Project Elite (2020) Characters Ranked (1)

 Now I want to rank the newest version of the game's characters from worst to best. Here we go!

21) Jake

The WORST one to be. If he rolls to "alien move" dice he loses a health. He heals a health for himself or anyone next to him is he rolls two "touch" symbols. So I guess thematically he keeps shooting himself in the foot and healing during the game. Making the player take the time out to move his health meter back and forth during the round in a frustrating series of events during the mission. 

Horrible and not well thought out character. Really confused why the created him. For the record there is no version of Robcart from the first game and I wish there was someone who was better at searches instead. 

20) Sandra

Replace a swarm card that is revealed with the next one from the deck....which may be worse. This is not very helpful and never used in the game when (and if) we pick random and someone gets her. (which is the only reason she gets played at all) 

What a dumb "ability" in that it can make matters worse for the team if she picks something else. Maybe they could've said "once per mission" she can avoid the alien spawning phase. That would send her near the top of the list in characters. But instead they went with something lame like this. 

19) Robert

Basically the same power of Sandra but with Boss cards. Again, the same can be said that he can make the situation worse by luck of the draw. Another pointless character and a lack of creativity from the designers who put him together. 

Just like Sandra, if his ability was once per mission to SKIP selecting a Boss Card he's be way more valuable. (maybe so house rules should go in effect here)

18) Mizi

She has the power to unlock anyone's dice for the round. Kind of good but really depends on the situation. If someone is badly damaged enough she could come in handy OR if someone plays with Gilgamesh. But only in those two unique situations would she be needed, which is why I ranked her near the bottom. 

17) Sarah

The healer comes in once again near the bottom but at least this time she's not last! With 2 "touch" rolls she can heal herself 3 of another player 2. An improvement from her earlier version but still the same issue as before. Good for the team, bad for the individual player. 

There's a need for this character in the game it just sucks that one player will not be able to help with the mission that much, therefore missing out on all the fun of blowing aliens away.

16 ) Apollo

One of the characters in the "Alien Allies Pack" He has the same power as Sandman did in the original game but this time when an alien is "pushed" it doesn't wake back up until the next round. Nice to have but again like Sandman, it doesn't come in handy most of the time. 

I wonder why they kept this power over into the new version of the game. Obviously someone thought it was good enough to have and even though there are several powers that are worse on this list, this isn't anywhere near the best to have. 

15) Gilgamesh

The good: He gets to reroll misses on hit die. The bad: He rolls with only 3 action die in the game. Making him pretty well balance. I've played with him before and he's not bad. Again, if someone were to play as Mizi, he'd be unstoppable but then again, someone would have to waste their choice on Mizi. 

Ok, I'll be back with more tomorrow!

Project Elite: Worst Mega Bosses

 The 2016 version of the game came with Mega Bosses which were extremely difficult to kill. Here's my rankings of each one, with #1 being the worst!!!

#3

Let me first be clear that even though this one ranks last, it's STILL one I never want to see hit the board. This Boss has a health equal to the number of aliens on the board with a minimum or 12 and defaults back to that number at the end of every round if not killed. 

Brutal. 

#2

I don't remember each of their names so I'm not listing them here. Not that it's important. Only what they DO in the game is. This one makes everyone roll with one less die until killed. Ensuring all players stop what they're doing for the round and attack him until he's dead, wasting an entire round usually to do so. 

#1 

But the worst one I hate seeing out there is this one. It cuts movement down in half and forces you to roll two move symbols to move one space. 

Awful.

I hate this guy. Hard to even get to, to even kill. Most times when he enters the game, you're all screwed. It's almost impossible to win at this point because it's so hard to move anywhere on the board. 

Hate him. 

Project Elite Characters ranked

 I love this game. Got to play it a lot on our beach vacation this year. 

So much so, that I decided to rank the characters from the first version of the game from best to last. 

Here we go!

1) Momentum

Nothing beat speed. That's why this guys my #1. he moves twice as fast as anyone else and I love getting around the board faster with him. Sadly, he's EVERYONE'S favorite around the house so I neve get to play him anymore unless it's solo. 

