Search
Search results
Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) created a post
Apr 13, 2019
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Tides of Time in Tabletop Games
Oct 17, 2019
There are now several civilization building games out there. Many of which are very good. But how would you build your civ? Lots of sprawling castles and shows of wealth? Beautiful gardens and a tendency toward the arts? Complete militaristic and drunk with power? I like to mix it up a bit, and Tides of Time allows me to do just that – mix up your civ to create the best synergy of elements.
Tides of Time is a card drafting and set collection mini civilization building game that spans three ages (rounds). The player with the most amount of VPs at the end of the game is the winner. The VPs are scored at the end of each round and then added to arrive at the final score. You earn VPs throughout the game by having cards in your civ that feed off each other in amazing combo play.
To setup, shuffle the big civ element cards and deal each player a hand of five. Place the others nearby to draw from during the subsequent rounds. Place the “Relic of the Past” tokens nearby as well. You are ready to play.
On your turn you will draft one card from your hand, then pass to your opponent. When you select a card, play it to your tableau in front of you. Continue this simple draft until you have your Round 1 civilization cards ready to score. Each card will belong to one of five suits, with three card being unsuited, and each card having some sort of scoring ability or special ability to affect the cards in play. Example: having a majority in crown suit cards will score you 7 VP (the top leftmost card in the play pic below). Obviously if you have played this card early in the round you want to try to amass the majority of crowns for those yummy 7 VPs. This is how the card combos will generally work, with many other rules and scoring abilities to discover on your own.
At the end of Round 1 and 2 you will select one of your cards you played this round and place the “Relic of the Past” token on it. This freezes the card to your tableau to be used again in future rounds. So taking our example from before, if you chose the 7 VPs from crown majority card in Round 1, you can use it in Rounds 2 and 3 to score again should you satisfy the scoring ability. 21 VPs from one card is pretty great.
Components. This is a bunch of cards, two cardboard tokens, a score pad, and a golf pencil. The cards are great quality, and a satisfyingly large size. The tokens are good as well, and the writing supplies are good too. The artwork throughout is very very good and I enjoy studying the paintings, though they have nothing to do with game play. No complaints here at all.
I am a sucker for drafting games where you pass your hand to gain other card. Games like 7 Wonders, Among the Stars, and even Sushi Go! are really good times. When I play Tides of Time it gives me that same feeling of trying to guess your opponent’s strategy as well as fulfill your best tactics to score massive points. It is quick and light and a really great filler. There is enough variability in this one to keep me coming back for more and I definitely enjoy pulling it out giving it a run.
My only concern is that I don’t pull it off the shelf enough. It is in a weird slot of 2-player filler. When I feel like playing a great 2-player game, I will typically pull out Patchwork, 7 Wonders: Duel, or Jaipur. This really is a great game, and if you are a fan of drafting games that have you exchanging hands (as opposed to simply drafting from a face-up row or grid) then you should give this one a try. I do enjoy other games a bit more, but I am glad we have this available to us. We at Purple Phoenix Games give this one a pasted-on 8 / 12.
Tides of Time is a card drafting and set collection mini civilization building game that spans three ages (rounds). The player with the most amount of VPs at the end of the game is the winner. The VPs are scored at the end of each round and then added to arrive at the final score. You earn VPs throughout the game by having cards in your civ that feed off each other in amazing combo play.
To setup, shuffle the big civ element cards and deal each player a hand of five. Place the others nearby to draw from during the subsequent rounds. Place the “Relic of the Past” tokens nearby as well. You are ready to play.
On your turn you will draft one card from your hand, then pass to your opponent. When you select a card, play it to your tableau in front of you. Continue this simple draft until you have your Round 1 civilization cards ready to score. Each card will belong to one of five suits, with three card being unsuited, and each card having some sort of scoring ability or special ability to affect the cards in play. Example: having a majority in crown suit cards will score you 7 VP (the top leftmost card in the play pic below). Obviously if you have played this card early in the round you want to try to amass the majority of crowns for those yummy 7 VPs. This is how the card combos will generally work, with many other rules and scoring abilities to discover on your own.
At the end of Round 1 and 2 you will select one of your cards you played this round and place the “Relic of the Past” token on it. This freezes the card to your tableau to be used again in future rounds. So taking our example from before, if you chose the 7 VPs from crown majority card in Round 1, you can use it in Rounds 2 and 3 to score again should you satisfy the scoring ability. 21 VPs from one card is pretty great.
Components. This is a bunch of cards, two cardboard tokens, a score pad, and a golf pencil. The cards are great quality, and a satisfyingly large size. The tokens are good as well, and the writing supplies are good too. The artwork throughout is very very good and I enjoy studying the paintings, though they have nothing to do with game play. No complaints here at all.
I am a sucker for drafting games where you pass your hand to gain other card. Games like 7 Wonders, Among the Stars, and even Sushi Go! are really good times. When I play Tides of Time it gives me that same feeling of trying to guess your opponent’s strategy as well as fulfill your best tactics to score massive points. It is quick and light and a really great filler. There is enough variability in this one to keep me coming back for more and I definitely enjoy pulling it out giving it a run.
