Marvel Dice Throne

This is one of my most recent Kickstarters, but they’ve already been unboxing prototypes of it. Dice Throne has done exceedingly well, so they have the money to get it rolling before they get the Kickstarter money, which is awesome. And that means that they have a June target. Do I think they’ll hit that target, probably July or early August at the latest, but it’ll be close.

This is more Dice Throne, but instead of being fantasy-esque style characters, we’re getting Marvel characters. I know which two characters I ideally get to play first. Either Doctor Strange or Scarlet Witch because they are some of my favorite characters in the MCU right now. And they seem to have really cool mechanics that are different from other characters.

ISS Vanguard

This one I’m putting on the list, but I’m less sure on it. This game I could see getting pushed back again. It’s another one slated to show up in the summer now. But this is a massive game. It’s going to be a good one, Awaken Realms makes sure they give you a good game, but it could be a bit.

The game is split into two parts, exploring planets and doing ship upgrade and making decisions on how to deal with the crew and things like that. The latter piece is getting changed still. They used to have dials to track some things, and now they are moving where they are and how that works. I appreciate that they are attempting to give us the best experience possible, but all the changes make this one likely for 2022, but I’d say a little bit iffy.

Oathsworn

This one I’m fairly sure will show up in 2022 as well, but it also has been delayed some already. It was supposed to come at the end of 2020, and now I’m saying, most likely it’ll show up in 2022. But this is a new company and a massive game, so I knew it was going to be delayed.

Like ISS Vanguard the game play of Oathsworn is split into two parts. The first part allows you to explore a town, and basically solve the mystery and then find your boss fight. The second part is the boss fight. And the boss fight seems fascinating to me for a few reasons. You modify either by rolling dice or drawing cards or a mix of the two. And the cards don’t shuffle until you run out. So you figure out what is left in that deck, which means less risk, but maybe less reward.

Frosthaven

Another game that is delayed, but slated to ship in the summer. Frosthaven is well, more Gloomhaven. But more than Gloomhaven as well. You craft, make potions, and town build in Frosthaven. Gloomhaven handled all of that for you. So do I think that this is going to be better than Gloomhaven, I hope so for the story at least. But it’ll be tough to take down my #1 game of all time.

That said, I am really excited to do the town building. Things you get for crafting can be used to either craft items or build up the town. So it is going to give more choices between the dungeon crawl. How do you spend things and how much do you need to save up to get a building, or a wall around the town to the next level. And the characters, the starting ones, seem really cool.

Spires End: Hildegard

Now for a smaller game, Spire’s End: Hildegard is a sequel to Spire’s End which should also be coming in 2022 but not a Kickstarter game. This is a solo game where you are basically going through a story, fighting monsters, and making decisions. The game play is done by cards that have story, cards that have monsters, and rolling some dice.

This is one that I want to stream on Malts and Meeples eventually because it doesn’t have too many components. And it’s one with a story element that means the audience can help me make decisions, and I expect poor decisions. Plus the artwork on this game is amazing. The style is unique, but makes the game pop.

Super Fantasy Brawl Round 2

Finally an expansion for a game, more Super Fantasy Brawl. This is one that I think is in production now, if I remember correctly. That’s a good sign for it getting delivered in 2022. Super Fantasy Brawl is a head to head skirmish game where you try and knock out your opponents and complete goals to get trophies.

What Super Fantasy Brawl Round 2 does is just adds in more. I think I have 12 different characters right now, and I think I’m getting another 12. You use three characters per side, so with 24 different characters, you can create a lot of different teams. I’m not sure I needed another 12 characters, but more to choose form will be good. And I already have some favorite characters from the base game to add more to.

What Crowdfunding games are you waiting for? I have a whole lot more, and recently did a Crowdfunding round-up, but I’m not sold that all of them will show up. In fact, some, like 7th Citadel, I’m sure won’t show up this year. But there are a lot of great ones that will and almost have.

