Search
Search results
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Sheepy Time in Tabletop Games
May 27, 2021
Have you ever had trouble falling asleep? One method that supposedly helps lull you into a gentle slumber is counting sheep – imagine sheep prancing across a field and jumping over a fence. What seems like a simple and mundane task to us is actually a full-time job for these Dream Sheep! So put on your PJ’s, lace up your slippers (?), and clock in for a night of fence-jumping, all while avoiding the spooky Nightmares that will try to scare you awake!
Disclaimer: We were provided with a copy of Sheepy Time for the purposes of this preview. What you see pictured below are the retail components. -L
Sheepy Time is a push-your-luck game in which players take on the roles of Dream Sheep, tasked with helping humans fall asleep. Played over a series of rounds, players will take turns racing their Sheep around the board, using special Dream powers, and avoiding the Nightmare that lurks around the board. The player that earns the most points (as described in the rules) will be declared the dreamiest sheep of all! To setup for a game, place the board within reach of all players and attach the Fence between spaces 10 and 1. Place the scoreboard and Pillow Reference tile nearby, and give all players a Sheep, Wink, Pillow, and Zzz tokens in their chosen color. Select one of the three provided Nightmares to use this game, shuffle their cards into the deck of Sheep cards, and place the Nightmare meeple in the center of the board. Shuffle the Dream tiles, drawing and placing one randomly on spaces 1 and 5 of the board, and reveal four more tiles to create a market. Place all Pillow tokens on the 40 Winks space of the scoreboard, choose a starting player, and the game is ready to begin!
Each round of Sheepy Time is broken into two phases: the Racing phase, and the Resting phase. To begin the Racing phase, all players will draw 2 cards into their hand. A turn consists of 4 steps: Play a card, Use Dream tiles, Resolve Fence crossing, and Draw cards. The first action you will take on your turn is to play a card from your hand. Most cards will have you move your Sheep around the board a set number of spaces, or will give you the option to ‘Catch some Zzz’s’ (place one of your Zzz tokens on a Dream tile in play). The next step, if applicable, is to use Dream tiles. Dream tiles provide special/extra abilities that can be beneficial to you. In order to use a Dream tile, however, you must have a Zzz token on it – remove your Zzz token from the tile to use its power. So you’ve got to decide when to move your Sheep, or when it’s necessary to Catch some Zzz’s! The third step is to resolve Fence crossing, if applicable. If a cards movement causes your Sheep to cross the Fence, you immediately gain 5 Winks (on the Scoreboard), and decide whether to keep playing this round or ‘Call it a Night.’ If you decide to keep playing, you move to step 4, and draw a new card into your hand. If you Call it a Night, you will discard your hand, and sit out for the remainder of this Racing phase.
If at any point in the Racing phase, you draw a Nightmare card, it must immediately be revealed and resolved. The Nightmare moves around the board, much like the Sheep, but it will Scare any Sheep that it passes! Being Scared once is ok, but if you were to be Scared AGAIN, you get Woken Up, lose all Winks for this round, and are out of the Racing phase. If the Nightmare completes a lap of the board and crosses the Fence before all players have Called it a Night, the remaining players get Woken Up. How risky are you willing to be once the Nightmare comes into play? That’s for you to decide. Once all players have either Called it a Night or been Woken Up, the Racing phase ends. Check the scoreboard for a winner – when a player earns enough Winks in the Racing phase to surpass their Pillow token. If nobody has met that requirement, players will lower their Pillow tokens by the amount specified on the Pillow Reference tile. The lower you can get your Pillow token, the fewer Winks you need to get to win in future rounds! When all Pillow tokens have been adjusted, the game moves to the Resting phase. In this phase, each player will have the choice to either add a new Dream tile to the board, or to Catch 2 Zzz’s. In turn order, players can select one of the Dream tiles from the market to place on an open space of the board, or place 2 Zzz tokens on Dream tiles in play. When everyone has performed their action, the round ends and a new Racing phase begins. Play continues in this manner until one player has been declared the winner!
I’m not typically a fan of push-your-luck games, but Sheepy Time really surprised me! Yes, that mechanic is definitely present in the gameplay, but there is also quite a bit of strategic variability that makes turns feel a little more controlled. The Dream tiles in play will always be different, providing unique abilities to help give you a strategic boost during play. And you always have 2 cards to decide between to play – you are not limited to only one course of action each turn. So yes, there is a riskiness involved with how many laps you think you can get, can you avoid the Nightmare, etc. But there is also a light element of strategy that makes the game more exciting for me. The gameplay itself is also very smooth and intuitive. The turn order makes sense and the flow of the game is pretty seamless. It is fast to teach and learn, and even though the box says 30-45 minutes, it feels fast to play.
Let me touch on components for a minute. As I said earlier, this is a retail copy of the game, and the production quality is great. The cardboard components are nice and thick, the wooden meeples are large and cute, and the overall art style reflects the theme and lightness of the game well. I want to mention that the insert is nice as well – I know it doesn’t effect the gameplay, but it makes set-up/tear-down quick and efficient. AEG definitely knocked it over the fence (get it?) with the production of this game!
So where does Sheepy Time fit into my collection? I think it’s a great game to use to introduce newer gamers to the hobby. The rules and gameplay are not overwhelming, but they offer more of a modern gaming feel than some of the older classics. I would even say that this game can be used with younger gamers as well – take out the Dream tile powers, and just race to see who can earn the most Winks before the Nightmare gets them, or something like that! It is really accessible for everyone, and that earns a big thumbs up from me. So if you’re not quite sure what to think of this game based on the theme/art style, I can assure you that the gameplay is quite excellent. When Sheepy Time hits retail, make sure you jump at the chance to play this game. Definitely don’t sleep on it.
Disclaimer: We were provided with a copy of Sheepy Time for the purposes of this preview. What you see pictured below are the retail components. -L
Sheepy Time is a push-your-luck game in which players take on the roles of Dream Sheep, tasked with helping humans fall asleep. Played over a series of rounds, players will take turns racing their Sheep around the board, using special Dream powers, and avoiding the Nightmare that lurks around the board. The player that earns the most points (as described in the rules) will be declared the dreamiest sheep of all! To setup for a game, place the board within reach of all players and attach the Fence between spaces 10 and 1. Place the scoreboard and Pillow Reference tile nearby, and give all players a Sheep, Wink, Pillow, and Zzz tokens in their chosen color. Select one of the three provided Nightmares to use this game, shuffle their cards into the deck of Sheep cards, and place the Nightmare meeple in the center of the board. Shuffle the Dream tiles, drawing and placing one randomly on spaces 1 and 5 of the board, and reveal four more tiles to create a market. Place all Pillow tokens on the 40 Winks space of the scoreboard, choose a starting player, and the game is ready to begin!
Each round of Sheepy Time is broken into two phases: the Racing phase, and the Resting phase. To begin the Racing phase, all players will draw 2 cards into their hand. A turn consists of 4 steps: Play a card, Use Dream tiles, Resolve Fence crossing, and Draw cards. The first action you will take on your turn is to play a card from your hand. Most cards will have you move your Sheep around the board a set number of spaces, or will give you the option to ‘Catch some Zzz’s’ (place one of your Zzz tokens on a Dream tile in play). The next step, if applicable, is to use Dream tiles. Dream tiles provide special/extra abilities that can be beneficial to you. In order to use a Dream tile, however, you must have a Zzz token on it – remove your Zzz token from the tile to use its power. So you’ve got to decide when to move your Sheep, or when it’s necessary to Catch some Zzz’s! The third step is to resolve Fence crossing, if applicable. If a cards movement causes your Sheep to cross the Fence, you immediately gain 5 Winks (on the Scoreboard), and decide whether to keep playing this round or ‘Call it a Night.’ If you decide to keep playing, you move to step 4, and draw a new card into your hand. If you Call it a Night, you will discard your hand, and sit out for the remainder of this Racing phase.
If at any point in the Racing phase, you draw a Nightmare card, it must immediately be revealed and resolved. The Nightmare moves around the board, much like the Sheep, but it will Scare any Sheep that it passes! Being Scared once is ok, but if you were to be Scared AGAIN, you get Woken Up, lose all Winks for this round, and are out of the Racing phase. If the Nightmare completes a lap of the board and crosses the Fence before all players have Called it a Night, the remaining players get Woken Up. How risky are you willing to be once the Nightmare comes into play? That’s for you to decide. Once all players have either Called it a Night or been Woken Up, the Racing phase ends. Check the scoreboard for a winner – when a player earns enough Winks in the Racing phase to surpass their Pillow token. If nobody has met that requirement, players will lower their Pillow tokens by the amount specified on the Pillow Reference tile. The lower you can get your Pillow token, the fewer Winks you need to get to win in future rounds! When all Pillow tokens have been adjusted, the game moves to the Resting phase. In this phase, each player will have the choice to either add a new Dream tile to the board, or to Catch 2 Zzz’s. In turn order, players can select one of the Dream tiles from the market to place on an open space of the board, or place 2 Zzz tokens on Dream tiles in play. When everyone has performed their action, the round ends and a new Racing phase begins. Play continues in this manner until one player has been declared the winner!
I’m not typically a fan of push-your-luck games, but Sheepy Time really surprised me! Yes, that mechanic is definitely present in the gameplay, but there is also quite a bit of strategic variability that makes turns feel a little more controlled. The Dream tiles in play will always be different, providing unique abilities to help give you a strategic boost during play. And you always have 2 cards to decide between to play – you are not limited to only one course of action each turn. So yes, there is a riskiness involved with how many laps you think you can get, can you avoid the Nightmare, etc. But there is also a light element of strategy that makes the game more exciting for me. The gameplay itself is also very smooth and intuitive. The turn order makes sense and the flow of the game is pretty seamless. It is fast to teach and learn, and even though the box says 30-45 minutes, it feels fast to play.
Let me touch on components for a minute. As I said earlier, this is a retail copy of the game, and the production quality is great. The cardboard components are nice and thick, the wooden meeples are large and cute, and the overall art style reflects the theme and lightness of the game well. I want to mention that the insert is nice as well – I know it doesn’t effect the gameplay, but it makes set-up/tear-down quick and efficient. AEG definitely knocked it over the fence (get it?) with the production of this game!
So where does Sheepy Time fit into my collection? I think it’s a great game to use to introduce newer gamers to the hobby. The rules and gameplay are not overwhelming, but they offer more of a modern gaming feel than some of the older classics. I would even say that this game can be used with younger gamers as well – take out the Dream tile powers, and just race to see who can earn the most Winks before the Nightmare gets them, or something like that! It is really accessible for everyone, and that earns a big thumbs up from me. So if you’re not quite sure what to think of this game based on the theme/art style, I can assure you that the gameplay is quite excellent. When Sheepy Time hits retail, make sure you jump at the chance to play this game. Definitely don’t sleep on it.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Tiny Epic Mechs in Tabletop Games
Jun 30, 2021
I am someone who loves strategy. It is fun for me to create elaborate plans and see them through to either success or failure. Ok, it’s fun to see them succeed, not so much fail. BUT either way – I like to have a plan. So when Tiny Epic Mechs launched on Kickstarter, I was a little wary. Action programming? Can’t that effectively negate any strategy you have set up? I was on the fence. But I backed it anyway. So was my investment a good one, or did my programmed action of picking up this game backfire and leave me KO’d?
Disclaimer: I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook in this review, but give a general overview of turns and gameplay. For a more in-depth look at the rules, pick up a copy of the game from the publisher or your FLGS! -L
Tiny Epic Mechs is a game of action programming in which players take on the roles of Mech pilots competing in an arena-style battle royale event. Through the purchase of new weapons, powering up into Mech suits, combat with opponents (either face-to-face, or through the deployment of mines and turrets), and controlling different zones of the arena, players are trying to earn the most Victory Points by the end of 6 rounds of play. To begin, follow the setup instructions for the arena, based on the player count. Each player receives a player card (to track resources, and also acts as a reference card), a Pilot card, components in their chosen player color, and 1 Basic Weapon card to equip on their Pilot. Set the Round Tracker to round 1, create a market row of Advanced Weapons, place the Mighty Mech suit on it’s corresponding zone card, and the game is ready to begin!
