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 I have written a large number of pieces, primarily focussed on gaming and nerd culture. Trading Card Games are a special focus of mine.  I have played Magic: the Gathering since I was 8 years old. I love to explore the ways that TCGs convey emergent narratives through gameplay.

Card Games

Wargamer •

Previews for the Hobbit MTG Crossover have raised a bedeviling bear mystery

MTG players are trying to work out whether The Hobbit crossover will really feature 'the biggest bear' in the history of the game or not.The upcoming Magic: the Gathering The Hobbit crossover will contain "the biggest bear we've ever printed". This promise was made by MTG's head designer Mark Rosewater on his blog 11 days ago. When the formidable 6/6 Bear shapeshifter card Beorn the Fierce was previewed, many players assumed that this was the giant fury threat promised by Rosewater, but there ma...
Wargamer •

The Pokémon TCG's Delta Reign expansion will provide more support for the game's buggiest archetype

Currently, the attack 'bug out' is only known by one Pokémon, but an influx of new insects could spawn an archetype from this unusual move.If you've cracked a handful of boosters from the Pokémon TCG's Pitch Black expansion, then you've probably opened a few copies of Sizzlipede. This relatively unremarkable common possesses the "Bug Out" attack, which deals more damage the more cards with Bug Out you have among the bottom seven cards of your deck. As the only card with Bug Out, Sizzlipede has c...
Wargamer •

The MTG Borg Star Trek deck finally breaks a 4 year long pattern

For years, MTG Commander decks focused on villains have always occupied the same colors, but a new Star Trek deck is set to shake that up.Back in September 2022, The Ruinous Powers MTG Commander deck was printed (the Warhammer 40'000 Chaos Space Marine precon). The Ruinous Powers was a Grixis deck, meaning that it was black, red, and blue. This set a trend that villain focused Universes Beyond Commander decks stuck to for years. Masters of Evil, the Dr Who precon, kept these some colours. As did...
Wargamer •

Pokémon TCG fans are hungry for more Morpeko

Aside from Darkrai, the Special Illustration Rare Morpeko ex is the most valuable card in the Pokémon TCG's Pitch Black expansion.Darkrai may be the mascot of the Pokémon TCG's brand new Pitch Black expansion, but he's not the only chase card in town. Personally, I always find it interesting to see who claims that silver medal, and earns a place as the second most desirable card in the set. In the case of Pitch Black, it looks like that honor goes to Morpeko.
Morpeko is a Pokémon that knows two...
Wargamer •

There's now an official Pokémon card that uses the word "yeet"

Do you ever have one of those moments where you suddenly feel incredibly old? I'm still not quite 30, but this card from The Pokémon TCG's brand new Pitch Black expansion made me feel positively ancient. That's right, you've read the headline, so you know there's a Pokémon card that talks about yeeting, and if you've seen the thumbnail, you know that card's a Slowpoke.
Slowpoke 029 from Pitch Black possesses an attack called " All-You-Can-Yeet". Other than giving off big 'how do you do, fellow k...
Wargamer •

Darkrai can use a sinister bell to score KOs in this new Pokémon TCG combo

When John Donne wrote "send not to know for whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee" was he making a tragic statement about the nature of loss and our collective humanity, or was he bragging about pulling off a sweet combo with his Pokémon TCG deck? Scholars may never know, but what we can be certain of is that the cards Dark Bell and Mega Darkrai ex were clearly designed to work together. and they make a fun (if not entirely practical) pair.
Mega Darkrai ex, the mascot of the brand new Pokémon T...
Wargamer •

Since the release of Marvel Super Heroes, MTG's Soul Stone has consistently risen in price

The Soul Stone is an incredibly expensive MTG card, and since the recent release of Marvel Super Heroes, it has only gotten more costly.We've got six Marvel sets on the MTG release schedule, which just so happens to match up with the number of Infinity Stones there are in the Marvel comics. Marvel Super Heroes gave us the Mind Stone, while last year's Spider-Man MTG expansion gave us The Soul Stone. Neither of these two magical rock macguffins are cheap, but The Soul Stone is particularly pricy,...
Wargamer •

Is Mega Excadrill ex set to burrow into the Pokémon TCG's meta?

