Earth Reborn
2-4
13+
45+
The end of the world does not come suddenly. It is much more insidious.
500 years after the devastation of the Earth, two factions arise from their underground cities. NORAD, militaristic, scientific, paranoid. Salemites, occultists experimenting with the revival of the dead. Both factions meet for the first time and instantly clash.
Earth Reborn is a highly realistic, scenario-based simulation game which is rich in depth and possibilities. Although it may seem complex at first glance, it is in fact quite simple and intuitive once you have learned the basics.
User Reviews (11)
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Z-Man has published a wide variety of games over the years, covering a wide variety of themes and mechanics. But no one was more surprised than I to see a big-box miniatures strategy game at their Origins booth. I walked out that same day with a copy in hand, and don’t regret the purchase in the least.
The game has a number of pre-built scenarios, and something I don’t recall seeing in other games of this type, an engine that allows players to build custom scenarios to spec. The core of the game is that players select orders from a “hand” of tiles, drawing from a limited pool of action points to use them, moving their characters around the board, interacting with the terrain, collecting items, and most of all, fighting their opponent’s figures.
The first thing the player will notice upon opening the box is that it is chock full of pieces, an Ameritrasher’s dream. Dozens of double-sided cardboard terrain pieces of every shape and size can be interconnected in various ways to form a modular game board. Several beautifully sculptured miniatures rest in the box. And there are cards and cardboard bits and even custom-face dice everywhere. Observation 1a, at least in the initial unboxing, is that the publisher provided a molded plastic tray to hold all the pieces but declined to instruct on how to store the pieces. They claim it is kind of like a mini-side-game to figure out how the pieces go in the box; I claim it is a big unnecessary headache, and went to their website to get the solution to their… “puzzle”.
The second thing they’ll notice is that the game comes with a huge book of rules. On its face, the game seems very complex, and in some ways it is. But there is a lot of consistency and repeated themes within the rules that make everything kind of flow together. More importantly, the nine scenarios in the scenario book are designed to teach a couple pieces of the rules at a time, so that the player can start with a very simple game, and by the time he gets to the end, has a complete mastery of all aspects of the rules. This is a brilliant way to teach the game in pieces, and I wish Fantasy Flight would take a lesson from them.
This is not my favorite game to play, but there’s no particular reason that is so. Everything you would ask the game to do, it does so elegantly, and I have a LOT of fun playing it. There are few downsides to the game at all. It really just boils down to my personal taste: a preference for card-based combat over dice, cooperative games over cutthroat, and shorter games over longer ones. So while the game is not for everybody, if you are the kind of person who likes big games with tons of pieces and lots of strategic combat (and I like all those things), Earth Reborn is a real winner.
Melding a miniature tabletop game into a boardgame is a very tricky thing. Either you end up with a clunky dungeon crawler or a overly simplified abstraction of warfare.
From the boardgamers point of view; you don’t want to make the rules too complex, long or that deep and the components and set-up should be pretty fast.
From the miniature wargamer perspective, the game should have enough rules to create a rich and tactical simulator of sorts with tons of character, story, and hopefully balance.
Earth Reborn does a pretty **** good job of meshing the two design forms into one, its difficult to call it either a boardgame or a miniatures game.
The rulebook is chunky for a boardgame, light for a miniatures game but its laid out very well and the examples are pretty stellar. Nonetheless, the rule set (via the drawn action placards) is fairly good at creating the tactical simulator that miniature gamers crave, one that makes a decent amount of sense and surprisingly is a very satisfying at making meaningful decisions. The game is not on autopilot; move-shoot, move-shoot. Many dungeon-crawlers suffer from this auto-pilot mode.
The components for the scenarios and the board area area great, but the table gets to be a little busy with all the little bits and pieces about. I’m grateful that the designers took the game to this level of resolution in terms of the chits and board features, but on a smooth level surface, the miniature gamer in me is screaming to make my own terrain into the 3d environment.
The miniatures are ok. The sculpts are great, the casting and material is pretty bad.
The action tiles are pretty amazing design. It’s a perfect mix of a miniature wargame/boardgame action mechanic.
My only real complaint about the game is that there is a random draw of the action tiles. That’s the miniature gamer in me complaining. The board gamer in me tells him to shut it since you don’t pull them out one-by-one as you use them, but you pull out a lot of the them and then engage in a resource management mode. Very board-gamey.
This game is better approached with some discipline. By this I mean, really take the time to organize, even slightly **** out the box for storage, etc.. This will make for a more streamlined gaming session.
All-in-all, Earth Reborn is a good game. More for the heavy boardgamers, deep enough for miniature wargamers.
Earth Reborn is a tactical game set in a post apocalyptic world. The game designer has written a story to support the theme and that story is very well documented in the rulebook.
