What’s Deck Building and List Criteria

Deck building is when in a game you are adding cards to a deck or cards that you then draw and play from. IT is not a game where you build a custom deck to start and no cards are added during the game to that deck of cards. This eliminates games like Arkham Horror The Card Game, Marvel Champions and Star Wars Unlimited from being on the list.

For this list, one of the important elements is that it needs to matter in the game. There are some games where you maybe add a card or two during the game. Those aren’t going to be making the list. I’ll talk in each about how much the deck building matters in the game.

Top 10 Deck Building Games

10. The Quest for El Dorado

The Quest for El Dorado is the only deck building racing game that I have on the list. In fact, I’m not sure that I can think of any. Heat can have a drafting element before the rest to kind of create some deck construction, but that’s it.

This one is all about getting to El Dorado as quickly as you can with your explorer. You play out cards matching terrains to be able to move along. And there are big blocks of different terrains, so you build up your deck one way and then you need to be able to pivot away from that or not get so deep in that because you need to get cards for the next terrain type as well.

One of the cool thing about this game is that as you empty out piles or cards, the next player picks what new stack of cards is going to go into that pile. It creates this interesting element where the players are the ones who set the market.

9. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is the one campaign game on the list. Though there are two more that offer campaign modes. But this one is only a campaign game where you play through the books of the Harry Potter series. It’s a fun game as you add new spells to your deck and you balance getting cards to get better spells and getting spells to help deal with the threats that can start to pile up.

There is a negative to this game. While it does offer cool unlocks of new things that are added for each book, there are also the same bad guys. So each time you play there are more and more bad guys. Now your deck should be getting more powerful because of the added cards, but you don’t carry anything over. So while I enjoy this game, it’s not one that stuck in my collection because it’s not too fast.

8. Knights of the Hound Table

Knights of the Hound Table is a game that I need to get played again. After playing it at Gen Con I decided I should pick it up. This game is an interesting little game where you are adding dog knights to your deck and them facing them off against your opponent.

You play out three cards each turn and depending on how the fight goes, that is going to determine who gets to buy first and who is gaining points in the game. Each card is going to give you something special. The ones on either end of the three you play give you attack and defense, respectively. Then the one in the middle is going to give you a special power of some sort (I believe I have that order correct). So it becomes an interesting little game of how you can manipulate your hand of cards to get a winning combination out there.

7. Hero Realms

Hero Realms is another two player head to head game, or it can be solo/cooperative against a boss/enemy deck. But I like this game a lot as a two player head to head game. You are trying to whittle down the other players health.

To do this you are playing out troops and they can either attack your opponent, assuming there is no enemy troop who forces you to attack them first. Plus there are other cards that offer more than just troops. Some of it might be money to buy more cards. Or you might be healing up and keeping ahead of your opponent that way.

The game also has a lot of expansions. I really like to use the characters for the game. Each character is going to provide a slightly different starting set-up and some powers that you can use throughout the game. It is going to give you a bit more of that asymmetrical experience while keeping the goal the same.

6. Ascension

Ascension is the most straightforward of the deck building games on the list. It is about grabbing cards, fighting monsters, and getting points. It’s one of two deck building games that I would consider great spots to get into deck building that I’ve played. The other being Dominion. But I don’t like Dominion that well and I think that it struggles more disparity in player experience.

There are three big things that I like better about Ascension. Firstly there are monsters. So it is not just about buying cards to get the victory point cards, you also want to buy troops to fight the monsters and get victory points from killing them. You also have a changing market. By that I mean that when a monster is defeated or a card is bought a new random one is flipped out. Finally are the constructs which stay in play. They give you a bonus that keeps going from round to round, unless your opponent destroys them.

5. Mistborn

Now we move onto the newest game on the list. Mistborn is a competitive deck building game to see who can be the best Mistborn. Or you can play it cooperatively against the Lord Ruler. You can see that cooperative style of game on the Malts and Meeples YouTube and down below.

