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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Tomb Raider (2018) in Movies
Mar 22, 2018 (Updated Mar 22, 2018)
An Uninspired Take On the Iconic Character
This is the greatest video game movie ever made.
Now, I know what you are thinking, "Dan, you scored this thing a 6, you can't open your review with a statement like that!" Well the thing is, every other video game movie is so shit, that this mediocre action adventure flick is the gold standard in comparison.
If you played the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot game, then you will see a lot of similarities here, except most of it isn't done as well as it was done in the game. First of all, they spend far too much time following Lara in London before she goes on her adventure. For some reason she lives a poor life as a delivery girl that can't even afford to pay her gym membership, even though she has a massive fortune of inheritance money sitting there, that is hers once she signs off on her father's death certificate. Her dad is played by Dominic West, who is one of my favourite actors, but unfortunately he is kind of wasted here. He went missing seven years ago and is the catalyst for Lara's adventure to begin.
So she goes to Thailand to look for the guy that her dad bought the boat from to go to the remote island with the treasure on it. The guy she finds from Into The Badlands, turns out to be his son and he agrees to help her for some cash. He is actually pretty enjoyable in the movie and probably does a better job selling his character than his Oscar winning co-star, but we will get back to that later. So the two of them go to this remote island and a storm hits the boat, forcing the two of them overboard. Lara wakes up with Walton Goggins' character Mathias holding her at gun point. Mathias is nothing like he was in the game, where he was a mad priest type character, here he is a tired faithless mercenary that just wants to get the job done and go home. Walton Goggins, who again is one of my favourite actors, does his best with the material that he is giving, the issue being that the material is pretty garbage, which is the case for this movie's script in general. From here, Lara goes through the motions of becoming more of a badass survivor. This leads us into some exciting action set pieces that call back to the original game and are probably the best parts of the movie, so I won't spoil them here.
Let's talk about Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. I have liked Alicia Vikander in every other role that I have seen her in and I was looking forward to seeing her performance as this iconic character. However, she just doesn't sell the character for me. I'm not sure if it's the material that the filmmakers gave her to work with, but she is totally underwhelming and never defines the character in any major way or makes it her own. You could have cast any young actress in this role and you would have gotten the same result. The other rumoured names before Vikander was officially cast were Emelia Clarke and Daisey Ridley. Any one of those would yielded the exact same results meaning that while Vikander was perfectly serviceable, she brought nothing special or original to the role.
Next I want to cover some of the movie's technical elements. The special effects were actually pretty impressive overall. The CGI backdrops all looked pretty convincing and even the character animation that was sprinkled in here and there looked pretty good and didn't distract or take me out of the movie too much. However, everything else was totally unremarkable. From the direction, to the lighting, to the cinematography, to the score, it was all just passable and nothing more.
Before I conclude this review, I want to briefly touch on something that this movie does that I hate seeing in movies. For some reason this movie repeatedly shows us flashbacks of something that happened just minutes beforehand. It is so frustrating and totally breaks the pace of the movie. It also feels as if the filmmakers are treating their audience like complete idiots that can't piece their predictable plot together without explicitly spelling it out by showing us the same flashback for the fourth time. Hollywood please stop doing this, it totally breaks any flow that your movie almost had and is so painfully unnecessary it hurts, give us some credit as moviegoers.
Overall, this is a decent action adventure romp that works okay if you don't think about it too much. It isn't anything special in any way and doesn't do anything that hasn't been done better by another franchise before. You will have a decent time with this as long as you don't expect something that is going to bring the video game movie into legendary status.
Now, I know what you are thinking, "Dan, you scored this thing a 6, you can't open your review with a statement like that!" Well the thing is, every other video game movie is so shit, that this mediocre action adventure flick is the gold standard in comparison.
If you played the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot game, then you will see a lot of similarities here, except most of it isn't done as well as it was done in the game. First of all, they spend far too much time following Lara in London before she goes on her adventure. For some reason she lives a poor life as a delivery girl that can't even afford to pay her gym membership, even though she has a massive fortune of inheritance money sitting there, that is hers once she signs off on her father's death certificate. Her dad is played by Dominic West, who is one of my favourite actors, but unfortunately he is kind of wasted here. He went missing seven years ago and is the catalyst for Lara's adventure to begin.
So she goes to Thailand to look for the guy that her dad bought the boat from to go to the remote island with the treasure on it. The guy she finds from Into The Badlands, turns out to be his son and he agrees to help her for some cash. He is actually pretty enjoyable in the movie and probably does a better job selling his character than his Oscar winning co-star, but we will get back to that later. So the two of them go to this remote island and a storm hits the boat, forcing the two of them overboard. Lara wakes up with Walton Goggins' character Mathias holding her at gun point. Mathias is nothing like he was in the game, where he was a mad priest type character, here he is a tired faithless mercenary that just wants to get the job done and go home. Walton Goggins, who again is one of my favourite actors, does his best with the material that he is giving, the issue being that the material is pretty garbage, which is the case for this movie's script in general. From here, Lara goes through the motions of becoming more of a badass survivor. This leads us into some exciting action set pieces that call back to the original game and are probably the best parts of the movie, so I won't spoil them here.
Let's talk about Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft. I have liked Alicia Vikander in every other role that I have seen her in and I was looking forward to seeing her performance as this iconic character. However, she just doesn't sell the character for me. I'm not sure if it's the material that the filmmakers gave her to work with, but she is totally underwhelming and never defines the character in any major way or makes it her own. You could have cast any young actress in this role and you would have gotten the same result. The other rumoured names before Vikander was officially cast were Emelia Clarke and Daisey Ridley. Any one of those would yielded the exact same results meaning that while Vikander was perfectly serviceable, she brought nothing special or original to the role.
Next I want to cover some of the movie's technical elements. The special effects were actually pretty impressive overall. The CGI backdrops all looked pretty convincing and even the character animation that was sprinkled in here and there looked pretty good and didn't distract or take me out of the movie too much. However, everything else was totally unremarkable. From the direction, to the lighting, to the cinematography, to the score, it was all just passable and nothing more.
Before I conclude this review, I want to briefly touch on something that this movie does that I hate seeing in movies. For some reason this movie repeatedly shows us flashbacks of something that happened just minutes beforehand. It is so frustrating and totally breaks the pace of the movie. It also feels as if the filmmakers are treating their audience like complete idiots that can't piece their predictable plot together without explicitly spelling it out by showing us the same flashback for the fourth time. Hollywood please stop doing this, it totally breaks any flow that your movie almost had and is so painfully unnecessary it hurts, give us some credit as moviegoers.
Overall, this is a decent action adventure romp that works okay if you don't think about it too much. It isn't anything special in any way and doesn't do anything that hasn't been done better by another franchise before. You will have a decent time with this as long as you don't expect something that is going to bring the video game movie into legendary status.
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Art of Hunting (The Gravedigger Chronicles #2) in Books
Nov 8, 2019
I read the first installment of the Gravedigger Chronicles, Sea Of Ghosts a little while ago and the sheer imagination really grabbed my attention. While waiting for the second book I read Campbell's first trilogy and this confirmed a grasp for creating very different, if very dark, fantasy worlds.
The first book follows the story of Thomas Granger, ex-Colonel with the elite 'Gravediggers' army unit now the owner and warden of a decrepit prison in a world that is literally drowning. Humans share the world with the intelligent and long-lived Unmer, for centuries their slaves until a band of telepaths overthrew them. In revenge the Unmer seeded the sees with thousands of small bottles - icusae - which are constantly producing poisonous 'brine', making the seas toxic and raising the sea level.
Granger sets off on a quest to find is estranged daughter Ianthe - herself an incredibly powerful but blind telepath - and so we see this strange and often brutal world, meeting Briana Marks the arrogant head of the telepaths and Ethan Maskeleyne, metaphysicist and hunter of Unmer treasure.
The book ends cataclysmically with Ianthe all but destroying the telepaths' power with her mind and setting the trapped Unmer prince Marquetta free at the same time as her father - now with magical armour and sword - arrives to rescue her himself.
The second book carried straight on from the first, detailing the aftermath of the battle and the Unmer's plans to once again rule, beginning with Marquetta's plan to marry Ianthe. Granger is naturally suspicious of his motives towards his only daughter. Marquetta also needs to eliminate another Unmer lord, Conquillas, who has been hired as an assassin by Briana Marks to kill Marquetta and his uncle. Conquillas is an Unmer rebel who has studied war and hunting until it is an art form to him. Marquetta plans to eliminate him by challenging him to a tournament which is rigged so that Conquillas cannot survive.
Learning of the plans, Granger decides to leave his daughter and travel to find Conquillas and warn him. But soon he has more to worry about as his Unmer sword literally has a mind of its own. Meanwhile Maskeleyne is on his own quest to discover why the unfortunate people who have 'drowned' in the brine seas (but still have a sort of life) are bringing him keys.
As can be seen from the brief description above this is a complex book. Although the story is told from four viewpoints - Granger, Ianthe, Maskeleyne and Briana Marks - the bulk of the story is carried by Granger (on his own quest) and Ianthe (following with the Unmer). Granger is a terrific character - he is gruff and insentimental and is not always a sympathetic character. But he is also very driven and always sees the solution to anything as a straight line, regardless of any obstacles on that path he will just bulldoze straight through them. Ianthe is more subtle as a character because she is essentially tagging along with Marquetta and apart from the marriage plot doesn't really contribute very much.
The world they inhabit is excellent. This is a different kind of fantasy world. Rather than being stuck in medieval worlds as tends to be the case, there is a lot of technology. There are guns and gas cutting torches for example. Everything seems to be very very old and anything enchanted by the Unmer is as dangerous to the innocent wielder as their target.
After the first book it is interesting to see more of the Unmer in action. Marquetta is a proud and determined prince, his uncle fills the role of scheming manipulator well and it is not clear if Marquetta follows his uncle or is merely another pawn in the play. Conquillas is also well drawn for the few scenes he is in, the consumate warrior and hunter while still being otherworldly and cold towards the humans that he deals with. Maskeleyne also comes to the fore in this book after being something of a villain in the first book in this book he is not at odds with the other main characters and so is a much more rounded person rather than a cipher to explain Unmer artifacts and move the plot along.