My only concern is that I don’t pull it off the shelf enough. It is in a weird slot of 2-player filler. When I feel like playing a great 2-player game, I will typically pull out Patchwork, 7 Wonders: Duel, or Jaipur. This really is a great game, and if you are a fan of drafting games that have you exchanging hands (as opposed to simply drafting from a face-up row or grid) then you should give this one a try. I do enjoy other games a bit more, but I am glad we have this available to us. We at Purple Phoenix Games give this one a pasted-on 8 / 12.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated 7 Wonders in Tabletop Games
Jun 12, 2019
So rarely does a game present itself that is both very difficult for highly educated people to learn the first play through, and is simultaneously easy enough to play in under 15 minutes whilst carrying on a conversation about something entirely different. Such is my love. Such is 7 Wonders.
The time has come for you to build your perfect civilization! You have plans for a glorious Wonder laid in front of you to truly emphasize your majesty. Will you be able to use your resources (and your neighbors’) wisely to construct your Wonder? Will you be able to build enough production facilities, guilds, trading facilities, temples, science, and military might to best your opponents? These are your goals as you play through 7 Wonders using a beautiful combination of card drafting, hand management, civilization building, and set collection mechanics.
DISCLAIMER: We are discussing 7 Wonders using the vanilla base game without any expansions. We have access to all expansions except the new Armada, and we will be reviewing those as well in the future, so stay tuned. -T
Okay, so like I mentioned in the intro: this game can be a bit of a bear to teach, especially if you use it as a gateway game to card drafting to newer gamers. The card drafting itself is not difficult – choose a card from the cards in your hand and then pass the rest to your neighbor. Grab the cards you received from your other neighbor and repeat the process. Drafting is easy. The hard part is deciding which of your cards will benefit you the most, and paying for the cost to build said card. I find that most players grasp the evaluating benefits and drafting, but then forget that they have to pay for the cards in order to place them on their civ. Once the payment is understood, and the combos of cards that fuel and pay for future cards, the game becomes a wonderful (eh? eh??) game of figuring out the best puzzle pieces to place in front of you.
I don’t want to explain the entire game here, so I will just tell you that 7 Wonders has been an evergreen game for me. I love it every single time it comes out, even if others in my group are less affectionate. When playing with players who get it and love it, the game can be an easy 13-15 minute exercise in VP optimization. When playing with newbies, though, there are lots of concepts to internalize and remember, and lots of nuances that may be missed when trying to remember aforementioned concepts. So, my recommendation is this: if you do not already own this game, buy it now. I feel it is a must to have in any collection, and it is a great starting point to other games.
Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a 21 / 24 because Bryan hates it.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/01/07/7-wonders-review/
The time has come for you to build your perfect civilization! You have plans for a glorious Wonder laid in front of you to truly emphasize your majesty. Will you be able to use your resources (and your neighbors’) wisely to construct your Wonder? Will you be able to build enough production facilities, guilds, trading facilities, temples, science, and military might to best your opponents? These are your goals as you play through 7 Wonders using a beautiful combination of card drafting, hand management, civilization building, and set collection mechanics.
DISCLAIMER: We are discussing 7 Wonders using the vanilla base game without any expansions. We have access to all expansions except the new Armada, and we will be reviewing those as well in the future, so stay tuned. -T
Okay, so like I mentioned in the intro: this game can be a bit of a bear to teach, especially if you use it as a gateway game to card drafting to newer gamers. The card drafting itself is not difficult – choose a card from the cards in your hand and then pass the rest to your neighbor. Grab the cards you received from your other neighbor and repeat the process. Drafting is easy. The hard part is deciding which of your cards will benefit you the most, and paying for the cost to build said card. I find that most players grasp the evaluating benefits and drafting, but then forget that they have to pay for the cards in order to place them on their civ. Once the payment is understood, and the combos of cards that fuel and pay for future cards, the game becomes a wonderful (eh? eh??) game of figuring out the best puzzle pieces to place in front of you.
I don’t want to explain the entire game here, so I will just tell you that 7 Wonders has been an evergreen game for me. I love it every single time it comes out, even if others in my group are less affectionate. When playing with players who get it and love it, the game can be an easy 13-15 minute exercise in VP optimization. When playing with newbies, though, there are lots of concepts to internalize and remember, and lots of nuances that may be missed when trying to remember aforementioned concepts. So, my recommendation is this: if you do not already own this game, buy it now. I feel it is a must to have in any collection, and it is a great starting point to other games.
Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a 21 / 24 because Bryan hates it.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/01/07/7-wonders-review/
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated If You Find Me in Books
Jun 6, 2018
(This review can be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.com/">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).
I read about this book from a blog, and I was intrigued. I knew this was one book I had to read. When I found out I had won a copy through a blog competition, I was thrilled! Luckily, I wasn't disappointed with If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch. I absolutely loved the plot twists!!
Carey is a fifteen year old girl who lives in the middle of the woods. Her mother is a meth addict, so she's left Carey alone to fend for herself and to take care of her 6 year old sister Janessa. When Carey and her sister are taken from all they've ever known and thrust into "normal" life, Carey doesn't know if she'll be able to cope. However, the "normal" world will make her question everything she's ever known especially when it comes to her mother.
I just want to say that the title of this book is actually mentioned in the book! Aside from that, the title does suit the book very well. Carey seems lost all throughout the book so the title fits with the theme.
I like the cover for the most part although I would've preferred to see maybe a dirty Carey instead of a normal looking teenage girl. I do enjoy the woods in the background especially since that's where Carey was raised.
As for the world building, I think it was good, but it could've been more believable. The way Carey spoke was a little too polished for what I would imagine a girl who grew up away from civilization to speak. I know that it mentions how Carey taught her and her sister to read and such from books her mother brought home, but still. I also thought Carey started speaking "normally" all too soon. Perhaps that's just me since I've never grown up away from civilization.
