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Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Secrets
Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Secrets
2018 | Economic, Medieval
In the expansion review series, we take a look at a game expansion to discuss whether it is a necessary purchase/addition to one’s collection.

This breakdown is for the excellent bidding and castle building game Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and the expansion is named Secrets, from Bezier Games.


This expansion includes new starting Barbicans, Moats, Reference tiles, Swan tokens, Secret Passages, and a bunch of new Room tiles, all shown below.
Secrets adds several new large border tiles (Barbicans and Moats) that are somewhat the main features of this expansion along with the actual Secret Passages and Swans. The Barbicans replace the starting tiles, so each player begins the game with a fancy new drawbridge and foyer. The Moats, however, will be purchased during game play for 5000 marks and joined to the Barbican to begin creating a border within which the normal castle Room tiles may be placed. The Moats award three VP once built, and bonus VP for the number of rooms already built within the player’s castle.

The Secret Passages allow two rooms to be connected that otherwise may not have been. They are able to connect these ONLY at entrances to the rooms, and each player is given a set of them at setup.

Swans are present on the expansion Room tiles, and when they are added to the main contract bidding board a Swan token is placed upon it. The winner of the Room tile containing Swans collects the tokens and they can be used as money or as VP at the end of the game.

Is it necessary to own? Absolutely not. Castles of Mad King Ludwig is an amazing game without its expansion. However, if your games are getting a little samey or old (I don’t see how) then throwing in this expansion will certainly liven it up for you. Adding the components (which can fit in a medium sized baggie) is a breeze and they are mostly intuitive with their accompanying rules.

Official Recommendation: I love Castles of Mad King Ludwig. I also love the Secrets expansion. I think the expansion adds a few new and exciting layers to an already-kinda-crazy game that throws in much more strategy. As if connecting all those oddly-shaped Room tiles wasn’t strategic enough! I recommend you pick this up if you are a completionist, a true fan of the game, or are no longer finding the base game exciting.
  
Bullet Train (2022)
Bullet Train (2022)
2022 | Action, Thriller
8
7.3 (13 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I first got an extended look at “Bullet Train” during Cinemacon when a reel of the film was shown during the Sony showcase to an enthusiastic crowd. The footage mixed action and humor with quirky and dysfunctional characters and became a must-see film for me based on the teased footage.

The film is based on a book by Kotaro Isaka and stars Brad Pitt as an operative named Ladybug. He is called at the last minute as a replacement and given instructions to board a Bullet Train and snatch a case in one of the passenger areas before exiting at the next station.

Having gone through a recent crisis, Ladybug is awash in various philosophical and new age ideas as he attempts to find his inner peace and a new path in life, as such he does not take a gun with him when he boards despite being instructed to do so by his handler.

The train is filled with various killers and dangerous people who are there to accomplish various goals and most of whom fail frequently in violent and hysterical manners which further complicate their agendas as well as that of the others and often puts them into conflict with one another as the story unfolds.

It would be difficult to go into further detail on the various characters without spoiling some of the reveals and twists along the way but suffice it to say that Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry as Tangerine and Lemon are great and their banter, as well as capers, is a frequent highlight.

There are some surprise cameos in the film which add to the fun and Joey King is as great as perhaps one of the more complicated characters in the film. Pitt is clearly the star but the film allows him as well as his supporting cast plenty of moments to shine and the humor flies fast and frequent as does the action which creates a very engaging and stylistic hybrid of western and Asian cinema.

The film does drag slightly late before leading to the finale but thanks to the great cast and action it comes through in the end.

Director David Leitch has worked on films such as “Deadpool 2”, “Atomic Blonde”, and “John Wick: and you can see that he has a knack for directing action and comedy as this is a very fun and engaging film that has some great action and humor and one that you will not want to miss.

4 stars out of 5.