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Author Topic: JSH's True Art Rankings  (Read 193124 times)

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pingpongsam

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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #425 on: December 02, 2015, 05:02:30 pm »
+1

The current state of this thread has made me think a few times of this (very) short story by Jorge Luis Borges, called "On Exactitude in Science."

". . . In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it. The following Generations, who were not so fond of the Study of Cartography as their Forebears had been, saw that that vast map was Useless, and not without some Pitilessness was it, that they delivered it up to the Inclemencies of Sun and Winters. In the Deserts of the West, still today, there are Tattered Ruins of that Map, inhabited by Animals and Beggars; in all the Land there is no other Relic of the Disciplines of Geography."

Reminds me of the Steven Wright joke, "I bought a life size map of the US. It took me all summer to unfold it."
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jsh357

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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #426 on: December 06, 2015, 02:10:58 pm »
+13

23. Counting House



The stiffness in this patron's walk is humerus, to say the least. You almost never notice any of the details on the actual card, like the victory shield (which has nothing to do with Counting House's actual effect) and the fact that the counting guy on the left can move his neck like an owl.

22. Quarry



Some would say that rocks are the backbone of a quarry. All these spare slabs sitting around are like heaps of spare ribs. It is nice that the artist so intently drew the ladder's shadow, but nothing can change the fact that we are looking at a pile of rocks.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2015, 02:14:09 pm by jsh357 »
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #427 on: December 06, 2015, 02:11:51 pm »
0

I don't think it's a coincidence that cards JSH considers to be bad have bad art as well.
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jsh357

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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #428 on: December 06, 2015, 02:17:31 pm »
+13

21. Royal Seal



The stamping device is old and worn, like a slightly rusty trombone. We see the huge seal upon a piece of parchment... or is it a tile floor? We may never know the truth, but the truth is out there.

20. Bank



This is not a bank; it is a bar. There are men gambling, which is one activity in which one handles coins, but there is no evidence that money is being stored here. Instead, we can infer that the men sitting around this establishment are of a rough sort; nothing gets under their skin.

19. Vault



The Dominion Vault stores several lost treasures. There is a fine ornamental piece of armor, the crucifix Duchess was sacrificed on, a number of blue clock-like devices, and a generic portrait of Andrew Jackson. The hidden vault was uncovered by famous detective Sherlock Bones.

18. King's Court



The King's Court is absolutely enormous. Santa sits at the throne, surrounding by his fairy tale brethren. But why is everyone confined to the court? Simply put, there is a plague going around, and everyone's been coffin.

17. Expand



The engineer watches as an oddly-shaped man stands on the scaffold, painstakingly constructing the lovely tower. She was going to do more than stare at the guy, but it turned out physical labor wasn't for her because she didn't have the stomach.

16. Forge



Yet another person who thinks this blood-red scheme is to kill for. Geez, woman, if you wanted the room decorated like this so badly, why are you skullking so much? And is it just me, or do the positions of her fingers look like she was original sewing and the artist cut her out of that picture and changed the scenery? Weird picture, but not bad.

15. Mountebank



The mountebank is peddling that potion hard. Anyone on Boardgamegeek will tell you how useless a potion is. I had one myself the other day; it went right through me. I'm not a huge fan of how shiny everyone in this picture's clothes are, but at least the mountebank's doofy grin is amusing.

14. Worker's Village



If I saw this color fog rising up in my hometown, I'd be out of there in a hurry. If you wouldn't, I'd have to say you're some kind of numbskull.

13. Peddler



The peddler, while cute, is actually dead on the inside. Her offering is driven solely by capitalistic motivations, and her smile is facetious. You might even say she's heartless. That said, even a heartless person can be beautiful. And I really want that hat. Come, participate in the exchange of funds like a good sheep.

12. Contraband



Do you think there might be someone in the coffin stuffed under that tarp? I suspect there's nobody.