Yes this is a hard read; the chapters are long (there are only 8 chapters in the book) which means it is a long time between breaks in the narrative and the start does take a long long time to get going although a lot of the information is vital in setting up the rest of the book. Once it gets going however it flows well. In fact I would say the tournament at the end was a little rushed - some more insight into the early rounds would have been interesting I think - but as the main point is to get the final showdown this can be excused.
Overall, a fantastic second part and I eagerly look forward the the third installment.
Rating: Some slight swearing and crude references
The first book follows the story of Thomas Granger, ex-Colonel with the elite 'Gravediggers' army unit now the owner and warden of a decrepit prison in a world that is literally drowning. Humans share the world with the intelligent and long-lived Unmer, for centuries their slaves until a band of telepaths overthrew them. In revenge the Unmer seeded the sees with thousands of small bottles - icusae - which are constantly producing poisonous 'brine', making the seas toxic and raising the sea level.
Granger sets off on a quest to find is estranged daughter Ianthe - herself an incredibly powerful but blind telepath - and so we see this strange and often brutal world, meeting Briana Marks the arrogant head of the telepaths and Ethan Maskeleyne, metaphysicist and hunter of Unmer treasure.
The book ends cataclysmically with Ianthe all but destroying the telepaths' power with her mind and setting the trapped Unmer prince Marquetta free at the same time as her father - now with magical armour and sword - arrives to rescue her himself.
The second book carried straight on from the first, detailing the aftermath of the battle and the Unmer's plans to once again rule, beginning with Marquetta's plan to marry Ianthe. Granger is naturally suspicious of his motives towards his only daughter. Marquetta also needs to eliminate another Unmer lord, Conquillas, who has been hired as an assassin by Briana Marks to kill Marquetta and his uncle. Conquillas is an Unmer rebel who has studied war and hunting until it is an art form to him. Marquetta plans to eliminate him by challenging him to a tournament which is rigged so that Conquillas cannot survive.
Learning of the plans, Granger decides to leave his daughter and travel to find Conquillas and warn him. But soon he has more to worry about as his Unmer sword literally has a mind of its own. Meanwhile Maskeleyne is on his own quest to discover why the unfortunate people who have 'drowned' in the brine seas (but still have a sort of life) are bringing him keys.
As can be seen from the brief description above this is a complex book. Although the story is told from four viewpoints - Granger, Ianthe, Maskeleyne and Briana Marks - the bulk of the story is carried by Granger (on his own quest) and Ianthe (following with the Unmer). Granger is a terrific character - he is gruff and insentimental and is not always a sympathetic character. But he is also very driven and always sees the solution to anything as a straight line, regardless of any obstacles on that path he will just bulldoze straight through them. Ianthe is more subtle as a character because she is essentially tagging along with Marquetta and apart from the marriage plot doesn't really contribute very much.
The world they inhabit is excellent. This is a different kind of fantasy world. Rather than being stuck in medieval worlds as tends to be the case, there is a lot of technology. There are guns and gas cutting torches for example. Everything seems to be very very old and anything enchanted by the Unmer is as dangerous to the innocent wielder as their target.
After the first book it is interesting to see more of the Unmer in action. Marquetta is a proud and determined prince, his uncle fills the role of scheming manipulator well and it is not clear if Marquetta follows his uncle or is merely another pawn in the play. Conquillas is also well drawn for the few scenes he is in, the consumate warrior and hunter while still being otherworldly and cold towards the humans that he deals with. Maskeleyne also comes to the fore in this book after being something of a villain in the first book in this book he is not at odds with the other main characters and so is a much more rounded person rather than a cipher to explain Unmer artifacts and move the plot along.
Yes this is a hard read; the chapters are long (there are only 8 chapters in the book) which means it is a long time between breaks in the narrative and the start does take a long long time to get going although a lot of the information is vital in setting up the rest of the book. Once it gets going however it flows well. In fact I would say the tournament at the end was a little rushed - some more insight into the early rounds would have been interesting I think - but as the main point is to get the final showdown this can be excused.
Overall, a fantastic second part and I eagerly look forward the the third installment.
Rating: Some slight swearing and crude references
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Last Christmas (2019) in Movies
Nov 25, 2019
Alas, Christmas
Oh Dear! Now I wouldn't go as far as saying I had "high hopes" for this film, but as a real fan of the goo-fest that is "Love Actually" I at least thought this might fill some seasonal void in the run up to the festive season. "Best Christmas film of the decade!!" screams the marketing. Er... no.
This review will be spoiler free.
The plot: Kate (Emilia Clarke) is an immigrant from the former-Yugoslavia now living in London. She has a dead-end job working for "Santa" (Michelle Yeoh) in a Christmas shop in Covent Garden. She is perennially lubricated both with drink and other bodily fluids thanks to her hedonistic lifestyle. And she really likes George Michael.
But life just seems vacuous and to have no purpose for her anymore. Her composure is not helped by her mother (Emma Thompson) constantly fussing about her health, since Kate has only recently recovered from a serious illness.
Dropping into her life then comes Tom (Henry Golding). Smartly dressed and calmly reassuring, Tom seems to have the potential to start turning Kate's life around. But is she prepared to listen?
There are startling similarities here with Phoebe Waller-Bridge's triumphant tribute to hedonistic 30-something sex-addicted females everywhere.... "Fleabag". Kate is similarly louche, hopping from bed to bed in a heartbeat. She has a dysfunctional family and - most strikingly - she has a particularly difficult relationship with her high-achieving sister. This is not helped by a remarkable similarity between the actress playing Marta (Lydia Leonard ) and Fleabag's Clare (Sian Clifford). But whereas Fleabag is both brilliantly written, heart-rending and hilarious, this simply is not.
There were a total of two laughs in the movie for me. Period. Both were lines delivered by Emma Thompson, and if you've seen the film you probably know the ones. Now, I'm aware that Thompson co-wrote the script and she is, of course, a national acting treasure. But here the script is clunky and all of the "comic" scenes are so laboured and forced that they land like leaden weights.
And some of it makes no sense whatsoever. There is some strange Danish sauerkraut salesman (Peter Mygind) with a crush on "Santa". He suddenly appears in the shop acting like some escaped mental patient. When he first appears, acting bizarrely, you think, "oh, there must be some fascinating backstory between these two - a murky past they are trying to rekindle". But no! This is the first time they have EVER met? It's completely bonkers!
Much was made of this being Michelle Yeoh's "first comedy". Sorry, but if she proves anything here it is that she is not a comic actress.
Emilia Clarke is still looking to land in a decent mainstream role outside "Game of Thrones", after a failed Terminator sequel, a half-decent weepie ("Me Before You") and the commercial failure that was "Solo". Here she certainly looks curvaciously cute as the Christmas elf. But unfortunately cute can't save her from the car-crash of a script.
Similarly Henry Golding is well-dressed eye-candy for the ladies, almost doing a re-tread of his cool and laid-back character from the excellent "Crazy Rich Asians". Without the same need to be "zany", he fairs slightly better from the script. But again, this feels like one to shuffle into a quiet corner of his CV.
What can I say that's even remotely good about this? Three things:
1) London. It looks glorious, decked out in lights like some chocolate-box-cover cum tourist-board publicity shot. London is one of the most photogenic cities on the planet, and I could relate to Tom's mantra to "look up" and see all of the architectural quirks and foibles that exist around every corner in that wonderful city;
2) The payoff. Exactly when you get the payoff will depend on how much you know going in (if you've managed to avoid the trailer... continue to avoid it!) and how attentive you are. There's an "aha!" moment. And it's nicely played out.
3) There's a topical xenophobic Brexit angle, that's a little clumsy in the exposition but - in my view - is good for the telling.
This is a movie desperately trying to blend "Love Actually" with another Christmas classic (no... not "Die Hard"... but to say more would introduce spoilers!) But in my view it misses badly.
The director is Paul Feig, famous for "Bridesmaids" and "Spy" and infamous for the female "Ghostbusters" reboot.
There are clearly lovers of this film. At the time of writing it has made an impressive $51M on its $25M budget. But I went with another three cinema-goers from my family, all of differing ages and sentiments: and we all universally agreed on the rating for this one.
(For the graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2019/11/25/one-manns-movies-film-review-last-christmas-2019/ . Thanks).
This review will be spoiler free.
The plot: Kate (Emilia Clarke) is an immigrant from the former-Yugoslavia now living in London. She has a dead-end job working for "Santa" (Michelle Yeoh) in a Christmas shop in Covent Garden. She is perennially lubricated both with drink and other bodily fluids thanks to her hedonistic lifestyle. And she really likes George Michael.
But life just seems vacuous and to have no purpose for her anymore. Her composure is not helped by her mother (Emma Thompson) constantly fussing about her health, since Kate has only recently recovered from a serious illness.
Dropping into her life then comes Tom (Henry Golding). Smartly dressed and calmly reassuring, Tom seems to have the potential to start turning Kate's life around. But is she prepared to listen?
There are startling similarities here with Phoebe Waller-Bridge's triumphant tribute to hedonistic 30-something sex-addicted females everywhere.... "Fleabag". Kate is similarly louche, hopping from bed to bed in a heartbeat. She has a dysfunctional family and - most strikingly - she has a particularly difficult relationship with her high-achieving sister. This is not helped by a remarkable similarity between the actress playing Marta (Lydia Leonard ) and Fleabag's Clare (Sian Clifford). But whereas Fleabag is both brilliantly written, heart-rending and hilarious, this simply is not.
There were a total of two laughs in the movie for me. Period. Both were lines delivered by Emma Thompson, and if you've seen the film you probably know the ones. Now, I'm aware that Thompson co-wrote the script and she is, of course, a national acting treasure. But here the script is clunky and all of the "comic" scenes are so laboured and forced that they land like leaden weights.
And some of it makes no sense whatsoever. There is some strange Danish sauerkraut salesman (Peter Mygind) with a crush on "Santa". He suddenly appears in the shop acting like some escaped mental patient. When he first appears, acting bizarrely, you think, "oh, there must be some fascinating backstory between these two - a murky past they are trying to rekindle". But no! This is the first time they have EVER met? It's completely bonkers!
