Bonnie

Let me start off by saying this won’t be my usual review, I don’t really wish to waste more breathe on this than I need to. Concept is cool, the deck building aspect is a unique way of tackling the mechanics of the game and I really enjoyed the paddle boards (if only to use the Simpson’s reference: ‘That’s a paddling’). But after that there was nothing. The game came missing a card and with the worst rulebook in the history of rule books in my opinion. Hard to follow, I had to go through several video reviews/plays before we could get a full game right. In the end this one is sitting on the shelf collecting dust. There are better deck builders, with better feel to them and I just can’t recommend this one to anyone.

Two Players enter the combat area, only one exits with dragons by their side. Will you be the victorious mother of dragons or will your opponents allure make them the grand puff-daddy dragon of them all. Okay.. don’t know where I was going with that….

Anyways, Blue Moon: Legends is a complete reprinting of the game Blue Moon in it’s entirety. There is a cute flavour text you can easily read in the rule book, the cards and even above here in the boardgaming review but I’m gonna skip all that. At it’s core it’s a two-player card game where you are playing characters using their fire or earth values to try and win the pot so to speak and attract a dragon to your side. You play leadership, character and booster/support cards to do this over several phases. It’s you go, then the other person goes and tries to match or beat your cards. Attract three, then be about to get one more and you win. Run out of cards, if you have the dragons you win, if nobody has dragons the person with cards remaining wins.

Simple. Very very simple… and that in itself could be it’s downfall or greatest asset depending on what you are looking for. It retails between $30-$39 dollars and to me it’s a pretty good value. If you are looking for a quick two-player game, or filler game this will give you a bang for your buck. If that’s not so much your thing… go buy something else.

Final thoughts:
This two player game is an easy learn, easy to fill time with and easy to be overlooked by many. I think it makes a good filler game while waiting for bigger more epic scaled gaming sessions to begin (or all your other players to show up) as it has a good theme and basic mechanics it’s not gonna make for one of those ‘remember the time we were playing….’ moments, but it will still be a fun enough time.
What I like: Components are great, travels easy and when not drafting takes no time to set up. Also some people might be put of with the way the cards read. Stuff like: At the end of your booster phase discard one card. (meaning your opponent discards it) or I may play one extra support card this turn. (meaning you). But personally I found that saved big time on petty arguments over card text meanings that happens in other games.
What I dislike: I personally didn’t find the rulebook all that concrete in how to add in all the ‘additions’ to the main sets, now granted I was a little tired when I read it but still. But there are many sources online for the original Blue Moon, that can help in that department.
Who it’s ultimately for: Fans of fast games, two-player games, trick taking, baby blue gems and plastic dragons.
Who it’s ultimately not for: CCG/LCG enthusiasts. While this is the core came plus it’s expansions, it’s a complete game. Don’t look for more to come. It’s a reprint, everything is there, that’s all you get… and frankly it’s enough for what it is.

There is really no need for me to go into great detail over a game that you have likely heard endless things about. Not to mention it is only 16 cards. The rules are simple and the play even more so. Discard and get the effect according to the card. Try to figure out what your opponent has or to make them discard out so that you can win the chance to send your ‘love letter’ to the Princess in hopes of being chosen her suitor.

That’s all fine and well but there is truly only one thing you need to know about this game:

GUYS WILL PLAY IT!

You look at the theme, you look at the concept and think oh right so it’s a filler game for girls. Wrong wrong wrong… on so many levels. At it’s core Love Letter is an easy to play trick taking game that is fun for the whole family. That includes the guys 😉

Final thoughts: Is it really fair to call this a Micro Game when it packs such a good little punch in the fun department. Let’s just call it a light trick taking with an interesting theme that is playable for all. Right, I get it now… Micro game it is.
What I like: Easy to play, easy to teach, easy to enjoy!
What I dislike: Umm… wait, do I even have to put something here? Okay fine, I dislike that you have to send a copy of a wedding invite to purchase the wedding edition of this game.
Who is this ultimately for: Your Mom’s Red Hat Society Group, Your Dad’s Poker Buddies, Your kids babysitter and her friends… seriously guys, this game is for everyone.
Who it’s ultimately not for: Hardcore strategy gamers are likely not gonna put this one on their Saturday Epic gaming list, but you just might still catch them playing it as a filler between their bigger games.

In this resource management Euro you are one of four race leaders trying to build up your cities and conquer towns in order to be the supreme of them all… wait, did I just mix it up with American Horror Story: Coven? Right, dial it back. But really you are either the frogmen, the hogmen, the humans or the mother of dragons… err.. I mean Cresarians.

The reason it’s so easy to start jumbling up tv references here is because this euro is unlike many others.. it actually has theme! No, I’m not kidding, it does, it truly does. Painted over with a steampunk anthropomorphic style you are immersed into it and start really caring about gathering turnips or silks or demons in jars.

