This game offers a cinematic experience, capturing the tension and dread often associated with sci-fi horror classics like “Alien.” But is it worth adding to your collection? Let’s find out.

Gameplay Mechanics

In Nemesis, players assume the roles of crew members with varying objectives, which may or may not align with each other. The primary mission: survive. But along the way, you’ll need to explore the ship, fend off deadly intruders, and make some gut-wrenching choices. The game employs card-driven mechanics, action points, and dice rolls, perfectly balancing strategy with the unpredictability of a suspenseful horror movie.

The real star of the show is the intricate miniatures, which not only add an aesthetically pleasing visual aspect but also serve to intensify the atmospheric gameplay.

The game shines in its replayability factor. With multiple characters to choose from and objectives that change each game, no two playthroughs are the same. Additionally, the modular board setup ensures a fresh experience each time, making Nemesis a game you’ll want to revisit often.

Complexity & Learning Curve

Nemesis isn’t a simple pick-up-and-play board game. Newcomers to the genre might find its rules and mechanics a bit overwhelming at first. But if you’re willing to invest the time to get over the initial learning curve, the game becomes deeply rewarding.

Social Interaction

The semi-cooperative nature of Nemesis adds a layer of social dynamics that make for intriguing player interactions. The game requires communication and, sometimes, deceit, as players negotiate and strategize to achieve their own, often conflicting, objectives.

Final Thoughts

Nemesis is an adrenaline-fueled journey that successfully captures the essence of survival horror in board game form. Its high-quality components, thematic consistency, and layers of strategic depth make it a must-have for fans of the genre. However, its complexity may not appeal to casual gamers or those new to board games.

Nemesis offers a tense, engaging experience that will satisfy the appetite of board game enthusiasts and horror aficionados alike. If you’re looking for a board game that can offer chills and thrills with just the right amount of strategy, Nemesis might just be your next favorite game.

If you’re a fan of survival horror and board games, Nemesis should undoubtedly be on your radar. It provides a unique, immersive experience that few other games in the genre can match.

Components

The first thing you’ll notice about Wingspan is its stunning visual aesthetic. The game components include a variety of eggs, food tokens, and cards, all of which are crafted with meticulous attention to detail. The bird cards come with lifelike illustrations and fascinating tidbits about each species, adding an educational layer to the gaming experience. The game board itself is well-designed, providing a clear and organized layout for gameplay.

Gameplay

At its core, Wingspan is an engine-building game where players attract birds to their wildlife preserves by meeting specific conditions outlined on the bird cards. As your aviary grows, so do your options for future plays, enabling you to gather more food, lay more eggs, and ultimately accrue more points. While the basic rules are relatively straightforward, the variety of bird powers and interactions add layers of complexity that will keep strategy enthusiasts engaged.

Players take turns performing one of four actions: playing a bird, gaining food, laying eggs, or drawing cards. Each action has the potential to activate a chain reaction of other actions, making every choice a pivotal one. The game lasts for four rounds, and each round has a specific goal, adding another layer of strategic decision-making to your play.

Educational Aspect

One of the hidden gems in Wingspan is its educational value. Each bird card features not only the mechanics of how that bird affects your board but also factual information about the bird’s habitat, diet, and characteristics. It’s a subtle but effective way of learning about different species of birds and their role in ecosystems.

Replayability

Wingspan shines in its replayability. With over 170 unique bird cards and a dynamic setup that changes each round, no two games are the same. This ensures that Wingspan remains fresh and engaging, even after multiple playthroughs.

Conclusion

Wingspan is a marvelous creation that successfully combines rich gameplay, stunning visuals, and an educational journey through the world of birds. Whether you’re a board game veteran or a casual player, Wingspan has something to offer. It’s a delightful game that you’ll likely find yourself returning to, time and again. A must-add to any board game collection.

But, you know what would be able to get me back into the swing of things? Dice. #NoSuchThingAsTooManyDice

These little gems are one of my favorite things, and so when Skullsplitter Dice asked if I’d like to review one of their sets, and not only that, their first-ever limited edition set, I was like, “(censored) YEAH!!” So, they sent me some dice. I rolled them around a bit, and I’m here to let you know about it.

It’s time for another TGN Review. This time, it’s the Huntress Limited Edition Dice from Skullsplitter Dice.

