Puzzle Strike: Bag of Chips 3rd Ed. Review by David Lowry

Tags

Bag, Board game, Card game, Chips, Crash Gems, David Sirlin, Deck-Building, Fantasy Strike, Game, Game Salute, Geiger, Grave Stormeborne, Player, Publisher, Puzzle, Puzzle Strike, Retail Price, Rook, Sirlin Games, Valerie

Anime? Fantasy Strike? What’s not to love! Puzzle Strike: Bag of Chips 3^rd Ed. is set in the Fantasy Strike Universe of fantasy martial arts fractured by political conflict in an Olympic-style tournament.  Grave, Jaina, Midori, Setsuki, Rook, DeGrey, Valerie, Geiger, Lum and Argagarg, these10 Fantasy Strike Characters will be placing their skill on display in this exciting puzzle game!

 

Publisher: Sirlin Games

Game Designer: David Sirlin

Players: 2-4

Ages: 10 and up

Playing Time: 20 minutes

Contents: 342 Chips, 4 Bags, 4 Screens and 4 Game Boards

Suggested Retail Price: $49.99

Parental Advisory: Safe for kids

 

Object of the Game: The player’s goal is to overflow their opponents gem pile with to many gems. If any player ends their turn with a gem pile totaling 10 or more, that player loses and is out of the game while the other players continue on till there is only one player left.

 

Puzzle Strike is a unique deck-building game that uses chips instead of cards. It simulates a puzzle game amongst Fantasy Strike Characters. Or as the rulebook describes it “A card game played with chips instead of cards that simulates a puzzle game that simulates a fighting game.” In Puzzle Strike, gems all into the players gem pile each and every round. The player whose pile fills up first loses. The players combined gems to create bigger gems and then crash those gems to break them apart and send them at other players. The more full a players piles gets, the closer they are to losing. However, this also gives the players more chips to draw to potentially make a come back.

 

Each player starts with a “deck” or bag of chips and has the chance to buy more as they play to improve their “bag.” Each character has different strengths and weaknesses, which allow for different strategies by each player. This allows a great amount of re-playability, as the combinations possibilities are very large.

 

 

Modes:

 

There are several modes of play for Puzzle Strike: 2-player, 3/4-player free-for-all, 2 vs. 2 Team Battle, and Custom Clockwork Mode where players build their own characters.

 

Turn Phases:

 

Ante Phase – At the start of the game, each players gem pile is empty. At the start of their turn, each player takes 1-gem from the bank and places it in their gem pile.

 

Action Phase – Each turn a player play one Action chip (chips with a banner.) Place it on the table and follow it’s text. Chips with a + -> allow for more actions to be played that turn.

 

Buy Phase – During this phase all players must buy at least one chip per turn. This chip goes into the discard pile. Players may play as many chips as they legally can from their hand to the table (not the gem pile) then add their values to the +gem the player may have gotten this turn’s action phase. Subtract $1 for each Combine played this turn. That total is the amount of money the player may spend this turn. Gem piles do not count as money.

 

Money is lost each turn if not spent. If a player has no money they must “purchase” a wound chip for $0.

 

Cleanup Phase – Players put all chips played to the table or left in their hand in the discard pile then draw 5 chips.

 

The Height Bonus:

 

The higher the total of a players gem pile, the more chips that player gets to draw that turn. Here is a hint to remember how many extra chips to draw. “If the players gem pile has 3/6/9 in it, then draw an extra +1/+2/+3 chips.”

 

The Purple Chips:

 

Combine – Combine two gems from a players gem pile into a single gem if the total is 4 or less.

 

Crash Gem – These gems break gems in a players gem pile and send them to any opponent the players chooses. The bigger the gem crashed to more gems sent at opponents.

 

Double Crash Gem – This gem works the same as a Crash Gem other than it breaks two gems from a players gem pile.

 

Crash Gems can also be use to “counter-crash” gems from an attacked players gem pile. This is a reaction indicted by the purple shield on the Crash Gem. This does not cost an action to play. Each 1-gem from players “counter-crash” negates a 1-gem sent by the player’s opponent.

 

4-gems are not “counter-crashable.”  These gems cannot have purple shield gems played against it as well.

 

 

Other Types of Chips:

 

Gem Chips – In a players hand these are money, in a players gem pile, they are used to crash to send to a players opponents.

 

Character Chips – All 10 characters have 3 special chips each. These chips start in your “bag/deck” and tend to push a certain strategy. These chips cannot be crashed.  These chips cost one action to play unless they have shields are and played as reactions.

