Monday, May 21, 2012

Kittens In A Blender Review

Ever wondered what would happen if numerous colorful kitties were allowed to freely roam around a kitchen stocked with nothing but boxes and killer blenders? 

Yeah, I never did either. But apparently SOMEONE did...namely the designers over at Closet Nerd. Why else would they create the amazingly fun, quick and easy-to-learn card game of Kittens in a Blender for us to play? (Other than the fact that some of the proceeds goes towards helping out various No-Kill Cat Shelters.)


While Kittens in a Blender takes about 30 minutes for a full game, the rules are easy enough to learn in about 5 minutes. It's good for 2-4 players, though if you want to do a Team Game, you can fit up to 8 cat saving/blending players. The game requires only about a 2nd grade reading level, so young gamers can get in on the kitten craziness too!

So what exactly is this game about? All about saving YOUR kittens, while strategically...not caring...about your opponent's feline fates. You start the game by pulling out the rules and the 2 oversized cards; "The Blender" and "The Box". These each go into one of the sides of the box, and the blank table space in-between them is "The Counter".

There are four different colors of Kitten cards; Yellow, Green, Red and Blue. Each color has 16 different Kittens, and each player pick which color they want to save. These cards will all be randomly shuffled into the deck. Every kitten of your color that you manage to save is a positive Kitten Point, whereas all the kittens of your color that get blended count as negative Kitten Points.


Of course, players need to have a way to move their adorable kittens around...or move the kittens of other players. The "Dog In The Kitchen" makes every player pass their current hand to the right. The other 3 cards shown are "Kittens On The Move", which lets you move any kitten/kittens as many times as shown on the card.
So, if you use the "Kittens On The Move 3" card, you can move 1 of your kittens from the Blender to the Box (2 moves) and another of your kittens from the Blender to the Counter (1 move). Or, if you prefer being evil, you could move 3 opponents kittens from the Counter to the Blender (3 moves).


Want to move massive quantities of kittens? Use "Kittens In The Box", "Kittens In The Blender" or "Kittens On The Counter" to move all kittens from your chosen location to the one on the card. Want to be evil again? Play the "These Kittens In The Blender" card to move all kittens of one color from the safety of the Counter and Box to the Blender.


Now, you're probably wondering when you will actually be able to blend all these kittens...or, if you're a good person, save them. That's where these two cards come in! When an orange Blend card is played, every kitten currently in the Blender is blended and put under the Blend card. Likewise, all kittens on the Counter are moved into the now-empty Blender, and all kittens in the Box are saved by placing them under the Box card.
But what if you don't want all those kittens to meet a horribly-blended doom? Well, then hopefully you have the blue Blend/Pulse card! This can work the same as a normal Blend, or can be used to stop a Blend when played immediately. Both of these cards are kept face up in front of you after playing them. In case there is a tie in regards to the Kitten Points, the person with the most Blend or Blend/Pulse cards is the winner.

All in all, this is an excellent game for beginners, or those who only need a quick bit of entertainment. With a $10 price tag, a quick learning curve, and wonderfully bright cards...this game is destined to find a place in the hearts of gamers everywhere alongside Fluxx and Chrononauts.

As always, we stock this game here at Dragon's Den. Be sure to come in for a demo!

-Stasi "Dengirl" King



Friday, May 11, 2012

New Candies At Dragon's Den

Anybody who is familiar with our store knows we specialize in carrying hard-to-find items like toys, graphic novels or novelties. But did you know we've done the same with our candy section?

That's right. Since last week we have found a distributor who is able to get us numerous candies and snacks that are nostalgic, to say the least. We started small to see what everyone thought of our "new" additions, and so far they are a huge hit! Just in case you haven't been able to make it in recently, here are our newest selections...


Rainbow Twizzlers $1.99  Hershey's licorice twists with 6 different fruit flavors.

Tropical/Sour Razzles $1.29  First it's a candy, then it's a gum.

Pop Rocks $0.99  The easiest way to find and consume 600 PSI of CO2.




Sugar Daddy Pops $1.49  If you like caramel, this giant chewy pop is for you.

Candy Buttons $1.49  Twelve inches of sugary-papery goodness.

Valomilk $2.49  Two chocolate cups filled with super-gooey (vegetarian friendly!) marshmallow.

Skybar $1.49  Sections of vanilla, peanut, fudge and caramel covered in milk chocolate.

Salt Water Taffy $0.25  If you need a description for this, you haven't lived yet.