Send an Email.
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

I’m going to talk a bit about each game, what drew me in and then how excited I am for the game still. Some of them have waned a lot, others, less so. And we’re going from longest outstanding to newest two games that are still active.

Crowdfunding Games

Satanic Panic

I backed this RPG when I was more into playing other RPG’s than Dungeons and Dragons. While I’ll still gladly play them, I did just sell a number because I know that I’m just going to run Dungeons and Dragons games. Satanic Panic was an interesting idea for a game, but it’s been out there since 2017 and the creator disappeared from the campaign for a long time. He did come back recently to try and finish it up, but now he’s gone missing again, but only for a few months.

The concept for this game was kind of fun and pretty unique. It basically takes the short lived Satanic Panic of the 80’s around Dungeons and Dragons and turns it into a game. It has secret government organizations who are trying to stop people from playing RPG’s, and it’s fairly meta that way.

Excitement Level: 0 out of 5 – it’s just been too long. Like I said, I’m not likely to run it anymore. I’m glad that I only backed it for the PDF level, not a print book. I also don’t have hope it’ll actually come out, though, it might.

Etherfields

This one has been out there for a while, but some of that was my choice. This is an Awaken Realms game where you are playing through dreams and unraveling a story as you go. The concept is great, and I’ve heard really good things about the game. I chose single wave shipping. That means that some people already have it, I will get it when the expansion stuff ships. It was maybe a mistake to wait but I probably wouldn’t have had time to play it.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5 – I am really looking forward to this one. But it’s been long enough that I kind of forget about it from time to time. I hope stuff ships soon, but sounds like production just started on it.

Time of Legends: Joan of Arc 1.5

I late pledged Time of Legends: Joan of Arc, so that’s why I probably haven’t talked about it before. This is more of a two player miniatures game. Though, with the 1.5 version, they did create a solo scenario or scenarios as well. This takes place, well, around the time of Joan of Arc. The twist on it is that all the legends from that time, monsters like werewolves and dragons, those are in the game.

The game isn’t my normal style of game, but I’m excited to try something different. These head to head combat scenarios that have some story to them, as well as the solo game play. This one is overdue to arrive, but sounds like production is moving along and is about ready to ship.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5 – I want this one because it is different. It’s not like anything else that I have on my shelf and I’m excited for the setting. I didn’t get the giant dragon that you can get, but everything I did get seems awesome.

Oathsworn: Into The Deepwood

Oathsworn is a big adventure game, and we know I like big adventure games. This one intrigued me because it plays in two acts. Or every scenario plays in two acts. You have the first act where you are exploring a mystery in the Deepwood or in a town. The story unfolds around you, then when you’re ready or have solved the mystery or found the boss monster, you get into a boss battle.

But it also has another cool mechanic. For all the checks you make, skill checks or attacks, you can either roll dice or draw cards to see if you get a success. The cards don’t reshuffle until you go through them all, so you know if there are good or bad cards left in the deck. And cards are safer because there are only so many blanks or failures in there. But it also limits how good it can be.

Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 – This one still just intrigues me. I like that boss battler aspect as well as the mystery or story driven piece. It reminds me of Tainted Grail, without the Arthurian legend stuff, but you have those two things, the combat being more tactical but still story and combat.

Village Attacks

I backed this one because it was impossible to find anywhere and I liked my play at GenCon of it in 2019 a lot. This actually funded in 2019, but we’re still waiting on shipping. I hope now that the company is shipping/delivering their other game this one will move along.

This is a tower defense game driven by scenarios. It’s a ton of fun because you are the bad guys, not the good guys. The townsfolk have come to your castle with torches and pitchforks, and you need to fend them off. Game play works really well, and while it is thematic through scenarios, it isn’t a campaign game, which is a nice thing to have, since you’ll see a lot of campaign games on this list.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5 – I’m a bit less excited, it’s been a long time without that many updates. I’m still interested in the game and think it’s going to be awesome to get to the table again. It’s a dark game in terms of artwork, but plays, for me, a bit goofier.

