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9 Clues: The Ward HD (Full)
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70 % OFF - LIMITED TIME OFFER! Don’t miss out! Plunge into the creepiest edition yet in the...
Monumental
Tabletop Game
In Monumental, each player will control a civilization that will evolve through his city: a grid of...
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Blue Moon City in Tabletop Games
Aug 27, 2021
Ahh Blue Moon. Delicious on a hot Summer day night. Hefeweizen is my favorite type of beer, but most places do not serve my all-time fave Hefe: Paulaner Hefe-Weizen. If you haven’t yet tried it, you must. I’m no snob or anything, so I’ll take the Blue Moon when I can’t have the Paulaner, but I wanted you all to know my tastes. So when I heard about a game that was all about a city named after a beer I enjoy (but only with an orange slice) I had to try it. Did it live up to my expectations or did it- wait, this game isn’t about beer? Why the heck did I-
Blue Moon City is a fantasy-set, hand management, set collection, city rebuilding game for two to four players. In it players are attempting to help reconstruct the war-ravaged Blue Moon City to its former glory by utilizing its citizens at crucial construction sites in order to earn crystals. It sounds weird, and it is, but read further to understand why. Oh and there are dragons that act like supervisors or teachers when they come stand by you to watch you take a test and judge you from behind the whole time.
To setup, place the Courtyard tile in the middle of the table and build the city in a 5×5 grid minus the corner tiles. Each player chooses their color and takes the mini and discs of that color. Place the dragons nearby, along with the Obelisk token, draw deck of cards, crystal chits, and dragon scale chits. Deal each player a hand of eight cards and the game may begin!
Blue Moon City is played over a series of turns, and each turn is divided into four phases: Movement, Contribution, Reset, Pass Turn. During the optional Movement phase, a player may move their pawn one to two orthagonal spaces (N/E/S/W) or use cards from their hand for their special movement powers for player pawn AND/OR dragon movement.
Next, a player may discard cards from their hand to contribute to the reconstruction of a building during this optional Contribution phase. By discarding a number of cards whose values equal or exceed the printed value on the matching-colored building tile a player will be able to place a disc upon the tile. Once the tile’s contribution spaces have been filled with discs it can be scored. To score a building tile, determine majority presence on the tile and award the Majority Bonus to that player. Any disc presence in minority will receive the Construction Bonus, including the majority winner. If a player had contributed on a tile that also was hosting a dragon mini, that player would earn a dragon scale from said dragon supervisor. Players may also make their way back to the Courtyard tile in order to donate crystals to the Obelisk. Doing so will allow the player to place one of their discs on the Obelisk itself, and the game ends when a player has placed the proper number of discs upon the Obelisk per the number of players.
When the pile of dragon scale tokens has been exhausted, players will check who currently holds the majority of scales. They will be awarded with six crystals, and any player holding three or more will receive three crystals. Turn all the dragon scales back into the supply to be earned again.
During the Reset phase a player may discard any number of cards from their hand and draw back as many cards plus two. So if a player discards zero cards from hand they would still draw two from the deck. Discarded four cards? Well redraw six.
Finally the active player will Pass Turn to the player on their left, who will complete their turn of the same four phases.
Play continues in this fashion until one player has placed the target number of discs on the Obelisk token to claim victory and dragon approval!
Components. Okay, this is a tough one because overall I love the components in the game. The dragons and player pawns are cool minis (from CMON that just makes sense). The Obelisk token is huge and I love how it looks. The art overall is really creepy, but well done, and enjoyable to behold. The player discs, though poo-pooed by other more-renowned reviewers, I find to be just fine. They are a smooth plastic in the player color and I have no problems with their quality. But speaking of colors… I agree with others that have stated the colors of some cards (or suits, if you prefer) should have been made a different color. What I mean is that the game is very greige-heavy throughout. The card suits (except the red, yellow, and blue) are a variation of the same greige that makes eyes strain to determine exactly which color they are holding. I understand that a certain aesthetic was targeted, and they certainly achieved that, but these colors do make it more difficult to play, especially for us that are starting to over-ripen with age.