The pacing was great in If You find Me. It did start off a bit slow, and I was wondering if I was just in for one big disappointment. I was lucky because the pacing picked up within the next couple of chapters, and I was in for one smooth ride. I couldn't put the book down after that.
The characters were very well developed, and I found myself relating to all of them as best as my experience would let me. I loved Carey and how strong she was after how much she had endured. I thought Janessa was just the sweetest little girl. I could feel how much she loved Carey and how much Carey loved her. Delaney was written as a great mean girl. I found myself wanting to slap her so many times throughout the book!! Ryan was adorable, and I loved how he treated Carey. My favorite character though was Pixie. She was the best friend I wished I had. I absolutely loved her dress sense as well!
As for the dialogue, I loved Carey's internal monologue the most. I loved reading about what she thought and felt about everything. The way the characters interacted with each other was never awkward at all. The whole dialogue ran smoothly. I don't really remember any swearing in this book either.
The only disappointing thing I found was the ending. It left me wanting to know what ever became of Carey after the big reveal. I don't want to go into details due to spoilers, but if you read it, you'll know what I mean.
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch is an easy and enjoyable read that will leave readers thinking about it long after they've finished reading it. It is a very thought provoking piece of literature.
I'd recommend this book to everyone aged 13+ who wants to read something stimulating!
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch gets a 4.5 out of 5.
I read about this book from a blog, and I was intrigued. I knew this was one book I had to read. When I found out I had won a copy through a blog competition, I was thrilled! Luckily, I wasn't disappointed with If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch. I absolutely loved the plot twists!!
Carey is a fifteen year old girl who lives in the middle of the woods. Her mother is a meth addict, so she's left Carey alone to fend for herself and to take care of her 6 year old sister Janessa. When Carey and her sister are taken from all they've ever known and thrust into "normal" life, Carey doesn't know if she'll be able to cope. However, the "normal" world will make her question everything she's ever known especially when it comes to her mother.
I just want to say that the title of this book is actually mentioned in the book! Aside from that, the title does suit the book very well. Carey seems lost all throughout the book so the title fits with the theme.
I like the cover for the most part although I would've preferred to see maybe a dirty Carey instead of a normal looking teenage girl. I do enjoy the woods in the background especially since that's where Carey was raised.
As for the world building, I think it was good, but it could've been more believable. The way Carey spoke was a little too polished for what I would imagine a girl who grew up away from civilization to speak. I know that it mentions how Carey taught her and her sister to read and such from books her mother brought home, but still. I also thought Carey started speaking "normally" all too soon. Perhaps that's just me since I've never grown up away from civilization.
The pacing was great in If You find Me. It did start off a bit slow, and I was wondering if I was just in for one big disappointment. I was lucky because the pacing picked up within the next couple of chapters, and I was in for one smooth ride. I couldn't put the book down after that.
The characters were very well developed, and I found myself relating to all of them as best as my experience would let me. I loved Carey and how strong she was after how much she had endured. I thought Janessa was just the sweetest little girl. I could feel how much she loved Carey and how much Carey loved her. Delaney was written as a great mean girl. I found myself wanting to slap her so many times throughout the book!! Ryan was adorable, and I loved how he treated Carey. My favorite character though was Pixie. She was the best friend I wished I had. I absolutely loved her dress sense as well!
As for the dialogue, I loved Carey's internal monologue the most. I loved reading about what she thought and felt about everything. The way the characters interacted with each other was never awkward at all. The whole dialogue ran smoothly. I don't really remember any swearing in this book either.
The only disappointing thing I found was the ending. It left me wanting to know what ever became of Carey after the big reveal. I don't want to go into details due to spoilers, but if you read it, you'll know what I mean.
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch is an easy and enjoyable read that will leave readers thinking about it long after they've finished reading it. It is a very thought provoking piece of literature.
I'd recommend this book to everyone aged 13+ who wants to read something stimulating!
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch gets a 4.5 out of 5.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated It's a Wonderful World in Tabletop Games
Oct 30, 2021
When choosing board games to either play or purchase, how much importance should one put on box cover art? It is important to ME, but I lump that all in with the components and art/art style of the whole package. Why do I bring this up in the intro today? Well, I have to admit that I had really not had any interest in checking out It’s a Wonderful World until now because I judged the game by its cover, and the cover art told my brain that this would be some type of wargame. I am not entirely sure how I connected the two, but I did, and it turned me off right away. But! I was able to get this played at a local board game lounge, and boy was I wrong.
It’s a Wonderful World is a card drafting, economic, civilization building game with variable player powers (with a dash of campaign mode sprinkled on top). In it, players are attempting to build their civilization faster and better than their competitors. However, for this review, I will be playing the vanilla non-scenario solo mode.
DISCLAIMER: I was able to play this and several other games at The Table in Cookeville, TN. If you are ever in the neighborhood, check them out, and tell Nathaniel that I say hello.
To setup, put together the main board and place the round marker on Round 1. Lay out all the resources on their specific places upon the board and shuffle the deck of cards. Deal out eight stacks of five cards each and place them as mini-decks somewhere on the table. Choose a starting civilization (or just randomly choose one). The solo game is ready to play!
