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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Terror in Meeple City in Tabletop Games

Aug 6, 2019 (Updated Sep 23, 2021)  
Terror in Meeple City
Terror in Meeple City
2013 | Action, Horror
I don’t know about you, but one of my guilty pleasures is monster movies. Godzilla, King Kong, even the Jurassic Park franchise – if there are giant creatures terrorizing the world, chances are I’m going to love it. So when I heard of Terror in Meeple City (formerly known as Rampage, RIP), I knew I had to give it a try. Is the chance to embody one of these great monsters and wreak havoc on an innocent city as exciting as it seems? Or will your lack of dexterous ability result in a rampage? (See what I did there?)

Terror in Meeple City is a dexterity game of area movement and set collection in which players are trying to amass the most end-game Victory Points by devouring meeples, collecting building tiles, teeth, and by successfully completing their Character cards. To begin, setup the board as described in the rulebook, constructing buildings and placing meeples and vehicles accordingly. Each player receives a screen, Body (monster), and Paws (disc) in their chosen color, placing the Paws on the starting area closest to them. Players receive 4 Teeth tokens and are dealt a Character card, Power card, and Secret Superpower card. The Character and Power cards are visible to all players, and are permanent throughout the game – providing special abilities or scoring conditions for the end of the game. The Secret Superpower card is secret (duh) and revealed only when you are ready to use it – it is a one-time use in the game, and then discarded. Select a starting player, and the game is ready to begin!

On your turn, you will perform 2 of the following actions: Move, Demolish, Toss a Vehicle, or Breathe. You can perform the same action twice on your turn if you want! To Move, you will first take the Body of your monster off of the Paws disc. Using your finger, you will flick the Paws disc on the board, hopefully to end up where you wanted it! After a successful flick, put your Body back on the Paws. To Demolish, your Paws must be touching the sidewalk surrounding one of the buildings in the city. If that is the case, you can try to demolish that building – by picking up your Body, holding it over the appropriate building, and dropping it! In order to Toss a Vehicle, your monster must be located in the same neighborhood (area of the board) as a vehicle. Pick up the chosen vehicle, place it on top of your monster, and flick it! And finally, you can Breathe – place your chin on top of your monster, inhale, and then blow as hard as you can. While performing these actions, there may be some collateral damage, that could be beneficial or detrimental to you! If you knock down another monster on your turn, collect one of their Teeth and put it behind your screen. If after your action, there is a building tile with nothing on it (meeples, monsters, etc.) then you collect that tile behind your screen as well.


Once you have taken your 2 actions, it is time to Chow Down – eat as many accessible meeples in your same neighborhood as you have Teeth tokens left. Devoured meeples go into your stomach (behind the player screen). If at any point during your turn, any meeples end up fleeing the city (knocked off the board), they will be added, in order, to the Runaway Meeple board. Once a line on this board is filled, the active player suffers the negative consequence – so be careful not to scare off too many yummy meeple morsels! The game continues in this fashion until it ends in one of two ways. Either the last building tile is collected, everyone takes one last turn, and then VP are tallied. Or the final line of the Runaway Meeple board is filled, causing the player who filled it to lose, while everyone else counts up their VP. VP are earned for any Teeth collected, building tiles consumed, sets of meeples devoured, and any points earned from your Character card. The player with the most VP is the winner and is the greatest monster of the game!
So I know that sounds kind of chaotic – and at times it can be. But it is a light-hearted and silly game that engages all involved. The simplicity of the mechanics (flicking/blowing) are countered by the strategy required for success. Yes, by all means, go on a crazy rampage – but the goal is end-game VP, so how can you use all these moving components to your advantage? The strategy is there, with enough luck/randomness from a dexterity stand-point that it keeps the gameplay interesting. And it is just plain fun to play! Getting up to move around the board for a better angle, knocking over opponents accidentally (or on purpose!), and sending components flying across the board makes for an entertaining and engaging game. That being said, unless you are incredibly dextrous and can perfectly execute your desired actions, be prepared for some frustration when you whiff big on a flick.


Let’s talk components for a minute. They are pretty good in this game! The board and cardboard building tiles are all pretty sturdy, which is really necessary in a game where the components can take quite a beating. The wooden meeples and monster parts are thick and high quality as well! I take great pride in keeping my games in good condition, and even this one has withstood the test of time and plays. So, good production quality all around, if you ask me!
Is Terror in Meeple City my favorite game? No. But it’s one that I’m glad to have in my collection. It works well in so many situations – a gateway game, a light-hearted filler game, a game to get everyone up and moving, and a game that can be played with younger gamers as well. Although it’s not really a brain-burner or a game of high-level strategy, it’s one that still makes for a good time. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a 7 / 12. Give it a try if you’re itching to smash some stuff!
  
This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)
This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity, #1)
V.E. Schwab | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
The first few chapters can be a bit slow to get into, but the story does find its path fairly quickly and immediately became a favourite. I originally read the first five chapters via Epic Reads was intrigued by the premise although nothing much happened at the beginning. I finally got a chance to read the entire book and the idea of it is just fantastic. Our main characters live in a world in which sins and crimes beget monsters - creatures that terrorize the city and force the people to choose between two ways of life. In one half of the City, the leader lets the monsters roam freely but puts them under his control to a degree and sells his protection to the people for a high price. In the other half of the City, the leader has a militia-like group that keeps the City safe but not everyone wants to help out.

Our two main characters are Kate and August, although they are from opposite sides of Verity. Kate is the daughter of the leader of the north half of the City and wants to prove herself. She is strong and smart, but puts on a tougher front than she would have naturally because of who and where she is. August is different. August is a monster, a Sunai, a creature that can feed off you, your soul and your energy with just a few strains of music. But August is not all he appears and he is definitely my favourite character in the book.

There are three different types of monsters: Sunai, Malchai, and Corsai. Each is well developed and unique in the world that the author built. I think that the horror that she evokes in the reader makes the plight of the main characters that much more harrowing. You, of course, experience stress and fear as Kate and August fight for their lives. The world building continues as you experience life on each side of the city through the eyes of our main characters. I do hope to see further development in the second novel of the characters now that the foundation of the world and its players have been created.

The story was beautifully written and I was completely entranced. I was happily surprised by the lack of romance in this novel, as one could easily expect our two main characters to fall in love over the course of their harrowing journey (as happens in many YA novels.)

I would highly recommend it to young adult/teen readers who are fans of fantasy, dystopian, horror and any of V.E. Schwab's other work (despite them being in the adult age range and this being a young adult series.)