Much was made of this being Michelle Yeoh's "first comedy". Sorry, but if she proves anything here it is that she is not a comic actress.
Emilia Clarke is still looking to land in a decent mainstream role outside "Game of Thrones", after a failed Terminator sequel, a half-decent weepie ("Me Before You") and the commercial failure that was "Solo". Here she certainly looks curvaciously cute as the Christmas elf. But unfortunately cute can't save her from the car-crash of a script.
Similarly Henry Golding is well-dressed eye-candy for the ladies, almost doing a re-tread of his cool and laid-back character from the excellent "Crazy Rich Asians". Without the same need to be "zany", he fairs slightly better from the script. But again, this feels like one to shuffle into a quiet corner of his CV.
What can I say that's even remotely good about this? Three things:
1) London. It looks glorious, decked out in lights like some chocolate-box-cover cum tourist-board publicity shot. London is one of the most photogenic cities on the planet, and I could relate to Tom's mantra to "look up" and see all of the architectural quirks and foibles that exist around every corner in that wonderful city;
2) The payoff. Exactly when you get the payoff will depend on how much you know going in (if you've managed to avoid the trailer... continue to avoid it!) and how attentive you are. There's an "aha!" moment. And it's nicely played out.
3) There's a topical xenophobic Brexit angle, that's a little clumsy in the exposition but - in my view - is good for the telling.
This is a movie desperately trying to blend "Love Actually" with another Christmas classic (no... not "Die Hard"... but to say more would introduce spoilers!) But in my view it misses badly.
The director is Paul Feig, famous for "Bridesmaids" and "Spy" and infamous for the female "Ghostbusters" reboot.
There are clearly lovers of this film. At the time of writing it has made an impressive $51M on its $25M budget. But I went with another three cinema-goers from my family, all of differing ages and sentiments: and we all universally agreed on the rating for this one.
(For the graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2019/11/25/one-manns-movies-film-review-last-christmas-2019/ . Thanks).
Chris Sawin (602 KP) rated Ready Player One (2018) in Movies
Jun 18, 2019 (Updated Jun 18, 2019)
Steven Spielberg's (Mostly) Triumphant Return to Sci-Fi
If we’re being honest here, writer to reader, I never got around to reading Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One novel despite the fact that it’s sitting on a bookshelf less than ten feet from me as I type this. It turned out not to matter that much since Steven Spielberg took liberties with the source material. In the film, a virtual video game reality known as the OASIS is where everyone spends their time in the year 2045. Our main character Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) lives in, “The Stacks,” which is basically just a bunch of mobile homes stacked on top of each other. The coin collected in the OASIS as well as purchases within the game have evolved into an individual's life savings in the real world. Everyone wants to escape their crappy life and the OASIS is now all that matters.
James Halliday (Mark Rylance), creator of the OASIS, dies suddenly but he leaves behind a treasure hunt for three keys hidden within the depths of the OASIS with the main prize being an Easter egg that would allow the winner to have complete control over the entirety of the OASIS. Wade (as his avatar Parzival) intends to win Halliday’s challenge to get out of The Stacks and adopts the title of Gunter (egg hunter) along with his friends Aech (Lena Waithe), Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), and brothers Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Philip Zhao) who become known together as the, “HIgh Five,” but a video game conglomerate known as Innovative Online Industries or IOI spends all of their time and money attempting to find the secrets Halliday has hidden. IOI consists of an army known as the Sixers, which are players who owe large debts to the OASIS. CEO of IOI Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) intends to take the free-to-use OASIS and transform it into a monetized monopoly.
The storyline of Spielberg’s Ready Player One reminds me of the 19th episode of season two of Regular Show entitled, “High Score.” In that episode, Mordecai and Rigby attempt to beat the world record on a video game with record holder Garrett Bobby Ferguson (GBF or Giant Bearded Face). Ready Player One kind of expands on that concept and throws in a ton of nostalgic movie references while being set in the future. The weird thing is that those recycled moments that call back to the movies of yesteryear are the highlights of Ready Player One while the rest of the film suffers from Spielberg’s usual shortcomings.
I haven’t enjoyed a Steven Spielberg film since 2011’s The Adventures of Tintin. That combined with the trailer coming off as less than impressive and poster art from the marketing campaign (the main poster illustrated by Drew Struzan is amazing) that seemed to rely on generic face swapping via Photoshop on well-known movie posters had me really underwhelmed for the film overall. The film itself also suffers from corny dialogue, tender and romantic moments feeling force fed and overwhelming, and head-scratching sequences that leave you wondering why they needed to be included in the first place (the whole dance club/second challenge scene, for starters).
However, what the science fiction adventure gets right is the reason why you go to the movies. Spielberg along with cinematographer and frequent collaborator Janusz Kaminski know how to smoothly and effectively capture dynamic shots with a camera. When we first see Wade in The Stacks, he slides down a series of ropes and poles passing by and through various homes and junkyard cars that no longer run all while showcasing how plugged into a false reality civilization has become. The first race sequence of the film is also extraordinary with its fast pace and hectic action that is fairly easy to digest due to the sleek camera work. There’s a fairly lengthy segment devoted to a beloved horror film that is legitimately fantastic since it is not only a throwback to that original film, but it’s also injected with new thrilling terrors that you won’t see coming. Most battle sequences in the film with large ensembles are impressive for all of the obvious reasons; solid special effects, mass number of characters on the screen, a delicious dose of destruction, and most of all a countless series of references to movies, video games, and cartoons that you probably love. Witnessing what characters will pop up, when, and how they’ll be utilized is half of what makes Ready Player One so fun; it’s like a big budget version of South Park’s Imaginationland.
You either love or hate what Steven Spielberg has accomplished as a filmmaker, but it’s difficult not to admit that Ready Player One is a hell of a lot of fun even if you have some issues with the film. Spielberg has this cliche quality to him that is completely overbearing at times and he isn’t able to escape that aspect of his filmmaking with Ready Player One, but there’s enough of an entertaining and nostalgic value combined with not knowing who’s going to pop up next and some incredible cinematography highlighted by fluid yet flashy special effects resulting in a film that will be exciting and fun for anyone who was ever or still is a rabid gamer or movie lover. Spielberg has crafted a surefire crowd-pleaser that is basically a two and a half hour sentimental plunge directly into your childhood.
James Halliday (Mark Rylance), creator of the OASIS, dies suddenly but he leaves behind a treasure hunt for three keys hidden within the depths of the OASIS with the main prize being an Easter egg that would allow the winner to have complete control over the entirety of the OASIS. Wade (as his avatar Parzival) intends to win Halliday’s challenge to get out of The Stacks and adopts the title of Gunter (egg hunter) along with his friends Aech (Lena Waithe), Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), and brothers Daito (Win Morisaki) and Sho (Philip Zhao) who become known together as the, “HIgh Five,” but a video game conglomerate known as Innovative Online Industries or IOI spends all of their time and money attempting to find the secrets Halliday has hidden. IOI consists of an army known as the Sixers, which are players who owe large debts to the OASIS. CEO of IOI Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) intends to take the free-to-use OASIS and transform it into a monetized monopoly.
The storyline of Spielberg’s Ready Player One reminds me of the 19th episode of season two of Regular Show entitled, “High Score.” In that episode, Mordecai and Rigby attempt to beat the world record on a video game with record holder Garrett Bobby Ferguson (GBF or Giant Bearded Face). Ready Player One kind of expands on that concept and throws in a ton of nostalgic movie references while being set in the future. The weird thing is that those recycled moments that call back to the movies of yesteryear are the highlights of Ready Player One while the rest of the film suffers from Spielberg’s usual shortcomings.
I haven’t enjoyed a Steven Spielberg film since 2011’s The Adventures of Tintin. That combined with the trailer coming off as less than impressive and poster art from the marketing campaign (the main poster illustrated by Drew Struzan is amazing) that seemed to rely on generic face swapping via Photoshop on well-known movie posters had me really underwhelmed for the film overall. The film itself also suffers from corny dialogue, tender and romantic moments feeling force fed and overwhelming, and head-scratching sequences that leave you wondering why they needed to be included in the first place (the whole dance club/second challenge scene, for starters).
However, what the science fiction adventure gets right is the reason why you go to the movies. Spielberg along with cinematographer and frequent collaborator Janusz Kaminski know how to smoothly and effectively capture dynamic shots with a camera. When we first see Wade in The Stacks, he slides down a series of ropes and poles passing by and through various homes and junkyard cars that no longer run all while showcasing how plugged into a false reality civilization has become. The first race sequence of the film is also extraordinary with its fast pace and hectic action that is fairly easy to digest due to the sleek camera work. There’s a fairly lengthy segment devoted to a beloved horror film that is legitimately fantastic since it is not only a throwback to that original film, but it’s also injected with new thrilling terrors that you won’t see coming. Most battle sequences in the film with large ensembles are impressive for all of the obvious reasons; solid special effects, mass number of characters on the screen, a delicious dose of destruction, and most of all a countless series of references to movies, video games, and cartoons that you probably love. Witnessing what characters will pop up, when, and how they’ll be utilized is half of what makes Ready Player One so fun; it’s like a big budget version of South Park’s Imaginationland.
You either love or hate what Steven Spielberg has accomplished as a filmmaker, but it’s difficult not to admit that Ready Player One is a hell of a lot of fun even if you have some issues with the film. Spielberg has this cliche quality to him that is completely overbearing at times and he isn’t able to escape that aspect of his filmmaking with Ready Player One, but there’s enough of an entertaining and nostalgic value combined with not knowing who’s going to pop up next and some incredible cinematography highlighted by fluid yet flashy special effects resulting in a film that will be exciting and fun for anyone who was ever or still is a rabid gamer or movie lover. Spielberg has crafted a surefire crowd-pleaser that is basically a two and a half hour sentimental plunge directly into your childhood.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Libertalia in Tabletop Games
Sep 5, 2019 (Updated Dec 2, 2019)
(Sung to the tune of “Rainbow Connection”) Why are there so many games about pirates? Why do I love them so much? (end music) Well I will tell you. Libertalia is one of the first pirate games I ever collected and played. I was finally able to introduce it to Laura recently and you can see by the ratings graphic that she really enjoyed it too. But why? It’s just another pirate game, right?