2) Robcart

Getting your own private search box at the end of each round it super powerful. You're always finding more weapons and items to use and improving your game. Great character but he too goes 2nd after Momentum in our games so I never get to play with him either. 

3) Lilla

Now we're getting to the ones I usually can grab. She has a "locked die" token that can lead to some super powerful actions during the game. If given the right weapon she can be deadly. This is one that a lot of people underestimate. But she's great!

4) Caress 

Another one nobody likes but me. But he "sort of" has speed in that whenever he makes a kill he moves one space. So again "speed" is his appeal though it's only off of a certain action taken in the game which is why he's inferior to Momentum. 

5) Bus

By far the most popular character at GenCon when I first played the game. Mainly because being "pushed" by an alien on the board doesn't hurt him, making Runners useless against him. I like Bus but play him every once in a while. (as the same with the next few)

6) Vickie and KS

The only good thing about her is they come as a team and the robot KS, doesn't have to return on the mission. So what you do is leave him to die after he completes whatever mission you're on. Also, if there are search boxes inside the base on the map, then Vickie has a chance to grab upgrades too which is good. Vickie and KS get played frequently in our games based off this reasoning. 

7) Sandra

Megan's FAVORITE character and will play with her every time. Her ability? She can "stop" 6 alien moves per sound. It is a nice ability but in my opinion, one of the least important. Though I'd be lying if I said she didn't come in handy in those missions with her in it!

8) Sandman

The promo character who's not that good. His ability is to put aliens "to sleep" at the end of the round that are around him, thereby not allowing them to move. The only problem is, they can be awakened but a push from another alien and (most likely) hurt you in the process. 

I've only played with this character twice in my whole life, though I will admit, the first time he gave us the win with his special ability. 

9) Sarah

The only character who can heal herself and others in the game. I very good ability and would be helpful in a game but no one wants to be her because they'd rather be someone who can do more damage during the game. I've only played her once I think. Again, she's necessary on a mission but the trick is getting someone to take one for the team and pick her for the mission. 

YouTube famous

 I don't know what I hate more, annoying people who are famous on YouTube or the people who dream about being famous on YouTube. (probably the latter)

This isn't a career for me. I'm thankful for all the subscribers I have but I have no intentions to make this a permanent gig. Most people who want this are egotistical, vain and lazy. Don't get me wrong, I was more YouTube than TV or any streaming service. 

I just find some of the more popular ones annoying. 

That's my old man grump for the day. 

Twilight Imperium Novels (Review?)

 I love the board game. When I heard there were novels based OFF the game, I was intrigued. 

I couldn't make it thru the first novel....and I tried.... a lot. 

It's as if Tim Pratt had no idea what the game was about and what game is all about. Characters feel out of place with the lore of the game. Stories of barnacles and other pirate jokes fall flat in a realm where they don't exists. 

Very disappointing. Won't be picking them up again anytime soon. I'm done. 

Shame they couldn't commission a better author to write these. A story of the fall of the Lazax would've been great. 

Boardgames that need novels

 I love novels based on board games. The big problem is, there aren't many out there and the ones that are, aren't very good. 

Here's 5 board games I'd love to see novels based off of. 

Big no-brainer here. Have them land on the island, all greedy for treasure. Adventure, betrayal, this novel would have it all and would be a good seller I think! Maybe I should reach out to Restoration Games to see if they're interested!

Great Co-op game which could be turned into an Aliens-like adventure. I'd love to hear more about the story of where these aliens come from and what kind of threat they pose. 

Excellent dungeon crawl with a great story which would be fun to hear more about this world. Sadly, not many board game companies think novels will be worth the effort, so whatever we got from the game is about all the story we'll ever get. 

A story of training dragons, wizards and rogues. It's not a very known board game, but oddly enough I think a book series would be more popular! Then maybe the game will get more love too!

Yeah this is just my gateway game. But if they made a novel based off the game, I'd read it. Again, this may not be a bad idea to put pen to paper and present it to Kerry at Twilight Creations Inc. 