Each round consists of 3 phases: Program, Execution, and Scoring. During the Program phase, players will secretly choose 4 Program Cards from their hand to represent their 4 moves/actions for this round. The chosen Program Cards will be laid out in order above the player card, and will immediately be covered by a face-down unused Program Card. (There are 8 Program Cards total, only 4 of which are used each round). It is important to note that the orientation of the Program Cards matters – Program Cards must be played parallel to the zone cards of the arena. Since they dictate the directions in which you move, you must place them exactly as you want to move. During the second phase, Execution, players will take turns revealing their Program Cards, one at a time and in order, and resolving the actions. To Execute a Program Card, you will first move your Pilot in the direction of the card’s arrow, and then resolve the action listed on the card. Movement is a must and cannot be skipped.
After Movement, you may perform the action on your card – Collect Resources, Purchase a Weapon, Deploy a Mine or a Turret, or Power Up. The first three of these are pretty self-explanatory. The Power Up action allows your Pilot to either heal themselves or upgrade into a Mech suit. Now to discuss crux of the game – combat. During the Execution phase, if you enter into the same zone as another player, you must immediately begin Combat. You will use your equipped weapons to battle your opponent, in hopes of knocking them out or forcing them to retreat. Weapons will deal base damage, or Power Attack damage, based on the circumstances of the combat. To attack with a weapon, you will deal the base damage immediately to your opponent. After your attack, the weapon you used is Exhausted and cannot be used again this combat. Your opponent then has the chance to attack back – either regularly or via Power Attack (I’ll leave that for you to discover on your own). Combat continues, alternating between players, until either a player is KO’d, or is forced to retreat because all of their weapons have been Exhausted. Initiating combat, dealing damage, and defeating your opponent all earn you VP, so combat is a vital part of the game!
After all players have revealed and performed their final Program Card, the round ends. At the end of the 2nd, 4th, and 6th round, players will perform a Scoring phase, earning points for any zones occupied by their own mines, turrets, or Pilot. At the end of the 6th and final round, scoring takes place as stated above, but players will also earn VP for all weapons they have purchased throughout the game. The player with the highest VP is the winner!
I have to admit that I am not a person who generally enjoys the mechanic of action programming. I like to really think through my strategy, and execute it exactly as I want. Action programming makes strategizing more difficult because your success or failure depends on the actions selected in advance by your opponents. You can’t really adapt mid-round, you kind of just have to deal with what’s happening. That being said, Tiny Epic Mechs, in my opinion, has a good balance of combat and actions/resource management. Your entire strategy can’t be based on combat – you need to upgrade weapons, climb into your Mech suit, etc. – and the ability to vary combat with individual upgrades makes the gameplay feel more strategic. Yes, your opponents might still mess up some of your best-laid plans, but you have to be prepared for any situation.
The overall gameplay can feel calculated or chaotic simply based on the player count. In a 2-player game, obviously there are only 2 people, and you have more opportunities to really focus on your individual Pilot before necessarily traipsing into combat. In a game with 3 or 4 players, interactions between players are inevitable and can really make the action programming mechanic stand out/feel more random/etc. Especially with a small play arena, Pilots will be crossing paths at probably every turn, and you may be forced into more combats that you anticipated. With only 2 players, there are interactions between players, but it feels a little more calm overall, and you can really work with a strategy instead of having to adapt to sudden changes in the arena.
Let’s touch on components for a minute. As always, this Tiny Epic delivers on quality components. The cards are colorful and sturdy, the text easy to read. The wooden components for tracking health/resources are good, but maybe just a little too small, even for my regularly-sized hands. The ITEMeeples, Mech suits, and weapons are always fun to play with, and sturdy enough to hold up to lots of plays. All in all, great work from Gamelyn Games once again.
For being a game of action programming, I have to admit that I enjoyed Tiny Epic Mechs more than I thought I would. At least at a 2-player count. Anything more feels too chaotic and random to me. The elements of programming and combat are engaging and elevate the gameplay, but it’s just not my favorite mechanic. Will I keep this game? Definitely. For what it is, I think it does a good job. Will I get more action programming games in the future? Probably not. I’d say Tiny Epic Mechs fills that spot for me, and that is all good in my book. Check this one out if you’re looking for something fun and relatively simple that utilizes this mechanic. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a mechanical 7 / 12.
Disclaimer: I do not intend to rehash the entire rulebook in this review, but give a general overview of turns and gameplay. For a more in-depth look at the rules, pick up a copy of the game from the publisher or your FLGS! -L
Tiny Epic Mechs is a game of action programming in which players take on the roles of Mech pilots competing in an arena-style battle royale event. Through the purchase of new weapons, powering up into Mech suits, combat with opponents (either face-to-face, or through the deployment of mines and turrets), and controlling different zones of the arena, players are trying to earn the most Victory Points by the end of 6 rounds of play. To begin, follow the setup instructions for the arena, based on the player count. Each player receives a player card (to track resources, and also acts as a reference card), a Pilot card, components in their chosen player color, and 1 Basic Weapon card to equip on their Pilot. Set the Round Tracker to round 1, create a market row of Advanced Weapons, place the Mighty Mech suit on it’s corresponding zone card, and the game is ready to begin!
Each round consists of 3 phases: Program, Execution, and Scoring. During the Program phase, players will secretly choose 4 Program Cards from their hand to represent their 4 moves/actions for this round. The chosen Program Cards will be laid out in order above the player card, and will immediately be covered by a face-down unused Program Card. (There are 8 Program Cards total, only 4 of which are used each round). It is important to note that the orientation of the Program Cards matters – Program Cards must be played parallel to the zone cards of the arena. Since they dictate the directions in which you move, you must place them exactly as you want to move. During the second phase, Execution, players will take turns revealing their Program Cards, one at a time and in order, and resolving the actions. To Execute a Program Card, you will first move your Pilot in the direction of the card’s arrow, and then resolve the action listed on the card. Movement is a must and cannot be skipped.
After Movement, you may perform the action on your card – Collect Resources, Purchase a Weapon, Deploy a Mine or a Turret, or Power Up. The first three of these are pretty self-explanatory. The Power Up action allows your Pilot to either heal themselves or upgrade into a Mech suit. Now to discuss crux of the game – combat. During the Execution phase, if you enter into the same zone as another player, you must immediately begin Combat. You will use your equipped weapons to battle your opponent, in hopes of knocking them out or forcing them to retreat. Weapons will deal base damage, or Power Attack damage, based on the circumstances of the combat. To attack with a weapon, you will deal the base damage immediately to your opponent. After your attack, the weapon you used is Exhausted and cannot be used again this combat. Your opponent then has the chance to attack back – either regularly or via Power Attack (I’ll leave that for you to discover on your own). Combat continues, alternating between players, until either a player is KO’d, or is forced to retreat because all of their weapons have been Exhausted. Initiating combat, dealing damage, and defeating your opponent all earn you VP, so combat is a vital part of the game!
After all players have revealed and performed their final Program Card, the round ends. At the end of the 2nd, 4th, and 6th round, players will perform a Scoring phase, earning points for any zones occupied by their own mines, turrets, or Pilot. At the end of the 6th and final round, scoring takes place as stated above, but players will also earn VP for all weapons they have purchased throughout the game. The player with the highest VP is the winner!
I have to admit that I am not a person who generally enjoys the mechanic of action programming. I like to really think through my strategy, and execute it exactly as I want. Action programming makes strategizing more difficult because your success or failure depends on the actions selected in advance by your opponents. You can’t really adapt mid-round, you kind of just have to deal with what’s happening. That being said, Tiny Epic Mechs, in my opinion, has a good balance of combat and actions/resource management. Your entire strategy can’t be based on combat – you need to upgrade weapons, climb into your Mech suit, etc. – and the ability to vary combat with individual upgrades makes the gameplay feel more strategic. Yes, your opponents might still mess up some of your best-laid plans, but you have to be prepared for any situation.
The overall gameplay can feel calculated or chaotic simply based on the player count. In a 2-player game, obviously there are only 2 people, and you have more opportunities to really focus on your individual Pilot before necessarily traipsing into combat. In a game with 3 or 4 players, interactions between players are inevitable and can really make the action programming mechanic stand out/feel more random/etc. Especially with a small play arena, Pilots will be crossing paths at probably every turn, and you may be forced into more combats that you anticipated. With only 2 players, there are interactions between players, but it feels a little more calm overall, and you can really work with a strategy instead of having to adapt to sudden changes in the arena.
Let’s touch on components for a minute. As always, this Tiny Epic delivers on quality components. The cards are colorful and sturdy, the text easy to read. The wooden components for tracking health/resources are good, but maybe just a little too small, even for my regularly-sized hands. The ITEMeeples, Mech suits, and weapons are always fun to play with, and sturdy enough to hold up to lots of plays. All in all, great work from Gamelyn Games once again.
For being a game of action programming, I have to admit that I enjoyed Tiny Epic Mechs more than I thought I would. At least at a 2-player count. Anything more feels too chaotic and random to me. The elements of programming and combat are engaging and elevate the gameplay, but it’s just not my favorite mechanic. Will I keep this game? Definitely. For what it is, I think it does a good job. Will I get more action programming games in the future? Probably not. I’d say Tiny Epic Mechs fills that spot for me, and that is all good in my book. Check this one out if you’re looking for something fun and relatively simple that utilizes this mechanic. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a mechanical 7 / 12.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Tutankhamun in Tabletop Games
Jul 9, 2021
Tutankhamun (per dictionary.com, the pronunciation is as such: [ toot-ahng-kah-muhn ]) is regularly shortened and often referred to as “King Tut.” My real question is that if the first syllable is “toot,” why do we not call him King Toot? I have a 5 year old boy and a 2 year old girl at the time of this writing, so I can tell you EXACTLY why we don’t call him King Toot, but that’s for another discussion. Never having played the original version, will I enjoy this new version of the game by world-renowned designer Dr. Reiner Knizia?
In Tutankhamun, players take on the roles of Egyptian priests attempting to cleanse their souls by gifting the sarcophagus with relics found along the Nile River. The priest who can cleanse their soul quickest will be proclaimed the next High Priest and winner of the game!
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, place the King Tut sarcophagus on the table somewhere inside the box bottom. From this starting place (or you could place these components last I suppose), begin the laborious job of creating the Nile from the trapezoidal Relic TIles. This part took me a good several minutes each game. Place out the Underworld Mat near the start of the Nile, and place upon it the two Guardian Statue standees. From there give every player a reference card, have them choose a player color, place their boats at the start of the Nile, and Canopic Jar scoring markers on the appropriate space along the box bottom score track. The game may now begin!
Tutankhamun is played in turns starting with the starting player and proceeding clockwise. The starting player will choose ANY Relic Tile to collect and move their boat to that location. Once collected, the player will check to make sure there are still matching Relics along the Nile. If so, then play continues to the next player. If the active player had collected the last Relic of that type still active in the game, then the Relic type is scored.
Each Relic Tile features art of a Relic, a God, or a Scarab Ring. Relics come in sets, and when the final Relic of its type is collected, scoring immediately follows. Whichever player possesses the most Relic Tiles of the one being scored will earn points (or rather, negative points, as the priests are trying to cleanse their souls down to the winning score of zero) equal to the number printed on the tile. That number stands for the score earned as well as the number of Relics of that type in the game. The player with the second most Relics of the scored type will score half the number printed on the tile. All others do not score.
God Tiles feature art of one of five ancient Egyptian Gods: Osiris, Isis, Ra, Thoth, and Horus. Each of these Gods provide the collecting player with special powers to be used during the turn, and are always positive for the player.
Finally, Scarab Ring tiles are special in that they feature no number upon them. There are 10 tiles in the game, and as soon as a player collects one they immediately score one point (or one negative point). These tiles are not thrown into the box bottom, as the other scoring tiles are once scored, but are kept with the players to be scored at the end of the game. The player holding the most Scarab Tiles scores five negative points.
Any tile along the Nile that has been passed by all players is deposited onto the Underworld Mat and not added to the box bottom with the King Tut sarcophagus. Tiles may still be collected from the Underworld by permission of the Gods being collected in-game. Whichever priest is able to dwindle down their points and cleanse their soul first will win the game and become the next High Priest of Egypt!