Typically, It’s a Wonderful World is a card drafting game, a la 7 Wonders, where players choose one card from the deck passed to them and pass it along to the next player until all cards have been drafted. In the solo mode, however, the player chooses one of the face-down mini-decks as their starting hand. Upon viewing the cards, the player may choose to place any or all of them in their Construction Area, or discard the cards for their Recycle Bonus (typically a type of resource), and/or discard two card from the mini-deck to draw five cards from the top of the main deck. From these drawn cards, the player may choose one to keep and discard all others. The kept card may be placed into the Construction Area or discarded for its Recycle Bonus resource.
Cards placed in the Construction Area require resources to be earned and placed on them in order to complete its build process. Each round the player will receive resources based on which cards have been built and placed above their starting civ card. Some cards, once completely built, will also offer more VP at game end, or supply a VP modifier.
After the first mini-deck has been played completely, the player will choose a second mini-deck and run through the same process. After this second mini-deck has been completed the round ends and play moves to the next round. Play continues in this fashion until all four rounds have been played (so all eight mini-decks). At game end the player counts up all their VP and compares it to the table in the rulebook to arrive at their final tier. My first game resulted in the rulebook calling me a Rooky. So be prepared to be humiliated by a rulebook.
Components. Aside from being bamboozled by the aggressive artwork on the cover, this is not a wargame. In fact, I very much like the artwork and the styling of this game. The cards are all laid out very well, and the iconography makes sense. The resource cubes are translucent colored (except the grayish white is opaque) and are fine quality. Overall the components are great and the art style has grown on me quite a bit.
I can see why so many people compare this to 7 Wonders. Essentially, the multiplayer game is quite similar. Card drafts (of 7 cards, no less) lead to needing resources in order to build, lead to being able to produce more resources to fuel other cards, and bonus points are awarded for having a nice card profile. Now, this being a solo review, I have to say that I much prefer It’s a Wonderful World to its forefather 7 Wonders because it comes packaged with a solo mode already in the box. This isn’t the only reason I prefer it, though. I find it easier to pick up and easier to teach to beginning gamers. Also, there is no card chaining, which seems to be a difficult concept for newer gamers to grasp initially. It’s a Wonderful World has nothing like this, and cards just work. 7 Wonders has been such a hit with my family, and I know they will greatly appreciate a more streamlined game experience with this one.
So here’s my recommendation with this one. If you are a fan of 7 Wonders but find it to be difficult to get others into it, check out It’s a Wonderful World. I feel that it is superior in many ways, and the solo mode is just icing. The solo mode gives me a great play experience, even though I typically am not a fan of games challenging you to beat your own high score. I will live with it here because the game is just so enjoyable. While 7 Wonders was my favorite game of all time for quite a while, it has since dropped out of my Top 10, and I think will be replaced entirely by It’s a Wonderful World. If your tastes are similar to mine, then do yourself a big favor and grab a copy of this one right away. It has several expansions out there, and I believe you will fall in love with drafting again. Now, where did I put my Wind Turbines…
It’s a Wonderful World is a card drafting, economic, civilization building game with variable player powers (with a dash of campaign mode sprinkled on top). In it, players are attempting to build their civilization faster and better than their competitors. However, for this review, I will be playing the vanilla non-scenario solo mode.
DISCLAIMER: I was able to play this and several other games at The Table in Cookeville, TN. If you are ever in the neighborhood, check them out, and tell Nathaniel that I say hello.
To setup, put together the main board and place the round marker on Round 1. Lay out all the resources on their specific places upon the board and shuffle the deck of cards. Deal out eight stacks of five cards each and place them as mini-decks somewhere on the table. Choose a starting civilization (or just randomly choose one). The solo game is ready to play!
Typically, It’s a Wonderful World is a card drafting game, a la 7 Wonders, where players choose one card from the deck passed to them and pass it along to the next player until all cards have been drafted. In the solo mode, however, the player chooses one of the face-down mini-decks as their starting hand. Upon viewing the cards, the player may choose to place any or all of them in their Construction Area, or discard the cards for their Recycle Bonus (typically a type of resource), and/or discard two card from the mini-deck to draw five cards from the top of the main deck. From these drawn cards, the player may choose one to keep and discard all others. The kept card may be placed into the Construction Area or discarded for its Recycle Bonus resource.
Cards placed in the Construction Area require resources to be earned and placed on them in order to complete its build process. Each round the player will receive resources based on which cards have been built and placed above their starting civ card. Some cards, once completely built, will also offer more VP at game end, or supply a VP modifier.
After the first mini-deck has been played completely, the player will choose a second mini-deck and run through the same process. After this second mini-deck has been completed the round ends and play moves to the next round. Play continues in this fashion until all four rounds have been played (so all eight mini-decks). At game end the player counts up all their VP and compares it to the table in the rulebook to arrive at their final tier. My first game resulted in the rulebook calling me a Rooky. So be prepared to be humiliated by a rulebook.
Components. Aside from being bamboozled by the aggressive artwork on the cover, this is not a wargame. In fact, I very much like the artwork and the styling of this game. The cards are all laid out very well, and the iconography makes sense. The resource cubes are translucent colored (except the grayish white is opaque) and are fine quality. Overall the components are great and the art style has grown on me quite a bit.
