Alrightgames: 7 Wonders Duel fan expansions

7 Wonders Duel fan expansions

I wasn't convinced that the official expansions really improved the practically perfect game beyond bringing novelty, but novelty's good. Here are some free goodie bags.

Leaders ***

Adapting this old expansion from the parent game to Duel probably occurred to the designers before they ultimately dismissed it as unnecessary, and I don't think it adds enough value to be worth the extra hassle. But it was something else to mess around with for a game, and maybe I'll come back to it eventually.

Empires ****

I didn't play through the whole campaign, but I like the modules that change things up while retaining the tension, particularly the express mode for busy conquerors.

77 Wonders ****

This is all I want from a fan expansion: simple, interesting variety. Even if it's not that practical to play without some good quality prints, and even if it's a little misleading by only really adding a paltry 57 new wonders after those already counted from the base game, expansions, other fan expansions and promos. Pathetic!

Alrightgames: Star Realms – United – Assault & Command

Star Realms: United – Assault & Command

2016 / Deckbuilding card game expansions / 2+ players

****

I still play zap pow spaceships game often, and seeing some classic booster packs inexplicably appearing back on sale for low prices is an infrequent treat (though I still made sure to add another random, resaleable item to the order to excuse the indulgence and cover the cost).

Dual-faction fleets may not make much narrative sense, but they're some of the most distinctive cards in the deck and always a little event when they pop out. They're also grossly overpowered (especially in combination with some of the Missions and Scenarios), which is all the more fun. The main gripe is that they deliberately left out two of the permutations (blue-green and yellow-red) so collectors and those who need balance in their universe have to seek out a rare promo pack, but when you're only playing through a fraction of the mega deck each time, precision balance isn't a big deal.

Alrightreads: [Coronation Street Theme Played on a Pipe Organ]

R. L. Stine, Fear Street: The Dare

1994 / Audiobook / 149 pages

**

Tediously predictable, apart from some surprising cliffhangers that are subsequently revealed not to have actually happened, which then become tediously predictable themselves. It feels like they've reached a point of desperation already.

R. L. Stine, Fear Street: Bad Dreams

1994 / Ebook / 160 pages

***

It's no A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, but there are some atmospheric bits.

R. L. Stine, Fear Street: Double Date

1994 / Audiobook / 166 pages

***

The series that dismissed unfair prejudices against stepsiblings presents: evil twins. Disliking everyone involved made the cheese sandwich all the tastier.

Tom Perrotta (as R. L. Stine), Fear Street: The Thrill Club

1994 / Audiobook / 148 pages

**

I'm always suspicious about prolific branded authors using ghostwriters, so it's nice to have at least one otherwise indistinguishable instance confirmed, pushing the annoying fake-outs of Double Date to further extremes of piss taking and double bluffs.

R. L. Stine, Fear Street Super Chiller: The Dead Lifeguard

1994 / Audiobook / 183 pages

**

The double twist was pretty obvious. Not the most fun summer special.

Alrightreads: Gamesmaster VIII

Nich Angell, Colostle: A Solo RPG Adventure

2021 / Ebook / 60 pages

***

A nice setting to dream in, but I can't be arsed to play a game in it.

Chris Gonnerman, Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game

2021 edition / Paperback / 170 pages

****

The slightly intimidating rules that go with the adventure books if we decide to graduate from our junior pony RPG system to old-school dungeon crawling, with lots of ideas for spells and creatures even if we don't.

Chris Gonnerman, Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game: Morgansfort – The Western Lands Campaign

2013 / Ebook / 74 pages

**

Paradoxically too detailed and too basic, I can't see us ever bothering with a premade campaign when we can customise one by stringing together the more appealing one-shots.

Various, Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game: Adventure Anthology 3

2023 / Paperback / 152 pages

****

More handy non-profit templates to adapt so I don't have to come up with scenarios from scratch.

Jeff Ashworth and Tim Baker, The Game Master's Book of More Random Encounters

2024 / Ebook / 272 pages

****

I've found a few fun and silly activities amid the gloom so far, like tattoo tables, food carts and a boring storyteller endurance test, so these are always handy resources for our games.

Alrightreads: Comixxxxxxxxxxxxx

Justin Richards and Mike Collins, Doctor Who: The Only Good Dalek

2010 / Ebook / 128 pages

**

Not a very interesting or necessary tale to tell, but Dalek action has always been a good fit for comics.

Tom DeFalco, Herb Trimpe and Barry Windsor-Smith, Machine Man

1984-85 (collected 1988) / Ecomics / 96 pages

***

Wisecracking metal men scrap in the cyberpunk future of 2020.

Michael Jan Friedman, Carlos Garzon, Kenneth Penders and Peter Krause, Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection: Kingdom of the Damned

1992 (collected 2019) / Ecomics / 160 pages

**

The one where they turn into Klingons was fun by the series' low standards. Otherwise, it's the usual uninspired plots, lousy likenesses and mild racism.

Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy, Rogan Gosh

1990 (collected 1994) / Ebook / 60 pages

**

Incomprehensible aromatic psychedelia.

John Wagner and Arthur Ranson, Button Man: The Killing Game

1992 (collected 1994) / Ebook / 96 pages

****

I don't know if I could stomach a whole series, but it was an entertaining ultraviolent short of a morning.

