Search
Seal Team Flix
8.0
Rate It
Tabletop Game
SEAL TEAM FLIX is a fully co-operative or solo tactical dexterity game that pits 1-4 players against...
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.
Andrew Kennedy (199 KP) rated Saw II (2005) in Movies
Aug 30, 2019
The best of the Saw sequels and the only one I went to the cinema to see.
The original Saw is fantastic and the twist you dont see coming ending is one of, if not the best I have ever seen.
Saw 2 is nearly as good. The main house trap is a stroke of genius and the solo traps for each of the victims are so well planned and just look so devilious.
Darren Lynn Bousman directs (as he will the new Saw reboot involving Chris Rock) as Tobin Bell, with that amazing voice, retruns to play John Krammer/Jigsaw and he is hunted down by Mark Whalbergs detective Eric Matthews.
This leads to a tense standoff in Jigsaws lair as Matthews discovers his son, Daniel is one of the participants in the house trap. A house slowly filling with nerve gas.
Also returning is Shawnee Smith as Amanda who is also playing the game again in the house.
As the film twists towards its shocking ending you realise all you have to do is follow the rules to win the game.
Game Over
The original Saw is fantastic and the twist you dont see coming ending is one of, if not the best I have ever seen.
Saw 2 is nearly as good. The main house trap is a stroke of genius and the solo traps for each of the victims are so well planned and just look so devilious.
Darren Lynn Bousman directs (as he will the new Saw reboot involving Chris Rock) as Tobin Bell, with that amazing voice, retruns to play John Krammer/Jigsaw and he is hunted down by Mark Whalbergs detective Eric Matthews.
This leads to a tense standoff in Jigsaws lair as Matthews discovers his son, Daniel is one of the participants in the house trap. A house slowly filling with nerve gas.
Also returning is Shawnee Smith as Amanda who is also playing the game again in the house.
As the film twists towards its shocking ending you realise all you have to do is follow the rules to win the game.
Game Over
Pandemic: The Board Game
Games
App
As skilled members of a disease-fighting team, you must keep four deadly diseases at bay while...
Between Two Cities
7.7
Rate It
Tabletop Game
It is the early 1800s, a time of immense construction and urbanization. You are a world-renowned...
BoardGames 6playergames StonemeierGames 2015Games
Teotihuacan: Expansion Period
Tabletop Game
Teotihuacan is expanding into an empire! The city is growing beyond its old borders, military...
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Horrified: Universal Monsters Strategy Board Game in Tabletop Games
Aug 6, 2021
I was a child a long time ago. Okay, not THAT long ago, but I remember being frightened of a great many thing on TV: Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video, the TV show “V,” and so many others. I still to this day have not watched an entire old school Universal Studios Monster movie. However, I used to live in California for part of my childhood and my family had season passes to Universal Studios and we would go quite a lot, so I have always been familiar with the monsters. So when I saw a game was being crafted featuring these lovable, but in a nostalgic way, creatures I knew I just had to have it.
Horrified is a pickup and deliver, action points, cooperative game with dice and miniatures utilizing a variable setup. In it players take on the role of a hero in a monster movie – but not just A monster movie, but SEVERAL monsters will be haunting the town! It is the heroes’ goal to defeat the monsters before the Terror Marker reaches maximum or the heroes run out of time and the monsters take over the town.
To setup, place the board on the table and draw 12 Item tokens from the bag. Place these Items on the board in the specified location printed on the Item. Depending on how many players (for this review I will be using the Solo rules in the rule book) place the Terror Marker appropriately on the board – the photo above was taken before I realized that it starts on three in the Solo game. Choose the monsters to be faced and place their mats near the board. The rulebook states where the monster minis will start the game. Place the Frenzy token on the lowest Frenzy-numbered monster. Shuffle the Monster and Perk decks of cards separately and deal each player one Perk card. Each player chooses or is randomly dealt a character badge and places the standee in the appropriate location on the board. The game may now begin!