 

Puzzle Chips – Puzzle chips all have a puzzle icon at the top with the cost of their purchase inside the icon. These are part of the bank until purchased. These chips cost one action to play.

 

Wounds – These chips are just taking up space in a player’s deck. They are useless and worthless.

 

Components – Sirlin Games has always done wonderful job with the components in Puzzle Strike. The only issue I see is being careful of tearing when removing the chips from the board when opening the game. The chips are heavy; the print is easy to read on them. The rulebook is well laid out and easy to understand. The bags are serviceable. I of course prefer a softer fabric but that is such a minor complaint. The game screens are well put together with cool 8-bit art on the inside wall. The box insert is the best I have ever seen for a game organizer in the box. Sirlin Games really did well with this and I wish more companies would learn from their actually going the extra mile to label the inserts. The biggest improvement here is the addition of the game boards. This will greatly improve playability for newcomers to the game and understanding when a player can draw extra chips.

 

 

 

I have been playing Puzzle Strike since it first came out back in 2010 so this 3^rd ed. really fixed one thing that always kept it from being a great game instead of just a good game. In the original edition, you could only send gems to the player on your left and not at any player. While that is an interesting mechanic, it always felt very limiting to me. Now that you can send gems to any opponent, you have so many more options and strategies. This was a major fix for me and really makes the game more enjoyable.

 

The other high point for me is the way that this doesn’t feel like just another deck-builder to me. It operates the same and has gives you as many options but it completely stands out from the other deck-building games to provide a fun, unique experience. This is why theme and little bit of thought or originality can make such a big difference in a game. With a flood of deck-builders coming out every year, having to purchase them at $40-$50 each plus purchasing expansions, plus card sleeves to protect them, it’s nice to have a game that provides an experience to make it worth the purchase price and doesn’t need endless expansions to stay fresh and exciting to play.

 

I am giving it 8 out 10 stars as Puzzle Strike: Bag of Chips 3^rd Ed. is a winner in my book. This game has plenty of strategy, options and re-playability to keep it coming to the table for a long time to come.

 

This game is Geek Certified!

Geek Eccentric Certified

 

7ate9 Card Game Review by David Lowry

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7ate9, Board Games, Card Games, Children's Games, Club Fantasci, David Lowry, Educational Games, Family games, Maureen Hiron, Out of the Box, Review

 

7ate9 Box

Remember that TV game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” We’ll you are about to find out with 7ate9. Now in reality it’s even much simpler than that and trust me when I say, you will feel pretty silly after your first attempt at this game.

 

Publisher: Out Of The Box

Game Designer: Maureen Hiron

Players: 2-4

Ages: 8 and up

Playing Time: 5 minutes

Contents: 73 Cards

Suggested Retail Price: $10.99

Parental Advisory: Safe for kids

Awards: 2011 Games Traditional 100, Major Fun Award – Family, 2010 Toy Man Seal of Approval, Family Review Center Recommended, What the Stuff Toy Review 4 Star Certified, Homeschool.com 2010 Seal of Approval, Parent’s Choice Silver Honor, 2013 Imagination Gaming Best Numeracy Game Award.

 

In 7ate9 the players are competing to see who can get rid of their hand of cards before anyone else by adding or subtracting numbers on their cards quickly. It’s a game of speed, a little math and fun!

First deal out the deck of cards to all the players and then place one card in the center. Wait for the dealer to say, “Go!” and then quickly draw cards from your stack until you can play one to the center. You do this by adding or subtracting the plus or minus number to the large yellow number on the card in the center of the table. In other words if the card in the center of the table is a 5 +/- 2 then the cards you can play from your hand will be a 3 or 7 card. If you have these cards then you have play them on top of the center pile as quickly as possible before the other players do. Each time a new card hits the center, a new number gives you a chance to get rid of cards out of your hands.

7ate9 Cards

7ate9 is a fun, quick game that sometimes makes you feel a little silly as the numbers are 0 – 9 so your math skills don’t have to be that great but boy sometimes it’s amazing how fast you can’t think or move lol.

 

A great game for practicing basic math with children, family game night, warming up your brain for deeper games later or quick fillet meta-gaming while waiting for others to show up or deciding on a longer game. This game is literally playable immediately upon opening it. That is a huge bonus!

If you are looking a quick education game for kids than 7ate9 is for you! Get it now before your math skills deteriorate any more than mine did!

I am giving this a 7 out of 10 stars as a good light educational game that is very fast and easy to learn and younger kids should really like it.

