Royal Family in play at that time, then there is no King until one enters play, creating a regency situation. Under some circumstances, a member of the Royal Family may be Hostage in Rome, and he is effectively considered to be out of play until freed by an event.
The King holds a special status in many game functions, and his Renown and Intrigue Ratings in particular are critical. All other leaders in a Court are considered to be Friends of the King, including leaders affiliated with a Minor Power allied with the kingdom.
The Chief Minister, unlike the King, is freely appointed from among a King’s Friends when a new one needs to be chosen, including from members of the Royal Family or leaders who were originally not affiliated with the kingdom, having joined the Court either after defecting from another Court, or through a bidding process for exiles or mercenary leaders. Only Allied Minor Leaders – leaders affiliated with a Minor Power allied with the kingdom – are not eligible to be Chief Minister.
A Chief Minister, once appointed, remains in office until he either is removed from play, defects or becomes king himself. Like the King, a number of game functions require the Chief Minister’s ratings to be checked, so choosing the right person for this office can be critical, in particular to offset some weaknesses of one’s King.
Both the King and the Chief Minister may be sent out to Campaign on the map, as long as they have a Campaign Capability Icon. When it is needed or desired to send another leader to lead a Campaign or undertake a military Reaction, another available Friend may be appointed as Strategos – a Greek term meaning both general and governor – and possibly entrusted with units to undertake this campaign. Up to three Friends besides the King and Chief Minister may be appointed Strategos, but such a position is only temporary and cannot last beyond the end of the current turn.
Any leader on the map, either the King, the Chief Minister or a Strategos, is not considered to be At Court. This is a critical distinction when resolving “Intrigue At Court” or, conversely, “Ambitious Generals”.
Leaders with full Leader Cards only represent the most noteworthy leaders who were active during the period of the game. Should a given Court fall below three members (including the King), an appropriate number of generic Replacement Leaders are randomly drawn from a pool specific to each kingdom to make up the numbers until new leaders join the depleted Court. While better than nothing, these generic leaders are obviously much less talented than the named leaders…
Example of a Court
You can see below an example of the Seleucid Court at the end of Turn 4:
The Seleucid king is Antiochos III Megas (‘the Great’), one of the best leaders in the game. At that point, he has wiped the stain of his defeat at the hands of Ptolemaios IV at the battle of Raphia in 217, crushing his cousin Achaios’s rebellion in Asia Minor, then following in the steps of Alexander all the way to the nearest reaches of India, restoring some degree of Seleucid authority over the so-called Upper Satrapies, hence his considerable Renown of 3…He is Spent (his card rotated upside-down) after Campaigning twice with his Royal Army, Siege Train and a Katoikoi (‘military colonists’) unit. He also has a peace marker showing that he has sworn peace with the current Lagid king, Ptolemaios IV Philopator.
Next to him, his faithful Chief Minister, Zeuxis, is also Spent after Activating twice for Diplomacy and Admin undertakings this turn.
The Seleucid Court boasts no less than three members of the Royal Family beyond Antiochos III: his sons Antiochos (‘the Younger’) and Seleukos (future Seleukos IV), and his cousin Antipatros. This pretty much guarantees there will be no shortage of heirs, but also presents definite risks since Royal Family members are more liable to being tested for rebellions…
Here, both Antiochos the Younger and Theodotos, a defector from the Ptolemaic Court, have been appointed as Strategos during the turn, and both have been Activated only once during the turn, leaving them still potentially available for being further Activated.
Finally, Polyxenidas, despite not having campaigned himself, is Spent also, having been rotated twice to use his “Admiral” Special Ability. Such rotations outside regular Activations explain why the Court shows a total number of leader rotations of 8, even though there is a maximum of 6 Activations per turn.
