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    Onitama

    Onitama

    8.4 (8 Ratings) Rate It

    Tabletop Game

    Carved into the crags of the mist-shrouded mountains of ancient Japan lies the Shrine of Onitama. It...

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
2022 | Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
7
7.5 (10 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Great Cast (1 more)
Good plot twist
Craig's OTT accent (0 more)
A fun Mystery of many layers
A decent follow up film to @Knives Out (2019) 3 years later with Detective Blanc invited to a remote island for a Murder Mystery Game...or is it?
I liked the original although different to a typical Murder Mystery. This follows in a similar style of an all star cast of crazy characters brought together for a Murder Mystery Game that becomes too real.
Good plot and some twists and turns to keep you guessing. Maybe not quite as good as the original but very close and good fun, although Craig's accent is a bit annoying after a while. Definitely looks good on the big screen.
  
The Bay (2012)
The Bay (2012)
2012 | Horror
7
5.6 (9 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I've never been the biggest fan of the found footage sub genre (there are of course some notable exceptions!) but there's something about The Bay that really gets under my skin. The documentary style provides a strong sense of realism, and the footage shown captures the panic of an outbreak with eerie accuracy, and with recent real world events, it's all feels a bit too familiar, especially when negligence from people in charge is thrown into the mix.
The way the town descends into panic is executed in a truly disturbing way. The gore is seldom but hard hitting. The resulting film is one that makes me question both swimming and drinking tap water ever again, because those parasites are real, and absolutely fuck that.
  
Retribution Falls (Tales of the Ketty Jay, #1)
Retribution Falls (Tales of the Ketty Jay, #1)
Chris Wooding | 2009 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
World building (0 more)
Lots of focus on Frey, Jes, and Crake too little on the rest of the crew (0 more)
This book was good. There are some rough spots here and there which does start to iron out in the next books as his writing style develops. I'm slightly glad this wasn't my introduction to the Katy Jay crew as it didn't really have many of my favorite people (Silo, who does become more prominent as the book series goes on, and Harkens who has a great overall character arc) so I'd recommend you read this book last or later as a way to answer questions you had that the other books didn't quite get into. (I read it 3rd). Frey is the least likable in this book.
  
Arcane Arena
Arcane Arena
2020 | Card Game, Fantasy, Fighting
The Tournament of Champions is coming! The Tournament of Champions is coming! The bravest fighters must prepare themselves to face-off in a three-round arena match to determine the ultimate warrior. There is no time to waste learning finishing moves here. Combatants will only have three rounds to prove they are superior in this all-out brawl!

Arcane Arena is an arena-style fighting card game. In it players will take on the mantle of a warrior competing in this brutal last-man-standing battle royale. They will need to train and learn new techniques and then show their opponents all they have learned. The game takes place over three rounds of increasing actions and, truly, the last warrior standing will be crowned Champion!

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, refer to the rules to deal each player their starting deck of Buy, Move, and Attack cards. Remove all Focus and Wound cards and make a stack for each on the side of the play area. Shuffle the remaining “Trainer” cards and create a market of six cards to be purchased. Set the arena board on the table and populate it with player tokens and Favor tokens (glass beads in this prototype). Each player shuffles their starting deck and draws four cards to create their starting hand. The tournament is now prepared for warriors.
Arcane Arena features three rounds of two phases each. The first round has players limited to three turns during the first training phase and 10 hit points for the second phase of the game.

The first phase of each round is the Training Phase. During this phase players are able to use their four cards “as a buy” for their purchasing power. The player lays a card, announces it is as a buy, tallies the currency to be spent, and then purchases a card from the collection of six cards in the offer or one Focus card from its stack. Once completed with their Training Phase, the player will restock the trainer pool of cards for purchase. It is then the next player’s turn to complete their Training Phase.

Once all players have had their Training Phase, the Combat Phase begins with the active player. The active player must play cards for either their Move, Effect, or Attack keywords. Each card will instruct the player the amount of Move they can use, which Effect can be used and how, and how many Attack points of damage they inflict on a target within range.


Play continues in this fashion with each player playing as many cards from their hand of four as they wish until only one player remains with hit points. If it is the third such round of Combat Phase (5 turns at the Training Phase and 20 HP during Combat) then the last player standing is the winner!
Components. Again, this is a prototype copy of the game, so some components will be different from the finished version. That said, this game has decent components planned and the art style is interesting, with hints of a more ancient style. The iconography on the cards is okay: I did find myself trying to figure out what the icon for “purchase” actually was, so it threw me off a couple times. Similarly, the effect bar on the card is very small and can easily be overlooked if the players are not constantly checking for that bar for information.

Gameplay for Arcane Arena is something with which I am struggling to describe. I have always been poor with arena-style games that have players moving around and attacking. It is so difficult for me to abandon my Barbarian-style of just blocking movement and wailing on a stationary enemy. Once movement is expected I am a fish out of water. That is not at all a knock on Arcane Arena, but on my style of play. However, if I belong to a group of gamers with similar style be warned: there’s a lot of opportunity for movement here and it may be uncomfortable at first.

I do like the theme of the game and its implementation. I can understand the premise and relate it to the gameplay. I like that it is split between two distinct phases and having cards with multiple usage is a positive for me. I also enjoy that every time a new phase begins all players combine their cards, shuffle, and draw a hand of four cards. This is new for me, as in typical deckbuilders the card just purchased usually goes directly into the discard pile only to be drawn on much later turns. Such is not with this one. A card just purchased may be drawn immediately in the next Combat Phase, depending on luck of the shuffle and draw.

So while I do not enjoy the moving around the arena aspect of the game, all else is good for me. If you are similar to me I would say give it a shot, but it may be difficult to be successful if, like me, you plan to be a stalwart rock instead of a nimble wisp. If Arcane Arena sounds like your cup of tea, do check it out when it comes available!