Components. I am more and more becoming a fan of everything 25th Century Games is putting out. This is certainly no exception. I have seen photos of the original versions of this game, entitled Tutankhamen (with an E at the end instead of a U) and this game was certainly begging for a renovation. All the components have updated art, more vibrant colors, and the game even includes luxurious (and completely unnecessary) components. These are the very cool, but very unnecessary King Tut sarcophagus, and the Guardian Statue standees that add nothing to the gameplay but definitely help set the mood and theme. That all said, this version looks amazing on the table and has nearly infinite setup configurations!
What I like most about the game is the fact that on a player’s turn they can literally move forward to ANYWHERE along the Nile to gather whatever Relic they wish. They can pass up a tile or twelve along the way to snatch exactly what they want. However, the quicker a player reaches the sarcophagus does not automatically make them the winner. No, they still need to reduce their soul spirit score to zero in order to win (or be closest by the time all players reach the final spot). Conversely, dilly-dallying along the River just picking up every available tile also will not guarantee a victory. Specializing in a select few items may be the ticket to a victory, or setting oneself to win a couple types and win runner-up on the remainder may be a great path to victory.
Unlike many other games with this lazy race mechanic, the player furthest back does NOT get to keep taking turns to catch up (I’m looking at you, Tokaido), but rather just means that player has many more options ahead of themselves than the other players have. This is very interesting to me, and definitely something worth exploring more. It makes for tough turns when players have to really crunch which options are best for them: take the tile right ahead of them, diversify vs bolster the collection, or hate block another player by taking what you know they need. Ahh, so beautiful are the choices given!
At the end of the day (and this review), Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an Obama-meme-where-he-is-drinking-a-beer-and-giving-a-thumbs-up 5 / 6. I would certainly not have purchased this game in its original form had I seen it in a game store. However, with the changes made to make it more pretty, I would have given it a chance. I am so very glad I have the opportunity to play this a lot, as I can see this getting to the table allllllll the time. It is right up my alley, and I place it high among other Knizia games. Long live King Toot!!
In Tutankhamun, players take on the roles of Egyptian priests attempting to cleanse their souls by gifting the sarcophagus with relics found along the Nile River. The priest who can cleanse their soul quickest will be proclaimed the next High Priest and winner of the game!
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, place the King Tut sarcophagus on the table somewhere inside the box bottom. From this starting place (or you could place these components last I suppose), begin the laborious job of creating the Nile from the trapezoidal Relic TIles. This part took me a good several minutes each game. Place out the Underworld Mat near the start of the Nile, and place upon it the two Guardian Statue standees. From there give every player a reference card, have them choose a player color, place their boats at the start of the Nile, and Canopic Jar scoring markers on the appropriate space along the box bottom score track. The game may now begin!
Tutankhamun is played in turns starting with the starting player and proceeding clockwise. The starting player will choose ANY Relic Tile to collect and move their boat to that location. Once collected, the player will check to make sure there are still matching Relics along the Nile. If so, then play continues to the next player. If the active player had collected the last Relic of that type still active in the game, then the Relic type is scored.
Each Relic Tile features art of a Relic, a God, or a Scarab Ring. Relics come in sets, and when the final Relic of its type is collected, scoring immediately follows. Whichever player possesses the most Relic Tiles of the one being scored will earn points (or rather, negative points, as the priests are trying to cleanse their souls down to the winning score of zero) equal to the number printed on the tile. That number stands for the score earned as well as the number of Relics of that type in the game. The player with the second most Relics of the scored type will score half the number printed on the tile. All others do not score.
God Tiles feature art of one of five ancient Egyptian Gods: Osiris, Isis, Ra, Thoth, and Horus. Each of these Gods provide the collecting player with special powers to be used during the turn, and are always positive for the player.
Finally, Scarab Ring tiles are special in that they feature no number upon them. There are 10 tiles in the game, and as soon as a player collects one they immediately score one point (or one negative point). These tiles are not thrown into the box bottom, as the other scoring tiles are once scored, but are kept with the players to be scored at the end of the game. The player holding the most Scarab Tiles scores five negative points.
Any tile along the Nile that has been passed by all players is deposited onto the Underworld Mat and not added to the box bottom with the King Tut sarcophagus. Tiles may still be collected from the Underworld by permission of the Gods being collected in-game. Whichever priest is able to dwindle down their points and cleanse their soul first will win the game and become the next High Priest of Egypt!
Components. I am more and more becoming a fan of everything 25th Century Games is putting out. This is certainly no exception. I have seen photos of the original versions of this game, entitled Tutankhamen (with an E at the end instead of a U) and this game was certainly begging for a renovation. All the components have updated art, more vibrant colors, and the game even includes luxurious (and completely unnecessary) components. These are the very cool, but very unnecessary King Tut sarcophagus, and the Guardian Statue standees that add nothing to the gameplay but definitely help set the mood and theme. That all said, this version looks amazing on the table and has nearly infinite setup configurations!
What I like most about the game is the fact that on a player’s turn they can literally move forward to ANYWHERE along the Nile to gather whatever Relic they wish. They can pass up a tile or twelve along the way to snatch exactly what they want. However, the quicker a player reaches the sarcophagus does not automatically make them the winner. No, they still need to reduce their soul spirit score to zero in order to win (or be closest by the time all players reach the final spot). Conversely, dilly-dallying along the River just picking up every available tile also will not guarantee a victory. Specializing in a select few items may be the ticket to a victory, or setting oneself to win a couple types and win runner-up on the remainder may be a great path to victory.
Unlike many other games with this lazy race mechanic, the player furthest back does NOT get to keep taking turns to catch up (I’m looking at you, Tokaido), but rather just means that player has many more options ahead of themselves than the other players have. This is very interesting to me, and definitely something worth exploring more. It makes for tough turns when players have to really crunch which options are best for them: take the tile right ahead of them, diversify vs bolster the collection, or hate block another player by taking what you know they need. Ahh, so beautiful are the choices given!
At the end of the day (and this review), Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an Obama-meme-where-he-is-drinking-a-beer-and-giving-a-thumbs-up 5 / 6. I would certainly not have purchased this game in its original form had I seen it in a game store. However, with the changes made to make it more pretty, I would have given it a chance. I am so very glad I have the opportunity to play this a lot, as I can see this getting to the table allllllll the time. It is right up my alley, and I place it high among other Knizia games. Long live King Toot!!
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated The Imposter Kings in Tabletop Games
May 1, 2021
If there is one thing that I love about board gaming, it’s strategy. Planning out and executing a long-term plan, only to have your opponents throw a wrench in it, thus forcing you to re-strategize on the spot? That’s my JAM. So when I heard about The Imposter Kings, I knew it was right up my alley. After getting to play it, did it live up to my expectations? Or is it an imposter that doesn’t hold up? Keep reading to find out!
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -L
The Imposter Kings is a card game for 2-4 players in which players are attempting to gain and maintain control of the throne, accumulating a total of 7 points to win the game. There are some slight rules variations between 2-, 3-, and 4-player games, but the overall gameplay is the same. This review will focus on the 2-player rules. To setup for the game, assemble the deck as described in the rules for your chosen player count. In a 2-player game, the deck is comprised of 18 cards. Each player is given a King card, and one player’s will be the True King. The True King merely determines the first player for the round. Shuffle the deck and deal 8 cards to each player. There will be 2 cards leftover, and those will go into the center of the play area, one face-up and one face-down. This lets the players know which card is not in either players hand, as well as a random unknown card in neither players’ hand. Each player will select a card from their hand to be their Successor, and will place it face-down next to their King, and they will also select one card from their hand to discard face-down. The game is now ready to begin!
On your turn, you will play any card from your hand to the Court (play area) that is of an equal or higher value than the card played previously. The last-played card to the Court is considered to be on the Throne. All cards in Imposter Kings are numbered 1-9, and each card has an associated special ability. Once you play a card to the Court, you may/must use the ability (if optional/mandatory). These special abilities can alter the Court and gameplay by Disgracing cards (flipping them face-down to ‘reset’ the number line), swapping cards with other players, playing a lower-numbered card on top of a higher number etc. The round continues in this fashion, with players alternating, until one player is no longer able to play a card to the Court. That player loses the round, and the winning player receives a number of points, depending on certain aspects. The deck is reshuffled, the True King is passed to the loser of the round, and a new round commences. The first player to reach 7 points is the ultimate winner!
That details the basics of the gameplay, but there are a few special things to keep in mind. Certain cards will force players to play a card to their Antechamber – face-up in front of them. If ever you have a card in your Antechamber at the beginning of a turn, you must play it to the Court, regardless of its value. This can be a good strategic way to trap your opponent into playing a specific card on their next turn! Sometimes a card will need to be Condemned – it is then placed face-down in front of you, and then removed from play on your next turn. Another good way to eat up an opponent’s turn! If you ever get to a point in the round when you are unable to play a card to the Court, you may choose to use your King power – it allows you to flip your King over to Disgrace the card currently on the Throne, and take your Successor into your hand (hopefully giving you a chance to keep playing in the round!). However, there is an Assassin card in the game!! If you have the Assassin, you can reveal it when your opponent decides to use their King – thus assassinating them and immediately winning the round. Lots of tricksy ways to make sure you end up on the Throne!
So all in all, how does The Imposter Kings hold up? Fairly well, actually. For being a simple and relatively fast card game, there is a lot of strategy required for success. You have to decide which cards/powers to use when, while also trying to deduce what your opponent has in their hand. Can you trap them and force the round to end? Or have they kept a dark horse in hand for just this situation? There is a lot more to The Imposter Kings than meets the eye, and that makes it a fun challenge. The first time I played this game, it reminded me of a similar game by ButtonShy titled Hierarchy. The concept and gameplay are similar, but the biggest difference is that The Imposter Kings can be played with 3 and 4 players. That adds another element of strategy/chaos to the game, as there are more cards to deduce, more opportunities for the Court to change between your turns, and just more strategy in general. Hierarchy is strictly a 2-player game, but The Imposter Kings allows you to play with more people. With higher player counts, new and unique cards are added to the starting deck, offering even more abilities and strategic options for play. The gameplay scales with player count, and that keeps it engaging.
Let me touch on components for a minute. This is a retail version of the game, and the production quality is very nice! The game comes in a nice small box, and the deck of cards is sturdy in hand. The artwork is interesting, the text is clear, and the cards are color-coded based on their value. The coloring really helps with quick visual identification of what cards are in play. The game also comes with some reference cards for the various abilities, and those were much appreciated. The rulebook had a couple of areas of ambiguity, but watching the videos on the BGG page for The Imposter Kings helped answer any questions I might have had. All in all, good production quality!
So as you can probably tell from this review, I generally like The Imposter Kings. The gameplay is strategic, engaging, and its 3-4 player variants offer some unique twists that the 2-player just cannot handle. This is a game that I can see myself bringing out when I have newer gamers at my table. The gameplay is simple, yet strategic, and it is not overwhelming to learn or play. It definitely makes players think, and even now I’m thinking about what strategy I might try next game. If you are looking for something relatively simple, yet surprisingly strategic, consider checking out The Imposter Kings. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a royal 8 / 12.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -L
The Imposter Kings is a card game for 2-4 players in which players are attempting to gain and maintain control of the throne, accumulating a total of 7 points to win the game. There are some slight rules variations between 2-, 3-, and 4-player games, but the overall gameplay is the same. This review will focus on the 2-player rules. To setup for the game, assemble the deck as described in the rules for your chosen player count. In a 2-player game, the deck is comprised of 18 cards. Each player is given a King card, and one player’s will be the True King. The True King merely determines the first player for the round. Shuffle the deck and deal 8 cards to each player. There will be 2 cards leftover, and those will go into the center of the play area, one face-up and one face-down. This lets the players know which card is not in either players hand, as well as a random unknown card in neither players’ hand. Each player will select a card from their hand to be their Successor, and will place it face-down next to their King, and they will also select one card from their hand to discard face-down. The game is now ready to begin!