I can see why so many people compare this to 7 Wonders. Essentially, the multiplayer game is quite similar. Card drafts (of 7 cards, no less) lead to needing resources in order to build, lead to being able to produce more resources to fuel other cards, and bonus points are awarded for having a nice card profile. Now, this being a solo review, I have to say that I much prefer It’s a Wonderful World to its forefather 7 Wonders because it comes packaged with a solo mode already in the box. This isn’t the only reason I prefer it, though. I find it easier to pick up and easier to teach to beginning gamers. Also, there is no card chaining, which seems to be a difficult concept for newer gamers to grasp initially. It’s a Wonderful World has nothing like this, and cards just work. 7 Wonders has been such a hit with my family, and I know they will greatly appreciate a more streamlined game experience with this one.
So here’s my recommendation with this one. If you are a fan of 7 Wonders but find it to be difficult to get others into it, check out It’s a Wonderful World. I feel that it is superior in many ways, and the solo mode is just icing. The solo mode gives me a great play experience, even though I typically am not a fan of games challenging you to beat your own high score. I will live with it here because the game is just so enjoyable. While 7 Wonders was my favorite game of all time for quite a while, it has since dropped out of my Top 10, and I think will be replaced entirely by It’s a Wonderful World. If your tastes are similar to mine, then do yourself a big favor and grab a copy of this one right away. It has several expansions out there, and I believe you will fall in love with drafting again. Now, where did I put my Wind Turbines…
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Nations: The Dice Game in Tabletop Games
Aug 16, 2019 (Updated Jul 17, 2021)
If you have been around board games over the past several years you will notice trends here and there. Some games came out with smaller, easier to digest, versions of themselves as card games, or roll-and-writes, or in this case: dice games. The goal is to get the same kind of feeling and experience as playing the older sibling in a much smaller and time-friendly spin-off. I have played Nations (the original big game) before, but does Nations: The Dice Game give a similar feel?
Nations: The Dice Game (can I please just call it Nations for this review as we know I am not talking about the original? Thanks.) is a civilization building, upgrade tile drafting, dice game for one to four players. Players will be upgrading their civilizations over four game rounds to compete for Books and VPs. The player with the most VP at the end of the game is the winner.
Disclaimer: The photos shown here is for a solo game, as I took them during my learning game using the solo rules. Normally the purple d4 is not used in multiplayer games. -T
To setup, each player will choose a starter civilization mat, receive five white dice, a gold chit, and a re-roll chit. Player order will be determined by cards and each player will receive their player order card which doubles as a reference card (great idea). The Progress Board will be set on the table and populated with randomized Age I Progress tiles according to the rule book. The Score Board will also be placed on the table to track Books, Events, and final VPs. The game begins with each player rolling their five dice.
Nations (TDG) is played over four ages with multiple rounds per age. At the beginning of each age old tiles will be removed from the Progress Board and new ones for the current age added. Also an Event tile will be drawn and placed on the Score Board to signify goals for Famine and War at the end of the age. On a player’s turn they will take one action from the following: Re-Roll (any or all unused dice by spending a re-roll chit), Buy tile (from the Progress Board to upgrade player mat spaces and dice), or Build Wonder (tile using Stone dice or chits for VP). When a player has taken as many turns/actions they wish for the age, they turn their player order card to the side to indicate they have passed for the remainder of the age.
Once all players have passed, they will tally their unused dice and any chits showing Books to be recorded on the Book track. Players will score points for Books based on how many opponents they have outscored for Books. Then players will consult the face-up Event tile that was revealed at the beginning of the round. The top portion displays VP earned when players discard unused dice and chits showing Famine leaf icons matching or exceeding what is on the Event tile. Similarly, for War players will consult the Event tile and use the sword icons on unused dice and chits to score any VPs for War. Play continues in this way across all four ages and once the fourth age has been scored the game ends and winner named victorious!
Components. I have mostly good news here. The dice in this dice game are wonderful. They are all easy to read and understand, and feel great when rolling nine or ten of them at once. The chits are fine, the Progress and Event tiles are nice and thick. The player mats, Score Board, and Progress Board are very thin though. I was going to give that a negative remark, but you know, players don’t really handle them during the game so there is no real need for them to be any thicker. The art is similar as in Nations, and while it does not resonate with me, it is fine. I won’t be playing Nations for the art.
All in all the game is fine. It didn’t blow me away or completely replace Nations (the big game) for me. It IS a pretty quick game to play, so there is one definite improvement over the big brother game; 10-15 minutes per player is pretty spot on. I usually do not prefer dice games to the originals (BANG! The Dice Game being the obvious improvement), and this one is really just on par with the big game. While it takes up less space on the shelf, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it over its sibling. I feel the same way about each game, so my recommendation is get the version you feel would be played more often. Purple Phoenix Games gives Nations: The Dice Game a Montezuma-should-be-in-Age-IV 6 / 12. Give it a shot if you are into dice games, but grab the original if you want something meatier.
Nations: The Dice Game (can I please just call it Nations for this review as we know I am not talking about the original? Thanks.) is a civilization building, upgrade tile drafting, dice game for one to four players. Players will be upgrading their civilizations over four game rounds to compete for Books and VPs. The player with the most VP at the end of the game is the winner.
Disclaimer: The photos shown here is for a solo game, as I took them during my learning game using the solo rules. Normally the purple d4 is not used in multiplayer games. -T
To setup, each player will choose a starter civilization mat, receive five white dice, a gold chit, and a re-roll chit. Player order will be determined by cards and each player will receive their player order card which doubles as a reference card (great idea). The Progress Board will be set on the table and populated with randomized Age I Progress tiles according to the rule book. The Score Board will also be placed on the table to track Books, Events, and final VPs. The game begins with each player rolling their five dice.