On July 17th, the Pokémon TCG's Pitch Black expansion will officially release. Over in Japan, though, players have been experimenting with cards from the set since May. The card Mega Excadrill ex has garnered a lot of attention for its ability to deal with the current master of the Standard meta Dragapult ex. Let's dig into what makes Excadrill so exciting.
Is Mega Excadrill ex one of the best Pokémon cards in Pitch Black? Well, it's a 340 hp metal type stage 1 (it evolves from Drillbur). For tw...
Wargamer •

This nameless trainee is one of the best cards in MTG Marvel Limited

If you're looking to get better at drafting Marvel Super Heroes, or any MTG limited format for that matter, it's always important to know what the best common cards are. While there are plenty of explosive mythic rare bombs in most sets, they won't show up in every draft. You'll see commons far more frequently, and they'll make up the bulk of your deck. One Marvel common stands head and shoulders above the rest, though, Hero in Training, which is subtly one of the most impactful superheroes in t...
Wargamer •

The Pokémon TCG gets a bunch of new Mewtwo Merch

As part of the celebration of the Pokémon TCG's upcoming 30th anniversary, a new line of Mewtwo merchandise has just been released.The big event for Pokémon TCG players this year is the massive 30th Anniversary set that's dropping this September. There's more than one way for The Pokémon Company to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series, however, and they recently unveiled a line of new Mewtwo TCG accessories to commemorate the occasion. Let's take a look...
Last Wednesday, the official Po...
Wargamer •

The MTG Marvel set has given Izzet decks a merfolk makeover

The card Namor the Sub-Mariner from the new Magic: the Gathering Marvel Super Heroes set is making some waves in the standard format.Blue/red or 'Izzet' has been a dominant color pair in Magic: the Gathering's Standard format for more than a year now. Even with regular bans hitting key cards like Vivi Ornitier and Cori-Steel Cutter, Izzet decks have shown an incredible degree of resilience and just keep bouncing back. Cards from Marvel Super Heroes are now beginning to make their way into the St...
Wargamer •

Mega Malamar is set to make its Pokémon TCG debut

Malamar has been in the Pokémon TCG for years now, but when Delta Reign releases its mega form will finally make a dramatic debut.Malamar is an incredibly popular Pokémon, in fact, for a few weeks last year it was maybe the most beloved Pokémon in the world. Well, now Malamar fans can rejoice, because a recent batch of reveals show that Mega Malamar is finally due to make its Pokémon TCG debut in the upcoming Delta Reign expansion.
So, just what does Mega Malamar ex do?[1] Mostly, it punishes yo...
Wargamer •

July's biggest MTG tournament will feature a "Marvel-themed immersive experience"

MTG players at MagicCon Amsterdam this July will be able to get their hands on a Loki promo for completing an immersive Marvel experience.Every year, MTG players from across the world come together to get in some games and compete for the chance to qualify for the Pro Tour at a variety of different Magic Cons. This year, MagicCon: Amsterdam, which is running from July 17th-19th, features not only the opportunity to play some Magic, but also what Wizards of the Coast are describing as a "Marvel-t...
Wargamer •

There's an awesome new Pokémon TCG Brock promo, but it's only available in China

Brock was always destined to be a rock type Pokémon trainer, the word 'rock' is literally in his name after all. Much like a rock, this upcoming Brock promo Pokémon TCG card is going to be pretty sedentary, as it's only set to release in China. Let's talk a bit about the new Special Illustration Rare Brock's Scouting and why it's region locked.
So the Pokémon TCG looks very different in China compared to the rest of the world. They receive their cards later on, but they get bigger expansions tha...
Wargamer •

Hulk Smash! Bruce Banner is currently the most popular Commander from the MTG Marvel Crossover