Libertalia pits the players against each other to become the wealthiest pirate captain by manipulating crew members and using their strengths to secure the almighty booty. The game takes place over three weeks, and each round of play is equal to one week. There are six playable days where captains will be selecting crew members to contribute their special abilities for gain and treachery to other captains.
DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly or from your FLGS. -T
To setup the game lay out all boards in the center of the table, choose which color pirate you would like to represent and take all corresponding color components, fill the booty spaces on the bottom of the ship board with enough booty tokens for one per player per box, and give each player ten doubloons worth of starting money. The youngest player now shuffles their deck thoroughly and deals themselves nine random cards. They player then reads out the numbers of cards they have drawn so that all players will have a matching hand of cards of the same numbers. Example: the youngest player draws 9 – 12 – 16 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 25 – 29. Each player will remove those exact cards from their decks to form the matching starting hand. You are now ready to play!
All captains will simultaneously choose one card from their hand to play for the “day.” The youngest player collects all played cards and arranges them numerically from lowest to highest (with numbers in the gray box area breaking ties). The Day now begins with any Day time specific abilities triggering on cards that show the matching Day symbol beginning with the lowest numbered card and ending with the highest (we will call it “initiative” for the purposes of this review). It could be taking doubloons, or otherwise affecting other cards. Once complete, the booty tokens for that Day are claimed in reverse initiative order (highest to lowest) and Dusk abilities are triggered. When all captains are satisfied with their booty (or oftentimes NOT satisfied) any Night special abilities are triggered and performed as well as the Cutlass and Spanish General token abilities. Those that have been discarded (slain) are placed under the play mat on the left side (where one can find the graveyard), and all surviving pirates retire to the “Den” where they may still be of service at the end of the week or even end of the game. At the end of the sixth Day/Night any pirates alive in the Den with a Day of Rest anchor icon will trigger their special abilities. The youngest player then draws and relays the next six cards to setup the next round and you are off for week #2. Play continues in this way for six Days over three Weeks.
Components. The game has a fair amount of different components, but they are all quite good. The punchboard components (boards, booty tokens, doubloons) are all a good thickness and quality. They look so good that my 3-year-old son wanted to play with them and add them to his gold doubloon collection. Yes, he has a gold doubloon collection in a treasure box. The cards and play mats are of good quality too. The art on this game is absolutely stellar. It is so realistic and wonderful that you actually get caught up in the piratey theme and wanting to score that sweet booty. (I’m done with the booty jokes I think)
So this was my first pirate board game I ever purchased, and I obviously still have it in my collection, so it’s good right? Absolutely! This is one of the best pirate-themed games I have ever played and I am certainly not alone. As of today Libertalia is ranked #2 in pirate themed games on BGG by rank (I believe Friday is disqualified because that’s not really a pirate game to me). The interplay between the pirates you can choose in your limited hand each round, but captains may choose different combinations of pirates to use each hand and each round that you sometimes forget that they had not yet used their Surgeon, and this is such a great time for them to use it. Bloody sneaky powder monkey!
Libertalia is that rare game that you instantly fall in love with, and when you try to share your love of it with others, you can see their eyes light up over the brilliance of design and deep appreciation of the art and components. If I ever get into seriously blinging out my games, you better believe Libertalia will be one of the first I treat. Purple Phoenix Games gives Libertalia a buccaneer’s loot of 21 / 24.
Libertalia pits the players against each other to become the wealthiest pirate captain by manipulating crew members and using their strengths to secure the almighty booty. The game takes place over three weeks, and each round of play is equal to one week. There are six playable days where captains will be selecting crew members to contribute their special abilities for gain and treachery to other captains.
DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly or from your FLGS. -T
To setup the game lay out all boards in the center of the table, choose which color pirate you would like to represent and take all corresponding color components, fill the booty spaces on the bottom of the ship board with enough booty tokens for one per player per box, and give each player ten doubloons worth of starting money. The youngest player now shuffles their deck thoroughly and deals themselves nine random cards. They player then reads out the numbers of cards they have drawn so that all players will have a matching hand of cards of the same numbers. Example: the youngest player draws 9 – 12 – 16 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 25 – 29. Each player will remove those exact cards from their decks to form the matching starting hand. You are now ready to play!
All captains will simultaneously choose one card from their hand to play for the “day.” The youngest player collects all played cards and arranges them numerically from lowest to highest (with numbers in the gray box area breaking ties). The Day now begins with any Day time specific abilities triggering on cards that show the matching Day symbol beginning with the lowest numbered card and ending with the highest (we will call it “initiative” for the purposes of this review). It could be taking doubloons, or otherwise affecting other cards. Once complete, the booty tokens for that Day are claimed in reverse initiative order (highest to lowest) and Dusk abilities are triggered. When all captains are satisfied with their booty (or oftentimes NOT satisfied) any Night special abilities are triggered and performed as well as the Cutlass and Spanish General token abilities. Those that have been discarded (slain) are placed under the play mat on the left side (where one can find the graveyard), and all surviving pirates retire to the “Den” where they may still be of service at the end of the week or even end of the game. At the end of the sixth Day/Night any pirates alive in the Den with a Day of Rest anchor icon will trigger their special abilities. The youngest player then draws and relays the next six cards to setup the next round and you are off for week #2. Play continues in this way for six Days over three Weeks.
Components. The game has a fair amount of different components, but they are all quite good. The punchboard components (boards, booty tokens, doubloons) are all a good thickness and quality. They look so good that my 3-year-old son wanted to play with them and add them to his gold doubloon collection. Yes, he has a gold doubloon collection in a treasure box. The cards and play mats are of good quality too. The art on this game is absolutely stellar. It is so realistic and wonderful that you actually get caught up in the piratey theme and wanting to score that sweet booty. (I’m done with the booty jokes I think)
So this was my first pirate board game I ever purchased, and I obviously still have it in my collection, so it’s good right? Absolutely! This is one of the best pirate-themed games I have ever played and I am certainly not alone. As of today Libertalia is ranked #2 in pirate themed games on BGG by rank (I believe Friday is disqualified because that’s not really a pirate game to me). The interplay between the pirates you can choose in your limited hand each round, but captains may choose different combinations of pirates to use each hand and each round that you sometimes forget that they had not yet used their Surgeon, and this is such a great time for them to use it. Bloody sneaky powder monkey!
Libertalia is that rare game that you instantly fall in love with, and when you try to share your love of it with others, you can see their eyes light up over the brilliance of design and deep appreciation of the art and components. If I ever get into seriously blinging out my games, you better believe Libertalia will be one of the first I treat. Purple Phoenix Games gives Libertalia a buccaneer’s loot of 21 / 24.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Their Finest (2017) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
Keep Calm and Carry on Writing.
In a well-mined category, “Their Finest” is a World War 2 comedy/drama telling a tale I haven’t seen told before: the story behind the British Ministry of Information and their drive to produce propaganda films that support morale and promote positive messages in a time of national crisis. For it is 1940 and London is under nightly attack by the Luftwaffe during the time known as “The Blitz”. Unfortunately the Ministry is run by a bunch of toffs, and their output is laughably misaligned with the working class population, and especially the female population: with their husbands fighting overseas, these two groups are fast becoming one and the same. For women are finding and enjoying new empowerment and freedom in being socially unshackled from the kitchen sink.
The brave crew of the Nancy Starling. Bill Nighy as Uncle Frank, with twins Lily and Francesca Knight as the Starling sisters.
Enter Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton, “The Girl with all the Gifts“) who is one such woman arriving to a dangerous London from South Wales to live with struggling disabled artist Ellis (Jack Huston, grandson of John Huston). Catrin, stretching the truth a little, brings a stirring ‘true’ tale of derring-do about the Dunkirk evacuation to the Ministry’s attention. She is then employed to “write the slop” (the woman’s dialogue) in the writing team headed by spiky Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin, “Me Before You“).
One of the stars of the film within the film is ‘Uncle Frank’ played by the aging but charismatic actor Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy, “Dad’s Army“, “Love Actually”). Catrin proves her worth by pouring oil on troubled waters as the army insist on the introduction of an American airman (Jake Lacy, “Carol“) to the stressful mix. An attraction builds between Catrin and Tom, but how will the love triangle resolve itself? (For a significant clue see the “Spoiler Section” below the trailer, but be warned that this is a major spoiler!).
As you might expect if you’ve seen the trailer the film is, in the main, warm and funny with Gemma Arterton just gorgeously huggable as the determined young lady trying to make it in a misogynistic 40’s world of work. Arterton is just the perfect “girl next door”: (sigh… if I was only 20 years younger and unattached!) But mixed in with the humour and the romantic storyline is a harsh sprinkling of the trials of war and not a little heartbreak occurs. This is at least a 5 tissue movie.
Claflin, who is having a strong year with appearances in a wide range of films, is also eminently watchable. One of his best scenes is a speech with Arterton about “why people love the movies”, a theory that the film merrily and memorably drives a stake through the heart of!
Elsewhere Lacy is hilarious as the hapless airman with zero acting ability; Helen McCrory (“Harry Potter”) as Sophie Smith vamps it up wonderfully as the potential Polish love interest for Hilliard; Richard E Grant (“Logan“) and Jeremy Irons (“The Lion King”, “Die Hard: with a Vengeance”) pop up in useful cameos and Eddie Marsan (“Sherlock Holmes”) is also touching as Hilliard’s long-suffering agent.
But it is Bill Nighy’s Hilliard who carries most of the wit and humour of the film with his pompous thespian persona, basking in the dwindling glory of a much loved series of “Inspector Lynley” films. With his pomposity progressively warming under the thawing effect of Sophie and Catrin, you have to love him! Bill Nighy is, well, Bill Nighy. Hugh Grant gets it (unfairly) in the neck for “being Hugh Grant” in every film, but this pales in comparison with Nighy’s performances! But who cares: his kooky delivery is just delightful and he is a national treasure!