Those component gripes aside, this is an incredible game. The color choices aside, I love everything about it! The movement from tile to tile, and trying to align movement with the cards in hand and keeping some back so that you can use them to move the dragon to your spot as well is just fun mental exercise. Each value 1 and 2 card has a special ability, be it movement bonuses, changing other cards’ colors, or just being straight up wild cards, and having to choose to use the cards as either the special power or for contribution values creates tons of crunchy gamer choices. Not super-crunchy. Turns won’t be mentally debated for 10 minutes, but deciding how best to use the hand of cards you hold is great.
I also very much enjoy the theme of the game, even though I was hoodwinked by the title (not really, just trying to tie it all back). I love fantasy worlds and having a unique theme is a definite plus for me. I haven’t yet thrown in the expansion tiles, but I will the next time I play. If you need a relatively quick-playing jaunt through a ravaged city, I recommend you check out Blue Moon City. Purple Phoenix Games give it a 10 / 12. It has nothing to do with beer, which would be another great theme idea – drunken dragons – but I will be holding onto this one for quite a while.
Blue Moon City is a fantasy-set, hand management, set collection, city rebuilding game for two to four players. In it players are attempting to help reconstruct the war-ravaged Blue Moon City to its former glory by utilizing its citizens at crucial construction sites in order to earn crystals. It sounds weird, and it is, but read further to understand why. Oh and there are dragons that act like supervisors or teachers when they come stand by you to watch you take a test and judge you from behind the whole time.
To setup, place the Courtyard tile in the middle of the table and build the city in a 5×5 grid minus the corner tiles. Each player chooses their color and takes the mini and discs of that color. Place the dragons nearby, along with the Obelisk token, draw deck of cards, crystal chits, and dragon scale chits. Deal each player a hand of eight cards and the game may begin!
Blue Moon City is played over a series of turns, and each turn is divided into four phases: Movement, Contribution, Reset, Pass Turn. During the optional Movement phase, a player may move their pawn one to two orthagonal spaces (N/E/S/W) or use cards from their hand for their special movement powers for player pawn AND/OR dragon movement.
Next, a player may discard cards from their hand to contribute to the reconstruction of a building during this optional Contribution phase. By discarding a number of cards whose values equal or exceed the printed value on the matching-colored building tile a player will be able to place a disc upon the tile. Once the tile’s contribution spaces have been filled with discs it can be scored. To score a building tile, determine majority presence on the tile and award the Majority Bonus to that player. Any disc presence in minority will receive the Construction Bonus, including the majority winner. If a player had contributed on a tile that also was hosting a dragon mini, that player would earn a dragon scale from said dragon supervisor. Players may also make their way back to the Courtyard tile in order to donate crystals to the Obelisk. Doing so will allow the player to place one of their discs on the Obelisk itself, and the game ends when a player has placed the proper number of discs upon the Obelisk per the number of players.
When the pile of dragon scale tokens has been exhausted, players will check who currently holds the majority of scales. They will be awarded with six crystals, and any player holding three or more will receive three crystals. Turn all the dragon scales back into the supply to be earned again.
During the Reset phase a player may discard any number of cards from their hand and draw back as many cards plus two. So if a player discards zero cards from hand they would still draw two from the deck. Discarded four cards? Well redraw six.
Finally the active player will Pass Turn to the player on their left, who will complete their turn of the same four phases.
Play continues in this fashion until one player has placed the target number of discs on the Obelisk token to claim victory and dragon approval!