On your turn, you will play any card from your hand to the Court (play area) that is of an equal or higher value than the card played previously. The last-played card to the Court is considered to be on the Throne. All cards in Imposter Kings are numbered 1-9, and each card has an associated special ability. Once you play a card to the Court, you may/must use the ability (if optional/mandatory). These special abilities can alter the Court and gameplay by Disgracing cards (flipping them face-down to ‘reset’ the number line), swapping cards with other players, playing a lower-numbered card on top of a higher number etc. The round continues in this fashion, with players alternating, until one player is no longer able to play a card to the Court. That player loses the round, and the winning player receives a number of points, depending on certain aspects. The deck is reshuffled, the True King is passed to the loser of the round, and a new round commences. The first player to reach 7 points is the ultimate winner!
That details the basics of the gameplay, but there are a few special things to keep in mind. Certain cards will force players to play a card to their Antechamber – face-up in front of them. If ever you have a card in your Antechamber at the beginning of a turn, you must play it to the Court, regardless of its value. This can be a good strategic way to trap your opponent into playing a specific card on their next turn! Sometimes a card will need to be Condemned – it is then placed face-down in front of you, and then removed from play on your next turn. Another good way to eat up an opponent’s turn! If you ever get to a point in the round when you are unable to play a card to the Court, you may choose to use your King power – it allows you to flip your King over to Disgrace the card currently on the Throne, and take your Successor into your hand (hopefully giving you a chance to keep playing in the round!). However, there is an Assassin card in the game!! If you have the Assassin, you can reveal it when your opponent decides to use their King – thus assassinating them and immediately winning the round. Lots of tricksy ways to make sure you end up on the Throne!
So all in all, how does The Imposter Kings hold up? Fairly well, actually. For being a simple and relatively fast card game, there is a lot of strategy required for success. You have to decide which cards/powers to use when, while also trying to deduce what your opponent has in their hand. Can you trap them and force the round to end? Or have they kept a dark horse in hand for just this situation? There is a lot more to The Imposter Kings than meets the eye, and that makes it a fun challenge. The first time I played this game, it reminded me of a similar game by ButtonShy titled Hierarchy. The concept and gameplay are similar, but the biggest difference is that The Imposter Kings can be played with 3 and 4 players. That adds another element of strategy/chaos to the game, as there are more cards to deduce, more opportunities for the Court to change between your turns, and just more strategy in general. Hierarchy is strictly a 2-player game, but The Imposter Kings allows you to play with more people. With higher player counts, new and unique cards are added to the starting deck, offering even more abilities and strategic options for play. The gameplay scales with player count, and that keeps it engaging.
Let me touch on components for a minute. This is a retail version of the game, and the production quality is very nice! The game comes in a nice small box, and the deck of cards is sturdy in hand. The artwork is interesting, the text is clear, and the cards are color-coded based on their value. The coloring really helps with quick visual identification of what cards are in play. The game also comes with some reference cards for the various abilities, and those were much appreciated. The rulebook had a couple of areas of ambiguity, but watching the videos on the BGG page for The Imposter Kings helped answer any questions I might have had. All in all, good production quality!
So as you can probably tell from this review, I generally like The Imposter Kings. The gameplay is strategic, engaging, and its 3-4 player variants offer some unique twists that the 2-player just cannot handle. This is a game that I can see myself bringing out when I have newer gamers at my table. The gameplay is simple, yet strategic, and it is not overwhelming to learn or play. It definitely makes players think, and even now I’m thinking about what strategy I might try next game. If you are looking for something relatively simple, yet surprisingly strategic, consider checking out The Imposter Kings. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a royal 8 / 12.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Century: Golem Edition - An Endless World in Tabletop Games
May 5, 2021
If you’ve read our reviews on the first 2 games of the Century: Golem Edition games, then you will know that we are big fans. The art and theme really drew us in, and the gameplay is what keeps us coming back for more. Now that the third and final game has dropped, how does it fit in with its predecessors? Is it the finale we were hoping for? Or does it leave us yearning for the OG Century Golem? Keep reading to find out!
Disclaimer: This game comes with rules to incorporate any/all of the Century Golem games into one bigger game. In this review, I will only be discussing the stand-alone final game in the Century Golem trilogy. -L
Century: Golem Edition – An Endless World (referred to as just An Endless World for this review) is a game of set collection and worker placement in which players are trying to earn the most points by the end of the game. To setup the game, follow the instructions outlined in the rules, dependent upon your player count. Each player begins the game with 6 Trader meeples (or 7 in a 2-player game) in their supply, and a specified number/type of crystals. The game is now ready to begin!
On your turn, you will have 2 options: Work or Rest. To Work, you will first select a location square on the board. You may not choose a location where you already have Traders, or that has an Exploration tile. You will then place Traders from your supply onto the chosen location – the number of Traders required is printed on the location. If the location is unoccupied, simply place the required number of Traders. If the location is occupied by an opponent, you may place Traders there, but you must match the opponents Traders, plus an additional Trader, to take control of the location. Any opposing Traders ousted in this manner are returned to their players’ supply. Once you have placed Traders on a location, you can then perform the action listed on that location. Action options are: producing gems, upgrading gems, trading gems, or collecting Point cards/bonus tokens. If you cannot or do not want to use a location on your turn, you can Rest. To Rest, you will collect all of your Traders from the board and place them back into your supply.
Point cards can provide immediate, ongoing, or end-game benefits for players. Help cards allow you to place 1 fewer Trader than required on certain locations. Tool cards give players an additional gem of a specified color when they place Traders on corresponding locations. New Trader cards allow players to add either 1 or 2 more Traders to their supply, thus increasing their ability to play each ’round’ before needing to Rest. Finally, Exploration cards allow the player to select an Exploration token from the board. Any time an Exploration token is claimed, that location is now ‘uncovered’ and can be used for the remainder of the game. Bonus tokens grant end-game points based upon sets of icons collected, number of Traders in your supply, or simply straight-up points.
The game continues in this fashion, alternating turns, until a player has collected their 8th Point card. The current round is played out, and then points are counted. Points are earned through Point cards, bonus tiles, Exploration tiles, and any remaining gems in your supply. The player with the highest score wins!
One thing I really like about worker placement games is that the actual gameplay is pretty logical and straight-forward. Place your worker, perform action. And An Endless World is no exception to that. Of course, how you decide to play all comes down to your strategy, and again, An Endless World has tons of options for players. Maybe you want to just get 8 Point cards as quickly as possible and call it a day. Or perhaps you want to maximize your bonus tokens and eke out as many points from those as possible. Or maybe you even just want to keep your opponent(s) from achieving their goals. You can play this game so many different ways, and you can totally adapt and change strategy mid-game if you so choose. Each game feels unique and new, and I have yet to tire from this gameplay.
An Endless World is a worker placement game, but there is one factor that I find extremely unique for the mechanic. Usually, in worker placement games, once a worker has occupied a location, it remains there until the player chooses to recover their workers. An Endless World offers players the chance to oust opponents from locations, by placing the same number plus 1 additional worker. I just think this is super neat, because it means that you can’t just ‘block’ a location from everyone. If someone really wants that location, and they have the workers, they can get to that location. Also, along those lines, since ousting a player from a location means you have to match their workers plus an additional worker, you have to decide if you want to risk dedicating that many workers to a single location. You might reaaaaally want to perform that action, but for the cost of 4 Traders, is it worth it at this moment? Could those workers better be used on different locations and you just snatch your desired location on a future turn? All part of your strategy for the game, and definitely keeps all players engaged.
Let me touch on components for a minute. As with the other Century Golem games, An Endless World is extremely well-produced. The gems are the same quality, the cards are nice, thick, and clear to read, and the cardboard tokens are nice and sturdy. Plan B Games has hit the mark on this trilogy of games, and they truly are a pleasure to play. Obviously, the artwork and theme consistency throughout the Century Golem trilogy has been really satisfying, but that also carries over into the gameplay. All 3 games use much of the same iconography, so honestly learning An Endless World was super fast and easy for me. That uniformity is extremely user-friendly and is a huge plus for me.
So I guess you can see from my score and from reading this review that I am a huge fan of An Endless World. The final game of this trilogy is a home run for me, and I just keep thinking about what strategy I want to try in my next game. That in and of itself is an indication of a great game – thinking about it even when you’re not playing it! I have yet to try the variants that include the other 2 Century Golem games, and I am very much looking forward to integrating them all into one giant and (hopefully) awesome Century Golem saga. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an expansive 16 / 18. Give it a shot, even if you haven’t played the other Century Golem games!
Disclaimer: This game comes with rules to incorporate any/all of the Century Golem games into one bigger game. In this review, I will only be discussing the stand-alone final game in the Century Golem trilogy. -L
Century: Golem Edition – An Endless World (referred to as just An Endless World for this review) is a game of set collection and worker placement in which players are trying to earn the most points by the end of the game. To setup the game, follow the instructions outlined in the rules, dependent upon your player count. Each player begins the game with 6 Trader meeples (or 7 in a 2-player game) in their supply, and a specified number/type of crystals. The game is now ready to begin!
On your turn, you will have 2 options: Work or Rest. To Work, you will first select a location square on the board. You may not choose a location where you already have Traders, or that has an Exploration tile. You will then place Traders from your supply onto the chosen location – the number of Traders required is printed on the location. If the location is unoccupied, simply place the required number of Traders. If the location is occupied by an opponent, you may place Traders there, but you must match the opponents Traders, plus an additional Trader, to take control of the location. Any opposing Traders ousted in this manner are returned to their players’ supply. Once you have placed Traders on a location, you can then perform the action listed on that location. Action options are: producing gems, upgrading gems, trading gems, or collecting Point cards/bonus tokens. If you cannot or do not want to use a location on your turn, you can Rest. To Rest, you will collect all of your Traders from the board and place them back into your supply.
Point cards can provide immediate, ongoing, or end-game benefits for players. Help cards allow you to place 1 fewer Trader than required on certain locations. Tool cards give players an additional gem of a specified color when they place Traders on corresponding locations. New Trader cards allow players to add either 1 or 2 more Traders to their supply, thus increasing their ability to play each ’round’ before needing to Rest. Finally, Exploration cards allow the player to select an Exploration token from the board. Any time an Exploration token is claimed, that location is now ‘uncovered’ and can be used for the remainder of the game. Bonus tokens grant end-game points based upon sets of icons collected, number of Traders in your supply, or simply straight-up points.
The game continues in this fashion, alternating turns, until a player has collected their 8th Point card. The current round is played out, and then points are counted. Points are earned through Point cards, bonus tiles, Exploration tiles, and any remaining gems in your supply. The player with the highest score wins!
One thing I really like about worker placement games is that the actual gameplay is pretty logical and straight-forward. Place your worker, perform action. And An Endless World is no exception to that. Of course, how you decide to play all comes down to your strategy, and again, An Endless World has tons of options for players. Maybe you want to just get 8 Point cards as quickly as possible and call it a day. Or perhaps you want to maximize your bonus tokens and eke out as many points from those as possible. Or maybe you even just want to keep your opponent(s) from achieving their goals. You can play this game so many different ways, and you can totally adapt and change strategy mid-game if you so choose. Each game feels unique and new, and I have yet to tire from this gameplay.
An Endless World is a worker placement game, but there is one factor that I find extremely unique for the mechanic. Usually, in worker placement games, once a worker has occupied a location, it remains there until the player chooses to recover their workers. An Endless World offers players the chance to oust opponents from locations, by placing the same number plus 1 additional worker. I just think this is super neat, because it means that you can’t just ‘block’ a location from everyone. If someone really wants that location, and they have the workers, they can get to that location. Also, along those lines, since ousting a player from a location means you have to match their workers plus an additional worker, you have to decide if you want to risk dedicating that many workers to a single location. You might reaaaaally want to perform that action, but for the cost of 4 Traders, is it worth it at this moment? Could those workers better be used on different locations and you just snatch your desired location on a future turn? All part of your strategy for the game, and definitely keeps all players engaged.
