Go on an epic quest, fight, and level up in Adventure Tactics: Adventures in Alchemy by Letiman Games.

Pros

• Proven Game
• Proven Company
• Light-weight dungeon crawler
• Leveling Up
• Light-weight Story Game

Cons

• Light-weight Dungeon Crawler
• Light-weight Story Game
• No Base Game Only Pledge
• Too Many Minis

The Page

Letiman Games really burst onto the scene with Adventure Tactics: Domianne’s Tower not that long ago. The game got a ton of praise from the Dice Tower and other places. Mainly for two things, firstly it was a family weight dungeon crawler. So easy to play with younger kids, but still interesting for adults, and that is kind of hard to do. And then the leveling up system, but I’ll talk about that more later.

Now the page itself is good. Like I said, Letiman Games is an established company. They lay out things well and everything makes sense for the different goal levels. But I will knock them on two things with this page.

Firstly, there is no base game only pledge. I think there would be a lot of people who missed the first Kickstarter, maybe thought the game looked too simple, who would want to back it now. But that isn’t an option and over on the Letiman Games website, the base game is sold out as well. This Kickstarter is clearly doing well without that option. Lots of people are getting the expansion and the base game. But they could probably be getting more.

Secondly, all the minis. Now, it’s rare for me to say that minis are a bad thing. And I don’t know that they really are, but part of the charm of the game was that you have nice art for characters that made the game bright and pop. Now you still have those standees, but you can also get plain grey minis that you need to paint to make them look good. And not just for your hero but for the monsters. I think that a lot of people will get the minis, never paint them, and never play with them. I get it that they get more money, but the minis seem like a trap on this one.

The Game

The game, however, seems really cool. I’ve played a lot of dungeon crawls, and I like that this one is targeted for younger players. And I don’t feel like it loses much of anything for adults who are playing the game. With that said, I am not completely sure as an adult that I would want to get to game just for myself to play. Now, I do have a toddler, so eventually he will get roped into playing some games, but that’s several years down the line.

I like that turns are done via cards and dice. If it were only dice with a fixed amount of movement, I feel like that would make the game boring. If it were only cards, I might be fine with that, but I do like rolling a chunk of dice. I think for younger players rolling the dice is a lot of fun as well. Now, with having played Gloomhaven and Tainted Grail, I like combat without dice, but don’t mind dice in my combat.

And I love the leveling up system. The leveling up system is really the best part of the game I think. It is really simple, complete an battle, level up. That means you get a new card to add to your deck, and you can multiclass in this. I think that is where it’ll be really fun for adults. Now I create a hybrid of three different classes and get a prestige class opened to me, that is awesome. I wish more games gave you that option for leveling up your characters.

Back or Brick

So is this game a Back or Brick for me? Right now, Adventure Tactics: Adventures in Alchemy is a brick for me. I say that wanting to back the game. I really want to play the game as well. What is holding me back right now is that my toddler is two and a half. I won’t play this game with him for a long time. Sure I could play with friends, but do I want to spend over $100 on a game that I really want to play with my kid? I

f I were to back this game, I want there to be a base game only option. With that said, everyone seems to love this game, so back it if you know you you want to play it with. When it is back in stock, I will likely pick it up from Letiman Games webstore, but for now, I am passing on this game. And I hope that it makes it to a lot of FLGS’s from this Kickstarter. I love that they are putting it out there as a game for families, but not a game that is just a kids game.

Is Adventure Tactics: Adventures in Alchemy a back or a brick for you? What has sold you on it, or what it keeping you from backing it?

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