Both ways work well for the game. And while it is a deck building game, the game offers some very unique things. The big one is that it pulls in burning metals like they do in the Mistborn books. And as you go through the game you get better at burning metals. That means that you can burn more on your turn which means that you can play more cards.

I also like that you can burn the metal on a card to play another card. It offers just a little bit more strategy. And I mentioned leveling up. The game is great with that because you level up each turn. And sometimes you can play cards to make that move faster. But it means that you feel more powerful and also can push the end game faster as you get further into the game. So it doesn’t stagnate in what you can do.

4. Clank! (All Versions)

This spot on the list includes Clank! The Adventure Deck Building Game, Clank! In! Space! and Clank! Catacombs. I recommend if you are starting out, get Clank! Catacombs. That is the newest one but all of the games generally follow the same system. The system is get into the dungeon/spaceship, grab a big treasure and get out.

Clank! is a deck building game that is competitive again, I have one more competitive one on the list. But what you can do to mess with other players is limited. Instead, your big concerns are making too much noise, clank, and then the monster drawing them out of the bag and damaging you and knocking you out before you can get out.

The deck building is all about pushing further into the dungeon. You want to grab cards that are going to let you move. But you also need cards to deal with the monsters or get coins to buy from other markets and grab points that way. The game gives you a lot of ways to get points while also giving you a very nice push your luck feel as you try and race back out once you’ve gotten your treasure. Because when people grab treasure that is going to push the game closer to the end.

3. Lost Ruins of Arnak

Lost Ruins of Arnak is the game on the list that is way more than just a deck building game. And you don’t always draw a ton of cards in the game. So as you build your deck, you might find that you only see cards one or two times. But the deck building is important in this game, as is the worker placement and resource gathering.

Let’s mainly talk about the cards. The cards are always going to augment what you can do in the game. There are two different types that I like as well. There are goods cards which you can buy, and they go to the bottom of your draw pile. So for a game with only a few turns it means that you see those cards quickly. And then there are relic cards that you get to use immediately, without paying their cost and then discard.

I had someone explain them to me this way. Relics are things you find while you explore the Lost Ruins. So it makes sense you can use them right away. The goods, though, are being shipped over to your expedition. So they take a bit more to get to you.

2. Xenoshyft: Onslaught

Xenoshyft: Onslaught is one of my favorite deck building games and just games overall. The first part I guess I didn’t need to say, really. But I love how cooperative this game is. And the final two deck building games on the list are cooperative.

In Xenoshyft, you are battling waves off bug aliens who want to destroy your base. So it is really a tower defense game. And each player has their own side of the tower that they defend against. But the total health of the tower, that is shared across all the players and all sides of the base.

There are a few things that make me love this game. Firstly, the game feeds you money. For each wave you get through you get more and more money. And that corresponds with unlocking better and better troops. So you are always able to buy troops.

I also love how cooperative this game is. I use my cards like grenades or healing on your turn defending the tower. In fact, we talk through that and work through that all together. But there is more than that. Maybe you didn’t draw enough troops because you have a lot or armor. Well, I can just play a troop your side of the base and now that is your card. Or maybe you have an extra weapon. You can equip that card to one of my troops and now that stays in my deck.

1. Aeon’s End

The final game on the list is cooperative and it has a campaign. I love Aeon’s End, and there is a ton of it to choose from. This game is all about surviving a big boss fight. And the bosses, called nemesis, all are slightly different. And the mages that you play, they are all slightly different as well. So your strategy each game is going to change depending on the mages that you play with and nemesis that you are going up against.

One of the big unique things for Aeon’s End is that you don’t shuffle your deck. That seems like one of the standards for deck building, but it’s a negative to shuffle your deck. When you buy cards they go to your discard. And after you are done buying and playing cards, you take those cards that would go to the discard and put them into the discard in the order that you want. So you can try and split-up cards if you get too many spells by each other, or you can create combos in your funding to really optimize your money.

Finally, I like how the spell and turn systems work. Though, the turn system make it so that I think Aeon’s End is a two player game or solo. The turn order is random and you draw a card to see who goes. With more than two, it can be a long time between turns. But with two, players get to go twice in a shuffle of turn order cards with the nemesis going twice as well. And that works well because you play a spell one turn and shoot if off the next. So you feel like you are doing stuff each round.

