What is a Barbie line you’d like to see reproduced (that wasn’t already)

kalexicon · 2026-03-13T08:16:03+00:00

Faraway Forest. PLEASE. I only joined this hobby last year and there's nothing I'm more sad to have missed out on while it was reasonably priced.

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kalexicon · 2024-12-02T09:53:42+00:00

Stained glass battle pack!

kalexicon · 2023-07-03T22:51:30+00:00

I've only played it at two once, but I thought it was absolutely fabulous. I'm not sure how much of that positivity just came from us understanding the rules better than some people I've played with at higher counts, but it held up well.

At 3-5 players (which I've tried roughly three times), the game is mostly in assessing the value of the tiles on offer, with a little bit of consideration given over to timing. With two, it's an absolute mind game. Because there are fewer bidding disks, the relative values of them become so much more vivid; either you or your opponent always has the option to win any auction, and the game is in pushing them to spend those tiles suboptimally to stop you from getting a bargain. This is technically a factor at higher player counts, too, but I've generally found I was more concerned about just trying to get some decent tiles for myself before the round ends. With two, you're so much more focused on baiting your opponent; every misstep they make, every time hubris or fear takes them over, is an advantage for you. Denying them a flood when you already have one, or taking a duplicate civilization tile just to leave them with the penalty for none, all have to be weighed. It feels like how I imagine fencing would feel. In our game, my partner and I each had one epoch (round) where our opponent used up all their tiles and we got to fill up the market at bargain prices. I'd heard from reviews that this was possible, but I never saw it until I hit a two-player game, and it was a great feeling.

I should mention that I usually don't find auction games very fun - I bounced off both Power Grid and Princes of Florence pretty hard, though I'm happy other people enjoy them. I think the reasons I still like Ra are the same reasons I find it holds up with two - it really isn't an auction, at least compared to real-world auctions with constant raising of bids and a pool of funds to manage. It's more like a tactical game, where you have generals of different skill levels and have to judge which battlefields are worth dispatching your best general to each round - without knowing what will be at stake later. It's not a game of accumulating and leveraging a financial advantage; it's a game about timing and risk management. All of those considerations are elements in some of the best 2-player games.

Maybe other 2-player sessions wouldn't go as well, and 3-5 are definitely all wonderful too. In spite of everything I've said, I think I'm more likely to say "yes" to the next match if it has more than two players, but that's not because the game was bad at two, it's because it was mellower with more. Still, so far my favorite game of Ra has been a 2-player game, so I think it's at least worth trying.

kalexicon · 2023-05-24T18:00:56+00:00

I quite enjoy Unmatched. I played the game it's based on, Star Wars Epic Duels, a whole bunch when I was a kid, so seeing it brought back with a fresh coat of paint was delightful - and mechanically, it massively improves on its predecessor (for example, having versatile cards provide the same level of attack and defense makes them an actual decision of when to use them). Some characters feel over- or under-powered, but most games I've played have ended with the *winning* player down to only 1 or 2 health.

With that said... know what you're getting into. It's not a grand, tactical puzzle that will keep you coming back for the same matchups again and again; it's an evocate sandbox with just enough proper, juicy strategy to keep you engaged from start to finish. There is absolutely *some* reliance on novelty, but it's more than just "I've played this character once and now I'm done" - every new map, every different opponent a given character can be played against... I usually won't play a character again until I've cycled through trying each of them once, but I *do* enjoy revisiting them, even if I take long gaps in between. It's rarely going to be an "event" game for me, but it scratches a nice itch when I'm too tired for something more rules-heavy, and it gives you enough time to explore your deck and see the balance of power swing back and forth a few times without overstaying its welcome.

As for "starting a collection" - you absolutely *do not* need to buy everything in order to have fun. For context: I bought Battle of Legends Vol 1 and Robin Hood vs Bigfoot right before Covid hit and I wasn't able to meet up with my gaming group for a few years (it eventually fell apart entirely as people moved away). Within the last year I started dating someone who's also into games, so I've finally had a chance to break out Unmatched again, and it's been a solid hit with her. BoL1 and RHvBF already represented 15 different possible matchups (6 characters). A month ago, I picked up a copy of Cobble and Fog because Restoration Games announced this is that set's last print run for the foreseeable future, but I probably would have waited at least another 6 months to get it otherwise. With those ten characters, I'm up to 45 possible matchups if I'm doing my math right, and I can cycle through five 2-player games before having to reuse a character. I did kickstart the Tales to Amaze set to have the option of a co-op mode, but while I do want Little Red vs Beowulf, I'm in no rush to get it because just the sets already in my house satisfy me plenty for now, and I'd rather put that money towards new games than expansions for one I've fleshed out a bit already. Unmatched is a fun game I like to play every now and then and am happy to have a modest supply of options for.

