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Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Katana (Katana, #1) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
Original Review posted on <a title="Katana by Cole Gibsen" href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2013/10/review-katana-by-cole-gibsen.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<i><b>Note:</b> Formatting is lost due to copy and paste</i>
Anyone who's seen me at book club would probably know that I was practically bouncing off the library walls when I found out Katana by Cole Gibsen was the next book we were going to read.
I apologize if I looked like a hyperactive bookworm that day and looked like a chipmunk chittering away. Or maybe a squirrel starving for acorns (oops for any cuteness overload).
<i><b>Reviewer's Note:</b> removed pictures. You'll have to see the review on the blog for the pictures...</i>
But here are a few interesting things about Katana:
It's set in St. Louis I love you New York, but I've never visited you or even live there, so... it's always exciting to see a book set in a place you've been to. Or maybe I just need to go to NY sometime in the future. I'll be sure to add it to my bucket list. ;)
But... I do have much better time visualizing than I would with Victorian London*. Do brownie points exist? :p
This is probably getting old and you might be tired of me saying this a lot, but yes, Katana has a great (and I mean great) idea with reincarnation in the present day without Angels being used.
Well, Angels is getting a tad bit old. But thankfully, it's samurai. Cheers. Though I'm not sure why I'm saying cheers when it's very similar to paranormalish Romeo & Juliet style in a way. Random fact: I didn't really like Romeo & Juliet. It doesn't stop me from liking the book though.
On the overall side though? It's action-packed from the first page. You're basically in for a "Good Reads" smoothie.
Ironically, I like Goodreads too.
But out of randomness, I've called dibs on its sequel, Senshi already (that review will come eventually). I apologize to any of my fellow book club members if they were interesting in checking out the only copy. I appreciate you guys waiting patiently.
Just please keep the candy corn to yourself. You'll need them for trick-or-treating in a few weeks. ;)
*Victorian London was randomly chosen. The Infernal Devices was on my mind at the time the review was written. If I were alive at the time, I would be six feet under the ground unless I'm like Tessa Gray and Magnus, and I'm a warlock.
<i><b>Note:</b> Formatting is lost due to copy and paste</i>
Anyone who's seen me at book club would probably know that I was practically bouncing off the library walls when I found out Katana by Cole Gibsen was the next book we were going to read.
I apologize if I looked like a hyperactive bookworm that day and looked like a chipmunk chittering away. Or maybe a squirrel starving for acorns (oops for any cuteness overload).
<i><b>Reviewer's Note:</b> removed pictures. You'll have to see the review on the blog for the pictures...</i>
But here are a few interesting things about Katana:
It's set in St. Louis I love you New York, but I've never visited you or even live there, so... it's always exciting to see a book set in a place you've been to. Or maybe I just need to go to NY sometime in the future. I'll be sure to add it to my bucket list. ;)
But... I do have much better time visualizing than I would with Victorian London*. Do brownie points exist? :p
This is probably getting old and you might be tired of me saying this a lot, but yes, Katana has a great (and I mean great) idea with reincarnation in the present day without Angels being used.
Well, Angels is getting a tad bit old. But thankfully, it's samurai. Cheers. Though I'm not sure why I'm saying cheers when it's very similar to paranormalish Romeo & Juliet style in a way. Random fact: I didn't really like Romeo & Juliet. It doesn't stop me from liking the book though.
On the overall side though? It's action-packed from the first page. You're basically in for a "Good Reads" smoothie.
Ironically, I like Goodreads too.
But out of randomness, I've called dibs on its sequel, Senshi already (that review will come eventually). I apologize to any of my fellow book club members if they were interesting in checking out the only copy. I appreciate you guys waiting patiently.
Just please keep the candy corn to yourself. You'll need them for trick-or-treating in a few weeks. ;)
*Victorian London was randomly chosen. The Infernal Devices was on my mind at the time the review was written. If I were alive at the time, I would be six feet under the ground unless I'm like Tessa Gray and Magnus, and I'm a warlock.