Each turn you are trying to collect the citizen/military cards needed to either build a new city, conquer a neighboring town, gather science or coin, build economic infrastructures to move goods, store buildings etc. Three times during the game a score card will come out which will give you VP at the end of that turn these are worth paying attention to as they will come up faster each time (as there are more A cards than B more B than C). Also there is a nice mechanic with the way you discard things being how you will draw them later, so be aware of this and set yourself up for success best you can.

You MUST think ahead or you will fall behind. With only three actions per turn you must spend them wisely, though by buying new cards each round you can catch back up.. mildly, if someone is running away with the resource track you may need to go military and knock them down a peg to stay in the running. It’s that interaction and veneer that make City of Iron feel like a blend of Euro & Ameri-trash without needing the luck mechanic.

Final thoughts:
A brilliant marriage of Euro & Theme which is harder to do then one might think so kudos to Ryan Laukat on that.
What I like: Thinky & Pretty. The art style is amazing, the game flows easily and is easy to follow once you play through once. Scales well at 2,3 & 4 players equally.
What I dislike: Board is beautiful but too big for what it is. Could have shrunk it down to make more table room for play areas especially the banner art between the resource scoring and VP track.
Who it’s ultimately for: Those looking for an intro to mid-weight euro games with Ameri-trash veneer.
Who it’s ultimately not for: Ameri-trash purists. This has 98% no luck, I’d give it 2% just based on the shuffle of the deck and what comes out when but that’s it.

I know what you are saying, another Carcassonne… really? why? That or possibly you are rejoicing but based on there being very few reviews so far I’m gonna say it’s the former. But before you just dismiss the newest version of the tile laying game let me tell you why you may just want to take a peek.

In this version of the game instead of roads, fields and cities there are bridges, fishing and islands where instead of points you collect resources: bananas from completed islands, fish from enclosed fishing areas or if a piece is placed with a fishing boat within it, shells from the completed bridges.

These resources are then traded to the new mechanic of merchant ships with varying demands and points accordingly. Keep your ships after you give them the goods and in the end count them up along with bonuses much like regular Carcassonne.

Final thoughts:
What I like: The wooden components are great quality and the new shipping adds a new dimension to the game for both new players and veterans.
What I dislike: Not enough tiles, there are times when markets come out and there is no way you will be able to surround them based on certain tiles already being out and only being two of or one of those kind in whole game.
Who it’s ultimately for: Carcassonne fans, new gamers, casual gamers, avid gamers, family gamers.
Who it’s ultimately not for: Non-Euro fans will likely want to sit this one out. Though the theme is great, it’s still just a tile laying euro at the end of the day.

In a world… where money and power rule, net warriors look to take down the governing forces suppressing their lifestyles, general wellness and ruining their overall day. Hack the planet, boot up or shut up! Sorry, Hackers the movie gets stuck in my head whenever I think of this game. If it could have been be a board game or card game this would likely be it. Though much as I enjoyed what is pretty much an awful movie this is far far from an awful game!!

Set in the Android universe, Netrunner seeks to give the players a chance to either score agendas or steal them away by playing from the perspective of the corporations trying to set forth their agendas or from that of the runner attempting to sabotage their servers and steal those very agendas so they just can’t happen.

As one of of the four corporations it is your job to protect your servers with ice and upgrades, while advancing your agendas and trying to stop the netrunner from getting at them. As one of the three types of netrunner you are trying to build a rig full of icebreakers, hardware and resources good enough to break on through and ****** them away before they can be scored. Both sides need to balance their income in order to purchase gear for the runner, or rez things for the corp and keep the other from getting to that almighty 7 agenda points to win the game.

With the massive amount of data packs this game already has out and the others still to come there is a lot of value and replay here. In my opinion if you are a fan of deck builders and LCGs at all this is a no brainer to get. One of my fave games of all time.

Final thoughts:
Great two player game with a totally different experience on either side leaves this one having a lot of legs. Thematics that just work with the mechanics so seamlessly that one really couldn’t go without the other here. A different coat of paint/theme just wouldn’t be the same at all.
What I like: There are such a vast array of cards even just out of the core set that it makes for lots of fun once you start fine tuning and trying out new strategies.
What I dislike: The terminology, while thematic and all, does make it a little difficult for teaching new players and honestly some old players to the hobby as well with things being different on both sides, ie: Discard Pile = Heap for Runner or Archives for Corp. But that is only a minor gripe
Who it’s ultimately for: Fans of Cyber-punk, Richard Garfield, card drafting, CCG/LCGs and anyone with a soul.. just kidding, everyone knows corp players have no soul, right? RIGHT?!!
Who it’s ultimately not for: Non LCG/CCG fans, people who need to have every card in existence (okay, maybe it’s okay for them too but can get costly, though no where near as bad as CCG’s) and those looking for group games… this is two-player only folks.

