Corvus Belli returns with the fourth edition of their hit skirmish tabletop game Infinity, aptly named Infinity N4.
This is the first time I’ve ever been able to play Infinity, and I can’t believe I haven’t sooner as the I also learned that the rules and model stats are available on their website for FREE! This means you can try the game out and various models to figure out if the game is for you AND if you have the right army. Now, assuming you’ve played and are ready to purchase your first army, where do you start? Simple. You purchase a faction pack and a rulebook, unless of course you prefer a digital copy and then the free one will more than do the job but without all the lore.
Having never played the game itself before, I did play the spinoff Aristeia game a couple years ago, I didn’t know what to expect. The models have always been fantastic, both fun to paint and looking great on the table but no idea how the game played. I’m told this edition is very much streamlined compared to N3 but I couldn’t confirm this was the case during my playing of the game. I did find it fast paced and much more dynamic than most games. It was quite a bit of fun too but I just wish that the models had assembly guides to make their assembly much easier without having to track down multiple angles of pictures to ensure proper assembly.
Those that know me, even just a little, will know that I am not a fan of sports, watching or playing. For some reason though I’ve always had a soft spot for Blood Bowl. I have played every iteration of the video games on the Xbox and both of the previous releases of the tabletop game. I even read some of the older books. So how is that I love a sports themed game when I detest sports? It’s all about the conflict. A game where you can have an ork kill or maim a player outright is one I am more than willing to give a solid try. Each time I’ve played I’ve lost on the tabletop and still found it quite enjoyable. The Season 2 Edition seemed like the perfect chance to finally beat my son.
Not much has changed in terms of general gameplay, but at the same time EVERYTHING has changed. That’s a bit of an exaggeration but we are seriously talking about some big changes. First off is in value- the core box comes with enough models to play a full team! This is huge! Every iteration previously required you to purchase additional boxes to have enough on the pitch. I hope this is the trend going forward. Previous editions made an effort of using star players but they always felt like they were missing something. With Season 2 we get to see them offer a bit more panache on the field, no longer just cool looking models. The rulebook includes rules for a plethora of star players, each with their own special stats to make playing them more worth it. It even adds another layer to setting your roster. Additionally previous editions required you purchase your heavy hitters separately but you get one for each team.
As always when it comes to causing carnage on the field I’m no slouch but when it comes to planning through openings to score points there is still some sort of disconnect. Playing multiple games with my son he managed to win each time but not before losing several players along the way. We had a total blast with the game and hope to try out a few of the other teams as they release using the new ruleset. The rules are much easier to understand than in previous editions, leaving fewer questions regarding how to interpret them. If you enjoy sports, fantasy tabletop games or beating the crap out of your opponent you will enjoy this game.
Heed my words of warning! Many prophesies foretell that the world is headed not toward peace and unity, but toward a final, cataclysmic war! The battle of Armageddon is here! Feast your eyes and hearts on that story in X of Swords, chapters 1-22! Yes…all 22 chapters!
This is the story as related by the soothsayers: Vita Ayala, Ed Brisson, Gerry Duggan, Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, Benjamin Percy, Zeb Wells, Leah Williams
Artwork provided by the horde: Mahmud Asrar, Viktor Bogdanovic, Joshua Cassara, Carmen Carnero, Stefano Caselli, Leinil Francis Yu, Carlos Gomez, Pepe Laraz, Matteo Lolli, Phil Noto, Rod Reis, R. B. Silva, Marcus To
The official plot:
“X OF SWORDS, the epic X-Men crossover that represents the next chapter in Jonathan Hickman’s bold new vision for the X-Men, threatens the new mutant nation of Krakoa with invasion by the inhabitants of the lost land known as Arakko…
Saturnyne, the Omniversal Majestrix, has devised a delightful way to settle this ancient dispute—a tournament. Ten champions from each nation will gather mythical swords to wield in duels that will determine the very future of mutantkind, and the hunt is on right now!”
Epic crossover? Somehow that statement is both true and untrue at the same time. There is a LOT of stuff packed in this 22 issue monster. Some pretty significant changes…some subtle and some not so subtle. There is also a LOT of unnecessary fluff…and stupid fluff at that. It’s no secret that my future as a Marvel subscriber hinged on the outcome of this event…and I can tell you that halfway through, my mind was made up.