S’Quarrels: A Game of Absolute Nuts! Review by David Lowry

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Board Games, Bryan Lovell, Card Games, Children, Club Fantasci, David Lowry, Family, Fun, Nuts, S'Quarrels, Squirrels

S’Quarrels: A Game of Absolute Nuts!

Fall is upon you and you have to rush to get as many acorns as possible to store for Winter! All of your fellow squirrels are doing the same so who is going to be able to survive the cold and frost? Move fast; watch out for Whirlwinds, Ambushing and Quarreling and try to get the Golden Acorn before anyone else. Make sure you don’t get caught with the Rotten Acorn or is could spoil your supply. Get ready to go nuts!

Publisher: Home Lantern Games, LLC

Game Designer: Bryan Lovell

Players: 2-6

Ages: 7 and up

Playing Time: 20 minutes

Contents: 1 rulebook and 120 playing cards.

Suggested Retail Price: $12.99

Parental Advisory: Safe for kids

S’Quarrels: Number Cards

S’quarrels is a quick family game that plays to a pre-determined score say 50. The dealer deals 7 cards to each player. Players discard any action cards this first time and then draw back up to 7 allowing only number cards in their hand to start. Play starts to the dealers left and moves clockwise.

There are 3 phases in S’quarrels, the Draw Phase, The Store Phase and the Discard Phase.

The Draw Phase: During this phase the players must draw one card before storing any acorns in the storage pile. If a player has less than 7 cards, they can continue to draw 1 card at a time until they reach 7 cards or an Action card Is drawn. They must then immediately resolve the action card.

The Store Phase: Whenever a player has 3 matching cards in their hand they may store them in the storage pile for scoring later. For example if a player stores 3 – 5 cards, then the player will get 5 points for that set. Once a player chooses to store Acorns, they can no longer draw more cards. All stored Acorns are safe and cannot be stolen by other players.

S’Quarrels: Action Cards

The Discard Phase: A player ends their turn by discarding a single card in to the Hoard Pile.

End of Round: When the Winter card is drawn by a player, the round is immediately over and players then total up their scores and prepare for the next round. The player who won the round, is the dealer for the new round.

The game is over after a player has surpassed the agreed upon score at the beginning of the game.

Action Cards:

–       Quarrel: This is basically a game of war. Players play a card face down in front of them and then all reveal at the same time. They highest card wins. In case of a tie, players go again until a winner has the highest card.

–       Hoard: When the Hoard card appears, all the players EXCEPT the player who drew it race to slap the Hoard Pile. First one to get to it wins the pile and it becomes their turn as they take all the cards in hand. They may chose to Draw cards if they have fewer then 7. Play resumes as normal, to the players left after the discard.

–       Ambush: The player who draws the Ambush card gets to randomly steal one card from each player’s hand. Play then continues as normal.

–       Whirlwind: The player who draws this card collects all the players cards from their hands, shuffles them and then redistributes them evenly back to the players starting with their own hand. After the cards have been redistributed then the player continues their turn.

–       Winter: This card signifies the end of the round. Stored Acorns are totaled and left over cards in hands are not counted.

S’Quarrels: Acorn Cards

Specialty Cards:

–       Golden Acorn: This card is worth 5 extra points at the end of a round to the person holding it. It also trumps any other card in a Quarrel. However, if it is used in a Quarrel it is placed in the Discard Pile and lost for the rest of the round.

–       Rotten Acorn: This card is worth -5 points at the end of a round to the person holding it. The Rotten Acorn my only be passed during the Action card phases and it may NOT be discarded into the Hoard Pile at the end of a players turn.

Component wise S’quarrels card are high quality. They won’t wear out easy and the artwork is good and cute so the kids will love it.

So what do I think about S’quarrels? While there is nothing new or original about this game and it plays off of many other types of card games, it is still cute and fun for the family or kids to play with each other. I wouldn’t say it would make a great meta-game at a game night of serious gamers, as I am not sure it’s the right fit in my experience. My 10 year old daughter likes the game quite a bit although due to the Hoard card, I strongly recommend turning off your TV while playing this game as kids get distracted and need to pay attention for when a Hoard card is played. This game moves quick enough to keep kids engaged which is a huge bonus in my book!

If you want a nice light easy game to play with kids, then yes, this is a great game for your family.

I am giving this a 6 out of 10 stars as a good light game that is very fast and easy to learn and younger kids should really like it.

