Tag: fantasy

January 25, 2024 /

I know I say it every time we do a Valeria game, but I never get tired of this game universe. There’s a sense of familiarity, having played other Valeria games, but a unique difference to each and every one. So when Guild Academies of Valeria showed up at my…

November 9, 2023 /

As a member of the Guild of Merchant Explorers, your life is full of adventure! But your real journey is only now about to begin. The Queen has sent a message to the Guild, asking all its members to voyage to the corners of the realm, creating new villages, establishing…

June 3, 2023 /

As you know, we at Purple Phoenix Games are big fans of the Valeria-verse from Daily Magic Games. So imagine how hard I fangirled when they reached out to us, asking if we would be interested in previewing their newest game in the Valeria family. Once I was able to…

May 13, 2023 /

Welcome to Reckoning – a small mining town in the old west. Life generally was quiet, until a mysterious substance, called Dust, was discovered. Dust has the ability to warp time, but not without other-worldly consequences… Now, calamities befall the town every single day – from weather disasters to creatures…

April 7, 2023 /

When it comes to games, there are several things that draw me in. For starters, artwork. If a game has artwork that immediately draws me in, I am sold. And obviously, theme of a game is a major element as well. So when Grand Gamers Guild reached out to me…

February 13, 2023 /

According to Merriam-Webster, the word ‘hangry’ means irritable or angry because of hunger. And I’ll be the first to admit that I get hangry quite easily. And my patience can wear pretty pretty thin when I am hangry. So I can absolutely relate to Gurth the Odious in this new…

January 5, 2023 /

As I’ve gotten older, one thing that I have really become a fan of are podcasts. I listen to quite a few now, but the first one I ever listened to was The Adventure Zone. Travis turned me on to this actual-play DnD podcast and I was hooked from episode…

April 22, 2022 /

With the ever-stable popularity of the Harry Potter universe, we tend to see offshoots of similarly-themed games pop up all around us. We have reviewed several of these “magic folk showing off to one another to see who is the best” games: Apotheca, WizBang!, Studies in Sorcery, etc. What you…

March 4, 2022 /

Anyone who knows my gaming preferences will tell you that I am not at all a fan of many party games. I just find them less that gratifying, with usually little to no skill or strategy involved, and also typically invites lewd and disgusting suggestions and behaviors. No thanks. However,…

February 14, 2022 /

Replayability is always something I consider when deciding whether or not to purchase a game. And as much as I like Unlock! puzzles or Exit games, the fact that they are a one-and-done play is a bummer. So when I was perusing the game store and saw a game that…

February 7, 2022 /

You know that feeling when you play a game that FEELS familiar, but has really improved on certain aspects? Take, for example, the famed “Yahtzee mechanic” that has been extended and improved upon by so many games. Or the “I Cut, You Choose mechanic” that has shown up in several…

January 28, 2022 /

I can recall so many instances of my board game purchases being based on either the designer, artist, or publisher. Surely I am not alone here. Josh will probably always be a Stonemaier Games fanboy. Laura has aligned herself with Daily Magic Games and Button Shy Games. While I am…

January 12, 2022 /

The Kids Table series from Purple Phoenix Games seeks to lightly explore games that are focused toward children and families. We will do our best to give some good insight, but not bog your down with the millions of rules… Kids Chronicles: Quest of the Moon Stones (2021) Lucky Duck…

January 3, 2022 /

As you’ve read in our previous reviews, we are BIG fans of the Valeria-verse games. Whether we have to recruit adventurers for quests, build a thriving village, or traverse the lands to protect its people from various Monsters, we are all about this realm. For this newest installation in the…

December 31, 2021 /

One of the many recent trends in board games has been that of playing as the villains in the game’s lore. One of the bigger games that I remember employing this little shift is Legendary: Marvel Villains, and another that I truly enjoy is Disney Villainous. There is just something…