Final Thoughts

I managed to get 13 games into a Top 10 list. I like deck building and I think there is a ton of fun going on with it. There are other games that I want to play that have deck building in them, or ones that just missed the list. Shadowrun Crossfire is one that I enjoy but I need to play more of it. And Etherfields has a deck building component to it. So does Dune Imperium, which I own but have yet to play. And I suspect that if I were to think about it, there are a few more as well that could have made the list, or have that element that I need to play.

What is your favorite deck building game?

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How To Play Astro Knights

Astro Knights is a deck building and boss battling game. Your end goal is to defeat the boss. You need to do that before the boss runs out of level cards, we’ll talk about those, knocks out both characters, or destroys the home world that you are defending.

Player Turns

Turns consist of players firing weapons that they have in play. Playing out weapons and spending the currency to buy more cards. The weapons you fire go into your discard pile. Then any cards you buy go into your discard. Finally, you set the order of the cards going into your discard pile that you play out. While most of them are just currency, there are tech cards as well that might be in the mix.

When you spend your currency there are three things that you spend it on. The first is buying more cards. These are weapons, more currency, or tech cards. You also can unlock more slots to hold more weapons. And finally, you can power up your character. Each character has their own special ability that needs varying number of power-ups charged to make it work. Each power up costs two currency, and each slot coats three. Cards depend on that card.

Then you draw up to your hand size of five cards. If you run out of cards to draw, you flip the discard pile. You don’t shuffle the discard pile, you just flip it, and you draw from there. So if you plan things out, you can set-up combos for yourself or keep a good distribution of purchase power and weapons.

Boss Turns

The boss also gets a turn. Each boss is going to play differently and have some unique rules. But there are some elements that are always the same. First, you activate anything, either on the boss or minions, that says activate. Then you draw a new card. It is either going to be a minion, which goes into play, or an action card. If it is an action card, do what it says and discard it.

If the boss is out of cards you shuffle up the boss cards. And you play out the next level of card for that boss. Generally bosses have a few levels that you play through. The levels generally add a new condition, like the boss powering up, and additional health to the minions. And as I said, if the boss needs to shuffle to draw a card and there are no level cards, you lose the game.

The final thing here, with one thing for the differences between Astro Knight and Aeon’s End coming later, is that turn order is random. In a two player game there are two cards for player one, two for player two and two for the boss. You shuffle those up and randomly flip them out. It is possible to get the boss going four turns in a row. Or it’s possible for the players to go eight turns in a row.

What’s Different from Aeon’s End

The Boss Cards

There are are a few differences between Aeon’s End and Astro Knights. The first being what I talked about with the boss. In Aeon’s End, the boss never reshuffles their cards. I like this element of the game because it gives the boss an interesting timing mechanism and a chance to beef up in power as they level up. Now it isn’t the cards that level up but the boss and that makes it easier to table.

In Aeon’s End, you would need to pull out boss cards and other cards to mix together to make the boss deck. Here, each boss has their own deck. And you only need to sort the cards in there a little bit to create the starting deck. Because the starting deck is determined by the player count. So fewer players, the faster the boss is going to shuffle up their cards.

The Card Market

One element that I glossed over in the how to play is purchasing cards. I think if you are familiar with a deck builder you know how that works. But the market is a bit different. In Aeon’s End you have nine cards. There are three piles of currency, two of artifacts (or tech in Astro Knights terms) and four for your spells (weapons in Astro Knights). All the cards in each pile are going to be the same.

In Astro Knights the market is a bit different. You still have piles of cards that are specific types of things. Two are going to be piles for currency, cheap and more expensive, one for tech, and then three for weapons. The big thing is that the piles are not all the same card. Instead, they are cards in a range. The first weapon pile, for example, is weapons that cost two or three. Then the next one is four through six. And the last one is even or higher.