Shadowrift Review by David Lowry

Tags

Board Games, Card game, David Lowry, Deck-Building, Demons, Drow, fantasy, Fire Dragons, Game, Geek Eccentric, Glacien, Haven Town, Jeremy K. Anderson, Necromancers, Playing card, reviews, Shadowrift, Storm Lords, The Lowry Agency, Village, zombies

 

Haven Town is under attack! The Shadowrift has expelled hordes of monsters upon the town threatening total annihilation. The villagers are scrambling to defend their homes from Drow, Glacien, Zombies, Storm Lords, Necromancers, Demons and Fire Dragons. How will Haven Town survive? Who will step up and be the Heros of Haven Town? Do you have the skills, strategy and magic to protect Haven Town? You better hurry before Haven Town is full of corpses and everything is in flames.

 

Publisher: Game Night Productions

Game Designer: Jeremy K. Anderson

Players: 2-6

Ages: 15 to adult

Playing Time: 40 – 100 minutes

Contents: 1 rulebook, 25 1-point tokens, 6 5-point tokens, 454 Game Cards, 6 Scenario Cards, and 1 Heroism Marker..

Suggested Retail Price: $45.00

Parental Advisory: Safe for kids

 

Shadowrift Set Up

 

With this review I am going to do things a bit different the reason being as that the rule book for this game is so bad I don’t even want to consult it for this review so I will tell you about my game experience instead.

Shadowrift is a game from first time game designer Jeremy K. Anderson and while his first attempt at the rule book fell short (as is to be expected for a first time designer) his game didn’t. Shadowrift is a completely different deck-building game experience than any other I have encountered and that is a good thing!

In Shadowrift the players have the job of working as a team to protect Haven Town from total destruction from the creatures clamoring through the Shadowrift hell bent on wiping out Haven Town and everyone in it. This game is a truly co-operative affair in which strategy is paramount to actually fend off the denizens and come out on top. In a typical deck-builder, you may have to have light interaction with other players with the exception of a few LCG’s (Living Card Games) from Fantasy Flight Games.

As the Heroes in Shadowrift not only are you attempting to build a strong and powerful deck to use but you are also fighting monsters as well as building a separate deck for Haven Town in which you may have infiltrators, monster effects or a town full of dead bodies that slow that decks effectiveness with junk or even frozen areas of town that have to be freed up in order for the villagers to be helping the heroes with special villager card powers or benefits they may tap into. So in effect you have a trifecta approach to deck-building that is completely new and unique in my experience. It provides all kinds of interesting situations for the Heroes to have to decide what to do and in what order.

 

Shadowrift Hero Cards

 

The game also comes with 6 different monster types that are basically scenarios for the Heroes to defend against and each one gives a completely different feel to the game. Not only is this very cool but it provides a ton of re-playability to the game. When paying $45.00 for a game, the last thing you want is to burnt out on it after a few plays due to already figuring out the strategy or it just not being deep enough to play over and over again providing a rich, rewarding gaming experience.

There are recommended cards for using with the 6 different monsters but you are not required to use them. The players may put together what ever cards into the purchasing area that the players feel make the most sense or have figured out what card combos work best through experience.

Experienced board gamers know that one of the dangers of playing a co-operative game is that sometimes you have that one person who likes to dominate the session and think that his strategies are the ones to use. They want to pick everyones moves for them and basically ruin the whole game experience for the other players. This game doesn’t stop that from happening, but if you can find a good group of people to play Shadowrift with you will have an amazing experience with it. It is a very solid game with great mechanics, lots of good game tension and decision making to do! The players have to figure out their roles and what cards are necessary to buy to defend Haven Town.

 

Shadowrift Monster Cards

 

One of great things about this game is in the village deck. If your village ever comes up showing 5 cards that are not villagers or walls then you lose the game! The monsters are great about killing off your villagers which in turn puts lots and lots of corpses in to the village deck and at a much faster pace than you think. This makes managing the village deck a serious priority. A great mechanic that adds a whole other level of depth and game play.

The players have wounds and/or burns when fighting the Fire Dragons that populate their decks and you get one of these for ever turn you attack or one per monster attacked. This of course clutters up your deck very fast and now you have to implement an additional strategy with card purchases or villagers to clear out your decks.

The Monsters win if the whole village is corpse ridden or no villagers appear at the beginning of the next turn or if the corpse deck runs out of corpses.

The players when when they seal all of the Shadowrifts that appear out of the monster deck or by building eight walls in the village.

This is currently one of my favorite deck-builders and I hope to see more expansions for this game as well as an updated rule book.

