Publisher: Funko Games
Player Count: 2-5  Players
Game Length: 45-60 Minutes
Complexity 2/5

Back in 1974, 4 friends set out on a road trip across rural Texas. Along the way they stumble on what appears to be an abandoned house only to discover unspeakable horrors lie within. What started as an innocent road trip turns into a battle for survival. In this one versus many game, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse allows players to relive the madness as the young trespassers or step into the shoes of the murderous Sawyer family. Play through a series of scenarios challenging you with different objectives and puzzles. But remember, in this game, there are no winners… only survivors.

ON YOUR TURN

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is both a cooperative game and a one vs many experience. You choose the side you want to play and then embrace the storyline, objectives and mechanics uniquely related to that persona.

So yes, you’re going to have to learn 2 sets of rules, but they’re pretty straightforward and TCM is any easy game to jump into. I’d liken it to the Horrified series from Ravensburger in terms of depth and engagement. There seems like just enough rules and choices to keep you engaged without overwhelming you.

Playing as the trespassers puts you in the shoes of the uninvited guests who have just happened to wander onto the Sawyer property. The game provides a series of unique scenarios that give the trespassers different goals to keep the game fresh. In truth, they all basically culminate with the trespassers trying to not end up dead, but you get to do different things along the way.

As the trespassers, your job will be to quickly, quietly and efficiently rummage through the game’s creepy 2-story house. In the first scenario, your goal is to repair a specific vehicle, grab the gas and the keys and get out of Dodge before the Sawyer family can beat you to death. In another scenario, you’re taking photos around the property to document the murderous activities. Choices are fairly limited: you either search a location in and around the house, walk to another location or run for your life! You may uncover useful tools to escape or items to help defend yourself. But, doing things in general creates noise and noise has consequences… which leads to one of the coolest features in the game…

As you take actions, you collect noise tokens. For anyone who’s ever seen a scary movie, noise is not something you don’t want to create. These noise tokens will both conceptually and physically become the fear tokens that fuel the antics of Leatherface and the crazy Sawyer family.

Playing as the Sawyer family is more of a process pulled directly from the pages of a movie script. Key characters are revealed, plot twists exposed and tensions rise to a frenzied pace. The Sawyer family consists of 4 members, each with their own special abilities, but they’re not all available to start the game. The Sawyer family will need to progress on the chainsaw track (a cube track shaped in a cardboard chainsaw) to bring out additional family members. The Sawyer family will move around the house chasing after the intruders, but they are aided in their quest with the fear tokens. These fear tokens can be spent on additional actions to gain bonus abilities or move forward on the chainsaw track. And this is key to amping up the pressure in the game. With more baddies on the board, the Sawyer family has a tactically heightened opportunity to make life difficult for the survivors… and if the survivors last long enough for Leatherface to make an appearance, they better make haste.

Damage is randomly assigned to the survivors through confrontations and a deck of death cards. Once a trespasser is assigned 4 unique injury cards they’re no longer injured… they’re dead. And that player gets to enjoy the terrifying screams of their companions from the sidelines for the remainder of the game. Now survivors can deal damage to the Sawyer family in a number of ways and cards drawn throughout can help balance the power struggle, but in my experience, survivors are running and Sawyers are chasing.

The game ends when at least 1 survivor has met their objective and escaped or all the survivors end up on the chopping block.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse is a highly thematic experience and the overall look of the production is a huge contributor toward immersing you in this twisted experience. The artwork does a fantastic job fabricating an uneasy, fear-driven environment. This is a game that truly seeks to honor its source material and it doesn’t pull any punches. It’s gritty, brutal and nasty.

While I wish the survivors were more than cardboard standees, the Sawyer family mini’s look great and are fun to move around the board. (Deep thought: Perhaps it’s the frail, cardboard nature of the survivors that made cardboards standees a must for these terrified youth characters… I’ll have to ask my therapist about that).

Overall, the production, rulebook and materials used in the game create a visceral and tactfully good time.

PROS & CONS

 Wonderful thematic experience

 Simple rule set allows you enjoy the game and not get bogged down in unnecessary rules

 Player aids supplement ease of play

 Cool noise/fear mechanic instantly creates tension

 Flexibility to play as the Sawyers or the survivors as well as multiple scenarios creates plenty of replayability.

 There is a decent amount of luck in this game and bad dice rolls can affect your enjoyment

 No one really likes to sit on the sidelines and dying early can be a bummer

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

I’d say fans of the movie franchise are going to love the vibe of this game, but that’s too easy. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a game with tons of universal appeal. While the theme is incredibly macabre, the excitement, tension and unique one vs many/cooperative angle makes this a fun experience for groups at Halloween or anytime for that matter. This is a gamer’s party game and groups looking for a good horror experience are going to love this.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing is the noise/fear mechanic. I spoke about it above, but this single mechanic really elevates the entire game. Again, you collect noise tokens by taking actions. Some actions (such as running), create additional noise. At the end of the survivor’s turn, they roll a die in hopes of removing some or all of these noise tokens. Any remaining after the roll ends up in the Sawyer’s pocket and are almost guaranteed to come back and haunt you later. I love the tension of this mechanic and I can’t get enough of it.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I had a blast with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse. The tone, the tension and the mechanics make this a real immersive experience and I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people. The look of the game does an amazing job putting players in an unsettling position. The semi-cooperative, one vs many setup creates an almost party-style gaming environment that, paired with the theme, will be a unique addition to many gaming libraries.

I mentioned how much I enjoyed the mechanics. There is really a nice tension in your choices and it always makes you a little unsure of how things are going to work out. It’s not terribly heavy and it’s relatively easy to jump into, but the mechanics paired with the theme give it a nice, thick feeling. For reference, this is a game that really matches up well with the hugely popular game Horrified. The weight, complexity and game length hit a lot of the same notes. It is its own game, but It also provides an equally satisfying and exciting experience.