Wouldn't hurt!

Walking Boredom

 Oh man. This show needs to die. 

It's the last season but at this point Megan is sleeping during episodes and I'm checking my phone. 

We're just there to see how it ends and never watching it again. 

It's too bad. This started off as a "much see" show and now it's turned into such garbage over the years it's now our least favorite thing to watch. 

Here's to hoping for a quick and painless death!

Trying to turn the tide

Gov Bel Edwards extended a helping hand to Desantis last week. Making him the only Democrat to offer help to Florida. 

But.....he has another reason. He's trying to save his job. 

The middle has completely stopped supporting him and he's in danger of losing the election next year so he's trying to make peace with to attract those supporters back. 

It's not going to work. 

At this point, Satan could run on the Republican ticket and win. 

This man's days in office are numbered. And good riddance. 
 

Best Stadium Club set

 This was a hard one. I think all of these from 91-94 were gorgeous but if I had to go with one it's be 93. I collected them every year I believe (except 94) But the pictures were some of the best in the business. 

And even in later years they continued to churn out quality cards that I've seen and loved. 

This was fun. But now I'm done. Moving on to other topics!

Have a good weekend folks!

Best Triple Play Set

 I almost forgot about this one until the last minute but this was Donruss "bargain" cards, made and sold on the cheap. 

I collected a few of them back in 93 (which I almost picked as the winner) but getting a good look at 94 I think it's fair to say this set wins out. 

See what I mean? Why couldn't Score come up with something HALF as decent as this??

Best Score set

This was a hard one because Score was the WORST every year. 

94 was the only one I can say doesn't look hideous. It only DOESN'T look as bad as any of the other sets. 

Seriously, what was this company thinking? There was NO designs here to celebrate or appreciate. What a waste of cardboard!
 

Best Pinnacle Set

 I never collected Pinnacle ever but looking through the years when I was collecting, the only one that shines is the 94 set. Still, I don't think its the best of 94 but it's not too bad looking. 

If I had to pick one year though, it'd be this set. 

Best Upper Deck

 There were a lot of years people loved this publisher. But for me 1993 reigns supreme! I collected this set as well making me wonder if 1993 was the "biggest" year for baseball cards for me.

This slick design and great photos just sings to any collector. The 89-92 designs looked so similar that this is the one set that stood apart from all the others at the time.  

Best Leaf set

 Oh my lanta! 

When I was looking up these cards I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about this set!!! Just like Fleer Ultra, this set has many memories for me when I was collecting it. 

Such an amazing design! I collected Leaf in 91 and 92 but it was the 1993 set that takes the cake!

Best Donruss Studio

 Told you I'd come back to this. 

in 1991 these were THE nicest cards out on the market. When I first saw them, I fell in love with them. SO good looking!

So unique too. Really, if you have the time look up this set online. Some really great photos of each player. This was a small set to collect as well, which was good. Not many packs needed to complete a set!

Best Fleer Flair

 In it's rookie year (1993) Flair never got better! I collected a few of these cards but they were hard to get. The packs were expensive, you only got 5 cards and they were made of thick cardboard that took up your entire sleeve in your book. 

If I had the money I would've collected them all back in the day. I love the "all picture", no borders look with a portrait of the player off to the side. 

Best Fleer Ultra

 92 was a lovely design! I collected the entire set back in the day and LOVED the look of these cards. Looking at them today I remember the excitement I'd get opening a pack or looking through commons to complete my set. 

Good times!

Best Bowman Cards

 The 92 set was notoriously popular back in the day and I actually enjoyed them. I remember my dad collected an entite set back in the day that was mad expensive (back in the day) and is worth not much now. 

Bowman focused on a lot of rookies and prospects which was a boon for them when it came to giving collectors something different. 

Best Baseball Cards 1994

 Fleer wins the final year I collected cards. This was the set that ended it all....well the baseball strike ended it for me, but this was the last cards I ever collected. 

It's a nice set and over the 9 years I collected cards Fleer and Topps tied at 4 and Donruss only had 1. 