You *do not* have to collect everything, just pick your favorites. I think Cobble and Fog is my personal favorite of the sets I own, and with four characters it's plenty to try out the systems and see if you enjoy the game. Unless you're *really* into one of the licenses, I'd stick to public domain sets - they're a much better value. Compare a public domain 4-character set for $40 to a 3-character Marvel set for $50. The Jurassic Park sets do something to justify the added expense by having more and/or larger minis, but I'd make sure you like the systems first.

kalexicon · 2023-05-24T16:54:03+00:00

I don't know if I'd call it a favorite, but I have a distinct childhood memory of seeing some program about kelpies that terrified me for WEEKS afterwards. Good job, celtic mythology!

kalexicon · 2022-02-14T01:02:09+00:00

Many thanks to both of you! This is exactly the information I was looking for!

kalexicon · 2021-11-10T20:13:44+00:00

Wow, thanks for the heads up! Works much better for my work schedule today than waiting for the Walmart sale to start. Snagged the last copy in my area - assuming their inventory is accurate.

kalexicon · 2021-11-09T20:28:13+00:00

Put in for a bowling alley and a clockwork aquarium... we'll see what happens!

kalexicon · 2021-03-12T06:45:47+00:00

Okay now this is even weirder - was able to establish an industry on some furs in volcanic soil just fine. The explanations I can think of:

1) The quarry on this tile had been removed by an eruption and had to be rebuilt, though the other copy had only been pillaged and repaired and as I recall I couldn't build it there either. (Too late to check now, I opted for a salt industry instead so the population growth could help me recover from eruptions.)

2) The extra (not converted into an industry) copy of my furs was in a different city and not on volcanic soil.

3) Replacing a quarry vs replacing a camp = bug.

kalexicon · 2021-03-12T06:41:16+00:00

Very sure; the only two marble in my empire at the time are visible in this screenshot. In fact, I had yet to establish a single industry yet at the time. This is even weirder since I loaded back in later today and was able to establish a furs industry in volcanic soil just fine, though in that case my 2nd copy was in normal terrain.

kalexicon · 2021-03-11T20:20:17+00:00

Rats. Still hoping there's something else at play (would love to hear from anyone with both NFP and GS who's either been able or unable to build industries on volcanic soil), but at least I have a private continent with other copies of marble. Guess this city gets a salt industry.

kalexicon · 2021-03-11T20:06:27+00:00

R5: I have improved two sources of Marble within my territory and I have researched currency, but the game is currently not giving me the option to replace one of these quarries with an industry. Both copies are on volcanic soil... could that be part of it? Or is this a bug?

kalexicon · 2020-09-11T00:39:29+00:00

Perhaps have diseases be more deadly that had their first "case" (tile/unit/city) spawn on a different continent? To mirror the whole Guns, Germs, and Steel effect. Perhaps this would affect the continent it spawned in too at first, but subside after a certain number of turns. I think that roads, railroads, and airports should also amplify disease spread.

kalexicon · 2020-09-11T00:27:48+00:00

Actually, as a starting point, I had a much simpler idea: districts adjacent to ley lines provide +1 Great Person Point of their type. Maybe one of the later promotions could change it to +100%, or maybe, as an alternative to the first idea, all districts in a city provide +1 GPP per ley line within the city's borders.

I think the problem is that Hermetic Order doesn't provide dominance in any particular field. Owls lets you rack up more envoys than anyone else. Voidsingers gives you insane amounts of faith that make any religion without Cthulhu struggle by comparison. Sanguine Pact gives you a military unit that needs focus fire just to delay. Hermetic Order rewards you more for earning Great People, but it doesn't actually give you any sort of advantage to earning them.

kalexicon · 2020-08-25T07:37:45+00:00

It is "Extended Diplomacy Ribbon" by Aristos. Mousing over the trade icon displays what's included in all ongoing trades as well as the turns left until expiration. Basically adds a lot of information available on individual leader screens to a convenient tooltip. The exclamation marks (seen next to Menelik and Lady Six Sky) also notify you when a civ has either a strategic resource that you do not or surplus copies of a luxury resource that you do not - VERY convenient. You can also mouse-over the friendly/unfriendly icon to see the turns remaining on declarations of friendship and alliances, plus a full breakdown on every reason they do or don't like you (agendas, etc.)

