Review: Brix FB64134-12 BBT Succulent Bonsai Tree

This weeks reviews are going to be a little different.  They all come from one "set".  Brix has already released Buildable Brix Trios as part of their Micro Brix line, now they're releasing them in standard brick size.

Box.  MSRP is $6.00, for a $0.14 Price per Piece.

This is what the combined sets look like.

Instructions.

Parts.  Plate, 6x5 Leaf, 5x3 Leaves, Round

Bricks, Inverted Slopes, Corner Inverted

Slopes, Tiles, Round Plates w/5 Petals, Clip

Plates, Padlocks, Axles, Cheese Slopes w/

Stud, Angled Axle/Pin Connector, Corner

Tiles, and Round Plate w/3 Leaves.

Build.  Baby Groot frame (2W) and 2 Hit piece of Cover.

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).  While this set has some useful parts and excellent terrain bits, I feel like it would be better attempting a Double Set Challenge when trying to build a Frame.

Review: Brix FB64134-12 BBT Succulent Cherry Blossom

This weeks reviews are going to be a little different.  They all come from one "set".  Brix has already released Buildable Brix Trios as part of their Micro Brix line, now they're releasing them in standard brick size.

Box.  MSRP is $6.00, for a $0.12 Price per Piece.

This is what the combined sets look like.

Instructions.

Parts.  Plates, Arch, Tiles, 5x3 Leaves, Studless

Slope, Brackets, Round Plates w/5 Petals,

Cheese Slope, Brick, Inverted Slopes, Slopes,

Corner Plate, and Round Brick w/3 Leaves.

Build.  Two Robodog frames and one 1 Hit piece of Cover.

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).  That is a decent amount of Brackets but I'm not seeing much more to recommend this set.  It might actually be better as terrain.

Review: Brix FB64134-12 BBT Succulent Lotus

This weeks reviews are going to be a little different.  They all come from one "set".  Brix has already released Buildable Brix Trios as part of their Micro Brix line, now they're releasing them in standard brick size.  This is the second vegetation themed set.

Box.  MSRP is $6.00, for a $0.10 Price per Piece.

This is what the combined sets look like.

Instructions.

Parts.  Octagonal Bar Plates, Quarter Circle Plates,

Round Tiles, Round Large Jumpers, Round Plate,

Plate, Macaroni Tiles, Travis Brick, Tiles, Tooth

Plates, Clip Plates, and Quarter Circle Tiles.

Build.  Frame (2W) and 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?  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).  I like the colors and Octagonal Bar Plates are always a treat to me.

Polly Want A Baggy 14

As we do every year, let's take a look at the upcoming polybag offering from Lego.  Unlike last year, there don't seem to be a lot of spoilers this time around.  Although it looks like we're getting a Pokemon polybag.  As per usual, this information comes from Brickset.  

30714: Orange Cat  I see a White Pneuma-T along with some other good parts.  It's a quick quad Frame build too.

30715: Cute Animal Birthday Party  I see a handful of good parts and colors in this poly.

30719: Go-Kart Racer  We'll probably be buried under this one in the U.S.  Although it looks like it has a couple of useful bits, including a Printed 1x1 Round Tile.

30720: Ariel and Flounder’s Birthday Music Fun  Not sure what this has to offer but it might be good for building a Station.

30722: Garden Bunny House  I like the minifig size Sunflowers.  And do I see some Translucent Half Round Bricks?

30723: Cole's Car  I see a melee battle-cart coming out of this polybag.

30727: TIE Advanced Looks to be a Ship-in-a-Bag for Intercept Orbit.  It'll have a lot to live up to after the Millenium Falcon polybag from last year.

30735: Hot Rod Car This Technic set looks pretty interesting.  I'm intrigued by the Technic Pistons and there seem to be some System parts too.

30721: Flower Stand with Roses  I see a handful of good parts, including a Pearl Gold Tap.

As always, good hunting.

Yearly Look Back 2025 Edition

It's time once again for another look back at the year that was.

The Central MA gaming group continued to meet this year. We only played three games together, which is down a lot from 2024. We debuted a new table setting and I look forward to using it more in the future.

I'm down 3 posts from last year but, still maintaining my "at least three posts per week" average for the thirteenth year running.