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated The Dead Don't Die (2019) in Movies
Jul 7, 2020 (Updated Oct 25, 2020)
An All Star Cast Couldn't Get This Film To Rise From The Grave
Contains spoilers, click to show
I was greatly disappointed in this movie. I thought it was a little funny in the beginning with Adam Driver's character breaking the fourth wall and talking about the theme song for the movie but a lot of the humor was kind or dry and fell flat for me. Bill Murray's character was too serious and Chloe Sevigny's too emotional but they were good in contrast to each other and I guess the police force in general were ok. What threw me off too was that it took so long for anything to happen. The pacing was off in this movie and nothing really happened for a long time. I was hoping that it was setting something up and that it would pay off but I can't say that it did in a successful way. The first scene with the zombies at the dinner attacking the workers there was pretty good and I thought it was funny with the whole "coffee" thing sure. But too many characters and scenes were wasted. I thought the Selena Gomez's car group were wasted and could have been utilized better and would have made the movie/story more interesting. The same with Danny Glover and Caleb Landy Jones who try their best to survive but are overtaken by zombies because the cops don't have the balls to leave their car to even check on them. Even Tom Waits character Hermit Bob was wasted because he never really does anything except hide in the woods and look at people through binoculars. I don't know i really don't, I mean I see such wasted potential in a movie having so many good actors. Makes me wonder what they think about the film if any of them have seen it. The only character I really liked was Tilda Swinton as the creepy mortician/undertaker and how she kicked ass with that samurai sword. Another thing that bothered me was when the zombies got their heads cut off or shot there was just this weaird black ash or sand that came out and no blood or anything. It was kind of a cool effect at first but then it was never explained or anything so it started bothering the crap out of me. There were a couple of other parts that were funny for me and one or two scenes of action but I have to say this was a below normal zombie comedy movie. Nothing like Zombieland. I give The Dead Don't Die a 4/10.
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Heroic strategy RPG with deep solo campaign and real-time head to head battles! Train an epic army...
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
As average as you can get
The lacklustre box-office performance of Jack Reacher in 2012 seemed to scupper plans for the film to become the first in a new Tom Cruise-led action franchise to rival the likes of Mission Impossible and its mixed critical response only added to its woes.
Fast forward four years and we’ve got the sequel that no-one was really asking for. But is Jack Reacher: Never Go Back the improvement that was so sorely needed and could it act as a catalyst to turn this popular novel series into a proper film franchise?
Investigator Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) springs into action after the arrest of Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), an Army major accused of treason. Suspecting foul play, Jack embarks on a mission to prove that the head of his old unit is innocent. After crossing paths with the law, Reacher must now go on the lam to uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy that involves the death of U.S. soldiers.
Director Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai) shoots the action realistically but even a commanding turn from Tom Cruise can’t save a bland script, so-so special effects and a plot so unoriginal, it would be easy to swap out Cruise for Liam Neeson and call it Taken 4. Or Matt Damon and label it Bourne 6? You get where I’m going with this, right?
It’s all been done so many times before and there are no twists and turns or anything remotely unusual to give the film a USP. Instead, the scriptwriters, of which there are three here, force our two central characters into a game of cat and mouse so lazy, the bad guys show up literally minutes after our heroes, with no explanation whatsoever of how they came to be in the vicinity.
Surely it wouldn’t have been difficult to add some extra exposition into the script. Cyborg baddies with GPS tracking systems implanted into their brains perhaps? I’ll save that idea for another day.
Nevertheless, the action is confidently choreographed with a Halloween parade finale being utilised rather well and Cruise plays the titular role well, despite being 54 this year. However, the supporting cast are drowned out by some horrendous dialogue and a story that doesn’t really know what to do with anyone apart from Jack Reacher himself.
And that really is about it. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the most satisfactory film of the year by some margin. It’s not terrible by any means and it certainly isn’t fantastic, but it makes for a passable trip to the cinema, though one that you’ll probably have forgotten about by the time you get to your front door. It’s just that middle of the road.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2016/10/21/as-average-as-you-can-get-jack-reacher-never-go-back-review/
Fast forward four years and we’ve got the sequel that no-one was really asking for. But is Jack Reacher: Never Go Back the improvement that was so sorely needed and could it act as a catalyst to turn this popular novel series into a proper film franchise?