Where TCM: Slaughterhouse might struggle is with the IP. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre the movie is a grindhouse-type film that originally marketed itself as a true story. The gritty, violent, realistic approach made it a hit with a limited audience paving the way to its cult status today. In addition, it was made almost 50 years ago. There’s been some sub-par sequels, but I imagine there are a number of potential players who have never even seen the original. Where Horrified evokes an almost campy-vibe, Slaughterhouse is edgy and dark and may not appeal to everyone.

The final point I need to address is the game’s luck factor. Yes, there are a lot of dice rolls in this game and that means a lot of luck. In fact, you can lose this one thanks to poor die rolls. Certain cards will mitigate some of that luck, but not enough to sway the outcome in my experience. This didn’t sit well with everyone who I played with. While I typically like to control my own gaming destiny, I think the luck element really lends itself to the tension of the entire experience. These classic horror films are a roll of the dice. We never know who’s going to make it out alive and the somewhat swingy nature of a die roll provides those unexpected plot twists. Sadly, it might be you who takes the brunt end of this mechanic, but all the more reason to come back again for another try.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse has “hidden gem” written all over it. While players might be apprehensive to give this one a roll initially, word-of-mouth is going to catch on. This is an exciting, satisfying, tension-filled game that sets the tone early and doesn’t let go until the survivors escape or the Sawyer family gets the last laugh… just like a good horror movie. If you’re looking for the next great horror game for your gaming group, you definitely need to give Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Slaughterhouse a serious look.

Publisher: Z-Man Games
Player Count: 1-5  Players
Game Length: 60 Minutes
Complexity 2/5

Star Wars meets Pandemic in this interstellar, cooperative, mash-up where players take on the role of Jedi Knights from the Clone Wars saga seeking to rid the universe of droids, Dooku’s and other dastardly dirtbags.

In this card management and dice rolling game, players will attempt to fend off the continuous onslaught of droids as they infiltrate the universe, all the while working to fulfill missions and ultimately defeat a prime Star Wars villain all before the separatist’s threat becomes too much to bear. With a lot of Star Wars games available to choose from, is Star Wars: The Clone Wars right for you? Find out in our review below!

ON YOUR TURN

It’s critical I express my love for the Pandemic game series. It’s one of the games that really showed me that board games can be a truly thematic and immersive experience. I think it’s a brilliant concept and shines as brightly today as it did when it was first released. I’m always on the lookout for new games built around this system that seek to put their own spin on the tension-inducing concept while still maintaining the engagement and excitement it evokes.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is based on the Pandemic system, but it brings its own spin adding new strategies and of course, characters we know and love.

If you’re unfamiliar with Pandemic, the original is a fully cooperative game that centers around CDC professionals skating across the globe attempting to contain and eradicate a series of viruses that have run amok. Players each have a limited number of actions each turn and must carefully use their cards (or resources) to keep the diseases from spreading—but also collect the right amount of specific cards to find a cure for each disease.

In the Clone Wars, the Separatist droids replace the 4 viruses and city cards are now Squad Cards, each equipped with different actions.

Players take on the role of 7 different Jedi masters including Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker, Aayla Secura, Ahsoka Tano, Luminara Unduli and of course Yoda. Each game features one villain and you can choose between Asajj Ventress, General Grievous, Darth Maul and Count Dock.

On your turn, you take 4 actions from a series of choices. Move your character from one planet to an adjacent planet, draw an additional Squad Card, attack enemies on your planet and attempt a mission.

After each turn, players activate a card from the villain deck. Each villain has its own deck and these actions move the villain across the board, cause trouble for the heroes and present various other problems.

Finally, players draw invasion cards equal to the current invasion level. These cards introduce new droid units on planets. This simulates the infection rate from Pandemic. When a planet exceeds 3 droids, the universal threat level increases. If the threat level reaches stage 7 everyone loses. If the game’s droid reserve runs dry… everyone loses. These enemy actions take place after each player’s turn in an effort to ratchet up the tension.

You can adjust the game’s difficulty by adding additional missions. Each mission requires a certain number of specific Squad Cards to achieve their goal. If multiple players are sharing the same planet where a mission is taking place, they all can contribute to the mission’s success. To attempt a mission, players must roll the 12-sided die. This die will potentially contribute additional “attacks” for the mission as well as damage to the player.

When all the missions are completed, the final battle with the villain is activated and players must track down the baddie and spend the necessary squad cards to achieve victory all before the threat level reaches the end of the line.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The production is really solid. Star Wars fans are going to love the 7 Jedi and 4 villain miniatures. They’re detailed and really add a lot of fun to the game. There are an additional 36 plastic droids and blockades that bring the game board to life.

The retail cost for this is pretty expensive, but when you look and feel all the components and cardboard, you don’t really feel cheated.

It’s a Star Wars game, so you’d expect the artwork to be awesome, and it’s pretty darn good. Quality-wise, there isn’t anything negative here at all.

The rulebook is fine to get you going, but I ran into a number of minor rule issues that weren’t addressed. I did my best to manage everything, but it was a little frustrating.

PROS & CONS

 Beautiful production with nice miniatures and artwork

 Easy to teach, making this great for younger Star Wars fans

 Multiple villains change up the game creating new challenges

 Asymmetrical Jedi characters increase overall replayability

 The game doesn’t provide the tension you’d expect from a Pandemic game

 While the difficulty can be adjusted, I never felt too challenged in either my victories or defeats.