Frosthaven

This is the sequel to Gloomhaven, I am very excited for it. I could leave it just at that. One cool thing about this game compared to Gloomhaven is that it has an element of town building. You are in the north from Gloomhaven and it’s less settled, so you need to build a town up there. And you have to decide how to use resources to build new buildings, improve existing ones, or get items crafted.

Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 – I love Gloomhaven. This is going to be another massive game like it but with more, count me in.

HEL: The Last Saga

From Mythic Games and a Viking/Norse theme, I knew I was interested in this game. It’s a campaign game kind of chapter based as you are heading out to see what happened to the rest of your village. But it seems to do some cool things. This is one that I’ve been waiting on for a while, and I’m not as excited.

That said, I know when I get it I will be excited again. And it’s Mythic Games, so they make a lot of really cool games. My big concern is that basically all their games end up needing errata, and I hope that because this is being a bit delayed from it’s timeline they’re putting extra effort into that.

Excitement Level 3 out of 5 – It’s Norse and it’s a campaign. I’m very interested in it, and it seems mythical in nature.

The Reckoners: Steelslayer

This is an expansion for a game that I need to play still. I should get The Reckoners off of the shelf soon. But I’m still really excited for Steelslayer because I really like the book series a lot that it’s based on. And it’s a really tough cooperative game that this expansion is supposed to help with some of the balancing.

Now, I don’t mind really tough cooperative games. In fact, that’s what I like to play a lot of, I don’t want to win too often. This expansion though adds in other bosses from the different books besides Steelheart and I’m excited for that. Plus other epics, evil superheroes, to play around with as well.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. This one for me is all about the cooperative game play and the theme. 3 might not seem like that excited, but I am very excited for it because it is something different and it’s a game that should be easier to get off the shelf.

The 7th Citadel

I still need to play The 7th Continent, it’s been on my shelf for too long. That said, I am more excited for The 7th Citadel. Why, because it has more story to it, it seems. Every time I watched someone play through the opening scenario as the campaign was on Kickstarter, I was more and more interested in it.

I love the idea of the exploration in The 7th Continent, but I know that it’s less story focused and the mechanics while good aren’t always amazing. But the exploration and map building is really cool, and this game has that as well and cleans up some of the mechanics it seems. Plus, did I mention that there is more story, I’m always in for more story.

Excitement Level: 5 out of 5 – it’s high excitement, and I’d even forgot that it was coming. But the mechanics of the game seem fun, and did I mention story?

Project L + Finesse

This one is kind of different than most on the list, and I believe it’s shipping now. This is an engine building Tetris-esque game, that’s the only way I can describe it. You are collecting Tetris like pieces to fill in shapes on cards and when you fill them in, they give you points and more shapes to use to fill in more cards.

The game play seems like it’ll be a good one to play with my wife, family, and at game nights with most anyone. Plus the pieces are amazing. This one falls outside of what I normally back, but when a game looks like a ton of fun, I’m going to back it.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I am hard pressed to be as excited for it as a campaign game, but I want this one to play with friends more casually.

ISS Vanguard

This one, another one from Awaken Realms, spoiler, is the one I’m most excited for. This game has you exploring planets, fighting monsters, maybe, finding out secrets of the universe as well as then maintaining and traveling on your ship. It’s a grand game that looks to tell a fascinating story in an very open universe.

There is a signal that has been sent across the cosmos, Humanity has translated it and it’s coordinates that seem to lead towards nothing. But of course, we’re curious so we fly out there, and find a puzzle that just needs to be solved. This seems like a very ambitious and grand game, but if any company can pull it off, Awaken Realms can.

Excitement Level: 5 out of 5. The story just intrigues me. I love the idea of the ship phase where you upgrading your ship, researching things, and dealing with crew events. Plus the planets seem so unique and interesting.

Dice Tower 2021

This isn’t so much a game, though I did pick up a few promos for Lords of Hellas I believe with it. But I mainly backed it to help support a YouTube channel that I love. But also beyond that to get a plush dog that is in the shape of D4, I believe. That’ll go with a D4 cat and a D20 panda that I’ve gotten from their Kickstarters.