11. Monument



Hey, I invited you for lunch over at the monument. What is it a monument for, anyway? Maybe it's a little blurry, but the scenery is nice. Anyway, here's your watercress sandwich. Bone appetit!

10. Venture



I didn't notice there was a guy in a green cape there for several years. I thought it was just a picture of a bored lord. Geez, someone needs to tickle his funny bone.

9. Hoard



I am gonna jump right into that pile, and there's nothing you can do to stop me! I'm a daredevil! Bone to be wild!

8. City



They say that most conquerors have a glorious vision of the future. The ambition of the great Napoleon Boneapart was to wipe out all of Australia and replace its ruins with these majestic Cities. He had a thing for cobblestone.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2015, 03:07:39 pm by jsh357 »
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #429 on: December 06, 2015, 04:35:56 pm »
+3

Either jsh is still fighting the skeleton war or he just had an anatomy exam <.<
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Eran of Arcadia

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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #430 on: December 07, 2015, 12:44:09 pm »
0

Either jsh is still fighting the skeleton war or he just had an anatomy exam <.<

Doot doot.
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #431 on: December 07, 2015, 01:09:07 pm »
0

Is it Christmas already??
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #432 on: December 10, 2015, 12:54:20 am »
0

22. Quarry



Some would say that rocks are the backbone of a quarry. All these spare slabs sitting around are like heaps of spare ribs. It is nice that the artist so intently drew the ladder's shadow, but nothing can change the fact that we are looking at a pile of rocks.
oh god. i will never be able to unsee the awful shadow of that ladder now.
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jsh357

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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #433 on: December 10, 2015, 07:20:15 pm »
+7

7. Goons



Despite having a picture in which several men are holding scrolls, the art for Goons (originally Pawn) fares nicely. I particularly like how each of the men has a seemingly distinct personality, all implied by their facial expressions. On the left is one of my favorite actors, Toshirô Mifune. In the center, your average mob boss stereotype, and on the right, Inigo Montoya. There's a great bunch.

6. Loan



The sneering loan...er... clearly represents the Bursar's office of Dominion University. He carries a veneer of distrust, implying some semesters he might try to take three times the amount of tuition he's demanding. But wait! I have it backwards. The man on the left is giving the money out. This means that the man on the right is grinning evilly about borrowing money. Does anyone ever actually feel empowered when they have to take out a loan? Not me. Perhaps this man is a criminal mastermind running a scheme. That's my best theory. Great art can carry a wealth of implications.
« Last Edit: December 10, 2015, 07:30:15 pm by jsh357 »
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #434 on: December 11, 2015, 09:54:01 am »
+7

I am pretty sure the guy in the middle of the Goons card art is the victim, not the boss. Look at the way the goon on the right is putting his arm around him, and how the guy in the middle is clearly trying to reject signing the scroll.
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #435 on: December 11, 2015, 10:28:34 am »
+2

Guy on the left of Loan could also be paying the loan back.

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DoomYoshi

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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #436 on: December 11, 2015, 01:56:56 pm »
+1

The guy on the right has a degenerative brain disease and is not planning on paying the loan back. Although, Rocky has had a degenerative brain disease since 1990 and he's still ticking!
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #437 on: December 11, 2015, 02:26:09 pm »
+6

I am pretty sure the guy in the middle of the Goons card art is the victim, not the boss. Look at the way the goon on the right is putting his arm around him, and how the guy in the middle is clearly trying to reject signing the scroll.

I really like the art on Goons. The way the tall, grinning guy with the many teeth reaches around the obviously wealthy, but nervous gent in the middle, pushing the pen in his hands, while his partner in crime pins him from the other side, ink allready prepared, both with an unhealthy look in their entire appeareance, has a lot of that over-the-top shadyness you'd see with classic animation movie villains. I don't particularly like playing with Goons, but the art is brilliant.
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jsh357

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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #438 on: December 11, 2015, 05:08:51 pm »
+8

5. Grand Market



Though in some ways it looks smaller than the original Market, Grand Market gets the job done nicely. It's the Whole Foods of the Dominion world, where Nobles can buy loaves of bread with random crushed spices mixed in. The common man's money is no good here for sure.

