The Totally Board

I’ve gone down a road that I didn’t know I’d go down.

It started a long time back, maybe 10 years ago, when I got my first-edition copy of War of the Ring. The minis were / are mediocre, but they were pretty decent for the time that they were produced. My struggle at the time [or at least, I thought at the time] was that because there were so many of them, that I should probably paint the bases different colors that matched the factions [i.e., paint the dwarves a brown base, the elves a light green base, and so forth].

I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some paints and some crappy disposable brushes not knowing how to do this, and not even knowing what paints I picked up. I grabbed the wrong paints, too. Got some stinky acrylics and off I went. My local game store had all this stuff, but I was either too timid to go in, or it just never dawned on me as if it were something I could get there either. The moment I put my brush on the mini, I knew I was making a huge mistake. 200 minis later, I made 200 mini mistakes. In some way I thought that I was particularly proud of what I’ve done, and didn’t think it’d be a problem at all. Deep down, though...I knew that I had just ruined my game.

I abandoned it, thinking that at some point that I’d get around to fixing it or playing it, but 10 years have gone by and I’ve done some repair, but not enough to put any energy towards fully painting the entire set of miniatures. Over the next couple of years and some new inspiration, I did repaint a few of the minis using proper paints and some proper brushes, but I still have it sitting on my shelf, unpainted [just typing this out is frustrating and I should absolutely fix this asap].

Recently I’ve painted through some other games like Mice and Mystics, Imperial Assault, Scythe, and Spector Ops. All of these games have some of my favorite board game miniatures, and with a lot of practice, I’m pretty proud of the work I’ve done.

Move ahead to 2017/18, when Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire gets released...a small scale skirmish game, but with Games Workshop miniatures? I’m curious. I’ve never done any hobby-work with anything from GW, but I was quite curious! Minis to clip off of the sprues, prime, paint, play. I wasn’t aware that building minis and painting them was this much fun and this much addicting. Once I got the base set finished, I moved on to an expansion. And another. And another. And more. Then I got wind of Warhammer 40k’s small scale game Kill Team [not the same as Underworlds, but still]. It was basically a waterfall of painting, building, organizing, reading, building, painting...I haven’t played the game yet, but good grief: I’ve spent a TON of hours on this part of the hobby and I’m starting to hit the point where I need to play it in order for me to continue to find value in the things I’ve done [otherwise, these minis are either going to collect dust or get sold]. 

That’s probably the biggest contribution to the lack of blogging for me, because I’ve spent so much time at the table working on this stuff. I should have been documenting it! So, moving ahead, I shall do my best to not only put brush to mini, but also pen to paper so that I can document and share my experience with you. If you follow me on instagram [@thetotallyboard] then you may have seen a lot of the work I’ve been doing.

I remember when this game first popped on my radar, getting excited about the idea of a new-ish spin on a worker placement game, in a small box, too! But then I was dismayed at the fact that this required 3 players. As you faithful readers know, I’m pretty much a strict 2-player game kinda guy.  It’s tough getting games in with more than two, and I just didn’t see it happening with this game. As a result, this game remained a blip on my radar.

Then for some reason, I saw that it was changed to two to four players and I was kind of surprised! What did they change? How is that possible? Kudos to the game designer/developer for expanding the possibility. Usually we see games expanded to allow for more; rarely do we see it for less.

So it’s in my possession and now after a few plays, I’d like to introduce you to my experience. Ars Alchimia is a fascinating worker-placement experience because not only do you have a pool of workers from which to choose when choosing a place-to-work, you’re limited by the fact that you sometimes have to send a group of workers out to out-bid (or extend beyond) the number of workers that already exist there...even if they’re your own. 

So the game itself is like most worker placement games. You place workers, do things at the location, manage your resources or rewards, then come home and do it all over again. The situation here is that your workers act as a bidding mechanism for locations (e.g., I can place 3...even 5 workers at a location if it means that I’ll make it more prohibitive for others to use the same location). It’s a mean tactic, but it’s effective. It’s almost a scare-tactic. You can send your workers to gather resources, hire townsfolk, fulfill orders, and transmute your resources into other resources (you are after all, an alchemist of sorts). If you’d like to see the game being played, I’d highly recommend watching Rahdo run through it for you. It’s a good watch, and he does a great job of explaining the mechanisms of the worker placement strategy.

So...did you like it?

Yes. I really did like it. I think the game might be better with 3 or 4, coincidentally, as I think that the 2p locations might be too restricting, even for 2 players. But I did like it. While I’m glad they expanded the game for 2 players to play, I can see why it was intended for 3+.

The artwork alone is fantastic. So beautiful! It reminds me a lot of artwork found in jRPGs from my childhood (Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy...). The artist definitely captured a lot of those elements in the board and cards. While the cards are hobbit-sized cards, I do like the linen-finish. The quality of the production matches most of anything that TMG produces these days.

Also, I’m a sucker for worker placement games. I’ve played a lot, and a lot aren’t good. But this one is pretty decent. I really enjoyed the mechanism to place the goods. While it’s not a true bidding mechanism, it forces you to make decisions as if you’re needing to outbid your opponents. In some cases, you may need to outbid yourself! The planning structure around this is hard because you don’t know exactly what is going to happen each round. Even if you knew what actions your opponent was going to take, you’ll not likely ever know how many workers he/she was going to send to the action. If you plan for a small number, for sure no...he’s going to send as many as he can to keep you from getting what you want.

Who would like this game? I think that anyone that likes worker placement games might like this, but the theme may be slightly off-putting to some. And honestly, it doesn’t really make much sense to me, though I certainly don’t mind it. I played with Luke and he just couldn’t seem to wrap his head around the theme. There’s a lot of strange stuff going on here..you’re getting ambiguous resources (somehow...like, in the woods?), then you’re using them to fulfill orders by other alchemists...not sure why they can’t just go to the woods themselves. [Maybe I may have missed something?]. Regardless, if you like worker-placement games, I’d recommend this. If you’re new to the mechanism or new to the hobby, I’d check this game out later and get in on a simpler worker placement first [Kingsburg is a good launching point for those that are new to that genre].

What’s the verdict then? You’re all over the place.

Ars Alchemia is a really good game and I think that if I were to bring this to a game night to get 3 or 4 players in on it, we’d enjoy it. Will I play this a lot over the years? I doubt it, sadly. I do love the art work, and the mechanism are a fresh take on the game’s genre that I do enjoy, but I don’t know if this will keep hitting the table. I’ll keep it in the game-night bag, just in case someone wants something small, thinky, and pretty.