This game comes with a box that holds all the necessary stuff to play the game (except card sleeves). A modular board, cards, miniatures, counters even a cloth bag to draw orders tiles from. And the insert inside the box holds everything in place and has some room for the future expansion…
The rulebook is very easy to read with lots of examples of play and guides you through the various levels of complexity, adding a rule or two per page. Then you play a scenario only with the rules that you have read so far to get the hang of it, before proceeding with the next set of rules and the next scenario.
The combat rules are scalar, you can play with simple rules, move and fire or you can play by the full rules, allowing you to interrupt your opponent’s move and react to what he is doing. The characters have abilities that give them the opportunity to interact with the floor elements, to search rooms, to use some special equipment. This is a game that it is so full of possibilities that you will never be bored to play, as long that you have a willing partner.
Judging from the background story, there will be several expansions to the game. I will look forward to buy them when they are out. This is to most complete game I have in my collection and I will happily support the game designer and this game.
Note that this is not a light game, it requires time and commitment to fully understand the rules and to master the game. But all those that are able to spend the time and effort required to do so are well rewarded.
Thank you Christophe for this marvellous game
Earth Reborn is a 2 – 4 player war game. I think it is best played with 2 players. It plays similar to round based tactic shooter like Jagged Alliance (PC) because you move step by step, you have a line of sight, action points and so on.
I like the game because of the theme you almost feel as if you are part of the game. The possibilities you have are also great. But the complexity makes it very difficult to find somebody that is willing to play with you. It takes a lot of time to get used to the rules. Explaining the rules to others is like a game in the game itself.
This game is definitely nothing for casual gamers. If you have somebody who is willing to invest a lot of time into a game and you like complex war games then maybe you should check this game out.
For my personal taste it is a little bit too complex.
This game surprised me. Currently, I think is the ultimate Skirmish.
ER is very tactical and deep with a lots of rules but the nine scenarios allow you to learn them gradually, step by step, so you can enjoy it since the first game.
I played many times the first four scenarios with different gamers and I can’t image how many possibilities you can have in the last scenarios: almost infinite. The replay value is very high and if you were tired about the nine pregenerate scenarios, the manual includes rules to create your custom scenarios. 🙂
Miniatures and other stuff are very good and the box includes all of them perfectly.
Setup of scenarios takes a little bit (10-15 minutes: you have to build modular maps)and although the game is for 2-4 players, basically it’s a game for two players.
PS: sorry for my english, I have to improve it ^^”’
“A tactical miniature skirmish battle game set in a post-apocalyptic world, you say. I’ve heard enough, where can I buy this game?” -me, last May
Quite seriously one of the most awesomest miniature games out there. The action point allowance system is elegant, there’s a meaningful interruption system, and there’s a minigame where players build the map on which to play*! How crazy is that!
Characters in the game are really varied, and the rooms have distinct functions in the game. Combine that with the deck of Objective Cards, and you’ve got yourself quite the replay value.
I’ll leave you with this notion: You. Can. Break. Down. Walls!
* On the map building: It’s not like this is anything ground braking, but it is pretty fun.
This game is like a mixture between Warhammer and a Tabletop miniature game. Dont let that scare you tho. Even if the rules are rather complex and takes time to go through, its totally worth it when you start playing the S.A.G.S missions. No other game has this high replayability. Our first game was led by myself as a “leader” and the other guys playing 1v1v1v1. I had studied the rules for a week or so, and felt confident to teach them all how to play. Even tho I left out some minor mechanics, such as combined orders and interrupts for the first few turns, and we were all quite drunk, it went along just fine, and people want to play it again! And I am a sucker for big box games as well. I highly recommend this to someone who wants an intense, deep and tactial miniature squad game.
i really enjoy this game because of it’s rich theme and well written rules. I like how the scenarios introduce a couple of new rules each time so that you don’t get overwhelmed with the rules. The figures are fantastic and the board tiles look great. The only downside to the game is the setup time. If you can get past that then I highly recommend this one!
This game has top-notch components, deep and varied mechanics, and near-infinite replayability – a potential box of fun like nothing else I own. Does anybody want to buy mine? I played this once with my wife and we LOVED it, and never played it again… Long setup, and long playtime unless you devote consecutive evenings to it. But it’s ok. This game has such a cool factor that it scratches an itch just by messing with the components and dreaming about playing it…very satisfying so far. 😉
First of all let me say that this game is HUGE. There are TONS of pieces and very nicely cast miniatures. The theme is deep and rich, and the initial scenarios really help connect the players to the game/characters. However, you practically have to set aside a whole weekend to learn all the rules of the game.
We are only through the first two scenes, but so far it seems to be running smoothly. The LOS, in and out interuptions are kind of a PIA, but it’s getting easier to follow.