Review: 30473 Juniors Racer Polybag

This polybag was released in 2016.  It apparently didn't create much fanfare because the first time I saw it was in the impulse buy bin at my local Lego Store.

Bag.  I paid $3.49 for this at the Lego Store, for a $0.12 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts.

Build.  A quick IO Frigate.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: -5 (B-).  The limited number of parts kills the score.

Review: 30425 CRU Master's Training Grounds Polybag

This is one of the new Fall polybags.  so new in fact that I basically took it out of the box before it was even on a hangar in the Lego aisle.

Bag.  I paid $3.97 for this at Walmart, for a $0.09 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifigs.

Parts. Red 1x1 Round Tiles!  A Gold
Minifig Head!  Oh, the Bar Clips
and Technic Half Pins are nice too.
As are the Red Skeleton Legs.

Build.  I just built a variation of what's in the bag.  It'll make for a decent Station.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: +10 (A-).  A decent score and some interesting parts.

Battle Report: Teslaville 2

We went back to "Teslaville" again last weekend.  This time with two players who hadn't had the chance to play in this setting before.

Stevenik (3 Frames & 12 Systems) = (7 Points per Asset) * (5 assets) = 35 points.
   Orange Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W + SSR.
   Lime Tank -- 2Rd+d8/2B/2W + SSR.
   Tan Tank -- 2Rd+d8/2B/2W + SSR.

Me (4 Frames & 15 Systems) = (4 Points per Asset) * (6 assets) = 24 points.  (Centurions)
   Purple Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Orange Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Green Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Lime Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/1B/1Gd8/2W.

Tyler (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (6 assets) = 18 points.  (Quattros)

   Purple Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W + SSR(x2).

   White Tank -- 2Rd+d8/2B/2W.
   Green Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W + SSR.
   Red Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.

Narbey (4 Frames & 16 Systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (6 assets) = 18 points.  (Skitterers)
   White Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Orange Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Red Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.
   Yellow Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.

This is what the table looked like at the start of the game.

Events of Turn 1 (DDC@11): Narbey's Yellow frame hits my Green frame for 1.  My Lime frame moves forwards and into cover near Stevenik's Stations.  Stevenik's Orange frame hits Narbey's Orange frame for 2.  Narbey's Orange frame then hits Stevenik's Lime frame for 2 and hides under the tracks.  Narbey's White frame hits my Orange frame for 2.  My Orange frame rolls out and hits Stevenik's Lime frame for 2.  Narbey's Red frame moves out and attempts an attack on Tyler's Green frame.  Tyler's Green frame then hits Stevenik's Lime frame for 2.  Tyler's Red frame hits Narbey's Red frame for 1.  My Purple frame moves forward and hits Stevenik's Tan frame for 1.

Stevenik: 35 Points.
Me: 24 points.
 Tyler: 18 Points
Narbey: 18 points.

Events of Turn 2 (DDC@6): Stevenik's Orange frame attempts to attack Narbey's Red frame.  Narbey's Red frame then tries to attack Tyler's Purple frame and retreats.  Tyler's Purple frame seizes my Station on the ground.  Stevenik's Tan frame jumps to the top of the tracks.  My Green frame moves forward, toward Stevenik's Stations.  Tyler's Red frame hits Narbey's Red frame for 3.  Narbey's Yellow frame hits the tracks and Stevenik's Tan frame for 2 damage each, blowing the tracks out from under the train.  The train falls and takes 2 damage on each car.  Stevenik's frame remains perched on the track support.  Narbey's Orange frame hits Tyler's Purple frame for 2 and moves closer to its target.  My Purple frame hits Stevenik's Lime frame for 3 damage, destroying it and seizing the Station it was guarding.  Tyler's Red frame hits my Green frame for 3.  Tyler's Green frame hits Narbey's Orange frame for 4 damage, destroying it, after destroying the Whirligig it was in Cover behind.  My Lime frame jumps in and hits Stevenik's Orange frame for 4, trying to seize the Station it's guarding.  Narbey's White frame moves forward and hits Tyler's Purple frame for 2.

Me: 24 points.
Stevenik: 21 Points.
 Tyler: 21 Points
Narbey: 15 points.