 I didn’t like the Squad Cards. They were an attempt to simplify the Pandemic card system as well as introduce a more war-like experience, but it feels flat and overpowered.

 The dice again, works to bring more chance and uncertainty hoping to introduce a battle system, but the luck-factor was more disappointing than exciting.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Die-hard Star Wars fans are really going to enjoy the theme. The production is really great for a retail-only release, and seeing the heroes and villains move across the board is a lot of fun. The artwork on the character cards and Squad Cards are really well done. Everything looks right for this Star Wars experience.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about the game is the production. While the game is a little on the expensive side, I feel pretty good about the cost to value ratio and think everything in the box justifies the elevated cost. You won’t be disappointed in unboxing this one.

FINAL THOUGHTS

As I mentioned above, I’m a huge Pandemic fan and I usually love everything in the Pandemic universe… USUALLY.

Despite the game’s beautiful production, Star Wars: The Clone Wars left me a little empty. The overall process felt like I was going through the motions as I attempted to accomplish missions that provided little resistance. The game does offer some decent variation and you may face additional challenges, but they typically serve as just minor diversions. I never felt like I was struggling with my choices. The objective was always clear and I went straight for it.

I felt how the game managed Squad Cards took a lot of the risk out of making decisions. I could easily exhaust a card to knock out an enemy and then refresh that card on my next turn. It felt like there was not a true cost to using these cards. You must have the same type of squad cards to attack a blockade or primary villain, but that never seemed like a problem. Maybe if there were additional card types and requirements for each mission were a little more restrictive I would have felt more tension. The dice rolling seemed tacked on and never really added any excitement either.

Speaking of tension, Pandemic is all about it. It’s almost a slow burn as you feel the diseases in the original game closing in around you. Actions become the most valuable resource and you’re biting your fingernails as the game comes down to 2 or 3 turns. That doesn’t really exist here. Throughout the first 2/3rds of the game, there is practically no tension at all. The Invasion cards don’t cycle fast enough nor are there enough revealed each turn to grab your attention. Once the final battle hits the stage things begin to get a little more interesting, but the villain doesn’t pose much more of a problem than the missions we just previously breezed through. There is a point where the invasion cards become a little more relevant, but I was usually able to outrun them for the final confrontation before they caused any real damage.

The effort to bring a battle system to this particular Pandemic game feels like a huge missed opportunity. I think I would have preferred they take the original Pandemic game and reskinned it for Star Wars. It wouldn’t be thematic by any means, but I’d still get to enjoy Pandemic with the cool new miniatures.

Each villain does have its own deck bringing their own unique gameplay to the experience. I was hoping for something more along the lines of the monsters in Horrified, where they each bring a new puzzle to solve. Having different villains to battle does provide additional replayability, but they don’t differ enough from one another to really make a difference. For me, the only major change was having a different villain miniature on the board.

This is unfortunate considering how cool the production comes together. Z-Man Games makes fantastic games, but this is not one of them. I could possibly see this working for younger Star Wars fans who are still learning to make calculated decisions. I would say that it’s a good introduction to the Pandemic series since it’s a much easier overall experience, but I think you should just go with the original Pandemic. Star Wars: The Clone Wars feels a lot like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker… a disappointing mis-fire of style over substance.

Win Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

The king demands a castle! You are a world-renowned master builder who has been asked by the Mad King Ludwig to help design his castles. Projects of such significance require the expertise of more than one person, so for each assignment you are paired with another master builder to execute your grandiose plans. Will your planning and collaborative skills be enough to design the most impressive castles in the world?

Publisher: Stonemaier Games and Bezier Games
Player Count: 2-7 Players
Dedicated Solo mode: No
Game Length: 45-60 Minutes
Complexity 2.25/5

What the king wants.. the king gets! As a master builder it’s up to you to provide the Mad King Ludwig with a castle that suits his greatness. But you won’t be working alone. A castle of this magnitude will require two master builders, each working diligently to produce the most monumental monument to the king.

Between Two Castle of Mad King Ludwig is the product of a mash-up between two of the industry’s biggest publishers: Stonemaier Games and Bezier Games. Previously, Stonemier had produced Between Two Cities and Bezier did Castles of Mad King Ludwig, so it made sense to the powers that be to mix the two together and see what happens.

This is a tile drafting game where players are not building just one castle, but two, cooperating with your opponents to the left and right of you at the table. Each tile represents a room in the castle and features their own unique scoring opportunities where placement, and type matter. Bonuses can be earned, but balance is key in this unique setup. Let’s find out if you’re up for the task of the Mad King himself.

ON YOUR TURN

Each player begins the game with a stack of tiles and castle throne room sitting between them and their neighbor. Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig introduces a unique concept I really haven’t seen anywhere else. You’ll be cooperatively working with the opponent on your left and the opponent on your right to build the castle between the two of you.

The game takes place over two rounds, with each round made up of 4 turns. Each turn is played simultaneously where you draft two tiles from your stack, pass the stack onto the next player and play a single tile on each of your castles. Your opponents will do the same adding a total of two tiles to each castle each turn.

Each tile represents a type of room available to be built in the castle. You’ll have the opportunity to build bedrooms, eating areas, gardens and dungeons to name a few. Each tile also features unique symbols and a unique scoring ability that will either depend on the placement in the castle or how it relates to other types of rooms throughout (example: earn 2 points for each utility room in your castle). Tiles will dictate whether they can be played above ground or below. Bonuses can be earned by playing 3 of a kind in your castle which can create expanded scoring opportunities and even a combo or two.

Once the second round has been completed, players score each castle and the lower value of the two you worked on is your final score. The player with the highest score is the ultimate master builder and everyone else ends up in shackles, in one the newly crafted dungeons.

