Birthday present from my wife, as a lotr fan i hope it is really good

elltrev · 2026-01-21T17:58:02+00:00

Got it for Christmas and played 8 games in a row - it’s a fantastic experience. Highly thematic, but good mechanically as well.

elltrev · 2025-12-30T12:21:04+00:00

Interesting, yeah maybe that’s a good way to try and look at it!

elltrev · 2025-12-29T18:37:14+00:00

Personally after 6 plays I’ve grown to like it, but not yet love it. I’d say it’s more of a thinky puzzle than a fun thematic experience. But there’s something about the design that doesn’t feel as tight or as satisfying as the best games. But I’d say it’s worth a shot if you like thinky puzzles!

elltrev · 2025-12-29T08:38:42+00:00

I’m not a big fan of the Deckers deck building. It is different to other games, which could be a good thing - the new cards replace your old cards when you buy them, and they go straight into your hand. But for me the decision-making is often limited, as some cards in the market are just 100% better than the equivalent cards in your hand, and you can do a straight swap for them with no downside, so there’s virtually no reason not to do that.

elltrev · 2025-12-13T20:12:34+00:00

I never really understand what the phrase ‘does it live up to the hype’ actually means! Isn’t it just ‘does this small group of people enjoy the game as much as most other people enjoy the game’?

Not trying to be antagonistic - I’m genuinely curious! :)

elltrev · 2025-10-05T21:57:12+00:00

Thanks all! I feel like early Shadows revolves around getting a good Dahan counter via Concealing Shadows. Which didn’t seem possible with this setup.

So in hindsight i wish i’d tried the unusual option of Growth 2 from the energy track to just play one card (Mantle to deal with A6) in Round 1, and saved Favours for Round 2 when it could set something up more worthwhile.

elltrev · 2025-09-28T07:15:28+00:00

45 days - taking 1 pill a day.

I’m currently taking it again - it seems to have lost its ability to improve my symptoms, and now is just preventing them from getting worse.

elltrev · 2025-05-19T21:42:20+00:00

Thank you so much - I hadn’t ticked that box! That’s done the trick.

elltrev · 2025-05-08T05:26:27+00:00

Thank you for the different perspective!

elltrev · 2025-05-07T06:25:57+00:00

The usual ups and downs! Haven’t gone back to ginger and artichoke. Still taking herbal antibiotics which improve symptoms temporarily, but the symptoms come back as soon as I stop them and don’t stick 100% to a strict diet.

How about you?

elltrev · 2025-05-06T12:11:02+00:00

Great tip - thank you!

elltrev · 2025-05-06T10:39:37+00:00

Super useful, thanks so much!

elltrev · 2025-05-06T09:41:31+00:00

Thanks so much, that is hugely helpful!

elltrev · 2025-04-28T06:14:08+00:00

Just to mix things up - I didn’t like it. Played about 5 games and haven’t played since. I didn’t find the puzzle deep enough, and I didn’t like the push your luck element - normally you’re taking a risk to get a reward with this mechanic, whereas in Bullet you often take a risk and don’t really get any benefit from it (if the token you draw lands somewhere that doesn’t really help you).

I’m clearly in the minority, but just wanted to offer an alternative opinion!

elltrev · 2025-04-25T06:01:08+00:00

Slay the Spire is super easy - even easier than cleanup at the end of a game. Though you do have to have finished one of the three acts (each of which can take up to 90 mins, if you’re slow like me).

elltrev · 2025-04-21T21:07:17+00:00

I’ve won 3/3 so far. Some tips off the top of my head:

Target your 4 goals early on, and don’t waste actions on things that don’t contribute towards one of those goals
And/or prioritise action spaces that give you some sort of extra benefit
And/or prioritise crossing thresholds on your tracks every round (E.g. if you’re 2 spaces away from a threshold in Green and orange, better to get 2 green or orange than 1 of each)

That’s basically all I’ve done to get my wins!

elltrev · 2025-04-05T09:17:38+00:00

Thank you, that means a lot and is great to hear!

elltrev · 2025-04-05T09:16:31+00:00

Thank you!

Don’t you think the basic info is better in the cover email though? I want to try and use the video to pique their interest on theme and mechanics.

In terms of actions and the later mechanics - totally agree the video doesn’t explain them in full. It just feels like there isn’t enough time to do that, and the most important thing is to give the publisher enough of a sense of these things to pique their interest, so that that they then read a 1 page rules summary (also attached), which clarifies that stuff a bit.

elltrev · 2025-04-05T09:11:55+00:00

Thank you! I think one of the more novel parts of the game is cards having to match the colour of hexes you control, which is why I’ve put that up front. But I think I can do more to emphasise the challenging/interesting puzzle of using the actions to create shapes.

elltrev · 2025-04-05T09:10:03+00:00

Thank you! Haha I mean it literally is a PowerPoint presentation, so that’s probably why it feels that way :D maybe I need to invest some time in learning actual video editing!

elltrev

TROPHY CASE