Excitement Level: 2 out of 5. It’s low, but that’s because I mainly backed it to help support. But now thinking about Lords of Hellas promos, I want to play that game again.

Primal The Awakening

This is basically Monster Hunter the board game, minus the fact that Steamforged Games actually did Monster Hunter the board game. But this one is much better value in terms of what you get at the base pledge. Combat seems to be less tactical or at least less roaming across the map.

Primal was interesting and is interesting because it can either be a campaign style game, or you can just do a one off fight against a monster. And even the campaign I don’t think is that long. Game mechanics seem solid as it’s about placement and I like how the monster activates.

Excitement Level: 3 of 5. This game is going to have amazing minis, so I need to learn how to paint. That said, the game is still really interesting to me, just less excited because less story than some.

Alba

This one is kind of different from everything again. It reminds me a bit of the Graphic Novel Adventures that Van Ryder games has come out with. But it’s not a graphic novel, more a novel. So it might be more like some of the puzzle books that I have. It just seems bigger and more story driven than a lot of those.

Alba caught my attention because it was talked about on the GloryHoundd YouTube channel, and it seemed different and unique. It’s also one of those things that I hope when it comes I can just do a little bit of it to unwind at the end of the day before I go to bed, at least that’s how I plan on using it.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. Again, it’s something different, I think it’s going to be cool for what it is, and that’s going to be something I can relax and do to unwind.

Zombicide: Undead or Alive

I wasn’t ever all that interested in Zombicide. I had Green Horde for a little bit because I won a copy of it. But Undead or Alive drew me in because of the western theming. I love the idea of Weird West stuff, if anyone has a book recommendation in that genre let me know, and this gives me that.

Also, I’ve heard that Zombicide generally improves with every version. So it’s a game that I’ve kind of wanted to try but never was too interested in. This version is the one that sucked me in, though, because of the theme.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. I don’t know where this is going to fit on the shelf, but I’ll figure that out when it comes in. It’s definitely going to be a fun scenario based game to get to the table.

Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold

You saw me play through Aeon’s End Legacy on Malts and Meeples. This is another Legacy version of Aeon’s End, and I’m here for that. It should be hitting the US soon and probably deliver before the end of the year, so one of them that’s coming the soonest.

Aeon’s End is a cooperative game where you fight monsters that are coming through breaches. Aeon’s End Legacy was a fun version of that with some story, and they’ve done story in the subsequent expansions. This one returns to that narrative focus but also stickers to put on cards and ways to create your mages yourself.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I really liked Aeon’s End Legacy, it was 28 in my Top 100 list this year. It’s a great way to learn the game, I hope that this time it’s bit more in-depth a story and legacy elements.

Tiny Turbo Cars

When Horrible Guild puts a game onto Kickstarter, I generally take notice. They did Potion Explosion which I love with great toy factor. They have Similo which is a fun party game. Tiny Turbo cars is completely different than that. You basically program RC cars to go as fast as possible and race across your house.

The little slider puzzle for how you maneuver your cars is great. Like Potion Explosion this game is going to have a lot of toy factor, I hope that the game isn’t too difficult to play, but I think it’s going ot be a bit like Galaxy Trucker where it is chaotic, but the real time piece and the chaos will add to the fun of the game.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I just want to have a silly good time with this game.

Super Fantasy Brawl Round 2

This was an instant back for me, because I really like Super Fantasy Brawl. So getting more characters is amazing. Now, I need to fix the storage in the base box because it sucks. But when I do that, I can store everything in one giant box which will be great.

Super Fantasy Brawl is a two player head to head battling and objective completing game. You are racing to get to 5 points either by knocking your opponents out or, well objectives. It’s fun to draft your team and just see what you can manage to get done. The big box already has a good number of characters, 12 I believe, and this adds in even more.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I’ve only played this game with one friend, I really need to introduce it to more, because I can see a number of my friends liking it. And maybe I should get the playmat so that I can have two games going at once and do a tournament.