Components. Okay, this is a tough one because overall I love the components in the game. The dragons and player pawns are cool minis (from CMON that just makes sense). The Obelisk token is huge and I love how it looks. The art overall is really creepy, but well done, and enjoyable to behold. The player discs, though poo-pooed by other more-renowned reviewers, I find to be just fine. They are a smooth plastic in the player color and I have no problems with their quality. But speaking of colors… I agree with others that have stated the colors of some cards (or suits, if you prefer) should have been made a different color. What I mean is that the game is very greige-heavy throughout. The card suits (except the red, yellow, and blue) are a variation of the same greige that makes eyes strain to determine exactly which color they are holding. I understand that a certain aesthetic was targeted, and they certainly achieved that, but these colors do make it more difficult to play, especially for us that are starting to over-ripen with age.
Those component gripes aside, this is an incredible game. The color choices aside, I love everything about it! The movement from tile to tile, and trying to align movement with the cards in hand and keeping some back so that you can use them to move the dragon to your spot as well is just fun mental exercise. Each value 1 and 2 card has a special ability, be it movement bonuses, changing other cards’ colors, or just being straight up wild cards, and having to choose to use the cards as either the special power or for contribution values creates tons of crunchy gamer choices. Not super-crunchy. Turns won’t be mentally debated for 10 minutes, but deciding how best to use the hand of cards you hold is great.
I also very much enjoy the theme of the game, even though I was hoodwinked by the title (not really, just trying to tie it all back). I love fantasy worlds and having a unique theme is a definite plus for me. I haven’t yet thrown in the expansion tiles, but I will the next time I play. If you need a relatively quick-playing jaunt through a ravaged city, I recommend you check out Blue Moon City. Purple Phoenix Games give it a 10 / 12. It has nothing to do with beer, which would be another great theme idea – drunken dragons – but I will be holding onto this one for quite a while.
Kyera (8 KP) rated The Last Magician in Books
Jan 31, 2018
This was a brilliantly woven time-traveling, magical heist book and I didn't even know how much I wanted it in my life. The book is written from multiple perspectives, which took a couple of chapters to get used to (as I was listening to the audiobook and there weren't multiple narrators) but soon I recognized each character's unique voice and fell into the story. In general, the plot was not fast paced but Maxwell vibrantly painted the world our main character finds herself in.
Esta is an orphan and a thief who is tasked with going back in time to alter the events of a heist that occurred in 1904 New York City. New York City is a world of mages, people will unique affinities, like Esta's ability to manipulate the fabric of time. Esta herself is a likable main character and the lens through which we learn about the other characters. As she is also from our time period, she must occasionally readjust her worldview, actions or outward opinions to match those of the time. Despite the fact that she is a thief, we get to see her smart and sarcastic side as well as her stubborn determination.
Despite the large cast of characters, I felt that they were generally well-developed and had the time to grow. I really enjoyed getting to know Dolph as the multi-faceted head of a gang and Harte the magician that Esta has been warned against. The crew reminded me of the Dregs from Six of Crows at times, although they didn't have quite the same chemistry. It was still enjoyable to watch them, although I hope that the others in the gang are developed further because I would like to see more of their personalities or backstories.
There wasn't as much focus on the magic dynamics as I expected there to be, but I was so enamored by the characters and world-building that it wasn't noticeable. Maxwell did a fabulous job reconstructing New York City at the start of the twentieth century and I fell in love. Overall, I felt the book satisfyingly wrapped up most of the threads from the book and introduced a few more that can be explored in book two. I really enjoyed the read and cannot wait to see how it ends in the second book.
Esta is an orphan and a thief who is tasked with going back in time to alter the events of a heist that occurred in 1904 New York City. New York City is a world of mages, people will unique affinities, like Esta's ability to manipulate the fabric of time. Esta herself is a likable main character and the lens through which we learn about the other characters. As she is also from our time period, she must occasionally readjust her worldview, actions or outward opinions to match those of the time. Despite the fact that she is a thief, we get to see her smart and sarcastic side as well as her stubborn determination.