I managed 118 reviews this year; 1 Pantasy, 1 Well Played, 1 Zuru Max, 1 Hello Kitty, 1 Lazer Blocks, 1 Miniso, 2 Lele Brother, 3 Clone, 6 Brix, 7 Gundam Converge, 8 non-building block, 9 Brickcraft, 10 BLDR, 10 Make-It Bricks, 27 Lego, and 30 Block Tech. That comes out to an average of 9.8 per month.

I made 1 War College and 21 Terrain Workshop posts this year. Which is a decrease in War College posts but an increase in Terrain Workshop posts. I'm still hoping to do more War College posts but I think the lack of playing time had an effect on that.  I did make 4 alternate/rule variation posts this year and had two playtests.  Hopefully I'll be able to make the final adjustments to my Weather rules in 2026.

I'm now at 1.97M views, which is roughly another 770K views since last year. I might break 2 million sometime in January.  Thank you to everyone for the continued readership.

Keep on gaming and I'll see you next year. :-)

Thoughts on Movement

This was originally supposed to be a War College post but it's more of a set of disjointed, random thoughts about Movement systems and Movement within the game.  And for a next to last post in a random, disjointed year this will do nicely.

There's always a lot of confusion with new players about Movement systems and the "special ability" for that System and when it's available.  All the other Systems get a "special ability" when you equip two of those Systems.  Movement has the "special ability" front-loaded meaning it exists when you just have one of this System.  Although I have a long standing joke that the "special ability" for two Movement systems should be the ability to execute a Ramming attack like you can in Intercept Orbit.

Movement is what enables you to capture Stations -- which increases your score -- and allows you to run away from fights -- which keeps your score from decreasing, at least for a little while.  In one of the recent games we played the battlefield was built on a long, thin table.  As you can see from the battle report, the three attackers had trouble closing the distance to capture the Defender's Stations.  So you can see right there how important Movement can be in a game.

There are currently three Archetypes in the archive that feature Double Movement.  Two of those, the "Shoot & Scoot" (2Rd+d8/2G/2W) and the "Moving Wall" (2B/2G+d8/2W), might make a good fireteam if you can keep them close to each other while moving through the battlefield.  According to my (current, personal) Archetype statistics spreadsheet you currently have a 9% chance of encountering the first and an 11% chance of encountering the second archetype in a game.

Also in my Archetype statistics spreadsheet six other designs with double Movement systems have seen use in games.  Including the prior mentions, the full list is as follows: Moving Wall, Shoot & Scoot, Melee Sprinter (2Rh+d8/2G+d8), Fast Assault (2Rd/1B/2G), Fast Armored Scout (1B/2G+d8/1Y), Fast Stalker (2Ra+d8/2G), Fast Sniper (2Ra/1B/2G), and Fast Assault Scout (2Rd/2G/1Y).

Review: Brickcraft Lights Out Grinch Decoration

Last year, Brickcraft released a series of Christmas set that were Grinch themed.  They're doing it again this year but with a wider selection.  Let's take a look at one of them.

Box.  MSRP is $12.99, for a $0.09 Price per Piece.  I paid $9.97 at Walmart, for a $0.07 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Strings w/End Studs & Climbing Grips, and String w/ End Studs.

Parts 2.  Plates, Wedge, Printed Tile,  Quarter Circle Plates, Quarter Circle

Studless Slopes, Corner Wedge, Tiles, Ball Joint Plates,, Studless Slopes, Wedge Studless Slopes, Wedge Plate, Claw Plates, Inverted Studless Slopes, 

Arches, Curved Slopes w/Cutout, Slopes, Brick, Axles, and Macaroni Tubes

Parts 3.  Wedges, Boat Tile, Rounded Corner Plate, Wedge Plate, Corner Plates, Inverted Tile, Plates, Double Sided Plates, Hinge Plates, Jumper, Ingots, Round Plate w/Bar, Brackets, Cheese Slope, Large Cheese Slope, Thin Axle Connectors, Wedge Studless Slope, Round Tile, Barrel Hinges, Ball w/Axle

Hole Double Curved Slopes, Inverted Clip Tiles, and Translucent Eggs.

Build.   Tubby Toes frame (2W) and 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?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  I like this set, it has some really useful parts.  Some of them being onesies is a little annoying though.  The score for the price I paid is +20 (A+).