Marvel United X-Men

I don’t know where I’m going to store this game. It has so much coming for it. I do already have the base box of this one that I need to play. But I’m really excited, the game is so easy to get to the table, and I feel like it’s a great Marvel game that anyone can sit down and play. You grab some heroes, some bad guys and just get going so fast.

Plus, there were about one million minis unlocked. Okay, that might be a bit high, but it’s over one hundred which is a ton. And I get to play as Gambit which is very exciting to me because I love Gambit. Another game that has me needing to learn how to paint minis.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I haven’t played through everything in Marvel United, and that’s okay, I still want more because it’s so easy to just grab a character and go. I need a way to display all the minis though.

Canvas + Reflections

This is actually a reprint. Canvas is a game about creating weird paintings to score points. You can either optimize what you are doing to get points or you can just make cool paintings as you layer cards. Clear cards is always a cool gimmick and I like it it Gloom. This one gives it an artistic flair.

This is another one that I picked up because I think it’ll make a fun game night game or a fun one to play with my wife and friends more casually. Plus, it’s just a pretty looking game.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. I know some people will optimize their scores, and I probably will too, but sometimes the perfect image might win out over scoring the most points.

The Witcher: The Old World

This is an IP that I’m very interested in with The Witcher. I need to play the most recent video game still. I have a book to read as well, so I need to catch-up on my knowledge. The Netflix show had a cool world but was just okay to me. I’m hoping this game will be great.

It’s one off plays which I like and you are all competing to be the best Witcher. It kind of reminds me of something like Zona: The Secret of Chernobyl in some ways ways. You are all fighting and racing to be the first to, I forget what it is in this game, but some end point. And you can fight each other, improve your stats and get more items.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. The theme is cool and I’m pretty excited for the game play. It’s a game that looks like it has a lot of theme while also not being a massive campaign which is nice.

Isle of Cats: Don’t Forget the Kittens

I’ve really enjoyed my plays of Isle of Cats. It’s one that I want to get even more plays of because I think it’s a neat game with drafting and then rescuing cats. This just adds in more modules you can play with, different ship configurations, and a roll and write game that is totally separate, and obviously kittens.

One thing I’m very interested in is the organizer that comes with my pledge level. The game is a bit harder to get to the table because you need to sort things out for different player counts. This helps make that sorting faster and easier to get to the table.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. More for a game I know I already like is never a bad thing. And will the organizer make it simpler to get to the table, I hope so.

Valor & Villainy: Ludwick’s Labyrinth

I almost didn’t back this one. I pledged $1 because I was on the fence and it drew me in. Enough so that I even got the original Valor & Villainy on my shelf. This one takes that main game mechanic of upgrading your heroes dice as you level up and kind of dungeon crawling and makes it cooperative. The original was one versus all.

This is also more of a campaign game, and you know I’m a sucker for campaigns. But it’s a bit different than a lot of campaign games that I go with because it’s more tongue in cheek and goofy. So it feels like one that I’ll be able to play with a different group than my normal campaign group.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. I’m very much excited for this one, but it’s maybe waned a little bit since I backed it. Still, I think the goofiness is going to make it fun and it is a different type of campaign game for me.

Chronicles of Drunagor

Yes, another campaign game, and another one that feels different. Now, dark storyline, not super different, I’ve done that before in games. But the mechanics are what drew me into it, plus the 3D terrain that seems a bit like Descent: Legends of the Dark.

I like how activating abilities goes, you basically have a pool of cubes that you use to activate and do different things. When you want to gain those cubes back you then pull the cubes back but block off one of your abilities with a curse cube. So you need to figure out what sort of things you’re going to want to keep available, and figure out when to pull back so you don’t block off too much.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I need more shelf space for this game as well. It’s going to come with a lot, but I’m excited for the story and for the 3D set-up and for how the dungeon unfolds.

Spire’s End: Hildegard

Big games to a smaller game that is just some dice and a deck of cards. But it’s still a campaign game as you play through a few chapters. This is a game that I’ll likely stream because it’s one that seems like it should be good for that. You go through a story and fight monsters with some interesting dice mechanics.