First off, I want to talk about the aesthetic of Skullsplitter and their company face, since you can’t really get into their products without talking about that. They are a group of vikings. Simple as that. The e-mails that I had back and forth with them always felt like epic Nordic sagas. Like, I wasn’t just talking with “some guy from a dice company.” I was talking with a seasoned warrior of many voyages across the seas. It’s certainly unique, and it adds a little bit more to talking with them that’s kinda groovy. It shows they care and they’re having fun with it. So, even before I had dice in-hand, I knew that Skullsplitter was passionate about their product, simply via the way they present themselves to the public. So that’s cool.

That’s the bag that awaited me when I opened up my package. It’s a fairly nice die bag, obviously with the Skullsplitter Logo right across it. You know right away who got you your dice. Pretty nice material, too.

Being a limited edition set, obviously there’s only so many of these to go around. The bag has a little tag attached that’ll let you know what number set you have. It’s a little bit extra, and not exactly important information, but I know collectors eat that kind of stuff up, wanting to collect certain numbers they like. It gives just that extra touch that the real hardcore dice-collectors (people I’ve realized recently are all over everywhere and exceedingly passionate about their hobby) something to try and look for.

The die bag, by the way, is pretty darn big. You can see it here next to the dice that came in it. You can fit them, and a whole many more sets inside. This isn’t just a die bag for these dice, but can be used for your regular set you use for game.

Inside the felt die bag is a plastic bag that actually contains the dice. So they’re not just ratting around in the fabric during shipping. Helps make sure there’s not chips or breaks, and keeps the bag from tumbling oddly, I’m sure, and ending up with odd wrinkles and whatnot.

Before we get to the dice proper, there’s a couple other items in the plastic bag. There’s a business card for Skullsplitter, as well as an adventure card that will take you to a Facebook Messenger page where you can go on a little adventure. Rather unique. I don’t think I’ve seen that sort of thing before with a set of dice. Finally, there’s a Skullsplitter sticker, so you can emblazon the item of your choice with their logo. Hey, it is a pretty cool logo.

“Nobody cares about that, just get to the dice!” I hear you say. And heeeeeeeere they are. A nice mixing of a somewhat softer red and a pearescent white, with gold numbers etched onto them. Rolling them around, they have a good feel and bounce. They seem to be rather quality dice. My set didn’t have any chips or obviously poorly-painted numbers. Also, you’ll notice the dice count. You get 11 dice in the set. I’ve seen more and more companies go this route lately, and I like it. You get your standard 7-polyhedral set (d4, d6, d8, d%, d12, d20), but then you get an extra d20 and three extra d6. Since a lot of people out there are playing 2d20 and Dungeons & Dragons, having matching d20s is just nice, along with the extra d6s for casting your Fireball spells.

The one thing that I honestly really love about the set is that the 20 on the d20 is a Skullsplitter logo. Sorry my camera didn’t really like focusing on it too much. That was the best shot I could get. But it looks better in-person. The reason I like this is: you can get bags from all over. And a little tag with a number written on it is one way to tell you’ve got dice you can’t get anywhere else, but that embossed icon is what, to me, really says that “you can’t get these dice elsewhere.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a Kickstarter for “new” dice that I can reach into my die bag and go, “Oh, you mean like these that I’ve had for years?” But even if I had somewhat-similar colors (honestly, I don’t have a red/white swirl with yellow numbers), that embossed icon would still set these dice apart from anyone else’s. That, above all else, is what I love to see on dice. It’s something unique (even if a couple companies do something similiar, this logo is still unique to this set of dice), and I love seeing it.

If I did have one complaint about the dice, is that they can be a little hard to read. Here, you can see the dice from a couple feet away. Some can be read, like the 2 on the d8 and the 5 on the d6 just above it, as well as the 10 on the d12, but some of the others… you kinda got to squint at. That close d20? Can’t really see what it says from here. Now, you can lean closer and take a look, but that can be an issue sometimes during game. A die needs to do 2 things, as far as I’m concerned, in order to be a useful die. 1) it needs to be a moderately-fair random number generator. They don’t need to be casino-quality, but I don’t want the same 2 numbers popping up all the time. 2) they need to be able to be read. If you can’t see what you rolled, it’s not much matter that you rolled it. These pass the first test and squeak by on the second. Some dice faces are just a lot harder to read than others.