Jujyfruits $1.49  Juicy, chewy fruit shaped gumdrops.

Bit-O-Honey $1.49  Six strips of honey-flavored taffy with pieces of embedded almond.





Kookaburra Licorice (Liquorice) $5.99  Soft, chewy Australian licorice made with real treacle.

Any (or all) of these are great snacks for those who like candies from days gone by, or just want to satisfy their sweet-tooth with things you can't buy at your local grocery. Come on by and treat yourself and your friends to something delicious!

Stasi "Dengirl" King

Monday, April 30, 2012

FCBD Sales




This weekend, come to The Dragon's Den in Poughkeepsie for Free Comic Book Day!

FCBD is a national holiday for comic stores. Publisher, distributors and retailers share the cost of producing free comics for all ages!

Here's how it works: Everyone gets 4 FREE comics from the FCBD offerings. Since The Dragon's Den pays for each comic, we set a reasonable limit so that everyone who shows up has a chance at getting the comics of their choice. We DO offer an additional option: for every $5 donation to The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, you get 5 MORE free comics

In addition, one of the Stormtroopers from the 501st Legion aka Vader's Fist, will be here. Want to learn more about our special guests? Read here.

Free comics: check. Raising money for charity: check. Win-win!

Want to know what FCBD comics are available? Check out the list:  Mouse Guard Hardcover, Mega Man, Bongo/Spongebob flipbook, Peanuts/Adventure Time flipbook, Star Wars Serenity flipbook, DC the New 52 special, Transformers #80.5, Image 20, Avengers Age of Ultron, Yo Gabba Gabba, Sonic The Hedgehog, Worlds of Aspen, Lady Death, The Hypernaturals, DC Nation Superman Family Flipbook, Buffy, The Guild, Walt Disney Donald Duck, Witchblade, Spider-man Season One, Bad Medicine, Smurfs, Disney Fairies, Valiant, Voltron Force and more!

As part of FCBD, we'll also be offering several comic-related sales:

* Buy one, get one free, on a back issues. (Back issues are defined as comics in comic bag with a price sticker on them)

* Buy one, get one free, on all action figures and toys.

* Buy one, get one free on ALL graphic novels (Walking Dead are exempt from this sale).

* Walking Dead graphic novels are ALL 25% off (Not good with any other sales that day).

We open at 10am, make sure to stop by.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Free Comic Book Day 2012


Saturday.

May 5th.

Every year, all the comic publishers print up special comics for comic stores to give out on the first Saturday in May. This year, The Dragon's Den is proud to be giving away comics, hosting local creators, doing mega-sales (soon to be announced) and raising money for charity.

From 10 am, until whenever we run out of comics, we're going to have THOUSANDS of free comics available for you. Want to know what titles we've got coming?

I thought you would.

Adventure Time/Peanuts Flipbook
Bongo Free-for-all/Spongebob Freestyle
Buffy/The Guild Flipbook
DC Comics The New 52 #1 Special Edition
Judge Dredd
Mega Man
Mouse Guard/Labyrinth & More HC
Sonic The Hedgehog
Spider-man Season One
Star Wars/Serenity Flipbook
The Smurfs
Transformers #80.5
Yo Gabba Gabba

and much, much more!

People are welcome to grab 4 books but we do ask that if you want to take more than 4 that you make a $5 donation to our charity fundraiser!

In addition to all these comics we'll be giving away, we've also got several local creators coming in to do signings, show off their wares, and promote their awesome creator-owned product.

* Ryan from ZombiePETZ!
Zombie Yoda! Isn't he adorable??

Local artist RYAN BROWNE will be in the store drawing free mini-head "zombified" head sketches for customers, from 10-4. Every year, Ryan and the ZombiePETZ crew travel to different conventions and are FLOODED with commissions and requests to draw you, and people just like you, as zombies. Normally, Ryan and his folks charge for these hand-drawn beauties, but on FCBD, Ryan will be doing mini-head sketches YOU AS A ZOMBIE... for free. He'll also have some of his great t-shirts and other merchandise available for sale.


* Jon with JADED!


Hudson Valley creator JON SANTANA will be in-store, showing off his new super-hero comic JADED. JADED takes a look at 4 heroes in a unique format: Each issue features 2 stores, drawn in 2 different art styles. One story and style details the early life of the happy and successful hero; The other tells the story of tragedy and aftermath. How do heroes truly deal with catastrophe?