The art really drew me in as well. It’s kind of a pen drawing style, I guess I’d call it, some pops of color on stuff, more so on this one, almost cartoony. It’s hard to describe, it just looks really cool as you can see. And while you can play two player, it seems to be mainly a solo game which I like.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I was excited enough to grab a reprint of Spire’s End when that came out because I didn’t want to pay the $100 mark-up on the game on eBay or Board Game Geek. It just seems like a fun and immersive gaming experience.

Mythwind

You can see some of why I backed Mythwind here. To recap, I like that each character plays differently. That reminds me of Merchant’s Cove which I really liked. Plus it’s an interesting concept for a game.

A game without a win condition just sounds confusing but intriguing. It’s kind of a game that I wish I had an extra table so I could just leave it set-up and play a little bit. You are going to achievements, if you want. Or you can go for making the best town possible, it’s really up to you. I hope that it’s good, but it’s one that just felt so different.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. It’s unique, and while I haven’t played Animal Cross and Stardew Valley, it intrigues me more than play either of those ever has.

Too Many Bones: Unbreakable

Too Many Bones has been on my radar for a while. I got to demo Too Many Bones: Undertow at GenCon in 2019. I thought it was pretty good, but it’s always been pretty expensive to get into. Now, I’m afraid, I might have started down that rabbit trail with their final crowdfunding for the game, at least that’s what the Gamefound said.

What drew me in, and this I am blaming GloryHoundd for, is that the characters were so unique. The ones from Undertow were cool, but these are even more interesting. And it felt like the right time to dive into the weird world that Chip Theory Games has created.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. It’s going to be a fun one to play around with, I’m confident on that, and super high quality production. It just won’t be here for a while.

Grove

Another 9 card solitaire game like Orchard, this one has some different things going on which seem interesting. Orchard is my top played game of 2021 and I don’t see any game passing it, I’m almost to 100 plays. Grove will be a nice one to mix in with that.

What I hope for this one is that it’ll be another fast solo game that I can pull out and play anywhere or while doing anything kind of like Orchard is. And from what I can tell, since the mechanics overlap with orchard as you layer cards (word play intended), I think it should be that.

Excitement Level: 3 out of 5. It’s a bit lower just because I feel like I kind of what what I’m getting with the game, and that’s a good thing. Just means that there is less mystery for me to get excited about.

Marvel Dice Throne

Now we’re onto the two that are still active. The only way that I drop this is if I win a copy of the game in a drawing I entered. I love Dice Throne. I love Marvel. This is the perfect game for me combining the two. And we have a lot of cool characters. I really want to play Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch because, well, they are just awesome Marvel characters.

I really like the variety of characters that they have, and I like that it’s compatible with all the other Dice Throne. The Gunslinger can face off against Loki if I want. Or I can just do a massive tournament like I’ve wanted to do. I don’t know how or when, but a tournament will happen.

Excitement level: 5 out of 5. Like I said, I love Marvel and I love Dice Throne, of course I’m exicted.

Hanamikoji: Geisha’s Road

This one I could wait for retail, but I want to help support the company that makes Hanamikoji. This is a new version of the game that isn’t just trying to win the favor, but there is an element where you move around the the different Geisha to different establishments to gain favor that way.

I don’t know all the details, I just know that it keeps the same core. And I really love Hanamikoji because of how simple it is to play but also how much thinking there is in the game. It’s a game that makes you make tough decisions and I don’t see Geisha’s Road being any different, might even add more.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. Could be higher, but I already have Hanamikoji. I backed this for more of the same goodness, at least that’s what I hope I’m getting.

Bonus game coming up, I forgot I late pledged it so just added to the list now.

Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor

Now, it’s not a negative that I forgot about it. It was one that I backed well after the fact, and so it didn’t show up on my Gamefound or Kickstarter list. This is an interesting game because it is a 4x cooperative game. And a game where you have 2 different enemy AI’s that everyone needs to beat.

