Sunday, September 29, 2024

Port Royal (Big Box)

Today's review is of the 2022 release, Port Royal (Big Box). For 1-5 players, it takes 20-50 minutes.

Overview
This push-your-luck game is simple and fun; I reviewed the base game of Port Royal in 2017 (review here). This edition has new art (which is outstandng) and includes the base game plus subsequently-released expansions and the 'gambler' promo card. The expansions:
- Make Sail!: A simpler variant for new players; however, a subset of cards from this set can be included with the base game to expand options.
- Just One More Contract: this expansion adds to the base game with more cards for the main deck and a new card type: the oversized contract cards.
- The Adventure Begins: this expansion adds a multi-session story element to the game.
the expansions summarized
Review
I really enjoyed Port Royal and missed out on the expansions, so when I saw this tidy package at the game store, with new art to boot, I couldn't resist. I'm glad I picked it up. I like the new art and expanded options that come with the included variants. It is simple to pick up, fast the play, and enjoyable.

Rating: A

Saturday, September 28, 2024

The Wild Robot

Roz, a robot washed ashore in a storm, seeks customers and tasks to complete. On this deserted island, though, the animals only flee in fear. Undeterred, she learns and seeks purpose, and gets it one day by accident. But now needing to raise the gosling Brightbill, Roz realizes she is completely unequipped to do so. Slowly, with many mistakes along the way, she (and the animals on the island) will learn more about what it means to love . . . even through hurt and loneliness.

Like the book, this movie is outstanding. The animation was beautiful, music powerful, and (most) messages solid and poignant. (I didn't cry. not once. not even a little.) It's a wonderful reflection on parenting, inadequacy, self-sacrifice, friendship, and love. Highly recommended.

Rating: A

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Ahoy

Today's review is of the 2022 release, Ahoy. For 2-4 players, it takes 45-75 minutes.

Overview
Vie for fame on the high seas! In this asymmetric game, your goal is to gather fame through either area control (if you're the Bluefin Squadron or Mollusk Union) or pickup and deliver (if you are one of the smuggler factions). 
game in progress; image from here
After setup, the first round begins. Players take various actions (some involving dice, some not) on their turns. Each player, in clockwise order from the first player, takes two actions involving dice placement (plus any other actions they can/choose). Die are placed on each player's unique board, giving them abilities to sail (move around the map), place resources, load their cannons, and more! Moving around the map can trigger other things, including
- exploring (revealing and placing new tiles when you move off the known map)
- battling (when your ship lands in a tile with an enemy ship)
You may also recruit crew, repair your ship, and other things.

Players take turns until nobody has remaining die to activate. At the end of each round, fame is tallied (through area control or other means, depending on your faction). If one player exceeds 30 fame, the game is over, and the highest total wins! 

The Good Time Society has a nice game overview video.

Review
This is from the makers of Root, and is essentially a simplified version of that asymmetric experience. It was . . . decent. Clearly a lot of board game expertise went into the design of this. That said, I wasn't a huge fan. I am realizing that asymmetric games, even simple ones, aren't my favorite. They require a degree of mental energy to learn both your and others' factions well—the differing actions and strategies—and I'm not willing to expend that much time on something I won't play often. It's not bad, but I suspect there are more fun pirate-themed games out there.

Rating: B

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Middle Ages

Today's review is of the 2024 release, Middle Ages. For 2-5 players, it takes 30 minutes.

Overview
You are in charge of a fiefdom. You will build in various areas to make sure your land is both as strong and well-rounded as possible (you will add one tile per round across 8 types of possibilities). Through good planning, you can become the richest in the land. But will you?
3-player game layout; image from here
The board is set up with each player getting their base fiefdom and tiles (previously shuffled, then placed in increasing numerical order in each row) arranged in four rows in the center (see above). Each player places their knight in an available slot in the top row. (There will be an unchosen tile; discard it.) Sequentially (from left to right), players will take their knight, place their chosen tile on the corresponding column in their base fiefdom, and gain the benefits and income of that column (which can include taking gold from others). They then place their knight on an available slot in the second row and the next player goes. When a row is empty, it is replenished from the tile pool. 