It's a Double Feature! At least that's what we're calling it for now.

Friends, let me introduce you to my good friend, Luke.

Luke, say 'hi'!

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This is a written review, so this didn't work the way I wanted it. But you read the words and now you're either intrigued or bored. Stick with us. Luke and I have been exploring various games together for what I think is almost a year now. We have some mutual friends, and also a mutual love for this hobby made of cardboard, so we thought it best that we get together and game together. It's great!

Today's inaugural double feature is all about Yokohama, a game published in 2017 by Tasty Minstrel Games. This appeared on Kickstarter as a "deluxified" version in June of 2016, reaching it's goal (and then-some), and was finally published in 2017 (these images are of the retail version, not the deluxified version).

Yokohama has been given a lot of praise by a LOT of people...and certainly deserves it. It's a tricky thing, though. When you look at the big modular board, it's frightening, not to mention all of the icons. It's truly scary. IT'S SCARY, PEOPLE. But it isn't. It's not scary at all. In fact, it's warm and welcoming like your old great-aunt that always kept cookies on hand. It's that nice. It just *seems* like it'd be scary like most euros of this weight (I'd put it on par with another Tasty Minstrel hit, Orleans). In fact, this would only be daunting to those that are choosing this as their very first game into the designer board game hobby, which would be a terribly fantastic choice to make. Before we get into the review let me tell you a bit about the game. If you're interested in learning how to play it, I'd highly recommend checking out Gaming Rules! video on how to play it. This will definitely give you a much better idea on how to play this game, and what it's all about. You can find more information on that at the bottom of this post, or you can just go there now.

Yokohama features you, a merchant in the city of Yokohama, working to get fame by fulfilling orders for exports, working with foreign agents, and developing the city through building various shops around the city that help influence your fame.

On your turn, you place assistants around the board, moving your president through those areas, stopping once to perform that action. It feels like worker-placement, but I'm also wanting to call this an action-selection game. Maybe a action-placement-worker-election game. That makes sense. Right?

Once you take your action which could be anything from collection resources, fulfilling exports, contributing to the church, or investing in technology. You do this for several turns until one of a few ending conditions takes place.

Given that this is a double feature, I thought I'd do this in some sort of written-interview style, only because as someone that does like to read reviews rather than watch them, I'm keen on that style. So, Luke! Tell me! Did you like this game?

Luke: I do like the game. I enjoy the planning aspect of placing the assistants strategically. For some reason I feel like this is a lot lighter than other heavy euros, but I think it mainly revolves around the worker placement mechanic. I also like the variety that the various cards bring to the game and how they plug into a designated space on an action tile. Still debating whether or not I want it in my collection, but it is one that I would enjoy playing more often than not.

Andy: This game really puts you in a position to plan ahead for several turns. When you're collecting these resources, there's benefit to getting more resources later than getting fewer now. Putting up a trade house on one of those shops...it feels great! Getting the benefit of having permanent placement on the action tile, plus the immediate benefit of placing the building itself (unless you're one of the unlucky johnny-come-lately folks that waited too long (read: me...a lot). While I did like the game overall, I think this is a bit daunting because planning ahead is very hard to teach in a game, especially when there's so much variability in the game set up. Knowing that when you go into the game, you're going to have to plan ahead on every turn, this will make the world of difference in getting buy-in from a new player. I want more plays of this for sure. And more plays will be good to do, even though the drastic changes in set up variability will prevent some leftover strategy from game to game. Who do you think will like this game?

Luke:  Those who are interested in worker placement, resource management, area control games but still haven't played too many of them.

Andy: Yeah, I agree. This definitely incorporates all of those mechanisms around the board, but is unique enough that even a veteran would find something fresh here. Nevertheless, someone new to the hobby would do well to play this with someone experienced, which leads me to my final question, is there anything in Yokohama that turned you off of it?

Luke: I'm super picky about graphic design and feel that the tiles could be better designed even though I really like the graphic style. I noticed that they might have attempted to try and fix some issues in the deluxe version, but I doubt I would be satisfied. :( 

I like the tiles, but it seems like there could be a better solution for laying everything out. You have long rectangular pieces bunched together and a pyramid stack of shorter rectangular tiles which all contributes to a kind of a non-cohesive structure on the table top.

Andy: For someone not new to these games, I'm ok with the icons that they used; in fact I only had to reference the rulebook a couple of times during play to remind myself of what certain icons did and performed. My hang up was the ending conditions and process of scoring. Going through it though, actually makes sense. It just seemed odd to me. But I think it's me, and not the game.

And I agree on the layout. Even with just the two of us playing it, reaching around the pyramid of tiles was challenging, especially when you need to rely on knowledge of what these tiles do (which are described with pictures, not words). Reading upside down is easy for me, identifying images upside down is a bit more challenging (again...might just be me). It's because of the layout that I don't anticipate playing with a group larger than 2, though given that the pyramid will increase in size and scale based on player count, I'm fine with a two player game in Yokohama.

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There you have it, folks! Yokohama! I hope you enjoyed this double feature review, and because Luke and I play a ton of games frequently, which means you can trust more of these will be coming, and soon!

Sometimes when I sit and look through old family photo albums, I see people to whom I'm related, yet, I'm completely oblivious as to who they actually are. Even so, they aren't completely unfamiliar either. I think we all have that obscure aunt or cousin that came and visited us and while we have no immediate memory, we still had an uncomfortable picture taken and safely documented in the basement bin of photo albums.

And it is within those pictures we see something familiar. We see ourselves participating in Lord-knows-what, and wearing an outfit that I'm pretty sure my sister picked out because it probably looked intentionally ridiculous, smiling and have a great time. We're familiar with it because we see it, talk about it as it's right in front of us, and we are captivated by the fact that we were once in a place that we know and with people we know...except that weird uncle-in-law that apparently was super into Supertramp.

That's also how I feel about playing Knizia games.

They seem obscure...even weird and Supertrampy. But I'm somehow familiar with them because the execution of the mechanics is done so cleanly. It's like I'm hanging out with them in photographs taken in the late 70s.