Nations (TDG) is played over four ages with multiple rounds per age. At the beginning of each age old tiles will be removed from the Progress Board and new ones for the current age added. Also an Event tile will be drawn and placed on the Score Board to signify goals for Famine and War at the end of the age. On a player’s turn they will take one action from the following: Re-Roll (any or all unused dice by spending a re-roll chit), Buy tile (from the Progress Board to upgrade player mat spaces and dice), or Build Wonder (tile using Stone dice or chits for VP). When a player has taken as many turns/actions they wish for the age, they turn their player order card to the side to indicate they have passed for the remainder of the age.
Once all players have passed, they will tally their unused dice and any chits showing Books to be recorded on the Book track. Players will score points for Books based on how many opponents they have outscored for Books. Then players will consult the face-up Event tile that was revealed at the beginning of the round. The top portion displays VP earned when players discard unused dice and chits showing Famine leaf icons matching or exceeding what is on the Event tile. Similarly, for War players will consult the Event tile and use the sword icons on unused dice and chits to score any VPs for War. Play continues in this way across all four ages and once the fourth age has been scored the game ends and winner named victorious!
Components. I have mostly good news here. The dice in this dice game are wonderful. They are all easy to read and understand, and feel great when rolling nine or ten of them at once. The chits are fine, the Progress and Event tiles are nice and thick. The player mats, Score Board, and Progress Board are very thin though. I was going to give that a negative remark, but you know, players don’t really handle them during the game so there is no real need for them to be any thicker. The art is similar as in Nations, and while it does not resonate with me, it is fine. I won’t be playing Nations for the art.
All in all the game is fine. It didn’t blow me away or completely replace Nations (the big game) for me. It IS a pretty quick game to play, so there is one definite improvement over the big brother game; 10-15 minutes per player is pretty spot on. I usually do not prefer dice games to the originals (BANG! The Dice Game being the obvious improvement), and this one is really just on par with the big game. While it takes up less space on the shelf, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it over its sibling. I feel the same way about each game, so my recommendation is get the version you feel would be played more often. Purple Phoenix Games gives Nations: The Dice Game a Montezuma-should-be-in-Age-IV 6 / 12. Give it a shot if you are into dice games, but grab the original if you want something meatier.
Literally.Laura (1763 KP) rated the Xbox One version of No Man's Sky in Video Games
Oct 25, 2018
The game stated off simple enough, you find yourself crash landed on some foreign planet. The planet that I had the misfortune of landing on (not sure if it’s the same for every person) was an ungodly hot hell-hole filled with rabid, attacking plants and sparse resources. My initial introduction to the game seemed to be a little lackluster. I felt like I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do, as well as I wasn’t sure how any of the controls worked. After some time, I started to get the hang of how to move around and how to interact with the environment. Figuring out how to using the “mining pistol” to harvest resources was quite the revelation. After some time I came across my crash-landed spaceship. It was not in working order whatsoever. The game wanted me to fix said ship using a variety of different resources and pieces of technology to be crafted. I found the interfaces to accomplish this goal were a little vague and complicated. Unable to find the needed resources nearby, I set off on a little adventure. One glaring feature I noticed in the game was there was a resource drain on your “shielding” from environmental effects. My 60-degree Celsius planet played havoc upon this shielding, which required me to continually recharge it. I was not a fan of this. It seemed too often that my shields would be next to zero soon after I charged them. I imagine the searing heat might have had something to do with that, perhaps if I had landed on a tropical beach planet that wouldn’t have been much of an issue. Anyways, I meander along looking for my needed resources. True to my wonderful luck so far, I lose track of where home base was. Completely off track. I wander and wander in the hopes that I can find my way back. Through this struggle, I realize that I have the ability to harness my inner Neanderthal and am able to punch the local flora to death. This saved me considerable energy charges for my mining pistol. I forgot to mention everything I use has a drain, from the mining pistol, to my health, to the shielding from the environment. So continually you must fill these items up with different elemental resources you harvest from the planet (carbon, oxygen, etc etc). Beating all the plants and rocks to death proved useful, I was able to collect a large number of resources to help myself survive having no shelter whatsoever. Through my travels I encounter my first visit from the local fauna. They appeared to be goat-like creatures that dug their way out of the ground and wandered about. I was able to feed them carbon-based foods, to which they all started to crowd around me and beg for more. Luckily my jet pack allowed me to make a quick escape. After what seemed like an eternity of moving in the same direction (hoping the world was small enough to make this work), I fell into a hole. Inside the hole was a large cavern which I was eager to explore. There were many different resources that I had not come across yet, and thankfully there weren’t any angry plants or goats there to attack me. I travelled all the way to the end of the cave, hoping to find a civilization or something interesting. As I neared the end I was greeted by a giant wall of rock with nothing to offer, so I angrily turned back around and flew out of the cave. Crossing a few more mountain tops, finally I saw something of interest! There were four mechanical looking storage containers with some lights surrounding them. I took it upon myself to investigate. There didn’t seem to be any signs of life around the containers, so I figured there could only be one solution. I started to punch the containers down to collect whatever they were hiding. After the first container went down, alarms started to go off and the game told me I alerted “sentinels”. Not knowing what this meant, I saw a dog-looking robot approach and subsequently started lasering me to death. Apparently, those containers weren’t meant for sharing. Anyways, I ran off barely escaping with my life. In hindsight I wonder if death would have been an easier way to return to my poor, broken ship. I finally figured out how to seek out distress signals (which my ship had one), so my screen was marked with a true destination. Shortly after learning of this, the world decided to start up a fire storm which made the temperature jump up to 100-degrees Celsius. Needless to say, I was completely prepared and didn’t almost die on the way over to the distress signal. After finally finding my way to salvation I realized that the distress signal I followed wasn’t actually my ship, but some random, broken down building. I am a poor navigator.