Note that despite the Court counting seven members, a quite large number, Antiochos III is able to hold it together easily both because of his high Renown – giving him an adjusted Intrigue Rating of 5 when testing “Intrigue At Court” – and the “Faithful Friend” Special Ability of Zeuxis. King Antiochos should however be cautious about sending his eldest son Antiochos the Younger on campaign again, as his Renown of 1 lowers his Loyalty to a borderline dangerous value of 4…
Now that we have looked at the leaders and the kingdoms’ courts, I will present in the next installment of these Histories the lay of the land where these leaders practice their skills, the satrapies, cities and tribes, as well as how they come to be aligned with the various kingdoms, and their significance in game terms, from the collection of taxes through the waging of war to the collection of victory points…
For me, Supervive 1.0 is the most exciting MOBA launch in a decade. Not since I was blasting noobs with Ragnaros in Heroes of the Storm have I had the urge to play something within the genre outside of my ride or die, League of Legends. It’s frenetic, vibrant, and full of promise. Developer Theorycraft Games has just dropped a new trailer ahead of its launch tomor- wait, what’s that? We can play it right now?
Supervive 1.0 is a substantially different beast from what we’ve seen in one of the year’s best MOBA‘s open beta. In the recent global launch rundown, Theorycraft co-founder and CEO Joe Tung goes so far as to call it a “top-to-bottom overhaul of the game, with a ton of polish, new content, and new features.”
The biggest pain point Theorycraft has focused on is long-term engagement. While Supervive is one of the best new MOBAs I’ve played in a long time, not least because of its fast-paced combat and refreshing take on a tired genre. Regardless, I did drop off fairly quickly. The solution, according to Tung, is more depth, replayability, and variety.
https://youtu.be/iug8xMgqCkI
This manifests in 1.0’s standout feature, the Armory. Now, killing players and taking objectives yields a new resource called Prisma. This can be spent in the Armory on various unlocks and upgrades throughout a season. Though there’s no pay-to-win to be seen here, I don’t find a grind-based system particularly appetizing, especially if it has in-game ramifications. I can see casuals quickly falling behind, which poses a significant risk to long-term attrition.
That being said, if Theorycraft can get the time investment required to reach your desired goals just right, then the studio’s onto a winner. You can check out Tung’s full explainer here.
Supervive was expected to land tomorrow, July 24, but the servers have now been switched on ahead of time. So what are you waiting for? Get going. You can check out Supervive on Steam, or peruse my soon-to-be-updated Supervive tier list for a few handy tips.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.
Welcome to Ludology, an analytical discussion of the hows and whys of the world of board games. Rather than news and reviews, Ludology explores a variety of topics about games from a wider lens, as well as discuss game history, game design and game players.
We post a new Ludology episode every other week. In these episodes, hosts Erica Bouyouris and Sen-Foong Lim deep-dive into a single topic within game design, often with a well-regarded guest from the game industry. We generally focus on tabletop game design (mainly board games and RPGs), but we often pull in experts from all forms of games, from video games to escape rooms to slot machines.
On weeks where there is no flagship Ludology episode, we will alternate between two smaller mini-sodes. Erica and Sen are happy to announce that Sarah Shipp of Shippboard Games and Stephanie Campbell of TTRPGKids will be joining us for the next year, providing additional content between our longer episodes.
Sarah’s segment, Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, is a monthly feature that dives deeper into the other aspects of games beyond the dice and cards we’re all familiar with.
Stephanie’s segment, TTRPGKids, explores how parents and teachers can use role playing games with children in the home and in the classroom.
We hope you enjoy the additional content!
Our History
We aim for most Ludology episodes to be timeless, so you are welcome to explore our entire catalog. Most of it should age quite well. The podcast was started in 2011 by Geoff Engelstein and Ryan Sturm, with Mike Fitzgerald taking over for Ryan in 2015. Gil and Scott joined the show in 2017 when Mike stepped aside, and Emma joined in 2019 when Geoff ended his tenure as host. Emma left in 2021, and Erica and Sen joined us. Since then, Scott stepped down in 2022 and Gil will be hanging up his mic in 2023, leaving Erica and Sen to carry on this amazing legacy.
Erica and Sen are working to bring new voices to Ludology and have some great things to announce as gaming expands to include even more people!
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I’ve been a big proponent of print-and-play games, and over the past year or two, dozens and dozens of these titles have hit Kickstarter, PNP Arcade, DicePen, and several other sites. It’s no wonder why – many of these games offer a short, fun game experience for less than half the price of a standard title. Yes, there’s a little extra effort that might go into it, and yes you may have to supply some of your own components. But for those who prioritize the gameplay experience and don’t need all the little fancy bits and pieces, print-and-play is the way to go.
