Friday, May 30, 2014

Krosmaster Arena Frigost Review

   Frigost is an expansion to the game Krosmaster Arena . If you would like to read the review on how to play, the link is here. In this post, I will just be talking about the expansion.


   When you open the box, there is a rule book and the two sided board on the top.


   This is what the inside looks like after you punch out the pieces and put them together. I was somewhat disappointed that there wasn't more storage for the characters. Other than that, there is plenty of room. These cubes stay together a lot better than the ones in the base game. They were a little more difficult to put together.


   There is frozen damage you can do.


   There are trees, ice cubes and glaciers. They are the same as the trees, boxes and bushes in the original game. 


   There are new Summoning Tokens


   and four different levels of Demonic Rewards


   Set up of the board is the same as in the original. There are places for trees, cubes, glaciers and coins.


   The character set up is still the same. You place them on the cells with the footprints along the side of the board.


   Here is a picture of the other side of the board.


   You will need the base game to play this expansion. All of the characters are compatable with it.

   Some of the biggest differences are:

   -There are frozen Action Points, Movement Points and Injury Markers. These take two action points to defrost. At the end of your turn, any frozen AP, MP and IM you have, become defrosted. However, some characters can not receive frozen damage.

   - The Ice cubes can be pushed inside of the ice rink for three action points. Cubes will slide in a straight line until running into an obstacle or the edge of the ice rink. If there is a character on top of the ice cube, it remains on top.

   -Some spells effect a zone instead of just one cell. There is the axe zone and the hand zone.

   This is a great expansion. The art is still amazing, I love the characters and there is just enough new to make it interesting. If you like Krosmaster Arena, this is worth getting.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Tapestry Crochet Pillow

   Earlier this month, Hubby's cousin got married. We were talking about things we could make for a wedding gift and decided that since they met at school and both played sports, we wanted to incorporate that into the gift. Hubby mentioned it would be neat to do a tapestry crochet with a big U in the middle and their numbers on either side. I thought that sounded like a great idea. It would take a bit of time to make it, since I would have to design it as well, but I was pretty sure I could do one pretty quick.

   First, I designed the front side. I found the center of my graph and worked out from there. Since it was a big U it wasn't too hard. Then I did a bit of Facebook stalking to find their numbers.


   Next I got to work. It didn't take me too long to make it. Once the front was done, I decided to make it into a pillow. So I drew up a pattern for the back side. I tried a couple different things but settled on their last name.


   Once that was made, I was talking with hubby about how I was going to stitch it together.


   He mentioned trying to do it the old fashioned way of putting the two front sides together and sewing it that way. I hadn't ever thought about doing it that way, but it would make it so I wouldn't have to worry about finishing off the edges. I gave it a try, making sure I did the stitch under the yarn running through it to give it some extra strength.


   I liked the look so I sewed it all together leaving a couple of inches to turn it right side out and to stuff it.


   I didn't have enough stuffing to fill the pillow so we ran to the store. The one we went to didn't have what we needed. They did have travel pillows that were about the right size, so we grabbed one of those. We smashed it down into a bit of a roll and stuffed it in. It took a while to get it to go back into the right shape, but once it did, it looked pretty awesome! I stitched up the open end and I was done. I was very happy with how it turned out. I couldn't wait to give it to them. They both seemed to love it!



   Now I keep thinking about what I should make for our couch. Maybe a giant Meeple?

Friday, May 23, 2014

Krosmaster Arena Frigost Unboxing

   A while back, we decided we were going to help Kickstarter the new Krosmaster Arena expansion, Frigost. It finally arrived on Wednesday! It sat in my house, mocking me, while we waited for hubby to get home from work.


   We felt like kids at Christmas! We opened it up, and it looked like this. One thing that is nice about getting stuff on Kickstarter, is there is a possibility of getting a lot of extra stuff that you wouldn't normally get with the game.


   On top were seven Frigost characters.


   I think the characters in the Krosmaster games are awesome.  It's worth buying the game just for the pieces.

 

   Each character has a character card. We got XL cards for every character that you can get for the Frigost set.


   All seventeen of them. These cards are awesome! I didn't think having big cards would make that much of a difference. I really enjoy them though. They are so fun and much easier to read.


   We got some awesome yellow and green dice. They are a little transparent, but they mostly just look like they are frosted, which goes with the theme of the game.



   We also got a little coin. This may become our first player token or something. Either way, it looks pretty neat.


   This is a little two pack of guys. This one has Merkator and Captain Amakna


   The set is pretty neat. It comes with it's own little players mat, the two characters and their cards, two dice and some other game pieces. This is its own little mini game that you can play with just the two of them or you can use them in the bigger main game.


   Don't they look amazing? I love the detail of the characters and their bright colors. I almost want a display case to put them all in and hang on my wall.


   We received some winter themed obstacles.



   On the bottom of the box, we found this. The box for the game.


   Inside, there was the rule book and all of the different punch outs for the game.


   And of course, the board. Here's one side.


   And here's the other.


   In the bottom of the box, there were the regular sized players cards and a character. There is also plenty of space to store all of your little bits and pieces once they are punched out.