So, you won’t know what is going to be flipped. But if one weapon or tech doesn’t synergize well with a character, you don’t have a whole stack of only that weapon like you do in Aeon’s End with spells.

But these are the two big differences for the game. Now back to the normal review. I just wanted to call these out so if you’re like me and love Aeon’s End, you’ll know if the differences are enough for you.

What Doesn’t Work

I think the one thing that I’d say here is that the market can sometimes not be great. If you end up with cards either that don’t work with your character that well, or are on the upper price of their pile, you might have a turn where there isn’t much to buy. Now, that is when you power up or buy a new slot. But you can’t assume or plan that a card is going to be there to buy.

The game is also like Aeon’s End where I think that it is probably better as a solo or two player game. The reason for that is that at higher player counts the turn order deck is going to change. You always have four player cards and two boss cards. So at a four player game it is possible that someone could be first one shuffle and last the next shuffle. That means that they have ten turns between their turns.

What Works

Now as a two player game, I want to say, or solo, this is great. Because it is an even number of turns you never way too long. Plus, there is an element of excitement that can come going back to back. Or even having three or four player turns in a row. Because it means you can do a lot of damage to the boss.

I really like how the bosses work. This is one area where I definitely see it as a step above from Aeon’s End. But I think this is one area where it is nicer. I like how each boss has it’s own deck of cards. That means it is easier to play any given boss. But it’s also fun with the level up. You feel like the game is escalating in difficulty. And while I get that feeling in Aeon’s End as well, Astro Knights is a bit smoother.

I like the ease of set-up of the game as well. I just said that the boss is easier to get out and play, it is very true. But it is also easier for the market as well. For me the changes to the market are kind of “meh”. I like having the fixed market in Aeon’s End because you can create some interesting strategies around it. But at the same time, this is faster to set-up. I don’t need to look for specific piles or cards, are just shuffle up and go with them.

Who Is Astro Knights For?

I think this is a game for people who like Aeon’s End but want a game to get to the table easier. Or people who like Sci-Fi and deck building and maybe don’t like fantasy as well. It isn’t enough of a change from Aeon’s End that Astro Knights would be a game you like if you don’t like Aeon’s End. But if you like deck building, I think that you’ll enjoy it. And it is probably great, like I said, for that ease of getting it to the table compared to Aeon’s End.

Final Thoughts on Astro Knights

I enjoy this game a lot. I’m not sure that I like it better than Aeons’ End though. Some of that is that Aeon’s End has had a legacy version, and I enjoy a good legacy game. Plus I own so much for Aeon’s End that I have an insane amount of variety.

But I do think there is a difference between the two that are going to keep both in my collection. Mainly, Aeon’s End is a game that I need to plan out when I’m going to play it. For that reason, it is more likely that I will play it solo. But Astro Knights, on the other hand, with the ease of set-up and ease of getting the boss ready, that is going to be a game where I can see playing it randomly and just pulling it off the shelf. Both, though, still have the limitation that I would probably only play them as solo or at two.

My Grade: A
Casual Grade: B
Gamer Grade: B+
Strategy (out of 10): 7
Luck (out of 10): 5

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Top 5 Anime Board Games

5. Sword Art Online: Fellowship of Swords

This is one where it is based on an anime, and one that I really like, Sword Art Online. Let me just say, if this game wasn’t based on SAO, I wouldn’t own it. It’s a pretty simple Yahtzee like game where you collect dice to use for attacks. There isn’t much you can do to manipulate the dice, so you roll, keep and hope you hit. And then, if you hit, you deal out damage and if you hit well, you “switch” with another character.

The concept is fun, but this is where I struggle with games based on anime. The concept of the game is actually interesting, but when it comes to execution, it’s only partly done. The choices are limited and don’t leave me feeling like I made too many decisions. I think I make more decision in Yahtzee than in Sword Art Online: Fellowship of Swords.

4. Krosmaster Arena/Quest

I thought about a couple of battle games on this list. Through, I put both Krosmaster Arena and Quest on here. They both use the same IP which is again anime or animated anyways. The characters feel like they belong in an anime.