ARTWORK & COMPONENTS

The artwork here is fairly well done as a whole, but the tiles are pretty small and definitely take away from the impact the art could have had overall on the game. In fact, all my complaints stem from the small size of the tiles. The icons and symbols throughout are really hard to read. This can really be a problem if your play area isn’t ideal, giving you easy access to both of your adjacent castle-building projects.

The tile storage solution is really solid and makes setup and tear down super easy—I love the thought and consideration that went into this.

The rulebook does a good job communicating each tile’s actions. There were only a couple times I had questions about a tile’s scoring requirement, but they are all pretty intuitive and easy to figure out.

PROS & CONS

 Simple gameplay is easy to teach and pick up for new players

 Great storage solution make for an easy setup

 Fun theme and unique gameplay

 Good for both families and gamers

 Effectively managing two castles can be a bit much

 While the scoring is cool in itself, it is a pain to compile at the end of the game

 Gameplay feels a bit dated and dry

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

This is a tile-laying game with a strong puzzle-y element. Players who enjoy abstract games with a stronger theme are going to get the most out of this one.

BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about this game is the unique, cooperative gameplay. While there is only a single winner, players must work with their neighbors to build the most point-tastic scoring castle.

FINAL THOUGHTS

On the surface, Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig is a fairly simple game. During your turn, you draft two tiles and place those tiles. You continue this over 8 turns and that’s it.

The theme does a good job of selling a bigger idea with more backstory that draws you into this world. The tiles have a lot of personality and setup is a breeze, so there is a lot to like from the get-go. I haven’t had the opportunity to play either of the predecessors to Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, so I’m coming in without any expectations or preconceptions.

The semi-cooperative nature of the game really stood out. I love the idea of working with another player in our own little mini game. While I’m sure there are a few, off the top of my head, I can’t think of another game that works quite like this one does.

I’m also a huge fan of open drafting. I love the pick and pass concept especially in games where the hand or tile stack will come back around. That’s likely not the case here since you’re typically playing 3 or more players and the most you’ll see your original hand again is once. In this case, you’re hoping to leave your neighbor with tiles that will benefit and even compliment  your mutual castle. There aren’t any rules to communicating this, but we typically refrained from making suggestions to our neighbor just to keep things civil.

Each tile features some unique scoring path you’ll need to meet to earn points. This might mean how you align tiles within your castle such as placing them next to a certain tile type or surrounding it with another or how many of a certain type live in your castle at the end of the game. This may have been unique when it was first released, but feels a little standard and dated at this point (5 years later). I’m ok with this concept for a single castle, but it feels a little more chaotic than it should when you’re trying to manage two separate castles. As your castle’s grow there is more to keep track of and it becomes a little much for me. When you collect three tiles of the same type, you’re able to earn a bonus. This is a nice addition to the game, but I likely missed out on a few of these because it’s difficult to keep up with all the tiles you and your partner have played.

My biggest struggle is the size of the icons on each tile. It’s critical to be able to easily identify these for strategy and scoring direction, but the icons are so small it’s often hard to make them out sitting between the two structures. There is a lot the developers wanted to include on each tile (artwork & icons) while facing the limitation of keeping them at a decent size. I understand the challenge, but that doesn’t make the players actions any easier. The tiles are a bit of a mess from a functionality standpoint and that definitely affected my enjoyment of the game.

In the end, I really appreciate what Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig is trying to do. It has that nice polish you get from a Stonemier or Bezier game, but it struggles a bit due to some unfriendly concepts. The scoring at the end, while satisfying to an extent, is so tedious that it really deflates any momentum and good will built up over the course of the game. I LOVE the easy setup and clean up and that may be the game’s saving grace. It’s also highly accessible, being easy to teach and could be a lot of fun for gateway gamers looking for a “think-y challenge”. For me, it ends up feeling a little dated and creates speed bumps that bog down the flow and my enjoyment of the game. It’s a game that I wouldn’t be opposed to pulling off the shelf, but I’ll likely recommend two or three others that fill the same void, but do it just a little bit better.

Publisher: Roxley Games / The Op
Player Count: 2-6 Players
Dedicated Solo mode: No
Game Length: 20-40 Minutes
Complexity 2/5

The hugely popular Dice Throne series gets the Marvel treatment in this latest edition of the card playing, dice rolling battle for greatness.

Choose between Thor, Spider-Man, Loki and the Scarlet Witch available in the base game or add Doctor Strange, Black Widow, Black Panther and Captain Marvel through the expansions. Each character has their own strategies and abilities giving you a unique experience no matter which side you’re on. Roll handfuls of dice to activate special abilities and upgrade your character in this tug-of-war, crowd-pleasing combat game.

PLAYING A TURN

The concept is simple: the first player rolls their dice, choses their attack then their opponent rolls for defense. While that’s not all there is to it, you can get an idea of how straightforward the gameplay is for Marvel Dice Throne. Where the game excels is in the presentation and personality infused in each individual character. Each character has its own set of rules and abilities that require its own unique strategy to master.

Each character begins a game with its own base set of actions. Throughout the game you’re managing a heath dial and combo points. Your health dial obviously determines your ability to sustain injury. You’ll be able to exchange combo points to activate cards you’ll draw throughout the game. These cards can provide you instant turn bonuses while others can be used to upgrade your character board to provide more impactful and exciting abilities.

Similar to a game of Yahtzee, the active player will roll 5 dice with the ability to re-roll a total of 3 times to gain their desired combo. Each character has their own custom dice equipped with personalized icons specific to that character and their universe. While multiple abilities can possibly be triggered on one turn, most actions require a set, a run or some unique pairing of symbols. Damage is inflicted on their opponent and then the opponent has an opportunity to respond with any combo cards and a roll of the dice to provide a counter attack.

