Search
Search results
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally
8.0
Rate It
Book
At last, the full story behind Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman's epic romance, including stories,...
memoir biography celebrity
Green Hills and Daffodils (The Green Hills #1)
6.0
Rate It
Book
The Green Hills Series: Nestled within the green sheep-covered hills of Wales is a tiny town that...
Fantasy LGBT+ Romance
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Sagrada in Tabletop Games
Jun 12, 2019
One of the best parts of the board gaming experience is finding a fun group of people with whom to play! Sometimes, though, coordinating a game night is easier said than done. We all must occasionally forego the group experience and face the world as the Lonely Only. But fear not! The world of solo-play is a vast and exciting realm! What follows is a chronicle of my journey into the solo-playing world – notes on gameplay, mechanics, rules, difficulty, and overall experience with solo variations of commonly multiplayer games! I hope this will provide some insight as you continue to grow your collection, or explore your already owned games!
In Sagrada, you are an artist who has been tasked with creating a beautiful stained glass window. Working piece by piece, you build a masterpiece – the likes of which have never before been witnessed. Finding the perfect pieces can be tricky, but through careful use of your tools and with your artistic vision, you can create the best window in the town! The game is played over 10 rounds in which players draft dice and place them in their windows, following certain placement restrictions. A set number of tools are available for use, and can aid you in manipulating the dice to your benefit. Points are scored based on successful completion of private and public objectives, and the player with the highest score at the end of 10 drafting rounds is the winner!
My favorite part about playing Sagrada solo is that the game is essentially played the same way, regardless of player count. The only difference is how you win! In both group and solo play, each player will draft two dice every round. In group play, any leftover dice are discarded, while in solo play, the remaining two dice will be added towards the Target Score – the score you are trying to beat at the end of the game! To find the Target Score, you add all of the die values of your unused dice from each round. If, at the end of the 10 rounds, you have earned more points than the Target Score, you win! But if the Target Score is higher than your final score, you lose.
The game play differences are simple enough, but actually winning the game solo is a different story. I have played Sagrada solo quite a bit, and have won maybe 25% of the time. Depending on which window card and objectives are in play, and because of placement restrictions, I often have to sacrifice high-valued dice to the Target Score. And since there are no placement restrictions for the Target Score, and two dice are added to it each round, it is very easy for that score to sky-rocket. I either barely pull off a win, or I lose by a huge margin. Playing in a group is nicer in this regard because the other players have the same placement restrictions that I have – nobody is just getting points for free. Without the Target Score, there really is no way to play Sagrada solo, but it makes the game feel a little imbalanced to me.
Just because it is difficult to win solo does not mean that I do not like the game. It requires quite a bit of strategy, and that keeps me engaged for the entire game. There are dice placement restrictions based on color AND value, so there are two different ways in which you have to constantly be strategizing. You can’t just focus on either value or color – your strategy must always be changing based on which color dice are drawn and what values are subsequently rolled. Even with the amount of strategy required, Sagrada actually plays pretty quickly as a solo game, and I really like that. I like the challenge of this game, and often try to play until I can win. Since I can finish an entire solo game in probably 10-15 minutes, I am able to get multiple plays in a row!
Sagrada is a challenging game to play solo, but not in a way that feels futile. I don’t win a lot, but the strategic implications and the pretty dice colors are what keep me coming back to this game! If you haven’t tried Sagrada solo yet, I’d encourage you to give it a shot. But be warned – you might not always win.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/02/26/solo-chronicles-sagrada/
In Sagrada, you are an artist who has been tasked with creating a beautiful stained glass window. Working piece by piece, you build a masterpiece – the likes of which have never before been witnessed. Finding the perfect pieces can be tricky, but through careful use of your tools and with your artistic vision, you can create the best window in the town! The game is played over 10 rounds in which players draft dice and place them in their windows, following certain placement restrictions. A set number of tools are available for use, and can aid you in manipulating the dice to your benefit. Points are scored based on successful completion of private and public objectives, and the player with the highest score at the end of 10 drafting rounds is the winner!
My favorite part about playing Sagrada solo is that the game is essentially played the same way, regardless of player count. The only difference is how you win! In both group and solo play, each player will draft two dice every round. In group play, any leftover dice are discarded, while in solo play, the remaining two dice will be added towards the Target Score – the score you are trying to beat at the end of the game! To find the Target Score, you add all of the die values of your unused dice from each round. If, at the end of the 10 rounds, you have earned more points than the Target Score, you win! But if the Target Score is higher than your final score, you lose.