Ok so now for the bad stuff. As I mentioned earlier, the rule book is atrocious. I had to do hours of research on boardgamegeek.com to learn all the rules and what some the card effects, order of actions etc. I am still not sure what the pawn that comes in the game is for as I can’t find a reference to it anywhere so there maybe a part of the game play I am still missing. I know there are cards that effect whomever is holding the pawn but I am not sure how who holds the pawn is determined. So be prepared to do some research with this game.

When you open the game, it is not completely intuitive on how it breaks down into the card box for separation or ease of find cards. The cards should have come in order to break them down easily for the purchaser. There is no mention in the rule book how to do this properly.

There is also no reference in the rulebook as to how to set up the cards on the able. Since it’s release there are some player aids on boardgamegeek.com to show you how to do this.

There are 6 black tokens that come in the game that I have no idea what their use is for, so I have been using them as the seals on the Shadowrifts.

The cards are also a bit of an issue. The art on the game is great! However cards were already flaking on the corners after just one play. You will want to sleeve these cards if that matters at all to you.

The suite spot for this game is 4 to 5 players. Any less and you are going to have trouble dealing with all the monsters, village issues and wounds in your decks. This game has a lot going on!

I know it seems like there is a lot of negativity about this game but please bear with me. While the rule book could be (much) better and the cards are a bit flakey the game play itself is awesome. Shadowrift is one of the best games I have played in recent memory and every person who loves deck-builders should own it. Aside for a bit longer learning curve most players should intuitively understand the mechanics and be able to find what they are looking for rather easily on boardgamegeek.com for rules clarifications although my personal opinion of this is that should never have to happen. Publishers and designers need to become much better about their rule books.

So far there is minor talk of a 2nd Ed. game but date yet and at that time obviously a much better rule book should be included.

I am giving Shadowrift an 8.5 out of 10 stars for game play but a 6 out of 10 for the trouble of having to learn the game everywhere other than the rule book it’s self.

This game is Geek Certified!

Geek Eccentric Certified

 

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Dungeon Heroes Review by David Lowry

Tags

2-player, Board Games, David Lowry, Dice, Dungeon Crawl, Dungeon Heroes, Fighting game, Gamelyn Games, Geek Eccentric, hero, Michael Coe, Review, The Lowry Agency

Dungeon Heroes

 

Entering the chamber, the companions carefully survey the room. A large, square room with a stone floor and on the other side a chest, out in the open, a little to out in the open. The companions know it won’t be that easy and make preparations to get across the room. Wizard, Warrior, Rogue and Cleric pit their experience and expertise against the dungeon. Will they recover the treasure? Will they spring a trap? Why are there no monsters?

 

Publisher: Gamelyn Games

Game Designer: Michael Coe

Players: 1-2

Ages: 13 to adult

Playing Time: 15 – 30 minutes

Contents: 1 rulebook, 1 folding city board, 4 health dice (d10, d8, d6, d4), 14 wooden figurines, 4 hero boards, and 47 dungeon tiles.

Suggested Retail Price: n/a

Parental Advisory: Safe for kids

 

Dungeon Heroes Box

 

In Dungeon Heroes, one player controls 4 Heroes adventuring on their quest for treasure. The other player controls the dungeon and determines where the treasures lie and any traps lying in wait for the possibly unfortunate adventurers. The Heroes consist of the mighty Warrior, Cleric, Rogue and Wizard have to work together and use their cunning to beat the Dungeon Lord and capture 3 of the 4 treasures on the board. Once the Heroes capture 3 of the 4 treasures, they automatically win and the Dungeon Lord wins if he is able to slay all 4 Heroes during their quest.

 

Players decide who is going to be the Heroes and the Dungeon Lord. The Hero player takes his board, dice and 4 Hero figurines and places the figurines on the 4 starting squares however they choose. The Dungeon Lord places the Vault Chest Treasure Tile on the blank square in the treasure vault. Only one Treasure Tile can be placed here. A Hero may acquire any Treasure Tile by simply moving on to it.

 

The Dungeon Lord with various Monster, Trap, Treasure, Artifact and Movement Tiles then populates their draw pile. These are placed face down in a stack on the Dungeon Lords side of the board. All extra tiles are removed from the game face down so no one knows what they are.

 

Dungeon Heroes Contents

 

The first player is the Dungeon Lord and both players must take 4 actions each and every round unless only one Hero is left standing. The Dungeon Lord must play tiles as long as they are able too until either they run out or are not able to play another tile. This is called the Passive Phase. Once all the tiles are played then the Dungeon Lord enters the Aggressive Phase and may start to reveal the tiles and/or spend actions with the revealed monsters.