Slightly less convincing for me was Rachael Stirling’s role as a butch ministry busybody with more than a hint of the lesbian about her. Stirling’s performance in the role is fine, but would this really have been so blatant in 1940’s Britain? This didn’t really ring true for me.
While the film gamely tries to pull off London in the Blitz the film’s limited budget (around £25m) makes everything feel a little underpowered and ’empty’: a few hundred more extras in the Underground/Blitz scenes for example would have helped no end. However, the special effects crew do their best and the cinematography by Sebastian Blenkov (“The Riot Club”) suitably conveys the mood: a scene where Catrin gets caught in a bomb blast outside a clothes shop is particularly moving.
As with all comedy dramas, sometimes the bedfellows lie uncomfortably with each other, and a couple of plot twists: one highly predictable; one shockingly unpredictable make this a non-linear watch. This rollercoaster of a script by Gaby Chiappe, in an excellent feature film debut (she actually also has a cameo in the propaganda “carrot film”!), undeniably adds interest and makes the film more memorable. However (I know from personal experience) that the twist did not please everyone in the audience!
Despite its occasionally uneven tone, this is a really enjoyable watch (particularly for more mature audiences) and Danish director Lone Scherfig finally has a vehicle that matches the quality of her much praised Carey Mulligan vehicle “An Education”.
The brave crew of the Nancy Starling. Bill Nighy as Uncle Frank, with twins Lily and Francesca Knight as the Starling sisters.
Enter Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton, “The Girl with all the Gifts“) who is one such woman arriving to a dangerous London from South Wales to live with struggling disabled artist Ellis (Jack Huston, grandson of John Huston). Catrin, stretching the truth a little, brings a stirring ‘true’ tale of derring-do about the Dunkirk evacuation to the Ministry’s attention. She is then employed to “write the slop” (the woman’s dialogue) in the writing team headed by spiky Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin, “Me Before You“).
One of the stars of the film within the film is ‘Uncle Frank’ played by the aging but charismatic actor Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy, “Dad’s Army“, “Love Actually”). Catrin proves her worth by pouring oil on troubled waters as the army insist on the introduction of an American airman (Jake Lacy, “Carol“) to the stressful mix. An attraction builds between Catrin and Tom, but how will the love triangle resolve itself? (For a significant clue see the “Spoiler Section” below the trailer, but be warned that this is a major spoiler!).
As you might expect if you’ve seen the trailer the film is, in the main, warm and funny with Gemma Arterton just gorgeously huggable as the determined young lady trying to make it in a misogynistic 40’s world of work. Arterton is just the perfect “girl next door”: (sigh… if I was only 20 years younger and unattached!) But mixed in with the humour and the romantic storyline is a harsh sprinkling of the trials of war and not a little heartbreak occurs. This is at least a 5 tissue movie.
Claflin, who is having a strong year with appearances in a wide range of films, is also eminently watchable. One of his best scenes is a speech with Arterton about “why people love the movies”, a theory that the film merrily and memorably drives a stake through the heart of!
Elsewhere Lacy is hilarious as the hapless airman with zero acting ability; Helen McCrory (“Harry Potter”) as Sophie Smith vamps it up wonderfully as the potential Polish love interest for Hilliard; Richard E Grant (“Logan“) and Jeremy Irons (“The Lion King”, “Die Hard: with a Vengeance”) pop up in useful cameos and Eddie Marsan (“Sherlock Holmes”) is also touching as Hilliard’s long-suffering agent.
But it is Bill Nighy’s Hilliard who carries most of the wit and humour of the film with his pompous thespian persona, basking in the dwindling glory of a much loved series of “Inspector Lynley” films. With his pomposity progressively warming under the thawing effect of Sophie and Catrin, you have to love him! Bill Nighy is, well, Bill Nighy. Hugh Grant gets it (unfairly) in the neck for “being Hugh Grant” in every film, but this pales in comparison with Nighy’s performances! But who cares: his kooky delivery is just delightful and he is a national treasure!
Slightly less convincing for me was Rachael Stirling’s role as a butch ministry busybody with more than a hint of the lesbian about her. Stirling’s performance in the role is fine, but would this really have been so blatant in 1940’s Britain? This didn’t really ring true for me.
While the film gamely tries to pull off London in the Blitz the film’s limited budget (around £25m) makes everything feel a little underpowered and ’empty’: a few hundred more extras in the Underground/Blitz scenes for example would have helped no end. However, the special effects crew do their best and the cinematography by Sebastian Blenkov (“The Riot Club”) suitably conveys the mood: a scene where Catrin gets caught in a bomb blast outside a clothes shop is particularly moving.
As with all comedy dramas, sometimes the bedfellows lie uncomfortably with each other, and a couple of plot twists: one highly predictable; one shockingly unpredictable make this a non-linear watch. This rollercoaster of a script by Gaby Chiappe, in an excellent feature film debut (she actually also has a cameo in the propaganda “carrot film”!), undeniably adds interest and makes the film more memorable. However (I know from personal experience) that the twist did not please everyone in the audience!
Despite its occasionally uneven tone, this is a really enjoyable watch (particularly for more mature audiences) and Danish director Lone Scherfig finally has a vehicle that matches the quality of her much praised Carey Mulligan vehicle “An Education”.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Abyss in Tabletop Games
Aug 5, 2021
I am not a great swimmer. For several years of my life I would avoid water at all costs. I have since grown to love it, but would still freak out a bit if a crab came towards me. I’m kind of a baby like that. I do so love underwater scenes and the wildlife, so I was bound to enjoy Abyss. Throw in some of the most amazing artwork in all of gaming and you have a hit, right?
Abyss is a push your luck, set collection, hand management, fantasy card drafting game for two to four players. In it players are attempting to gain the most Influence Points to rule the underwater kingdom by recruiting allies and Lords, and controlling locations. The game ends once a player recruits their seventh Lord or if the Lords cards run out before the Court can be refilled.
To setup, lay out the board, shuffle the Exploration cards (starfish backs) and place in the upper left corner. Shuffle the Lord cards (trident backs) and place the deck in the lower left corner. Reveal Lords to each of the spaces drawn to the right of the deck. This is the Court. Shuffle the Monster tokens and place in a messy pile near the board. Next to these place all the Key tokens. Display the Threat Tracker board with the Threat token on the first space. Shuffle the Location tiles into a stack and reveal the first one. Give each player a pearl in a shell cup and the game is ready to begin!
On a player’s turn they will follow the basic structure of Plotting at Court (by spending pearls to reveal more Lords), Taking One Action (by Exploring the Depths, Requesting Support from the Council, or Recruiting a Lord), and Controlling a Location.
Plotting at Court is simply paying pearls to reveal more Lords at Court.
The action choices begin with Exploring the Depths. This is the push your luck portion of the game where players will reveal cards from the top of the Exploration deck one by one, offer the card to their opponents for purchase (payable to the active player in pearls), and then deciding to continue or take into hand. These cards include members of five allied races of underwater species numbered in strength from one to five and monsters. Fighting monsters is an auto-win and the spoils are what is reflected on the Threat Tracker. If players decide to pass, they will move the Threat token down by one level and improve the treasure won when destroying a monster. Any allies that are undrafted will be sorted by family and placed on the appropriate space on the board.
To Request Support from the Council players will take the entire stack from one family on the board. Again, these are made up of the cards that were undrafted from previous Exploring the Depths actions.
Finally, Recruiting a Lord players will be spending their Exploration cards to combine strength values and family types to appease the Lords they wish to recruit. Players will analyze the strength needed on the bottom left of the Lord card along with the number and color of bubbles above the strength number to determine from which families cards will need to be paid. Lords will have special powers that can be used throughout the game until you use them to Control Locations.
Lords and monster tokens afford players keys, and once players accumulate three keys they MUST Control a Location. To Control a Location players will draft a face-up Location tile or draw one to four tiles and draft one of them. Also, players will sacrifice their Lords (and their special powers) to, well, lord over Locations as super powerful property managers. This is done by covering up the special Lord powers with the Location tiles.
Play continues in this fashion of quick turns until a player recruits their seventh Lord or if the Lords cards run out before the Court can be refilled during a Plot at Court action.
Components. As I mentioned in my open, Abyss boasts some of the most magnificent art ever to grace a board game. The aesthetic coupled with the theme makes for a gorgeous game on the table. The cardboard is all good quality and thick, the cards are good quality as well. The black plastic shells and pearls they hold are so nice to play with and I find myself rolling those pearls as fast as I can within the shells and inevitably spilling them everywhere.
The game play is also quite solid. I like drafting games quite a bit and this delivers a lot of drafting in different locations. You draft Exploration cards and Location tiles to beef up your mini empire. Using the Lords as special power cards but having to cover them up to help control a Location is a clever mechanic and helps with any sort of runaway leader issue. I did not touch on a couple rules because they can be a little confusing to new players (ie the affiliation of allies), but even new gamers can appreciate what Abyss does and how beautifully it accomplishes its task.
I cannot overstate how gorgeous this game is and how much I enjoy being able to pull it off the shelf and set it up to people who have never seen it. I mean, even just the box cover, which is a giant face and no text, is very impressive and helps set the tone for the dark but interesting experiences held within. Purple Phoenix Games gives Abyss a boding 14 / 18. Pick it up, post a picture of which box cover you received, and tag us in the post so we can compare.
Abyss is a push your luck, set collection, hand management, fantasy card drafting game for two to four players. In it players are attempting to gain the most Influence Points to rule the underwater kingdom by recruiting allies and Lords, and controlling locations. The game ends once a player recruits their seventh Lord or if the Lords cards run out before the Court can be refilled.
To setup, lay out the board, shuffle the Exploration cards (starfish backs) and place in the upper left corner. Shuffle the Lord cards (trident backs) and place the deck in the lower left corner. Reveal Lords to each of the spaces drawn to the right of the deck. This is the Court. Shuffle the Monster tokens and place in a messy pile near the board. Next to these place all the Key tokens. Display the Threat Tracker board with the Threat token on the first space. Shuffle the Location tiles into a stack and reveal the first one. Give each player a pearl in a shell cup and the game is ready to begin!