In Krosmaster Arena, you beat up other characters, knock them out, and collect gold to be the first one to a number of points. Or you play where you just knock them out. In Quest, well, it is going to add in quests. This game is fun because you build your team and can tailor the game play to what you want to do. Similar in nature to Super Fantasy Brawl, though it came out first, I prefer Super Fantasy Brawl, Krosmaster just gives the anime feel.

3. Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 1

I said there would be one I haven’t played on the list. Here it is. Middara is one I’ve messed around with and watched played. But this is clearly an anime inspired game. The whole setting and lots of story lean into that. In fact if you watch the videos around the game and how it works, it even doubles down on feeling like that.

This is the only one of these games that is a campaign game. So good for me with with. As most of the other campaign games fall into the space or fantasy category. I say that, but also that is the character I want more anime games. Good anime builds rich story. The ones above, they don’t as much.

2. Bullet *Star*

The other one I need to play still is Bullet. You pick if you want Bullet Star or Orange or whatever it might be. In Bullet from Level 99 Games you play as an anime character using your powers to deal with bullets that are coming down and putting them onto a bad guy or your opponents.

From what I remember about this game, it is a fast one. The game itself goes quickly as you use your powers to play out cards and get those bullets where they need to go. But the game itself is pattern manipulation. You play out cards to clear off your board. It’s one that I need to learn so I can play it solo some Monday night on Malts and Meeples.

1. Aeon’s End/Astro Knights

Finally, we have Aeon’s End or Astro Knights. These two games are the same game, generally. Using a system of readying attacks and then attacking in a deck building game. Also no shuffling of that deck you build, you just build, flip the deck and continue when everything hits the discard pile. Theoretically you can set yourself up some with how cards hit the discard. And it does work, sometimes.

But why that theme of anime? I think that Aeon’s End borrows some story elements from anime. When I went through the legacy version, I got some feeling of an anime like Gurren Lagann. And I think that Astro Knights leans more into that anime style artwork. So it’s nice to see a board game, like Middara, take inspiration from anime to build it’s own world.

Final Thoughts

I will continue to harp on this for a long time until there are good games based on anime. I do want to try the Cowboy Bebop Deck building game. But so many anime driven games are focused on basic mechanisms with a few cards that give you the theme while otherwise being a generic game. Anime is rich and full of tons of different stories.

Maybe the trick is that an anime game works if it is themed to feel like anime, not based on an actual one. It is possible that the IP’s are held too tightly to allow for good game creation around them. If that is the case, it’s sad, and I hope that changes.

What’s your favorite game with an anime theme or feel?

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Top 10 Board Games I’m Excited To Get in 2023

10. Fliptown

Now this one is kind of outside the type of game that I tend to back on crowdfunding, but it is one that I’m anticipating. It’s a small roll and write game, or flip and write, where it’s set in the wild west and you are flipping cards and using them in different ways. And that’s what intrigues me so much about it. It’s like Welcome To… in some ways where you use multiple cards each turn. But it offers, what appears to be more options and very interesting options in the game. Plus it looks pretty from what I saw on Kickstarter.

9. HEL: The Last Saga

I’m not sure where I want to place this one on the list. Mythic Games is going through some rough times financially. And I do believe their commitment to getting this game out, but it’s also late. In terms of the game, though, it’s a cooperative campaign game and a Viking saga. So two things that I like. And I’m confident that I’ll enjoy it when it does come, I just hope that the extra time and struggle turn out a great game and get Mythic Games going strong again. Because I really enjoy the games that Mythic has made.

8. Mythwind

This is one that I have no idea how it will be. But it’s from OOMM Games and I own Stars of Akarios which I love from them. Mythwind is supposed to just be a game that you can keep playing and playing and playing. There is no end, like a Stardew Valley. There might be new stuff that come up and stuff that you can build up, but there’s no hard stop win condition. Will I like a game like that? I don’t know. Will a game like that even work? I don’t know. But I’m hoping it’s a relaxing game to play that I can set-up and just enjoy.