Currently, Bruce Banner is the most popular Commander from the MTG Marvel set, however, a new challenger is quickly catching up to him.Marvel Super Heroes, the new MTG Comic Book crossover, officially released this Friday. The set, and the assortment of Commander decks, Jumpstart packs, and other supplemental products that were released alongside it, granted us a whopping total of 371 brand new Legendary creatures. With so many new options to choose from, MTG players face a frankly overwhelming...
Wargamer •

The Pokémon TCG's new Delta Reign Rayquaza card has officially been revealed

The reveal trailer for the upcoming Pokémon TCG expansion Delta Reign showed off that it's a sky-high set starring Mega Rayquaza. Despite this, it was surprisingly coy about actually presenting us with any new information about what it has in store. We saw the artwork that will feature on Rayquaza's card, but none of its attacks or abilities. Until now, several weeks later, we've finally been granted a peek at what the big green dragon has to offer, and it doesn't disappoint.
According to the tr...
Wargamer •

Boosters for the MTG Marvel crossover contain some returning Secret Lair Superheroes

MTG players hoping to get their hands on the five legendary creatures from the 2024 Marvel Secret Lair superdrop now have another shot.Neither Marvel Super Heroes nor the MTG Spider-Man set were the first time that comic book characters made their way into Magic: the Gathering. Back in November 2024, there was a Marvel Secret Lair superdrop containing mechanically unique cards for Captain America, Wolverine, Iron Man, Storm, and Black Panther. This superdrop sold out effectively immediately, mak...
Wargamer •

Why is every Rayquaza card in the Pokémon TCG so similar?

There have been more than 30 Rayquaza Pokémon Cards printed since 2003, but the artwork on each of them follows a very similar pattern.Guys, do you think everything is alright with Rayquaza? We've had more than 23 years of Rayquaza Pokémon Cards, and the Sky High Pokémon always looks absolutely furious. Sometimes, Rayquaza is depicted charging up an energy blast, sometimes they're rushing forwards in an attempt to break out of the frame, sometimes they're gliding skywards, but they're always dep...
Wargamer •

This MTG subtype returns for the first time in 21 years in the Marvel crossover

Marvel Super Heroes is introducing new Arcane cards to Magic: the Gathering, marking the first return of the subtype in over 20 years.While Marvel Super Heroes is thematically a large departure from the high fantasy genre MTG is primarily known for, the set does include a variety of familiar features. The artwork on several cards brings us back to New York, where a surprising number of Universes Beyond sets have taken place. We're also getting more Spider-Man cards to accompany those from last y...
Wargamer •

The Pokémon TCG's Pitch Black expansion is trying really hard to make fossils work

Far from being dusty and forgotten relics, Fossil Pokémon tend to be quite popular, just ask the Kabuto King. Despite this, they're often not competitively viable in the Pokémon TCG. They need to evolve an additional time from a fossil trainer card, making them cumbersome to play, and their initial vulnerable forms can also easily be knocked out by attacks that hit the bench. The upcoming Pitch Black expansion is making an attempt to dust fossils off, and make them more powerful.
In a recent pre...
Wargamer •

The MTG Marvel Beginner Box gives Black Widow the blandest legendary card in the game

The MTG Marvel Beginner Box contains simplified versions of many Marvel characters, but they may have gone a bit too far with Black Widow.Black Widow doesn't have a lot of luck in either the MCU or in MTG. Despite debuting in Iron Man 2 in 2010, Black Widow didn't get her own solo movie until 11 years later in 2021. In Magic: the Gathering, she has also received the most underwhelming legendary creature of any Marvel character: Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff.
Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff is a tw...
Wargamer •

Darkrai is the star of the Pokémon TCG's Pitch Black expansion, but Cresselia is nowhere to be seen

Did you know that Darkrai is part of a pair of Pokémon? The shadowy and sinister Darkrai has a foil in the form of the glittering Lunar Pokémon Cresselia. Yet while Darkrai is the main character of the upcoming Pokémon TCG Pitch Black expansion, there's absolutely no sign of Cresselia at all.
Darkrai and Cresselia are known as the "lunar duo", a term coined by fans, but which reflects an official link made between the two. Both debuted in generation four. Darkrai causes nightmares, while Cressel...
Wargamer •

Could this comic book car break MTG's most powerful formats?