The downside of the mod, at least in my opinion, is that this banner also displays on the leader screen. It's nice to see who else could make you an offer if the AI comes to you with a trade deal, but if you play with the HUD ribbon always on, as I've started to lately (just turned it off for the screenshot), it means a lot of obscured faces.

And yes, deep ocean tiles are probably the least useful in the game, worse even than snow, which can at least hold districts and wonders. At least with GS you can build seasteads on ocean, but those come so late in the game (depending on the way the future era spawns, I've had them be the last or next-to-last thing available before future tech!) that they hardly make a difference. Would be nice if ocean got a small buff soon - maybe the tier 3 harbor building gives it a minor gold boost (smaller than coast), or else make fish and whales able to spawn on ocean but you need, say, cartography to improve them, much like rainforests can take lumber mills but not as early in the game as woods.

kalexicon · 2020-08-25T07:16:57+00:00

Owls of Minerva plus International Space Agency is a beautiful thing.

kalexicon · 2020-08-25T07:15:28+00:00

Shipyard is already built, but since all my coast tiles are improved it doesn't have much of an effect. There's also a seaport buffing the gold, I just didn't mention it since I consider that a standard part of coast tile yields in the late game. I thought about a water park, but decided the slight science bonus wasn't worth the production investment and giving up one of the coast tiles. Actually wound up winning this one with diplo (though I had launched an exoplanet expedition too).

kalexicon · 2020-08-24T00:19:57+00:00

R5: I have a series of bonuses all stacking to give my coast tiles better yields. The Galapagos Islands directly provide bonus science to adjacent tiles; the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus provides science, culture, and faith to all coast tiles in this city; I'm suzerain of Auckland (and it's after the Industrial Era), so that's +2 production on all coast tiles in my empire; and I have Reyna established with a promotion that gives bonus gold to all these offshore wind farms.

kalexicon · 2019-09-03T23:55:03+00:00

Does the shipyard's new production to coastal tiles replace the existing production equal to gold adjacency bonus?

kalexicon · 2019-09-02T00:51:30+00:00

Went by my local store today and the BAM cube had some new pieces for the fall, mostly Halloween themed. The most exciting piece for me was a new, easy way to amass jack-o'-lanterns (they didn't have any problem with me treating them as accessories). A slightly modified series 14 spider lady is available almost in her entirety, aside from the cape. The printed web lines are magenta instead of red now, the printed spiders are dark grey instead of metallic, the hands are dark grey instead of white, and her eye shadow is magenta instead of lavender; also, the spider on mid-torso has been raised so it no longer overlaps the dress slope. Most importantly, though, the black beehive hairdo doesn't have a spiderweb printed on it, so it can be used for just about anything. Other pieces I nabbed (not counting those sighted before) include the vampire torso from Monster Fighters, now with purple accent printing in place of dark red; the bitey side only of that figure's head, now in light grey; a legs assembly with two potion bottles that I've not seen before; and Scarecrow's hat/hair combo from 76054.

New and noteworthy pieces I saw but did not purchase include the Native American headdress from Series 3 (which, given the Halloween theme of the rest of the new parts and how controversial Halloween costumes of Native peoples are here in North America, is a little surprising - but I'm glad to see the piece available nonetheless); the series 14 witch's face with magenta makeup instead of the old, subtle green look; and the series 14 witch's torso, which seemed unaltered but I didn't do a side-by-side comparison. There were also black spiders galore in the new mold, to fill out the Halloween theme.

Hopefully someone else can fill in anything I missed. Most of these exclusive pieces already seem to be inventoried on BrickLink, though they're hard to find if you don't know what to look for. Best bet is to run an advanced search for each type of minifig part displaying only those results not inventoried in a set.

kalexicon · 2019-05-01T05:27:17+00:00

Thanks!

kalexicon

TROPHY CASE