Assault of the Giants: Lost In the Crowd.

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Great article, thanks! This one definitely seemed like a try before you buy. I never got to try it.

It just wasn’t very remarkable. I liked it, I enjoyed it while I had it, but I would have a hard time recommending it over better games in this space. It’s totally solid and even well-made. But is that enough anymore?

I think the Giants thing kind of hurt it. As far as D&D monsters go, they are pretty meh. Imagine if this has been Assault of the Beholders or Assault of the Mind Flayers...

Nice review. I've been on the fence about this one. The price keeps dropping like a rock, even for the premium edition, so it may be worth a play.

Thanks, all.

@hotseat and stoic: I think the price has dropped low enough that it's worth it even if you only get to play it a couple times. The counterpoint is that I think it does actually work best with 6 which, as we all know, isn't an easy number to gather. Plus, if you have six, why aren't you playing TI3/4 or Here I Stand or...

Which leads into MB's point about nothing being particularly remarkable about the game. I think that's fair. It's not a very dense or detailed design. A lot of the joy of owning/playing is the Forgotten Realms nostalgia factor that I alluded to (at least it is for me.) In terms of giants being blasé, I think that's fair, too. Compare this to another D&D game that came out around the same time (Tyrants of the Underdark) and you find a game that's more mechanically interesting and has more visceral thematic elements (drow, the Underdark, etc.), although I admit to thinking upon first seeing the title that Tyrants WAS about beholders. Put "tyrant" and "D&D" together and that's pretty much what will always occur to me ("eye tyrants".)

Now I'm thinking about a game where everyone plays a beholder leading factions of various creatures through the underworld. You can spawn new eyes with variable powers and have to keep your minions under control either via fear or the temptation of loot. Other beholders/players can steal your minions and gain greater reputation. Then, you have the possibility of influencing the surface world to gain more resources/minions; even adventurer-types. There might be a design there...

If Assault is merely mediocre, then I'd like to know what's at the top of the heap. Are Root, Cthulu Wars, and Chaos in the Old World best in class?

Stormcow wrote: If Assault is merely mediocre, then I'd like to know what's at the top of the heap. Are Root, Cthulu Wars, and Chaos in the Old World best in class?

Subjective of course, but I'd place these as best in class:

Root
Cthulhu Wars
Chaos in the Old World
Blood Rage
Nexus Ops
Cyclades
Clockwork Wars
Inis
Rising Sun
Dune
Lords of Hellas

EDIT - If you'd include 4X games, I'd throw TI4 and Eclipse in as well.

My first (and only) game I played Stone Giants. Wasn't really fun being a punching bag from all three opponents the whole game. I basically turned into a kingmaker deciding whose plans I was going to foil. If I wasn't going to play kingmaker I would have just turtled up and not played the game. That's two strikes off the bat.

I suppose if everyone had played the game a dozen or so times and we knew how the balance worked and interacted with the player special powers it might be alright. But why would we play this again when there are much, much better games than this?

Right. I think the Stone Giants were particularly hard hit by the setup and the general imbalance of the two weaker races. Their quest is also not very easy, given that they're trying to secure a couple areas in an area control game every time. Whereas the Hill Giants can actually execute their quest fairly reliably, since Food is the most common resource, the Stone Giants are almost completely subject to circumstance in completing theirs. In that link I provided to the balance changes (which I haven't had a chance to play with), the designer had pointed out in a connected thread that the Stone Giant leader's special ability (underground travel) can be used early to get around some of the boxing in that frequently happens to them but, again, that subjects them to circumstance more than the others, since they have to play their leader card earlier than anyone else, which then means they can't use it at a more advantageous time until they rest to retrieve it, which leaves them behind.

So, yeah. I think the concept was solid, but it needed more time in the oven; for the smallest two races, at least. I've had good experiences playing Frost, Fire, and Cloud giants.

Jackwraith wrote: the designer had pointed out in a connected thread that the Stone Giant leader's special ability (underground travel) can be used early to get around some of the boxing in that frequently happens to them but, again, that subjects them to circumstance more than the others, since they have to play their leader card earlier than anyone else, which then means they can't use it at a more advantageous time until they rest to retrieve it, which leaves them behind.

Like I mentioned, sure if everyone knew which races had the strongest positions and highest probability to win and worked around that and each of the races had read and spent time thinking about some of the advanced strategies it would work. In multiplayer games balance can arise from teaming up on the strongest.

However I shouldn't be expected to play a game and it won't be fun unless everyone went to BGG and read strategy guides and designer suggested balance changes beforehand. It was literally a party at a friends house and someone said "I got this new game, want to try it". As stone giants my mission card was to grab as much territory and raze as many settlements as possible. Unfortunately I didn't read the storm giants cards directing him to a specific location causing him to smash my giants.