Despite the large cast of characters, I felt that they were generally well-developed and had the time to grow. I really enjoyed getting to know Dolph as the multi-faceted head of a gang and Harte the magician that Esta has been warned against. The crew reminded me of the Dregs from Six of Crows at times, although they didn't have quite the same chemistry. It was still enjoyable to watch them, although I hope that the others in the gang are developed further because I would like to see more of their personalities or backstories.
There wasn't as much focus on the magic dynamics as I expected there to be, but I was so enamored by the characters and world-building that it wasn't noticeable. Maxwell did a fabulous job reconstructing New York City at the start of the twentieth century and I fell in love. Overall, I felt the book satisfyingly wrapped up most of the threads from the book and introduced a few more that can be explored in book two. I really enjoyed the read and cannot wait to see how it ends in the second book.
Nightmares from the Deep™: Davy Jones, Collector's Edition HD (Full)
Games and Entertainment
App
Reveal Davy Jones’ darkest secrets and defeat the nefarious sea devil once and for all! Museum...
2GIS – Offline maps
Navigation and Travel
App
2GIS provides 3D-maps of 180+ cities, contacts of 1.5 million companies, car routing and public...
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Villages of Valeria in Tabletop Games
Jun 12, 2019
Oh, Valeria. How I do love thee! I have reviewed Valeria: Card Kingdoms (VCK) in the past and if you read that review you learned that it is my favorite game of all time (as of the date of this composition). I actually Kickstarted Villages of Valeria (VoV) before even playing VCK so this game was my introduction into the Valeriaverse. I feel obligated to publicly thank VoV for bringing me into one of my favorite gaming universes. But, how good IS this one?
In VoV you are a Duke/Duchess being charged by the King to found a new Capital City to replace the previous one that has been ravaged by the wars played out in VCK. The King has assigned you a castle to use as your HQ and expects the most enterprising Duke/Duchess to win the day by building the most flourishing village. Will you be able to create the resources necessary to build the most attractive buildings that adventurers will want to frequent? Or will you spend your time taxing your constituents to death?
DISCLAIMER: This review focuses on vanilla Villages of Valeria. We have all the released expansions and may do a review of them in the future. If we do, we will edit this review or link to the new review here. -T
VoV uses a handful of really great game mechanics that will be familiar to some gamers, but not intimidating enough to scare off new gamers, that really work well together to create an excellent gaming experience. I will address most of them here, but please do not use this review as a replacement for the rulebook, as I will not be addressing every single rule.
VoV is played over several rounds where every player will be taking a turn as the active player until someone has built the requisite number of buildings prescribed in the rulebook to trigger the end of the game. Each player starts with a castle card that provides a wild resource of your choice when you need to pay resources to build buildings on future turns. You are also given gold and a starting hand of cards in accordance with setup rules. Setup the decks of cards and create the offer rows for each and you are ready to play!
When you are the active player you will take an action from a list of five available actions: Harvest, Develop, Build, Recruit, and Tax. If you choose to Harvest on your turn you will draw three cards from either the face-up green building cards on the offer or blindly from the deck of green building cards. To Develop you will play a building card from your hand to the back of your castle, tucked underneath and upside down, to be used as the resources printed at the bottom of the card (wood, magic, stone, food). These resources are now available to be used for the build action (think of the brown and gray cards in 7 Wonders, if you’re familiar). When you take the Build action, you will be playing a building card from your hand to be built in the tableau in front of you. Since number of buildings is the end game trigger condition, you will be trying to build buildings as much as possible. All building cards have a cost printed on the left side of the card, and those costs will need to be paid for by using the gold you possess. You can use one gold on your own castle card as it provides a wild resource to you, and you can use one gold per card you have Developed previously for their resource benefit. You may even spend your gold to use an opponent’s resources (not their castle! – also akin to 7 Wonders neighbor resource purchasing). The catch here is that you lose that gold piece to your opponent, but they will not be able to use that resource until the beginning of their turn as active player. Most buildings will have benefits printed on them that either take effect immediately or when triggered by another action. When you Recruit an Adventurer, you are using your village’s buildings to attract them to your cause. Each Adventurer’s cost to recruit is printed on the side of the card, and these costs are paid by having the matching symbols on building cards in your village. Once recruited, these Adventurers can also enact conditional abilities similar to building cards, but usually will be advantages to final VP scores. By taking the Tax action you will take one gold from the bank and draw a building card from the offer or the deck.