The Fantasticar from the upcoming Fantastic Four MTG Commander deck is shaping up to be a surprising smash hit in Vintage and Legacy.The new Marvel MTG crossover is gracing us with all sorts of powerful comic book characters. But for Vintage and Legacy players, the star of the show isn't a cosmic threat like Thanos or Galactus. Instead, the card to watch out for in the game's two most powerful formats is The Fantasticar, a three mana vehicle from The Fantastic Four Commander deck.
So what makes...
Wargamer •

This new Pokémon TCG trainer may be the edgiest card in the game

We're still just over a month away from the release of the next Pokémon TCG expansion, Pitch Black, which will come out on the 17th July. We can now see all of the cards in its Japanese counterpart, Abyss Eye, though. Being a set focused on dark type Pokémon, it's a lot grittier than most sets, and as a result, it includes what may be one of the edgiest Pokémon cards ever put to print: Gladion's Showdown.
Gladion is the older brother of Lillie, who you may remember smiling and cuddling her Clefa...
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Gaming

Wargamer •

We interviewed the designer of this metatextual murder mystery TTRPG

Il Fantasma del Giallo: The Phantom of the Yellow is a TTRPG about murder, disgraced actors hoping for one last chance, and trends in Italian cinema in the sixties and seventies. Players control actors who take on a variety of archetypal cinematic roles, as the lines between reality and fiction begin to warp and blur together.
Il Fantasma del Giallo is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter, with the campaign set to conclude on the 22nd of July. It was created by Laurence Phillips, a designer bas...
Unwinnable •

Dark Souls is About Breaking with the Past - Unwinnable

The first Dark Souls game is set during the dying days of a supposedly golden era. In the distant past, the sun god Gwyn and his armies overthrew the immortal stone-scaled dragons who previously held dominion over the world, bringing an end to the Age of Ancients and ushering in the Age of Fire. But now, centuries later, the flames are fading, and all the ills of the world can be traced to those who are desperately trying to fan their dying embers.

Gwyn’s power is embodied by a continuously bur...
SUPERJUMP •

Feastopia Is Both Adorable and Intimidating

In Feastopia, you’re tasked with constructing a city entirely for the purpose of producing food offerings to appease the insatiable appetite of your god. As this god grows in power, it changes shape and begins to make increasingly difficult demands for more complex varieties of food. This premise may sound Lovecraftian and slightly sinister, but worry not. You’re not feeding an unknowable Old One with the souls of the damned; instead, you’re feeding Swiss rolls, candy, and milk shakes to a bib-w...
SUPERJUMP •

The Games of Not This Year - 2025 Edition

The NoTY Awards are back for their second year, and I had so much fun with it in 2024 that we've made this a team project, just like our Game of the Year piece! Seems I'm not the only one whose yearly playlist has a lot of games from prior years, so let's jump right into all the gaming goodness!

I've been going through 2023's GOTY, Baldur's Gate 3, with a friend for the better part of this year. We've...taken our time (mostly because I'm turning on all the candles and lamps in any given room) a...
Wargamer •

Roma XLI is a social deduction board game about seizing power after stabbing Caesar

Turn on each other after toppling a dictator in Roma XLI, a social deduction board game about crying havoc and conspiring with Cleopatra.So Caesar's dead. You and your co-conspirators all gathered together on the Ides of March to finish him off. Even his old pal Brutus got in on it. Roma XLI (or 'Rome 41') is a new Social Deduction board game that asks the question 'what comes next'?
Roma XLI takes social deduction gameplay (of the sort that characterizes games like Werewolf, Secret Hitler, and...
SUPERJUMP •

50 Outstanding Games Released in 2025

Welcome to SUPERJUMP's annual Games of the Year celebration.As always, I like to introduce these awards by expressing gratitude for the year gone by.