Plus, this game has some of the best standees that I’ve seen. They are up there with the clear acrylic ones. I don’t know how to describe them, but they are much more substantial than the normal cardboard ones. And I believe that each different faction that you can play has their own standees which is great.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 5. I want to play a 4x game baldly. And that is probably going to be true that I want to play it a lot but also that I’ll play it poorly. This one or Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea need to come off the shelf sometime. And this one might not be too far off from delivery.

So there’s my massive list. Which one of these games, if any are you looking forward to getting yourself? Which one would you want to play?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

The Game

Super Fantasy Brawl is a two player, though there are ways to play with more, game where players take a team of three fantasy race heroes into an arena style battle. The goal of the game is to be the first to five victory points. You get those points by knocking out your opponents heroes and completing objectives. The game play is quite interesting because of how simple it is.

Each player has the ability to activate characters up to three times per round. Once for each of three different aspects. But each aspect can only be activated once. The ideal way to activate them is by playing cards from your hand. Playing a card uses up one of these cores as they are called and will match the color of the core. So you can only play one red, blue, or yellow card per turn. And each character has cards of each color. You can also do basic abilities, but those aren’t as good. Once you’ve done all three it passes to the opponent and the process repeats.

The Bad

So, this game has a lot of good things, I want to talk about the bad things in this game first. And really, they aren’t with the game themselves. The insert to store the pieces is horrible. There is tons of wasted space in the box just because someone decided to stretch everything out. The box could have been half the size without this, or had room to store expansions. And really that’s the biggest negative in the game. It packs away well enough, but why is it impossible in a giant box to fit in the expansions, that is embarrassing. I talk about it in the Back or Brick, but I wish that Mythic Games had given an option to purchase corrected Game Trayz for the box.

The other minor quibble that I have is the towers. These pillars are cool looking and huge, but they kind of get in the way. When you reach around them, you bump into them and they can topple over. Now it’s a very minor quibble, it makes the game look epic on the table. But the bases are a little bit hollow, and had they been solid, they might have felt less like you’d topple them over.

The Good

Now, there is a ton that’s good, and really, the bad are generally cosmetic issues. I might find a way to weigh down my pillars so they stay better. And I can just toss the insert and use baggies and deck boxes and get it to the table just as fast, the only downside will be the loose minis. Mythic Games is offering a carrying case, but while it’s reasonably priced, it isn’t cheap. But enough about that, more good stuff please.

The Characters

This is the first area that the game really shines. Not only are the minis for the characters a really nice size, in fact, they could be smaller and you wouldn’t miss it, but I’m glad they are so big. The game as a whole shows off how you can make things massive in a game that plays smaller. But back to the characters, the fantasy characters that they use are unique. It isn’t a standard elf with a bow or a halfling bard. Sure, you get some archetypes in there, I played a wizard type character who could cast a fireball. But most of them are unique. And even with that one being a bit more traditional, it plays so differently from other characters.

Character Variability

That’s the other thing with the characters, each of them plays differently. I talk about the spell caster who casts a fireball, that is completely different than a tank barbarian who hits everyone directly around them. There is a bird creature who swoops in and moves other champions around, and some push or pull on most every attack. I even played a character who is better when they attack from a trap spot and one that rides another creature to move around the board. And the variability adds so much replayability to the game and depth. I need to delve more into what the characters and create teams that’ll synergize together.

Card Play

The card play works really nicely as well. Yes, it sucks ending up with several hands in a row where you don’t have every color of card, but the basic actions do work. But the cards play out so nicely, I had a turn where one champion managed to move, attack, move, attack, and move attack again, just a single character, to take out another character. That was a really epic moment in the game, and the game encourages them. Other plays like pushing an enemy so they go into a trap add in more fun. There is really a ton that can be done through the cards.