Amun Re, originally published in 2003 though now recently updated in 2017 by Tasty Minstrel Games, is just one of those games. I've heard about this game for the better part of the last decade though have had apprehension about it (more later). Amun Re is a game of Area Control and Auctioning, and while I never laid eyes on the original version, I don't imagine that I ever care to at this point. Tasty Minstrel, as usual, curates and/or produces games of the highest quality, and Amun Re is no exception.

Usually games that are riddled with miniatures are judged on their quality (and, they should be). But it's usually those games that are only judged for quality. It's rare that someone speaks up about a euro game filled with cardboard chits and says "these components are gorgeous". It's cardboard. Amun Re in this case, is a game of euro-mechanics, but has these...gorgeous...miniature pyramids and bricks that (I'm assuming) are some sort of acrylic. They don't seem like typical soft plastic. In fact, I feel like I could easily throw one through the window (note: don't throw these through windows). The rest of the components are standard quality of cardboard and card stock (which isn't a slight against the quality), and the graphic design is laid out very well. One thing that I super-hate is trying to match symbols over and over again to their descriptions in the rulebook, as if I'm some sort of Egyptologist on an archeological excursion that probably should have paid better attention in school. Fortunately, it requires very little higher education, but if you get confused...hey, it's theme!

Amun Re features an auctioning / bidding mechanism that is pretty simple. Depending on the number of players, there will be provinces on the board that will have a card indicating the current or potential cost to bid for control. Once you place your bid, other players in turn order will place their bids, too. It's entirely possible that they could outbid you. WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT? Well, dear friends, they would do it for one of two reasons:

1. They're jerks. 2. The province has some sweet resources that they'd be fools to let pass by.

Oh, the bonus reason? Both of course. Only a jerk would take those sweet resources away from you, unless you're the one taking it away, in which case, it's a smart move.

Resources aren't tight in this game (like in Railways of the World, where you start out as poor as a stone in a bucket of gravy*). But your available resources can't be spread far and wide, either. You want to dump your stuff in a really lucrative province that's going to have great return, so that you can keep adding to it and use these resources to dump into future lucrative provinces. You can collect bricks, which can be used for pyramids, which can be used for MORE pyramids. You can have farmers tiling the fertile Nile delta, bringing you profits unknown. You can let caravans camp in your provinces, for when there's a dry season, they'll bring you profits, too.

The dry or wet seasons are dependent upon how many sacrifices donations you can make to the god Amun Re. If you sacrifice donate enough people money, you can encourage the deity to send floods to your farms which will, as aforementioned, bring profits unknown. Or you can be one of those jerks again, and not send your people money to Amun Re and force a dry season to allow your caravans to seek profit instead of the farms.

All of this happens in a single age...the Old Age.

And then a thousand years pass. 

[Not literally, because this would be the most boring game ever.]

Then the New Age comes. All that's left are the bricks and the pyramids that your ancestors left behind. The farms are gone. The caravans are gone. All of it. Gone. Whisked away with the sands of time (this is somewhat literal, considering it's in ancient Egypt and according to my recent Google Image search, there's a lot of sand there).

But that's the catch. All of the same provinces are going to be, more or less, re-auctioned to this new culture but along with the constructs that their ancestors left behind, significantly changing the value of all of them. What this means is that the bidding gets a bit grittier because you WANT those pyramids and you definitely want to take over that province with all the farms that one of the other jerks took out from underneath you. Jerks.

All this is happening with hand full of favor cards that can help you along the way by giving your farms bonuses, your caravans bonuses, extra cash during the delta floods, and even more bricks. Also, there are end-of-game bonuses that you can hang onto in your hand that will surely bring you even more fame. Got an end-game-bonus that clearly won't work? No worry...trade it in for gold, friend.

I've not played a lot of auction games. I'll admit that. And as such, I don't have much to compare it to, but the auction system in this game is seamless. It makes sense. It's perfect, actually. Of the auction games I have played, this is pretty solid and likely will be the standard at which I measure other auction games in the future. The card play, the bidding, the the sacrificing donating...it all makes sense and it all flows together. It's like I've been playing this game my whole life. It all works.

The only hang up I have (and this isn't the game's fault) is that it requires at minimum with 3 players. I do mostly 2p games, and 3p on occasion. It's rare that I get a 4p game in, though I did get a 4 player game of Amun Re in and it was fantastic. I'll say this: it scales really well from 3 to 5 players (disclosure, I've only played this with 3 players and 4 players). Cargo Noir by Days of Wonder kind pulls this off with 2p albeit a tad lackluster.

Look  -  I like this game. And though it's not my favorite Knizia game (that award goes to Ingenious), I love how well it goes together, and how familiar it all feels to me. While I'm looking forward to my next play, I'm not sure what category into which it fits. See, I can play a game like Ticket to Ride or Kingdom Builder over and over again, because while the game doesn't change, elements within change. I feel like this might feel like playing the same game with a dozen repeated plays (disclosure, I haven't a dozen plays of this game). I don't know. Veterans of this game may disagree; it's entirely possible that they would agree with me in this, and it within those familiarities and similarities between plays is the charm in and of itself.

Ingenious is my absolute favorite Reiner Knizia game of all, and it is strictly abstract. A far contrast from the thematic elements in Amun-Re, it is still very similar among plays and that's what is charming about it. Amun Re may not be too far off of this either. 

The rules, for whatever reason, leave some critical elements out, like, what do you do when the favor cards run out? A quick PDF search of the old version says to reshuffle the discards, so that's what we did.

All in all, this is a fine game, and is a great design. I don't know if it'll be a staple in my collection or not, but for those nights wherein I have 3 people wanting to play a game that will enjoy running some auctions and sacrifices donations, this may be the key ingredient

[note: Thanks to Tasty Minstrel for providing this review copy!]

So, I’m a dad.

I have a couple of kids (boys) under the age of 5 and aside from all of the exhausting things that are generally associated with parenthood / fatherhood, I’m an incredibly lucky man. The boys that I have are incredibly polite, both in public and in private, and are incredibly genuine and loving to anyone with whom they interact.

But they are most definitely still little kids and that any time that they see or otherwise experience anything new in life, I need to remember that this is the first freaking time that they’ve ever seen anything like this. Most of us can’t remember when we lost our first board game.

These guys remember. It was 5 minutes ago.

And they’ve been crying about it ever since.

The thing is, I won a game. In fact, I win a lot of games when I play against a three year old. I’m smarter and more agile. As cute as he is, he doesn’t lose a game very well.