Now, there are several different kinds of print and play, but my favorites are games that take place on entire sheets of paper. I prefer not to have to do much cutting, and I certainly don’t want to spend hours trying to properly align card backs and fronts. So these are usually my game of choice. There are plenty of options out there that scratch this itch, but most fall into the category of “roll dice, do thing”. There’s certainly not a problem with that, but I will say that it’s gotten a bit stale for me lately. Lots of them also involve going out and exploring different terrain types, marking the spaces that you visit. You’re usually looking at some form of area control, a bit of set collection, maybe a few other little things thrown in here and there.
Starfront Scouting Academy is the first title from Shiny Pigeon Printables, and it contains many of these elements. Plus, it’s in space, which I’m pretty tired of as a theme. So my fear was… is this game going to be like all others, or will it have some extra fun parts that will make it ready for launch? (Don’t worry, I groaned at that sentence, too.) Let’s find out!
I Need You to Be Clever, Bean
Starfront Scouting Academy, designed by Chris Backe, puts 1-6 players in the role of cadets facing their final exams. Their challenge: explore a toxic planet remotely using a variety of equipment. Your goal is to utilize your tools and your smarts to chart the planet in the most successful way and head to the top of your class!
Play works very simply – four dice of the same color are placed on the top, bottom, and sides of a shared Equipment Selection sheet. There’s also an extra die in the middle that represents SCOUT – a robo-dog that’s here to help you out. On a turn, you’ll select one or two of these dice to explore a particular terrain area, each of which uses the dice in different ways. For the dunes, you’ll take two dice and use the difference in their values. For the mountains, you’ll add 5 to one of the die values. You can only use dice that border that terrain type on the Equipment Selection sheet, so your options are somewhat limited.
Once you’ve made your choice, you’ll go over to the shared planet map sheet (there are 4 to choose from) and mark one of the spaces based on the value from your dice. You’ll then go to your individualized player sheet to mark the value and terrain type that you visited. You reroll the dice you use, place them on the Equipment Selection sheet, and then it’s the next player’s turn.
Play continues just like that until either a row, column, or full diagonal is completed, at which point scores are tallied. Players earn points in a variety of ways. The location values are split into three groups, and the two players with the most visits in a particular group will get some points. There are also points if you manage to visit a terrain type 4 or 5 times. Other little bonuses are also present, like having connected scout boxes or having your boxes in the line that finished the game.
There are also points available for completing six different patterns with your scout boxes on the planet map. Manage to be the first one to get the pattern completed and you’ll get even more points. Once everyone’s added up all their points, whoever has the most is the big winner!
She Just Wins… Thoroughly
Now as I said, I’m a bit tired of space games, and so I was hoping that the theme wouldn’t bring this down for me. For most games like this, the theme and everything rarely impact the way the game is played, and that’s pretty much the case for SSA. That said, I do like the flavor text and the presentation, and I feel like it goes really well with the artwork we have from Parker Simpson. It’s certainly space-themed, but it has a nice little “younger” twist to where it does feel like it’s intended for students. The full-color version looks really good, though I prefer a black and white printout as it’s easier to see what the players have marked on the sheets.
I played this game with my wife, and at two players, it made for a fun time that increased in competitiveness as it went along. We both started off doing our own thing. My wife went immediately after the patterns, while I tried to connect a bunch of my squares together. There’s so much space on the board for two players that you can easily stay out of each other’s way…. but what’s the fun in that? As the game went along, my wife was quickly racking up pattern bonuses, and I was getting a whole lot of nothing. So I started trying to take boxes away from her to keep her from getting more patterns. While this was successful for a bit, it only ended up making it so that I wasn’t getting many points for myself either. In the end, I did better than her in a few areas, but her focus on patterns and those big points for being the first one to finish them led to her having a clear victory.
If You Try and Lose, It Isn’t Your Fault
I will say that this game can be a bit more challenging for people that struggle with spatial reasoning in games. This is true for my wife, and there were times when she was taking several minutes on each turn. We quickly blew through the recommended time and got to a little over an hour, and we likely could’ve gone for 30 more minutes if my wife didn’t begin to focus on ending the game quickly before I could get more points. I’m sure as we play the game more, we’ll both go a bit quicker, but I could still see our games being closer to an hour than to 30 minutes.