The game play differences are simple enough, but actually winning the game solo is a different story. I have played Sagrada solo quite a bit, and have won maybe 25% of the time. Depending on which window card and objectives are in play, and because of placement restrictions, I often have to sacrifice high-valued dice to the Target Score. And since there are no placement restrictions for the Target Score, and two dice are added to it each round, it is very easy for that score to sky-rocket. I either barely pull off a win, or I lose by a huge margin. Playing in a group is nicer in this regard because the other players have the same placement restrictions that I have – nobody is just getting points for free. Without the Target Score, there really is no way to play Sagrada solo, but it makes the game feel a little imbalanced to me.
Just because it is difficult to win solo does not mean that I do not like the game. It requires quite a bit of strategy, and that keeps me engaged for the entire game. There are dice placement restrictions based on color AND value, so there are two different ways in which you have to constantly be strategizing. You can’t just focus on either value or color – your strategy must always be changing based on which color dice are drawn and what values are subsequently rolled. Even with the amount of strategy required, Sagrada actually plays pretty quickly as a solo game, and I really like that. I like the challenge of this game, and often try to play until I can win. Since I can finish an entire solo game in probably 10-15 minutes, I am able to get multiple plays in a row!
Sagrada is a challenging game to play solo, but not in a way that feels futile. I don’t win a lot, but the strategic implications and the pretty dice colors are what keep me coming back to this game! If you haven’t tried Sagrada solo yet, I’d encourage you to give it a shot. But be warned – you might not always win.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/02/26/solo-chronicles-sagrada/
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Treasure Hunter in Tabletop Games
Jun 28, 2019
Indiana Jones. Lara Croft. Benjamin Franklin Gates. These were all great treasure hunters. All of them had to overcome incredible riddles, curses, traps, and death-craving dark places to claim their loot. In Treasure Hunter you will be searching for your treasures using mules, scarecrows, and locals in a frozen tundra, a jungle, and a volcano. So, like, exactly the same as Indy and Tomb Raider and the dude from National Treasure.
Obviously I am making light of the theme of this card drafting, set collection, hand management game from Queen Games, but it’s just so fun to imagine yourself as a genuine treasure hunter. DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES??
DISCLAIMER: There are several expansions to this game, but we are not reviewing them at this time. Should we review them in the future we will either update this review or post a link to the new material here. -T
To setup the game, shuffle the cards and the treasure tiles and place them in their respective resting spots. Place a treasure tile on the MIN and MAX sections of each terrain type on the main board. Assign three goblin tiles to their spots on the cave sections of the main board to be dealt with after your adventure round. Each player receives 15 starting gold to begin their adventure. Deal each player nine cards and you are ready to begin!
To start the game, look at the hand of cards that were dealt, choose one and pass the rest to the leftmost neighbor. This should be familiar if you have ever played any other card drafting game (like Sushi Go!, 7 Wonders, etc). Once you have your complete hand of nine cards you drafted, the hunt may begin. During you draft phase you will have already assessed the main board and decided how you would like your draft to go – do want the maximum red treasure? The minimum blue treasure? All the dogs?? Each terrain type will be scored in order from top down, so whomever has amassed the minimum number of blue values will receive the tile on the MIN section of the tundra, while they who gathered the most value in blue cards will receive the MAX tile. There are cards that can affect your values using a +/- mechanic so that you can hopefully come in the victor on your chosen field.
Once the main treasure hunt is complete and everyone has their treasure tiles, you must figuratively store your treasures in the cave. Predictably, goblins will visit your cave to try to steal your goods, so I hope you had drafted some guard dogs in the first phase of the game to protect your shinies. If not, you will be parting with some of your gold (which are ultimately VPs)! At the end of five rounds following this structure, and reversing draft direction, you flip over the main board to reveal the scoreboard where you can record your earnings (findings?) and determine victory for the greatest Treasure Hunter!
Components: this game comes with a good amount of components – just the way I like it. The main board, treasure tiles, money chits, and goblin tiles are all thick cardboard that are of great Queen Games quality. The cards are great quality too. I really like the double-sided game board that also serves as score board. Another great component collection from Queen Games!
Ok, so I really like this game a lot. I received this game from my wife, who has an uncanny ability to choose games for me that are not on my wish list, but that end up being simply wonderful (see Azul, Saboteur). I really enjoy card drafting games, and when you can go into a draft with a strategy that just is completely obliterated by someone else’s draft is unpredictable fun! So many times I have played this and just KNEW that my 2 of Red was going to win me the MIN tile. But then my opponent busts out a 3 of Red with a -2 card and snags it away from me. It can be frustrating, but it’s also just a testament to really good drafting and counter-strategy. Using the guard dogs to scare off goblins is cool, and the goblin tiles provide you with VPs too. I know it’s kinda kooky and silly, but I really enjoy this one. Richard Garfield has another hit on his hands for me, and I’m not the only one who recognizes it. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a sneaky 14 / 18.
