Most of our table builds start from wanting to use a specific piece then shaping layout around that. This week it was the collapsing bridge at the center (33391). The elevated metro station and its green ramps often end up in our layouts, especially as the 90 degree riser is an economical use of space …
Author Archives: Phil
Repairing a Brio Bridge
A number of Brio pieces my parents kept around from my childhood have seen better days— missing pieces, cracked smokestacks, and broken knobs on track pieces. My most recent repair job was this arch bridge (33363). This is not the viaduct that came in many of the classic figure eight sets, but a two piece …
This Week’s Brio Build I
Over the last year we’ve gotten really into wooden (mostly Brio) trains in our house. We are by no means Brio purists, and our collection has grown from a variety of sources- IKEA lillabo, Hape, my own childhood collection, neighborhood giveaways, and more. I’m hoping to post details on more specific items and sets, but …
Unfiltered Thoughts: One D&D Character Origins
I wasn’t part of the hobby for D&D Next, and while I don’t have many (any?) fundamental problems with 5th Edition, a new editions/revamp was inevitable, and I think this will be an exciting time. I’m excited to see the playtest material on D&D Beyond, and while I don’t know that’s I’ll get a lot …
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The Expanse – A Reading Order
The Expanse is great. But you want me to start a nine book series? you ask. Yes. Yes I do. But 1. It’s basically three distinct trilogies you can space out, and 2. it’s finished, and it finished well. And anyway there’s actually ten books if you loop in all the short fiction. Have I …
Dramatis Personae: Stefania Martikova
Stefania is the adult daughter of Davian and Angelika Martikov, living at the Wizard of Wines winery with most of her family and the “inner circle” of wereravens. Stefania and her husband have four children also detailed in chapter twelve of Curse of Strahd. Like the rest of her family, Stefania is a wereraven, but …
Beginners Tournament IV: SevMoun
Well, we got to the last match, I lost both, and… I never recorded or posted my self-review in ptn.ninja. At the time Simmon streamed live commentary on Twitch, however, and now the video has made it to YouTube. I figured I’d add it to my collection here to complete the set, even if I …
Circling Back on my Corvid Friends
When I ran my D&D campaign of Curse of Strahd (CoS) that ended last year, I spent a decent amount pouring through past editions’ sourcebooks and adventures, lifting aspects of Ravenloft and Barovian lore to incorporate into Curse of Strahd’s Baroiva. One of the pieces that stuck with me the most as I dug through …
Beginners Tournament IV: Gioqw
My last matching of the round-robin group, and we split wins as white. Game One Game one was excellent (I lost), I flagged a number of key mistakes in my review (too many!), and Gio held onto their cap for some time to cause me trouble when it finally came down. Game Two Game two …
Beginners Tournament IV: Skyward
Another pair of matches from our round-robin group, this time with Skyward. Match 1 The first match had a lot of back and forth and some trading of Tak threats— Skyward got his cap out somewhat later, but in an excellent position, and it took me a few more rounds to get it neutralized. Our …