 

The Hero has two actions per Hero and exhausts each Hero after both actions are used. No more than to actions per Hero may be taken per turn.

 

The Dungeon Player

 

Turn Overview – Passive Phase

 

The Dungeon Player takes 4 random tiles and places them face down on the game board. They cannot be stacked nor placed on a square with that a Hero occupies.

 

Monster Tiles – When a Hero moves onto a Monster Tile, the Heroes health is reduced by the number listed in the red heart on the tile. A Hero does not take additional damage for remaining on this tile. The tile is not replaced with a Monster Figurine until the Aggressive Phase.

 

You have other tiles that like the Trap Tiles that do the damage listed on it once a Hero moves onto it. Shifting Floor Tiles, Portal Tiles and Trap Tiles are all removed from the game once a Hero moves onto them.

 

Artifact Tiles are great for the Heroes. Once a Hero moves onto the Artifact Tile, it is removed from the board and then placed next to the Hero Board that picked it up. An artifact doesn’t have to be used right away. A Hero may hold more than one artifact at a time. Heroes may also pass artifacts to other Heroes if they are adjacent to each other. If a Hero dies while holding artifacts, the artifacts are left on that spot on the board and are stackable. Artifact Tiles are one use only.

 

The Artifact Tiles are the Sword, Holy Symbol, Trap Kit, Magic Hat and Holy Grail.

 

Dungeon Heroes Bundle

 

Turn Overview – Aggressive Phase

This phase starts the Monster Tiles being revealed and replaced with Monster Figurines. This cost no actions for the Dungeon Lord. During the Dungeon Lord’s turn, they must take four actions in any combination from the following options.

 

No more than any one action can be taken for any one Monster in a single turn.

 

• Flip over and reveal any face down Dungeon Tile that is not occupied by a Monster Figurine.
• Move/Attack with a Monster.
• Monster can only move one square orthogonally except for goblins. Goblins may move orthogonally and diagonally.
• Monsters may not occupy the same square.
• Monsters may move onto a square with a Hero.
• Monsters can attack Heroes on their square or adjacent Heroes.
• Monsters get a free attack on Heroes that just moved adjacent to that Monster.
• Monsters do not reveal face down Dungeon Tiles.
• Monsters do not trigger Dungeon Tiles.
• Monsters may move on the Starting Area and Treasure Vault spaces.

 

The Hero Player

 

Turn Overview – During the Hero players turn the player must take any combination of the following four options:

 

Any Hero may take no more than two actions in a single turn.

 

• If only one Hero is left in play, than that Hero may only take two actions.
• Heroes cannot occupy the same square.
• Heroes may move onto a square occupied by a Monster Tile/Figurine.
• Heroes may move onto a square with no Dungeon Tile.
• Heroes must deal with the effect of any tile they move onto. Face down tiles must be revealed.
• Heroes that move onto a tile that has a Monster Figurine on it, must address the Monster first then the tile itself.
• Heroes may move on the Starting Area and Treasure Vault spaces.

The Heroes come with the following traits:

 

The Warrior –

• 10 maximum health.
• Moves orthogonally.
• Slays Monsters without taking damage by moving onto their square.

 

The Cleric –

• 8 maximum health.
• Moves orthogonally.
• May spend on action to heal two health points to self or adjacent Hero.

 

The Rogue –

• 6 maximum health.
• Moves orthogonally and diagonally.
• Disarms traps without taking damage by moving on the tile.

 

The Wizard –

• 4 maximum health.
• Moves orthogonally and diagonally.
• May spend an action to reveal any facedown tile not occupied by a Monster Figurine.

 

Dungeon Heroes Hero Figurines

 

 

The Dungeon Heroes components are outstanding. Designer Michael Coe has done a great job with all the pieces and custom dice that he included as a bonus to the game. The figurines are original looking, wooden and very, very cool. The tiles and board are tick and very durable. The artwork is incredible and the game even came with extra plastic bags to store the pieces in. My only complaint here is the rules aren’t very clear when it comes to combat. It would be nice to see an errata or something to address some of the rules issues.

 

The game play is much deeper than I thought going in to this game. It is definitely a strategy game that is surprisingly thought provoking in the variable actions to be taken. It is harder than you’d expect and deliciously fun. Just know that only the Warrior Hero can kill Monsters unless someone is equipped with the Sword Artifact Tile, which is a one-time use. The solo variant included with Dungeon Heroes is also great fun and pretty hard to beat.

