Illy Espresso Machine X1 Trio

"For coffee purists, espresso is the quintessential coffee preparation – rich, aromatic and velvety all at once; a natural layer of crema on top belying a full-bodied, yet deftly balanced liquid below. When ideally realized, a small miracle of chemistry and physics: science and art gliding together on air."

The Illy Espresso Machine has been designed by Luca Trazzi and reminds on traditional 50ties design and is a great piece of retro glamour for any household - an eye catcher for people who like plain elegance.

Beside a dispenser for hot water (for tea) and a steaming wand (for capuccino or hot chocolate) the core functionality is of course the preparation of espresso - and this is carried out by the X1 Trio in a very convincing way. By simply turning the filter you can choose between ristretto, regular and lungo and thereby can have your coffee exactly the way you like it most. A feature I really appreciate and use heavily!

This machine supports the E.S.E pod standard, which means you can basically use the pods of each and every company which produces E.S.E pods. I can especially recommend the regular roasted Illy pods (Espresso Servings with the red Illy logo), which fit excellent to this fine Espresso Machine and provide you with a perfect result of a cup of black gold. They are well-balanced, tasting strong but smooth and come in a vacuum packed can.

You should daily allow yourself this overwhelming experience.

From the manufacturer: Don’t be surprised if guests start snapping pictures of your X1 Trio E.S.E. machine. Architectural and home furnishing magazines regularly do. A striking yet clean design by renowned Italian architect Luca Trazzi may have something to do with it.

In the cup, there’s yet more beauty. The X1 makes preparing an espresso sized as you prefer a simple pleasure: ristretto (short), regular or lungo (long). One slight turn of the filter system, and the choice is yours.

Add the sheer simplicity of illy’s pioneering E.S.E. (“Easy Serving Espresso”) pod system, and you have it all: café-quality espresso with remarkable convenience. Each E.S.E. filter pod contains just the right measure of expertly ground and tamped illy coffee — a singular blend of nine, optimal quality Arabica beans, sourced from four continents.

With a steaming wand for cappuccino and automatic descaling for minimal maintenance, there’s yet more to envy. Choose the hue that fits you best: red, white, black, stainless steel, almond, yellow, orange or blue.

TRIO system easily produces short, normal or long espressos
- compatible with any E.S.E. pod
- steaming wand for cappuccino
- dispenses hot water for tea
- intuitive beep and light indicators
- brass boiler
- 1-liter water tank

Manufacturer: Illy
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LEGO Heroica

HEROES RULE!

"The World of HEROICA was a peaceful place of culture and beauty. Now overrun by monsters and in turmoil, the fate of the world now hangs by a thread. Join the heroes and free HEROICA!"

LEGO Heroica is a mixture between a boardgame and an adventure roleplay game, based on LEGO miniatures and bricks. I really like the idea as I'm not only into boardgames and RPGs, I also like building LEGO stuff with my kids a lot. Now I have the possibility to give the kids an introduction to the world of adventure RPGs and solve lots of exciting quests together with them.

In difference to "normal" RPGs in LEGO Heroica you have to start building your adventure world in the known LEGO style first. The miniatures (monsters as well as heroes) are great, also the world itself is exciting and offers lots of details (treasure chests, weapons, gold,...) You have a proposal for a starting setup, which can be adapted to your individual needs and ideas.

The rules are good. Simple, but covering the most important aspects of an adventure game. And for younger kids the rules can be modified easily.

Each player chooses a hero and moves him according to the result of the dice in the Heroica world. You have to find treasure chests, collect gold, buy weapons and - of course - fight monsters and evil forces. Combat is solved by symbols on the dice, and could lead to loosing all of the heroes energy points - depending on the strength of the respective monster. These can be re-gained by magic potions or healing. The final target of the game is to reach a predefined space on the board and to eliminate all evil forces on your way getting there.

There are 4 different sets available at the moment, which can be played stand-alone or combined together:

- Draida Bay: "The Goblin army has seized control of Draida Bay, cutting off supplies to the region. You must take a stand against the Goblins, but can you defeat the powerful Goblin General and take his Crystal of Deflection? An expandable world of adventure for 2 players."

- Waldurk Forest: "Hidden in the ruins of Waldurk Forest, the Dark Druid is restoring his strength. You must use all your skill and power to find your way past his lurking monsters, but can you escape with the Chalice of Life? An expandable world of adventure for 2-3 players."

- Caverns of Nathuz: "Deep inside the Caverns of Nathuz, the Golem Lord has discovered an ancient artifact and is using it to create his own army of monsters. You must fight your way into the caves, but can you recover the Sceptre of Summoning? An expandable world of adventure for 2-3 players."

- Castle Fortaan: "Castle Fortaan has fallen to the Goblin King and his army of monsters. You must find a way past the Goblin horde to defeat the King, but can you discover his secret battle plans and return with the Helmet of Protection? An expandable world of adventure for 2-4 players."