Players will be taking turns traveling the town, picking up Items, attempting to defeat the monsters per their defeat instructions on their mats, delivering villagers that randomly appear to their safe locations, and keeping the Terror Marker in the acceptable range. Each character has a certain number of actions that can be taken on their turns, but any Perk cards used are spent as a bonus action on the hero’s turn. The hero actions are: Move (one space along the lit pathways, even with a villager in tow), Guide (a villager one space away from the hero), Pick Up (Items from locations), Share (Items from player to player – not needed in a Solo game), Special Action (if the character being played has one on their badge), Advance (complete a task on the Monster mat to move one step closer to defeat), and Defeat (once all the tasks are complete and the player has enough Items to defeat the Monster at the same location). Once a hero has used up all their Action Points per their badge, it will be the Monster phase.
Monster phases begin with a draw from the Monster deck. Upon the card will be a number printed on the top which instructs players as to how many Items to draw and place from the bag. Next, players will read the text on the card and complete any instructions. Finally, the Monsters will strike. At the bottom of the card will be printed several icons pertaining to Monsters individually and also the Monster who happens to currently be Frenzied. These icons instruct players to move certain Monsters and if they share a space with a hero or villager, to roll the attack dice. One hit from a Monster defeats either a villager or hero (unless the hero discards any Item to block the attack). If a hero or villager is defeated, the Terror Marker moves up a space toward ultimate doom. Play then is passed to the players again. The game continues in this fashion until one of the game end conditions is met and the heroe(s) win or the Monsters succeed in their hostile haunted takeover.
Components. I’d like to start with the art. I love it. The art has a very 1930s Hollywood style and is simply beautiful. The colors are vibrant, where color is used, and the board is stunning. All of the cardboard components are top notch quality, and the Monster minis are fab. Obviously it would be great for all the heroes and villagers to have minis as well, but there is text printed on those standees that just can’t translate to a miniature. All in all, the components here are wonderful and high quality.
The gameplay is also wonderful and high quality. The solo game from which these photos are taken I randomly drew the Mayor character and decided to hit the town with Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Invisible Man. That’s a Standard game in the rules. The Mayor is great because she is able to take five actions on her turn (plus Perks), but she has no special abilities. That is both a blessing and a curse and wonderfully balanced. I would say I finished the game needing just one or two more Monster cards to draw before all three baddies were defeated. But, that’s the difficulty of having three Monsters showing. With just two Monsters I would have won handily, but maybe would not have enjoyed it as much and written it off as too easy. Luckily I always learn games on normal standard difficulty first.
Traipsing around town picking up Items and ushering villagers to their safe spaces sounds relaxing, but when the Monsters are on your trail and ready to Strike it adds a layer of anxiety that is just delicious. I admit I probably spent too much time trying to save every villager and that’s partly why I failed at this one game. Also I miscalculated how many extra Items to have on hand when attempting to Advance the Monster tasks. Couple those with my strategy to concentrate on defeating one Monster at a time and, well, that’s a losing strategy it seems.
The gameplay is so much fun, and the components are so wonderful to play with, it’s really no surprise I enjoy this game as much as I do. I have purposely left out some rules for readers to enjoy discovering themselves, but this is a tight game with pressure from different fronts to complete objectives. It’s the kind of game where even with a loss you find yourself wanting to try again right away. And that’s a sing of an excellent game. Purple Phoenix Games gives this very high ratings, even as a solo experience. If you need more horror-style adventure games in your collection, please check out Horrified. It’s not really that scary to play, but you will certainly be haunted by your choices you make throughout the game.
Horrified is a pickup and deliver, action points, cooperative game with dice and miniatures utilizing a variable setup. In it players take on the role of a hero in a monster movie – but not just A monster movie, but SEVERAL monsters will be haunting the town! It is the heroes’ goal to defeat the monsters before the Terror Marker reaches maximum or the heroes run out of time and the monsters take over the town.
To setup, place the board on the table and draw 12 Item tokens from the bag. Place these Items on the board in the specified location printed on the Item. Depending on how many players (for this review I will be using the Solo rules in the rule book) place the Terror Marker appropriately on the board – the photo above was taken before I realized that it starts on three in the Solo game. Choose the monsters to be faced and place their mats near the board. The rulebook states where the monster minis will start the game. Place the Frenzy token on the lowest Frenzy-numbered monster. Shuffle the Monster and Perk decks of cards separately and deal each player one Perk card. Each player chooses or is randomly dealt a character badge and places the standee in the appropriate location on the board. The game may now begin!