Let me touch on components for a minute. As with the other Century Golem games, An Endless World is extremely well-produced. The gems are the same quality, the cards are nice, thick, and clear to read, and the cardboard tokens are nice and sturdy. Plan B Games has hit the mark on this trilogy of games, and they truly are a pleasure to play. Obviously, the artwork and theme consistency throughout the Century Golem trilogy has been really satisfying, but that also carries over into the gameplay. All 3 games use much of the same iconography, so honestly learning An Endless World was super fast and easy for me. That uniformity is extremely user-friendly and is a huge plus for me.
So I guess you can see from my score and from reading this review that I am a huge fan of An Endless World. The final game of this trilogy is a home run for me, and I just keep thinking about what strategy I want to try in my next game. That in and of itself is an indication of a great game – thinking about it even when you’re not playing it! I have yet to try the variants that include the other 2 Century Golem games, and I am very much looking forward to integrating them all into one giant and (hopefully) awesome Century Golem saga. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one an expansive 16 / 18. Give it a shot, even if you haven’t played the other Century Golem games!
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Fort in Tabletop Games
Jul 27, 2021
One activity my 5-year-old son will never tire of: building forts. Mostly pillow/blanket-based, but all I am doing is grooming him for an eventual treehouse fort of his own in the backyard someday. What an excellent theme for a game, and when I had a chance to speak with Brooke from Leder Games about reviewing this one, I absolutely jumped for joy for the opportunity. No guessing whether we like a game here at Purple Phoenix Games – we put our ratings right on the first graphic of every review, so you know already that I love Fort. Let’s see why.
Fort is a hand management, deck-building game with a follow mechanic for two to four players. In it, players are assuming the roles of everyday kids trying to build their forts, play with their toys, and eat pizza with their buddies. The winner of the game is they who is able to score the most victory points (VP) at the end of the game, which can end in one of three different fashions.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, each player chooses a player color and takes all items belonging to them, including the Best Friends cards from the stack. Every other component is then separated by type and cards shuffled. Per the rules, some decks of cards will only have a certain amount on the table, whereas the main deck of kid cards is always used. Each player will draw eight kid cards from the deck to add to their Best Friends and shuffle them. They will also place their score markers on the 0 space of the Victory Track board. Randomly determine the starting player and give them the coveted First Player card, and the game may now begin!
Fort is played in turns, with each turn consisting of five phases (the first phase is skipped on the first turn). The first phase is Cleanup. To Cleanup, the active player takes all kid cards remaining in their Yard and places them in their own discard pile. Next, the active player will Play a kid card from their hand. On each card is a space for up to two actions to be taken: the public action on top and the private action on bottom. The player may complete both, but MUST complete at least one of the actions in its entirety. If using the public action of the card, then other players at the table may also follow the action by discarding one card of the matching suit of the card originally played. However, the leader (active player) may also play additional cards from their hand, of the same suit, in order to boost the effects of the actions. Followers may not. These actions include gaining “stuff” (pizza and toys) to be placed in their Stuff area or backpack, trashing cards in their hands, or gaining VP.
After the players have Played cards, the next phase is Recruit. The active player may choose any kid card that exists in the Park (the space underneath the Victory Track that is always full of kids), another player’s Yard (the space above the player’s main board that they neglected to play with their previous turn), or they may simply draw a kid card blindly from the Park deck. These kids are sent directly to the discard pile to be drawn on a later turn.
Finally, phases four and five end a player’s turn. Phase four is Discard, where the active player will discard all their Best Friends, kid cards they played this turn, and recruited kids. The kid cards leftover that were not used are sent to the player’s Yard above their main boards to possibly be stolen by another player during their Recruit phase. After Discarding, the final phase is Draw, where the active player will draw another hand of five cards to prepare to follow other players and to prepare for the next round. Fort continues in this fashion of each player taking turns and following others’ actions until one player earns 25 VP on the track, any player increases their Fort to level 5, or the Park deck becomes empty. All players will finish their turns so that they all have played an equal amount of turns, and then the players total their scores to crown the winner!
Components. This game has super great components. The little pizza and toys bits are awesome, the double-layered boards are cool, and the art is amazing as well. If it looks familiar in style, it’s because you have seen this art on Root, Oath, and Vast, among others. I love it so much and it is a perfect match for this theme. I really have little negative to say about Fort except that I wish the player colors were different. The orange and yellow are a little close in hue, and the brownish/olive is drab. Everything else, though, *chef’s kiss.
It is probably no surprise why I love this one. Deck-building has long been one of my favorite mechanics, and I have always enjoyed the follow mechanic found in Tiny Epic Galaxies and Villages of Valeria. Mix those up with much more going on and an excellent theme and it’s definitely a big time winner for me. I think what puts me over the edge here is that cards can be used for a couple different actions, and they can be boosted with the right strategies. Get your deck in order to really maximize each turn and the game opens up for you. Several times I have been able to focus my deck and really pound some powerful abilities, but it certainly doesn’t always work out for me, especially when others catch on to what I am doing and hate-draft me into other tactics.
If you are into a fresh new look at deck-building and enjoy more wacky themes, as I do, then I urge you to check out Fort. Officially, Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a playful 5 / 6, but even though it probably won’t break into my Top 10, I do think it will come to the table more often than most games in my Top 10. So should I reconsider my Top 10? Hmm. Anyway, Fort is awesome and everyone I have played with seem to agree with me. So grab a copy or two for yourself. Heck, the gift-giving season is fast approaching, and I know these fit very well under trees and other significant symbols of festivities…
Fort is a hand management, deck-building game with a follow mechanic for two to four players. In it, players are assuming the roles of everyday kids trying to build their forts, play with their toys, and eat pizza with their buddies. The winner of the game is they who is able to score the most victory points (VP) at the end of the game, which can end in one of three different fashions.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, each player chooses a player color and takes all items belonging to them, including the Best Friends cards from the stack. Every other component is then separated by type and cards shuffled. Per the rules, some decks of cards will only have a certain amount on the table, whereas the main deck of kid cards is always used. Each player will draw eight kid cards from the deck to add to their Best Friends and shuffle them. They will also place their score markers on the 0 space of the Victory Track board. Randomly determine the starting player and give them the coveted First Player card, and the game may now begin!
Fort is played in turns, with each turn consisting of five phases (the first phase is skipped on the first turn). The first phase is Cleanup. To Cleanup, the active player takes all kid cards remaining in their Yard and places them in their own discard pile. Next, the active player will Play a kid card from their hand. On each card is a space for up to two actions to be taken: the public action on top and the private action on bottom. The player may complete both, but MUST complete at least one of the actions in its entirety. If using the public action of the card, then other players at the table may also follow the action by discarding one card of the matching suit of the card originally played. However, the leader (active player) may also play additional cards from their hand, of the same suit, in order to boost the effects of the actions. Followers may not. These actions include gaining “stuff” (pizza and toys) to be placed in their Stuff area or backpack, trashing cards in their hands, or gaining VP.
After the players have Played cards, the next phase is Recruit. The active player may choose any kid card that exists in the Park (the space underneath the Victory Track that is always full of kids), another player’s Yard (the space above the player’s main board that they neglected to play with their previous turn), or they may simply draw a kid card blindly from the Park deck. These kids are sent directly to the discard pile to be drawn on a later turn.
Finally, phases four and five end a player’s turn. Phase four is Discard, where the active player will discard all their Best Friends, kid cards they played this turn, and recruited kids. The kid cards leftover that were not used are sent to the player’s Yard above their main boards to possibly be stolen by another player during their Recruit phase. After Discarding, the final phase is Draw, where the active player will draw another hand of five cards to prepare to follow other players and to prepare for the next round. Fort continues in this fashion of each player taking turns and following others’ actions until one player earns 25 VP on the track, any player increases their Fort to level 5, or the Park deck becomes empty. All players will finish their turns so that they all have played an equal amount of turns, and then the players total their scores to crown the winner!
Components. This game has super great components. The little pizza and toys bits are awesome, the double-layered boards are cool, and the art is amazing as well. If it looks familiar in style, it’s because you have seen this art on Root, Oath, and Vast, among others. I love it so much and it is a perfect match for this theme. I really have little negative to say about Fort except that I wish the player colors were different. The orange and yellow are a little close in hue, and the brownish/olive is drab. Everything else, though, *chef’s kiss.
It is probably no surprise why I love this one. Deck-building has long been one of my favorite mechanics, and I have always enjoyed the follow mechanic found in Tiny Epic Galaxies and Villages of Valeria. Mix those up with much more going on and an excellent theme and it’s definitely a big time winner for me. I think what puts me over the edge here is that cards can be used for a couple different actions, and they can be boosted with the right strategies. Get your deck in order to really maximize each turn and the game opens up for you. Several times I have been able to focus my deck and really pound some powerful abilities, but it certainly doesn’t always work out for me, especially when others catch on to what I am doing and hate-draft me into other tactics.
If you are into a fresh new look at deck-building and enjoy more wacky themes, as I do, then I urge you to check out Fort. Officially, Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a playful 5 / 6, but even though it probably won’t break into my Top 10, I do think it will come to the table more often than most games in my Top 10. So should I reconsider my Top 10? Hmm. Anyway, Fort is awesome and everyone I have played with seem to agree with me. So grab a copy or two for yourself. Heck, the gift-giving season is fast approaching, and I know these fit very well under trees and other significant symbols of festivities…
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Vendarla in Tabletop Games
Oct 6, 2020
The kobolds and dragons have taken over the mountain that once belonged to the noble dwarves in this land. The Queen has decided it’s time to take it back. She needs as many fine-crafted armory items as possible using the materials found in the mountain, but she will be pleased with the first craftsperson to finish three of them for her army. Are you prepared to brave the mountain’s dangers in order to secure the materials needed to craft her required items, or will the dragons and kobolds prove too difficult for you to overcome? This is Vendarla.
Vendarla is a press-your-luck, hand management, set collection card game where players are working against one another to collect the proper materials to craft three Queen’s Armory items while avoiding kobold warriors and thieves, as well as several dragons guarding the mountain.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and the final components may be different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to back the game through the upcoming Kickstarter campaign, order from your FLGS, or purchase through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup, follow the rulebook advice for your number of players, but generally Vendarla will be setup on the table in different areas: the Market, the Mountain, the Queen’s Armory, and the gold stash. Each player will receive five gold, and their choice of either two or three (depending on play count) Queen’s Armory items to begin working on during the game. Determine first player by giving the dragon token, shown below, to the player who most recently watched a dragon movie and the game is ready to begin!
On their turn a player will choose whether to visit the Market or the Mountain. When a player visits the Market, they may choose to purchase any previously sold materials, sell their own materials, purchase items for use in mountain runs, or exchange Queen’s Armory item cards.
Should the player instead wish to visit the Mountain, they will flip over a mountain card from the giant stack of mountain cards and decide how to continue. If a material card was flipped, the player may choose to take that card or continue flipping cards. This action can be replicated until up to 10 cards have been flipped. The active player will then need to choose a card (or two if they have a Backpack equipped) to place face-up in their play area. Each other player at the table, in player order, will then be allowed to take a material or gold card from the flipped offering by paying the active player one gold.
Should the active player flip over a second kobold warrior for the turn, they must stop flipping unless they had previously purchased from the market a kobold repellent or Ironsides (dwarven warrior) to combat it. If the kobold warrior, or the kobold thief for that matter, is overcome by ANY player then the active player may continue flipping cards from the mountain. Should the player flip a dragon card over, they may use a previously purchased Dragon Charm to charm the dragon back to sleep or taking the dragon card into their play area and suffering a negative 10 points at game end.
Play continues in this fashion of active player visiting the Market to take actions for themselves only, or visiting the Mountain to excavate materials to be used to craft their Queen’s Armory items and opponents also being able to follow the action using their flipped materials. Once a player has the proper materials to craft their Queen’s Armory items on their turn, they may, and the player who crafts their third item will trigger the end of the game. Players will finish the turn, count up their points and a winner will be declared!
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game, so what we were provided may or may not be the same as the final version of the game. That said, this game is a ton of cards, and some gold coins. The card are fine quality, but I would probably want to sleeve them, as they are handled a bit and are a little thin. The gold coins are thick cardboard and look great. Speaking of looking great, the art in Vendarla is really really good. I love the art style used and the colors are vibrant and lovely. Though I had no problems with the iconography, my wife did a few times. Luckily, handy reference cards are included and that solved any questions we had with iconography. All in all the components are good, and the game looks great.