Every fourth turn, a plot card (randomly selected before the game, but known to all players) is 'activated,' and all players gain (or suffer) based on their layout. After 16 rounds, the game is done, and the player with the most gold wins.
One player's game board near the end; image from here
Review
This game is simple and enjoyable set collection experience. It bears strong resemblance to Majesty: For the Realm (by the same designer) with a dash of Kingdomino. Like other Studio H offerings (check out Oltree), the quality and detail is high; I love how they made each type of tile have unique interlocking patterns and unique (yet connected) art—as the game progresses, you are building a picture. It may be a little too simple . . . replays will tell. But my initial impression is that it beats out its progenitor by a hair.

Rating: A-

Monday, September 23, 2024

Scripture and Truth (D.A. Carson et al.)

Scripture and Truth is a collection of essays from prominent theologians concerning . . . Scripture and truth. It has three sections (author follows each essay):

Part 1: Biblical Essays
  • Scripture's Self-Attestation and the Problem of Formulating a Doctrine of Scripture (Grudem)
  • Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: The Possibility of Systematic Theology (Carson)
  • On the Form, Function, and Authority of the New Testament Letters (Longenecker)
  • Redaction Criticism: on the Legitimacy and Illegitimacy of a Literary Tool (Carson)
  • The New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Text Form and Authority (Silva)
Part 2: Historical Essays
  • The Truth of Scripture and the Problem of Historical Relativity (Hughes)
  • The Church Fathers and the Holy Scripture (Bromiley)
  • Biblical Authority in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: A Question of Transition (Godfrey)
  • The Princetonians and Biblical Authority: An Assessment of the Ernest Sandeen Proposal (Woodbridge and Balmer)
Part 3: Theological Essays
  • The Biblical Concept of Truth (Nicole)
  • Faith, Evidence, and the Scriptures (Helm)
  • Infallible Scripture and the Role of Hermeneutics (Packer)
I largely enjoyed this compilation; some of it reinforced concepts in other works I have recently studied (like Frame's Doctrine of the Word of God). Some of it gave different perspectives or covered different topics. Some of it was beyond me and (I suspect) required more background in various theologians than I possess. Common in any compilation, the essays seemed to vary in readability, applicability, and value. And it wasn't as systematic or comprehensive as I would have liked. I didn't read every article, but read, skimmed, or skipped as suited my current needs and interests. It was solid overall, though I would likely recommend other works over this one to someone new to these topics.

Rating: A-

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Fantasy Mapping (Wesley Jones)

In Fantasy Mapping, artist Wesley Jones' goal is to cover every aspect of the titled topic, to include:
- world building,
- geography, 
- tools & materials,
- map components, 
- styling, lettering & colouring,
- composition, and
- finished maps.

This book is a mixed bag. Some of the tips were aspects I hadn't considered; I appreciated that. And I liked that about half of the book was the final chapter, where he gave many examples of finished maps (complete with world-building backstory) in different styles. On the other hand, a lot of the book seemed too basic; tips like ""there are many different software programs available for digital art . . . each program has its strengths, so it is okay to use multiple programs to get good results." Fine and good, but that left me wanting more. And while some art tutorials were there, they were glossed over. That may be appropriate for the topic at hand, but I felt this could be been better.

Rating: C+

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth (J.R.R. Tolkien)

In Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, Christopher Tolkien presents a collection (sometimes edited) of his late father's writings on these regions. Per him, this "book is no more than a collection of writings, disparate in form, intent, finish, and date of composition (and in my own treatement of them), concerned with Numenor and Middle-earth." Further, "many of the pieces in this collection are elaborations of matters told more briefly, or at least referred to, elsewhere . . ." This new version, a reprinting (the original was published in 1980), contains wonderful full-color plates of illustrations by the three most famous illustrators of Tolkien: Alan Lee, John Howe, and Ted Nasmith. The tales herein are separated by the Age in which they take place (per Tolkien's timeline):

First Age Tales:
- Of Tuor and his coming to Gondolin
- Narn I Hin Hurin
These are covered in The Fall of Gondolin and The Children of Hurin, respectively.