Thank you game developers.You are creating marvels of art and science - important cultural artifacts - under increasingly difficult circumstances. Whether you work for a large studio or you're a solo developer: thank you. We continue to live in an increasingly turbulent and intolerant world; your creative talents not only give many of us a brief e...
SUPERJUMP •

Interview: Creating Beat 'Em Up Sequel Super Alloy Crush

Super Alloy Crush is an upcoming 2D sci-fi beat 'em up. It currently has no announced release date, but a demo is available on Steam. The game is being developed by Alloy Mushroom, a two-person team based in China. I spoke with one half of the duo, who goes by the pseudonym "Mabi Mogu" (which means "paralyzed mushroom"). . What’s

Tell me a bit about yourself. How long have you been developing games, and how did you get into the business?

We are a two-person team called “Alloy Mushroom.”I (Mabi...
Wargamer •

This bleakly comedic board game has you overwork yourself running an anime studio

JISOGI is a board game about running an anime studio. While it's clearly made with a lot of love for shows from Shōnen to Shōjo, it takes a decidedly, and deservedly, jaded look at the crunch and the extreme pressure that's placed on artists, writers, producers, and directors to keep the Japanese animation industry afloat. Its title, "JISOGI", is derived from an expression about how keeping a business going is like riding a bicycle, because the wheels need to constantly be kept spinning to preve...
SUPERJUMP •

How Changing One Mechanic Elevated Reus 2 Beyond Its Predecessor

Reus, designed by Abbey Games, is a simulation game about gods, giants, and growth. You start with a barren planet and gradually fill it with life. First, you place down biomes like swamps, forests, oceans, and deserts. Then you fill these wild spaces with animals, minerals, and plants. When humans come to settle the land, you support the development of their communities so that they can flourish, but you also need to ensure that you don’t give any one group too many resources too quickly, other...
Wargamer •

My favorite board game of 2025 was this symphonic space opera

Usually, Sci-Fi board games involve epic battles waged across the stars. From Twilight Imperium to Arcs, chances are that if you're playing a tabletop game set in space, you'll be spending your turns blowing up fleets of enemy battlecruisers. Philharmonix takes a decidedly different approach. Instead of conducting full scale interplanetary warfare, you'll be conducting an alien orchestra. Philharmonix is slightly bloated, maybe a bit too complex for its own good, and it's my favorite board game...
SUPERJUMP •

I Tried Out the New Stranger Things D&D Module… Even Though I’ve Never Seen the Show

Can you still welcome yourself to the Hellfire Club if you've never seen an episode of Stranger Things?

When I was a university student 10 years ago (oh dear, I am getting old), I was on the committee of the adventure gaming society. We were a small, but lovable, group of geeks who gathered together every Saturday to play board games and tabletop RPGs of every persuasion. We played a lot of Fantasy Flight’s Game of Thrones board game, which is at its best and bloodiest when you can get a whole...
Wargamer •

We uncover a treasure trove of D&D history with TTRPG researcher Shannon Appelcline

Shannon Appelcline talks to us about Dungeons and Designers: Origins, his series that tracks D&D’s transformation from a passion project into an international juggernaut.Shannon Appelcline is an ENNIE award winning historian of tabletop roleplaying games. He's authored books on RPGs of all kinds, from the star spanning Sci-Fi epic Traveller, to the eldritch Lovecraftian horror game Call of Cthulu. His latest project documents the early history of Dungeons and Dragons. Appelcline has already writ...
SUPERJUMP •

Skygard Arena Review

Whatever else Skygard Arena may be, it’s undoubtedly ambitious. It aims to unify the character diversity of a MOBA, like League of Legends, with the turn-based tactical combat of something like XCOM. The game doesn’t quite succeed in reaching its loftiest ambitions, but it makes a valiant attempt.