For anyone that’s a seasoned die-collector, you’ve maybe tried re-inking your dice. I’m thinking about trying these out with black numbers. I feel that would provide better contrast with the light read and pearly-white.

Now, of course, aesthetics are going to matter more to some people than others. So you might like the red/white/gold and think that changing it is sacrelege, and that’s fine. Or maybe your eyesight’s better than mine and you can read all those numbers perfectly. That’s cool, too. Or, obviously, if your die-tray is right in your hand when you roll your dice, that’s not an issue, either. I like to roll out onto a table, so my dice can end up a foot or two from me when I need to read them. At close range, these dice are perfectly legible, just the color combination means they’re slightly harder to see as you get away from them.

Overall, while I wasn’t necessarily impressed with the specific colors of these dice, I was very happy with the product, in-general. Swap out the red for blue or purple, for example, and I’d’ve loved the dice. It’s just my opinion on the colors I want for my dice  and die bag, and not a particular ding against the company, overall. If this is the quality and extras you get from Skullsplittler, I would definitely keep an eye out on their site for dice sets that catch your eye and give them a purchase when they show up.

And if you do love these Huntress dice, you can still pick them up on Skullsplitter’s website here: https://www.skullsplitterdice.com/products/huntress-red-and-white-swirl-color-with-gold-numbers-limited-edition-set-of-7-polyhedral-role-playing-game-dice

Thanks for checking in, and we’ll see you next review.

So, it’s time for another TGN Review. This time, it’s Iconic Blue 2 from Kraken Dice.

When it comes to dice, I have two requirements:
1. They are a moderately fair random number generator.
2. They are easy to read.

In terms of 1, these dice work just fine. Rolled the dice a bunch of times and no one number or side seemed to be coming out more than others. Sure, you roll something like a 2 and an 8, but then a 19 comes up and it’s like, “ah, there we go.” Same with the other dice in the set. These dice also seem to have a really good “bounce” to them. I did just a general “toss” of the dice out onto my table, and man, some of the dice went all the way across the table. I might recommend a die box for these fellas. So, overall, they get a pass.

In terms of 2, … Eeeeeeeeh. So, as I said, these are the second version of the Iconic Blue set. The first ones had gold numbers on the teal dice face. IB2 went for silver. Which, I will admit, might look better aesthetically, overall (the gold can be a bit … “garish” maybe with the gold), but they aren’t as easy to read, in my opinion. Now, I don’t want to say that they are hard to read. They can be read just fine, but IB1 was a bit easier, since the colors on it contrasted more.

IB1 also had acrylic tokens on the bags that told you exactly what number die set you had. IB2 has a little charm that you get with pretty much every Kraken Dice set. So… I mean… I hate to say it, but I think IB1 was the better set. I don’t think it’s a fail at all, but it’s just, “well, this set had the bells and whistles, while this one is just fine.” It’s like having a really great movie, and then a sequel that’s still good, but doesn’t quite live up to the original. Bit of a sophomore slump in the Iconic Blue line. There’s been no mention of Iconic Blue 3, but that will be interesting to see.

Iconic Blue 2 was a limited edition set. More are coming soon. But in the meantime, you can check out Kraken Dice‘s website and check out all their great offerings.

So grab your Crown Royal bag, it’s time for another TGN Review. This time, it’s the Iconic Blue dice set from Kraken Dice.

I’ll get to the specifics of Kraken Dice as a company in a bit, but first, I want to just tell you about the dice. Here, you can see the whole set. In terms of size and durability and feel and such, they’re what you would expect from someone like Chessex. They have a good feel. They roll well. I love the swirled/smokey pattern inside the dice. And the teal/seafoam color is nice.

I have two criteria when it comes to me saying a die is good or not. The first is that it needs to be a decent random-number generator. I don’t need them to necessarily be super-machine-precision, Casino-quality. But as long as you don’t always tend to roll one or a small group of numbers, that’s good for me. A bunch of throws of these dice show that yes, they are decent random-number generators. So that quality is met.

The second is that the dice have to be readable. If you can’t see what you rolled, then it’s sort of pointless. In this view, I intentionally got a picture of what it’d look like if you tossed the dice out onto the table. The gold lettering on the teal shows up well. That far-off D10 is a bit tough to read, but it’s still legible with just a bit of a lean forward. So, again, these dice pass. I’ve seen so many dice that have bad coloring or overly-intricate patterns. Kraken Dice has decided to keep these very simple, and I think it works well.