Second Age Tales:
- A description of the island of Numenor
- Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife
- The Line of Elros: Kings of Numenor
These are covered in The Fall of Numenor.
- The history of Galadriel and Celeborn

Third Age Tales:
- The disaster of the Gladden Fields [where Isildur lost the One Ring]
- Cirion and Eorl and the friendship of Gondor and Rohan
- The Quest of Erebor
- The Hunt for the Ring
- The Battles of the Fords of Isen
These give interesting backstory/context to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Part Four:
- The Druedain
- The Istari
- The Palantiri
These gave backstory to the titled topics. The Druedain are a race (very short, but not Dwarves or Hobbits) that dwindled and may have disappeared by the Third Age. The Istari are the wizards who came to Middle-earth; Gandalf and Saruman being the most known. The Palantiri are the seeing stones mentioned in The Lord of the Rings.
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Delving into Tolkien's legendarium is at once enjoyable and confusing. He often had many (and sometimes contradictory, or at least wildly varying) versions of tales, so it can be hard to follow along or reconcile a given tale with other knowledge. I read about 40% of this, being familiar with the remainder. I would have found these tales, frankly, pretty boring only ten years ago. Now, especially with Rings of Power out (and much-discussed/maligned), I did take a heightened interest, even as the variations made me hold not too closely to any one telling. I enjoyed fleshing out the events and locations mentioned in The Lord of the Rings the most.

Rating: B+

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

The Doctrine of the Word of God (John Frame)

"My thesis is that God's word, in all its qualities and aspects, is a personal communication from him to us." So begins John Frame in his book about the doctrine of the Word of God. Further, he argues "that Scripture, together with all of God's other communications to us, should be treated as nothing less than God's personal word." And he is trying, "above all else, to be ruthlessly consistent with Scripture's own view of itself." He is "defending the Bible by the Bible." That sounds (and is) circular, but "unavoidable when one seeks to defend an ultimate standard of truth, for one's defense must itsel be accountable to that standard." He absolutely brings extrabiblical considerations to bear, but he places them under the Bible in terms of authority. We all have something we treat as the ultimate authority in our lives—be it autonomous reason, personal feeling, or something other—and for Frame, that ultimate authority is the Bible.

This work has four parts:
  • Orientation
    • The Personal-Word model (thesis introduced above) and the authority of Scripture
  • God's Word in Modern Theology
    • Modern view of revelation, including how reason, history, and human subjectivity relate to it
  • The Nature of God's Word
    • Defining God's Word and considering it as His controlling power, meaningful authority, and personal presence
  • How the Word Comes to Us
    • The bulk of the volume, looking at many topics, including God's revelation (through events, words, and people), God's Written Word (Old and New Testaments, and the views of Jesus and the Apostles towards them), the canon of Scripture, characteristics of Scripture (including inspiration, content, inerrancy, clarity, necessity, comprehensiveness, sufficiency, transmission, translations, teaching, interpretation, and more), problems, assurance, and other topics. 
The above is the first half (334 pages) of the book; Frame then includes ~300 pages of  Appendicies (A through Q!) covering related material (often, other articles he has written on this topic from different perspectives).

What a read. Amazing! I read at least 300 pages of this all told, and want to read more. It is magisterial and impressive. Frame has such a way with words: he can clearly and succinctly convey profound concepts like few others I've read. And his devotion to using Scripture was a refreshing change from some theological works that spend more time comparing and criticizing views of other theologians than looking at the Bible itself. This one is highly recommended.

Rating: A+

Saturday, September 7, 2024

The Fall of Numenor (J.R.R. Tolkien)

This book "seeks to present, in a single volume, selections from J.R.R. Tolkien's postumously puslished writings about the Second Age of Middle-earth." Here, we learn of the forging of the rings of power and Sauron's dealing with the elves. But the bulk of the account is about Numenor, an island created by and given as gift of the Valar to men—the Edain—who helped defeat Morgoth in the First Age. These men, hence called the Dunedain, were also granted long lifespans (400 years or more) as they cultivated and enjoyed this island between Valinor and Middle-earth. They were forbidden to travel west, but otherwise free to explore the seas and lands to the east. So Numenor rose and became mighty for centuries, but it was not to last. For Sauron was at work and determined to bring its downfall. His handiwork would eventually lead to Numenor's destruction, a Last Alliance of men (including Numenoreans who fled the island and founded Gondor) and elves, and the end of the Second Age.

I quite enjoyed this work, and was excited to learn the canon of the Second Age, being as that is the time period addressed in the Rings of Power television show. This is a mixture of material found in Tolkien's other works, including the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, but it presents the various writings in a chronological fashion with commentary as needed to fill in the gaps. Mildly boring or confusing in places, but excellent overall.