In some cases, that would be a problem, as this game’s mechanics are pretty much the same from your first turn to your last. There are some bonuses you can unlock at certain levels when you visit the terrain types, and they do make for more interesting turns, but it’s still pretty much the same. That being said, I don’t think we ever got bored. As we started trying to get in each other’s way, that bit of competitiveness in us came out just the right amount, and it made for a good time.
I Will Not Be a Pawn in Your Game
I also played the game solo a few times, and I must say that I was incredibly impressed with how the rules have been manipulated to allow for this experience. When it’s just one player, they will take a turn as normal, but any dice that they do not use on a turn are utilized by a “storm simulator” to mark off spaces and make them unavailable. The use of direction and the values of the unused die is quite clever and not something I would’ve been able to envision myself.
That said, the solo mode is also REALLY hard. After playing with my wife, I thought that patterns would have to be the way to go, but that got blown up quickly. The way the simulator works, it’s always going to mark off spaces that are orthogonally adjacent to the one that you just selected. Therefore, patterns that involved having boxes in the same vertical or horizontal line led to lines that quickly filled up. My first game ended after less than 10 turns, and I had a miserable score. In my second game, I adjusted my strategy a bit, and I was certainly more successful but still fell far short of the top goal given in the manual. I do feel like there’s likely a strategy that could work, and I’m interested to keep trying it out.
Overall, I’m not sure that there’s anything about Starfront Scouting Academy that is completely unique or sets the standard for all print-and-play games going forward. However, it does what it does very well, and it’s a solid gameplay experience. This would be a very good family game for those with kids in the higher levels of elementary school, and I think it could also be good fun at the beginning of a gaming night before you get to your main gaming course. If you’ve been on the fence about backing a print-and-play campaign on Kickstarter, I would say that this is a very solid way to begin your journey into that realm.
A prototype of the game was provided for this coverage. Components and rules covered in this preview are not finalized. Read more about our preview policies at One Board Family.
Highs
Nice artwork that fits well with the theme
Fun interactivity that increases as the game progresses
Pokémon Presents are usually the highlight of the month for dedicated Pocket Monster fans, and July’s showcase was no exception. This livestream unloaded a mountain of reveals for the franchise, particularly for VGC fans.
To help catch you up to speed, we’ve summarized every crucial announcement from the July 2025 Pokémon Presents stream, including everything from video game news to exciting collaborations.
The Escapist recaps
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet fans can look forward to new Tera battles, mass outbreaks, and a free cosmetic.
Pokémon Legends Z-A was shown off in more detail, including a new Mega evolution.
Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution cards were highlighted in preparation for their September release.
Pokémon Go Fest: Max Finale is an event that Go players will want to add to their calendar immediately.
Pokémon Champions is looking like a must-play, especially for VGC players looking to sharpen their skills.
Pokémon video game fans have plenty to look forward to
These critters need to be beaten a million times each. Image credit: Pokémon.com
The video game news portion kicked off with information for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet players, highlighting the Switch 2 update for the ninth generation of games, which promised a smoother experience.
Alongside this, new Tera battles and mass outbreaks were revealed. The Shiny Treasures of Ruin is an intriguing Tera series that’ll be taking place from July 23 to September 14, 2025, featuring the Treasures of Ruin critters.
What makes this event stand out is that players will only be able to nab a Shiny Ruin critter after they’ve been defeated collectively a million times each.
Mass outbreaks of Shiny Pokémon will be taking place throughout the same time, running up until September 14. This event will include Grass, Ice, Ground, and Fire-types.
To claim a cute tracksuit set in-game via the Mystery Gift tab, Scarlet players can enter STRACKSU1T and Violet players can enter VTRACKSU1T.
Pokemon Z-A hype is building
It wasn’t just Scarlet and Violet getting updates in the Pokémon Presents, either – Pokémon Legends Z-A also received an exciting preview.
Pokémon Legends Z-A is set to be incredible. Image credit: The Pokémon Company
One of the main focuses in the Z-A video was Lumiose City itself. Players saw the main character arriving in Lumiose and joining Team MZ, a group dedicated to protecting the city.