The “flip cards until you have to stop, choose to stop, or flip over something bad” is a mechanic that is used in many games, and in Vendarla I truly enjoy it because for every “bad” card another card may be able to neutralize it. And the best part about that is the neutralizing card can come from ANY player. Why would someone want to lull the dragon back to sleep on someone else’s turn? Well perhaps a material was flipped that they need to complete an item craft and they want to make sure they have a chance to get it for one measly coin. I love that. I also love games that include ways for other players to be involved in each turn taken. This isn’t a “multiplayer solitaire” game. Yeah you could go to the restroom during other players’ turns, but you may miss out on that elusive gem you need for your items.
I found that playing this I had to find a good balance between keeping my Market items stocked and going to the Mountain to grab materials. There may be several turns in a row, especially in the beginning of the game, where your turns are just flipping over a kobold warrior for which you are unprepared to handle and forfeiting your turn, but as the game progresses you will be hopefully be outfitting yourself appropriately.
While this game seems very involved and you may think there are many tiny rules when reading the rulebook, it plays really quickly. In my two-player games with my wife the games were 30 minutes or less, INCLUDING the teach the first time.
So even though I have a prototype copy of the game, I will certainly be holding onto this one and pulling it out quite a bit. When you can get a great play experience out of 30 minutes and feel like you did something interesting, I feel that’s a sign of a great game. If you are looking for a game that fills a hole in your collection (or even want to replace Port Royal, as I did), please check out the Kickstarter campaign for Vendarla launching October 27, 2020. If you like fantasy themed card games with press your luck and set collection, this one is for you!
Vendarla is a press-your-luck, hand management, set collection card game where players are working against one another to collect the proper materials to craft three Queen’s Armory items while avoiding kobold warriors and thieves, as well as several dragons guarding the mountain.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and the final components may be different from these shown. Also, it is not my intention to detail every rule in the game, as there are just too many. You are invited to back the game through the upcoming Kickstarter campaign, order from your FLGS, or purchase through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup, follow the rulebook advice for your number of players, but generally Vendarla will be setup on the table in different areas: the Market, the Mountain, the Queen’s Armory, and the gold stash. Each player will receive five gold, and their choice of either two or three (depending on play count) Queen’s Armory items to begin working on during the game. Determine first player by giving the dragon token, shown below, to the player who most recently watched a dragon movie and the game is ready to begin!
On their turn a player will choose whether to visit the Market or the Mountain. When a player visits the Market, they may choose to purchase any previously sold materials, sell their own materials, purchase items for use in mountain runs, or exchange Queen’s Armory item cards.
Should the player instead wish to visit the Mountain, they will flip over a mountain card from the giant stack of mountain cards and decide how to continue. If a material card was flipped, the player may choose to take that card or continue flipping cards. This action can be replicated until up to 10 cards have been flipped. The active player will then need to choose a card (or two if they have a Backpack equipped) to place face-up in their play area. Each other player at the table, in player order, will then be allowed to take a material or gold card from the flipped offering by paying the active player one gold.
Should the active player flip over a second kobold warrior for the turn, they must stop flipping unless they had previously purchased from the market a kobold repellent or Ironsides (dwarven warrior) to combat it. If the kobold warrior, or the kobold thief for that matter, is overcome by ANY player then the active player may continue flipping cards from the mountain. Should the player flip a dragon card over, they may use a previously purchased Dragon Charm to charm the dragon back to sleep or taking the dragon card into their play area and suffering a negative 10 points at game end.
Play continues in this fashion of active player visiting the Market to take actions for themselves only, or visiting the Mountain to excavate materials to be used to craft their Queen’s Armory items and opponents also being able to follow the action using their flipped materials. Once a player has the proper materials to craft their Queen’s Armory items on their turn, they may, and the player who crafts their third item will trigger the end of the game. Players will finish the turn, count up their points and a winner will be declared!
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game, so what we were provided may or may not be the same as the final version of the game. That said, this game is a ton of cards, and some gold coins. The card are fine quality, but I would probably want to sleeve them, as they are handled a bit and are a little thin. The gold coins are thick cardboard and look great. Speaking of looking great, the art in Vendarla is really really good. I love the art style used and the colors are vibrant and lovely. Though I had no problems with the iconography, my wife did a few times. Luckily, handy reference cards are included and that solved any questions we had with iconography. All in all the components are good, and the game looks great.
The “flip cards until you have to stop, choose to stop, or flip over something bad” is a mechanic that is used in many games, and in Vendarla I truly enjoy it because for every “bad” card another card may be able to neutralize it. And the best part about that is the neutralizing card can come from ANY player. Why would someone want to lull the dragon back to sleep on someone else’s turn? Well perhaps a material was flipped that they need to complete an item craft and they want to make sure they have a chance to get it for one measly coin. I love that. I also love games that include ways for other players to be involved in each turn taken. This isn’t a “multiplayer solitaire” game. Yeah you could go to the restroom during other players’ turns, but you may miss out on that elusive gem you need for your items.
I found that playing this I had to find a good balance between keeping my Market items stocked and going to the Mountain to grab materials. There may be several turns in a row, especially in the beginning of the game, where your turns are just flipping over a kobold warrior for which you are unprepared to handle and forfeiting your turn, but as the game progresses you will be hopefully be outfitting yourself appropriately.
While this game seems very involved and you may think there are many tiny rules when reading the rulebook, it plays really quickly. In my two-player games with my wife the games were 30 minutes or less, INCLUDING the teach the first time.
So even though I have a prototype copy of the game, I will certainly be holding onto this one and pulling it out quite a bit. When you can get a great play experience out of 30 minutes and feel like you did something interesting, I feel that’s a sign of a great game. If you are looking for a game that fills a hole in your collection (or even want to replace Port Royal, as I did), please check out the Kickstarter campaign for Vendarla launching October 27, 2020. If you like fantasy themed card games with press your luck and set collection, this one is for you!
5 Minute Movie Guy (379 KP) rated A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014) in Movies
Jun 28, 2019 (Updated Jun 28, 2019)
Liam Neeson puts in a commanding performance and is a natural as a detective. (2 more)
The film has great visual flair and creates an effectively dark and moody atmosphere.
The solid supporting cast strengthen an otherwise dull and derivative film.
The heavy graphic content of rape, mutilation, and murder is extremely off-putting. (1 more)
There's not a single likeable character to be found in the whole movie.
A Walk Among the Tombstones is unsettling but never really all that compelling. It's a decent detective movie, but your enjoyment of it may depend on how well you can handle its grimy setting and extreme violence.
After watching A Walk Among the Tombstones, I literally felt like I was going to puke. This mystery-thriller, based on Lawrence Block’s popular novel, is a gross and grisly foray into the criminal underworld in search of sadistic kidnappers. Director Scott Frank paints a portrait of a dark and twisted 1990s New York City where women are disappearing, only to later show up chopped into pieces. The film is grim without remorse or reason, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be eager for it to end so you can wash your hands of it entirely. It stars Liam Neeson as an unlicensed private detective named Matthew Scudder who leads an investigation to find the people responsible for these horrific murders. While it may appear from the trailers to be another entry in Neeson’s growing lineup of ass-kicking action-thrillers, it’s actually far from it. A Walk Among the Tombstones plays out more like a brooding, slow-paced horror film. If you’re expecting Taken, then you’re walking right into the wrong movie.
Neeson’s character Matt Scudder is a former alcoholic and an ex-cop turned personal private investigator who works in exchange for favors. Since he’s no longer affiliated with the police, he’s an appealing person to turn to for those who need help but want to keep the cops out of the picture. When a drug dealer’s wife is kidnapped and savagely murdered, he seeks out Scudder for help. What follows is in an investigation into the murder that links up to the murder of another drug dealer’s wife. With the killers still at large, Scudder is determined to catch them before they can strike again.
Being that Scudder is working with criminals to find even worse criminals, the characters in A Walk Among the Tombstones are quite despicable. In fact, I would argue there’s not a single likeable character in the whole film. Even our protagonist Scudder is a shady person with a corrupt past. It’s hard to care about anyone here except for the poor abducted women, and yet we never get to know any of them. They’re reduced to the point where it’s hard to see them as anything more than the killers’ unlucky victims who have no chance of surviving. We follow Scudder through this twisted investigation not because we care about him, but for their sake of these women, with the hope that our detective hero can put an end to these killers’ unspeakable crimes. The film’s dreadful cast of characters give an incredibly bleak and hopeless outlook on people as a whole.
Liam Neeson gives a suitable performance as Scudder, fitting into the role of a detective quite naturally. As usual, he has a great presence and commands your attention any time he’s on screen. In A Walk Among the Tombstones, he’s not nearly the unstoppable action-hero he has been in his other recent films, but he’s still an intimidating guy you’d be wise not to mess with. He does actually have a couple tense conversations with the killers over the phone that are reminiscent of the famous scene in Taken, but certainly not as memorable.
The killers in the movie happen to be far more appalling than interesting. We don’t ever get to know much about them or their motives. They’re sick, demented people that aren’t given much more depth than being bad for the sake of being bad. However, there’s no question that they’re believably haunting and deranged. Despite their limited screen time and lack of complexity, their actors put in truly unnerving performances.
The film is well-acted throughout, with a few especially notable performances from supporting characters. Olafur Darri Olafsson is terrific as the creepy cemetery groundskeeper, and Eric Nelsen does a commendable job as the drug addict younger brother of the drug dealer who sought Scudder’s help. There’s also Brian “Astro” Bradley as a homeless teenager named TJ that Scudder befriends, who volunteers himself to be his crime-solving partner. Astro at times lightens up the moody film with his charm, and while he’s truly the only character that offers any sense of hope in the film’s gritty world, I think his character largely feels out of place as an unnecessary inclusion.
Scott Frank effectively creates a dark and sullen atmosphere in his movie that is also visually striking. He turns New York’s underbelly into a stylishly gloomy city where its seedy citizens can run rampant. He demonstrates proficiency behind the camera, building eeriness and suspense. However, he goes too far with the film’s graphic sexual content, which includes rape, torture, and mutilation. While he never gives you a very clear look at these heinous acts, he puts you right there in the moment and lets the camera linger. It’s sadistic, cruel, and very disturbing to watch. In a bizarre directorial decision, he has the 12 steps to recovery from Alcoholics Anonymous narrated over the climax of the film. Considering Scudder regularly attends AA meetings to celebrate his sobriety, I can understand why it was included, but it just doesn’t work and ends up detracting from the film’s most heightened sequences. He also disappointingly finishes the movie on a bad note with a conclusion that is drawn out far too long and which contains a weak, conventional ending that is completely forgettable.
A Walk Among the Tombstones raises more questions than it answers, but in a movie this morbid, maybe it’s best not to know. While the movie excels at being unsettling, it’s never really all that compelling. Filled with plenty of bad dialogue and characters that are hard to relate to and care about, I was yearning for this one to end so I wouldn’t have to endure any more of its vileness. Even with all the disturbing content aside, I would argue that the film is still only average at best. While I’m sure there are plenty of people with a penchant for the macabre that will enjoy the film, I am certainly not one of them and I left the theater feeling completely disturbed by what I had just watched. A Walk Among the Tombstones is a decent detective movie, but your enjoyment of the film may depend on how well you can handle its grimy setting and extreme violence. One thing that I can assure you is that I personally don’t have the stomach for it.
(This review was originally posted at 5mmg.com on 9.20.14.)
Neeson’s character Matt Scudder is a former alcoholic and an ex-cop turned personal private investigator who works in exchange for favors. Since he’s no longer affiliated with the police, he’s an appealing person to turn to for those who need help but want to keep the cops out of the picture. When a drug dealer’s wife is kidnapped and savagely murdered, he seeks out Scudder for help. What follows is in an investigation into the murder that links up to the murder of another drug dealer’s wife. With the killers still at large, Scudder is determined to catch them before they can strike again.