Where each player truly defines its unique abilities is in their personal play tokens. These tokens can be earned in a variety of ways (I’ll dissect each character individually below) and used to enhance attacks, limit their opponents or just cause trouble.

Play continues until one player’s health has been depleted entirely and a champion is crowned.

UNIQUE GAME EXPERIENCES

Dice Throne is beautifully illustrated and produced. Each character has these unique, dice-cut boards that unfold.  The dice for each character is unique along with custom tokens and a number of special combo cards. Despite all that, each character is a truly asymmetrical strategy that stems from their base actions, upgrades and unique token abilities. I want to briefly break down each character, identifying unique abilities and standout features just to showcase a bit of the game’s depth. Players also have the opportunity to share these tokens so while they’re associated with a certain character that doesn’t mean they’re exclusive to them—this can affect team games or temporary alliances.

THOR – BASE GAME CHARACTER

Thor brings a lot of power to the game with a number of potentially undefendable attacks. A standard turn only allows you to draw 1 additional combo card where Thor can collect Electrokinesis tokens that allow him to draw additional cards which equate to more possibilities. What would a Thor character be without Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer? Thor can throw this at an opponent inflicting damage and later retrieve it. Thor doesn’t have a terribly great base defense, but he makes up for it in offense.

SPIDER-MAN – BASE GAME CHARACTER

Spider-Man is a great beginner character for players. Technically, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, you’ll have a fairly balanced attack and defense board with less complicated token abilities. Spider-Man has speed on his side since he can spend Combo tokens to bring a 2nd attack on a turn. When webbed tokens are activated, his attacks are undefendable. Spider-Man’s unique effect is his ability to turn invisible. This token defends against a typically undefendable attack.

SCARLET WITCH – BASE GAME CHARACTER

Scarlet Witch can be a challenging, but very powerful character if used properly. She has a unique board that uses her spell casting abilities as well as provides a strong defensive skill set that, instead of inflicting damage on the opponent, helps her reload her tokens for a future turn. The Scarlet Witch can change die symbols, exchange and opponents die for one of her own, steal opponents abilities and build attack multipliers with her Crackle effect.

LOKI – BASE GAME CHARACTER

Loki is the god of mischief, and his toolset reflects that persona. His token abilities are a bit of a gamble that can either punish an opponent or benefit them. With the Illusion effect, an opponent chooses between 3 cards: one a benefit, one neutral and one destructive. The Bag of Tricks forces an opponent to roll a die and deal with the repercussions (good or bad). Using the Spellbound token will actually deactivate one of their opponents board actions for that turn. Loki can be a lot of fun, but in a game of dice rolling, it adds even more luck to the pot.

DOCTOR STRANGE – DOCTOR STRANGE VS BLACK WIDOW EXPANSION

Stephen Strange comes with a set spell cards that can be prepared and executed during play… even casting spells from your discard pile makes him even more dangerous. Using Crimson Bands, Doctor Strange can limit an opponent’s ability to play cards. Other tokens allow you to draw additional combo cards and the Deja Vu token allows you to completely restart your roll if things aren’t going your way.

BLACK WIDOW – DOCTOR STRANGE VS BLACK WIDOW EXPANSION

All about espionage, Black Widow can be elusive, deflecting damage. Using Cover Ops, she plays a card drawing game where she can potentially search her deck for board upgrades. Black Widow also has a time bomb token that can be played on an opponent. During each turn, the opponent has to roll a dice and the outcome will either advance the token or defuse it. Once the token reaches zero it causes damage.

BLACK PANTHER – BLACK PANTHER VS CAPTAIN MARVEL EXPANSION

Black Panther has 8 Kinetic Energy tokens. You can increase attacks by 1 for every 2 you have on your board and they restart when you reach the maximum of 8. But… upon reaching 8, you also get a haul where you gain combo points, draw cards and deal 5 damage. So it’s really about choosing the right time to cash in and get the most out of the process. The Vibrant Suit token prevents 3 damage as long as its worn. Depending on the length this token is active, it could mean 2 or 3 more turns in the game and that’s big time.

CAPTAIN MARVEL – BLACK PANTHER VS CAPTAIN MARVEL EXPANSION

Tokens like the Cosmic Ray will give Captain Marvel the ability to add to their attack by rolling additional dice.  The Cosmic Flare deals damage to all opponents. It’s not super powerful (only 1 damage), but it is widespread. Finally the Radiance token allows you to change any dice to any value. Captain Marvel seems to have plenty of punch on her board, but the tokens are just ok in my opinion.

PROS & CONS

Fairly easy to teach

Quick game time

Asymmetrical characters provide plenty of unique experiences

Beautiful, thematic production

Great replayability

Expansions extend the game in unique ways

Dice rolls lead to lots of exciting turns

It’s tough to say if every character is truly balanced

Limited number of combo cards are revealed each game – I want more!!!

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

This is one of the best dice chuckers out there. There are so many fun choices and combos you can build. The game plays quickly and there is tons of variability with different battle combos. Fans of dice games are going to enjoy this version of Yahtzee on steroids.

BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing is how different each character plays. I loved discovering each hero or villain’s abilities and working to implement the best strategy to use them.

FINAL THOUGHTS

When I picked up Marvel Dice Throne I had never played any of the Dice Throne series from Roxley.  I had heard great things about it, but how much fun could a souped up game of Yahtzee be? Additionally, I was feeling a little Marvel exhaustion at the time. I had reviewed Marvel Battleworld which was really for the kids, Marvel: Remix which is a fun, reskinned version of Fantasy Realms and Marvel United that just didn’t sit right with me or my kids. So while I was curious about the Dice Throne line, I wasn’t thrilled to be playing ANOTHER Marvel game.