So, that’s the dice, themselves. But many companies have similar dice. So why do I sing the praises of Kraken Dice so much? It’s the details.

First, their packaging. As you can see, they have a little wrap and sticker they put around the dice in the box. They also have crinkly paper that they use for fill. Instead of just some foam peanuts or something, they actually make the fill match the dice. It feels like you’re really opening a present, instead of just an order of dice.

Next, the dice bag. This set came with black die bag that has a laser-etched acrylic tag on it, showing the name of the set, and even the number from the set. This set was an LE set (more on that in a bit), so there were only 800 sets. I know that I have set 478 out of that 800. No, it doesn’t change the dice at all, but again, it’s the little touches.

Following that up with the little touches are the stickers. When you order from Kraken Dice, they throw in stickers. It’s a really little thing, and I don’t know of many other dice companies that do something like that. And yeah, the cynic would be all, “that’s just advertising for them.” Hey, I don’t mind tossing a cool sticker on my laptop or tacking one to my cubicle backboard as a way to show my love of the company. They deserve it.

After that, we have the set count. Most dice sets are 7 dice. This set has 11. Kraken Dice gives you 4d6 and 2d20. Apparently, the owner’s wife was playing D&D and was thinking about Advantage/Disadvantage, and asked, “So… why don’t you put 2d20 in each set?” And so, they did. And it’s awesome. Usually, you’d have to buy 2 sets to get the extra d20, or hope that the dice are sold individually. Here, you get your extra dice right in the set.

The d20s also have the Kraken symbol on the 20, instead of just the 20. This lets me know that these dice are actually unique to Kraken Dice. It’s a little thing, but I’ve seen so many dice sets that a company says are “just theirs” but then I see them on another site as well. I’m not going to find that Kraken on dice from another company.

Kraken Dice also really cares about quality control. These dice are looked over very carefully by the people there and any defect will invalidate the die from being sold. When this set was coming out, they said that they had some issues with various sets and had to set some aside as not being good enough. However, the customers wanted the dice, anyway, after pictures showing these defects were posted. Many people thought they were rather minor, and would still gladly take a set. Kraken put these up a “B-sets” and had a slightly reduced price on them.

Finally, I love the company because of their responsiveness to customers. They are very active on their Facebook page, answering questions and replying to customer comments. I mentioned that this dice set was limited-edition. Well, the set I got was from the 2nd wave of releases. The first sold out in 5min. This second set also sold out in about that time (despite having limits on how many you could order each time). In my furor to get my set ordered, I had a typo in my delivery address. But I sent in a customer service request and got a rather prompt reply that the issue would be fixed. Obviously, it was, since I now have my dice.

So, yeah, you can get dice from dozens, if not hundreds of companies out there. But I, for one, will be going back to Kraken Dice for my purchases. They obviously take the time and effort to make dice sets that people want, with their customer first in their mind, and add in cool extras to your purchases. You can check out their website here.

So get your $2 bet ready, it’s time for another TGN Review. This time, it’s Divinity Derby.

I want to note that I was sent the retailer version of the game. Some of you might’ve gotten the Kickstarter variant. So your edition might vary slightly from mine in terms of components.

Pre-race Setup

In the game, players take on the role of deities, seated around the track, ready to watch a set of races between mythological creatures. The setup begins with each player choosing a deity to represent and taking the corresponding bet cards, as well Power of the Gods cards (though those are only used in the advanced game), and the matching token. The board is set in the middle of the table so everyone can see it. The card holders are placed between each player, so that the two players can see what cards are on it. Shuffle together the Movement cards and deal out a certain number (depending on the amount of players) to each card holder. This means that players will get to see only a certain portion of the Movement cards available, and only see half the cards that their opponent can see. The Creature tokens are placed on the board in their appropriate spot. You will only use a certain amount of them, also based on the number of players in the game. Take the four Zeus’ Judgement cards and put them on the board corresponding to the first race. Place the appropriate base marker on the bottom of the different Creatures and place them all on the starting space on the board. Determine the first player by deciding who last saw a flying creature, and you’re all set to go.