   Say 'Hello' to Count Harebourg


   Overall, I am really happy with what we got in our Kickstarter. We have played with the little two pack and it was a fun game. They are both pretty tough guys! I can't wait to play the expansion. I will try and get a review up in the next week or two. If you aren't sure how to play the base game, Krosmaster Arena, you can read my review of that game as well.


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Cat Hat

   When I found out that it was almost my friend's daughter's birthday, I wanted to make her a cute cat hat. She LOVES cats so I thought it would be cute. She may never take it off (sorry Chrissy, but at least we waited until after vacation, right?) but I decided to do it anyway. I got on good 'ol Pinterest and did a quick "Crochet cat hat" search. This is what I got.


   Yes, I know that's what I searched, but it surprised me and made me laugh. Maybe because I never thought of putting a hat on a cat. Anyway, I kept looking and I found this one.


   I thought it was perfect! So I grabbed my purple yarn because that's her favorite color, and who wouldn't want a purple hat on their head, and I got to work on it. It took me a while to get it done. Sometimes, life just gets in the way of fun crafting projects. I did manage to get it done before her birthday though. I also managed to forget to take pictures while I was putting it together. But if you'd like the pattern, you can find it here.

   Here is a picture of my completed hat. I had to put it on a ball because my lil man doesn't want a purple cat on his head and I didn't want him to stretch it out anyway. I think it turned out pretty well.


   It even took a nice little nap on my table.


    The pattern was fairly easy to follow. I did have a thing or two I wasn't sure on and just kind of improvised it. I did attach the face before I sewed it closed though which made it a million times easier. I also used my favorite hat pattern that I use for all of my hats. I can't wait to see it on her! I really hope she enjoys it.

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Seasons Review

   Seasons is a fun game that correlates with the seasons of the year. The object of the game is to collect energy tokens that help you play power cards and get crystals, which are the points in the game.


When you open the box, everything is in it's own space which makes for an easy set up.


   To set up the game, every player takes an individual board and the color cubes that match. Two of the cubes go on the crystal tracker. One goes on the zero on the top of the track to keep track by hundreds and the other one goes on the zero on the bottom of the crystal track to keep track of the ones. 


   The other two cubes go on your individual boards. One starts on the zero on the summoning guage and one goes on the zero on the bonus track.


   Place the circle game board in the middle. Place a black cube on the number one and the other black cube in the middle on the one. This keeps track of what season you are in and which year.


   Place the energy tokens next to the board. These represent each of the four seasons.

   Place the dice next to the matching season section of the board. You should have one more die of each color than the number of players. Example: in a three player game, you will have four of each color of dice.

   Each player starts with nine cards. There is a pre constructed sets of cards to start with when you are learning the game. If you already know how to play, you can deal nine cards and do a draft. Each player will pick a card that was delt to them, then pass them and choose one from the next deck. Keep picking and passing until the cards are gone and each player has their nine cards. Sort your nine cards into three groups of three cards. The first deck is what you get to start the game. Place a II token on the next deck of cards for the second year and a III token on the third pile to play with during the third year. Try to pick your year piles so that they will help you during each year.


   To take a turn, the first player rolls the dice that correspond with the season you are in. The player that rolled, gets to choose a die first. Place the die on your individual board. Once each player has chosen a die, the first player gets to do what his die says. Play moves left once the player is done. The first player moves left at the beginning of each new round.


   The die I chose, gets two of the water energy tokens. Energy tokens go along the top of the individual boards. The star adds one to the summoning gauge. You can play as many power cards as you are able to play. 

   You can choose to play something on the bonus track. The options on the bonus track are: trading in two energy tokens for any two energy tokens of your choice. You can transmute, adding an additional crystal for each energy token transmuted. You can add one on your summoning gauge. The last one is if you have the 'draw a card' die, you can draw two instead of one. Pick a card to place in your hand and discard the other. For each bonus you use, you will lose points at the end of the game. Keep track by moving your cube along the bonus track.


   The dice have different things you can do on them. They will have a picture matching the energy tokens. Take as many as are shown on the die. A star means you can move your summoning guage up one. The circle on the die means you can transmute which means you can turn your energy tokens in for crystals. The white square means you can draw a new card. If they have a number on the top, you get that many crystals. The dots on the bottom of the dice shows how many spaces the black cube is moved around the seasons track on the board. The die that is left after each player chooses is the one that moves the season track.


   The cards have a cost to play each card. The cost and what each card does is on the bottom. Each card will take either any combination of Energy tokens or crystals. Pay the cost and play the card. When you play a card, place it face up in front of you. You can only have as many cards as the amount on your summoning gauge.


   If your season would advance past the summer on the third year, the game is over. Add up the points on all of your power cards. Don't forget to subtract the number from your bonus track. Whoever has the most points at the end, wins the game!

   This game is a ton of fun! I really enjoy it. It's one that both my husband and I enjoy to play together. It takes about an hour to play. There is some strategy and luck in this game, but you can help your luck by which die you pick. The art in this game is amazing! It has some of the best game components. The dice are bright and chunky. Each player has their own brightly colored board. The cards are beautifully done and are highly detailed. It is one of the most visually stunning games I have played. It is definitely a game that is both fun to look at and to play!