4. Watchtower



The lone watchtower stands near the mountains, majestically opposing the "all red" trend vampires have spread like a cancer through the land. Blue is clearly better, right? Well, that's what they want you to think. One feels like a true patrician playing this card, so professional and sturdy it seems. The art is truly fitting of one of the greatest Dominion cards. Liopoil, mail the check to my address by this Sunday so I can get it before the holidays.

3. Bishop



I'm sure we all remember the most egregious misrank on the original card list. Are you happy now? Can I go home? I've paid my dues. Sure, I still think it doesn't look like a Dominion card, but you know, Borrowers can't be choosers. The magical and otherworldly atmosphere of the blue background adds a nice feeling to this one. I wonder if it was a reject from Alchemy?

2. Rabble



Who doesn't love an angry mob? It's the internet personified. Or perhaps just the MakingFun Dominion audience. I like the work that was put in to the individual faces here. Sure, it could have been a faceless mob, but instead we get to feel the anger at an appropriate sunset. Rabble on.

1. Trade Route



It's fitting that the Trade Route got its own higher-quality mat. It's truly a lovely painting, with happy little trees that would make Bob Ross smile. These humble travelers are on a journey to exchange fine goods, possibly illegally, and they look fashionable doing it. When we think of the theme of Prosperity, big and bold comes to mind, so it's curious that the best art belongs to the manipulated masses and every-man traders. There's something of worth in that disparity for us all.



In some ways, Prosperity amps up the art. We have some nicely minted tokens that are pleasing to the eye and touch, as well as some mats like those seen in Seaside. The overall artistic theme of the set feels a bit undefined, whereas the previous two sets' cards mostly looked good together. Maybe I'm just seeing things.



While it is nice having all these mats for holding tokens, I can't say I think the art on them pops. The walking couple is cute, the city walls one is great, the boat is sweet, and the one in the center reminds me of Courtyard, but a lot of it is, for lack of a better word, standard-looking. Well, it's nothing to complain about; mostly, these mats serve as a bonus.

My average rating for Prosperity is 6.56. It's about as good as Seaside, but lacking a bit in the visual theme that complemented that set.

Current ranking:
Alchemy 7.12
Seaside 6.73
Prosperity 6.56
Base 6.4
Intrigue 6.02

The next set we'll be looking at is Cornucopia, which I at one time considered to have the best art in the game, but we'll see how things are nowadays.

« Last Edit: December 12, 2015, 12:26:44 am by jsh357 »
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liopoil

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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #439 on: December 11, 2015, 05:19:15 pm »
+5

Hey, we agreed to #1, not 4! I'm not paying.
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #440 on: December 11, 2015, 05:50:02 pm »
+1

I would've paid double what he offered if you needed money back when you were doing the Intrigue cards...
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #441 on: December 11, 2015, 06:10:06 pm »
0

2. Rabble



Who doesn't love an angry mob? It's the internet personified. Or perhaps just the MakingFun Dominion audience. I like the work that was put in to the individual faces here. Sure, it could have been a faceless mob, but instead we get to feel the anger at an appropriate sunset. Rabble on.

I like that they got Gérard Depardieu to grow a beard and join in on the mob.
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #442 on: December 11, 2015, 08:39:10 pm »
+6



While it is nice having all these mats for holding tokens, I can't say I think the art on them pops. The walking couple is cute, the city walls one is great, the boat is sweet, and the one in the center reminds me of Courtyard, but a lot of it is for lack of a better word, standard-looking. Well, it's nothing to complain about; mostly, these mats serve as a bonus.
The mats are not new art for the mats. They're close-ups on parts of pre-existing art (sometimes with details tweaked).