Looking Over the Race Form

So, starting out, we should talk about the components for the game. There’s the game board, a punch-board of tokens, a big stack of cards, the card holders, and the Creature miniatures. The board is a fairly standard game board. Bright colors, which is nice. The punch-boards all punched cleanly. No tearing on the paper when taking the various tokens off. Always happy to see that. The cards are “mini-card” size (think of something like Zombicide equipment cards or upgrade cards for X-Wing) and have a good feel to them and a good “snap” when flicked. The card holders are plastic and not too flexible. So, hopefully, they shouldn’t break. They’re not very wide, so cards will be overlapping a bit, but with how the information is printed on the cards, that’s not a problem. Last are the Creature miniatures. They feel like PVC and there are definitely some mold lines on them. One note is that they’re very two dimensional. Almost all the Creatures have their wings flat together, held straight out from their back. These, I feel, is a bit of a weak point in terms of production. While not a real “miniatures board game” really, the figures are there to give some 3D to what could very easily be done via tokens (you even get Creature tokens to use in the game. One set could simply have a different color ring and be used on the board). So, a bit of a letdown there.

Place your bets! Place your bets!

Players will score points in the game by successfully guessing what Creatures will finish in what places during three races. This is done by using the Bet cards that they have. Starting with the first player, everyone will take one of their Bet cards, which lists certain Places (or Disqualified) on it. The different places means a player think that a certain Creature will end the race in that spot. Using the information available via the Movement cards visible to them, the first player will take one of their Bet cards and place it, face down, on the table. They’ll then take one of the Creature tokens and place it on the back of the card. This means that they think that Creature will end in one of the places on the card’s front. Every player makes a first bet that way and then does it again. A player can only bet on each Creature once (so, for example, you can’t play two cards and have them both be for the dragon). Once everyone’s placed their 2nd bet, the race is ready to begin.

Aaaaand, they’re off!

The first player will be take one card from the card holder from their left and one from their right (you can’t take both from the same card holder). These Movement cards will then be used to move the Creatures on the board. The top number on the card is the Fast Movement number. The other is the Slow Movement number. Each card is used for a specific Creature, as shown on the card (so, no moving the Pegasus with the Phoenix’s card). From there, it’s simply moving the Creature a number of spaces equal to the number on the card. Obviously, Fast Movement cards are faster than Slow Movement. Many of those are 0. It should be noted that, starting out, every Creature’s deck is identical. Where it gets interesting is that you’re not guaranteed to use every Movement card for a particular creature each race. When a Movement card is played, it is discarded.

There’s also the Dirty Tricks cards. These cards have a Bonus Movement number on them, along with both Fast and Slow Movement numbers. You don’t have to use the Bonus Movement if you don’t want (you can just play the card regularly). However, you can add to the Creature’s Fast Movement value by using it (Dirty Tricks cards must be used first on a turn. So you can’t play two Dirty Tricks cards on the same turn. At least, not as Dirty Tricks). However, the gods aren’t fond of cheaters. Instead of being discarded, Dirty Tricks cards (only when used for their Dirty Tricks bonus) go onto the Zeus’ Judgement deck, started at the beginning of the race.

Come on, Tinfoil! Deity needs a new pair of shoes!

Halfway through the race, once the first Creature has made it past the mid-race line (which is different depending on the number of players), a 3rd round of betting takes place. First, the First Player token moves to the player to the left of the one that just moved the Creature across the mid-race line (a small matter, but worth pointing out, as it can easily be forgotten). Then, the bets are placed. This works exactly like the first two, with players selecting one of their Bet cards and placing it, face down, in front of them with a Creature token on it.

It’s down to the wire!

Once the last bets are placed, play goes back to the movement style. Players will use the now-dwindling cards on the card holders to continue moving Creatures. As they pass the finish line, they will be placed in the ranking section. If players run out of cards before a Creature makes it across, they’ll be placed in the ranking in proportion to how they are still on the board.

And the winner is…

You might think that it’s “The first one over the finish line wins,” but it’s not. You still have that Zeus’ Judgement to deal with. This deck is shuffled, including all the cards that had been used as Dirty Tricks. Then, two cards are drawn. If they’re Zeus’ Protection cards, nothing happens. But, if they’re a Creature card, that Creature is disqualified and moved to the end of the ranking. Once that’s done, the actual final ranking can be determined. Simply slide up the remaining Creatures if any spaces are created by the disqualified Creatures leaving.