Investigator Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) springs into action after the arrest of Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), an Army major accused of treason. Suspecting foul play, Jack embarks on a mission to prove that the head of his old unit is innocent. After crossing paths with the law, Reacher must now go on the lam to uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy that involves the death of U.S. soldiers.
Director Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai) shoots the action realistically but even a commanding turn from Tom Cruise can’t save a bland script, so-so special effects and a plot so unoriginal, it would be easy to swap out Cruise for Liam Neeson and call it Taken 4. Or Matt Damon and label it Bourne 6? You get where I’m going with this, right?
It’s all been done so many times before and there are no twists and turns or anything remotely unusual to give the film a USP. Instead, the scriptwriters, of which there are three here, force our two central characters into a game of cat and mouse so lazy, the bad guys show up literally minutes after our heroes, with no explanation whatsoever of how they came to be in the vicinity.
Surely it wouldn’t have been difficult to add some extra exposition into the script. Cyborg baddies with GPS tracking systems implanted into their brains perhaps? I’ll save that idea for another day.
Nevertheless, the action is confidently choreographed with a Halloween parade finale being utilised rather well and Cruise plays the titular role well, despite being 54 this year. However, the supporting cast are drowned out by some horrendous dialogue and a story that doesn’t really know what to do with anyone apart from Jack Reacher himself.
And that really is about it. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the most satisfactory film of the year by some margin. It’s not terrible by any means and it certainly isn’t fantastic, but it makes for a passable trip to the cinema, though one that you’ll probably have forgotten about by the time you get to your front door. It’s just that middle of the road.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2016/10/21/as-average-as-you-can-get-jack-reacher-never-go-back-review/
DomiNations
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Grow a flourishing civilization and journey through all of human history as the leader of a mighty...
Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated The Teacher (DS Imogen Grey, #1) in Books
Mar 15, 2018
This book was fucking awesome.
A lot of the plot was predictable and I was pretty sure I knew what was going on very soon into the book, but that didn't take away any of the shock factor this books gave out.
"Most definitely *not* for the faint-hearted!" I have to agree with this warning, a lot of this book was absolutely brutal. I'm a big fan of blood and guts, in movies and books, but even this made me wince a few times. Diamond really knows how to describe a gory bloodbath!
To begin with this book is a little confusing, each chapter tells the story of a different character and to begin with there just seems to be thousands of narratives and no explanation, but it quickly wraps that up for you and that's when the ball really gets rolling. I warn you, you will get hooked on this book, it's one of those stories where you just want to keep reading and reading and reading.
Miles and Grey were such an excellent duo together. The fact they were both damaged in some way really made them click but not bring the mood of the book down at all. <spoiler> I also love the fact that these two didn't get it on! Finally, a female and male character who can remain buddies without having to fuck each other!</spoiler> Miles was definitely my favourite of the two, he was flawed and withdrawn but he had a good heart and a good brain and he knew what he needed to do at all times, no fucking about.
Abbey's story really hit me hard and I found it quite difficult to read... the things she went through (tw//r*pe) were absolutely horrific and the people who reacted to it were awful. People reacted in the worst possible way after the admission of a r*pe victim and I think Diamond's writing really reflected a problem a lot of society have in understanding where the blame lies. Women (and occasionally men) are never <i> ever</i> asking for it. I wish we knew a little more about the darker things in Abbey's life, it would have nice to have known what became of her dad. I also would have liked to know whether anyone ever found out about the bad things she did... <spoiler> for example, would they not have found Christian's body in the Samurai if they were pulling the museum apart? </spoiler>
Parker's tale broke my heart and I'm so happy with how everything turned out for him, those men got what they deserved! <spoiler>Though it would have been nice to see Morris get what he deserved!</spoiler>
I've already gone on to recommend the book to friends and family, though if you're sensitive to gore and/or rape then this is definitely a book to steer clear from! Really enjoyable book to read (not in a morbid way) and definitely the best book I've read in what feels like forever! Would have been 5 stars if it wasn't for the fact I guessed everything <spoiler> apart from Abbey killing and hiding Christian!</spoiler> before it happened.
