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Game Review: The Guardians Explore
A game I played at the Board Game Bash is now on Kickstarter. It is already fully tested and awesome. So let me tell you a little about it.
Theme
As children, you and your friends are working together to save your neighborhood from scary monsters. You're honing your magic powers and working on additional secret missions as well.
Mechanics
First you figure out how you're going to specialize. You start with two secret quests and two super powers. Then you try to choose additional cards that go with your quests and one of your super powers (you'll only keep the one that matches best with your talents/cards).
Once that's done, you start fighting monsters that appear in your neighborhood. Once you've cleared out all the monsters from one spot, say the school, you can keep it safe with a blanket fort. Sometimes there's a monster so big you have to work together to be able to conquer it.
It's cool that everyone collects their cards and figures out their attack strategy at the same time. Then you take turns attacking monsters.
Whoever is most effective at killing off the monsters and completing their secret quests wins.
Learning
It's complex, but I found it easier to play the first time than 7 Wonders, so I think this makes an even better gateway game. Even if you're clueless about the game, there's a list of cards that go great with each super power, so it's easy to get a decent deck. And then there aren't quite so many ways to make points.
There's a way to make the game half as long for beginners.
Fun
So, will you like it? Hard to say. I don't even know who you are right now.
It's sort of like a deck-building game, only you don't have to buy extra cards on your own to get the best deck--all the cards are there, each person is equally likely to get each card, and you can probably get a decent but not perfect deck to start with.
Then the game is mostly cooperative--you aren't attacking each other at all--though you are also competing to be the best. You get to spend time concocting a strategy, and your strategy might not work perfectly, but it won't be shockingly ruined over and over.
Your powers get stronger as you continue, but so do the monsters.
The artwork is pretty nice.
Value
This is definitely one of the nicer games I've played. I should have written a review earlier as there are only eight days left on Kickstarter. For $44 (including shipping) you can get your own copy delivered right to your house next spring.
For more information, check out the Kickstarter link above. There are a lot of reviews. I like the Cloak and Meeple one near the bottom of the page.
Let me know if you have questions.
Theme
As children, you and your friends are working together to save your neighborhood from scary monsters. You're honing your magic powers and working on additional secret missions as well.
Mechanics
First you figure out how you're going to specialize. You start with two secret quests and two super powers. Then you try to choose additional cards that go with your quests and one of your super powers (you'll only keep the one that matches best with your talents/cards).
Once that's done, you start fighting monsters that appear in your neighborhood. Once you've cleared out all the monsters from one spot, say the school, you can keep it safe with a blanket fort. Sometimes there's a monster so big you have to work together to be able to conquer it.
It's cool that everyone collects their cards and figures out their attack strategy at the same time. Then you take turns attacking monsters.
Whoever is most effective at killing off the monsters and completing their secret quests wins.
Learning
It's complex, but I found it easier to play the first time than 7 Wonders, so I think this makes an even better gateway game. Even if you're clueless about the game, there's a list of cards that go great with each super power, so it's easy to get a decent deck. And then there aren't quite so many ways to make points.
There's a way to make the game half as long for beginners.
Fun
So, will you like it? Hard to say. I don't even know who you are right now.
It's sort of like a deck-building game, only you don't have to buy extra cards on your own to get the best deck--all the cards are there, each person is equally likely to get each card, and you can probably get a decent but not perfect deck to start with.
Then the game is mostly cooperative--you aren't attacking each other at all--though you are also competing to be the best. You get to spend time concocting a strategy, and your strategy might not work perfectly, but it won't be shockingly ruined over and over.
Your powers get stronger as you continue, but so do the monsters.
The artwork is pretty nice.
Value
This is definitely one of the nicer games I've played. I should have written a review earlier as there are only eight days left on Kickstarter. For $44 (including shipping) you can get your own copy delivered right to your house next spring.
For more information, check out the Kickstarter link above. There are a lot of reviews. I like the Cloak and Meeple one near the bottom of the page.
Let me know if you have questions.