Events of Turn 3 (DDC@1): Stevenik's Tan frame hits my Purple frame for 2.  Tyler's Purple frame hits my Purple frame for 1 with a Single Shot Rocket.  My Green frame -- going with a 0 defense in favor of placing a Spot-- jumps from the tracks to the top of a Whirligig, attacks Stevenik's Tan frame with a SSR for 3 damage and destroys it.  My Orange frame attempts to attack Stevenik's Orange frame but hits and destroys the track support instead.  Narbey's Yellow frame attacks my Green frame destroying it and the Whirligig it was standing on.  Narbey's White frame then hits Tyler's Purple frame for 2 damage, destroying it.  Tyler's Green frame targets Stevenik's Orange frame but hits my Lime frame for 1.  Tyler's Red frame then hits Stevenik's Orange frame for 2 damage, destroying it.  I seize the Station it was guarding.  The Doosday Clock ticks down to zero.

Me: 20 points.
Tyler: 18 Points
Narbey: 15 points.
Stevenik: 7 Points.

Here's a couple of pictures of some of the aftermath.

Thoughts & Observations:

• Once again each section of train track takes one Hit of Damage before being destroyed.
• Primary Attacker was decided with a die roll.
• I removed Artillery attachments from my squad again.
• I placed one of my Stations on the back of the train.  I figured the train moving would keep it away from anyone else.
• I tested out a new squad for this game, I wanted to give the Solidboxes a break.
• We got to test out falling damage on the train.
• We almost got to try out Ramming rules when Stevenik's frame jumped in front of the train but, the train had the tracks blown out from under it before that happened.
• We kinda went with the "Rule of Cool" with allowing Stevenik's frame to remain perched on the track support.  It was located directly over it and it looked neat afterwards.
• We we pretty aggressive with the Doomsday Clock as one of our players had to leave as soon as the game was over.
• This game came down to the last activation of the last frame on the last turn.  It got pretty seesaw-y in the last turn of the game.

Review: 41303 Friends Puppy Playground.

After a few unexpected purchases changing my plans for the next few weeks, here's today's review.

Box.  I paid $4.99 for this at the Lego Store, for a $0.08 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig?

Parts 1.  The 1x2 Bricks
w/Pin might be useful.

Parts 2.  I don't have a lot of those Green 1x1 Round Plates so those are
a welcome acquisition.  A Bar Plate, plenty of Slopes, a couple Robot
Arms, an Antenna, Round Bricks, 1x2 Bricks w/Studs on 1 Side, Jumpers,
Plates, Grill Tiles, a bracket, and Axle Plate are all interesting.

Build.  A quick IO Frigate (2Ra+d8/1B/
/2W).  All Attachments are in Yellow.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  Not really a surprise, other smalls Friends sets like this have scored well.

Review: 41233 DC Girls Lashina Tank

These have recently dropped to really good Clearance prices in both Walmart and Target.

Box.  MSRP is $14.99 which is a Price per Piece of $0.10.

Instructions & Stickers.

Minidolls

Parts 1.

Parts 2.  An interesting mix of selection and color here.  I dig those printed 1x1 Round Tiles.

Parts 3.  More interesting colors and parts.  Pneuma-Ts!  those Trans-Light Blue Skeleton Arms!  A Travis Brick!

Build.  2Rd+d8/2Y/2W for this one.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  At.  (0)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +15 (A).  A decent set with good pieces and interesting colors.

Review: 70362 Nexo Knights Battle Suit Clay

Let's finish the week with another review.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 which is a Price per Piece of $0.13.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts 1.  I'd use these as part of a Station.

Parts 2.  Nexagon, Mech-
Core, and Chest Plate.

Parts 3.  A fair amount of Ball Joint parts, tons of Slopes, some Technic pieces, and those new Wedge Plates are interesting too.

Build.  2Rd/2B/1Y/2W.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +5 (B+).  Not a bad set, it just needs more parts.

Review: 30427 Ninjago Movie Ice Tank Polybag

I finally tracked this down at Target.  It was in the Lego aisle but others have found them in the checkout aisles.

Bag.  MSRP is $3.99 which is a Price per Piece of $0.06.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Taps, Inverted Studless Slopes, the Chima Gun, Lampholders, Clip Plates, Bar Plates, Brackets, Gears, and Plates w/Pin Hole (bottom) are all fun bits.

Parts 2.  New Space Torches are nice.

Build.  A combat monster 2Rd+d8/2Rh+d8/2W.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  The tank treads inflate the parts count.  Without them this would be have a +15 (A) score.