Objectives and Knock Outs

How you get points works nicely as well. I went for the objectives fairly often and ended up 2-1 last night in game play. But I never won because I only went for objectives. I always took out at least one opposing champion to get to that point. And you can’t just focus on one or the other. If you only focus on getting objectives, you’ll spend all your time moving about. If you only attack, you can’t defend against someone getting objectives as well. And it makes things like pushing and pulling more useful. A lot of the objectives are being next to a statue, and once your opponent is there, you need to kill, push, or pull to stop them from scoring. With that, though, scoring happens at the start of players turn, so the opponent always has a chance to stop it.

Game Length

Finally, the game length is great. A game like this, which plays with cards, shouldn’t be too long. And Super Fantasy Brawl is a fast game. The first game, with learning, took maybe an hour. Two more games took about the same time as that first game. The last game probably was under half an hour. But you don’t feel like you can’t play everything you want. The deck of cards is so small you see every card multiple times, even in a short game. And not really a negative, because I like the length, but the components of the game feel larger than the game itself. Everything is so fancy for a light and fast battle game.

Final Thoughts

I like Super Fantasy Brawl a lot. Mythic Games has created a really fun experience. Now, I wish they would fix the production issues that I see, but those are minor quibbles. When the Super Fantasy Brawl Round 2 stuff comes in, I will remove or modify at least some of the Game Trayz. The big box is large enough to fit everything without them in there. And that kind of sucks, because I do like Game Trayz for storage, these are just bad.

That said, I think a lot of people will like this game. There is enough going on to keep players who want strategy engaged. The card play is simple enough that non-gamers can probably pick it up. It reminds me a little bit of Magic: The Gathering at times, Dice Throne at others, both those games are in my Top 100. The fact that characters are never completely knocked out makes it better as well. Plus the game length is a huge selling point, the game doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Overall, Super Fantasy Brawl is a really good game.

Overall Grade: A-
Gamer Grade: B
Casual Grade: A-

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

Pros

• Proven game
• Proven company
• More content not complexity

Cons

• Limited Kickstarter exclusivity

The Page

Mythic games is a proven company and they know how to make a good Kickstarter page. I have a few games by them, Riechbusters and Super Fantasy Brawl thus far, and eventually Hel: The Last Saga and Time of Legends: Joan of Arc will be coming in. They also put out Solomon Kane which is fulfilling now which I would love to back sometime. I hope that Mythic Games will do a 1.5 version of that, and they tend to be pretty good about offering their games again on Kickstarter.

But back to the page itself. I think it’s a solid page. They do a great job of laying out what all the levels are, but unfortunately what the original game was, that part is a bit hidden. It feels like the page is made for the second time backers, which I think is the case. But if I were a new backer or someone who didn’t know about the game, it is obvious that this is an expansion, but how does the game work. Thankfully, there is a ton of content on it, but it’s not as easy or obvious to find. The fans of the game are going to find this page and you don’t need to sell them on backing, just make it obvious what they need to back. The new people, they need to make it more obvious what the game is.

The Game

Now, I’ll be talking more about the game itself in a post later today. Super Fantasy Brawl in a nutshell is an arena battle game where you are trying to knock down your opponents characters for points or complete objectives. The first person to five points wins. You do all of this through three activations per turn which can be basic actions or card actions. Ideally you want to use only card actions because they are better.

The expansion, what does it add. It adds in more characters that you can play. I really have liked my three play throughs of the base game, which all happened yesterday. And I think with the 12 characters that I have in my original game, that is a lot. However, would it be fun to have more? I think so. These looks interesting and unique characters, which is something that the original has as well. It could have been just standard fantasy characters, but Mythic did a good job of creating really interesting groups of three characters.

Back or Brick

So, I won’t leave any suspense, this is a Back for me. I think that these new characters are going to be great for this game. This is one of those games that I can imagine doing a tournament for, and I know that Mythic has already done that. But more characters, more things going on, and it’s not that expensive for 9 new heroes and all their cards plus a few other things. The only thing I wish that they’d offered was an at cost or just shipping cost only improvement for their horribly done storage solution for the big box from the original Kickstarter.

How about for you, is this game a back or a brick?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.