Find out on May 5th!

* The 501st Legion Returns!

I love making that face in the background - Scott.

Returning for a 2nd year, we're pleased to announce that we'll have a Stormtrooper from the 501st Legion VADER'S FIST, doing pictures for charity, and wandering up and down the mall, terrorizi- I mean, WELCOMING, customers to the store.

In addition to our Friendly Neighborhood Stormtrooper, we'll also have a Luke Skywalker look-alike here, too!

* Zach and Greg from LONEWOLF & ZERO

Also returning for a 2nd year are Zach and Greg with their monster hunter/super-hero comic LONEWOLF & ZERO. Zach and Greg will be premiering the 2nd issue of their dark and gritty comic, after running out of all their copies last year. This duo works together, by balancing each other's writing and artistic needs and desires. Their love of the paranormal and superheros shows in every page they create.


Want to know what sales we'll be having? Check back here on the blog on Monday, April May 30th. In addition to Free Comic Book Day, there's also the new Magic set being released. Every year, it's a crazy weekend. Come in and join the fun!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Games Workshop New Paint Line

As many of you probably know by now, our friends at Games Workshop released their newest products, which contains 145 separate paints, making it one of the largest and most comprehensive paint lines on the gaming/hobby market today. These are hardly your "run of the mill" paints though...In fact they seem to not only be a higher quality than GW's previous paints, but are also created with a step-by-step painting process in mind. This makes them great for beginners and enthusiasts alike, especially considering their price hasn't changed at all!

Today, I'm going to show you every one of the different types of paints, a short description of the uses for the different groups AND a link to a nice conversion list for the old vs new colors they kept.

First up are the Bases. As you might expect, these 34 colors are made for base coating your miniatures. They contain a higher than normal amount of pigment, making the first layer a very nice solid color. As any painter knows, in addition to having a clean, smooth prime coat, one of the most important steps to painting your miniatures is to have a even and colorful base coat.

 
Next up, we have the Shades. There are 12 of these, and they are made for going over the base coats. Very similar to the previous Washes, they help to add detail and definition to the primary color, while also making a darker hue wherever you decide to apply it.
Beginners: remember to use sparingly until you get the hang of it, as this medium is made to pool into any spots or recesses that your miniature has.

Now comes the Layers, which are by far the most expansive of the line, and the core of what the other paints were designed around. Consisting of no fewer than 70 paints, these are different than either inks or washes as they are typically used for making very nice mid-tones and transitions. Although they overlay other colors, there is enough pigment that by watering them down slightly, they could be used directly onto your miniature.
Beginners: Due to the huge amount of color spectrum available as Layers, you shouldn't have to mix paints nearly as much as you previously had to.

The Dry paints are new to the line, never having been made before. There are 15 of these, and they are sure to help overcome any of your dry brushing problems. Using an entirely novel formulation, they are very thick (almost paste-like) in consistency. Thus, Dry paints will bond to your miniature's raised surface, making it much easier to create large-area highlights.

For the Glaze, Texture and Technical paints, I took a single picture, as there are fewer of them.
The 6 Texture paints (top) are essentially for basing your miniatures. No longer will you have to mix glue or sand into your paints, as these have both coarse and fine grit in them. They also dry very quickly, so you can add many colors if you so choose.
We now have 4 Glaze paints (right) which can be used for more even blending of colors, or adding that much more depth to a small area. They are extremely watery, but the color goes a long way.
Lastly, there are 4 Technical items (left). These are different than the others, in that they are used during miniature preparation or completion rather than during painting. Thus, they are not really "paints" per se, but are still part of the new line.
Beginners: After applying Texture to your bases, try using a light Dry coat to really bring out the detail. Careful use of the proper Glaze can help decrease the sharpness of highlights, and a good way to get rid of the gloss leftover from some Technical paints is to use a quick spray of Matte.
 

Now, the rumors of certain paints being re-used under different names is true. The chart for this can be found on page 128 of White Dwarf #387, which also has various painting techniques, upcoming miniatures, a look at the Citadel painting guide, and other cool articles and pictures.

But...if you don't have a hobby store near you and want to know the conversions, simply follow this link to the official GW chart;
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m2320032a_Citadel_Conversion_Chart

That's all for today, everyone. I am getting in some Reaper miniatures on Monday though, so I will try to do a follow-up post showing the various steps I followed for using these new paints. Be sure to check on Twitter and Facebook for new posts!