The Dash Action

Image courtesy of Board Game Quest [5 min read] A couple of months ago I wrote about finally getting War of the Ring to the table. At the time, I hadn't played another person. I'd played two solo games instead, making mistakes, correcting rules as I went, and gradually convincing myself that this famously intimidating game wasn't nearly as impossible as I'd imagined. One of the questions I left with was whether that solo learning would actually benefit my first contact with another player. Now I know the answer. Yes—but probably not for the reason I expected. The Solo Games Didn't Teach Me the Rules They gave me context. When my friend Mariano came over to play, we still spent around six hours on our first game together spread over two sessions. The setup was still long. We looked up plenty of rules. The opening turns were still slow. None of that surprised me. What surprised me was that I never felt lost. I'd already seen the systems working together. I knew w...

Image by Ares Games [4 min read] War of the Ring Second Edition has a reputation. Big board. Lots of pieces. A rulebook that feels like it expects homework. For a long time, that was enough for me to not play it. This article isn’t a review. It’s how I got it to the table anyway—twice—without really knowing what I was doing, and why that was exactly the right way to begin. If you’re sitting on a heavy game and waiting until you “understand it properly,” this is the alternative. Part One — What Actually Stops You Before I played, the friction looked like this: Setup felt like a commitment Not because it’s complicated in design—but because it’s big. Armies across Middle-earth, all needing to be in the right place. The rulebook didn’t land I read it, but it didn’t stick. Too many moving parts without context. It felt like I needed the “right moment” The right opponent. Enough time. Enough understanding. So I didn’t start. That’s the real barrier with games like this—not complexity, but t...

Image by Focus Entertainment  [7 min read] I’ve always thought Warhammer 40K looked cool. Giant armoured super-soldiers. Endless war. Aliens versus humanity. It’s hard not to be drawn in. But coming from tabletop roleplaying games—D&D, Dungeon Crawl Classics, that sort of thing—I didn’t really know where to start. Do I jump into the full army-on-army experience? Or try something smaller? So I tried both. I played through the Warhammer 40K Ultimate Starter Set (the full game), and the Kill Team Starter Set (their smaller skirmish version), with one question in mind: How do I try Warhammer 40K without overwhelming myself? The First Friction: You Don’t Start by Playing The biggest surprise? You don’t start by playing. You start by building miniatures. When I opened the 40K Ultimate Starter Box, my first reaction was: wow, that’s a lot of models . And I’ll be honest—I’m not really a miniatures hobbyist. I like using minis in my RPGs, but I’m not someone who enjoys building and pa...

Image by Modiphius   [5 min read] The Problem With Starting Solo You’ve probably looked at solo roleplaying at some point—and bounced off it. It’s an appealing idea. A game you can play on your own, at your own pace, with a story that unfolds around your character. No scheduling, no need to gather a group, no dependency on anyone else’s time. But then you sit down to actually try it, and something doesn’t quite click. There’s no Game Master guiding you. No structure to lean on. You’re staring at a blank page, or a handful of prompts, and very quickly the question arrives: what do I do next? If you’re coming from board games or miniatures games, that feeling can be even sharper. You’re used to systems that carry you—clear turns, clear rules, clear objectives. Even the most complex campaign game still tells you where to start and what to resolve next. Solo roleplaying doesn’t always do that. It gives you freedom instead. And while that freedom is powerful, it can also feel like frict...

Image by  Polygon [10 min read] Intro - The First Flame The Age of Fire - Video Games The Age of Dark - Return to Tabletop Final Thoughts - The Cycle Continues Intro - The First Flame I discovered tabletop and video games almost at the same time, back in the late ’80s. Dungeons & Dragons and the Commodore 64 — those were heady days that sparked a lifelong fascination with how people play, and how design shapes that experience. Video games owe an enormous debt to tabletop’s early innovations. From centuries-old miniature wargames came the foundation for turn-based tactics like XCOM . From Risk and its 1950s cousins, we inherited the DNA of grand strategy games such as Civilisation . And from Dungeons & Dragons — itself born from wargaming in the 1970s — came the blueprint for computer roleplaying games: stats, hit points, experience, progression. Even a predominantly action-focused title like Dark Souls draws deeply from those mechanics. It was while playing Dark S...

Lucca Comics & Games 25 - from 29 Oct to 2 Nov 2025 [4 min read] Last weekend, I experienced my first real foray into the world of gaming conventions beyond video games, attending Lucca Comic & Games in Italy. Having spent years at large-scale events like Gamescom, I expected something similar, but Lucca immediately felt different. This is a festival spread across the beautiful old town, rather than a single, impersonal hall. Streets, piazzas, and historic buildings host comics, movies, and tabletop games. Cosplay is everywhere, and families stroll alongside hardcore gamers, creating a welcoming, vibrant atmosphere. Comics, movies, and video games made a splash in Lucca's streets   My friend Mariano and I focused on tabletop gaming, which made up most of our time. The Carducci Pavilion , the central hub for these, was packed but well organised, featuring everything from board, miniatures and card games as well as role-playing games.  Large publishers like Ravensburger...