What If…Apocalypse was the leader of the X-Men?!?!
My Impressions:
This is an excellent overall story that includes the revelation of Apocalypse’s past, his people, their self imposed exile, the ancient enemy that corrupted them…and turned them against the world they sought to protect.
The artwork runs the gambit from bad to beautiful. What else do you expect when you have over a dozen artists working on the same project?
The Good: I’ve always like Apocalypse, but now I have so much more respect for him and really understand his motivations. He is NOT a villain…he is a man determined to reunite his people and family.
The Bad: All of that emotional build up was wasted. We were sold the idea that we would have 10 epic sword fights between some big names. Instead the contests turned out to be a comical farce that included among other things; a Trial by Wedding, arm wrestling, a foot race, a drinking game, boulder punching, an eating contest, a dance-off and jigsaw puzzles. Sorry…this attempt at comedy really tainted an otherwise great story.
The Ugly: Bad business. Marvel forced me to buy 22 issues (25 if you want the preludes and Handbook) to get this whole story…which included issues from series that I didn’t follow. This included multiple stand alone, prestige format, books. Given this filler content of some issues, this feels like Marvel sticking their hands right into my wallet and taking over $101 of my hard earned cash.
Survival of the fittest!
Notable Appearances/Events:
Apocalypse vs. Annihilation!
Every X-Team member ever…
First appearance: The original Four Horsemen of Apocalypse! (His biological children no less!)
First appearance: Genesis (Bride of Apocalypse and mother of the Horsemen)
Event: The return of the Captain Britain Corps
Revelation: Mutants can’t ALWAYS be returned from the dead
Revelation: All is not well on the Quiet Council
Bottom Line: 3 Stars!
X of Swords is a return to the true X-Men/Marvel pattern of using a plethora of titles to tell one story and drawing it out longer than necessary. Marvel just can’t help themselves…they have to set things up so that you have to collect all of the X-titles to get a full story. They did it in the 90’s, which is why I quit the X-stories then…and it’s why I’m quitting them now. Please understand that this decision is 100% an objection to the model and not the characters or story.
That being said…I gave Marvel a chance to win me over with a great story. I wanted them to give me a solid reason to keep collecting these books. They came close. X of Swords had some awesome writing, no doubt about it. I can give you two examples. First, I’ve never cared for the new version of Cable until now. As a parent, his final battle and telepathic communication with Jean and Cyclops got me right in the feels. Second, X of Swords is above all, the tragic story of Apocalypse’s loss and struggles to reunite with his family after thousands of years…only to find out they have all become the enemy! I’ll never look at him the same way after this. Unfortunately…Marvel decided to take a big shit right in the middle of this excellent drama by turning the contest of champions into a Nickelodeon game show. That makes this feel like the whole thing was a bait-and-switch that substituted a montage of jokes for the 10 life altering battles we were promised. Sure we lost a few minor characters here and there…but no one that we really cared about.
Marvel’s refusal to deliver a well crafted, impactful story, while simultaneously picking the readers pocket is the ultimate disrespect. I refuse to support this anymore and will be sticking to lower tier characters from now on. I guess that means I’ve got more money to spend on DC, Image, Boom! and other independent titles now.
Let’s face it, humans are terrible creatures, just look at what they’ve done to the planet. With Destroy All Humans you can give them what’s coming to them.
Who wants to help Destroy All Humans? They suck, well most of ’em anyway. I am a firm believer that if more people had even a slight sense of decency this world would be so much better than it is and these last four years make that even more apparent. Hell, even this pandemic has highlighted the selfish nature of the human race. THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games bring us this classic kill ’em all video game with a full High Definition overhaul.
I had never played the original but had always heard that it was a fun game. When offered the opportunity to play and review this remake I jumped at the chance. Players take control of Crypto as he attempts to harvest brain stems to harvest the intermixed DNA that is stored there. Between abducting random citizens, killing cows and burning buildings to the ground you can quickly become overwhelmed but with some time spent unlocking abilities you can soon turn the tide.