On a player’s turn they will follow the basic structure of Plotting at Court (by spending pearls to reveal more Lords), Taking One Action (by Exploring the Depths, Requesting Support from the Council, or Recruiting a Lord), and Controlling a Location.
Plotting at Court is simply paying pearls to reveal more Lords at Court.
The action choices begin with Exploring the Depths. This is the push your luck portion of the game where players will reveal cards from the top of the Exploration deck one by one, offer the card to their opponents for purchase (payable to the active player in pearls), and then deciding to continue or take into hand. These cards include members of five allied races of underwater species numbered in strength from one to five and monsters. Fighting monsters is an auto-win and the spoils are what is reflected on the Threat Tracker. If players decide to pass, they will move the Threat token down by one level and improve the treasure won when destroying a monster. Any allies that are undrafted will be sorted by family and placed on the appropriate space on the board.
To Request Support from the Council players will take the entire stack from one family on the board. Again, these are made up of the cards that were undrafted from previous Exploring the Depths actions.
Finally, Recruiting a Lord players will be spending their Exploration cards to combine strength values and family types to appease the Lords they wish to recruit. Players will analyze the strength needed on the bottom left of the Lord card along with the number and color of bubbles above the strength number to determine from which families cards will need to be paid. Lords will have special powers that can be used throughout the game until you use them to Control Locations.
Lords and monster tokens afford players keys, and once players accumulate three keys they MUST Control a Location. To Control a Location players will draft a face-up Location tile or draw one to four tiles and draft one of them. Also, players will sacrifice their Lords (and their special powers) to, well, lord over Locations as super powerful property managers. This is done by covering up the special Lord powers with the Location tiles.
Play continues in this fashion of quick turns until a player recruits their seventh Lord or if the Lords cards run out before the Court can be refilled during a Plot at Court action.
Components. As I mentioned in my open, Abyss boasts some of the most magnificent art ever to grace a board game. The aesthetic coupled with the theme makes for a gorgeous game on the table. The cardboard is all good quality and thick, the cards are good quality as well. The black plastic shells and pearls they hold are so nice to play with and I find myself rolling those pearls as fast as I can within the shells and inevitably spilling them everywhere.
The game play is also quite solid. I like drafting games quite a bit and this delivers a lot of drafting in different locations. You draft Exploration cards and Location tiles to beef up your mini empire. Using the Lords as special power cards but having to cover them up to help control a Location is a clever mechanic and helps with any sort of runaway leader issue. I did not touch on a couple rules because they can be a little confusing to new players (ie the affiliation of allies), but even new gamers can appreciate what Abyss does and how beautifully it accomplishes its task.
I cannot overstate how gorgeous this game is and how much I enjoy being able to pull it off the shelf and set it up to people who have never seen it. I mean, even just the box cover, which is a giant face and no text, is very impressive and helps set the tone for the dark but interesting experiences held within. Purple Phoenix Games gives Abyss a boding 14 / 18. Pick it up, post a picture of which box cover you received, and tag us in the post so we can compare.
Mothergamer (1549 KP) rated the PC version of Assassin's Creed: Origins in Video Games
Apr 3, 2019
I have been excited about Assassin's Creed Origins since I first heard about it so when I got my copy I began playing right away. The opening for the game is intense and introduces you to Bayek of Siwa, a Medjay (essentially a protector for the people of Egypt sanctioned by the Pharoh) and a bit later his wife Aya. The story starts with a sad event, but it clearly explains in that moment why and how the Brotherhood of Assassins were created. Playing as Bayek, there is an initial tutorial for what the game controls are and they're pretty great. The controls seem more streamlined to the point where my biggest complaint of getting stuck on things during parkour runs and jumps did not happen at all. It was a very welcome change.
Bayek of Siwa.
I did get the season pass and this is truly worth it because you get access to some great weapons, gear, and mounts. Having the season pass will also give you access to the two DLC chapters, The Hidden Ones and The Curse Of The Pharohs on their release dates. If you're part of the Ubisoft Club, you also get some cool rewards ranging from crafting materials to legendary weapons. This also includes the Altair and Ezio outfits. You can also earn a lot of the weapons and gear from doing side quests and daily quests.
Some of the rewards you get with Ubisoft Club.
Ancient Egypt is huge. This is truly an open world game and it is definitely in your interests to explore everything because there are a lot of interesting things to see and do. I took a long time getting to the main story because I was having fun just exploring and doing all the side quests. There are a ton of side quests which give you the needed experience points and give rewards ranging from weapons to mounts. It is a grind to a soft level cap of 40, but because the game is fun to play I never really noticed and I got to level 40 fairly quickly.
One of many great views in the game.
One of my favorite things in the game was the symbiotic relationship Bayek had with his eagle, Senu. When doing missions where you needed to locate a target you could call Senu and with the ability of eagle vision have Senu search the area and seeing the world from her perspective until you find the target. This was a very useful thing to have especially when scouting enemy forts so I could see how many people there actually were.
Senu scouting an area.
The skill tree for Bayek is easy to navigate and there are three sections to unlock skills; Hunter, Warrior, and Seer. Even after you hit the level cap you can still build up these skills as the experience points then go into the meter and when maxed each time, it rewards you with ability points which can be used to unlock skills. Bow Bearer is incredibly useful for the Hunter because it allows you to carry a bow for stealth and one for melee battles. Chain assassination is also useful because it can get you out of a sticky situation.
The skill map is easy to navigate.
You do get to play as Aya for some missions and it is fun to play as her because there are some ship battles with her as well. The ship battles controls are well done and I wish there had been a few more of them because they were exciting and I enjoyed them. I also wish there were more missions with Aya because she was a smart and brave woman and she was just as interesting a character as Bayek. There is normal sailing also and this helps with getting to other areas or finding a spot where treasure is hidden. You can dive into the water and find those treasures as well as other secrets like tunnels leading into hidden temples.
Sailing in the game is great fun.
The main story is excellent. I really liked Bayek and Aya because they were such interesting characters. I felt sad for their pain and a sense of vindication for them when they accomplished their goal. There are of course real historical people in the game like Cleopatra and they are involved in the story. I did feel the main story was a bit short, but I still enjoyed it a great deal. It answered a lot of the big questions such as how the Brotherhood was started and also gave hints about some of the assassins that followed after Bayek and Aya.
Once you're done with the main game, there are still things you can do. There are mini game events like chariot races at the Hippodrome or gladiator fights at the Cyrene Arena. Both are fun to do and give you a break from the main story and side quests in the game. The chariot controls do have a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of them it's a breeze. The gladiator fights have three rounds and then you unlock an elite mode which is just one challenging boss fight with the champion of each of those rounds. You can also compete with your friends for the best score.
Racing at the Hippodrome.
There are daily quests as well which you get from an NPC named Reda. The quests range from rescuing people to recovering stolen merchandise. When these are done, you get a reward from Reda usually a rare or legendary weapon. Sometimes you get a rare mount which comes in handy. You can take photos and share them with the photo share feature. This is a cool thing where you can use the controls to take a photo and share it with other players in the game. You can also avenge other players. If you find a fellow assassin that has been killed, it gives you a quest to find the perpetrators and you can exact revenge on them.
There is also the event Trial Of The Gods. Currently you can fight Anubis, the god of the dead. You should be level 40 for this fight because it's difficult otherwise. This is a great battle and once you defeat Anubis you get rewarded with a spiffy item. If you missed it, don't worry. There will be another chance to fight him and you will be able to fight other gods later on.
Battling the god Anubis.
Assassin's Creed Origins is an amazing adventure. The story is excellent, the side quests are fun, and there are so many beautiful things to see in this game. There is so much wonderful variety in the people, the voice acting, and the music. It is a joy to play and even after you're finished, there's still a lot of things you can do. I loved the game and and I can't wait to play more.
Bayek of Siwa.
I did get the season pass and this is truly worth it because you get access to some great weapons, gear, and mounts. Having the season pass will also give you access to the two DLC chapters, The Hidden Ones and The Curse Of The Pharohs on their release dates. If you're part of the Ubisoft Club, you also get some cool rewards ranging from crafting materials to legendary weapons. This also includes the Altair and Ezio outfits. You can also earn a lot of the weapons and gear from doing side quests and daily quests.
Some of the rewards you get with Ubisoft Club.
Ancient Egypt is huge. This is truly an open world game and it is definitely in your interests to explore everything because there are a lot of interesting things to see and do. I took a long time getting to the main story because I was having fun just exploring and doing all the side quests. There are a ton of side quests which give you the needed experience points and give rewards ranging from weapons to mounts. It is a grind to a soft level cap of 40, but because the game is fun to play I never really noticed and I got to level 40 fairly quickly.
One of many great views in the game.
One of my favorite things in the game was the symbiotic relationship Bayek had with his eagle, Senu. When doing missions where you needed to locate a target you could call Senu and with the ability of eagle vision have Senu search the area and seeing the world from her perspective until you find the target. This was a very useful thing to have especially when scouting enemy forts so I could see how many people there actually were.
Senu scouting an area.
The skill tree for Bayek is easy to navigate and there are three sections to unlock skills; Hunter, Warrior, and Seer. Even after you hit the level cap you can still build up these skills as the experience points then go into the meter and when maxed each time, it rewards you with ability points which can be used to unlock skills. Bow Bearer is incredibly useful for the Hunter because it allows you to carry a bow for stealth and one for melee battles. Chain assassination is also useful because it can get you out of a sticky situation.
The skill map is easy to navigate.
You do get to play as Aya for some missions and it is fun to play as her because there are some ship battles with her as well. The ship battles controls are well done and I wish there had been a few more of them because they were exciting and I enjoyed them. I also wish there were more missions with Aya because she was a smart and brave woman and she was just as interesting a character as Bayek. There is normal sailing also and this helps with getting to other areas or finding a spot where treasure is hidden. You can dive into the water and find those treasures as well as other secrets like tunnels leading into hidden temples.
Sailing in the game is great fun.
The main story is excellent. I really liked Bayek and Aya because they were such interesting characters. I felt sad for their pain and a sense of vindication for them when they accomplished their goal. There are of course real historical people in the game like Cleopatra and they are involved in the story. I did feel the main story was a bit short, but I still enjoyed it a great deal. It answered a lot of the big questions such as how the Brotherhood was started and also gave hints about some of the assassins that followed after Bayek and Aya.