Collect your winnings.

Now that players know the final ranking of the Creatures, the Bet cards are revealed. Bets that were correct are placed under a player’s God token. If they were wrong, that card is placed in the Zeus’ Judgement space (where the Dirty Tricks cards had been for that race). Each Bet card has a Victory Point total on it. A player’s total Victory Points is the total on all the Bet cards under their God token.

Getting ready for the next heat.

Divinity Derby is played over 3 races. For the 2nd race, the Movement cards are collected, shuffled, and distributed as before. Players place Bets like before, but they must pick from their remaining Bet cards. The Zeus’ Judgement cards are placed on the 2nd race space. Other than that, the race works exactly the same.

For the 3rd race, there’s some small changes. No Zeus’ Protection cards are used. So if Dirty Tricks are played, someone’s getting DQ’ed. But other than that, the race works the same as the previous two.

Count the final winnings

After the 3rd race is completed and Bets are checked, the player with the highest Victory Point total is the winner.

Switching Things Up

The game includes several variants that you can use, if you choose. For example, there’s those Power of the Gods cards I’d mentioned before. Each one of those has its own special trigger and special power it does when played. They’re all unique, and each god has its own sort of “theme” for how they play. These also work in conjunction with the Fate tokens. They are placed out onto the board at the start of the race and each has a special Power of the Gods card associated with it. So, when a Creature lands on the corresponding space, a player can play their special card then.

Another alternate rule is that Zeus can slowly get sober as the races go on. For the 2nd and 3rd race, instead of using the Zeus’ Protection cards as usual, players use only the ones left over from the previous race. So, since the game starts with 4, if 1 had been drawn in the first race, there would only be 3 left for the 2nd.

Race Commentary

As a fan of bluffing and hidden information games, I am a fan of several of the mechanics in Divinity Derby. I like the idea of sharing some information with your opponents, in the form of the shared card holders, but only sharing so much. And, obviously, there’s whatever you put down in Bet cards at the start. Sure, you’re trying to get a certain Creature across the line, but using so many Dirty Tricks, are you trying to actually get them disqualified or just in the winner’s circle? You won’t know until the end.

With all the hidden information, it can be rough to form a winning strategy, though. You sort of have to rely a bit on your opponents to help your Creatures along. Good thing most of the Bet cards have a pretty wide number of places a Creature can end up to still get you points. The power of the Gods cards also help, as with so many races going on per game, it can feel a bit “samey” unless there’s a touch more thrown in, even with all the bluffing. One thing that happens apparently a lot is that you’ll run out of Movement cards before any Creature has crossed the finish line. We had entire games where nobody actually took the checkered flag. We simply ran out of cards and nobody was there yet. So we just had to use the farthest-along Creature as the winner. We double-checked the rulebook to make sure we were using the right number of Movement cards (since it varies by player count). It just really seemed odd that no Creatures would actually finish the race.

If you want to get your own arena and see which of these creatures is the fastest, can pick up your copy of Divinity Derby from your LGS today.

Steve Jackson Games was kind enough to hook me up with a Cleric vs. Thief starter set, as well as some booster packs so I can tell you all about it.

So grab your alluring codpiece and chainsaw of bloody dismemberment, it’s time for another TGN Review. This time, it’s the Munchkin CCG by Steve Jackson Games.

The first thing to realize when you hear about the Munchkin CCG is that while there is a similar tone to the game, it shares almost no mechanical similarities to the original Munchkin line of games. Instead of trying to be the first adventurer to reach level 10, the object of the game is to reduce your opponent’s health to zero, or mill their deck so that it is gone. If you are the first player to do either of those, you win.

Now, let’s look at the contents of the starter. We all know my love of 2-player starters, and the Munchkin CCG has three that you can choose from. Each one is a ready-to-play kit, with two preconstructed decks, a die, tokens, rules pamphlet, and even level dials. Before we get to the cards, let’s look at the non-card items.

The tokens include numbered tokens in 1 and 5 denominations. The tokens are catch-all, meant to be used as damage counters, gold counters, and anything else you might need to keep track of during the game. The other tokens are the Run Away/Limp Away tokens. These are used, of course, when you either run or limp away from danger during the game.