Skygard Arena is the debut title from French studio Gemelli Games. For a small team, they’re attempting a pretty vast undertaking here in creating a potential eSport. Players can build teams featuring...
Wargamer •

Winnie the Pooh detective game now in development?

CrowD Games have announced a board game, that will be releasing in November, where Winnie the Pooh and friends become serious detectives. Thanks to the US copyright on the original Winnie the Pooh story expiring in January 2022, several enterprising creatives have attempted to use the character to tell new tales. We can all grimly recall the two Blood and Honey horror films that reimagined the adorable bear as a fluffy yellow Jason Voorhees. Now, CrowD Games (the publisher of En Route and Barrag...
SUPERJUMP •

Stewpots and Space Travel: An Interview With Takuma Okada

Takuma Okada is a tabletop game designer based in Portland, Oregon. Going by the title “No Road Home” on itch.io, Okada has been designing games about identity, isolation, and exploration since 2018. Their works include Stewpot: Tales from a Fantasy Tavern, a game about retired adventurers settling down and opening up a pub, which has been nominated for the 2025 ENNIE award for “Best Family Game”. They also created the Alone series, a selection of three solo-journaling games about exploring wond...
Wargamer •

Look out Wingspan, a new birdy board game just launched on Kickstarter

Isle of Feathers has arrived on Kickstarter - a tile-laying puzzle board game where players compete to build their vision of an avian paradise.Ever heard of a Sandy Gallito, Varied Tit, or Chatham Shag? No, these are not 19th-century innuendos, but birds in the new Kickstarter board game Isle of Feathers, which arrived on the crowdfunding platform on September 28.
Isle of Feathers has the tagline 'A Love Letter To Strange Birds', and as you'd expect, it's absolutely full of feathered freaks. In...
Wyrd Science •

Girl By Moonlight: Hope, Transcendence, Transformation

Hope can be a powerful thing. The desire to believe, to push on in the face of adversity has been the subject of countless stories. From Star Wars, which asserts that "rebellions are built on hope", to Warhammer 40,000’s more cynical message that "hope is the first step on the road to disappointment."  Discussions about the strength, or the futility, of hope have rumbled on for as long as people have told stories. Whatever other vices may have burst forth from Pandora’s Box, or jar if you’re fee...
SUPERJUMP •

Galactic Glitch Review

Galactic Glitch, by Crunchy Leaf Games, is a sci-fi shooter with a roguelike progression system. You’ll be blasting your way through space, getting blown apart, and then returning to action stronger and ready to progress just a little bit further.

The game attempts to differentiate itself from other roguelikes through its physics-based combat. You’re able to lift destructible space debris and even smaller enemies, and bombarding opponents with them.

All of Galactic Glitch’s sci-fi shootouts ta...
SUPERJUMP •

Now Playing at SUPERJUMP, Issue 33

We're back with a brand new Now Playing, and we've reached the third-of-a-century mark!! Some of us are playing more games than usual, and some are sticking with the games they've been hooked on for a while. No matter what we're playing, we want to share with you and maybe send you down the path to try something new. Let us know in the comments what you're playing and what news has you excited for the future!

Magic: The Gathering recently crossed over with Final Fantasy. While this move was cer...
SUPERJUMP •

Synergy Invites Us To Question Our Assumptions About City Building Games

From RPGs to action games, every genre carries its share of baggage.

The exploration, expansion, exploitation, and extermination necessary to progress in Civilization and other 4X games define success in rigidly specific form. To win the game, a player’s civilization must prove itself superior to the competition. Rivals must be crushed militarily and outstripped scientifically. Their competing religions must be consigned to history, and the player must develop a hegemonic global culture that en...
SUPERJUMP •

TTRPGs Can Help Build Positive Communities

Tabletop RPG characters are constantly thrust into dangerous situations. Whether they’re vanquishing a dragon, navigating a dungeon, or dethroning a tyrant, the lives of the characters that we dream up are always fraught with risk. But that danger should always be restricted to the realms of our imagination, and everyone gathered around the table has the right to feel secure and comfortable while they play. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. The internet is rife with horror stories about...
Card Gamer •