Being that Scudder is working with criminals to find even worse criminals, the characters in A Walk Among the Tombstones are quite despicable. In fact, I would argue there’s not a single likeable character in the whole film. Even our protagonist Scudder is a shady person with a corrupt past. It’s hard to care about anyone here except for the poor abducted women, and yet we never get to know any of them. They’re reduced to the point where it’s hard to see them as anything more than the killers’ unlucky victims who have no chance of surviving. We follow Scudder through this twisted investigation not because we care about him, but for their sake of these women, with the hope that our detective hero can put an end to these killers’ unspeakable crimes. The film’s dreadful cast of characters give an incredibly bleak and hopeless outlook on people as a whole.
Liam Neeson gives a suitable performance as Scudder, fitting into the role of a detective quite naturally. As usual, he has a great presence and commands your attention any time he’s on screen. In A Walk Among the Tombstones, he’s not nearly the unstoppable action-hero he has been in his other recent films, but he’s still an intimidating guy you’d be wise not to mess with. He does actually have a couple tense conversations with the killers over the phone that are reminiscent of the famous scene in Taken, but certainly not as memorable.
The killers in the movie happen to be far more appalling than interesting. We don’t ever get to know much about them or their motives. They’re sick, demented people that aren’t given much more depth than being bad for the sake of being bad. However, there’s no question that they’re believably haunting and deranged. Despite their limited screen time and lack of complexity, their actors put in truly unnerving performances.
The film is well-acted throughout, with a few especially notable performances from supporting characters. Olafur Darri Olafsson is terrific as the creepy cemetery groundskeeper, and Eric Nelsen does a commendable job as the drug addict younger brother of the drug dealer who sought Scudder’s help. There’s also Brian “Astro” Bradley as a homeless teenager named TJ that Scudder befriends, who volunteers himself to be his crime-solving partner. Astro at times lightens up the moody film with his charm, and while he’s truly the only character that offers any sense of hope in the film’s gritty world, I think his character largely feels out of place as an unnecessary inclusion.
Scott Frank effectively creates a dark and sullen atmosphere in his movie that is also visually striking. He turns New York’s underbelly into a stylishly gloomy city where its seedy citizens can run rampant. He demonstrates proficiency behind the camera, building eeriness and suspense. However, he goes too far with the film’s graphic sexual content, which includes rape, torture, and mutilation. While he never gives you a very clear look at these heinous acts, he puts you right there in the moment and lets the camera linger. It’s sadistic, cruel, and very disturbing to watch. In a bizarre directorial decision, he has the 12 steps to recovery from Alcoholics Anonymous narrated over the climax of the film. Considering Scudder regularly attends AA meetings to celebrate his sobriety, I can understand why it was included, but it just doesn’t work and ends up detracting from the film’s most heightened sequences. He also disappointingly finishes the movie on a bad note with a conclusion that is drawn out far too long and which contains a weak, conventional ending that is completely forgettable.
A Walk Among the Tombstones raises more questions than it answers, but in a movie this morbid, maybe it’s best not to know. While the movie excels at being unsettling, it’s never really all that compelling. Filled with plenty of bad dialogue and characters that are hard to relate to and care about, I was yearning for this one to end so I wouldn’t have to endure any more of its vileness. Even with all the disturbing content aside, I would argue that the film is still only average at best. While I’m sure there are plenty of people with a penchant for the macabre that will enjoy the film, I am certainly not one of them and I left the theater feeling completely disturbed by what I had just watched. A Walk Among the Tombstones is a decent detective movie, but your enjoyment of the film may depend on how well you can handle its grimy setting and extreme violence. One thing that I can assure you is that I personally don’t have the stomach for it.
(This review was originally posted at 5mmg.com on 9.20.14.)
Kara Skinner (332 KP) rated The Robber Knight in Books
Sep 10, 2019
When you are fighting for the freedom of your people, falling in love with your enemy is not a great idea. Or is it? Ayla has to defend her castle and her people all on her own, with nobody to help her but a dark warrior she hates with all her heart.
Sir Reuben, the dreaded robber knight, has long been Ayla’s deadliest enemy. He has prayed on her and her people ever since her father fell ill, and she swore he would hang for his crimes. Now they are both trapped in her castle as the army of a far greater enemy approaches, and they have only one chance: stand together, or fall.
This book wasn’t bad, honestly. I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, and it had been awhile since I’ve read a medieval love story, so that was a nice change of pace.
The author is a historian, so there are a lot of little things in this book that you don’t see in a lot of other historical romance books. For instance,you can’t pull out arrows because there are often barbs attached to cause fatal wounds if pulled out. I did like learning about all of these facts. But sometimes Thier lets the historian in him gets the best of him, but more on that later.
Lady Ayla was a pretty interesting character. Headstrong and wise for her years, she is very noble and progressive. She has all of the makings for a great leader– with the exception of knowledge. I loved how kind and committed she was to her people and I love the fact that she has some spunk. I mean, if I’m getting robbed in the forest by this random stranger, then I hope I would swear him out too (of course, if I could beat him up and get away, then that’s even better, but Ayla doesn’t have much self-defense skills). But there were many times that she was annoying, like her insistence on being near battles, even before she started treating the sick. And how she tried to manage Sir Isenbard during battle. She had called on him for help because he was an experienced knight, and now she was questioning his commands and strategies in the heat of battle!
Mostly, though, I really did like Ayla. She defines the idea of nobility. With war inevitable, she’s willing to ride personally to the edges of her land to warn her subjects and she is always at the outskirts of battle to help care for the wounded. She invites everyone into the castle for their safety and rations herself as well as the others to conserve food. She’s even willing to corrupt herself to save her people.
Reuben is an excellent character as well, although it did take me awhile to like him. In the beginning he fell a little flat. It’s clear that he used to be a knight but something happened and now he robs people for his own greed. A near-death experience and being saved by Lady Ayla reawakens the humanity in him. And apparently also some depth.
In the beginning of the book he spends a lot of his time admiring his loot and laughing about his victims, who thought they had a right to steal from him. But that’s all he does. We have no real insight into his character or backstory until after he’s in Ayla’s care. Only then are there hints of a bad history where he had been arrested many times, been tortured, and had at one point been a member of respectable society. If it weren’t for the fact that I liked Ayla’a character and the plot so far, I probably would have stopped reading.
Thier is a writer who has really good potential in becoming a great romance writer, especially for historical fiction. The plots have some unique twists that are augmented by his knowledge of history and after Reuben’s character shaped up, he was an excellent love interest. But there is one huge problem with this story: the footnotes.
There are so many footnotes throughout most of the book that I feel like I’m reading a history textbook, which is not good when I usually read romance novels to take a break from homework. Not only are they distracting and unnecessary, but they are also rude and condescending. Sure, sometimes they were useful, like in explaining the references to the seven princes of hell. Another one was a pretty funny anecdote about how one of his readers had actually confirmed that lard burns and that burning arrows work because they had actually done it. There is also a lot of wit throughout the footnotes which is pretty amusing. But most of the time, they were annoying.
For instance, Robert Thier thought it was necessary to include a footnote about how witches were considered bad during medieval times. Seriously? Even if someone failed history, we know that witches are not considered fine, upstanding citizens. Or maybe he thinks all of us have been locked in our rooms with no books, internet or television for our entire lives and for the month of October we all miraculously fell into a coma so we couldn’t see the giant blow-up witch in the neighbor’s yard. And then we’d all wake up singing Christmas carols after the month long coma without a care in the world because this happens every year so we don’t know what a witch is. (I’m developing a conspiracy theory about how these strange comas was caused by witchcraft.)
Maybe Thier assumed that instead of us thinking Reuben was scared of witches when he wondered if Ayla was one, we just thought he was commenting on how much Ayla looked like Sandra Bullock.
And one of the footnotes was just plain offensive. Here is the line of text that the footnote is attached to: “Heel! Abominable villain! You dare defy me?” (page 74)
Now, here’s the footnote: “Sorry to disappoint the ladies, but this doesn’t refer to high heels. It is a medieval term for a very nasty person.”
Excuse me? Did you just assume that I thought it meant high heels and that would make me excited? What world do you live in?
Apparently he thinks “the ladies” are so dumb that we are incapable of taking context clues and we immediately think everything relates back to fashion. Maybe I didn’t know it meant “very nasty person”, but it’s pretty clear it’s a swear or insult of sometime, not a freaking Jimmy Choo. Does he just imagine us thinking high heel every time we hear the word?
“She broke his nose with the heel of her hand.” Oh. High heel!
“Heel, fido! I said heel!” Oh. High heel!
“It will take one or two days for your cut to heal.” Oh. High heel! (Because if he thinks we don’t understand the difference between uncomfortable footwear and an insult, then he probably thinks we can’t spell, either).
But hey, at least Robert Thier thinks women can memorize stuff, because the footnote links stop as the vocabulary is repeated instead of new terms being introduced.
Aside from the footnotes, I really do like this book, and I can’t wait to read the second part of it, which I’ll read soon. Thier still has a long way to go, but I think after he has more experience, he’ll write some great books.
Sir Reuben, the dreaded robber knight, has long been Ayla’s deadliest enemy. He has prayed on her and her people ever since her father fell ill, and she swore he would hang for his crimes. Now they are both trapped in her castle as the army of a far greater enemy approaches, and they have only one chance: stand together, or fall.
This book wasn’t bad, honestly. I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, and it had been awhile since I’ve read a medieval love story, so that was a nice change of pace.
The author is a historian, so there are a lot of little things in this book that you don’t see in a lot of other historical romance books. For instance,you can’t pull out arrows because there are often barbs attached to cause fatal wounds if pulled out. I did like learning about all of these facts. But sometimes Thier lets the historian in him gets the best of him, but more on that later.
Lady Ayla was a pretty interesting character. Headstrong and wise for her years, she is very noble and progressive. She has all of the makings for a great leader– with the exception of knowledge. I loved how kind and committed she was to her people and I love the fact that she has some spunk. I mean, if I’m getting robbed in the forest by this random stranger, then I hope I would swear him out too (of course, if I could beat him up and get away, then that’s even better, but Ayla doesn’t have much self-defense skills). But there were many times that she was annoying, like her insistence on being near battles, even before she started treating the sick. And how she tried to manage Sir Isenbard during battle. She had called on him for help because he was an experienced knight, and now she was questioning his commands and strategies in the heat of battle!
Mostly, though, I really did like Ayla. She defines the idea of nobility. With war inevitable, she’s willing to ride personally to the edges of her land to warn her subjects and she is always at the outskirts of battle to help care for the wounded. She invites everyone into the castle for their safety and rations herself as well as the others to conserve food. She’s even willing to corrupt herself to save her people.
Reuben is an excellent character as well, although it did take me awhile to like him. In the beginning he fell a little flat. It’s clear that he used to be a knight but something happened and now he robs people for his own greed. A near-death experience and being saved by Lady Ayla reawakens the humanity in him. And apparently also some depth.
In the beginning of the book he spends a lot of his time admiring his loot and laughing about his victims, who thought they had a right to steal from him. But that’s all he does. We have no real insight into his character or backstory until after he’s in Ayla’s care. Only then are there hints of a bad history where he had been arrested many times, been tortured, and had at one point been a member of respectable society. If it weren’t for the fact that I liked Ayla’a character and the plot so far, I probably would have stopped reading.
Thier is a writer who has really good potential in becoming a great romance writer, especially for historical fiction. The plots have some unique twists that are augmented by his knowledge of history and after Reuben’s character shaped up, he was an excellent love interest. But there is one huge problem with this story: the footnotes.
There are so many footnotes throughout most of the book that I feel like I’m reading a history textbook, which is not good when I usually read romance novels to take a break from homework. Not only are they distracting and unnecessary, but they are also rude and condescending. Sure, sometimes they were useful, like in explaining the references to the seven princes of hell. Another one was a pretty funny anecdote about how one of his readers had actually confirmed that lard burns and that burning arrows work because they had actually done it. There is also a lot of wit throughout the footnotes which is pretty amusing. But most of the time, they were annoying.
For instance, Robert Thier thought it was necessary to include a footnote about how witches were considered bad during medieval times. Seriously? Even if someone failed history, we know that witches are not considered fine, upstanding citizens. Or maybe he thinks all of us have been locked in our rooms with no books, internet or television for our entire lives and for the month of October we all miraculously fell into a coma so we couldn’t see the giant blow-up witch in the neighbor’s yard. And then we’d all wake up singing Christmas carols after the month long coma without a care in the world because this happens every year so we don’t know what a witch is. (I’m developing a conspiracy theory about how these strange comas was caused by witchcraft.)