Once you're done with the main game, there are still things you can do. There are mini game events like chariot races at the Hippodrome or gladiator fights at the Cyrene Arena. Both are fun to do and give you a break from the main story and side quests in the game. The chariot controls do have a bit of a learning curve, but once you get the hang of them it's a breeze. The gladiator fights have three rounds and then you unlock an elite mode which is just one challenging boss fight with the champion of each of those rounds. You can also compete with your friends for the best score.
Racing at the Hippodrome.
There are daily quests as well which you get from an NPC named Reda. The quests range from rescuing people to recovering stolen merchandise. When these are done, you get a reward from Reda usually a rare or legendary weapon. Sometimes you get a rare mount which comes in handy. You can take photos and share them with the photo share feature. This is a cool thing where you can use the controls to take a photo and share it with other players in the game. You can also avenge other players. If you find a fellow assassin that has been killed, it gives you a quest to find the perpetrators and you can exact revenge on them.
There is also the event Trial Of The Gods. Currently you can fight Anubis, the god of the dead. You should be level 40 for this fight because it's difficult otherwise. This is a great battle and once you defeat Anubis you get rewarded with a spiffy item. If you missed it, don't worry. There will be another chance to fight him and you will be able to fight other gods later on.
Battling the god Anubis.
Assassin's Creed Origins is an amazing adventure. The story is excellent, the side quests are fun, and there are so many beautiful things to see in this game. There is so much wonderful variety in the people, the voice acting, and the music. It is a joy to play and even after you're finished, there's still a lot of things you can do. I loved the game and and I can't wait to play more.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Tidal Blades; Heroes of the Reef in Tabletop Games
Apr 20, 2021
Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef (which I shall just call Tidal Blades from here on) is a very successful Kickstarter that funded in 45 minutes and raised over $780,000 with the campaign. I was lucky enough to be able to back this one when it went live, and the hype was REAL. The box is large and in charge, and setup and tear down takes about 14 years, but did I like this one? Dude. YES. We don’t rate Solo Chronicles, but this is a STRONG 6 from me.
DISCLAIMER: As this game is a giant and many reviewers are starting to tackle it using multiplayer rules, I decided I would talk about the differences between multiplayer and solo rules. This review is using the included Solo Mode rules.
Setup for the Solo Mode uses most of the setup rules for the multiplayer game with a few exceptions. In the Solo Mode the player will have one character to control and one Rival to beat. The Rival will need their player board and standee or mini (I have the Deluxe Edition, so it’s minis in my case). In addition, the player will also choose two other characters to be Allies, utilizing their ability cards and minis. The Allies and Rival will be placed on the Champion board ahead of the player to begin the game. The player wins by having more points than the Rival at the end of the game.
Quickly, here is Tidal Blades in a nutshell. Players are attempting to gather the greatest standing on the Champion board (like a VP track) and VP from Challenge cards gained. The players earn these cards by using Actions to move to islands, gather resources, fight monsters, perform boating maneuvers and tricks, and can increase the potential for each of these by upgrading their central board dials. Shells and Fruit are common resources, and each player starts with two Actions per turn. The game lasts four total Days (or phases with several turns in each), and players earn more Action discs on Day two and four. Every time the dice are rolled to complete Challenges a Danger Die is also rolled and can wound the player by forcing a discard of dice. Each Day players can refresh and upgrade used dice to better their skill and concentrate their abilities. After Day four the game ends and players count up points to declare a victor!
Here is how gameplay is slightly different from the multiplayer experience. The Rival always goes first. They will also have one more Action disc to use on their turn (unfair, right?). When they begin their turn, a Challenge card is drawn. Whichever Island is featured on the card is to where the Rival will travel. Once arrived, the amount of VP awarded on the card is how many spaces from the top of the Island the Rival will be placed. Depending upon which Island the Rival ends the Challenge card will then be placed under the Solo Mode mat and a special action taken. The special actions could be revealing and resolving a Plot card in Droska Ring (special to Solo Mode), removing Monster hits from the Fold in the Chronosseum, or moving the boat in Lamara Stadium. The Judge location also plays a role in special actions should the Rival land on the same Island as they are. Other special goodies await, but I will leave you to discover those.
On the player’s turn, if the player is tied with or ahead of their Allies on the Champion board, the player will be able to use the Allies on their turn. This is handled similar to having an extra Action disc on the player’s turn. Send the Ally to a location and reap the rewards. Otherwise, for the player, turns are the same.
Components. Let me tell you: if you have the extra money to splurge for the Deluxe Edition, DO IT. The minis are amazing, the plastic shells are awesome, and those squishy fruit are so perfect! Obviously the game is perfectly playable and enjoyable with the basic components, but the improved bits are really something special. The cardboard everything is great, the GameTrayz inserts are incredible, and the art and colors are simply magical. I cannot say enough excellent things about what comes in this massive box. Druid City Games and Skybound Tabletop got everything right with this one.
It should be no surprise that I am in love with this game. Yes, it’s a Solo Chronicles, and I played by myself. I get that. Eventually I will be able to play this with others and by then I will be so engrossed in the lore that I will have no problems hyping up my playmates. Tidal Blades is an absolutely gorgeous game with so much going on that I don’t think I will ever tire of it. The game lasts four days but I wish it were a month because I just want to keep playing! The decisions to be made are all wonderfully delicious and there always seems to be too few on your turn. Yes, I know that sounds like all worker placement games, but it is especially true here. Almost every spot on the board gives immediate benefits that can be used, so even when a location is occupied, there will always be another of equal importance to your character. It’s so good.
Like I said before, I love the art and colors used. This is a stunner of a game on the table. It does take up quite a bit of room, especially if you use the arena dice tray (which I didn’t because I play at night when the kids are asleep and a hard plastic dice tray wakes up children). I count myself lucky to have the Deluxe Edition as well because those upgraded bits really make the game feel deluxe and fancy.
The Solo Mode is very good, and at least for me, very difficult to win. The combination I used for this review was playing as Axl against my Rival Caiman. Obviously switching out characters and using different Allies will change up the feel a bit, and I really cannot wait to try out all the permutations. When a game begs you to play it as often as you can and you look at it lovingly on your shelf, you know you have a Top 10 game, and a treasure in your collection.
DISCLAIMER: As this game is a giant and many reviewers are starting to tackle it using multiplayer rules, I decided I would talk about the differences between multiplayer and solo rules. This review is using the included Solo Mode rules.
Setup for the Solo Mode uses most of the setup rules for the multiplayer game with a few exceptions. In the Solo Mode the player will have one character to control and one Rival to beat. The Rival will need their player board and standee or mini (I have the Deluxe Edition, so it’s minis in my case). In addition, the player will also choose two other characters to be Allies, utilizing their ability cards and minis. The Allies and Rival will be placed on the Champion board ahead of the player to begin the game. The player wins by having more points than the Rival at the end of the game.
Quickly, here is Tidal Blades in a nutshell. Players are attempting to gather the greatest standing on the Champion board (like a VP track) and VP from Challenge cards gained. The players earn these cards by using Actions to move to islands, gather resources, fight monsters, perform boating maneuvers and tricks, and can increase the potential for each of these by upgrading their central board dials. Shells and Fruit are common resources, and each player starts with two Actions per turn. The game lasts four total Days (or phases with several turns in each), and players earn more Action discs on Day two and four. Every time the dice are rolled to complete Challenges a Danger Die is also rolled and can wound the player by forcing a discard of dice. Each Day players can refresh and upgrade used dice to better their skill and concentrate their abilities. After Day four the game ends and players count up points to declare a victor!
Here is how gameplay is slightly different from the multiplayer experience. The Rival always goes first. They will also have one more Action disc to use on their turn (unfair, right?). When they begin their turn, a Challenge card is drawn. Whichever Island is featured on the card is to where the Rival will travel. Once arrived, the amount of VP awarded on the card is how many spaces from the top of the Island the Rival will be placed. Depending upon which Island the Rival ends the Challenge card will then be placed under the Solo Mode mat and a special action taken. The special actions could be revealing and resolving a Plot card in Droska Ring (special to Solo Mode), removing Monster hits from the Fold in the Chronosseum, or moving the boat in Lamara Stadium. The Judge location also plays a role in special actions should the Rival land on the same Island as they are. Other special goodies await, but I will leave you to discover those.
On the player’s turn, if the player is tied with or ahead of their Allies on the Champion board, the player will be able to use the Allies on their turn. This is handled similar to having an extra Action disc on the player’s turn. Send the Ally to a location and reap the rewards. Otherwise, for the player, turns are the same.
Components. Let me tell you: if you have the extra money to splurge for the Deluxe Edition, DO IT. The minis are amazing, the plastic shells are awesome, and those squishy fruit are so perfect! Obviously the game is perfectly playable and enjoyable with the basic components, but the improved bits are really something special. The cardboard everything is great, the GameTrayz inserts are incredible, and the art and colors are simply magical. I cannot say enough excellent things about what comes in this massive box. Druid City Games and Skybound Tabletop got everything right with this one.
It should be no surprise that I am in love with this game. Yes, it’s a Solo Chronicles, and I played by myself. I get that. Eventually I will be able to play this with others and by then I will be so engrossed in the lore that I will have no problems hyping up my playmates. Tidal Blades is an absolutely gorgeous game with so much going on that I don’t think I will ever tire of it. The game lasts four days but I wish it were a month because I just want to keep playing! The decisions to be made are all wonderfully delicious and there always seems to be too few on your turn. Yes, I know that sounds like all worker placement games, but it is especially true here. Almost every spot on the board gives immediate benefits that can be used, so even when a location is occupied, there will always be another of equal importance to your character. It’s so good.
Like I said before, I love the art and colors used. This is a stunner of a game on the table. It does take up quite a bit of room, especially if you use the arena dice tray (which I didn’t because I play at night when the kids are asleep and a hard plastic dice tray wakes up children). I count myself lucky to have the Deluxe Edition as well because those upgraded bits really make the game feel deluxe and fancy.