A lot of the plot was predictable and I was pretty sure I knew what was going on very soon into the book, but that didn't take away any of the shock factor this books gave out.
"Most definitely *not* for the faint-hearted!" I have to agree with this warning, a lot of this book was absolutely brutal. I'm a big fan of blood and guts, in movies and books, but even this made me wince a few times. Diamond really knows how to describe a gory bloodbath!
To begin with this book is a little confusing, each chapter tells the story of a different character and to begin with there just seems to be thousands of narratives and no explanation, but it quickly wraps that up for you and that's when the ball really gets rolling. I warn you, you will get hooked on this book, it's one of those stories where you just want to keep reading and reading and reading.
Miles and Grey were such an excellent duo together. The fact they were both damaged in some way really made them click but not bring the mood of the book down at all. <spoiler> I also love the fact that these two didn't get it on! Finally, a female and male character who can remain buddies without having to fuck each other!</spoiler> Miles was definitely my favourite of the two, he was flawed and withdrawn but he had a good heart and a good brain and he knew what he needed to do at all times, no fucking about.
Abbey's story really hit me hard and I found it quite difficult to read... the things she went through (tw//r*pe) were absolutely horrific and the people who reacted to it were awful. People reacted in the worst possible way after the admission of a r*pe victim and I think Diamond's writing really reflected a problem a lot of society have in understanding where the blame lies. Women (and occasionally men) are never <i> ever</i> asking for it. I wish we knew a little more about the darker things in Abbey's life, it would have nice to have known what became of her dad. I also would have liked to know whether anyone ever found out about the bad things she did... <spoiler> for example, would they not have found Christian's body in the Samurai if they were pulling the museum apart? </spoiler>
Parker's tale broke my heart and I'm so happy with how everything turned out for him, those men got what they deserved! <spoiler>Though it would have been nice to see Morris get what he deserved!</spoiler>
I've already gone on to recommend the book to friends and family, though if you're sensitive to gore and/or rape then this is definitely a book to steer clear from! Really enjoyable book to read (not in a morbid way) and definitely the best book I've read in what feels like forever! Would have been 5 stars if it wasn't for the fact I guessed everything <spoiler> apart from Abbey killing and hiding Christian!</spoiler> before it happened.
Total War Battles: SHOGUN
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BUILD, BATTLE AND AVENGE! Specifically developed for touchscreen platforms, Total War Battles™:...
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
I’m a big fan of Tom Cruise. He is a real old-fashioned film star, generous with his fans on the red carpet and with real star power at the box office. And I can happily sit down in front of just about any one of his DVD’s time and time again and still enjoy it. Unlike many critics, I even enjoyed his last outing as Jack Reacher.
Unfortunately, and it pains me to say this but, his latest outing – “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” – is a bit dull.
Lee Child’s Reacher has many years before turned his back on his military past and wanders the country as a drifter righting wrongs outside of the law. In this film, his military past again makes a major (“No, ex-Major”) intrusion into his life. Potential love interest Major Susan Turner (Colbie Smulders, from the “Avengers” world) is arrested on trumped-up espionage charges and Cruise sets out to clear her name. Along the way he accidentally (and rather too conveniently for the plot) discovers that a paternity suit has been filed against him and Reacher confronts the rebellious and light-fingered teenager Samantha (Danika Yarosh, aged 18 playing 15).
Unfortunately the big-cheeses involved in the international arms skulduggery are determined to tie up each and every loose end in their intrigue, and that includes Reacher, Turner and young Samantha by association. Needless to say, the villains – led by a one-man killing machine (Patrick Heusinger) – haven’t counted on Reacher’s ‘particular set of skills’.
My problem with the film (after an entertaining opening) is that the screenplay lumbers from standard thriller set-piece to standard thriller set-piece in a highly predictable way. It’s as if the scripts from 20 different films have been stuck in a blender. Shadowy arms dealing shenanigans: check; Cute teenager in peril: check; Gun fight on a dockside: check; Rooftop chase: check.