Maybe Thier assumed that instead of us thinking Reuben was scared of witches when he wondered if Ayla was one, we just thought he was commenting on how much Ayla looked like Sandra Bullock.
And one of the footnotes was just plain offensive. Here is the line of text that the footnote is attached to: “Heel! Abominable villain! You dare defy me?” (page 74)
Now, here’s the footnote: “Sorry to disappoint the ladies, but this doesn’t refer to high heels. It is a medieval term for a very nasty person.”
Excuse me? Did you just assume that I thought it meant high heels and that would make me excited? What world do you live in?
Apparently he thinks “the ladies” are so dumb that we are incapable of taking context clues and we immediately think everything relates back to fashion. Maybe I didn’t know it meant “very nasty person”, but it’s pretty clear it’s a swear or insult of sometime, not a freaking Jimmy Choo. Does he just imagine us thinking high heel every time we hear the word?
“She broke his nose with the heel of her hand.” Oh. High heel!
“Heel, fido! I said heel!” Oh. High heel!
“It will take one or two days for your cut to heal.” Oh. High heel! (Because if he thinks we don’t understand the difference between uncomfortable footwear and an insult, then he probably thinks we can’t spell, either).
But hey, at least Robert Thier thinks women can memorize stuff, because the footnote links stop as the vocabulary is repeated instead of new terms being introduced.
Aside from the footnotes, I really do like this book, and I can’t wait to read the second part of it, which I’ll read soon. Thier still has a long way to go, but I think after he has more experience, he’ll write some great books.
It’s about 6 weeks since I finished season 3 of this incredible show from Netflix. I have been putting off writing about it, because I wanted to let it settle. And also because I have a hell of a lot to say about it. I am gonna try and be comprehensive, without giving too much away in terms of spoilers. I am going to assume you have seen some of it, or have heard the hype, at least. If you haven’t got around to it yet, then all I can say is: what are you doing with your entertainment life? Get on it, now! It is as ubiquitous as Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, or The Wire, and sits comfortably in that group for consistent quality and lasting impressions.
Season one first aired in July 2017. I heard good things very quickly, albeit with some hesitation. It was dark, sometimes literally, utilising a trademark washed-out effect visually, that instantly gave it a bleak feel, which was not to everyone’s taste, but I loved. General consensus had it that the writing was great; the situation and concept drew you in from minute one. In fact, I believe the first episode is one of the best pilots seen in the last decade, bar none. It made no bones about what we were to expect from the start: intelligent dialogue, a lot of tension and a hefty chunk of jaw-dropping brutality.
Jason Bateman has enjoyed a remarkable career in the last ten years, putting behind him a patchy child-star and B actor tag, to emerge as the go to guy for deadpan comedy pathos, rivalled only, perhaps by Paul Rudd. Ozark is Bateman’s show in many regards, fulfilling his ambition to produce and direct as well as act, and he is a superb central pivot to the show, as hard nosed accountant turned drug cartel puppet, Marty Byrde. He excels in all three roles on every level, and if you are a fan of his lighter work, chances are you will fall head over heels for his dubious charm in Ozark.
But, whilst he is the lynchpin of the show, and a compelling character in every subtley drawn way, there is so much more to the show than him. Laura Linney, as his initially timid wife, Wendy, is never less than interesting. Perfectly cast, utilising her skill for portraying strong yet flawed women at every turn; she grows into a character so full of contradictions and conflicts, that you change your mind whether you like her or not almost episode to episode. Time will tell, but she may yet emerge in season 4 as the most fully realised character in the show, depending on how her arc ends. The potential is huge, and despite a CV of solid roles over the years, this could be the defining work of her career. It’s already close.
Then there are the kids in this very modern nuclear family, Charlotte and Jonah, played by Sofia Hublitz and Skylar Gaetner. These characters could have been set decoration in lesser hands, but in this show they are given the chance to grow and become pivotal to the ongoing story in remarkable ways. There is nothing stereotypical about either of them, and the two young actors more than rise to the challenge of matching the more experienced pros. Many a show has been ruined by miscast youths that can’t match the more sophisticated adult content, but I remain impressed by these two, both as characters and actors. Again, they have the scope to go into very fascinating places within the story when season four emerges.
The true strength of the show, however, may lie in its consistently solid output of great supporting characters. Julia Gartner, as older than her years redneck with ambitions to rise above it, Ruth, has garnered all the plaudits, quite rightly. You grow to like her in usual ways. At first mistrusting her and then ended up 100% on her side. At times, she is the only one making sense and making the right decisions. The continual ways she is forced to grow up fast and bounce back from traumatic situations is so beautifully handled, that when she does show her vulnerable side it is at once shocking and heart- rending.
A lot of characters come and go; some forever, much quicker than you anticipated… for the sake of non spoilers, I won’t go into a who’s who here, but many meet a very sticky end, and it isn’t always who you think it will be. Especially by season 3, which largely drops the dark filter on the camera lens, but cranks up the body count exponentially, you start to feel that no one is safe, and anyone can go at any minute. Except, when they do, and why they do, is so well interwoven into the plot that you forget to look for the sucker punch and are still left with your jaw hitting the floor.
There were moments on season three where I was actually talking to the screen, begging certain characters not to do what they were doing; a sure sign of complete emotional investment. A big part of that was the addition of Tom Pelphrey as Wendy’s brother, who from the start puts a genius new spin on the family dynamic, becoming intertwined in interesting and ultimately devastating ways. His character takes a while to warm up, but by mid-season he is guaranteed to be your favourite person in it. And in episode 9, he delivers a monologue and a performance that I would quite honestly say is one of the absolute best things I’ve ever seen in a TV show.
I was moderately outraged then, to see he wasn’t rewarded with at least a nomination for the 2020 Emmy Awards. An oversight rather than a snub, for sure, but when Bateman, Linney and Garner all got nominated and he didn’t it felt like a real injustice, and a lot of online vitriol reflected that. Such a shame, especially if it turns out to be the best work he ever does – and I can’t imagine anything better, but who knows where he will go from here.
By the end of season 3 I felt exhausted. Each episode is slightly over an hour long, but can feel like you just watched a self contained movie. The quality certainly feels that way. I was both elated and shocked by the way it was left on a cliff edge, and relieved that I could take a break from it now. Although, waiting potentially up to two years to see how the story ends now seems like a long wait.
And it will be the end, one way or another, as the production announced season four will be the last, however stretching from 10 to 14 episodes, divided into 2 halves of 7; a trick Breaking Bad also did in its fifth and final season. I love that idea. Knowing the finish line is coming, rather than having it stretch out for years until the ideas and the momentum have long run out. Dexter springs to mind: a show that should have ended two seasons earlier, for sure.
I can really only see two ways it can go from here: either everyone dies, and that seems quite likely right now, or they win big. There simply is no inbetween I can imagine that would be satisfying. And I’m on the fence which I will prefer… The only certainty is that I will be very excited indeed when it comes around. And shows that make you feel that way are rare. In the meantime, I’m gonna watch a lot of comedies. I need a laugh after this…
Season one first aired in July 2017. I heard good things very quickly, albeit with some hesitation. It was dark, sometimes literally, utilising a trademark washed-out effect visually, that instantly gave it a bleak feel, which was not to everyone’s taste, but I loved. General consensus had it that the writing was great; the situation and concept drew you in from minute one. In fact, I believe the first episode is one of the best pilots seen in the last decade, bar none. It made no bones about what we were to expect from the start: intelligent dialogue, a lot of tension and a hefty chunk of jaw-dropping brutality.
Jason Bateman has enjoyed a remarkable career in the last ten years, putting behind him a patchy child-star and B actor tag, to emerge as the go to guy for deadpan comedy pathos, rivalled only, perhaps by Paul Rudd. Ozark is Bateman’s show in many regards, fulfilling his ambition to produce and direct as well as act, and he is a superb central pivot to the show, as hard nosed accountant turned drug cartel puppet, Marty Byrde. He excels in all three roles on every level, and if you are a fan of his lighter work, chances are you will fall head over heels for his dubious charm in Ozark.
But, whilst he is the lynchpin of the show, and a compelling character in every subtley drawn way, there is so much more to the show than him. Laura Linney, as his initially timid wife, Wendy, is never less than interesting. Perfectly cast, utilising her skill for portraying strong yet flawed women at every turn; she grows into a character so full of contradictions and conflicts, that you change your mind whether you like her or not almost episode to episode. Time will tell, but she may yet emerge in season 4 as the most fully realised character in the show, depending on how her arc ends. The potential is huge, and despite a CV of solid roles over the years, this could be the defining work of her career. It’s already close.
Then there are the kids in this very modern nuclear family, Charlotte and Jonah, played by Sofia Hublitz and Skylar Gaetner. These characters could have been set decoration in lesser hands, but in this show they are given the chance to grow and become pivotal to the ongoing story in remarkable ways. There is nothing stereotypical about either of them, and the two young actors more than rise to the challenge of matching the more experienced pros. Many a show has been ruined by miscast youths that can’t match the more sophisticated adult content, but I remain impressed by these two, both as characters and actors. Again, they have the scope to go into very fascinating places within the story when season four emerges.
The true strength of the show, however, may lie in its consistently solid output of great supporting characters. Julia Gartner, as older than her years redneck with ambitions to rise above it, Ruth, has garnered all the plaudits, quite rightly. You grow to like her in usual ways. At first mistrusting her and then ended up 100% on her side. At times, she is the only one making sense and making the right decisions. The continual ways she is forced to grow up fast and bounce back from traumatic situations is so beautifully handled, that when she does show her vulnerable side it is at once shocking and heart- rending.
A lot of characters come and go; some forever, much quicker than you anticipated… for the sake of non spoilers, I won’t go into a who’s who here, but many meet a very sticky end, and it isn’t always who you think it will be. Especially by season 3, which largely drops the dark filter on the camera lens, but cranks up the body count exponentially, you start to feel that no one is safe, and anyone can go at any minute. Except, when they do, and why they do, is so well interwoven into the plot that you forget to look for the sucker punch and are still left with your jaw hitting the floor.
There were moments on season three where I was actually talking to the screen, begging certain characters not to do what they were doing; a sure sign of complete emotional investment. A big part of that was the addition of Tom Pelphrey as Wendy’s brother, who from the start puts a genius new spin on the family dynamic, becoming intertwined in interesting and ultimately devastating ways. His character takes a while to warm up, but by mid-season he is guaranteed to be your favourite person in it. And in episode 9, he delivers a monologue and a performance that I would quite honestly say is one of the absolute best things I’ve ever seen in a TV show.
I was moderately outraged then, to see he wasn’t rewarded with at least a nomination for the 2020 Emmy Awards. An oversight rather than a snub, for sure, but when Bateman, Linney and Garner all got nominated and he didn’t it felt like a real injustice, and a lot of online vitriol reflected that. Such a shame, especially if it turns out to be the best work he ever does – and I can’t imagine anything better, but who knows where he will go from here.
By the end of season 3 I felt exhausted. Each episode is slightly over an hour long, but can feel like you just watched a self contained movie. The quality certainly feels that way. I was both elated and shocked by the way it was left on a cliff edge, and relieved that I could take a break from it now. Although, waiting potentially up to two years to see how the story ends now seems like a long wait.
And it will be the end, one way or another, as the production announced season four will be the last, however stretching from 10 to 14 episodes, divided into 2 halves of 7; a trick Breaking Bad also did in its fifth and final season. I love that idea. Knowing the finish line is coming, rather than having it stretch out for years until the ideas and the momentum have long run out. Dexter springs to mind: a show that should have ended two seasons earlier, for sure.
I can really only see two ways it can go from here: either everyone dies, and that seems quite likely right now, or they win big. There simply is no inbetween I can imagine that would be satisfying. And I’m on the fence which I will prefer… The only certainty is that I will be very excited indeed when it comes around. And shows that make you feel that way are rare. In the meantime, I’m gonna watch a lot of comedies. I need a laugh after this…