Despite their seemingly noble intentions, Team MZ appears to have some connection to the villains of the game – the Rust Syndicate.
Rogue Mega evolutions are plaguing Lumiose City, meaning players will need to team up with MZ and use their own Mega ‘mons to battle these gigantic creatures in the wild.
One highlight of this segment was the reveal of Mega Dragonite, a previously unseen Mega evolution. Interestingly, it received a mixed response from community members we saw in the live chat.
This Pokémon looks very similar to its regular counterpart, but has elements of its previous form, Dragonair, and appears to be a lot bigger.
Customization features also got plenty of screentime in the Z-A video, with an intricate character creation and customization system being shown off to fans.
In Legends Z-A, players will be able to tailor their avatar to fit their style and even get fun haircuts for Furfrous in their party. One tiny detail that we particularly loved is the text box that implied Scythers were working as barbers.
Pokémon Champions is set to come out in 2026
Pokémon Champions should be a hit with VGC players. Image credit: Pokémon.com
Ever since its reveal, the upcoming Pokémon Champions title has had the competitive community intrigued, with many speculating it could show up at future championship events.
Thanks to this showcase confirming a rough release window, fans can now look forward to it releasing in 2026.
Further details were highlighted in a teaser trailer, confirming that both Switch and mobile players could take part in single and double matches, competing either in ranked matches globally or in private battles with friends.
One element that looked particularly exciting was the training feature, promising intricate levels of detail for trainers to tinker with. Players will be able to tweak their party’s moves, stats, and traits with ease, letting them gear up for matches easily.
Mega Pokémon are almost back in the Trading Card Game
This set is likely to be huge with collectors. Image credit: Pokémon.com
There weren’t many updates for TCG fans in this Pokémon Presents, other than a closer look at some exceedingly beautiful Mega cards that are due to come out in the Mega Evolution set, releasing on September 26, 2025.
The Pokémon cards included in this trailer were:
Mega Lucario ex
Mega Kangaskhan ex
Mega Gardevoir ex
Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Mega Venusaur ex
It’s already been a hype-filled year for the TCG community, but this set is gearing up to be one of the biggest releases of 2025. The Mega cards have the potential to turn the competitive scene on its head, and there are heaps of stellar cards for collectors to chase after as well.
Pokémon Go players received big news – quite literally
Pokémon Go Fest 2025: Max Finale will be a massive event. Image credit: Pokémon.com
Whether you’re a casual collector or a competitive Pokémon Go player, make sure you pencil the dates August 23 to August 24, 2025 in your calendar. A new event called Pokémon Go Fest 2025: Max Finale was revealed during the Pokémon Presents.
Featuring beloved Gigantamax ‘mons like Gengar and Snorlax alongside the newly-debuting Eternatus, the reveal video included a promo code – GOFESTMAX – that players can redeem to catch a Gigantamax critter in-game now up until August 24, 2025.
Other Pokémon games will be getting a sprinkle of new content
This Pokémon Presents featured a handful of smaller updates for other Pokémon titles. Here’s a quick rundown:
Pokémon Masters Ex players will be able to see Carmine and Sinistcha in their featured Poké Fair from July 29 to September 6, 2025.
Pokémon Cafe ReMix players can grab a five-star sea captain outfit for Lapras, starting July 23, 2025, alongside other nautical goodies and cosmetic options.
Pokémon Sleep players will be able to research Raikou, Entei, and Suicune starting September, 2025. There’ll also be a new area called Amber Canyon from November of this year.
UNITE players will be able to play with Latios and Latias to celebrate the game’s fourth anniversary, promising an exciting new playstyle. There’ll also be a new kind of battle called Electrode Volleyball to test out. The Pawmo line was also teased here.
If you’re a Pokémon UNITE player, make sure to redeem the code UNITE0722 to try out a Latios battle for three days. It’s valid up until August 31, 2025.
There are non-gaming updates to get excited about as well
Pokémon Concierge fans won’t have long to wait until new episodes. Image credit: Pokémon.com
Pokémon Concierge fans are in luck – new episodes are set to release on September 4th, 2025, on Netflix.