Are all the individual set-pieces decently done? Yes, sure. But the combination of these bits of action tapas really don’t add up to a satisfying meal. The story arc is almost non-existent as there is no suspense in the ‘investigation’: the plot is all pretty well laid out for you.
Where there is some fun to be had is in the play-off between the born-leader Reacher and the born-leader Turner, both trying to be top-dog in the decision making. The romantic connection between the leads seems almost plausible despite their 20 (TWENTY!) year age difference: this is more down to how incredibly good Cruise still looks at age 54 (damn him!). Turner makes a good female role-model right up to the point where there is a confrontation in a hotel room and Turner backs down: despite Cruise being the “hero” it would have been nice for female equality for this face-off to have gone the other way.
The director is Edward Zwick, who helmed Cruise’s more interesting movie “The Last Samurai”.
The trailer started off well and then progressed into general mediocrity. Unfortunately – for me at least – the film lived up to the trailer. Watchable, but not memorable.
Unfortunately, and it pains me to say this but, his latest outing – “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” – is a bit dull.
Lee Child’s Reacher has many years before turned his back on his military past and wanders the country as a drifter righting wrongs outside of the law. In this film, his military past again makes a major (“No, ex-Major”) intrusion into his life. Potential love interest Major Susan Turner (Colbie Smulders, from the “Avengers” world) is arrested on trumped-up espionage charges and Cruise sets out to clear her name. Along the way he accidentally (and rather too conveniently for the plot) discovers that a paternity suit has been filed against him and Reacher confronts the rebellious and light-fingered teenager Samantha (Danika Yarosh, aged 18 playing 15).
Unfortunately the big-cheeses involved in the international arms skulduggery are determined to tie up each and every loose end in their intrigue, and that includes Reacher, Turner and young Samantha by association. Needless to say, the villains – led by a one-man killing machine (Patrick Heusinger) – haven’t counted on Reacher’s ‘particular set of skills’.
My problem with the film (after an entertaining opening) is that the screenplay lumbers from standard thriller set-piece to standard thriller set-piece in a highly predictable way. It’s as if the scripts from 20 different films have been stuck in a blender. Shadowy arms dealing shenanigans: check; Cute teenager in peril: check; Gun fight on a dockside: check; Rooftop chase: check.
Are all the individual set-pieces decently done? Yes, sure. But the combination of these bits of action tapas really don’t add up to a satisfying meal. The story arc is almost non-existent as there is no suspense in the ‘investigation’: the plot is all pretty well laid out for you.
Where there is some fun to be had is in the play-off between the born-leader Reacher and the born-leader Turner, both trying to be top-dog in the decision making. The romantic connection between the leads seems almost plausible despite their 20 (TWENTY!) year age difference: this is more down to how incredibly good Cruise still looks at age 54 (damn him!). Turner makes a good female role-model right up to the point where there is a confrontation in a hotel room and Turner backs down: despite Cruise being the “hero” it would have been nice for female equality for this face-off to have gone the other way.
The director is Edward Zwick, who helmed Cruise’s more interesting movie “The Last Samurai”.
The trailer started off well and then progressed into general mediocrity. Unfortunately – for me at least – the film lived up to the trailer. Watchable, but not memorable.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated A Battle of Onin in Tabletop Games
Feb 9, 2021
I am a big fan of Asian culture and board game theming. Now, I am not at all versed in Anime, nor am I an aficionado. I just enjoy Asian people, history, cultures, food, and board game themes. That said, when I learned of A Battle for Onin I knew I wanted to take a look at it, being as it was touted as familiar mechanics with an Asian theme. So how does it play?