The two dials are used to keep track of your character’s level. It will steadily go up as the game goes on, which will also dictate how much gold you get at the start of the turn. Unlike Original Recipe Style Munchkin, you don’t win when you hit level 10, as mentioned above. So, getting there first is cool, but not a thing to really brag about.

There’s a single die in the set. Now, I have to say, while everything in the set is of good quality, I was disappointed in the die. Reason being is that every Munchkin set I’ve known has a custom die, related to the set. One of the sides is a custom symbol, or even just the “Munchkin Head.” This die just has pips on each side. Again, it’s a decent die. Rolls well, and such, but I was kinda just hoping it’d be a custom die. Oh well.

As for the cards, quality-wise, they’re good, sturdy cards. They’ve got a good “flick” to them. Nice finish. Not being a heathen, I sleeved mine before shuffling and playing. Hey, they might be just a review set, but still, I’m civilized. The cards fit into standard-size sleeves just fine.

There are 6 types of cards in the game. Let’s go over them quick.

Hero cards are unique in that you only get 1 per your deck, and it’s not shuffled in. It represents the player in the game. Each has a special ability as well as a life total. If that total goes to 0, you’re out.

Players can have 1 Location in play at a time. If you want to play another, you have to Squish your first one. They have a general ability that usually affects both players in some way.

Loot comes in all forms. They can be weapons that will help you in battle, or just other types of gear that gives your hero a buff of some kind. The number in the star in the upper-left corner shows the level of that gear. A hero can only have gear levels equal to their character level. So, for example, a level 6 character could have 1 level 3 gear and 3 level 1 pieces of gear. But if they wanted to equip a level 2 gear, they’d have to either Squish two of their level 1s or their level 3.

Allies can be hired by a Hero in order to keep them alive. Their cost is in the little gold circle in the upper-left. They may have some sort of special ability. Then, their life total is in the bottom-right. If an Ally takes damage equal to its life total, they’re Squished.

Mischief cards are one-time-use cards that a player will pay for (cost in the upper-left), that will have some ability, and then the card goes to the discard pile. Each one is unique, and there’s all manner of things that they can do, from damage to healing to getting you gold and other sorts of crazy whatnots that make your opponent go, “AAAARGH!”

The last type of card is the Monster. They have their cost, as others, in the upper-left. They also have a power and a life total. Some monsters have special abilities that happen when hired (or other type of trigger has happened). Heroes will use the Monsters that they hire to attack their opponent.

So, that’s the type of cards. Before the game, players will construct 40 card decks (not including their Hero card). There are a couple rules for deck construction. 1) You can’t go over 40 cards. 2) Cards must either be the same color as your Hero or they must be Neutral (silver). 3) You can have up to 3 copies of a card in your deck. No more. Other than that, it’s really up to you to decide how you want to distribute your cards among the 5 types that go into your deck.

All that being typed, how does the game work? Well, you’ve got your deck and your opponent’s got theirs. Randomly determine the first player. They get 1 gold. Their opponent gets 2. Both players start at Level 1. Both players draw a hand of 6 cards (you can mulligan once if you want). From there, you’re ready to go.

A game round consists of 3 phases: Warmup, Munchkining, and Cooldown.

The Warmup phase is a preparatory phase. Things that are left over from your last turn are reset, including flipping your Run Away token back to that side, collecting any cards from your Stash, and unzapping any cards you’ve got. You also draw a card. Warmup is also where the Reckoning Phase happens, if you’ve got any cards that specifically mention that.

The Munchkining phase is where you’ll spend the bulk of your turn. This is where you’ll purchase Allies, play most Mischief cards from your hand, equip Loot, place Locations, and attack your opponent with Monsters. Now, long-time readers of TGN know that I’m a fan of bluffing games. And the Munchkin CCG’s attacking step is all about bluffing. You see, to attack with a monster, you place a card from your hand, face down, out between the two of you. You then place as many gold from your purse next to the card as you want. At this point, your opponent has a choice. They can either Run Away or Face the Monster. If they Run Away (or Limp Away (taking 2 damage to do so), if they’ve already Run Away once during the turn), your gold comes back to you, the card goes to your Stash (still face-down), and you continue on. However, if they choose to face the monster, they can commit Weapons and Allies to the fight, Zapping them to do so. The face-down card is now revealed. If it’s a Monster, and you’ve paid enough gold to hire it, the Monster fights. If there’s a special ability on the Monster, it happens, and then any Weapons your opponent has strikes at the Monster. Then, assuming the Monster is still there, it deals damage to Allies and then the opposing hero. This damage can be decreased by committed Weapons. The Monster then goes to the Stash, face-up. However, you don’t have to use a Monster, or you don’t have to spend enough Gold to hire it. In this case, you’ve Cheated (proper-wise, like, legitimately Cheated). When you Cheat, the card you used goes to your Stash face-up, you take 1 damage (you naughty thing), but your opponent’s committed Weapons and Allies go back still Zapped, so they can’t be used again. This is a great way to wear through your opponent’s defenses so that you can get monsters through later on.