Next week I talk about the "best" from all the other publishers between 86-94. 

Have a good weekend folks!

Best Baseball Cards 1993

The only year Donruss won for me. (spoilers for 1994 I guess) And it wasn't by default. This truly is a beautiful set. Before doing this, I'd forgotten how wonderful this set looked. 

All this almost makes me miss collecting. Too bad Topps sucks as a company or I'd jumped back into it in a heartbeat!
 

Best Baseball Cards 1992

 I LOVED this Fleer set! I don't know why, but it's still one of the best looking sets from Fleer. The Update set sold for $400 at one point and I made the terrible mistake of holding on to my extra copy when I should've sold it but back then everyone thought there'd be $$$ the longer you kept it. 

They also had some artwork cards that were wonderful. Beautiful set!

Best Baseball Cards 1991

Topps. 

Though there was a MUCH nicer set that came out this year it wasn't Donruss, Fleer or Topps so I couldn't count it this year. I'll discuss that one in another post!

But a lot of people loved their 40th edition. I too bought not only the set but the "mini-set" with the special "gold" cards included. 

It was supposed to be a huge investment back in the day but the value has DROPPED over the years to UNDER retail price....retail prices from 1991 that is. 

Yikes. Boring set, but it wins the year because Donruss and Fleer were WORSE.  

Best Baseball Cards 1990

 Thank goodness for Fleer or this year would've been a complete bust. In what could be describe the ugliest year EVER (yes, even worse than 1988) this series, which would be mediocre any other year, SHINES in the year 1990. 

Way to go Fleer!

Best Baseball Cards 1989

 

Topps not only wins but this is one of the better designs for the publisher as a whole. I really loved this series. Good card design and pictures of all the players. 

Which is how I'm judging these each year. 

Best Baseball Cards 1988

 This was not a good year for baseball cards. None of them are that good so this one wins by default. I did get a complete set of this Topps set but it's got to be one of the worst in my collection. 

I should also mention I'm only judging between Topps, Fleer and Donruss through these years since they were around for each one. 

I'll go back through all the other publishers and give my "best of" later. 

Best Baseball Cards 1987

 Fleer won the year for me even though I bought Donruss that year. Looking back, it was a mistake. Fleer just made a prettier set is all there is to it. 

I had a bunch of these cards back in the day but never had a complete set. I regret that now.

Best Baseball Cards 1986

 Today I'd like to start a new series about the best baseball cards for each year that I collected them. Those dates would be from 1986-1994. 

My brother and i sat around on vacation making up this list and I had a grand time so I thought I'd make post about it!

Starting with 1986 it's my first and favorite set of all time!

The Topps set is classic for me. I spent hours fawning over each card in my set. I know recently they used the design for today's players and I'd love to get them all someday....just that's its extremely expensive to get and I couldn't justify spending that type of money right now. 

Happy Labor Day

 Or should we call it as it is? 

Happy Monday Off!

Neverending Story Novel Review

 I've been wanting to read the actual story ever since I'd heard the movie was based off it. 

The first half of the book is very similar to the movie and the movie was smart not to cover the 2nd half of the book, which is a mess. 

Basically Bastion (who's a fat kid) has all these weird one off "adventures" where he wishes something, it comes true. He deals with it and moves on to the next wish. 

None of it is intriguing and though Neverending Story II is loosely based off the 2nd half but Hollywood tried their best to shine up that turd. 

Overall, I wouldn't suggest people read it. Sadly the author's creativity ends midway through the book when he gives the childlike empress her name....Moon Child. 

After that, you can put down the book and stop reading.  

Remember when Music Videos were something to get excited about?

 Just thinking about this the other day but there was a time where you'd sit in front of the TV in hopes of seeing one of your favorite music videos on MTV.

Thanks to YouTube there's no need these days for it but still, it's interesting (just like songs on the radio) how that used to work. 

I even remember when "countdowns" to the newest video were a thing. They'd have a timer at the bottom of the screen and you'd check in every so often to see how much time was left. 

Crazy times!