Obviously I am making light of the theme of this card drafting, set collection, hand management game from Queen Games, but it’s just so fun to imagine yourself as a genuine treasure hunter. DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES??
DISCLAIMER: There are several expansions to this game, but we are not reviewing them at this time. Should we review them in the future we will either update this review or post a link to the new material here. -T
To setup the game, shuffle the cards and the treasure tiles and place them in their respective resting spots. Place a treasure tile on the MIN and MAX sections of each terrain type on the main board. Assign three goblin tiles to their spots on the cave sections of the main board to be dealt with after your adventure round. Each player receives 15 starting gold to begin their adventure. Deal each player nine cards and you are ready to begin!
To start the game, look at the hand of cards that were dealt, choose one and pass the rest to the leftmost neighbor. This should be familiar if you have ever played any other card drafting game (like Sushi Go!, 7 Wonders, etc). Once you have your complete hand of nine cards you drafted, the hunt may begin. During you draft phase you will have already assessed the main board and decided how you would like your draft to go – do want the maximum red treasure? The minimum blue treasure? All the dogs?? Each terrain type will be scored in order from top down, so whomever has amassed the minimum number of blue values will receive the tile on the MIN section of the tundra, while they who gathered the most value in blue cards will receive the MAX tile. There are cards that can affect your values using a +/- mechanic so that you can hopefully come in the victor on your chosen field.
Once the main treasure hunt is complete and everyone has their treasure tiles, you must figuratively store your treasures in the cave. Predictably, goblins will visit your cave to try to steal your goods, so I hope you had drafted some guard dogs in the first phase of the game to protect your shinies. If not, you will be parting with some of your gold (which are ultimately VPs)! At the end of five rounds following this structure, and reversing draft direction, you flip over the main board to reveal the scoreboard where you can record your earnings (findings?) and determine victory for the greatest Treasure Hunter!
Components: this game comes with a good amount of components – just the way I like it. The main board, treasure tiles, money chits, and goblin tiles are all thick cardboard that are of great Queen Games quality. The cards are great quality too. I really like the double-sided game board that also serves as score board. Another great component collection from Queen Games!
Ok, so I really like this game a lot. I received this game from my wife, who has an uncanny ability to choose games for me that are not on my wish list, but that end up being simply wonderful (see Azul, Saboteur). I really enjoy card drafting games, and when you can go into a draft with a strategy that just is completely obliterated by someone else’s draft is unpredictable fun! So many times I have played this and just KNEW that my 2 of Red was going to win me the MIN tile. But then my opponent busts out a 3 of Red with a -2 card and snags it away from me. It can be frustrating, but it’s also just a testament to really good drafting and counter-strategy. Using the guard dogs to scare off goblins is cool, and the goblin tiles provide you with VPs too. I know it’s kinda kooky and silly, but I really enjoy this one. Richard Garfield has another hit on his hands for me, and I’m not the only one who recognizes it. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a sneaky 14 / 18.
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated That Inevitable Victorian Thing in Books
Jan 11, 2018
A fun alternate history romp
Representation, people! This book features a bisexual, intersex young woman. (I say woman, because she is female-presenting and uses female pronouns.) It also features a not-quite-love-triangle that turns into something more like polyamory. (Sorry, that's a bit of a spoiler, but you can see it coming from a mile away, and the cover description heavily implies the same.)
It's not realistic in the least - everything falls together nicely and it's a bit of a "princess saves the day by virtue of being a princess" kind of plot. But the twist on the history is a very pleasant one - and making the British Empire an Empire that values diversity and the melding of cultures and not looking down on anyone because they're different is a really nice change of pace. It's a WONDERFUL bit of escapist fantasy given today's world, I have to say.
I'd actually really like to see the darker side of this same world explored. One of the main plot points in the book is that there is a computer database of genetics. Everyone in the British Empire, when they turn 18, is encouraged to have their DNA sequenced and entered into the computer to find good genetic matches. They then have the opportunity to chat with those matches and eventually meet them. It's accepted custom, and you're definitely viewed as odd if you choose NOT to do it, though Helena's parents were a love match and never had their DNA matched through the computer. Helena's love interest is a boy she grew up with, she really only ran her DNA through the computer for kicks. So it's not mandatory - except for royals. But that this computer and database exists leaves room for a darker side. What about genetic modification? Forced marriages for certain genetic outcomes? That has to be happening somewhere. That Inevitable Victorian Thing really only looked at the fun, light-hearted, good uses of this technology. I'd love to see the other side.
Oh - while the book definitely has a Victorian flavor, it's definitely set in modern day, or perhaps a little past. It's not Victorian era.