Overall the game is quite goofy and entertaining but other than the ability to raze the world around you there wasn’t much to keep me engaged for a long period. Cutscenes are quite long, voice acting tolerable and the controls were easy to pick up. There are worse games out there but this one fell short of my expectations.
Exploding Kittens has a new expansion called Barking Kittens and we were able to not only play it but blowup members of our family as well!
We’ve talked about the Exploding Kittens brand before but this time we are talking about the latest expansions- Streaking Kittens and Barking Kittens for the Exploding Kittens card game.
Streaking Kittens
This $5 pack of carts adds one HUGE advantage- if you find the Streaking Kitten card you get to hide an Exploding Kitten in your hand without having to defuse it. The idea is to get someone to steal the worse of the two cards from your hand and inadvertently blow themselves up. In our game this would have worked quite well for my wife’s dad if the rest of us weren’t already aware he was drawing a kitten into his hand- no one stole cards from him again until he blew himself up.
Barking Kittens
There are several new additions here that make for some great combinations. My favorites were the Alter the Future and Personal Attack cards. Personal Attack cards force the next player to take three full actions on their next turn but doesn’t end your turn like other attacks do. Having multiples of these cards allow you to overload the next player with several actions and may just remove them from play. Alter the Future works similar to the See the Future cards in that you can see the next three cards in the deck but with this variation you get to change their order when you return them to the deck. This means if you know a kitten is coming up you get to control how soon they do.
There are several other new cards in both expansions and are worth learning how to use them all. Playing the game we loved the new cards and their changes to the core game and hated when someone else used them against us. Both expansions are essential for any fan of the game and a ton of fun to use.
IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO DISNEY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!
Recently the fine folks at Disney Studios (their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. With Part 1 we are taking a look at the live action version of Mulan!
Mulan
Growing up (and this will tell you approximately how old I really am) I was able to see the original Disney Masterpiece that was Mulan in theaters and did so multiple times. To this day it is still one of my favorites. I have also heard that this adaptation was good so my expectations and hopes were quite high. There were two facts I had been informed of prior to seeing the film and that was that there were none of the original songs being sung by the characters and that the film would be missing the comedic relief by removing Mushu from it entirely. Knowing both of these were crucial because had I expected them I would have been disappointed. Having watched the film I can say that it exceeded all expectations I had. The action was well choreographed, acting top notch and cinematically beautiful. This was by far the best of the live adaptations.
Have you had a chance to see this film from Disney Studios? What were your thoughts? Let us know on our facebook page!
IT IS RARE FOR ME TO SEE A MOVIE WHEN IT’S STILL IN THEATERS BUT THANKS TO 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS I WAS ABLE TO CATCH UP ON A FEW THAT I MISSED!
Recently the fine folks at 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios- their home page is here) had sent me codes to several of the movies I missed so that I could share my thoughts on them with you. Part One of this article I discussed The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Red Sparrow. Part Two discusses Maze Runner: Death Cure, Alien Covenant and Love, Simon. Part three covers Super Troopers 2 and Murder on the Orient Express. Part Four discusses Sorry To Bother You and Darkest Minds. Part Five discussed The Predator and Bad Times at the El Royale. Part Six covered Bohemian Rhapsody, The Hate U Give and Once Upon a Deadpool. Part Seven talked about The Sisters Brothers, London Fields, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Widows and the Favourite! Part Eight covered Destroyer, The Prodigy, Alien 40th Anniversary Edition, Vice, The Kid Who Would Be King and If Beale Street Could Talk, and Part Nine we discussed Missing Link and Alita Battle Angel. Part Ten we discussed Tolkien, Booksmart, X-Men Dark Phoenix and Stuber. Part 11 discussed The Art of Racing in the Rain, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Ad Astra, and Ready or Not. Part 12 talked about Ford v Ferrari, Spies in Disguise and A Hidden Life. Part 13 was the last part I did with PNTV and discussed Downhill and The Call of the Wild. Part 14 (forever referred to as Part 1 on this site and our first with the Nerd Cult) was all about Underwater and we are back with the New Part 2 with The New Mutants!