A Battle for Onin is a trick-taking card game where players will be using Shoguns, Ninjas, Samurai, and Monks as suits and each suit will have differing levels of hierarchy. The first player to earn 35 total influence (VP) will claim victory.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure if the final components will be any 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 download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup shuffle the deck of cards and deal each player 13 cards. The dealer then flips the top card of the deck and becomes the Ruling Class (trump) for the hand. The game is now setup and ready to begin!\
After the Ruling Class has been revealed, the player left of the dealer will make a bid for how many Conscriptions (tricks) they believe they will take in the round, with a minimum bid of 3 tricks for all players. Each other player will do the same until the leading player’s turn comes back around. That player then proceeds to play cards from hand in attempt to win tricks. Like in most trick-taking games player will need to follow the suit that was led (or flipped at the beginning of the round). A twist here is that trump may not be led until it has been used to win a trick previously within the round.
As mentioned earlier, each suit has a hierarchy of power, where Bronze is the lowest in power increasing to Silver, then to Gold, and finally to Jade. Within these divisions are yet three more classifications of power: one sphere (lowest) to three spheres (most powerful). In addition still is one card from each suit whose background is orange in color and features one large sphere. These are the Legendary cards, and the most powerful of each suit. Legendary cards may be used as the highest-ranking card in their suit, or as a Ruling Class card. When played as Ruling Class (trump) the hierarchy of Legendary cards are as follows: Monk (lowest), Samurai, Ninja, Shogun (most powerful).
Play continues with players using their cards to win Conscriptions (tricks) and meet their bid. Should a player meet their bid exactly then they score Influence (VP) for their tricks won. Should a player win more tricks than bid earlier, they still score Influence for the tricks won, but those tricks in excess of the bid amount are scored also as Corruption. When a player meets seven Corruption they immediately lose 10 Influence and the Corruption counter resets for that player. If, by chance, a player does not meet the mandatory bid of three tricks, their Influence is lowered by one point. However, should a player bid higher than the minimum of three but not meet that bid their score will be reduced by the amount of the bid for the round (example: a player bids seven tricks but earns only five. They reduce their Influence by seven points – ouch).
Once scores are tallied at the end of each round, a winner may be announced if they score at least 35 points. If no winner is crowned this round, a new dealer is assumed and another round setup as at the start of the game.
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game and this copy is actually hand-made by the good people at Guise Gaming. Each card in this copy is laminated and the game box is HAND PAINTED. I have never received a hand painted box before, and it is certainly appreciated. So aside from the non-manufactured components, the art is quite good on the cards. I know some players will have issues with the backgrounds seeming plain, but I quite appreciate it so that I can concentrate on the game and not be overly distracted by what may be happening in the backgrounds.
Gameplay is good, if not a bit confusing at first. With four different suits containing essentially the standard 13 cards per suit it should be an easy no-brainer to keep things squared away. However, I found that having the rule booklet open to the page detailing the hierarchy of sphere color/material was very handy for other players. The Legendary cards are easy to distinguish because they look cool and different from all the other cards. I really know nothing about any Asian language, so the characters (or letters/words) depicted on the cards are of no help to me trying to distinguish power levels.
That said, when contacted by the publisher about A Battle of Onin, they mentioned that other people were calling it a theming of Spades. While I can understand this simplification, what I have yet to mention is that the game also comes with a bevvy of optional scoring rules and a welcoming message to include any sort of house rules deemed enjoyable. Spades does not do that, to my knowledge. While the vanilla gameplay is very similar to Spades, A Battle of Onin using any of these optional scoring modes certainly adds layers of complexity that may be daunting to use at first, but may attract more hardcore gamers.
All in all I am so glad I was able to try A Battle of Onin. Once the suits and power levels are learned, the game is quite snappy and enjoyable. The art is beautiful, and I applaud the use of orange background for the Legendary cards. If you are looking for a different spin on Spades I urge you to take a look at A Battle of Onin. It might surprise you with the varying levels of difficulty found within the optional scoring rules, and a bit more intrigue than the classic game upon which it is based. Personally, my D&D Monk might argue that he is far superior to any Shogun, but also he just kicked in a door that contained a room full of vampires. So there’s that.