Alrightgames: Carson City – The Card Game

Carson City: The Card Game

2018 / Tile placement card game / 1-6 players

***

Probably fun with other humans, but the four-way solo mode is like something I'd come up with in desperation to try to get more use out of a multiplayer game and isn't the most satisfying activity, though it's quite nicely fiddly. It was cheap too, and the number cards are already getting a lot of extracurricular use for mocking up games that need more than four suits.

Alrightgames: Star Realms – Fan Solo Challenges

Star Realms: Fan Solo Challenges

Before Frontiers brought further official solo challenges that I could take years to bother getting around to, fans inevitably came up with their own scenarios to entertain themselves. I remember ripping up bits of paper to represent Replicators at some point, but I don't think I tried them all. And still haven't, since most of them are variations on the boring Nemesis Beast and Pirates again, but the custom 90s CGI jobs deserved a shot.

Replicators (Challenges #5 & #11) ***

Theoretically brutal if the right combos come up, but in practice this felt like the olden days of playing the easy AI on the app and seeing how much gratuitously excessive damage I could build up by the end. Dos cards once again served as generic counters so I didn't have to borrow from a game that actually gets played.

The Shadows (Challenge #8) **

A nice tease for a new coloured faction without having to go to the hassle of designing the whole fleet. Unfortunately, the aesthetics are about all it has going for it, as the battle over bases wasn't as tense as I'd hoped, especially as they don't even use their abilities.

SmashMechs of Scarabos (2017 Challenges #2 & #5) ****

Finally a challenging adversary, not being able to take out their assimilated tokens ramps up the difficulty nicely, and sometimes having to buy cards you can't use just so they won't benefit the opponent is a good decision, especially with the 1 in 4 risk that it'll only get replaced by another red card anyway. However goofy the title, I prefer it to the official, plainer Machine Cult scenario and I'd play again.

Steelwurm Insurgents (2017 Challenge #6) ***

Basically more vicious Nemesis Beasts that make you discard good cards an awful lot. A decent, if annoying challenge.

The Hive (2017 Challenge #4) ***

That's a proper card from the game, so why is the image squashed like a bad YouTube upload? A simpler precursor to the Frontiers bosses that play the cards properly, though the added step of not letting you use Blob cards would have helped sell the story.

Fave: SmashMechs of Scarabos

Babyliography CCLI

Tom Mason and Nao Kodaka, Stitch!: Best Food Forever!

2026 / Library book / 176 pages

**

The kids' clothing mascot being in it was apparently enough to keep her engaged. I've been there.

Perdita Finn, Monster High: Passport to Reading – Ghoul Power

2016 / Ebook / 32 pages

*

The shortest Monster High bedtime story I could find online at short notice, she accurately judged it "rubbish."

Dr. Seuss, Dr. Seuss' ABC

1963 / Library book / 64 pages

**

Not one of his fun ones, but suitable for summer school reading practice.

Ann M. Martin and Gale Galligan, The Baby-Sitters Club: Boy-Crazy Stacey

2019 / Paperback / 160 pages

***

It was nice to have a relevant summer read. Shame about the topic.

Ann M. Martin and Chan Chau, The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy and the Snobs

2021 / Paperback / 160 pages

***

A less sunny story of alienation and affecting pet death as we moved on to her second summer boxset. We're gonna need a bigger bookcase.

Babyliography CCL

Ann M. Martin and Gale Galligan, The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy's Big Day

2018 / Paperback / 160 pages

***

These responsible teenagers are on another level.

Zoë Clarke and Felicia Whaley, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Witney and Boscoe's Lost and Found

2022 / School book / 24 pages

**

Jazz & Pop's gender swap.

Christina Mia Gardeski, All About the North and South Poles

2017 / Library book / 24 pages

**

Summer Reading Challenge 2026 #1. I got out a couple of easy readers to give her a headstart on the library challenge. She rated this one star, which seemed overly harsh. I guess she was rating me.

Lisbeth Kaiser and Marta Antelo, Little People, Big Dreams: Rosa Parks

2017 / Library book / 24 pages

***

Summer Reading Challenge 2026 #2. Not the most enjoyable reading session, but an important lesson.

Isabel Thomas, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Bear Spotting

2021 / School book / 24 pages

***

Bears.

Aimee's art review 2026

More eloquent opinions on flicking through The Art Book.

Tom Wesselmann, Great American Nude No. 27 (1962)

"I mean, like, what is going on in this? This is rubbish."

Jackson Pollock, Number 1A, 1948 (1948)

"This is the worst painting in the whole entire world because it's just scribbles."

Lorenzo Lotto, Portrait of a Woman Inspired by Lucretia (1533)

"This is very detailed, and I like the different colours in it and how they made it."

Morris Louis, Alpha-Phi (1961)

"Is that all on the painting? Because that's rubbish."

Lucian Freud, Girl with a White Dog (1952)

"This is incredibly rude because she's showing her boob."

Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea (1952)

"Why is this even art? It's just scribbles like other ones, it's rubbish."

Willem de Kooning, Marilyn Monroe (1954)

"What is this? It's stupid."

Jeff Koons, Puppy (1992)

"This is so real and I love that they put lots of detail in it, but I think that it just looks very fake."

Odilon Redon, The Cyclops (1914)

"What is this? This is, like, the worst painting in the whole entire world. Look, he hasn't got an eyeball on the other one!"