Alright, folks, time for a review of a game that made me wish I’d paid more attention in chess club. If you crave deep strategy but you’re tired of your sibling blaming their loss on dice rolls, then have I got a treat. This review covers the brain-burning, arrow-shooting madness of Amazons, a game where blocking your best friend is the greatest joy you can have at the table (besides stealing the last slice of pizza). Buckle up, because by the end you’ll know if Amazons deserves a place in your game night lineup—or if it’s gonna turn into an expensive coaster.
How It Plays
Setting up
To get started, put the board in the middle and give each player four amazons of their colour. Place them in their special starting spots shown in the rules (I still get these wrong after too many games). Get the stack of arrow markers ready. Make sure nobody eats them.
Gameplay
On your turn, move one of your amazons like a chess queen – any number of spaces in any straight line. After moving, fire an arrow from that amazon, which also travels like a queen. The square where the arrow lands gets blocked for the rest of the game (imagine building a wall in Monopoly, but less rage-inducing). Turns go round and round, with the board getting tighter, your options shrinking, and your friendships tested.
Winning the game
When no amazon can move anymore, the game ends. Count up how many spaces your amazons can still reach – whoever controls the most territory wins. It’s all about clever blocking and making your friends mutter bad words in disbelief. May the sneakiest player win!
Want to know more? Read our extensive strategy guide for Amazons.
Mastering Moves and Mayhem: Gameplay Mechanics and Strategy Options in Amazons
If you like your board games with a good chunk of brain exercise and a dash of “stop-blocking-me!” drama, Amazons is your gym. The gameplay in Amazons feels like someone mixed chess and Go, then added flaming arrows just for fun. Players each get four amazons, and on your turn you move one of them like a queen in chess, then you shoot an arrow that lands with a thud, blocking off a square for the rest of the game. It’s like playing chess, but every pawn leaves a landmine behind.
Now, strategy? Oh, you have options. In our group, Danny is always the early territory hoarder—he grabs corners and walls himself in, while Lara likes to do her “Amazonian ambush” and trap people in little boxes. Both can work, but you gotta spot holes in defenses. I tried splitting my forces, which got me stuck in the middle, boxed in tighter than last year’s Christmas lights. It’s not about pure aggression; you need to decide when to claim space, when to fence folks out, and when to just let two people squabble and sneak off to freedom.
The happy part for me is that luck doesn’t really show its ugly face in Amazons. It’s all about your moves and reading your friends (or, in my case, misreading them and eating humble pie). If you love games where every turn is a tense decision, Amazons gives you that—plus a few laughs as arrows rain down at the worst (or best) time.
But just how fair is it? Next, I’ll tell you if Amazons treats everyone like an equal—or if there’s a sneaky cheater lurking for the win!
Is Amazons a Fair Fight? Balancing Acts on the Board
If you’ve ever flipped a board game because your little cousin beat you on their first try, you know how much fairness matters. So, how balanced is Amazons? After too many snack-fueled evenings with friends, my verdict is: this game is refreshingly fair and rewards strategy, not luck or loud complaining (sorry, Greg).
Amazons plays out kind of like a fencing match with spears and burning arrows. Each move shapes the board, so players looking for cheap wins by lucky dice rolls can look elsewhere. There are no hidden traps or take-that cards. Every action is out in the open, so the game rarely feels unfair. That being said, there is one tiny thing: playing as first or second player can make a small difference if both players are at grandmaster level. My friends and I don’t qualify (I once moved the wrong Amazon for three turns straight), but if you’re seriously competitive, you might notice it. There’s also no rubber-banding, so if you fall behind, you really have to outthink your opponent to catch up.
The real balance comes from thinking ahead and blocking your opponent’s paths while carving your own. If you lose, it’s because someone was sneakier or smarter, not because the game decided to kick your shins. We felt like every victory was earned, and—for better or worse—mistakes usually came back to haunt us.
Next up, I’ll tell you whether the board and pieces are a treat for your eyes—or just something you’ll spill your drink on. Stay tuned for my take on Component quality and board design!
Amazons: Component Quality and Board Design
If you’ve ever knocked a plastic pawn across the table mid-game (not naming names, Steve), you know how much component quality can matter. Well, in Amazons, the game does not skimp on the goods. The board feels sturdy and lays flat – no curling corners or wobbly nonsense. I’ve spilled coffee on it (don’t ask), and it lived to tell the tale. The squares are big enough for even my sausage fingers to move pieces without wrecking the whole setup.
The amazons and arrows themselves feel weighty in a good way. They aren’t those chintzy tokens that you lose under the couch two turns in. I will admit, though, the first time I played, my friend used chess queens for the amazons because he couldn’t resist mixing his metaphors. Honestly, it works – but the original pieces look sharp and feel nice. No tiny stickers to mess with, no painting required (unless you’re fancy like that). Just simple, robust, and easy to tell apart at a glance.
The art on the board is minimal, which is a blessing. No garish distractions or confusing icons, just a clean playing field. This keeps your focus sharp and your strategies sharper. My only gripe? The arrows are almost too easy to hide in plain sight if you’re a messy player. I’ve lost one in a bowl of chips. Not the game’s fault, really, but I wish they were a bit brighter!
Next up: let’s find out if Amazons keeps you coming back like an old sitcom rerun, or if it’s one and done when it comes to replayability and keeping players hooked.
Replayability and Player Engagement in Amazons: Will it Keep You Coming Back?
If you asked my group of game devourers, they’d tell you that replayability is the holy grail. Well, Amazons delivers a tasty goblet. Every session, the game feels new. There’s no set opening move and the path to victory always zigs and zags like a chicken on an ice rink. The choices I make early on always come back to haunt or help me later. Sometimes, I try to wall in my buddies early—other times, I channel my inner escape artist. Amazons rewards you for thinking ahead, but it also lets you experiment without punishing you for not being a grandmaster.
Player engagement? Oh, it’s high. You won’t find anyone reaching for their phone or zoning out in this game. Turns come fast and, more than once, I caught myself sweating bullets while my friend plotted their next move. There’s constant tension because every arrow shot or queen moved could seal your fate. Watching the board shrink and the options disappear can make even the calmest player want to chew their meeple.
This isn’t one of those games you play twice, shelve, and forget. Amazons has a magnetic pull to it. I’ve seen even the most skeptical people ask for a rematch. If you like brain-burning, strategic showdowns without any dice rolling your fate, this one belongs on your shelf. I can’t recommend Amazons enough—unless you hate thinking, in which case… maybe stick to snakes and ladders.
Conclusion
If you like a pure battle of wits and hate losing to bad dice rolls, Amazons might be your soulmate in board game form. It’s got brain-burning strategy, no silly luck, sturdy bits, and endless sneaky moves. It rewards planning and outsmarting your friends—if you’re into that sort of thing (and I am, as long as I’m winning). Sure, it’s not flashy—no lasers or unicorns—but what it lacks in pizzazz, it makes up for with pure, addicting brilliance. If you want fairness, replayability, and a game that’ll melt your brain in the best way, Amazons deserves a spot on your shelf. That’s the end of my review—thanks for sticking with me!