Additionally, further details about the Aardmaan collaboration with Pokémon were shown off, revealing the title to be The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d and Pichu.
A sneak preview of the animation was shown off, highlighting beloved critters like Wooloo, Sirfetch’d, and Pichu in Aardman’s legendary style. Out of all the announcements, this is one that we’re particularly excited for, though its release window is currently 2027.
PokéPark KANTO also got a look-in, with plenty of charming details about this upcoming, real-world Pokémon attraction. A map was provided for fans to pore over, revealing that the park will have two key sections – Sedge Town and Pokémon Forest.
A new puzzle game for mobile and Switch fans, Pokémon Friends, popped up on app stores just before Pokémon Presents went live too. This adorable game features a whimsical art style and customizable rooms for players to decorate with plushes.
As usual, this Pokémon Presents showcase had something for everyone – plenty for competitive players, collectors, and fans to get excited about, along with a couple of freebies to redeem in-game. We’ll be sure to keep you updated if there’s further news about any of these announcements.
Ask The Escapist
Where can you watch Pokémon Presents?
Pokémon Presents are livestreamed on the official Pokémon YouTube and Twitch channels. For information about when the next Presents will be taking place, make sure to follow the company on their official social media pages.
When is Pokémon Legends Z-A coming out?
Pokémon Legends Z-A is set to drop on October 16, 2025, meaning fans won’t have too long to wait to play it on their Switch or Switch 2. Thanks to the newly revealed Mega details, customization tools, and lore, the hype has never been more intense.
When is Pokémon Champions coming out?
The upcoming Pokémon Champions game doesn’t have an exact release date yet. As of the July 2025 Pokémon Presents, the only release window available for Pokémon Champions is 2026.
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Disease killed significantly more soldiers in the Civil War than bullets did. The Union lost 110, 000 killed in action and 225,000 from disease. The South lost 94,000 killed in action and 169,000 from disease. In addition, each side had about 30,000 men die in captivity, and almost all of those would have been die to disease, although in some cases aggravated by exposure and malnutrition. Four major killers were dysentery, typhoid fever, pneumonia, and malaria. The estimated totals from several diseases were:
These estimates are probably low, because a great man men died of unspecified causes, or “a fever.”
Most disease losses were spread evenly over time and so represented a steady attrition made up for with continuous recruiting. But I thought that some representation of epidemics which could suddenly impact a field army’s fighting strength was in order.
A House Divided now includes event cards, one of which is drawn each turn, and there are unique decks for each of the years of the war after 1861. Every card is drawn and played once, and so every one of the historic events portrayed by the card occur, but players are unsure in what order within the year they will happen. One of the effects of a number of the cards is to cause an immediate loss of one unit by one or both players at the start of a turn, the sort of disruptive casualties that sometimes occurred with particularly virulent outbreaks of a disease. Over the course of the game five Union units are removed and four Confederate.
Work in Progress Event Card Samples (not final artwork)
Some other non-disease losses occur due to events outside the player’s control. Those cards read as follows:
Trouble on the Frontier
*Union player removes any one active Union infantry to the Recruiting or Promotion Pool.
The Dakotah uprising in Minnesota, August 1862, force diversion of Federal troops north.
Southern Bread Riots
*Confederate player removes one Confederate infantry in play and place it six months later on the turn track. On that turn place it in the Recruiting or Promotion Pool.
The Southern Bread Riots were a response to dwindling food supplies in the Confederacy, and took place across the south in March and April of 1863. Militias were called out to restore order, diverting troops from the front.
New York Draft Riots
*Union player removes any one New York militia infantry in play and place it six months later on the turn track. On that turn place it in the Recruiting Pool.
Historic draft riots in New York, July 1863 caused diversion of troops to restore order.
Midwest Draft Riots
*Union player removes any 1 Illinois militia infantry in play and place it six months later on the turn track. On that turn place it in the Recruiting Pool.
In Charleston, Illinois the last pro-Confederate draft riots of the war took place in March 1864
Three Year Enlistments Expire (Union)
*Union player removes any two active Union Veteran infantry units to the Promotion Pool.
The enlistment terms of large numbers of the Union regiments enrolled for three years’ service in the summer of 1861 expired during the summer of 1864, just at the height of the Overland Campaign, which weakened the Army of the Potomac in particular.