7. RoboMon

I went back and forth on backing this one for a long time before I decided to late pledge it. It’s a solo game that sounds like it should be like Pokemon, but with robots. I never was into Pokemon all that much, came about just a little bit too late for me, and my money was going to baseball cards at that time. RoboMon looks like a nice cooperative game though, and I enjoy the artwork. I hope that it’s a simple campaign game that I can mess around with and show off. And if it’s that, and I can get some good fun out of it, I’ll be excited for that, because I want more smaller solo games.

6. Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread

I late pledged this one as well, and this is not a small game. But it is a game that does something that I find really intriguing. It has you play the game at a few different levels. Oh, I should say, epic, big campaign game. But you do one level that’s a country, let’s say, then dive down into moving around in a city, and then dive down into street tactical combat.

All of that in the same game, and I’m excited to see how that works and how easy it is to play it. I’m worried it might end up like Chronicles of Drunagor, a game I love, but that is harder to table. But Arydia seems to have a ton of cool ideas.

5. 20 Strong

A solo game from Chip Theory Games, I’m interested. I’ve enjoyed the Chip Theory stuff I’ve played a lot. And 20 Strong is a whole new setting, so I’m curious about what that will look like. Plus it’s a whole new game system, it uses dice and has a chip, but it’s not like Too Many Bones. And it is only meant to be played solo as well as meant to be a much smaller game and easier to get to the table than a lot of their big ones. Plus they’ve done games in a new setting, space setting, plus versions with two of their existing settings as well.

4. The Isofarian Guard

Another solo campaign game. You might see a theme that a lot of these games can be played solo and are campaigns. Isofarian Guard is one that’s been on my radar for a long time since I watched a Rolling Solo preview for it and I didn’t back it then. I did late pledge it as BoardGameCo and Quackalope did some coverage. I saw that it was still what had intrigued me, this story element and bag building, all at a price that is insanely low for everything in there now.

That price point got me, plus it’s so much story and in a world that looks like it has so much development. It was so cheap to buy and late pledge that I wouldn’t even complain if they came back asking for more. I hope they don’t, but it’d be reasonable. I’m excited to see what the game is in the end.

3. Vampire the Masquerade: CHAPTERS

Another one that I can blame Quackalope for. This is a massive choose your own adventure game set in a world where there are vampires and they try and influence from the shadows. There are a ton of chapters and story to this game. The whole setting sounds great to me, and I like that it’s not just vampires sucking blood and violence. Instead, this game has combat that you can get down to, but also has a lot of interactions and story behind it.

Is it another big campaign game that I can play solo, yes it is, but I hope it’s one that stands out from the crowd, and everything I’ve seen says that it should. And I hope that all the work they’ve put into the story, as there is a lot of story, turns out an amazing game.

2. Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies

I love Sleeping Gods. I get rules wrong in my playthrough, but I still just love the game. In fact, I’d play it the way that I did, it makes it easier, but you get to experience so much story in the game. And Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies takes that system an iterates on it. I’m curious to see how the combat changes up in it.

And I know it fixes or not really fixes, but matches one thing that I did. You keep cards when you hit those big story points, it didn’t thematically make sense to lose them, so I’m glad that has changed. Another solo adventure game, or multiplayer, but this time without that big campaign element to it.

1. Frosthaven

Finally, yes, it’s probably coming in a month or less, I have Frosthaven. The big sequel to Gloomhaven that adds a little bit, a town phase, and then it’s just Gloomhaven combat. From what I’ve heard and know about it, it’s even bigger, the story sounds better, and there are more elements to the game. Will it be too much, probably and probably not, and I’ll enjoy every minute of it. So yes, I’m very excited to wrap up my current campaign game and then get to Frosthaven.

But What About…

There are a number of games that I wanted to put on this list. Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin, Primal: The Awakening, Unsettled, The Witcher: Old World, Divinus, 7^th Citadel, and Astro Knights just to name a few. If I’ve got it pre-ordered or backed right now, I expect almost all of them to show up in 2023. And, well, I could have just ranked them all, but it was fun to pick out 10 that I’m very excited for, for various reasons. And I’m sure when a lot of them come in, you’ll see them on Malts and Meeples.