Rating: A-

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Canon Revisited (Michael J. Kruger)

In Canon Revisited, Michael Kruger's purpose is "to answer the question about whether the Christian belief in the canon [of the New Testament—its 27 books—] is intellectually acceptable." He argues "that Christians have more than adequate grounds for their belief in the truth of the canon." A summary of the book (and his argument) follows.

The Canonical Model
In the first part, Kruger looks at canonical models, which are different approaches people use to "answer the question of how we know which books belong in the New Testament canon." 
- Community-determined models look "to the decisions of the church itself (or individuals within it)"; in effect, canon is determined by the response of the community.
- Historically-determined models "appeal to the historical origins of the books themselves," where books are considered canonical if historical research (to determine authenticity and apostolicity) deems them so. 

There are variations to the above, but all "share one thing in common: they authenticate the canon on the basis of something external to it . . . [which will] inevitably produce a canon of our own making." To avoid an appeal to an external authority, "the canon must be self-authenticating . . . the canon [itself] guides, controls, and determines how it is authenticated." Looking to the Scriptures to guide us, he argues "that God has created the proper epistemic environment in which belief in the canon could be reliably formed." This self-authenticating model "involves the following components:" [the below list is a condensed quote]
  • Providential exposure. We trust in the providence of God to expose the church to the books it is to receive as canonical. [this, therefore, does not address 'lost' apostolic books]
  • Attributes of canonicity. The Scriptures indicate that there are three attributes that all canonical books have:
    • divine qualities (canonical books bear the "marks' of divinity),
    • corporate reception (canonical books are recognized by the church as a whole), and
    • apostolic origins (canonical books are the result of the redemptive-historical activity of the apostles).
  • Internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. Because of the noetic effects of sin, the natural man cannot reliably recognize these attributes of canonicity. Thus, we need the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit . . . [which] is not private revelation . . . but it is the Spirit opening our eyes to the truth of these attributes and producing belief that these books are from God.
These attributes of canonicity "are mutually reinforcing." "This three-dimensional model, then, is self-supporting and self-correcting." "On the basis of this model, we concluded that the Christian has intellectually sufficient ground for affirming that these twenty-seven books, and only these . . . belong in the New Testament."

Exploring and Defending the Canonical Model
In the second part, Kruger explores and defends the above argument in more depth. He looks at "the Christian claim that the New Testament books contain divine qualities." He argues that "all canonical books are apostolic, meaning that they bear authoritative apostolic tradition." He shows how "the methodologies of much of modern critical scholarship . . . are founded upon Enlightenment assumptions that are already hostile to historic Christianity." And he examines "the reception of the canon by the corporate church." 

Implications of the Canonical Model
The below list is a composite of quotes.
  • There is more common ground between competing canonical models than is often realized. Canon has an ecclesiological dimention, a historical dimension, and an aesthetic/internal dimension. It is when a single aspect of canon is absolutized at the expense of the others that distortions inevitably arise. The community-determined models are correct that the church plays a key role (but not the decisive and only role). The historically determined models are right that canonical books are those that contain authentic apostolic content (but there is no such thing as a neutral historical methodology). The Reformers are correct that the canonical books contain the marks of divinity within them (but that doesn't mean that the role of the church and the origins of these books should be ignored). Each of [these models] brings something important to the table.
  • The decisive issue in canonical studies is one's ontology of canon. What is the canon in and of itself? What sets the self-authenticating model apart is that it recognizes not only that the books of the canon have divine authority apart from their reception by the community of faith, but also that this authority can be known through the books themselves as the power of the Spirit works within them.
  • Christians have intellectually sufficient grounds for claiming that they know which books belong in the New Testament. The culture of postmodernity in our Western world already gives us reason to doubt the basis for virtually every belief we hold—particularly religious ones. But if [this] model proves to be valid, then the power of this objection is dissolved.
"Throughout this study, we have seen that the canon is, at its core, a theological issue . . the manner in which one authenticates canon is integrally connected to one's view about the kind of books being authenticated." Indeed, "everyone brings a canonical theology to the table whether they recognize it or not." In the end, Jesus himself points the way: "my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27)

Review
This is a fantastic book. It has outstanding scholarship, clear presentation, and is fair to opposing viewpoints. Many of the arguments within are quite strong and persuasive. Others are hard to prove (or disprove), but reasonable based on the evidence as a whole. This is a must-read for those interested in the formation and defense of the New Testament.

Rating: A+