A Battle for Onin is a trick-taking card game where players will be using Shoguns, Ninjas, Samurai, and Monks as suits and each suit will have differing levels of hierarchy. The first player to earn 35 total influence (VP) will claim victory.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure if the final components will be any 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 download the rulebook, back the game through the Kickstarter campaign, or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup shuffle the deck of cards and deal each player 13 cards. The dealer then flips the top card of the deck and becomes the Ruling Class (trump) for the hand. The game is now setup and ready to begin!\
After the Ruling Class has been revealed, the player left of the dealer will make a bid for how many Conscriptions (tricks) they believe they will take in the round, with a minimum bid of 3 tricks for all players. Each other player will do the same until the leading player’s turn comes back around. That player then proceeds to play cards from hand in attempt to win tricks. Like in most trick-taking games player will need to follow the suit that was led (or flipped at the beginning of the round). A twist here is that trump may not be led until it has been used to win a trick previously within the round.
As mentioned earlier, each suit has a hierarchy of power, where Bronze is the lowest in power increasing to Silver, then to Gold, and finally to Jade. Within these divisions are yet three more classifications of power: one sphere (lowest) to three spheres (most powerful). In addition still is one card from each suit whose background is orange in color and features one large sphere. These are the Legendary cards, and the most powerful of each suit. Legendary cards may be used as the highest-ranking card in their suit, or as a Ruling Class card. When played as Ruling Class (trump) the hierarchy of Legendary cards are as follows: Monk (lowest), Samurai, Ninja, Shogun (most powerful).
Play continues with players using their cards to win Conscriptions (tricks) and meet their bid. Should a player meet their bid exactly then they score Influence (VP) for their tricks won. Should a player win more tricks than bid earlier, they still score Influence for the tricks won, but those tricks in excess of the bid amount are scored also as Corruption. When a player meets seven Corruption they immediately lose 10 Influence and the Corruption counter resets for that player. If, by chance, a player does not meet the mandatory bid of three tricks, their Influence is lowered by one point. However, should a player bid higher than the minimum of three but not meet that bid their score will be reduced by the amount of the bid for the round (example: a player bids seven tricks but earns only five. They reduce their Influence by seven points – ouch).
Once scores are tallied at the end of each round, a winner may be announced if they score at least 35 points. If no winner is crowned this round, a new dealer is assumed and another round setup as at the start of the game.
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game and this copy is actually hand-made by the good people at Guise Gaming. Each card in this copy is laminated and the game box is HAND PAINTED. I have never received a hand painted box before, and it is certainly appreciated. So aside from the non-manufactured components, the art is quite good on the cards. I know some players will have issues with the backgrounds seeming plain, but I quite appreciate it so that I can concentrate on the game and not be overly distracted by what may be happening in the backgrounds.
Gameplay is good, if not a bit confusing at first. With four different suits containing essentially the standard 13 cards per suit it should be an easy no-brainer to keep things squared away. However, I found that having the rule booklet open to the page detailing the hierarchy of sphere color/material was very handy for other players. The Legendary cards are easy to distinguish because they look cool and different from all the other cards. I really know nothing about any Asian language, so the characters (or letters/words) depicted on the cards are of no help to me trying to distinguish power levels.
That said, when contacted by the publisher about A Battle of Onin, they mentioned that other people were calling it a theming of Spades. While I can understand this simplification, what I have yet to mention is that the game also comes with a bevvy of optional scoring rules and a welcoming message to include any sort of house rules deemed enjoyable. Spades does not do that, to my knowledge. While the vanilla gameplay is very similar to Spades, A Battle of Onin using any of these optional scoring modes certainly adds layers of complexity that may be daunting to use at first, but may attract more hardcore gamers.
All in all I am so glad I was able to try A Battle of Onin. Once the suits and power levels are learned, the game is quite snappy and enjoyable. The art is beautiful, and I applaud the use of orange background for the Legendary cards. If you are looking for a different spin on Spades I urge you to take a look at A Battle of Onin. It might surprise you with the varying levels of difficulty found within the optional scoring rules, and a bit more intrigue than the classic game upon which it is based. Personally, my D&D Monk might argue that he is far superior to any Shogun, but also he just kicked in a door that contained a room full of vampires. So there’s that.