What backed game do you have, or pre-ordered, that you can’t wait to have come in?

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The $1 Crowdfunding Pledge

Let’s talk about the $1 pledge level. Why do I pledge at that level sometimes, and how often do I get more?

So what is a $1 pledge? It is basically a cheap way to get the updates on a Kickstarter campaign. With Gamefound you can follow along if you subscribe to it. But Kickstarter, is is $1 and often times it gives you access to the pledge manager as well.

The nice thing about a $1 pledge is that you don’t need all the money at once. If both Final Girl and Marvel Zombies run at the same time – they did – then you don’t need to give both of them a couple hundred dollars right at the same time. You back $1 now you can get one now and save up for the other one later.

But how often do I back for $1, once in a while, and I’d say maybe 2 out of the 6-7 that I did that with, I ended up adding in the pledge manager. One, for sure, that I did was The Witcher: Old World. And I believe there was another that I added. I don’t care enough, most of the time, to do $1 and get the updates.

The Drink

A Negroni again. It’s such a good drink, again a warm day and one that is nice to have on a day like that. But a good drink to have stuff around for. It is really one that I like to sip while grilling as well. On a hot summer day it is refreshing and with some ice in there, it doesn’t feel water down when the ice melts.

Upcoming Streams

Tomorrow I’ll be streaming, I think my plan is more Paper Dungeons. So join for some fun to play along. I’m still working my way through that campaign.

I talked about this on the stream, and maybe I’ll talk about it more tomorrow. But I am getting a gaming table with a topper. That will allow for me to leave a bigger campaign game set-up on the lower level and put the top on when I want to play something else. So once that comes, I am going to be getting back to streaming a larger game.

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All Systems Go

Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons

A new D&D book, Fizban’s is all about dragons. I buy it mainly to get the stat blocks so that I can run even more dragons. But the books generally have solid lore in them as well. And while my Dungeons and Dragons isn’t run in a setting of the game most of the time, knowledge of the lore helps me build out my own worlds for my games.

Marvel Champions – Valkyrie

I believe that she was the most recent one to come out. So, really, no shock that I bought the next small expansion. Thankfully my wallet gets a bit of a reprieve while waiting for Sinister Motives to come out, though that might be coming out soon.

Battlestar Galactica

Yup, this is the grail game that I found, BSG. Now, I own Unfathomable and I probably don’t need to own both. But BSG, I love the theme, even though I thought the new show was just okay. And I know a lot of people who like to play it. Granted, a number of them own it with the expansions, but that’s okay. It’s one that I want to own just because it’s not going to become easier to find. And I will play it once in a while.

Crowdfunding

Astro Knights

Astro Knights, which I wrote about here, is the successor to Aeon’s End. Or a streamlined Aeon’s End, or Aeon’s End in space at least. I didn’t originally plan to back this one on Kickstarter, but the price point is very good. Will it be cheaper in retail, possibly? But I suspect the price with the expansion ends up being the same. And Indie Boards & Cards while not making many things Kickstarter exclusive, does do a few things.

Wine Management

And then there is Wine Management. Wine Management is a print and play roll and write game. And I wouldn’t normally look at them. But I like roll and write games. And printing off some sheets and then laminating them. I backed a D&D related thing, so when I saw this come up, I thought I would give it a try. If I find the game dull or too complex, or whatever, I didn’t spend much on it.

GameNerdz

Sleeping Gods: Dungeons

I would already own this, and I want the other expansion which is more maps, but it’s been hard to find. I don’t know what the Dungeons add, I am assuming just more locations or more story that you can delve into. Maybe more story that is strung together more closely than a lot of what you find the world. But if I can add it in mid game, I will when it shows up.

Thunderworks Games

Roll Player Adventures: Nefras’s Judgement

It’s an expansion to Roll Player Adventures which I want to start playing soon. Nefras’s Judgement adds in more story to the game. 300+ pages of character backstory, backstory boards, trackers, and some new discovery cards.