upper middle: Seaside box
upper right: Base set box (with details added)
center-left: Prosperity box
center: Properity box
center-right: Vineyard
bottom-left: Intrigue box
bottom-right: Seaside box
The only one I can't find is the two people walking in the upper left. It's probably meant to be part of the art from the Base set box with the two people added in.
« Last Edit: December 11, 2015, 08:44:59 pm by LibraryAdventurer »
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #443 on: December 12, 2015, 09:53:14 am »
+1

Bonus round: find Waldo!
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #444 on: December 12, 2015, 11:59:04 pm »
0

The only VP token mat I've ever had a request for is the Vineyard one. I don't keep the mats with the set I carry around, but when I do tournaments I make sure that the mats are there for every game that needs them.
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #445 on: December 13, 2015, 12:17:27 am »
0

The only VP token mat I've ever had a request for is the Vineyard one. I don't keep the mats with the set I carry around, but when I do tournaments I make sure that the mats are there for every game that needs them.

I just keep a tally on my phone when we play with VP token cards.
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #446 on: December 13, 2015, 02:50:50 pm »
+3

The only one I can't find is the two people walking in the upper left. It's probably meant to be part of the art from the Base set box with the two people added in.

This is part of the picture on the front cover of the Base set rules.
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #447 on: December 13, 2015, 03:27:55 pm »
+1

The only VP token mat I've ever had a request for is the Vineyard one. I don't keep the mats with the set I carry around, but when I do tournaments I make sure that the mats are there for every game that needs them.

I just keep a tally on my phone when we play with VP token cards.

I just use my abacus.
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #448 on: December 13, 2015, 10:44:58 pm »
0

The only VP token mat I've ever had a request for is the Vineyard one. I don't keep the mats with the set I carry around, but when I do tournaments I make sure that the mats are there for every game that needs them.

I just keep a tally on my phone when we play with VP token cards.

I just use my abacus.

Apparently in Japan they learn to do math with a mental abacus.
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Re: JSH's True Art Rankings
« Reply #449 on: December 18, 2015, 08:42:57 pm »
+3

Sorry. I hadn't looked at the forum for a few months and got behind reading this post. I have been enjoying catching up on things. It's amazing what you can find in these pictures if you look closely at them.  Here are some thoughts I have:

Lookout - For the longest time, I thought the mast behind his head was some kind of weird hat.
Smugglers - There is no way I would ask those guys to smuggle anything for me. They both look like they are part of the "Several French Fries Short of a Happy Meal" gang.
Salvager - I never realized that was a big school of fish on the left side until I looked at the hi-res version.
Lighthouse - Outpost is a very good picture, but I love the excellent use of color and the detail on the stonework and the little stairs on the left of the lighthouse. The colorful flowers in the grassy foreground are the final touch to what has to be in the top five of all Dominion art.  Outpost conveys its title well, but lacks the detail and emotional punch of Lighthouse.
Bank - I never looked close at that scene. How in the world is that supposed to represent a bank?  I think if you are crazy enough to deposit money there, you shouldn't expect to get anything back.
King's Court - I always thought the white thing around the king's neck was some kind of ruffle, like they used to wear in Britain. Now that I realize it is a beard, is this Santa's summer job?
Worker's Village - Why is someone doing their laundry (specifically folding their white sheet) in the middle of a construction site? Perhaps he is looking for an engineer to help him figure out how to do it.
Venture - I never saw the guy in the green cape either. Now I finally understand how the picture fits the card. The king, or whatever he is, is offering the guy money to go on some venture for him. Or maybe he wants to hire him as a jester. With that bright red hair, he might be able to give the Joker a run for his money.
Goons - I always thought there were 3 goons, though the middle guy didn't look very menacing. Now that I look closely, I see that the 2 goons are trying to force Belle's father from Beauty and the Beast to sign over his wood chopping machine.
Bishop - Why does the bishop have a normal hand holding his staff and a scarecrow hand on the other arm where he is blessing the guy.
Trade Route - I like the choice of Trade Route for #1 in Prosperity.

Thanks again for doing this, Josh. It's a lot of fun to take a closer look at these cards.
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