Overall, I would rate this game a 7/10 so far. There are many features that I have not obtained access to yet, I imagine with upgrades and new resources my sad, sad, plight would be a little easier to manage. The visuals are beautiful, and from what I’ve read so far, there are many different worlds you can visit. Would not recommend the one I landed on.
Overall, I would rate this game a 7/10 so far. There are many features that I have not obtained access to yet, I imagine with upgrades and new resources my sad, sad, plight would be a little easier to manage. The visuals are beautiful, and from what I’ve read so far, there are many different worlds you can visit. Would not recommend the one I landed on.
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Made In Abyss in TV
Mar 3, 2021 (Updated Mar 27, 2021)
Animation, this anime is beautifully drawn (2 more)
Soundtrack, the musical score adds much to the ambiance of the world
The characters, great character design and character development
I wish it was more than 13 episodes (1 more)
The cute characters design fools you into thinking nothing bad can happen in this show
A Beautifully Frightening Journey That's Emotionally Gripping
(CCR Original Content) Made In Abyss Review [Spoiler Free Review and Spoiler Section below picture] (9/10)
Made In Abyss is a Japanese dark fantasy/adventure/sci-fi anime series adapted by Kinema Citrus from the manga written and illustrated by Akihito Tsukushi. It was directed by Masayuki Kojima and written by Hideyuki Kurata with character designs by Kazuchika Kise and animation by studio Kinema Citrus. Kevin Penkin composed the soundtrack and the anime originally aired from July 7 to September 29, 2017. The series was licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America.
The Abyss, a huge gaping chasm stretching down into the depths of the earth, filled with mysterious creatures and relics from a time long past raises countless questions. How did it come to be? What lies at the bottom? Countless brave individuals, known as "Delvers", have sought to solve these mysteries, fearlessly descending into its darkest realms. An orphaned young girl, Riko, and a humanoid robot, Reg begin their adventure to descend into the titular "Abyss", that leads deep into the Earth, in hopes of finding her mother.
This show is definitely going to be on my list as one of the best anime of all time. The animation is beautiful and the character designs were definitely misleading or deceptive in how cute and "chibi"-ish they look in comparison to how the story or plot goes. This was definitely a tear jerker in my opinion and such a great show. I personally haven't seen any of the movies that came after it but I hear that two (Made in Abyss: Journey's Dawn & Made In Abyss: Wandering Twilight) are actually just re-caps of the series and the third Made In Abyss: Dawn of The Deep Soul is actually something different. Not sure if it's a prequel or sequel because I didn't want to read any spoilers before watching it. As I was saying before, not to hype it up to much but this was definitely a great anime from the animation to the soundtrack to the concept and plot. I really liked the characters too. Riko is so smart and determined and Reg has the whole "born yesterday" thing going on with amnesia which is a little "cliché" but he still comes out being a pretty cool character too. The anime has a lot of beautiful and unique scenery and landscapes and it really feels like you go with them on the journey which only heightens the ups and downs of the adventure with gets surprisingly dark for how cheery it seems from a lot of the pictures I've seen of it. I would get into more details but I don't want to spoil anything, definitely gave me some Studio Ghibli vibes and I can't recommend it enough for people who like anime like Princess Mononoke and Madoka Magica. I give it a solid 9 which isn't a first for me but I usually don't give anything higher than a 8 and I'm sure there's things that you can find wrong with it but for me it was the whole experience from beginning to end that really sealed it for me.
-------------------------------------------------------
Spoiler Review Section:
(I actually didn't spoil anything because I didn't want to ruin for anyone because I thought this anime was so good.)
This was such a great anime and I had a really great time watching it with my brother who showed it to me. It has beautiful animation and the musical score really adds to the ambience and the awesome world building they did when they made this anime. So the whole thing with this anime is the people in it live in a town called Orth that exists on this island around a giant pit in the ground and when I say giant I mean gigantic. This pit is not only huge in circumference but is also very deep something like 12,000 meters or around 40,000 feet which would make it deeper than the Mariana Trench. In this world there are explorers who go down into the Abyss to explore it's many mysteries and also to bring back ancient relics of a long lost civilization. These relics are worth money and the orphans that are the main characters in this anime do this kind of like a job while they live at the orphanage called Belchero Orphanage in the town of Orth. People that explore into the Abyss are called Cave-Raiders or Delvers and they have a lot to deal with beside the dangerous creatures and the arduous descent, there is also the "curse of the Abyss" which gets worse the deeper you go. It's a very mysterious and potentially deadly side-effect of having ventured into the Abyss and because of it there are very few people who have gone down into the lower depths and returned. The only way I can explain it is that it's similar to deep underwater diving and how if you don't decompress it can damage your lungs and kill you. There's also a class system put in place that classifies the different cave-raiders by experience or capability and it uses different colored whistles to differentiate them. White whistles are of the highest rank and considered legendary delvers who are also given a title. The main character is name Riko, she is a small 12-year old girl whose blonde with glasses and her mother is a legendary White Whistle named "Lyza, the Annihilator". Riko is obsessed with exploring the Abyss and has plans to reach the bottom and see her mother who never returned. The other main character is Reg, who is a robot or cyborg and like I mentioned earlier has amnesia and no memories of anything before being found by Riko. This anime may seem pretty "chibi" and innocent but believe me their journey isn't for the feint of heart and so much happens in such a short amount of time over the 13 episodes. That being said you definitely need to give this anime a chance, it has beautiful animation, a great soundtrack or musical score and a gripping plot that advances the characters through obstacles and dangers the further they go into the Abyss. This anime gets my "Must See Seal of Approval" and I give it a 9. I really can't wait to see what they have in store for the other movie that I still haven't seen yet but you can bet I'll be putting a review for that too.