Blockade Tightens
*Confederate player removes any one active Confederate infantry to the Recruiting or Promotion Pool. (If the Confederacy has been recognized by Europe, this card has no effect.)
Starvation in the South
*Confederate player removes any one active Confederate infantry in play and place it in the Recruiting or Promotion Pool.
As transportation broke down across the South in mid-1865, food often rotted in warehouses and starvation became widespread. Confederate soldiers increasingly left the ranks to look after their families.
In addition, weather can cause casualties as well as affect movement and game length, but that is the subject of a different article.
July 22, 2025: Check out these new free Bingo Blitz credit links.
What are the new free Bingo Blitz credits? You won’t be playing much bingo without them, that’s for sure. Even if you’ve exhausted your usual free credits in Bingo Blitz through login rewards and premium subscriptions, the secret to playing another round is through our Bingo Blitz credits links.
New Bingo Blitz free credits links work in much the same way as Monopoly Go dice links. One click and your account is automatically topped up with credits ready to be used on multiple rounds or one big blow-out session with multiple cards. The choice is yours.
New Bingo Blitz credits links
Here are all the Bingo Blitz free credits links today:
To redeem Bingo Blitz credits, simply open the links above on the same device you use to play. If you have the required permissions set up (typically by default), just click the link, tap the button on the page that opens, and you’ll be asked if it’s ok for the game to open. It helps if you’re already logged into the game.
Agree to the request, and Bingo Blitz should open back up, this time taking you to the Gift Centre page typically accessed via the big present button in the top-right corner of the screen. Accept the gift from the Bingo Blitz team at the top of the list to claim your free credits.
What are the free Bingo Blitz credit rewards?
Bingo Blitz credits links are posted to the game’s socials multiple times a day, with new ones rendering older ones invalid as they appear. That’s why it’s important to check back here several times per day. Missing one link means missing a bunch of bingo rounds.
Note that just like Bingo Blitz code rewards, the exact amount of freebies on offer with free Bingo Blitz credits links can differ between players. This is generally based on your progress within the game.
New players might only get enough credits for a couple of rounds of Classic or Super modes in their current stage (like Catalina, for example), while veteran players might get dozens to use in Deluxe or Marvellous rounds.
More types of rewards may be included as well, like gems, energy, or other currencies.
Free Bingo Blitz rewards found in the Gift Center can stack, too. So long as you claim them before they expire, you’ll be able to keep a stockpile of free credits and other goodies there for when you really need them.
How do I get more Bingo Blitz credits and gems?
Like most free-to-play games, Bingo Blitz showers you with daily freebies. You just need to know where to look.
Daily rewards and spins
Daily rewards can be accessed via the wheel button in the top-right corner of the screen. After the daily reward present, you get the chance to spin the wheel for even more.
Rewards system
Also on the Settings list is the Rewards System page. These are tiered rewards linked to playing Playtika games and can be claimed every six hours.
Add friends
Adding friends (or Blitz Buds) is another way to share free Bingo Blitz rewards. The more friends you have, the more free Bingo Blitz credits and other goodies you can send each other every day.
Adding friends gives you another way to earn pictures for the Adventure Book pages, which can unlock even more free Bingo Blitz credits when completed.
Free power packs
In the Bingo Blitz store, you can claim a free Power Pack every two hours from the Bingo Boosts tab at the bottom. Keep on top of that to supercharge the rounds you play with your free Bingo Blitz credits.
Bingo Blitz promo codes
The Promo Code screen in the settings menu can be used to claim more free rewards whenever the Bingo Blitz team releases coupon codes, typically through the game’s social media pages.
Playing
You’ll also get plenty of rewards just for playing the game. Profile level increases, rounds played, rooms completed, quests finished, and maps cleared will all dish out various kinds of free Bingo Blitz rewards.
These tend to dry up as you progress further through the game, but by mixing this method with all the other tips and tricks above, you’ll rarely run out of the credits needed to play just one more round.
And that should be everything you need to know about how to get free Bingo Blitz credits. Looking for other ways to spend your days without spending a penny? Take a peek at our list of the best free PC games around.