Now this all seems pretty easy and I have only really mentioned one form of tension by blocking opponents’ use of their own resources if you spend a gold to use it on your turn. Since you reclaim all gold on your castle and resource cards in your village at the beginning of your turn this should cause no problems, right? Well, VoV also uses the follow mechanic that has been employed by other games previously. When you are the active player you choose which action you want to take on your turn, complete that action, and then the same action is offered to your opponents for them to take at a disadvantage. Example: I choose Tax as my action, so I take my gold and my card and my turn is over. Then, going around the table, each player can decide to follow my action but are only able to take a building card as a follow action. No gold. Each action has a Lead and Follow benefit, so you are always paying attention during the game, even on others’ turns because you might still benefit from the chosen actions.
Play continues like this with active player Lead actions and possible others’ Follow actions until someone triggers the end game condition. Then everyone completes the turn and VPs from all cards in your tableau are added (including gold pieces you collected). Most VPs wins the game of Villages of Valeria!
Components. Okay, I have to admit that I have the Kickstarter Deluxe version of this game so I am only speaking from experience with that version. The cards are of really good quality. The gold tokens and active player castle token are great, but the action tracker we found a bit cumbersome to use so we just, like, didn’t. The building tracker and castleeples are great as well. The art is by The Mico, and I just love his art style, so that’s a big positive for me. Overall, the components are really really nice.
So why do I love this game? Well, it’s really a mashup of mechanics that work well for me. I love the Lead/Follow mechanic. I love 7 Wonders, so borrowing some of those mechanics and nuances is a great fit for me. I absolutely LOVE The Mico’s artwork on every Valeria game. No two games of VoV will be alike because the amount of cards that come inside the box (and growing with every expansion) gives such a diverse gaming experience that I love playing. If you like any of the Valeria games and you have yet to try Villages of Valeria you MUST find a copy. You will be drawn in by the familiar feel of Valeria and mechanics from classic games that will surely delight. We at Purple Phoenix Games give this gem a bustling 20 / 24. Long live Valeria!
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/04/05/villages-of-valeria-review/
In VoV you are a Duke/Duchess being charged by the King to found a new Capital City to replace the previous one that has been ravaged by the wars played out in VCK. The King has assigned you a castle to use as your HQ and expects the most enterprising Duke/Duchess to win the day by building the most flourishing village. Will you be able to create the resources necessary to build the most attractive buildings that adventurers will want to frequent? Or will you spend your time taxing your constituents to death?
DISCLAIMER: This review focuses on vanilla Villages of Valeria. We have all the released expansions and may do a review of them in the future. If we do, we will edit this review or link to the new review here. -T
VoV uses a handful of really great game mechanics that will be familiar to some gamers, but not intimidating enough to scare off new gamers, that really work well together to create an excellent gaming experience. I will address most of them here, but please do not use this review as a replacement for the rulebook, as I will not be addressing every single rule.
VoV is played over several rounds where every player will be taking a turn as the active player until someone has built the requisite number of buildings prescribed in the rulebook to trigger the end of the game. Each player starts with a castle card that provides a wild resource of your choice when you need to pay resources to build buildings on future turns. You are also given gold and a starting hand of cards in accordance with setup rules. Setup the decks of cards and create the offer rows for each and you are ready to play!
