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Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)

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Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Vol. 1

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11 Mar 2019 18:21 #293679 by Josh Look
The board is not at all like Epic Duels. Looks like a point-to-point thing. I’m interested to see that shake out in a skirmish game.

They did say this is the biggest deviation from the source material than any Restoration game has taken so far.

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11 Mar 2019 18:32 - 11 Mar 2019 18:36 #293681 by Virabhadra
Evidently, they "did a big enough overhaul on enough different fronts" that they decided to change the name. Sounds like the Star Wars characters won't be backwards compatible. The game will need an upgrade kit, obviously.
Last edit: 11 Mar 2019 18:36 by Virabhadra.

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11 Mar 2019 19:09 #293683 by Michael Barnes
I guessed what this was correctly last week on Twitter. The tease images just added up. I made a joke about Sherlock Holmes being an “epic” detective, and lo, Holmes is coming in the “Cobble and Fog” expansion.

I’m down with this but I am way more interested in the literary figures than the licensed stuff. It looks great- the Mondo illustrators are doing excellent work with it.

However...the long term fail rate for this kind of mash-up game is spectacularly high. So I’m worried that we are looking at something that may very well start strong, but may falter. I know some of y’all are excited about Buffy, but that is not a license that sells papers, so to speak. So that is a lot of time, money, and other resources invested in a license that has a niche appeal. I’m concerned hat if this game becomes a clearinghouse for the kinds of flagging, inexpensive licenses that are popular in board games today it’s not going to go anywhere. Look, I love Bruce Lee but...who’s next, Chuck Norris?

But the thing is, the literary hero/villain thing is great! It’s a neat idea, and everybody is familiar with what the characters and what to expect- much like Star Wars. I want to play a game where Robin Hood squares off with Dracula- that’s my Mace Windu versus Darth Vader moment here. But do I really want to see Spike versus Hudson Hawk or whatever? Nah.

Regardless, the base game is a must have and I am very interested in what Mr. Daviau has done with the design after all these years. Epic Duels was good dumb fun that definitely could have been better.

I am wondering how this will compare to WH Underworlds, Wildlands, 40k Combat Arena, and other contemporary comparatives. I’d like to see this stay dumb fun with some mod cons.

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11 Mar 2019 20:40 #293689 by Shellhead
I still own Star Wars: Epic Duels. It doesn't hit the table much, because I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars and Epic Duels is a pretty shallow game. And yet, I've never had a bad game of Star Wars: Epic Duels. And when a friend brought it over for the first time, our role-playing group instead played Epic Duels all afternoon.

So I am at least somewhat introduced in this reboot. I think that the literary characters are a great idea for famous yet open license source material. But I don't consider Bigfoot to be a literary character. I still like Buffy, so that set interests me, and it would be great if they make every deck pretty close to equal in power.

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11 Mar 2019 22:22 - 11 Mar 2019 22:22 #293694 by Jackwraith
I see the literary/legendary characters approach and all I can think of is Extraordinary Gentlemen. The comic wasn't that great (by far one of Moore's lesser efforts) and the movie was, being generous, pedestrian. The concept of King Arthur and Sherlock Holmes squaring off leaves me completely dry and I'm someone who used to love TORG and Shadowrun. Pass.
Last edit: 11 Mar 2019 22:22 by Jackwraith.

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11 Mar 2019 23:49 - 11 Mar 2019 23:49 #293696 by Gary Sax
If it's like the original, this game is so light as to be almost transparent. Not my style regardless of license.
Last edit: 11 Mar 2019 23:49 by Gary Sax.

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12 Mar 2019 09:59 - 12 Mar 2019 10:11 #293702 by Vysetron
The more I see of this the more I'm convinced this is Daviau and crew making a game for the modern era with Epic Duels as its skeleton. Movement, LoS, and the structure of the decks are completely different. The only close match rules-wise that I can see is the combat.

I'm increasingly excited for this as I see more of it. Skirmish board games are great, but they need to straddle an incredibly difficult line of accessibility to hook newbies and having actual meat to be replayable. Recently I've seen a lot of games fail one, the other, or both. Warhammer Underworlds is an exception (and is phenomenal) but deck construction and model building has put a lot of people off in my area. Something visually striking, simple to play, and replayable if only for the sheer variety of teams could be exactly what I've been looking for. Plus licenses help attract players.