Fun little book. A good escape from a racist, homophobic world to a more diverse, accepting one. But a little TOO fluffy bunny for my personal tastes.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
It's not realistic in the least - everything falls together nicely and it's a bit of a "princess saves the day by virtue of being a princess" kind of plot. But the twist on the history is a very pleasant one - and making the British Empire an Empire that values diversity and the melding of cultures and not looking down on anyone because they're different is a really nice change of pace. It's a WONDERFUL bit of escapist fantasy given today's world, I have to say.
I'd actually really like to see the darker side of this same world explored. One of the main plot points in the book is that there is a computer database of genetics. Everyone in the British Empire, when they turn 18, is encouraged to have their DNA sequenced and entered into the computer to find good genetic matches. They then have the opportunity to chat with those matches and eventually meet them. It's accepted custom, and you're definitely viewed as odd if you choose NOT to do it, though Helena's parents were a love match and never had their DNA matched through the computer. Helena's love interest is a boy she grew up with, she really only ran her DNA through the computer for kicks. So it's not mandatory - except for royals. But that this computer and database exists leaves room for a darker side. What about genetic modification? Forced marriages for certain genetic outcomes? That has to be happening somewhere. That Inevitable Victorian Thing really only looked at the fun, light-hearted, good uses of this technology. I'd love to see the other side.
Oh - while the book definitely has a Victorian flavor, it's definitely set in modern day, or perhaps a little past. It's not Victorian era.
Fun little book. A good escape from a racist, homophobic world to a more diverse, accepting one. But a little TOO fluffy bunny for my personal tastes.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
Mark Jaye (65 KP) rated Suicide Squad (2016) in Movies
May 14, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
I'll say from the outset, I'm a lifelong comic book fan. During my teenage years back in the 80's I collected John Ostrander's Suicide Squad title and absolutely loved it. It was always a given for me therefore that I would jump at the prospect of a movie based on my favourite title.
You know the synopsis I'm guessing (if you're reading this review) - government official Amanda Waller assembles a group of the baddest incarcerated criminals to go up against the potential of a metahuman crisis should the 'next' Superman not share our values. This is deemed more relevant following the demise of the man of steel himself at the climax of Dawn Of Justice. Amongst those villains are Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), and Enchantress/Dr June Moone (Carla Delevigne). Heading up the group is Colonel Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), albeit reluctantly.
The story essentially revolves around Enchantress going rogue and converting a subway station in Midway City into a warzone as she resurrects her brother Incubus and the two attempt to destroy the world. The only criticism I have with the movie concerns the simplicity within which Enchantress 'turns' on the group shortly after it is her actions that cause the senate committee to approve the founding of Task Force X only a couple of scenes earlier in the movie. It just feels a bit rushed. It's also interesting to note that the events of the movie would never have taken place had Waller not established her little 'pet project' to begin with!
The dialogue is witty and sharp and the characters are highly likeable (despite them being arch-villains and - in some cases, murderers). Will Smith is the core of the group as Deadshot and his cold-bloodedness as an assassin is softened by the connection he has to his daughter (how the audience is expected no doubt to warm to him?). Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flagg is also key to the story's heart with his flawed relationship with Dr June Moone - Enchantress's alter ego. Margot Robbie is superb as Harley Quinn although at times it seems as if her rear's the star of the show.
What do I need to say about Jared Leto that hasn't been said before? You'll either love or hate his portrayal of Mr.J!
You know the synopsis I'm guessing (if you're reading this review) - government official Amanda Waller assembles a group of the baddest incarcerated criminals to go up against the potential of a metahuman crisis should the 'next' Superman not share our values. This is deemed more relevant following the demise of the man of steel himself at the climax of Dawn Of Justice. Amongst those villains are Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), and Enchantress/Dr June Moone (Carla Delevigne). Heading up the group is Colonel Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), albeit reluctantly.
The story essentially revolves around Enchantress going rogue and converting a subway station in Midway City into a warzone as she resurrects her brother Incubus and the two attempt to destroy the world. The only criticism I have with the movie concerns the simplicity within which Enchantress 'turns' on the group shortly after it is her actions that cause the senate committee to approve the founding of Task Force X only a couple of scenes earlier in the movie. It just feels a bit rushed. It's also interesting to note that the events of the movie would never have taken place had Waller not established her little 'pet project' to begin with!
The dialogue is witty and sharp and the characters are highly likeable (despite them being arch-villains and - in some cases, murderers). Will Smith is the core of the group as Deadshot and his cold-bloodedness as an assassin is softened by the connection he has to his daughter (how the audience is expected no doubt to warm to him?). Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flagg is also key to the story's heart with his flawed relationship with Dr June Moone - Enchantress's alter ego. Margot Robbie is superb as Harley Quinn although at times it seems as if her rear's the star of the show.
What do I need to say about Jared Leto that hasn't been said before? You'll either love or hate his portrayal of Mr.J!