One of our hopes as a geek parent is, likely for most of us, that our kids will be interested in the same geek crap that we like. And some of us may find disappointment that interest just isn’t there. So don’t force it. If they aren’t interested, forcing it very well may just push them farther away from any interest at all.

From an early age, my guys have always been around me and my piles of chits and as such, have always seemed somewhat interested. I’m learning a lot about what it takes as a dad to raise my kids the way I feel that they should be raised (you should too) and seek counsel of other fathers that I feel are good dads (again, you should too). But that’s not what this post is about. It’s about teaching kids how to play games.

Tonight we played a riveting game of Monster-Torte, a dexterity game by Haba (ages 5 thru 99, and plays 2 to 4 humans).

In the game Monster-Torte you have a wooden spoon and a wood bowl, and you along with your opponents are trying to dig out ingredients of the middle of the box (which acts as a container itself) to match what is depicted on the same card for everyone (so, for instance, you might see a red and a yellow ball on the card, so you need to use your spoon to pull out each color of marble and put it in your bowl. First. At the same time as everyone). This element of dexterity seems to be incredibly stressful on kids. Both of my boys are rather dexterous, at least for their age, so the age factor shouldn’t be an issue. 

In fact, the biggest issue is not teaching the rules. They know the rules. 

One rule we have in my house is that we play games to have fun. Winning is only a side effect of playing a game well. Even losing a game can be fun. I’ve lost several games of Twilight Imperium and not once did I deem that spending 6 hours on a game was stupid and a waste. It was fun. F - U - N. Fun.

I have a competitive spirit, though not likely as intense as other folks. My boys are likely a lot more competitive than I am. Teaching kids to be good winners and losers is probably the most challenging thing I’ve done as a parent. Teaching rules to anyone can be challenging alone, even teaching strategy has its own issues. 

No, teaching a small child how to congratulate the winner, and to simply ‘try harder next time’ is incredibly frustrating as a parent. I want them to enjoy what they’re doing, so punishment on top of losing a game is a terrible idea. “Stop crying! Why are you crying? Didn’t you have fun? I thought we were supposed to have fun! Have fun! Do it! Now!” Instead, I’m choosing to reason with my kids. “Oh, you didn’t like losing? Let’s try again. Daddy lost, and i’m not upset. Can you try losing again to see if you can not be upset?”

Another tactic may be to warn (and commit) to putting the game away if they aren’t willing to play by ALL the rules, which means insisting that having a good time and being content with the outcome needs to be a rule. This seems to go well with my boys and their personalities, but your mileage may vary.

Certain types of games may have different results. My guys seem to get more frustrated at dexterity games than they do, say tile-laying games. It’s for reasons like that that you may (as a parent) need to consider the games that you’re bringing to the table. I think real-time games are even more frustrating because someone (me) is always faster and more capable than the other. 

Please take my survey! Each response will be entered into a drawing on March 1, 2017, so get your entries in by 2/28! Rules: • follow me on Instagram (thetotallyboard) as this is where I'll be announcing the winner • fill out the survey • US participants for the give away only • no purchase necessary If you are outside of the US, I'd still love your feedback! [a big thanks to Tasty Minstrel for donating the give away... follow them, too! @tastyminsrel]

Here’s the Link:

I need to tell you something, and I’m going to be straight with you. I really wanted to hate this game. Cards and dice in a small box usually means that one person is playing the game and everyone else is anxiously waiting for their turn entirely too long. I get it. I’m being super cynical right now. But seriously. It usually means that there’s no interaction and no planning. Even worse when someone can’t freaking take their turn in a reasonable amount of time.

Truth be told, I also wanted to play this game so that I could tell you I hated it. Glutton for punishment, maybe? I don’t know. I really wanted to see how miserable this game is so that I can share the misery with you all.

Still with me?

When I first played this game, I taught it to 3 new players (4, including myself). Two of those new players are (my assumption) also really new to the hobby, too. It was a perfect setup for a perfect storm. I was watching my friends listen as I taught the game and I could see the depth in the dark pupils of their eyes, thinking to themselves, “Why did I agree to this?”. MWAHAHAHAHA!

I was wrong. WAY wrong.

The rules are easy. Roll some dice. Pick and choose what you want, even stealing from another player. Do some (optional) card actions and buy more cards using your dice as currency. Collect points. Win.

I was also wrong about how I interpreted their body language. They weren’t frustrated. They weren’t in over their heads. They were absorbing and already thinking strategy. In fact, I lost miserably in the first game. Oh boy did I lose. 

Let me cut to the chase: we really liked this game. We did have a couple of hang ups, which I’ll get to in a little bit. 

In the game Thief’s Market, you and your opponents are all thieves...crooks, I tell you. You sit around the table and are splitting the loot. There’s no negotiation here, kids. Just straight up greed. The first-player rolls the dice, piles them in the middle of the table and takes what they want from the table. 

The next player in sequence can either take more loot from the table or steal someone else’s loot. If they do the latter, they must return something from their stolen grab and re-roll the dice, potentially changing the offering in the center.

The strategy here is interesting. Feasibly, you could take the entire pile, but if someone steals from you, they must take the entire pile. It’s a bad strategy. It’s also a bad strategy to take more than you need, or simply put, to take such a desirable pile that would entice anyone to steal from you. It’s also a bad strategy to not do just that. See, you’re not just collecting or stealing sweet, delicious loot. No, you’re also trying to take the dice that will work for you based on the cards you have in front of you. And so are your opponents. And because the dice are all random, shoot...everyone may be trying to get that one combo that will work for them. Sometimes, you just have to give up and try again in the next round. OR...you can be that one person that has the card that give you victory points every time someone steals from you which makes you want to take more than you need. 

When everyone has a pile of loot, they can use them to either buy cards, or execute special abilities that they have on their purchased cards. Or both. Or none because you have a pile of crap in front of you. If that’s the case, you can use some gold coins that you’ve collected from dice rolls to buy cards as one coin can be used essentially as a wild-card.

Because this is Tasty Minstrel Games, know that the production quality is top-notch. The dice are gorgeous. Heavy. They feel good to roll. The cards, including the artwork, are a fantastic matte finish. The dice are brightly colored and are easily discernible, including unique shapes of the icons to assist those that would otherwise have trouble identifying the various colors on them.