The New Mutants
The New Mutants is intended as a horror film within the X-Men universe and begins with Danielle Moonstar as she runs from something chases her into the forest and almost immediately kills her father in front of her. She is knocked out almost immediately after and awakes in some form of hospital for mutants that looks more like a psychiatric facility or the medical ward of a prison. It film successfully gives a solid creepy vibe and handles some of the dark tones from Illyana’s past quite well but fails to hit the point of actually being a scary film. As a darker drama it works quite well and handles the universe around it quite well, making several nods to it without relying on having seen any of the other films. When the true villains are revealed however it relies more on an intimate knowledge of the comics to know how bad things have gotten and left the rest of my family confused by the implications. I felt the film was quite solid and really enjoyed it but the rest of the family (not knowing the same comic history as myself) thought it was worthy of only 2.5 out of 5 stars, I gave it a solid 3.5.
WHICH OF THESE FILMS FROM 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS HAVE YOU SEEN? WHICH WAS YOUR FAVORITE?
The Exploding Kittens have released another feline-centric game with A Game of Cat and Mouth.
In our house there is one species of pet that ranks higher than all others and that is the majestic feline. My son’s love for cats is so strong that if there is a cat on it or it is cat themed it is almost guaranteed to win him over. It’s no surprise that Exploding Kittens is one of his all time favorite games to play. When he learned that the team behind it were releasing another cat themed title he was more than excited. We received our copy of A Game of Cat and Mouth soon after he heard the news.
Players rapidly use magnetic paws to launch balls through the eyes, nose or mouth holes in the divider between sides. The first player to get all white, all yellow or the single black ball on the opposing side wins. The launchers themselves make use of the most powerful magnets I’ve ever seen that didn’t have electricity amplifying their strength.
Getting the balls through the holes require a bit of skill but with a little practice and even a four year old can do well at the game. The entire family has a blast with this game. This game is so much fun it even draws the attention of one of our own cats.
Have you ever had a loud neighbor you couldn’t shut up? With Party Hard 2 you can live your fantasies of a permanent solution.
TinyBuild have a history of exploiting a franchise for all that it’s worth so why should Party Hard 2 be a surprise? Having never played the original and hearing that it was mediocre at best I was surprised to hear there would be a sequel. I am never one to turn down a game offered for review though and as always my opinion is never swayed by the price I had to pay to play the game.
Presumably the original Party Hard leaves off with the killer going to therapy. As no surprise the Party Hard Killer finds himself getting upset at the noise coming from the nightclub nearby and upon hitting his breaking point dons his mask and knife once again and begins a new killing spree. The game visually isn’t much to look at as the bulk of the detail is rather pixelated and feels like it is meant to capitalize on the frequent waves of pixel-based nostalgia. The story feels like it just might be trying a bit too hard to justify why you are killing all of the party-goers from one location to another- we’re adults dammit, sometimes we just want to kill random people. Controls are easy to pick up and some of the items make for some rather interesting combinations.
The game is quite difficult to play and if you aren’t careful you will be arrested by the police and must start the game over. With a bit of patience however you can capitalize on people leaving the group so you can jump them in an alley. Gameplay is quite addicting and entertaining as you find new ways to kill the party-goers, drug dealer, bikers and more. I found myself wishing I had played the original game because this game was utterly fantastic and extremely addicting. I regularly find myself saying “one more try” or “I’ll stop when I beat this map” and each time I find that one more try becomes two and three tries.
“And it shall come to pass, that he who flees from the noise or the fear, shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare!” Prepare yourselves with the book of Department of Truth, chapters 1 & 2!
“Cole Turner has studied conspiracy theories all his life, but he isn’t prepared for what happens when he discovers that all of them are true, from the JFK assassination to flat Earth theory and reptilian shapeshifters. One organization has been covering them up for generations. What is the deep, dark secret behind the Department of Truth?”
That’s a great solicitation…unfortunately, it’s pretty vague. We learn early on, that it’s more like “managing” the so-called secrets. A more apt description is “the truth” is always in flux…literally.
Meet the crack team that manages this chaos. Most of whom feel easily replicable.
Bottom Line: 3 Stars!
Definitely not the conspiracy theory story I thought it would be. It will be interesting to see exactly how it plays out. On the positive side, this set-up definitely leaves the book open to incorporating just about anything. Ultimately, the jury is out on if this is a long term title for me.