When you are the active player you will take an action from a list of five available actions: Harvest, Develop, Build, Recruit, and Tax. If you choose to Harvest on your turn you will draw three cards from either the face-up green building cards on the offer or blindly from the deck of green building cards. To Develop you will play a building card from your hand to the back of your castle, tucked underneath and upside down, to be used as the resources printed at the bottom of the card (wood, magic, stone, food). These resources are now available to be used for the build action (think of the brown and gray cards in 7 Wonders, if you’re familiar). When you take the Build action, you will be playing a building card from your hand to be built in the tableau in front of you. Since number of buildings is the end game trigger condition, you will be trying to build buildings as much as possible. All building cards have a cost printed on the left side of the card, and those costs will need to be paid for by using the gold you possess. You can use one gold on your own castle card as it provides a wild resource to you, and you can use one gold per card you have Developed previously for their resource benefit. You may even spend your gold to use an opponent’s resources (not their castle! – also akin to 7 Wonders neighbor resource purchasing). The catch here is that you lose that gold piece to your opponent, but they will not be able to use that resource until the beginning of their turn as active player. Most buildings will have benefits printed on them that either take effect immediately or when triggered by another action. When you Recruit an Adventurer, you are using your village’s buildings to attract them to your cause. Each Adventurer’s cost to recruit is printed on the side of the card, and these costs are paid by having the matching symbols on building cards in your village. Once recruited, these Adventurers can also enact conditional abilities similar to building cards, but usually will be advantages to final VP scores. By taking the Tax action you will take one gold from the bank and draw a building card from the offer or the deck.
Now this all seems pretty easy and I have only really mentioned one form of tension by blocking opponents’ use of their own resources if you spend a gold to use it on your turn. Since you reclaim all gold on your castle and resource cards in your village at the beginning of your turn this should cause no problems, right? Well, VoV also uses the follow mechanic that has been employed by other games previously. When you are the active player you choose which action you want to take on your turn, complete that action, and then the same action is offered to your opponents for them to take at a disadvantage. Example: I choose Tax as my action, so I take my gold and my card and my turn is over. Then, going around the table, each player can decide to follow my action but are only able to take a building card as a follow action. No gold. Each action has a Lead and Follow benefit, so you are always paying attention during the game, even on others’ turns because you might still benefit from the chosen actions.
Play continues like this with active player Lead actions and possible others’ Follow actions until someone triggers the end game condition. Then everyone completes the turn and VPs from all cards in your tableau are added (including gold pieces you collected). Most VPs wins the game of Villages of Valeria!
Components. Okay, I have to admit that I have the Kickstarter Deluxe version of this game so I am only speaking from experience with that version. The cards are of really good quality. The gold tokens and active player castle token are great, but the action tracker we found a bit cumbersome to use so we just, like, didn’t. The building tracker and castleeples are great as well. The art is by The Mico, and I just love his art style, so that’s a big positive for me. Overall, the components are really really nice.
So why do I love this game? Well, it’s really a mashup of mechanics that work well for me. I love the Lead/Follow mechanic. I love 7 Wonders, so borrowing some of those mechanics and nuances is a great fit for me. I absolutely LOVE The Mico’s artwork on every Valeria game. No two games of VoV will be alike because the amount of cards that come inside the box (and growing with every expansion) gives such a diverse gaming experience that I love playing. If you like any of the Valeria games and you have yet to try Villages of Valeria you MUST find a copy. You will be drawn in by the familiar feel of Valeria and mechanics from classic games that will surely delight. We at Purple Phoenix Games give this gem a bustling 20 / 24. Long live Valeria!
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/04/05/villages-of-valeria-review/
Boyfriend Craft: High School Crush Simulator
Games and Entertainment
App
My Virtual boyfriend in a girls craft world! Dating sims high school crush game! A game where you...
The History and Religious Heritage of Old Cairo: Its Fortress, Churches, Synagogue, and Mosque
Morris Jackson and Sherif Sonbol
Book
Just to the south of modern Cairo stands the historic enclave known as Old Cairo, which grew up in...