Thankfully, the beautiful production and artwork were just the beginning. Marvel Dice Throne is a great balance of game length, quality, fun and depth. I love the replayability with the different characters. This is fun for kids of all ages… there really isn’t much here not to like. It is a dice chucker and I know that doesn’t work for everyone, but there’s always going to be a level of excitement rolling dice. The different choices for each character guarantees something cool will happen each turn – so you’re left with nothing from a bad roll.

I was really surprised how different each character plays. And that’s not just trying to learn the character you’re using… Learning your opponents, their abilities and how to defend them is just as much a part of that discovery. On top of that, different players are going to use different characters differently. Add in the player upgrades and combo abilities and there is a lot of depth to this game, but you don’t need to explore all of it to enjoy it.

Another major plus for the game is that it’s really accessible. The individual character abilities might seem a little intimidating at first, but a quick overview of those abilities and you’ll be playing in no time. I think this is also something that works as a family game. The mechanics are fairly simple and younger kids are going to enjoy the characters and theme.

The game also has flexible play modes providing setup for 2v2, 3 player and even games up to 6.

I didn’t know what to expect getting into this, but I’m really glad I had the opportunity to play this. I’m also excited that they made this available in retail stores. This is the type of game that can really cross over and bring new, potential gamers to the hobby. With its beautiful production and exciting actions, it can really serve as a bridge to an entire world of board gaming. Marvel Dice Throne is definitely going to have a place in my collection and I look forward to perfecting my strategies for all the available characters… and hopefully future characters

Publisher: Proposer Hall/Funko
Player Count: 1-4 Players
Solo mode: No
Game Length: 15-30 Minutes
Complexity 1.5/5

Thanos has trapped the most powerful heroes in the Multiverse in mysterious Thanostones and dropped them on his treacherous Battleworld. Your time is now to team up with friends, fight power villains and rescue the heroes to defeat Thanos in this expandable, cooperative, kid-friendly, dice-rolling adventure.

ON YOUR TURN

Each player chooses to play as one of the game’s hero miniatures. Each miniature has its own tile showing that character’s strengths. A certain number of Battle Cards are placed facedown in the play area.

Throughout the game, heroes will be turning over Battle Cards and engaging villains by rolling dice and earning attack hits. Each Battle Card/villain has an attack target number players will be attempting to meet with their die rolls. Each card also features attack types that, when corresponding to a hero’s strength, earns that hero bonus attacks during that battle.

Successful attacks move the player up the hit track for that battle while unsuccessful battles produce misses, advancing that card’s danger track. The hit and danger tracks vary per challenge. If players can successfully advance though that card’s hit track before enduring 3 failures on the card’s danger track, the player wins that battle.

Once all players have taken their turn, a danger coin is flipped for each active Battle Card. If the danger coin matches the danger symbol on the card the danger track advances again. At the end of each turn, more Battle Cards are revealed increasing the urgency.

Marvel Battleworld: Ultimate Armory features armor battles that initially make the battle more difficult. Players can “break” the armor by advancing on the hit track. That hero then has the opportunity to use that armor in future battles giving them bonus attack values.

One of the major draws of Marvel Battleworld is the opportunity to collect new heroes. Each hero comes in a Thanostone cocoon with their identity hidden. Winning a Thanostone Battle allows players to break open the Thanostone revealing a new hero that can join in future battles.

If players are able to achieve a certain number of victories before losing 3 battles, they win the game.

COMPONENTS & ARTWORK

While this is a dice rolling adventure, much of the fun lies in saving and collecting new heroes. These heroes exist in the multiverse and aren’t all your standard Marvel characters. There are characters such as Captain Marvel, Groot and Ms. Marvel, but you can also collect Iron Gwen, Captain America (gladiator) and Iron Ham among others. Each sculpt is kid-friendly and are really fun to play with and display.

PROS & CONS

+ The rule set is super simple and easy for kids age 6+ to grasp and enjoy.

+ Being able to work together cooperatively is a fun and new experience for a lot of younger gamers.

+ The hero miniatures are a real draw (for both young and old) and are fun to collect.

+ The game is challenging enough that victory is far from guaranteed, but not so difficult that players can’t win from time to time.

+ Setup for the games has a number of different modes allowing for different challenges and more player involvement.

– Some of the components (token and markers) are a little small and are easy to lose.

– Like any collectable game, buying additional mystery heroes may leave you with duplicates.

– Kids may want to play as some of the standard characters, but they’ll need to collect those from earlier versions of the game.

WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?

Kid’s are going to love the miniatures. They are a lot of fun and really bring the game to life.

BEST THING ABOUT THIS GAME?

The best thing about the game is how accessible it is for younger kids. They may need some guidance from an adult at first, but after 1 or 2 plays will be ready to take on the multiverse again and again.

PERSONAL THOUGHTS

Marvel Battlefield is a bit of hustle. It’s a game centered around real fun looking miniatures. You save the miniatures during the game and it’s inevitable that your kids ask for MORE battlefield miniatures to save. My kids keep asking and your kids will too. The flip side is, the opportunity to upgrade the game with new characters helps keep the game fresh and ultimately extends the life of the game.

The game takes place in the multiverse so the majority of the characters aren’t your standard character set, but they’re fun, appealing and do a good job of expanding the Marvel Universe. There are a lot of great villains to battle and the idea of saving heroes and physically breaking them open from their Thanostone cocoon is a pretty cool feature.

While the miniatures are the star, the game has a lot of perks younger players will love. Kids are going to love rolling the dice, pushing their luck and interacting with their character. There are some decisions to make as well including finding the best villain to match up with your hero, when to team up against a villain and managing your armor bonuses.