https://youtu.be/om6HVFxmr_s
Made In Abyss is a Japanese dark fantasy/adventure/sci-fi anime series adapted by Kinema Citrus from the manga written and illustrated by Akihito Tsukushi. It was directed by Masayuki Kojima and written by Hideyuki Kurata with character designs by Kazuchika Kise and animation by studio Kinema Citrus. Kevin Penkin composed the soundtrack and the anime originally aired from July 7 to September 29, 2017. The series was licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America.
The Abyss, a huge gaping chasm stretching down into the depths of the earth, filled with mysterious creatures and relics from a time long past raises countless questions. How did it come to be? What lies at the bottom? Countless brave individuals, known as "Delvers", have sought to solve these mysteries, fearlessly descending into its darkest realms. An orphaned young girl, Riko, and a humanoid robot, Reg begin their adventure to descend into the titular "Abyss", that leads deep into the Earth, in hopes of finding her mother.
This show is definitely going to be on my list as one of the best anime of all time. The animation is beautiful and the character designs were definitely misleading or deceptive in how cute and "chibi"-ish they look in comparison to how the story or plot goes. This was definitely a tear jerker in my opinion and such a great show. I personally haven't seen any of the movies that came after it but I hear that two (Made in Abyss: Journey's Dawn & Made In Abyss: Wandering Twilight) are actually just re-caps of the series and the third Made In Abyss: Dawn of The Deep Soul is actually something different. Not sure if it's a prequel or sequel because I didn't want to read any spoilers before watching it. As I was saying before, not to hype it up to much but this was definitely a great anime from the animation to the soundtrack to the concept and plot. I really liked the characters too. Riko is so smart and determined and Reg has the whole "born yesterday" thing going on with amnesia which is a little "cliché" but he still comes out being a pretty cool character too. The anime has a lot of beautiful and unique scenery and landscapes and it really feels like you go with them on the journey which only heightens the ups and downs of the adventure with gets surprisingly dark for how cheery it seems from a lot of the pictures I've seen of it. I would get into more details but I don't want to spoil anything, definitely gave me some Studio Ghibli vibes and I can't recommend it enough for people who like anime like Princess Mononoke and Madoka Magica. I give it a solid 9 which isn't a first for me but I usually don't give anything higher than a 8 and I'm sure there's things that you can find wrong with it but for me it was the whole experience from beginning to end that really sealed it for me.
-------------------------------------------------------
Spoiler Review Section:
(I actually didn't spoil anything because I didn't want to ruin for anyone because I thought this anime was so good.)
This was such a great anime and I had a really great time watching it with my brother who showed it to me. It has beautiful animation and the musical score really adds to the ambience and the awesome world building they did when they made this anime. So the whole thing with this anime is the people in it live in a town called Orth that exists on this island around a giant pit in the ground and when I say giant I mean gigantic. This pit is not only huge in circumference but is also very deep something like 12,000 meters or around 40,000 feet which would make it deeper than the Mariana Trench. In this world there are explorers who go down into the Abyss to explore it's many mysteries and also to bring back ancient relics of a long lost civilization. These relics are worth money and the orphans that are the main characters in this anime do this kind of like a job while they live at the orphanage called Belchero Orphanage in the town of Orth. People that explore into the Abyss are called Cave-Raiders or Delvers and they have a lot to deal with beside the dangerous creatures and the arduous descent, there is also the "curse of the Abyss" which gets worse the deeper you go. It's a very mysterious and potentially deadly side-effect of having ventured into the Abyss and because of it there are very few people who have gone down into the lower depths and returned. The only way I can explain it is that it's similar to deep underwater diving and how if you don't decompress it can damage your lungs and kill you. There's also a class system put in place that classifies the different cave-raiders by experience or capability and it uses different colored whistles to differentiate them. White whistles are of the highest rank and considered legendary delvers who are also given a title. The main character is name Riko, she is a small 12-year old girl whose blonde with glasses and her mother is a legendary White Whistle named "Lyza, the Annihilator". Riko is obsessed with exploring the Abyss and has plans to reach the bottom and see her mother who never returned. The other main character is Reg, who is a robot or cyborg and like I mentioned earlier has amnesia and no memories of anything before being found by Riko. This anime may seem pretty "chibi" and innocent but believe me their journey isn't for the feint of heart and so much happens in such a short amount of time over the 13 episodes. That being said you definitely need to give this anime a chance, it has beautiful animation, a great soundtrack or musical score and a gripping plot that advances the characters through obstacles and dangers the further they go into the Abyss. This anime gets my "Must See Seal of Approval" and I give it a 9. I really can't wait to see what they have in store for the other movie that I still haven't seen yet but you can bet I'll be putting a review for that too.
https://youtu.be/om6HVFxmr_s
Awix (3310 KP) Apr 14, 2019
The Marinated Meeple (1848 KP) Apr 15, 2019