LEGO Heroica is an amazing expansion to the existing LEGO product lines, which goes far beyond just building with bricks and offers lots of possibilities to experience exciting adventures together. I am really looking forward to further expansions of this series.


Producer: LEGO

You can buy this great sets online (see link above) or at your favorite toy shop!
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Runewars

Introduction/Theme
Runewars is an epic fantasy wargame and is re-implementing Battlemist, one of the earliest Fantasy Flight games. This conflict game is much more than a wargame though, covering adventure aspects (heros, quests, treasures,...) as well as area/resource management aspects. The game is set in Terrinoth (!), the same universe used for Runebound and Descent.

Components
The design is stunning and supports the theme and storyline of the game in a great way. The box is extra-large and even if the available space is not used to the max, it is full of tiles for building the map (in 3D!!), cards, markers and nearly 200 beautiful plastic miniatures. Even if Runewars is not one of the simplest games, but the full-color rules booklet makes it quite easy to understand what the game is about.

Gameplay
Four races are part of Runewars and the main goal is to find valuable Dragon Runes. The game lasts six years, each year consisting of four seasons. In each season you have to plan in advance which orders (that are fixed when given once) you want to issue - to decide what should be done (recruit, harvest, fight,...). Combat is resolved by an interesting and simple mechanism, done only by cards. The main focus is on area/resource management, concentrating on your armies and your empire. Nevertheless you need to take care of heros and quests, which is not only fun but also quite important. How you finally set your priorities is up to you, it is great that different approaches can lead to victory.

Conclusion
Although the game is quite deep sometime, it balances the different aspects of the game mechanics in a great way and the downtime is pretty low. The replay value is high as each race has its individual strengths and weaknesses and as the landscape tiles form a different map each game. The well-known designer Corey Konieczka (Starcraft, Middle Earth Quest) has again done a brilliant job.

From the producer: "RuneWars is an epic board game of diplomacy, combat, and quests for two to four players. Designed by Corey Konieczka, RuneWars pits players against each other in a strategic game of battles and area control, where they must gather resources, raise armies, and lay siege to heavily fortified cities.

RuneWars includes over two hundred beautifully rendered cards and as many tokens, as well as nearly two hundred finely-detailed plastic miniatures, but perhaps most exciting are the modular hexagonal map pieces. Featuring stunning three-dimensional mountain terrain, these map pieces ensure that no two games are ever the same!

RuneWars takes place in the same popular fantasy universe as the best-selling board games Runebound and Descent: Journeys in the Dark, and dozens of fan-favorite heroes and monsters play their part. The wars for the dragon runes are beginning, and only one faction will emerge victorious. What would you do to claim the ultimate power?"

2-4 players, 180 min
author: corey konieczka
published by: fantasy flight games, heidelberger spieleverlag
category: fantasy, adventure, miniatures

runewars @ boardgamegeek.com
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LEGO King's Castle

If your kids (and/or you!) are into knights and castles you should have a look at the new LEGO King's Castle, which is part of the great LEGO Kingdoms series. It comes with eight figures (Knight + four soldiers, Dragon Knight + two soldiers), which ensures enough "material" for roleplay-fights between good and evil.

The castle has to be defended against the dangerous Dragon Knights, who are aiming to steal the valuable treasure chest - hidden deeply in the castle. But how will they manage to get over the wind-up front gate? And the catapults might stop them as well from intruding... so it's likely that they will be caught and end-up in the prison chamber.

As known and expected from LEGO the castle set is a high quality product with lots of parts for the castle itself, as well as different accessory parts are included. The castle can be well combined with other products of the fine LEGO Kingdoms series, as well as all other (maybe older) LEGO knights you might already have at home.

Especially in these cold winter days it's a lot of fun to build castles with your children, take different roles and prepare for defending or attacking the castle. And when you are done with the first attack, of course you have to change sides... ;-)

From the Manufacturer: Once upon a time, the King ruled the land and all was good - until the day the Dragon Knight army attacked. Now the valiant King and his soldiers prepare to defend the castle. The catapults are armed, the drawbridge is up and the gate is locked - will the King be victorious? Set includes eight minifigures, wind-up gate and drawbridge and lots of castle accessories.

Contains pieces: 933

Includes 8 minifigures: King and 4 soldiers, 1 Dragon Knight and 2 Dragon Knight soldiers.

3 catapults, King's throne, treasure chest and white horse. Wind-up the castle gate to keep the Dragon knights out! Castle measures 11 inch (27cm) high

Producer: LEGO

You can buy this great Castle online (see link above) or at your favorite toy shop!
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Sherlock

"Sherlock" is a new TV series which is based on the well-known characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson - but is transferred to our time. The stories (criminal cases) are exciting, deep, modern and develop quick. Also the filming fits the setting and the episodes come with impressive pictures of London and with adequate timing of the cuts. Highly recommendable - the series also got lots of good critics!

