Suffering from Hives

Of all the games I own the one I’ve played the most is definitely HIVE. For a very long time it’s been our go to game for holidays. There’s nothing like sitting out at night in a hot country with a cold drink and banging out a half dozen games of HIVE
If you’re not familiar with Hive it’s a clever little two player where you take turns moving your hexagonal tiled bugs (spiders, beetles, ants, grass hoppers) trying to surround the enemy queen on six sides whilst preventing your own from being captured. 

Part of its charm is it doesn’t use a board you just have to ensure there’s no gaps between any of the pieces you have down. It’s a bit like an 80s knife fight where the participants have their other hand tied to their opponent. It’s also very portable and stain resistant. The perfect pub game 

Each of the pieces just like chess move in a particular way. Ants skip around the outside, grasshoppers leap over pieces, beetles can move up and on top of other pieces. It’s a quick game to learn but there is depth here. It’s not chess but it’s definitely more than checkers. 
Now the reason I’m banging on again about this game is I recently got my hands on the three expansions for it. The mosquito, ladybug and pill bug. Having played several games with these added in there, its reignited my interest. 

The expansions each come as single extra bugs (one copy for each player) with new moves and abilities. Let’s examine them now….
The lady bug. 
It moves up and over two and down one. Always up two, down one. It’s a bit boring if I’m being honest. That’s it’s. It does add to the game certainly since you won’t have seen one like this before but it’s not a patch on the other two. 
Mosquito
This bug is fun. Like Rogue in the x-men it takes on the movement and ability of any piece (yours or your opponent) that it’s touching. This wildcard can really get you in and out of scrapes. Having it trapped by your opponent is a pain in the snag. Once this guy is on the board all bets are off. Do your best to pin down your opponent’s
The Pill bug
This is an unusual and special bug. It’s like having your own little bouncer. The pill bug can pick up another piece either yours or your opponents, put it up on it’s back then slap it down adjacent to it. This is a game changer. In games of Hive the writing is on the wall when a queen gets surrounded on three or more sides. This bug can get in there and either clear some space or pull the queen out of the mosh to safety. She is a little slow moving but it’s a super bug to have in a pinch. Possibly my favorite of the bunch 
The extra bugs can be added one or more at a time making learning the additional rules easy especially for muggles. What’s kind of exciting too is there’s an infinite amount of new bugs you could add to this game as they come available so it’s always going to be fresh 
Great game with new life breathed into it by these excellent add ons. If you play Hive. Get these
Huzzah!
Vic