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Showing posts from April, 2023

Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid - Villain Pack #1: Review

Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid - Villain Pack #1: Review Information: Mechanics:  Cooperative, Variable Player Powers, Tower Defence, Modular Player Age:  14+  Player Count:  2 - 5  Players Time to Play:  45 - 60   Minutes  Game Designer:   Jonathan Ying Game Artist:  Daniel Mora Publisher : Renegade game Studios Year Published:  2019 Introduction: This is the first villain pack out of an assortment of (currently) five available. Four new enemies are included in this expansion, along with two monsters and two bosses too give good coverage of added enemies. Monsters: Polluticorn: - Health range: 3-6 - Keywords: Guard and Fast Polluticorn has two powerful cards 'Unicorn Blaster' and ‘Toxic Tornado' deals nine damage and discards four cards, respectively. The discarding of cards is a particular nuisance as players normally aren't able to redraw new cards during combat. Both of these attacks are lessened by the fact that they can be distributed among the rangers as seen f

Calico: Review

Calico: Review Information: Mechanics:  Tile-Laying, Open Drafting, End Game Bonuses Player Age:  10+ Player Count:  1 - 3 Players Time to Play:  30 - 45  Minutes  Game Designer:  Kevin Russ Game Artist:  Beth Sobel Publisher : Flatout Games Year Published:  2020 Introduction: In Calico , players are drafting and cleverly placing tiles to create the cosiest quilt. There are many ways for players to score when placing tiles including gaining buttons (3 connected tiles of one colour), gaining cats (based on the pattern), and lastly, for the patterns and/or colours when scoring design goals. For the gameplay, the rules can be explained in minutes but the real depth comes in the careful consideration each player needs when placing each tile. Game Anatomy: Dual Layer Quilt Boards: Each player will have a dual-layered board with three spots reserved for the design goals, and an assortment of tiles spread across the edge of the board. These tiles count towards scoring potential throughout the

Clank! - Expeditions Silk and Gold: Review

Clank! - Expeditions Silk and Gold: Review Information: Mechanics:  Deck-Building, Push Your Luck, Exploration Player Age:  12+  Player Count:  2 - 4  Players Time to Play:  30 - 60  Minutes  Game Designer:   Tim McKnight Game Artist:  Raul Ramos, Nate Storm, Jon Schindehette Publisher : Direwolf, Renegade Game Studios Year Published:  2018 BGG Weight:  2.18 Introduction: Clank! has had many map packs. With the last two map packs they have streamlined the expansion to no longer include cards and simply have only the maps and their features. Are the maps any good though? Let's find out with silk and gold.  Spider Queen's Lair: The first map is the Spider Queen's Lair. Firstly, the 7 point artifact is replaced with a spider idol and the dragon meeple is replaced by the spider queen herself. Between locations will be some webbing denoted by the Web tokens that  can either be cut down with the use of a sword or avoided by an extra boot. Either of these actions will allow the pl

Lost Ruins of Arnak: Temple Tile Holder

Lost Ruins of Arnak: Temple Tile Holder Introduction: One of the key components of Lost Ruins of Arnak is the research track. It scores multiple benefits throughout the game and victory points at the end for the cost of resources during the game. Once a player has reached the top of this track they have finally discovered the lost temple and the real scoring potential can occur.  The temple tiles can score the player 2, 6 or 11 points. The cost of these tiles works like a pyramid system where the least-scoring temple only takes one of the three costs shown below. The 6 points raise to two of these costs, and the top 11 points will take all three. The largest prize is a heavy price of 6 resources, involving all of the resource types in the game. Normally these tiles simply sit on a flat, vacant section above the research track on the board. This upgrade gives a three-dimensional holder for these tokens that beautifully covers the allocated vacant section. Temple: The product is a 3D-pri

Isle of Monsters: Review

Isle of Monsters: Review Information: Mechanics:  Set Collection, Drafting, Simultaneous Play Player Age:  10+  Player Count:  2 - 5  Players Time to Play:  20 - 45  Minutes  Game Designer:   Joshua DeBonis, Nikola Risteski Game Artist:  Allison Litchfield, Kwanchai Moriya Publisher : Mayday Games Year Published:  2017 BGG Weight:  1.71 Disclaimer:  A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher. Objective: On a tropical island you are trying to capture and train cute monsters to appear scary. This is so you can keep uninvited guest away from your island. This will be achieved by capturing and feeding monsters than scaring your opponent’s monsters to gain the most points. Game Anatomy: Creature Cards: Each creature card will include a scare value in the top left of the card, the type of creature represented by the background colour, the creature type they can scare in the top right and the food they require on both the left and right side of the card.  Food Tokens: There are

Viticulture Essential Edition: Rapid Review

Viticulture Essential Edition: Rapid Review Information: Mechanics:  Worker Placement, Engine Building, Contracts, Hand Management Player Age:  13+ Player Count:  1 - 6  Players Time to Play:  45 - 90  Minutes  Game Designer:   Jamey Stegmaier, Alan Stone Game Artist: Beth Sobel,  Jacqui Davis, David Montgomery,  Publisher : Stonemaier Games  Expansions:  Yes Year Published:  2015 BGG Weight:  2.89 Disclaimer:  A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher. Rundown: Viticulture is a worker placement game where players are placing workers and playing visitors over years (rounds) to build the best vineyard and score the most points until someone reaches 20 points. Each year consists of four seasons; Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Spring: Spring has players determining player order by placing their rooster on the track and gaining the bonus associated with that number. These bonuses include cards, a victory point, libra (money), and an additional worker for this year. Once a

Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid Ranger Allies Pack #1: Review

Power Rangers Heroes of the Grid Ranger Allies Pack #1: Review Information: Mechanics:  Cooperative, Variable Player Powers, Tower Defence, Modular Player Age:  14+  Player Count:  2 - 5  Players Time to Play:  45 - 60   Minutes  Game Designer:   Jonathan Ying Game Artist:  Rob Guillory Publisher : Renegade game Studios Year Published:  2020 Disclaimer:  A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher. Introduction: The Allies Pack #1 contains five allies that come from various times of the Power Rangers franchise. The design team has added a little more creativity to the designs with these characters featuring unique mechanisms that haven't been explored before in Heroes of the Grid. Ninjor: Ninjor focuses on two things; reaction cards and healing. With a reaction card, he can keep a zord from exhausting and ignore an enemy's turn (with a cost of the next ranger turn). He also has two cards that return a card to the bottom of the rangers deck. One for an ally ranger a