Players will be taking turns traveling the town, picking up Items, attempting to defeat the monsters per their defeat instructions on their mats, delivering villagers that randomly appear to their safe locations, and keeping the Terror Marker in the acceptable range. Each character has a certain number of actions that can be taken on their turns, but any Perk cards used are spent as a bonus action on the hero’s turn. The hero actions are: Move (one space along the lit pathways, even with a villager in tow), Guide (a villager one space away from the hero), Pick Up (Items from locations), Share (Items from player to player – not needed in a Solo game), Special Action (if the character being played has one on their badge), Advance (complete a task on the Monster mat to move one step closer to defeat), and Defeat (once all the tasks are complete and the player has enough Items to defeat the Monster at the same location). Once a hero has used up all their Action Points per their badge, it will be the Monster phase.
Monster phases begin with a draw from the Monster deck. Upon the card will be a number printed on the top which instructs players as to how many Items to draw and place from the bag. Next, players will read the text on the card and complete any instructions. Finally, the Monsters will strike. At the bottom of the card will be printed several icons pertaining to Monsters individually and also the Monster who happens to currently be Frenzied. These icons instruct players to move certain Monsters and if they share a space with a hero or villager, to roll the attack dice. One hit from a Monster defeats either a villager or hero (unless the hero discards any Item to block the attack). If a hero or villager is defeated, the Terror Marker moves up a space toward ultimate doom. Play then is passed to the players again. The game continues in this fashion until one of the game end conditions is met and the heroe(s) win or the Monsters succeed in their hostile haunted takeover.
Components. I’d like to start with the art. I love it. The art has a very 1930s Hollywood style and is simply beautiful. The colors are vibrant, where color is used, and the board is stunning. All of the cardboard components are top notch quality, and the Monster minis are fab. Obviously it would be great for all the heroes and villagers to have minis as well, but there is text printed on those standees that just can’t translate to a miniature. All in all, the components here are wonderful and high quality.
The gameplay is also wonderful and high quality. The solo game from which these photos are taken I randomly drew the Mayor character and decided to hit the town with Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Invisible Man. That’s a Standard game in the rules. The Mayor is great because she is able to take five actions on her turn (plus Perks), but she has no special abilities. That is both a blessing and a curse and wonderfully balanced. I would say I finished the game needing just one or two more Monster cards to draw before all three baddies were defeated. But, that’s the difficulty of having three Monsters showing. With just two Monsters I would have won handily, but maybe would not have enjoyed it as much and written it off as too easy. Luckily I always learn games on normal standard difficulty first.
Traipsing around town picking up Items and ushering villagers to their safe spaces sounds relaxing, but when the Monsters are on your trail and ready to Strike it adds a layer of anxiety that is just delicious. I admit I probably spent too much time trying to save every villager and that’s partly why I failed at this one game. Also I miscalculated how many extra Items to have on hand when attempting to Advance the Monster tasks. Couple those with my strategy to concentrate on defeating one Monster at a time and, well, that’s a losing strategy it seems.
The gameplay is so much fun, and the components are so wonderful to play with, it’s really no surprise I enjoy this game as much as I do. I have purposely left out some rules for readers to enjoy discovering themselves, but this is a tight game with pressure from different fronts to complete objectives. It’s the kind of game where even with a loss you find yourself wanting to try again right away. And that’s a sing of an excellent game. Purple Phoenix Games gives this very high ratings, even as a solo experience. If you need more horror-style adventure games in your collection, please check out Horrified. It’s not really that scary to play, but you will certainly be haunted by your choices you make throughout the game.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats in Tabletop Games
Sep 1, 2021
Okay! Yes. Firefly, a great IP. Check! Gale Force Nine, a publisher that brought a previous Firefly game to life and was pretty darn good. Check! Solo, Cooperative, or Competitive? Check! So far so good, so how does it stack up and have I finally found my gorram Firefly love?
Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats (from here just Firefly) is a miniatures skirmish game that can be played as a one-off game experience or as a campaign style story game. In it players will either control one or more Crew (the heroes of the show) or all of the Goons (the bad guys). For the solo experience I will be detailing here the solo player will control all characters on both sides. The Crew will be attempting to pull off The Rescue Job by rescuing an injured comrade hostage stashed in one of the 10 buildings on the board. After the hostage has been rescued all Crew and hostage must make it to the landing pad area before time for the Job runs out.
To setup, follow the instructions on the included Job pamphlet (there are four included in the box). The beginning of the Job will look similar to the photo below, though other components outside the board setup may be in whatever location fits the player best. After Equipment cards have been revealed and shopping completed, the game may begin in earnest, and best be quick – you only have 50 Moments to complete the Job!
Firefly is a turn-based minis game, but turns will probably never be in the same order. Each action taken by a character costs Moments in time, tracked by the brown Moments tracker around the board. Each character, be they Crew or Goons, will have their own Time Marker to show where in the 50 Moments the character currently resides. The character whose Time Marker is furthest in the rear of the pack will take their turn next. On a turn characters will have several choices of actions to take: Move, Complete a Test, Heal, Assist, or even Brawl and Shoot!
This Job focuses on gathering Intel from a terminal in one of the buildings or by chatting up nearby Cowboys. These Intel chips may be turned in for information to help narrow down exactly in which building the hostage is being held. Along the way, however, certain events may cause the Crew to have to “act heroic,” which means swapping out their gray “casual” mini for their green “heroic” mini in order to complete the event. Funny thing though, once a Crew member acts heroic, if ending their turn within line of sight of a Goon, that Goon becomes Alerted and joins the Timeline with their own mini and Time Marker. The Goons will now be trying to take out the beloved Crew member! As in the photo below, poor Mal is being surrounded by Goons with Zoe and Jayne nearby to help.
When all is said and done, Crew and Goons will be taking actions and spending Moments to do so. Should the Crew get to the landing pad with the hostage in tow the Crew wins! However, if time runs out on the Job (as it did with me twice) then the Job has failed. In either case the Crew may receive Rewards in various amounts of credits or Intel or other rewards that they may carry with to the next Job if playing a Story (several Jobs in succession).
Components. I am a HUGE fan of the components in this box. Not only are the minis great, the tokens chunky, and the artwork very good, but each 3D building is pre-assembled right out of the box. They nest very tightly and neatly within the box (whose bottom is also a very large building), but you will need to provide a bunch of baggies or other storage means because all the small components will be dumped into these buildings otherwise. I love all the components in this game, and they are all wonderful to handle… except one – the Time Markers. These are the tokens that represent the characters on the Moments tracker. As characters move along the tracker their Time Markers will be placed on a blank spot, or more often than not, on top of a stack of other Markers. No problem usually, unless your big man-hands tend not to be dextrous enough to grab the top Marker cleanly off the stack and it causes a giant mess of Time Markers on the board. I mean, not that it happened to me several times, of course…
In any case, Firefly is a marvelous scenario-based minis game that I have had nothing but great times playing – even solo! I honestly cannot imagine having more fun by adding more players, so this may be another “solo only” game for me. I will probably try it with my wife, maybe, or someone else once the COVID is gone. I love being able to figure out how best to maneuver each character in order to achieve the goals of the Job, but then something always causing me to have to act heroic and end my turn in LOS of a Goon, so now they are coming after me. I would not necessarily compare it to an action-programming game where you make plans only to have randomness obliterate them, but it certainly adds a giant amount of tactics to the game. In fact, during one play Mal alerted four Cowboys at once, and then the game was no longer a strategic stealthy experience but an all-out melee just to survive. I lost the Job, but only by a few Moments.
Ahh, this one is fabulous, and I am so happy that I have finally found that perfect-for-me Firefly game. If you are a fan of the Firefly mythos and are looking for a game that does it justice while having a ton of replayability, then please check out Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats. I am seriously also considering purchasing the expansions to add Book, Inara, Simon, and River. I mean, how could you NOT want to add River to your game?? I’ll be in my bunk.
Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats (from here just Firefly) is a miniatures skirmish game that can be played as a one-off game experience or as a campaign style story game. In it players will either control one or more Crew (the heroes of the show) or all of the Goons (the bad guys). For the solo experience I will be detailing here the solo player will control all characters on both sides. The Crew will be attempting to pull off The Rescue Job by rescuing an injured comrade hostage stashed in one of the 10 buildings on the board. After the hostage has been rescued all Crew and hostage must make it to the landing pad area before time for the Job runs out.
To setup, follow the instructions on the included Job pamphlet (there are four included in the box). The beginning of the Job will look similar to the photo below, though other components outside the board setup may be in whatever location fits the player best. After Equipment cards have been revealed and shopping completed, the game may begin in earnest, and best be quick – you only have 50 Moments to complete the Job!
Firefly is a turn-based minis game, but turns will probably never be in the same order. Each action taken by a character costs Moments in time, tracked by the brown Moments tracker around the board. Each character, be they Crew or Goons, will have their own Time Marker to show where in the 50 Moments the character currently resides. The character whose Time Marker is furthest in the rear of the pack will take their turn next. On a turn characters will have several choices of actions to take: Move, Complete a Test, Heal, Assist, or even Brawl and Shoot!
This Job focuses on gathering Intel from a terminal in one of the buildings or by chatting up nearby Cowboys. These Intel chips may be turned in for information to help narrow down exactly in which building the hostage is being held. Along the way, however, certain events may cause the Crew to have to “act heroic,” which means swapping out their gray “casual” mini for their green “heroic” mini in order to complete the event. Funny thing though, once a Crew member acts heroic, if ending their turn within line of sight of a Goon, that Goon becomes Alerted and joins the Timeline with their own mini and Time Marker. The Goons will now be trying to take out the beloved Crew member! As in the photo below, poor Mal is being surrounded by Goons with Zoe and Jayne nearby to help.
When all is said and done, Crew and Goons will be taking actions and spending Moments to do so. Should the Crew get to the landing pad with the hostage in tow the Crew wins! However, if time runs out on the Job (as it did with me twice) then the Job has failed. In either case the Crew may receive Rewards in various amounts of credits or Intel or other rewards that they may carry with to the next Job if playing a Story (several Jobs in succession).
Components. I am a HUGE fan of the components in this box. Not only are the minis great, the tokens chunky, and the artwork very good, but each 3D building is pre-assembled right out of the box. They nest very tightly and neatly within the box (whose bottom is also a very large building), but you will need to provide a bunch of baggies or other storage means because all the small components will be dumped into these buildings otherwise. I love all the components in this game, and they are all wonderful to handle… except one – the Time Markers. These are the tokens that represent the characters on the Moments tracker. As characters move along the tracker their Time Markers will be placed on a blank spot, or more often than not, on top of a stack of other Markers. No problem usually, unless your big man-hands tend not to be dextrous enough to grab the top Marker cleanly off the stack and it causes a giant mess of Time Markers on the board. I mean, not that it happened to me several times, of course…
In any case, Firefly is a marvelous scenario-based minis game that I have had nothing but great times playing – even solo! I honestly cannot imagine having more fun by adding more players, so this may be another “solo only” game for me. I will probably try it with my wife, maybe, or someone else once the COVID is gone. I love being able to figure out how best to maneuver each character in order to achieve the goals of the Job, but then something always causing me to have to act heroic and end my turn in LOS of a Goon, so now they are coming after me. I would not necessarily compare it to an action-programming game where you make plans only to have randomness obliterate them, but it certainly adds a giant amount of tactics to the game. In fact, during one play Mal alerted four Cowboys at once, and then the game was no longer a strategic stealthy experience but an all-out melee just to survive. I lost the Job, but only by a few Moments.
Ahh, this one is fabulous, and I am so happy that I have finally found that perfect-for-me Firefly game. If you are a fan of the Firefly mythos and are looking for a game that does it justice while having a ton of replayability, then please check out Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats. I am seriously also considering purchasing the expansions to add Book, Inara, Simon, and River. I mean, how could you NOT want to add River to your game?? I’ll be in my bunk.