FINAL TAKE

I think the cooperative play is going to appeal to a lot of kids and I could talk more about the pros and the cons, but let’s be honest… if your kid is into Marvel they’re probably going to be into this.

The gameplay is engaging enough that fans of the theme will find it easy to jump into and it’s likely something they’ll play again and again. This has been one that my kids have asked to play repeatedly since we received it.

The miniatures give the game added value combining a collectible they can play with and display along with a kid-friendly board game. Overall,  it’s a fun, safe bet the Marvel fan in your family will be thrilled to play this one.

Published by Grand Gamers Guild
Design and Art by Malachi Ray Rempen
1-4 Players  |  45-90 Minutes

There really hasn’t been a great board game about making movies. We’re not talking about a game based on a movie or movie trivia here, but a legitimate, choose-the-theme, write-the-script, hire-the-talent, film-the-scenes, movie-making experience. Dream Factory, published in 2000 is about as close as it gets, but calling it “great” might be an overstatement. I’ve always been a big movie nut, working at both a video store and movie theater in younger years as well as initially going to school for film. So the idea of a game with an attractive production and modern mechanics promising me the freedom over my big-budget film production is really attractive. 

In Roll Camera! You and your friends take on the role of a movie production crew each wearing the hat of a vital cog in the process (director, producer, editor, etc). The script is ready and the actors are in place. It’s your job to cooperatively shoot the scenes and present new ideas in an effort to finish the film on schedule and under budget. Like any Hollywood production, problems will arise and it will be up to you to overcome those struggles while keeping the shoot moving forward. Will you create the next great Hollywood masterpiece, epically bad B-movie schlock or just another mediocre, direct-to-Netflix library filler.

Let’s take a look at Roll Camera! and see if it makes the cut.

SETUP & HOW YOU PLAY A TURN

Roll Camera! is driven by 6 custom crew dice featuring icons representing different aspects of a movie production. With each turn players will be rolling the dice and assigning them to various tasks throughout the production. Players will complete cooperatively, but each player is responsible for the actions on their turn.

The goal of the game is to successfully shoot 5 scenes and raise the production quality to an acceptable level all while fighting budget and time restraints. If you can accomplish this task before money or time runs out, you win the game and savor the moment of having produced a beloved Hollywood film.

To begin the game, players each receive their own player board giving them a special title and 3 actions available unique to their character. Additionally, players receive idea cards they will use at future production meetings to fix problems and improve the overall production.

The board features a number of on-set areas: the script, available scenes to shoot, movie quality track and the currently filmed movie in the editing room as well as the production set.

Actions on the board always start with the set. Players will have to choose set pieces, place them on the set and then align them in a way they can interact with the necessary dice required by a specific scene. While the set pieces are all made up of 4 smaller squares forming one larger square, it unfolds a bit like a polynomial puzzle. Each set piece contains certain spaces players may place dice. This pattern will need to match the pattern on one of the 3 available scenes to shoot. Once achieved, the scene is moved over to the editing room and becomes part of the final film. Sounds pretty straightforward, right?

It’s not quite so simple. During each turn players will draw from the problem deck. These problem cards will trigger an unfortunate situation that has arisen on the set. It might mean instituting a limitation to a space or certain die for as long as the card is active. Players will need to sacrifice certain combinations of dice to remove these problems or else they’ll continue to plague the production. Fortunately, only 3 problem cards can be active at a time… but that is enough to really cause issues if you let them get out of hand.

Along with building and arranging the set, players can devote dice to hiring an intern (changing a die-face) or having a production meeting. During a production meeting, players will choose one of their idea cards and submit it to the group. These idea cards can provide bonuses or adjustments to help the production run smoother. The active player gets the opportunity to choose one of the ideas and benefits immediately from its abilities.

Each player also has a series of actions on their player board that provide additional (albeit minimal in most cases) benefits to the production.

Over the course of the shoot, time will start to run out along with the budget. Bottoming out on either of these vital areas will force the production to shut down and the movie to remain unfinished.

While a lot of the movie’s “story” sits in the background, serving as window dressing to the primary goals of raising more money or upgrading the movie’s quality, there is a fun aspect to it all. The script is a combination of 2 randomly chosen cards giving you an overview of the story. For example, the movie might be about a beloved grandma or shockingly outrageous morons. This provides you some scene shooting bonuses as well as a thin outline to tell your movie’s story at the end of the game. The editing room portion also weaves a vague outline tying the scene together into a finished narrative.

PLAYER COUNT

Roll Camera! plays at 1-4 players and plays basically the same at each player count. Even the solo mode doesn’t deviate far from the regular game rules.

While the rules don’t change based on the player count, the experience does. The larger the player count, the more interesting all the decisions become because everyone has an opinion. Voting during the production meeting takes on a lot more life. If players are willing to buy into the theme and really embrace their role, the more the merrier.

COMPONENTS & ARTWORK

I have to give respect where respect is due: designer, Malachi Ray Rempen did double duty on both the game’s design and artwork and that’s tough work. The artwork features cartoony, bean-like characters in various situations around the film’s production. It’s all silly and light hearted and I kinda like it. It feels a little dated, but I didn’t have a problem with it paired with the theme. The board could have been executed a little better and it all feels a little loose. Where the artwork shines the best is on the completed, colored film scenes. Once you achieve one of the scene patterns and turn over the scene card it really comes to life.

