Reviews written by Legomancer

I enjoy Twilight Struggle, even though I'm terrible at it, so I was really looking forward to this sort of sequel to it. It's strange that even though this was a period of time I actually lived through, I don't know much about the events around it. It feels a lot like TS, naturally, except for the weirdo scoring conflict bit that I really don't know how I feel about. It seems strange to me to have a lot of strategic play culminate in a separate card thinger which then determines a die roll. It seems oddly bolted on and incongruous. Still, I'd like to try it again and see if that part grows on me. Either way, I think I still prefer the original.

My favorite deckbuilders are Thunderstone, Core Worlds, and Valley of the Kings, so the fact that this game was pretty much ignored by most gamers didn't mean I wouldn't check it out. It did, however, mean that I got to check it out for really cheap.

It's okay. It's a LOT like Thunderstone, but it does two things that I think are nice innovations. First of all, when you go into the "Dungeon" other players can help or hinder you, possibly getting some XPs if they backed the right horse. Secondly, you turn up two action cards which you can play as if they're in your hand during your turn. This allows you not only some more flexibility and a bit of a power boost, but you can also "try out" cards you might not otherwise use.

Both of those are nice contributions, but not nice enough to overcome an otherwise dull game. It's like a much slower-moving Thunderstone, and it has an annoying tic where a lot of the Encounter cards will just straight up run away without fighting, based on a die roll. That's incredibly obnoxious.

There's no question why this game didn't make it as a CCG -- it's a tough nut to crack. Even with pre-built decks and some experience my friend and I found it difficult to know what we should be doing, and it seems like the Corporation has an especially rough go of it. We clearly need more experience to tease out the strategies. Still, it plays fast, the production is nice (though some of the artwork is still stuck in the 90s), and the card mix is interesting. There's a lot packed into this starter set, and I'm going to enjoy trying it all out.

It's really hard to assess this one, as although it played fine with only two players, it probably is at its best with three or four. I think it's a pretty strong civ game, and I especially appreciate its idea of focusing on culture, and letting one player have a cultural influence over another's city (especially since that helped me win). The tech tree is a little odd, and it seems like there are some paths that are just plain better than others, but more plays will reveal if that's true. For me, if a civ game doesn't have a short length on its side, it simply has to beat Through the Ages, which is my current fave. This one gives it a run, but I think I still prefer TtA for this sort of thing.

After more plays, downgraded to a 6. I really dislike the objective cards, as they seem unnecessarily gamey. And I dislike that if another player decides you're playing Risk instead of a civilization game, then you're playing Risk.