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Mecha Savant

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Go to the Legend of the Five Rings - Emperor Edition page
Go to the The Settlers of Catan page
Go to the Chrononauts page
Go to the Dominion page
Go to the Legend of the Five Rings RPG: 4ed Core Book page
Go to the Heroscape page
10
Go to the Legend of the Five Rings - Emperor Edition page
105 out of 117 gamers thought this was helpful

I can not say enough about this game. It involves a high level of strategy, customization, interaction, and competition. I started a year and a half ago, and I am a huge fan of this game. But this isn’t quite a review of the game, it’s a review of this core set. I’ll be giving my impressions of the starter boxes, as (theoretically) you can play if both players invest in just a starter (but that won’t be enough if you’re like me at all):

This current core set is a step above my expectations. The price for the starter decks has nearly doubled. This would be a HUGE downer, and a possible deal-breaker for me EXCEPT they didn’t just raise the price, they upped the presentation and quality of their product through and through, and raised the price accordingly. I am more than happy to compensate a game company for the work they did, and AEG did plenty.

The art has been a gripping feature of this game since I saw my first card, but the art this arc has really impressed me. If you’re a fan of fantasy feudal Japanese artwork, check L5R out!

The packaging is 150% better than Celestial packaging. There is room in your starter box for a whole sleeved deck (fate and dynasty, SH, and counters) and it’s made of thick cardboard, so it stands up really well. It is a slide-top box (like a board game) versus a flip-top box (like a deck of cards). This means there are no flaps to wear out.

There are three booster packs in each starter, one Emperor Edition (EE), one Second City (SC), and one Defore the Dawn (BtD), as well as some pre-cut counters, a rule book, and 90 cards (fate and dynasty plus some uncommons and rares).

All in all I gave this game a ten because it truly is the most rewarding card game I’ve ever played. It is a bit steep on the learning curve, though. It’s not bad, but be prepared to devote a bit of time to the mechanics and interactions of cards. It’s a huge benefit to have someone who knows the game to teach you.

9
Go to the Legend of the Five Rings RPG: 4ed Core Book page
28 out of 30 gamers thought this was helpful

This is the first edition of the L5R Tabletop that I’ve played, so I can’t compare and contrast this update with the earlier versions, but it’s not my first RPG ever by any means, so I’ll give my impressions on the game systems and give an overview.

L5R 4th-ed is a table-top role playing game set in the fantasy feudal japan themed land of Rokugan. you create a character who was trained to fight(samurai, ninja, berserker, etc.), perform magic(Shugenja), or represent your clan in politics(courtier or magistrate). But these are just the three main ways to gear your character. There are many ways to subtly combine and change the styles of play through skills and advantages, which is one reason I like this game.

Skills are action based, meaning they relate to how well you can perform what you want to do, from fighting with a katana, to sweet-talking (or black-mailing) an opposing clan’s magistrate into some beneficial concessions for you or your clan.
Advantages are usually purchased at creation and usually improve rolls or traits (STR, DEX, INT, etc) or give static bonuses.
You may also purchase some disadvantages, which give you extra starting experience points to spend in exchange for some kind of deficit (ex: deformity, phobia, or curse of a spiritual realm or specific deity) to your game play. The range is between one and seven points, with a one pointer being a missing finger or an upset spirit, to a seven or maybe eight pointer being a curse from a deity or an entire spiritual realm.

The character creation and gameplay have a learning curve, like every RPG of this kind, but it’s not too steep for a beginner (though if you’ve never played an RPG, the initial learning curve is pretty steep regardless). All in all I enjoyed this game very much. It uses a D10 (10-sided dice) system, and turns and combat move quickly. I’m a fan of little or no down time, and thankfully this game doesn’t suffer too much from combat crawl.

If you’re a fan of Samurai, Ninjas, or RPGs; you should check this game out. Also give some of the expansion books a go, as they flesh out aspects introduced in the core book, and usually have pre-made campaigns and characters to get you and your playgroup started.

8
Go to the Chrononauts page

Chrononauts

36 out of 37 gamers thought this was helpful

As a fan of nearly all things time-travel related, I was instantly sold on the idea of this game. How did it actually stack up…?

I understood the rules fairly quickly once we actually set the game up and started playing. Set up consists of arranging Event cards depicting actual events in chronological order on the table, and dealing out an ID card and a mission card, as well as a hand (of actions, patches, gadgets, and/or artifacts) to each player.

The Mission and ID cards are each a win condition, specified by the card.
A Mission card win is achieved by getting specific artifact or gadget cards (drawn from the deck or stolen from other players) into play (generally one per turn).
An ID card win is achieved by first reversing major event cards in the timeline with actions (from the player’s hand), then ‘patching’ or fixing appropriate spots (again from the player’s hand), as defined by the ID card.
Winning can also be achieved by having ten or more cards in your hand.

The Mechanics that gave new players the most trouble seemed to be the timeline interaction.
The reversal actions (played from hand) are played on major event cards in the timeline, and this causes minor event cards to flip and become paradoxes. Players then play “patches” or fixes from their hand on specific paradoxes.

All in all, this game stacked up VERY well. With the amount of player interaction with gadgets, to stealing artifacts and gadgets and negating actions from other players, to the dreaded ‘your parents never met’ action forcing a player to discard their ID card and draw a new one, this game has been a lot of fun each and every time I sat down to play.

I also recommend the expansions, as they are additions to the event cards before the beginning and after the end of the core timeline, as well as some cool new gadgets, artifacts, and actions.

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