Here are the problems we had:

The icons. Holy crap, the icons. As many kooky euro games as I play, the one thing that really burns my biscuits is the use of too many unique icons with arrows and Xs and junk. GAAH! Just tell me what to do. Stop it with the icons. The cards, every card, had some strange combination of icons printed that could be referenced on (get this) a reference card for each player. 

Bonus: each player got their own reference card. Not so bonus: The reference card itself was difficult to discern how to interpret the icons. We kept having to reference the rule sheet on how to interpret the rules for the icons, as the rulesheet has all of them listed with detailed explanations.

It’s a toss-up though. I imagine that I probably would have said otherwise “Oh, I hated that this game had so much text involved blah blah blah the cards were too text heavy blah blah blah.”. Still, there wasn’t a lot of icons, but what was used, seemed really challenging, not just for new players, but even for a seasoned veteran like myself. Nevertheless, we immediately wanted to play again. We liked it that much! What did we like?

We liked that the game played fast. Sometimes, games like this can either drag on too long, or end too quickly. This felt like really great timing. 

Despite the iconography, we managed to learn and remember what each card in play did and even the new players were planning out their turns in advance.

I’m glad that this is a stealing game and NOT a negotiation game. Negotiations can make games linger longer than most new people are comfortable with, and could possibly turn people off of the game itself. Take what you want...but so will other people.

Strategies are not so complex. You can sort out and plan ahead what you want to do. Stockpiling coins will not only allow you to buy any dang card you want, but if you get the right engine going, you can also walk away with points at the end of the game.

We are very anxious to get another play in. We really do like this game, and I’m ashamed I wanted to hate it. Now that we got a grip on the game, it’ll be that much more fun bringing it back to the table over and over. Where does it fit in a gamenight? Well, somewhere between filler and ...not a filler? It’s a 30 minute game, sure...but it’s not like your traditional filler like Love Letter. No, there’s a lot more game here. Reminds me of Tiny Epic Kingdoms in weight. Fast enough to fill a gap in a gamenight, but heavy enough to not feel like you’re filling up time.

If you are turned off by a heavy amount of icons...I know some folks just get stressed at trying to interpret the hieroglyphics..but if you are turned off, you may look elsewhere. But, on the off chance you get an opportunity to play this game, then I really do recommend it. It’s a small box that will stay in my gamenight bag for sure. I’ve played it with both three and four players, and I think probably does better at four. Going to try to do five soon. But I think four players may be the sweet spot. With three players, it felt like it took a while for us to get any thievery going. It wasn’t until we had a sizable tableau in front of us where we thought we could finally find the necessity to steal from other players. With four, stealing happens pretty much on the first round of the game.

If you win your game, you become the King of Thieves, and should boast about it appropriately across your social networks!

Stats:

Thief’s Market

3 to 5 Players

30 to 50 minutes (plan on 45 minutes even for experienced players)

Designed by Dave Chalker

Art: Rob Lundy & Adam P. McIver

Published in the US by Tasty Minstrel Games

One of my first reviews I did upon the relaunched relaunch of this relaunched blog, was Scoville. Classic production quality from Tasty Minstrel Games, to be sure. Bright vivid colors, steamlined gameplay. It is without a doubt a very nice game, one of which I have little qualms with. 

When I first heard of the Scoville Labs expansion being produced, I was immediately excited then immediately concerned. See, expansions do one of two things usually...sometimes both. They add new features or they fix existing breaks in the base game. This was one of those classic “Santa isn’t Real” scenarios that I was struck with. I want to believe that I’m wrong even though I just know that it was my folks setting out the presents. I even saw them do it. But I want to also believe that I was only dreaming. Even though I wasn’t. And I saw my dad playing with my toys as he was setting them up. But I want to believe Santa is real and squeezes his large girth through the small opening on our chimney.

Wait...where was I?

Oh yeah, my apprehension about believing that the Scoville Labs expansion is a worthy expansion, one which expands the game rather than fixing it. I also realize that this is a rather pessimistic view of an expansion, any expansion. To be honest, I’m usually head-in-the-clouds when it comes to stuff like this because I want choose to believe that all expansions truly expand the game. So does Scoville Labs expand it, fix it, or both?

The expanded pieces in Scoville Labs do indeed expand the game, but they also somehow make the game a lot more interesting. The conflict I’m dealing with is that I didn’t think the game needed much improvement. Can’t pinpoint it, but I don’t necessarily consider the base game incomplete, but I didn’t think much could be added to it. I was wrong. Spoiler Alert: unless I’m in some scenario where the expansion is unavailable, I likely won’t introduce this game to anyone without introducing the expansion along with it.

First, the game comes with more peppers, more recipes, additional bonus tokens, pepper multiplier chits (for when peppers run low), and a player board which is a 3 x 3 tile of your own personal lab. It’s in this lab where you can not only plant peppers as an additional - optional action on your turn, but it will allow you to cross breed peppers in a way that will expand the farming on the main board.

Stick with me.

In our plays, we are getting more of the “higher rank” peppers quicker than we normally would by just having our farmer out and about. This, coupled with the high-school auction allows your pepper supply to grow substantially, which will allow you to fulfill market cards or chili recipes much sooner. This has been our experience...would like to hear your thoughts on this.

I don’t necessarily think it speeds up the game itself, it just affects the whole pepper economy. See, the game still doesn’t feel broken, and it doesn’t affect the outcome with a definite separation of winners and losers. When people jack with the economy of a game like this, it has a tendency to break the game in a new way that, if anything, makes for new frustrating experiences (*cough* the pile of cash under free parking *cough*).

No, Scoville Labs not only pumps more peppers into the economy by allowing you to customize your lab, it’s in this customization that allows you to pump better peppers into the farm sooner than later. One caution, though, and this is probably the same caution that I would give anyone playing the base game alone: Don’t forget to keep planting the low-level peppers (blue, red, yellow). These are instrumental in getting any pepper on the board, either directly or indirectly. Don’t forget them. YOU HEAR ME? DO NOT FORGET THEM. THEY ARE IMPORTANT.

Basically, I played a whole game and we ignored them because purple peppers are pretty and we had the hardest freaking time getting the low-level peppers because we never planted them. 

Last but not least, and this is my favorite thing about these TMG games. The “I’m better than you” card that is included in the expansion. I love a company as social as TMG, and that they encourage you to brag about it!