The Solo Mode is very good, and at least for me, very difficult to win. The combination I used for this review was playing as Axl against my Rival Caiman. Obviously switching out characters and using different Allies will change up the feel a bit, and I really cannot wait to try out all the permutations. When a game begs you to play it as often as you can and you look at it lovingly on your shelf, you know you have a Top 10 game, and a treasure in your collection.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Trogdor!!: The Board Game in Tabletop Games
Aug 8, 2019
I cannot possible explain to you how many hours of my college career were spent LMBO at the homestarrunner.com website. Teen Girl Squad. Strong Bad E-mails. The incredible Halloween episodes. If you know what I’m talking about, I hope you enjoyed some sense of beautiful nostalgia just now. So when I saw that someone was making a board game based on a secondary (or a thirdedary) character from one of my favorite websites from my not-so-youth I knew it would be mine someday. That day has come and I am here to report my thoughts on Trogdor!! The Board Game.
Trogdor!! The Board Game, which I’m just gonna start calling Trogdor!!, is a cooperative area burninating puzzle adventure game for only the coolest of the cool. The twist on this game, if you are unfamiliar with Trogdor or Homsar, is that the players are all essentially cultists who assist Trogdor to burninate the countryside, all the cottages, and chomp the peasants or send them to the Void.
DISCLAIMER: Though this was Kickstarted, I did not splurge on the deluxe version, so I have the meepled version and it does just fine. Furthermore, I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly or from your FLGS. -T
To setup the game (and I found this part tedious) lay out the countryside tiles according to one of the suggested layouts in the back of the rule book or simply wherever you want in a 5×5 grid. This is your game board now. Also place out the thatched-roof cottages, peasants, knights, and archers. Trogdor starts the game in the middle tile, prepped for his burnination run. Each player also receives a Keeper of Trogdor persona card that provides special abilities, an item card that can be used during play, and an action card that determines how many action points a player may use as well as possibly special abilities to use for the turn. Troghammer starts the game on the Trog-meter, ready to come onto the board to wreak hammery havoc on our hero.
A turn consists of two phases. The first phase has the current player drawing an action card which intimates the number of action points (AP) the player can use for actions: Move Trogdor one space orthogonally, Chomp a peasant to increase health, Burninate a tile/cottage/peasant, Burrow into a tunnel and pop out the other side, or Hide in the mountains. Movement is easy: move Trogdor one space per AP you’d like to spend. Chomping requires Trogdor to be on the same tile as a peasant, but then you can chow down on them to increase our deity’s health bar. Burninating also requires Trogdor to be on the same tile as the tile/cottage/peasant you want to burninate. The Lake tile has special burninating rules, as do thatched-roof cottages. I will also allow you to learn about burninating peasants on your own, as it is pretty amazing. Burrowing requires Trogdor to be on a tunnel tile and spend an AP to teleport to the other tunnel (a la Small World). Trogdor may also simply Hide on a mountain tile to be protected from the attackers that act during the next phase. If players to not like either the action card they were dealt or the card they drew, they may simply discard a card to take their turn with 5 AP and no special abilities.
The next phase is where the board elements do their thang. The active player will draw and play a movement card. From instructions on this card the board may spawn more peasants, will move the peasants, will move the knights and also archers. Peasants do not fight Trogdor, but they can possibly repair burninated tiles. Knights WILL hurt Trogdor whenever they pass through or end their turn on the same tile as Trogdor. Knights will also automatically repair any burninated thatched-roof cottages they pass through. Troghammer is a special knight who only comes into play once Trogdor is hurt the first time. Archers will attack an entire column or row depending on which direction they were traveling when they ended their movement. If Trogdor still has peasants on the Trog-meter (representing health), then the next player takes their turn. If Trogdor has no more health and he is hit again, he enters a fiery RAGE! I will let you discover what happens during this event also.
The players win when all the tiles, cottages, and peasants have been burninated or eliminated from the board. They lose when Trogdor is defeated and they have not completed their victory conditions.
Components. It’s always so hard to really know exactly what you will be receiving when you Kickstart a game. Especially from a company not known for board games, and which has never produced a board game. So, I was anticipating something entirely different as I was opening my box. This is what I received: excellent tiles with UV spot on each side (super fancy!). I usually don’t care about UV spot anywhere on my game, but that seems to be en vogue now, so I’ll just try to enjoy it when I can. The other cardboard bits are great too. The cards are of great quality, but I went ahead and sleeved the action and movement cards since I knew they would be handled quite a bit. The Trogeeples (jeez) all are of great quality, and I really appreciate the additional Trogdor meeples included. I had a big chuckle about that. The artwork is comical (like in a comic) and I also appreciated all the Strong Bad enhancements as well. The only negative I have about the components of the game is the ridiculous thin box of air that was included as a buffer near the insert. I threw it out, put my sleeved action and movement cards in a plastic deck box in its place and now I’m much happier.
Overall, I had such a blast playing this game. Is it mostly due to nostalgia and reverie? Perhaps. But, Bryan was playing this with us and he didn’t know anything about Trogdor or Homestar Runner. He also really enjoyed the game, so I think the level of familiarity doesn’t matter. Obviously I did not explain EVERY rule to the game, but hopefully by my quick description my readers get a good idea of how the game plays. I can honestly say that I love love love this game and will treasure it always. If/when I see this at my FLGS I may just buy up all the copies to give as gifts. It’s really good. That’s why Purple Phoenix Games give this one an MSG’d 15 / 18. Oh, and you’re welcome for my holding back of all the quotes I COULD HAVE put in this review. I could have really earned my nerd card renewal.
Trogdor!! The Board Game, which I’m just gonna start calling Trogdor!!, is a cooperative area burninating puzzle adventure game for only the coolest of the cool. The twist on this game, if you are unfamiliar with Trogdor or Homsar, is that the players are all essentially cultists who assist Trogdor to burninate the countryside, all the cottages, and chomp the peasants or send them to the Void.
DISCLAIMER: Though this was Kickstarted, I did not splurge on the deluxe version, so I have the meepled version and it does just fine. Furthermore, I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly or from your FLGS. -T
To setup the game (and I found this part tedious) lay out the countryside tiles according to one of the suggested layouts in the back of the rule book or simply wherever you want in a 5×5 grid. This is your game board now. Also place out the thatched-roof cottages, peasants, knights, and archers. Trogdor starts the game in the middle tile, prepped for his burnination run. Each player also receives a Keeper of Trogdor persona card that provides special abilities, an item card that can be used during play, and an action card that determines how many action points a player may use as well as possibly special abilities to use for the turn. Troghammer starts the game on the Trog-meter, ready to come onto the board to wreak hammery havoc on our hero.
A turn consists of two phases. The first phase has the current player drawing an action card which intimates the number of action points (AP) the player can use for actions: Move Trogdor one space orthogonally, Chomp a peasant to increase health, Burninate a tile/cottage/peasant, Burrow into a tunnel and pop out the other side, or Hide in the mountains. Movement is easy: move Trogdor one space per AP you’d like to spend. Chomping requires Trogdor to be on the same tile as a peasant, but then you can chow down on them to increase our deity’s health bar. Burninating also requires Trogdor to be on the same tile as the tile/cottage/peasant you want to burninate. The Lake tile has special burninating rules, as do thatched-roof cottages. I will also allow you to learn about burninating peasants on your own, as it is pretty amazing. Burrowing requires Trogdor to be on a tunnel tile and spend an AP to teleport to the other tunnel (a la Small World). Trogdor may also simply Hide on a mountain tile to be protected from the attackers that act during the next phase. If players to not like either the action card they were dealt or the card they drew, they may simply discard a card to take their turn with 5 AP and no special abilities.
The next phase is where the board elements do their thang. The active player will draw and play a movement card. From instructions on this card the board may spawn more peasants, will move the peasants, will move the knights and also archers. Peasants do not fight Trogdor, but they can possibly repair burninated tiles. Knights WILL hurt Trogdor whenever they pass through or end their turn on the same tile as Trogdor. Knights will also automatically repair any burninated thatched-roof cottages they pass through. Troghammer is a special knight who only comes into play once Trogdor is hurt the first time. Archers will attack an entire column or row depending on which direction they were traveling when they ended their movement. If Trogdor still has peasants on the Trog-meter (representing health), then the next player takes their turn. If Trogdor has no more health and he is hit again, he enters a fiery RAGE! I will let you discover what happens during this event also.
The players win when all the tiles, cottages, and peasants have been burninated or eliminated from the board. They lose when Trogdor is defeated and they have not completed their victory conditions.
Components. It’s always so hard to really know exactly what you will be receiving when you Kickstart a game. Especially from a company not known for board games, and which has never produced a board game. So, I was anticipating something entirely different as I was opening my box. This is what I received: excellent tiles with UV spot on each side (super fancy!). I usually don’t care about UV spot anywhere on my game, but that seems to be en vogue now, so I’ll just try to enjoy it when I can. The other cardboard bits are great too. The cards are of great quality, but I went ahead and sleeved the action and movement cards since I knew they would be handled quite a bit. The Trogeeples (jeez) all are of great quality, and I really appreciate the additional Trogdor meeples included. I had a big chuckle about that. The artwork is comical (like in a comic) and I also appreciated all the Strong Bad enhancements as well. The only negative I have about the components of the game is the ridiculous thin box of air that was included as a buffer near the insert. I threw it out, put my sleeved action and movement cards in a plastic deck box in its place and now I’m much happier.
Overall, I had such a blast playing this game. Is it mostly due to nostalgia and reverie? Perhaps. But, Bryan was playing this with us and he didn’t know anything about Trogdor or Homestar Runner. He also really enjoyed the game, so I think the level of familiarity doesn’t matter. Obviously I did not explain EVERY rule to the game, but hopefully by my quick description my readers get a good idea of how the game plays. I can honestly say that I love love love this game and will treasure it always. If/when I see this at my FLGS I may just buy up all the copies to give as gifts. It’s really good. That’s why Purple Phoenix Games give this one an MSG’d 15 / 18. Oh, and you’re welcome for my holding back of all the quotes I COULD HAVE put in this review. I could have really earned my nerd card renewal.