 

If you are looking for a solid two-player game that takes a good amount of strategy, then I highly recommend this game. You would be hard pressed to find a better dungeon themed game for the money.

 

Dungeon Heroes Expansions

 

The expansions for Dungeon Heroes have been released as well and I am sure will add another level of complexity to this fun little dungeon romp.

 

I will give this game  8 out of 10 stars as it has a great feel and a good amount of strategy for such a little game.

 

This game is Geek Certified!

Geek Eccentric Certified

 

 

Dionne Lister Interviews with HumorOutcasts Radio

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Authors, Book Club, Books, Club Fantasci, Dionne Lister, HumorOutcasts Radio, Interviews, Writers

Dionne Lister

I always love when author Dionne Lister stops by from Sydney, Australia. Dionne is an award-winning writer, editor and podcast host.  She is the author of  Shadows of the Realm: The Circle of Talia (Volume 1), A Time of Darkness (The Circle of Talia)  and the upcoming third installment of this riveting trilogy which is  due out in early 2014.  She  paints a vivid and scary picture with her horror and suspense short stories ( Dark Spaces) too.  You can follow Dionne on Twitter@DionneLister  and on Facebook.  

You will laugh out loud listening to her TweepsNation   podcast  she co-hosts with her partner in crime Amber Jerome Norrgard .   Sit back and enjoy this laid back and fun interview.  If you would like to read some of Dionne’s work, check out her blog.

Here the interview here: http://humoroutcasts.com/2013/humoroutcasts-radio-interview-with-dionne-lister/

Find out more about Dionne Lister here: www.dionnelisterwriter.wordpress.com

 

Kitty in the Underworld Review by Tonya Cannariato

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Book Club, Book Review, Carrie Vaughn, Club Fantasci, Fantasy, Kitty in the Underworld, Paranormal Romance, Tonya Cannariato

Kitty in the Underworld

Since my cohorts here were all talking about werewolves and investigators this month, and I enjoyed reading the male perspective of Fool Moon, I thought I’d offer a counterpoint in Kitty and The Midnight Hour, by Carrie Vaughn. This is the first in a long-running series, the next of which is due to be published in just a few weeks. In fact, if you want a sneak preview (warning: if you haven’t read any of the books, there will be spoilers!) of what’s coming in book 12, the author has posted the first chapter at her site: http://www.carrievaughn.com/kitty12.htm.

From the back cover, to give you a quick introduction to what hooked me on this first of the series story:

“Vampires. Werewolves. Talk Radio.

“Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station–and a werewolf in the closet. Sick of lame song requests, she accidentally starts “The Midnight Hour,” a late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged.

“After desperate vampires, werewolves, and witches across the country begin calling in to share their woes, her new show is a raging success. But it’s Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew.”

Because of the extensive quotes from her interactions with her listeners, the story is both fast-paced and humorous. We’re invested in Kitty’s story from very early on, as she shares the horror of her unwanted transformation and the dark dysfunction of her pack. For as funny as her banter is with her batty listeners, her relationship with the other wolves is violent and coarse. The descriptions of those interactions are not for the faint of heart.

The best part of this series, from my perspective, is how the characters evolve. This is no Stephanie Plum (from Janet Evanovich), where there’s a set schtick book in and book out–and no personal growth. Who Kitty starts as at the beginning of each of these books and who she evolves into by the end of them is both plausible (so long as you’re suspending your disbelief about werewolves’ existence!) and logical. You’re rooting for her to really grow into the best version of herself–and she manages to do that despite all the obstacles and plots running against her.

I enthusiastically recommend this to anyone looking for a strong female protagonist and an unusual take on the urban fantasy genre. There’s enough paranormal romance to satisfy that side of her personal growth, but the stories really focus on how she fits herself into a world not unlike the one we know–with mysteries taken out of other elements of the paranormal, similar to what Butcher does with his Dresden Files series.

Tonya Cannariato

A voracious reader since she was a toddler, and an ordained spiritualist, Tonya Cannariato has now presided over the marriage of her love of reading and her love of writing. She’s lived a nomadic life, following first her parents in their Foreign Service career through Africa, Europe, and Asia, and then her own nose criss-crossing America as she’s gotten old enough to make those choices for herself. She’s currently based in Milwaukee with her three loves: her husband and two Siberian Huskies. She suspects her Huskies of mystical alchemy with their joyous liberation of her muse and other magical beings for her inspiration. She loves to sleep, to watch her interesting dreams, some of which are now finding new life in written form.