So, Scoville Labs. It’s a great expansion. It really is! Would I recommend it? Yes. Is it required? Not in the least. If you find yourself playing with 4 or more players often, then yes, I’d say it’s worth it just for the extra peppers. But if you want to avoid shifting the economy of the game, even though it is neither breaking something nor fixing something, then it isn’t required. If you LOVE the base game as much as I did, then I’d say yes, dip into your fanboy/girl pocketbook and snatch up this expansion. 

I have a constant wishlist running in front of me; I don’t need an excuse like Christmas to start making a list. Though, for Christmas, it’s an opportunity to put those games I really want in front of those family members that wish to get me gifts. That said, below are the games I have on my list:

Mechs Vs Minions

Look...there’s something intriguing about this game. Components and production quality aside, it actually looks like it’s a great game. Sometimes crappy games are masked by high production, but this seems to be an exception given that a lot of reviewers really like it.

Railways of the World

My boys are up to their ears in trains. I feel like this game will give us a nice in-depth train game experience, moreso than Ticket to Ride (though, that is also a family favorite). This looks like it’ll be something to chew on!

Harry Potter Deck Building Game

Basically want this because I think my wife would play it with me. Looks like a decent game, no less. Plus I want to play as Neville.

At the Gates of Loyang

Seriously TMG? You’re getting some seriously fantastic games. Another amazing game from an amazing designer. I actually used to own this game, but reluctantly traded it away for a game that I’m positive I also no longer own. Shame. So I’m adding this back on my list now that it’s being reprinted. BOOM!

Look...I won’t even bother trying to make an excuse here. Ok, actually I’m going to explain something, but it’s NOT an excuse. You hear me? It’s NOT an excuse!

Apparently I forgot to review Orléans, which is an incredibly fancy and delicious treat that is published by Tasty Minstrel Games in the US. I was looking through my feed, my blog, my pics, and my review list. Somehow this didn’t make it through, which is a crying shame, I tell you. Why? Because this is an amazing game! I’m rather shocked at how many of the games that Tasty Minstrel has on my shelf that are truly wonderful games. Truly they are! Gold West, if you recall, is easily my favorite game of 2015, and has a permanent place on my Top 10!

So what’s the big deal then, with Orléans? Sit back, dear reader, and let me tell you all about it. See, Orléans is a worker placement game, but there’s a few things about these workers to understand:

Workers do specific things, and can perform specific tasks

You have a sack of workers (I’m not really sure what else to say)

Let’s deal with the first item...see, you start off with 4 different types of workers (a Farmer, Craftsman, Trader, and a Boatman), each tagged with your color.

Workers start at the Market on the bottom of your board, then you can use them do things like...get more workers. Other workers that are available are a Scholar, a Knight, and a Monk (which, is kinda like a wildcard). You can also use these workers to have your merchant (a meeple) travel around the board, either by boat or by road, and can also build trading stations.

It’s on this road that you then begin to collect various goods like wine, cheese, and other stuff. These you’ll collect to get points at the end of the game. Some give more than others, which is probably not a surprise, but it’s also likely not a surprise that you are going to have several ways of getting points. 

Now about that sack. That pretty, soft, velvety bag.

Each player has their own bag that they use to store their workers, and on their turn will draw out a specific number of workers (depending on your stats in other areas in the game). Remember, you’re using your workers to get more workers. More and more. So many more. You’re gonna have a crapload of workers in your bag.

Much like in a deck-building game, you need to keep your deck (or in this case your bag) running efficiently. Too much stuff lends to constantly drawing garbage out of the bag, that is, workers you don’t need or want any more. Thankfully, oh gosh, Orléans, the designer included a rewarding system to cull the workers from your bag. You can send them to do some ‘beneficial deeds’ on a similarly named game board, separate from the main board (these workers get there by assigning them to the Town Hall action space on your player board).

And, when you place your workers on the Beneficial Deeds board you get a reward. Seriously brilliant. I mean, I think it is. It’s always felt punishing to have to clean your deck in a deckbuilding game; however, in Orléans you’re rewarded for these assignments. It makes it that much more enticing.

There’s only a few ways of collecting points, yet there’s a bazillion ways of sending workers out to do your deeds, and provide different benefits. In fact, when you collect new workers, you get some sort of reward usually. It’s all over the place, so much so, that you might find yourself losing sight of why you’re collecting these people in the first place (which happened to us, for sure). You find yourself building a really efficient engine of worker placement, even adding new worker placement spots to your board that only you can access, entirely unique to your experience. 

I remember when I first heard about Orléans. I was admittedly turned off by the idea of a ‘bag building’ system. The last time I played around with a system like this was Quarriors. I liked Quarriors, but I couldn’t wrap my stupid brain around  how this concept translated into a euro game, let alone a game that was nominated for the Kennerspiel Des Jahres in Germany (for those of you unaware, that’s basically expert’s game of the year. In some circles this is essentially the Oscars for game design).

Orléans is a fantastic game. It’s phenomenal. Also, did I mention that it’s my favorite artist doing the illustration? Klemens Franz is my freaking jam right now.

But seriously, the game is amazing. Given the complexity that it has with all of the moving parts and choices to make, it doesn’t have that usual associated heart burn due to the stress of having to make choices on which workers to use, which workers to hire, which workers to send away, which goods to get, how to get them. blah blah BLAH BLAH. It actually has really simple methodology and strategy. What sold it for me was that I only had to read the rule book once through and I immediately knew how to play the game, even better, how to teach it. Even watching Rahdo Run through the game, I was immediately sold. I knew that I needed this game. And I know that I need the expansion. From what I can tell, it looks like it might just add a few modules (plus a solo version!) that will be right up my alley!

Look for Orléans. If you’ve been scared of branching beyond family games or party games because of the heavy weight (both in physical dimensions and in brain power), I’d encourage you to look towards Orléans. You won’t regret it.

It’s been way too long. I should’ve done this, seriously, 4 years ago. I missed it when it was kickstarted (was it? I think it was). I just remember getting it in 2012, sometime after it’s release in 2011. In fact, I remember posting on my instagram feed back then, polling my followers to assist me in making a decision whether to buy Eminent Domain, Race for the Galaxy, or Core Worlds. While they’re all different games, they were essentially space-based card games. Got a lot of votes, pretty evenly, for each of the games. One comment though, really pushed me to Eminent Domain. The funny thing is that it was a comment that almost was positioned as a slight towards the game, as in this feature made it less interesting. That feature? It was simple.

Simple? Is that a ... a problem? And is it actually simple?

Pssh.

