Barricade

Original strategy based boardgame

The developers of Barricade say that it is inspired from the famous "pawn race" board games.

Barricade is more accurately described as a version of the German board game Malefiz. Barricade is a simple and original strategy based board game that's suitable for young and old and also families as it can be played by 4 people at once. No installation is required as Barricade is a Java based game and requires Java 1.5 or above to work.

The aim of the game is to be the first player to reach the "final" square - i.e. last remaining empty space - with one of your pawns. Your opponents will try to block your path by placing their own pawns in your way. What makes the game interesting is that you have to tread a fine line between attacking enemies, protecting your pawns and grouping your pawns.

Barricade also requires a certain amount of luck but the great thing is that even if you look dead and buried on the board, one of your pawns can tip the game back in your favor. There aren't many options but you can customize the colors you use and select from a different number of boards.

The graphics aren't great and the music gets annoying but if you can ignore this, Barricade is quite an addictive little game.