Cardboard paper monsters fighting other cardboard paper monsters while collecting energy for power-ups and rolling dice Yahtzee style. Come on now, what’s not to love about that. In King of Tokyo, you are one of the Kaiju (strange creature) monsters trying to gain enough victory to rule over Tokyo. But it’s not as simple as sitting on top of the Tokyo Tower and beating your chest like a cyber-ape named King… oh no, not at all because all the other Kaiju want to be just like you or better still take your place. So while you are trying to roll damage to them they are trying to take away your health and force you out so they can go in.

The rules are simple and require little much but a quick read through and you are ready to go. In the vain of gateway games such as ticket to ride this has a super easy set up and takes even less time. About 30 mins a game, less if it’s a two player one (which we’ve played two games in 30 mins), and it’s easy to jump right in and have fun. Sound effects not included people but you are missing out if you don’t make your own.

Each die contains the numbers 1-3 to indicate potential victory points, a claw to represent damage, a lightening bolt to represent energy, and a heart to indicate healing. 3 numbers of one kind equal that many victory points (ie: 3 3 3 = 3 victory, 1 1 1 = 1, 2 2 2 = 2) each additional one of the same number as your set counts as one more (ie: therefore 3 3 3 3 = 4 points, 2 2 2 2 2 = 4 points, 1 1 1 1 = 2 points etc) You get your initial roll, then two re-rolls to try and come up with the best combo to get yourself the most points or other things you need at the time. Energy allows you to buy power ups with various abilities like an extra head which would give you and extra die to roll, Bonus! Damage does.. well just that, damage to whoever is in Tokyo or if it’s you Damage to all those outside who oppose you. Also if nobody is in Tokyo that damage allows you to walk right in. Hearts are for healing but they only do you good outside of Tokyo, that’s right the downside of being in Tokyo climbing those buildings and being the big bad is well… you can’t heal and if you lose all your hearts you are eliminated, but don’t worry you can concede and force your attacker in before that happens.

Final thoughts:
Monsterous fun for the whole family, heh see what I did there? Anyways really it’s a great time packed into a light little dice rolling and card drafting game.
What I like: The theme, the basic play and the easy to follow rules makes this one that can be taught to anyone.
What I don’t like:In a two-player game it’s really hard to get cards that will help you out, we have a house rule for that I’ll add in that section in a moment. Also the dice scuff up easy and if you spill any liquids on the tokens for certain power ups they can split apart seeing as it’s just cardboard and unsealed at that.
Who this is ultimately for: Family, Friends, Casual to Avid games will adore this one. I’ve yet to see it not go over well.
Who this is ultimately not for: Anyone suffering from Papyrophobia, Tetraphobia, or fear of dices. But seriously if they have any of those they likely aren’t reading this review to begin with.

This game is a fairly simply pick up and deliver space game themed to take place in the space western Firefly verse. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very thematic and immerses you in that… without losing those of us who didn’t watch the show or were fans previously. In firefly, you are in control of a ship from contact to contact to pick up and ‘work’ jobs for them all while trying to complete game goals for whichever scenario you chose. Some jobs are legal which will make it easier to slide by that Alliance Cruiser and other jobs not so much so, not to mention there are those immoral ones that will upset any moral crew members causing them to be disgruntled. They can also get that way if you don’t pay them in order to fatten your wallet… oops 😉 Just be careful disgruntled crews can be purchased by other ships in your space or leave you altogether if they get too unhappy, and if the unhappy one is your leader well… he’ll go on a firing spree making it that much harder to get those jobs done.

In order to do jobs you will need to hire crew and gather upgrades and weapons including some with keywords to help you misbehave. The misbehaving deck is where an element of take that comes into this game as you will have to use keywords, and or certain skills to get it done. Failure can result in botched attempts or warrants issued making your job that much more difficult and possibly even killing off crew members. Along with that there is a neat card mechanic for movement through either the alliance space or border space where there is a chance that the reavers or cruiser will catch up with you and ruin your day.

Final thoughts:
Overall it’s a solid game but there are others out there that fill a similar niche, so far I am more than happy with this one though in my small collection.
What I like: The cards are well dispersed on their various supply planets making it so your buy actions aren’t usually wasted if you stop in to pick something up.
What I dislike: Not enough cards, once you know who’s where it becomes less a guessing game and more a waiting to draw them.
Who it’s ultimately for: Fans of the show, fans of pick up/deliver games
Who it’s ultimately not for: People who enjoy quick games/People who hate luck in games/ People not into pick up & deliver or take that games.