So I went for Eminent Domain. And dang it, I’m so glad I did. If you follow me around enough, you’ll know that it’s my favorite deck building game. I could seriously do away with all other deck building games, and contently hang on to this one for a long time. So, with my sanguine success of my last review of Luna, I’m going to do the same here. I’m tired of rigid structure. Every other board game reviewer does it, and i’m going to make my own formula. Boom.

Anyway, I am really excited for this review. Tasty Minstrel Games generously provided a copy of the expansion “Exotica”, and it was then I decided that I shamed myself for not having a copy of the first expansion “Escalation”. Fixed that real quick, bro.

So if you’ve never played a deck building game, here’s a quick synopsis according to our friends at Wikipedia:

A deck-building game is a card game that uses building a deck as the main focus of the gameplay. It is similar to collectible card games (CCGs) in that each player has their own deck. However, unlike CCGs, the cards are not sold in randomized packs, and the majority of the deck is built during the game, instead of before the game. Typically, the cards provide a type of game currency which allows players to buy more cards to add to their decks.

Make sense? There’s a pool of cards, limited cards, that you can buy in the game. As you buy these cards, they get added to your tableau, eventually making it to your deck, to your hand, discarded, back to your deck, then your hand, and rinse and repeat.

Here’s where Eminent Domain differs from other deck building games: the ‘currency’ as included in the definition above doesn’t feel like typical currency in most deck building games. See, you have a hand of cards that might add up to a total of say, 3 bucks. You have 3 dollars to spend on cards in the center of the table. Whatever 3 bucks gets you, you can buy, thus beginning the process of building your deck of cards.

Eminent Domain doesn’t really have currency in that form. Actually, in addition to deck building, ED contains one of my other favorite mechanisms... Role Selection! To build your deck, you choose a role, any role, from the center of the table, and add that card to collection to begin building your deck. Instead of paying for the card, you do the action included on the card. The sweetest part, is that not only do you get to do the action, but your opponents can either follow you by doing a modified version of that action, or they can draw cards into their hand (called “dissent”).

The goal of the game is to add planets to your tableau (these planets are obtained through a deck of cards separate from the roles). The planets themselves offer some sort of benefit usually, including points at the end of the game, or possibly an increase in hand-size. These planets you are either going to overtake through force or through expanding colonies to it (get it? Eminent Domain?) 

The roles themselves are:

Survey, where you can draw cards from the planet deck, choosing which one you’d like to attempt to add to your domain either through force or colonization. 

Warfare, where you can add ships to your fleet or begin to overtake / attack a planet.

Colony, where you can stack colony resources (other colony cards) on a planet so that you can also potentially settle that planet once enough colonies meet the demand.

Trade / Produce resources, where you can have your open planets produce resources then trade them in for points.

Research, where you can either cull your cards in hand (if they’re junky and no longer helpful) or use your planets or cards in hand, to assist in obtaining permanent or temporary technologies. Oh baby, with these two expansions, there’s a crapload of them:

This is just one side of the tech-tree. The other side has even more stuff to research. These cards typically provide a special action to take, or modify existing actions to take. Another action to take is a political action, and that allows you to take a free card in hand. Depending on the number of players, when some variable number of role cards are depleted from the center of the table, the game ends, and the person with the most points wins.

So is that simple? No. It’s not simple. But that too isn’t an insult. Some people equate simple with easy, and that’s just not the case. Those are, in my opinion, are two different ways of measuring things. Easy and Hard are polar opposites, whereas Simple and Complex are also polar opposites. Something can be Hard to do / learn / understand, but simple in nature. I have plenty of games in my collection that are like that (Roll for the Galaxy, for example). Eminent Domain is EASY to pick up, yet has such a level of complexity that I never get tired of playing it. Recently, I played my buddy Rex, and we both just kept talking about how wonderful the game is, and how refreshing it is to play a game that’s easy to maneuver, yet has such a complex nature to it that being able to replay it over and over doesn’t wear it out. 

If you’re new to deck building games, I’d definitely recommend this game. If you are wanting to explore an role selection game, then definitely explore this one. While the card game San Juan is pretty classic, incorporating the role selections with deck building is remarkable and memorable.

So what do the expansions add?

MORE OF EVERYTHING. PLUS MORE.

Let’s start with the Escalation expansion.

In addition to more of the same thing in the base game (planets, techs, etc), there are a few new things to incorporate. In the base game, everyone starts with the same hands and resources. In Escalation, they introduce new ‘scenarios’, giving players new starting hands and resources. This offsets the balance at the beginning, putting players on a particular path for the game. Initially I was apprehensive about it, but the more I played it, the more I liked being able to have decisions made for me ahead of time. It felt like it eliminated the need to have to make split decisions when pursuing a particular path (like Warfare or Colony).

Also, in the base game, the ship tokens do not come with any particular value. They’re just...ships. In Escalation, however, the ships themselves have specific values. These values can affect what planets you settle, or even what techs you choose to add to your deck.

In the Exotica expansion, you’ll find that it’s again, coming with the same stuff, including more planets, more scenarios, more of everything. This time, the new stuff incorporates Asteroids that can be mined, and a new type of planet (Exotic).

In addition to a new planet and asteroids, they also come with a new resources that can be used, too. Mining an asteroid is similar to attacking or settling a planet. This time, you can do it by discarding your whole hand, which can be helpful if you have junk. And just like most everything else in the game, mining asteroids could associate to a technology you’ve researched, thus setting off a chain reaction of benefits.

If you have both expansions, you can use the Exotica Promo Pack, that will allow you to make use of features found in both expansions (assuming you’re using some or all elements of each expansion.

So what do I think?

If you can only get one expansion, I’d probably lean towards Exotica. Use of the extra features is pretty simple, and isn’t nearly as complex as what Escalation offers. If you can swing it, though, I’d recommend getting both expansions. They’re wonderful additions to the game, and offer a lot of replayability for you and your game group.

Mining the asteroids seems kooky, but I tell ya, it’s a neat addition to the game that isn’t just planets and techs. Using the ships as different levels of, well, currency, is neat too. While it doesn’t feel like it’s missing from the base game, using the different levels of ships in the expansion also doesn’t feel out of place. If there’s one thing that these expansions did and did it right, is that it kept them very seamless.