I'm cautiously but enthusiastically optimistic.
Last edit: 12 Mar 2019 10:11 by Vysetron.
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12 Mar 2019 10:22 #293703 by Colorcrayons

Vysetron wrote: Skirmish board games are great, but they need to straddle an incredibly difficult line of accessibility to hook newbies and having actual meat to be replayable. Recently I've seen a lot of games fail one, the other, or both. Warhammer Underworlds is an exception (and is phenomenal) but deck construction and model building has put a lot of people off in my area. Something visually striking, simple to play, and replayability if only for the sheer variety of teams could be exactly what I've been looking for.


Gorechosen and Shadespire are good examples.

The former is a bit too light and the latter misses the mark a bit as you note as well. Both great great games, but that elusive middle ground... The baby bear of Goldilocks skirmish games is hard to find.

But we've gotten close to a truly solid and evergreen game engine on many occasions. Okko, Gorechosen, Shadespire, Frostgrave, Marvel Heroscape, etc. I feel that Epic Duels is likely to hit the "too light" extreme though due to the lack of granularity in the cards, even after the rumors Jacobson has shared about how they work now. Time will tell.

Gorechosen handled this best, I think. Three differing options on each card is just good design granularity while maximizing player agency in the face of random option distribution.

But that's ok. There is room for all types of these games and more variety is mo' bettuh. Some days you feel like playing Epic Duels. Some days you don't.
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12 Mar 2019 10:40 - 12 Mar 2019 10:41 #293704 by derekjinx
Got to play test this one. It played light and quick and my rather clever 8 year old son figured it out fast and beat me on several occasions. I couldn't make the association that it was a restoration of Epic Duels as I had only played that one once many years ago. The decision points all focus on board position and card usage. Easy to pick up and play anywhere for sure. No drafting required.
Last edit: 12 Mar 2019 10:41 by derekjinx.
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13 Mar 2019 14:17 - 13 Mar 2019 15:19 #293762 by Virabhadra
ToS has been streaming from the GAMA Trade Show this year and they did a spot with Restoration Games this morning. They should have the clip up later if they don't already. Neat to see it all laid out and watch Jacob Jacobsen be excited about it for a couple minutes, even if it's nothing we didn't know already.

The mook tokens leave me cold considering the detail they've lavished on the cards and miniatures. I just bought Blitz Bowl for $38 and that has twelve GW miniatures; I know that's kind of apples and oranges since GW is a huge company and it's a B&N partnership, but at the end of the day I feel like I'm getting a lot more for forty bucks. Do the Unmatched characters really have to be Forge World-level miniatures? I would have settled for Heroclix quality if it meant figures for every combatant.

The spaces on the board also seem more pronounced in the video than in the promo photos. I know a lot of people complained about how hard it was to see the spaces on Tannhauser's board. Unmatched takes it to the opposite extreme - it looks like a mini's game set up on a Chinese checkers set.

Just aesthetic nitpicks, though. Still look forward to hearing more about how it plays!

EDIT: Mondo games has the Fight Club license, apparently? "That's right! In Unmatched, Tyler Durden can fight Abraham Lincoln! Create your own match-ups!"
Last edit: 13 Mar 2019 15:19 by Virabhadra.
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13 Mar 2019 14:42 #293767 by charlest
Yeah, the board looks like you're fighting on pie charts.

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13 Mar 2019 15:05 - 13 Mar 2019 15:12 #293769 by Virabhadra
I think it borrows heavily from Cranium.



Last edit: 13 Mar 2019 15:12 by Virabhadra.

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13 Mar 2019 15:16 #293770 by Gary Sax
That is hilariously unattractive.

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13 Mar 2019 15:24 - 13 Mar 2019 15:31 #293771 by Colorcrayons

Anjou Valentine wrote: EDIT: Mondo games has the Fight Club license, apparently? "That's right! In Unmatched, Tyler Durden can fight Abraham Lincoln! Create your own match-ups!"


Tyler Durden vs. Mahatma Ghandi.

"I'd fight Ghandi."
~ Tyler Durden's alter ego

"I'd fight Lincoln."
~ Tyler Durden

Thinking about that scene kinda makes Tyler Durden perfect for this game, in a way.

Such a game idea makes me Jack's complete lack of surprise.
Last edit: 13 Mar 2019 15:31 by Colorcrayons.
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13 Mar 2019 15:53 #293773 by Michael Barnes
The board is hilariously bad- especially compared Rot the great illustrations on the cards. Maybe it’s a mock-up? It doesn’t even look finished to me.

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