From what I can tell if it’s going to just add more depth to the characters. When you pick a character, now you get some different backstory quests and story woven around them. I don’t know that it is needed, but I do think it’ll add to the fun of the game.

CoolStuffInc

Atlantis Rising: 2nd Edition

Atlantis Rising is a game that I have wanted for a while. Zee Garcia from the Dice Tower really likes the game. And as a cooperative game fan, I think it looks very cool. Plus the mechanics just make the game seem unique to me. In particular, you can go out to the end of one of the peninsulas of Atlantis, and you’ll do something awesome, unless it sinks. So there is a cool push your luck element to the game. I’m excited to play this one when it comes in.

Set a Watch: Swords and The Coin

And then a solo game, though, technically 1-4. Generally I know about Set a Watch from the solo community. In this game, you are adventurers who go around deal with monsters, but one adventurer is always tending the fire, keeping it lit and keeping a watch. So there are a number of things to keep track of. It’s a solo game so very much interested me to track it down.

Which Is Most Exciting?

I think I’m most excited to get in Nefras’s Judgement. Like I said, I don’t believe that this needed for the game. I do think that it’ll add in some more fun depth for the characters. And it’ll help give characters motivations when playing Roll Player Adventures. Like I’ve said before, when I played, I was a slightly evil sorcerer, so I can add in motivations myself. But having some built in for a character and built into the story and the game, that is going to be fun. I look at Nefras’s Judgement like the Echoes of the Past for Tainted Grail. Is it needed, no, but does it add in something cool, most certainly.

Which would you play first?

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Pros

• Price & Shipping
• Based on Existing System
• Cooperative
• Deck Builder

Cons

• Based on an Existing System

The Page

Indie Boards & Cards has done a lot of Kickstarter before, so it’s no shock that this is a nice page. To me the shocking part of the game, and in a good way, is that the base pledge is only $39. Now I might be surprised on that because everything is more expensive right now on Kickstarter. But I also am surprised because my Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold cost more, but it was also larger.

Really, besides the price being so amazing. This is a very nice page. I like the art style for the game, though I understand that it might not be for everyone. It isn’t anime, but it has a cartoon element to it that’s nice. It’s not as polished as Dice Throne art from Manny Trembley, but it feels similar.

The Game – Astro Knights

The game play itself looks familiar. I put that as both a positive and a negative. While the game does do different things, which I’ll highlight, most of the mechanisms of the game seem to come from Aeon’s End.

A quick recap, Aeon’s End is a fantasy deck building game that is cooperative. In the game you are breach mages fighting against a nemesis. The trick is that you don’t shuffle your deck ever, you just flip it over, so if you can count cards or think about it, you can plan what you might get in a hand. The basic concept for Astro Knights seems similar.

There are some differences. One is the lack of breaches. Now, that makes sense, we’re in space, and we’re not casting spells. This looks to simplify the game. In Aeon’s End you needed to open the breaches, and then you could use them to cast spells.

The other big thing I can see from the page is the idea of home worlds. This, I expect, acts as a placeholder for Gravehold, the town you defend. But there are four different home worlds. The home worlds have powers, and I’m assuming you can charge them up to activate their powers to benefit you. That adds variability to the game beyond just the player characters and boss combinations.

It also appears that there are fewer cards in the market at a given time. I am not sure how that is going to work, if it’s a bit more random or if you select specific decks like you do in Aeon’s End. Either way, it’s not a bad thing, just something to note. That doesn’t look like it’s going to come with the massive stack of cards that Aeon’s End did.

Back or Brick – Astro Knights

When I first heard about this game I was interested. In fact it is on my list of most anticipated Q1 Kickstarters and Gamefounds of 2022. However, Indie Boards & Cards does a great job of getting their games and expansions to retail. So do I get it now?

The answer is, this is a Back for me. After an expensive January with Marvel Zombies and Lost Girl, I wasn’t planning on backing this. But the price point is cheap for this game. I know I want to get it eventually, and the expansion is free with your pledge. I think that supporting it on Kickstarter will cost the same buying both things later.

How about for you, is this a Back or Brick?

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