The first season contains three episodes, the DVD/Bluray package comes as usual with bonus material and also with an unaired pilot. At the moment season 2 is in production and should be available sometime 2012.

From the producer: Co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the new Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as his loyal friend, Doctor John Watson. Rupert Graves plays Inspector Lestrade.

The iconic details from Conan Doyle's original books remain – they live at the same address of 221b Baker Street, have the same names and, somewhere out there, Moriarty is waiting for them.

Steven Moffat says: "Conan Doyle's stories were never about frock coats and gas light; they're about brilliant detection, dreadful villains and blood-curdling crimes – and frankly, to hell with the crinoline. Other detectives have cases, Sherlock Holmes has adventures, and that's what matters."

Studio: Polyband
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Mountains of Madness (Cthulhu RPG)

"Mountains of Madness" is an outstanding and epic campaign in the Cthulhu RPG universe. It has been translated, overworked and extended in cooperation with Charles Engang (the author of the original US version). The publisher Pegasus Press did again a great job in providing a high quality hardcover product - with an exciting storyline, good handouts and great artwork.

The Mountains of Madness are located in the Antarctic, and 1931 an expedition failed to discover them. It is told that the participants either died or went insane... Two years later another team (=YOU) starts with the goal to reach the Mountains of Madness and to reveal its secrets - which you can tell are deeply Cthulhu and endangering the whole world.

In the first book the expedition starts in New York, preparing for the big journey. But soon a saboteur is discovered, who seems to be part of a mysterious, second expedition? Which also heads to the Antarctic? Also the long journey on the ship bears lots of difficulties, not to speak of finally arriving in the Antarctic...

I'm really looking forward to the second book (out of three), which will be hopefully mentioned here soon.

Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos. [Wikipedia]


publisher: pegasus spiele (germany)

buy online @ pegasusshop.de

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Hotel Daniel

SMART LUXURY AT A FAIR PRICE.

Facts
- affordable Design Hotel in Graz (Styria/Austria)
- near railwaystation and the historic old town
- large public "loft"-area, espresso bar
- 101 guestrooms
- vespa or bikeboard for 15 € per day

Design
Influenced by the 1950s, the berlin designer Werner Aisslinger arranged very functional small rooms, which are modern and offer smart luxury. For young, dynamic travellers a wardrobe is not essential, so you'll find clothes rails. The bathroom is small but elegant, and well integrated in the room. A long bench, upholstered with blue or green felt, invites to read a book or surf in the internet. In the "loft -area" you'll find classics like the Eames Lounge Chair or other Vitra Chairs, and the dishes are based on the typical austrian 1950ies Lilienporzellan "Daisy".

Around
Near the main railwaystation of Graz the Hotel Daniel is very easy to reach. 2003 Graz was cultural capital of europe. So there are a lot of cultural spots to visit. The Kunsthaus shows contemporary art, you can visit the "Grazer Uhrturm" at the "Schloßberg" or the beautifull historic old town and many other highlights.

Conclusion
If you appreciate modern and elegant accomodation, you should book Hotel Daniel on your next trip to Graz. You will like the rooms as well as the service and the ambiente, and also the substantial and delicious breakfast (great espresso included) will exceed your expectations. And all of this for a more than fair and competitive price. Enjoy!

Graz’s Design and Lifestyle Hotel Daniel was awarded the ‘Hotelimmobilie 2006’, Europe’s highest accolade for hotels, on October 25, 2006. This marks the first time that an Austrian hotel has ever received the award. ‘Budget and design is what we call our strategic marketing approach, which enables young people to enjoy attractive design and trendy interiors. Modern lifestyle hotels will only have a future if they’re smart, chic, and above all affordable,’ explained Florian Weitzer

Our maxim is really very simple and is made to fit an innovative, contemporary approach to travel: at the Daniel, which incidentally enjoys a perfect location in Graz, the modern traveller finds everything he or she needs to stay fast and flexible. But nothing which will prevent or restrict their mobility. You could call it well thought-out, focussed streamlining. But we prefer to call it “Smart Luxury” – it somehow sounds better.

This is an approach which influences everything that we do. And everything we don’t, for that matter. “Smart Luxury” decides everything which you find in the Hotel Daniel. Together with our good taste and flair for style, it also decides the Daniel’s image, which is dominated by a timeless aesthetic. And we would like to think that in this respect, we really are sitting pretty. 107 rooms, with features which aren’t just in step with your needs, but rather a few steps ahead. A lobby where you can relax, meet, work and access the Internet free of charge. But that’s not all! You will also find a toothbrush vending machine, an espresso bar and five Vespas waiting for you to take them out for a spin. Every morning there is also what is reported to be the best breakfast in Graz. The centre of this exciting, laid-back city is just a 10-minute walk away and we would also recommend…

hotel daniel
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