You can find out more about Tonya Cannariato here: http://www.tmycann.com

“Fool Moon” by Jim Butcher Review by Dionne Lister

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Book Club, Book Review, Club Fantasci, Dionne Lister, Fool Moon, Jim Butcher, The Dresden Files

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

I was expecting great things from this novel since it’s a famous television series. I have been informed that the writing improves and the other books are better than this one. I wonder if I’m too picky these days because I know a lot of people loved this book and I do realise that no book is perfect.

 

Things I liked were: the fast pace after the couple of slower first chapters; it was a page-turner at times, although not all the time. The variety of characters was wide and they all had very distinct personalities. It was easy to read—I didn’t have to think too much (kind of like a tv show ;)) and there were a few twists and turns to the plot.

 

So, what didn’t I like about it, or felt could have been done better? This book had been proofread but, in my opinion, not edited. Why do I say that? Because the writing needed tightening. There was a lot of repetition with words and descriptions, unnecessary words and too much telling, not showing. Sometimes the character beat us over the head with information we already knew because he was explaining something we’d already seen to another character. The editing issues frustrated me and slowed the book down at certain places and made the main character look a bit stupid.

 

The other irritating thing was the character’s ability to luck into escape every time. He would be on the brink of possible death and at the last second some miracle would occur that would get him out of the situation. I can understand this kind of scenario being used once in a book, but it happened a lot. It made me think luck was way more to blame for his ultimate success than his talent or intelligence. I get that a flawed character is realistic, and I agree, but the character really should be a bit more talented at what he does if he’s the best magician-for-hire in the city.

 

My advice is, if you want a fun read, go for it, but if you want tight writing, you may end up frustrated. I think this may be a case of accepting a book for the market it’s aimed at and genre it is, but it would have been nice if the publishers insisted on editing the book properly, because no writer writes the best book they can the first time (yes, I’m making an assumption here and it would be interesting to ask the publisher what steps they took with this book). I liked the book enough that I may try the next book in the series to see if the advice I received about the improved writing is correct.

Dionne Lister

Dionne is an author and editor from Sydney who loves reading (obviously) and playing sport. She co-hosts a humorous podcast called Tweep Nation where she interviews authors and discusses all things Twitter. She loves writing and sharing her stories, but she wishes they wouldn’t keep her awake at night.

More information about Dionne Lister can be found here: www.dionnelisterwriter.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

Tenzi Review by David Lowry

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Board Games, Children's Games, Club Fantasci, David Lowry, Dice Games, Family games, Tenzi, The Lowry Agency

Tenzi

Tenzi is a quick paced dice game that is great for families, quick games while waiting for your friends to show up or to close out a heavy evening of gaming.

Publisher: Carma Games, LLC

Players: 2-4

Ages: all ages

Playing Time: 5 – 10 minutes

Contents: 40 d6, 4 different colors, 10 of each color

Suggested Retail Price: 14.95

Parental Advisory: Safe for kids

I was walking around the ASTRA convention in Nashville, TN a few weeks ago when I came across the booth for Tenzi. I stopped and played with three other people and was impressed at how fun it is. I left with a review copy and so here we are now.

I have had the chance to play this game several times now with multiple people and each time I really have fun. You can play this game is so many different ways that it’s always fresh, fun and quick game that provides a good amount of laughs. You can all go for the same number say 5, and see who rolls all 5’s first. You can pick two, three or even 6 numbers and see who the first to roll all ten dice to get through each number first. You can stack a tower as you roll the numbers etc… There are a lot of different ways to play Tenzi which makes it fun and more fun than you would think. There is even a good amount of table talk about technique for rolling dice! My daughter who is 10 years old, loves this game and wants to play it all the time now.

There isn’t much to this game. 40 six sided die and a rules sheet so the components are not really an issue.

Based on the simplicity of this game I am going to rate it 6 out 10 stars but please don’t let that seem like it’s not a good game. It is a fun game that is just really simple. There is nothing deep about it as far as strategy goes but sometimes simple is best.

Here is a video link on how to play: https://www.ilovetenzi.com/?page_id=9

July’s Book of the Month “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell

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Book Club, Ciara Ballintyne, Cloud Atlas, Club Fantasci, David Lowry, David Mitchell, Dionne Lister, Fantasy, Melody Ann Jones-Kaufman, Science Fiction, The Lowry Agency

Cloud Atlas

A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation—the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.
In his captivating third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity’s dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us.

The Hangout for this book will take place on August 2nd, 2013 at 7:30pm CST.