What really stood out component-wise wasn’t really the piece but the packaging. The Kickstarter version features a cool, movie-style clapper as the box. The player board and pieces fit inside a plastic film reel container creating a really engaging product. The components themselves are ok. The cardboard boards are fine. The player cards are a little thin, but they get the job done. The dial that keeps track of the budget and schedule is pretty cool though. It’s well done and easy to manage, but when flipped over, allows you to easily adjust the difficulty of the game by rotating the dials into a set position. You can easily set this up before the start of the game—very cool concept and execution.

The overall production is fun and does a lot of things right. I feel if it was pushed just a little further it could have been fantastic, but as it is, it’s great for the material.

PROS & CONS OF THE GAME

Pros

While it’s not a huge part of the game, I really loved the story you’re telling through the movie you’re shooting. It’s different every time and it can be really off the wall. It provides a nice payoff and good conversation after the game is over as well. In the middle of shooting we often talked about where the story would go next and what scene we wanted to shoot to tell that story.

One thing that kept everyone engaged was the production meetings. It’s a cool idea to allow everyone to contribute to the meeting with one of their idea cards. Most of the time the best card was obvious, but it was nice when it was your card that got chosen. This all really tied in well with the theme.

Speaking of the theme, I really like the theme and the idea behind the game. I’m a pretty big movie nerd and I enjoyed all the movie making shenanigans that goes on. I don’t know how close to actual movie making the game represents, but it’s something I personally enjoy and the game was good for that.

I really enjoyed pursuing the “so-bad-it’s-good” b-movie greatest movie. In this path you’re seeking to create the worst movie of all time. It kinda of flips the game on it’s head. As you seek b-movie greatest, you risk mediocrity or just plan bad… but for some, it’s a risk you’re going to have to take to gain that cult masterpiece.

Cons

The dice placement mechanic was just ok for me. It often felt more like work that it should have and kinda got lost thematically. This is unfortunate because it’s pretty central to the game. It’s not all bad – just didn’t always get me excited.

I really wanted the part where you dress and film the set to be a little more fun. It’s an interesting mechanic, but I wish, in some way, I was really dressing the set, setting up the lighting and positioning the camera. I realized that’s what the dice placement is trying to convey—I just think I would have liked to have seen this evolve a little more somehow.

While I like the theme, it felt a little disconnected and tacked on to the mechanics. Again, I was hoping for more movie decisions and I ended up just playing the odds of the dice. It was nice that I could play this with my kids and it wasn’t too heavy, but I just didn’t feel connected to the source material as I ran through the turns.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I really enjoyed what Roll Camera! set out to do. If you’re a big movie buff this is probably something that’s going to appeal to you. Everything exists in this fun, silly movie-making world and it’s not a bad place to hangout in for 30-60 minutes.

If you’re here for the mechanics, it’s just ok. The process isn’t too challenging and there is a decent amount of luck in play. The decisions, on the other had, did evoke some good conversation, but sometimes felt a little too obvious for me. More casual players didn’t share that option at all and really enjoyed carefully spending your dice resources. Of course the idea cards and problem deck did throw wrinkles into the game to make it more interesting overall.

The payoff really comes when your movie is finished and you get to go through and retell the story based on the ridiculous scenes you shot. At this point it really becomes your own and leaves you with a good feeling. I could feel the fun building as we added one more scene or moved one step closer to the completed movie.

Roll Camera! works as a silly, easy-to-learn, family-style game. It’s not super deep, but that’s not a bad thing for the right audience. The decisions aren’t heavy and that works well for a younger audience. Kids of all ages are going to enjoy filming and telling the story of their movie.

Designed by Galen Ciscell & Brent Dickman | Art by Vincent Dutrait
Published by Elf Creek Games
1-7 Players  |  60-120 Minutes

The ancient and mystical city of Atlantis is facing its greatest challenge: the island is sinking! It’s up to the society leaders to implement their advanced technological know-how and other-worldly powers to construct a cosmic gate to send the citizens of Atlantis to safety. Time is of the essence and around every corner is some calamity or natural disaster working against you. Can you work to collect the necessary resources and construct the portal before it’s too late? The future of the people of Atlantis depends on it!

In this cooperative, worker placement game, players will be taking turns harvesting the island’s various resources necessary to create the cosmic gate. Meanwhile, the island will endure misfortunes and the wrath of the gods limiting your abilities and ultimately sinking the island bit by bit. Each piece of the cosmic gate will require a different set of resources. As the island continues to sink, the areas to gather resources become less and less available, upping the tension and forcing you to make more and more difficult and challenging decisions.

Designed by Inka Brand, Markus Brand & Juilane Voorgang | Published by KOSMOS
1-4 Players  |  120-180 Minutes

In this incarnation of the highly popular Exit: The Game series from KOSMOS you’re making your way through lush, tropical jungles in a race to discover a hidden temple and save a professor from sinister treasure hunters. You take on the role of a knowledgeable assistant in the university’s Archeology Department who stumbles upon a professor’s office in disarray. While some rare books about a hidden temple are missing… so is the professor. Fortunately, it appears the professor has left clues leading you across the globe in search of adventure and danger.

The Sacred Temple provides a unique spin on the classic Exit: The Game style by combining a series of riddles along with actual puzzles that when pieced together, provide a vivid backdrop for the challenges. Players must use their wits and creativity, often thinking outside the box, to solve a variety of unique puzzles – each taking them one step closer to discovering the secret location of the lost temple and saving the professor from potential doom.

Designed by Kevin Wilson  |  Published by Mondo Games
1 Player | 15 Minutes

A Gentle Rain is engineered to create a peaceful and calming experience full of simple choices and pleasant surprises. Working to match a variety of blossoms, you’ll piece together titles forming a rain-pattered pond. When two-halves of a blossom come together, floating lilies sprout up revealing unique flowers and earning you points. With a little luck and careful planning, you’ll be able to enjoy a lili-dressed pond full of color.