Eminent Domain will remain high atop the list of favorite games, and will likely remain as my favorite deck building game (which is why I sleeved the game). I can’t wait to teach my kids to play this game. To call it a masterpiece might be high praise, but for me it isn’t high enough. I really love this game, and would encourage you to explore Eminent Domain.

I’ve been contemplating this review now for some time. I’ve had the game for a few months now, got a few plays in, and I’m just not feeling my normal review style because THIS IS NO NORMAL GAME. The thing is, is that I have a lot clogging up my brain right now about this game, and I feel that my efforts in writing up a review through my normal structure would be incredibly disjointed. I’d rather just let the stream of consciousness flow. Here goes.

Oh! Also, be warned as I’m going to be using all-caps in this review because I’m either shouting or singing. Or both. Just ... just stick with me, m’kay?

Luna, subtitled “In the Domain of the Moon Priestess is a weirdly remarkable game by Stefan Feld and BEFORE THE FELDIANS START GETTING UPSET...please, allow me to explain myself. I mean, even the most devout of all Feldians must know that this is a weird game, too...right? Anyway, Luna was printed first in 2010 by Z-Man Games, and reprinted again in 2016 by Tasty Minstrel (in the US...overseas it was Pegasus and H@LL games).

Luna features some elements of area control and worker placement, comes with a modular board and modular-island-layout which as far as I know, is the only game with a modular-island-layout. Someone tell me I’m wrong. If you’re familiar with most Stefan Feld games (for that matter, most Euro games), you’ll spend a few minutes setting up this game. What’s odd about this game is that the set up process is wonderfully satisfying (not that it isn’t for other games). In this case, the game’s setup almost feels like one of the mechanics of the game itself. See that big honkin’ island in the middle? In the center, are different tiles to be laid out during setup. Depending on the tiles chosen at the beginning of the game and orientation upon layout, can affect your overall strategy in the game. BUT WAIT. See those other islands in the perimeter? Yeah..those. It’s the modular island layout, and even their orientation around the table (there’s 7 of them) will also affect the outcome of your strategy. Then, you place your starting novices around on particular islands. I recommend that for your first couple of games, you use the suggested setup in the rulebook because it’s hecka-less confusing.

For this review, I don’t really want to exhaust you with how to play it. You should either read the rulebook, or watch Rahdo play it (this is an old video, but it showcases the mechanisms very well). No, rather, I’d like to review it from based on my experience with it.

Ever see that movie “Interstellar”? If you have, skip on down. If you haven’t, go watch it RIGHT FREAKING NOW BECAUSE WHY HAVEN’T YOU WATCHED ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING MOVIES EVER then come back and you’ll understand what I’m about to say (no Spoilers, for you cheaters out there).

You know how you felt when you watched that movie? You were all, “Dang this movie is amazing. I don’t even know what’s going on and I freaking love it.” Then you watched it again because in your mind and in your heart, you truly didn’t understand a thing about it, but because you want to be cool, you want to watch it a second time. Then through your second time around, you watch it, but you’re all “Oh yeah that MAKES WAY MORE SENSE now.”, but then you’re thinking “Not really...but I don’t want to seem like it’s me. But dang what a great movie.”

Then you watch it a third time.

The third time around you’ve basically got an undergrad degree in Quantum Mechanics, and you can solve murders also because you binge watched “Making a Murderer” too, but only because your coworkers wouldn’t shut up about it. But after your third viewing of “Interstellar” the feelings go from confusion to oddly enough, anticipation. You know what’s about to happen, and even why it happens, and yet you’re still surprised. Right?

That was basically my experience with Luna, with a spell of watching “Making a Murderer” in there somewhere.

Luna has all of those odd ball elements of most Feld games, especially the one where you have a handful of actions to take, and you’re not sure exactly which one to start with but it doesn’t matter anyway so just DO SOMETHING ALREADY. Right? Well, Luna takes that to a much larger degree. Some reviewers mentioned already that that’s the biggest hurdle in the game. Which action to do first? Does it matter? It...might? Who knows. But it might matter. It’s not one of those “one false move and you fall into a crevasse” things, but the actions are so specific, and so extensive in number, that picking a starting point is on the verge of annoying. Really, it is.

Fortunately, the manual actually has a few recommendations for starting moves on the board. And, like most Feld games, you can daisy chain that action you just took into subsequent actions. Let it be a launching point to where you need to be and where you need to go. That’s what I did anyway. Not sure if that’s a solid strategy,  but it’s worked for me a couple of times. There was one game wherein I just lept in head first not really focusing on the actions available, and felt like I was backtracking the entire game. It’s confusing, even daunting. It’s not an easy Feld to get into. I absolutely will not introduce new players to this game. This is for Feld veterans, and Feld veterans alone...

....and yet, I really enjoyed it. The artwork....oh the artwork. It’s done by my guy...my main man. Klemens Franz. I want to hug him. It’s just so beautifully done. What I love about his artwork is that not only does it thematically supplement otherwise themeless euro games, it’s clear what each piece and chit and tile is and what it does. It’s so clearly done and this game is no exception. If this artwork were done by anyone else, this review would probably be a lot more negative. Franz’ artwork does a lot to lighten the heaviness that Feld brings to the table. LITERALLY TO THE TABLE.

Plus, having Tasty Minstrel Games’ name on the box, whether they had a hand or not, also ensures that the components are going to be vibrant and easy on the eyes. So many chits and wooden bits in this game. So many!

I need to also let you know that I’ve played this more often as a solo experience than I have as a multiplayer game. HOLD ON DON’T WALK AWAY.

A lot of solo games are lifeless and uninteresting, usually because you’re playing against some idiot (dummy) player and it’s your job to beat the idiot. Or sometimes solo games require you to beat a certain high score. Neither of these is wrong, but they’re usually accompanying lame rules that strip the fun and interesting ascpects of game down. Or some even manipulate the mechanics so hard that it’s not even the same game at all.

With Luna, I felt like I was playing Luna. And the solo version here is probably one of the few solo-able board games that I have that truly keeps the player in check. If you’re a solo gamer, I would definitely check out Luna. It’s a fascinating experience.

If you’re a Feld-fan...or someone that’s hoping to become a hardcore Feldian, owning every dang game this bro makes, then you should definitely check this out too. It’s heavy-ish, only because of the host of actions to take can seem a bit daunting at first. 

Once you’ve gone through it a few times, you’ll begin to see yourself on the other side, will be able to reach through the fabric of space and time, and give your self a high-freaking-five because you did it. YOU DID IT.