You continue on buying, equipping, and sending in Monsters until you’ve had enough. It’s then time for the Cooldown phase. At this point, you’ve worked hard, so you gain 1 Level, as well as get paid, getting Gold so that you have as much Gold as your Level (so, if you are now Level 3 and you had 1 Gold still left over, you would gain 2 Gold). Play then passes to your opponent, who now has a chance to do all that nasty stuff back to you again.

As I mentioned before, play continues until 1 player is left with any health or cards in their deck. They are the winner!

The Munchkin CCG is an interesting mix of bluffing, hand management, and deck construction. Since Monsters keep coming back around to your hand from your Stash, they can return to wreak havoc on your opponent time and again, unless your opponent can manage to Squish them with their Weapons. Expensive monsters can do some real damage, but your opponent can always just Run Away if they think the baddy is just too bad. It’s all about knowing when your opponent is ripe for the attack that you send out the mean stuff… or you could just cheat and make them take extra damage they don’t have to take by Limping Away from nothing.

The Munchkin CCG will be on store shelves later this month.

You can find out more info on the game’s website, as well as get your pre-orders, too!

Well, the fine folks over there sent me a copy, so I can tell you all about it.

Please, leave your fly swatters at home (they’d be cheating). It’s time for another TGN Review. This time, it’s Supper Kitty Bug Slap.

There’s an old game out there that is known by various names. One of the more G-rated of them is Egyptian Rat Screw. It’s a game where players flip playing cards from a standard poker deck out and if two numbers match, you slap your hand down on the pile as fast as you can. If you’re a fan of that game, you’ll probably be a fan of Super Kitty Bug Slap, too.

The game consists of 52 cards, divided up into 48 Game cards and 4 Player cards. On each card is a picture of a kitty. The kitties come in circular, triangular, and square varieties. They are also orange, purple, or green. Some have a fly on them, while others have a ladybug, and others have no bug at all.

At the start of the game, each player receives one of the 4 Player cards. This will determine what types of kitties they are trying to match during the game. The rest of the deck is shuffled and one player is designated the dealer for the round. They won’t be scoring points, but will have a chance later on when another player takes over the role as dealer.

The dealer will take the top card of the deck and flip it out into the playing area, so it’s face-up. Players must then try and be the first to slap the card, if it matches any of the aspects of their Player card (I.E. – if the color, shape, or bug type matches, they want the card). Whomever slaps the card first, gets it and puts it into a pile. If nobody slaps the card (since it doesn’t match any of the Player’s cards), it is removed. When all the cards have been played out, points are tallied. Players score 1 point for a Game card that matches their Player card in some way (again, either color, shape, or bug type). They get -2 points for each card they slapped that doesn’t match in any way. Once the points are tallied, the Game cards are shuffled, and the next player will be the Dealer. Once everyone has had a chance to be the Dealer, players total up their final score. The player with the highest total is the winner.

And… that’s really about it. I did say that the game was really quick. Just play some cards, slap ‘em if they match, and hope you weren’t mistaken. It’s interesting because not every Game card will match a Player card. So, at the end of the round, there should be some cards that go unslapped. The Player cards are square and circle, along with orange and purple, and have both types of bugs. But there’s triangle cats and green cats in the Game deck, so the game isn’t simply about having fast reflexes. You have to actually look at the card and make sure it’s right before you bring your hand down. Not the tactical depth of Chess, of course, but it’s not supposed to be. And with the bright colors, cartoony artwork, and simple rules, it’s a game you can play with your little niece or nephew just fine.

If you want something quick-playing to just have around, it’s easy to grab this one and go.

You can order your copy now from the Steve Jackson Games website here.