You look across the field at your enemy. The slight breeze brings the smell of death to your nostrils. Your gut says you should make your way to that vital hilltop, but you’re not sure if the enemy has it in his power to stop you. You order your Light Cavalry toward the hill, and realize by the look on the other commander’s face that he can’t do anything about it. The days is yours. This is how it feels to play War Chest, an abstract, hand-management, bag-building wargame from Alderac Entertainment Group for 2 or 4 players that plays in 15-30 minutes. It uses awesome and gorgeous poker-type chips to represent units. So does this game go all-in, or is it a bad beat? Let’s find out!

When I think back to the games that really brought me into this hobby 18 years ago, many of them were games from the Kosmos 2-player line. They were inexpensive, interesting, and full of agonizing choices. And Lost Cities still stands as one of the best games to get your spouse playing games; it’s an elegant masterpiece. Today we’re joined by Tom Wetzel, Marketing Coordinator for Thames & Kosmos, who will talk about the past, present, and future of this veteran gaming company.

Thanks for joining us and answering these questions, Tom.

Tell us a bit about the history of Thames & Kosmos.

Today’s review finds us entering a strange new world. A world where everything is a cube. Fruit. Dogs. Beach balls, probably… And, of course, an anthropomorphic block of cheese wearing lederhosen. It’s right there on the cover of Cubitos, a new game from AEG, and it sets the comedic tone for this dice-pool-building racing game. So is Cubitos an amazing race, or is there sauerkraut in my lederhosen…? Let’s find out!