StarVaders Review - Card Gamer

Images courtesy of Pengonauts
Invaders are attacking the earth, invaders from beyond the stars. StarVaders, if you will. Using mech and a deck you’ll fight to save the world in this deckbuilding robo-roguelike, from Pengonauts.
Slay the Spire has inspired countless successors, and players are spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing a new roguelike deck builder these days. Does StarVaders blast open a niche for itself, or will it end up engulfed in a swarm of similar titles? Does it rise to...
SUPERJUMP •

An Interview with the Developers of Microtopia

An interview with Cordyceps Collective on how real insect behaviour inspired their design and much more

There is more overlap between video games and insects than you might expect. Satoshi Tajiri was inspired to create Pokémon by his time hunting bugs as a child. Hollow Knight shows us that insects can be as central to a Metroidvania game as vampires and space parasites, and Animal Crossing would just feel incomplete without the trusty bug-catching net.

Cordyceps Collective are a Netherlands-...
Card Gamer •

Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection Review - Card Gamer

Images courtesy of KONAMI
The Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection, which releases today, is a compilation of 14 different Yu-Gi-Oh! games from the late 1990s and early 2000s. KONAMI is making a clear appeal to nostalgia here. This collection puts the original Duel Monsters anime in the spotlight, embracing the game as it was before the modern complexities of Synchro, XYZ, Pendulum, and Link summoning.
The duels you’ll play here will be clashes of old cards like Ocubeam and Uraby. There are some grea...
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Other Articles

South West Londoner •

Review: See How They Run

See How They Run is a comical whodunnit, which lovingly spoofs the murder mystery genre with the care and affection that only a sincere parody can provide.

There are some great laughs, but it builds towards a disappointing conclusion. The film is certainly funny, but it’s hardly a mystery of Agatha Christie’s calibre.

Our leading duo consists of the eager and excitable rookie Constable Stalker (Saoirse

Ronan) and her boozy superior officer Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell).

The pair have a d
South West Londoner •

Thor: Love and Thunder proves lightning does strike twice

There have now been four Thor films and their quality varies wildly – but Thor: Love and Thunder is among the franchise’s best.

The Original Thor (2009) was a perfectly serviceable superhero origin story, that did a fine job of introducing Chris Hemsworth’s titular character without excelling enough to be truly great or being inadequate enough to be truly terrible.

Thor: The Dark World (2013) ranks among Marvel’s most forgettable films, as it features an utterly generic plotline performed by a
South West Londoner •

Elizabeth II: The Queen & history's other longest reigning rulers

In February of 1952 Queen Elizabeth II became the queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Her platinum jubilee, in June of 2022, marks the official public celebration of her 70 year long reign.

Elizabeth II is one of history’s longest reigning rulers, however, she does not have the longest reign of all time.

Several other rulers have had reigns which have rivalled, or even exceeded, her 70 years.

Here are a few of their stories…

Louis XIV ruled France from May 1643 to September 17
North West Londoner •

Labour keeps control of Enfield but Conservatives make gains

Labour kept control of Enfield council on Thursday after holding the 38 seats they took into the 2022 election, but the Conservatives had a successful night gaining seven councillors and shutting out any other party from the area.

The election results mean that all of Enfield’s 63 seats are held by either Labour or Tory councillors, after the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and the Independent Community First Group, a group of former Labour councillors, lost their two, one and seven councillors r
South West Londoner •

Fundraiser launched for injured Croydon swan

A fundraiser is in progress to assist the treatment of a swan from Croydon who was hurt in a dog attack.

Wayne the swan was injured on the afternoon of the 7 February after a dog bit him on the beak.

The Swan Sanctuary is a wildlife rescue service based in Shepperton, specialising in treating swans.

The sanctuary took Wayne into its care on 8 February.

In a Facebook post The Swan Sanctuary announced: “Wayne was attacked by a dog and has suffered a life changing injury to his beak.”

“We are