Review: Lost Patrol

This is NOT Space Hulk in the jungle!

Here’s another one of those Games Workshop board games that I was really keen on getting. Due to the fact that these games all need to be assembled it took a while before I actually got it together and had the chance to play.

The Premise

A drop ship with important surveillance files has crashed on the deadly jungle world of Moraz III. A squad of space marine scouts has been dispatched to retrieve the files and escape the planet with missing the drop ship.

Contents

In the box you get a squad of space marine scouts and 12 what I believe are purestrain genestealers. You also get some 6 siders and a bunch of jungle hexes about the same size as the ones from the Settler of Catan board game, and a bunch of genestealer infestation markers.

The quality of the miniatures is excellent and on par if they were bought separately.

Game Play

This is only a two player game. This is one of my biggest frustration with Games Workshops board games. While there are a few multiplayer games out there most seem to be of the two player variety. I suppose this can work well for people with limited player pools, but it does limit the amount of times I will bust this out.  

Ok rant over. On to the game itself. Holy shit this game is fast and deadly! It is virtually impossible for the space marine scouts to win. We played quite a few games and my buddy only came close to winning once, and even then he was down to one dude and it was unlikely he would be able to get pass the swarm of genestealers coming his way.

Each side has a certain number of action points they can spend moving and attacking. The jungle is created randomly with the exception of the drop pod which is always the last tile in the stack. As play continues the jungle can move cutting off space marines which is a neat part of the game. All in all everything is stacked against the space marine scouts.

The nice thing is that the game is so fast that you can switch back and forth between playing the genestealers and scouts.

The Verdict

I still really like this game, but I do think the rules need to be tweaked somehow. Otherwise after awhile the game becomes frustrating and pointless. Its one thing to make it hard for the scouts to win, but when you lose more games than you win (which will be almost all the time) what the point? From a purely miniatures perspective this box is worth buying just for the contents. Especially if you have both a space marine or genestealers army. My LGS told me that a lot of people just buy these boxed games for the minis inside because the price point is so good for what you get. With the exception of Blood Bowl, I think everything GW is putting out is useable in the 40K or AoS table top battles.

Review: Space Hulk Board Game (2016)

Game over man! GAME OVER!

Games Workshop has been on a tear pumping out board games new and old. One game that I was super excited about getting was Space Hulk. This two player game (sad face) pits the Blood Angels chapter of the space marines against Genestealers that are infesting a space hulk that is moving dangerously close to a new planet to spread their infestation. DEATH TO THE XENOS!

The Contents

Like Wizards of the Coast, Games Workshop knows how to make pretty games. Everything in this set is of high quality and really nice to play with and read. The cardboard pieces that make the board are of an extremely thick cardstock with a nice raised aspect that will last a life time of play and look amazing when set up. The miniatures are the snap together kind and not as detailed as if they were bought individually. This does mean they are easier to assemble allowing you to play faster. Also, you don’t need glue, but I did glue mine to ensure that they would stay together no matter what. Also the fact that the space marines are red and the Genestealers are black, means that you can get away without painting them and still be able to identify both sides easily.

Game Play

In the game each player controls one faction and then plays out one of the 16 missions outlined in the game guide. The guide outlines how to set up the space hulk (which ends up looking like a futuristic dungeonscape), which space marines participate in the mission and the win conditions for both sides. Each player takes a turn activating all their dudes with actions points. The space marines have a lot of options and additional command points they can spend on their turn or the Genestealers. The space marines are best when they attack from range and the Genestealers have no choice but to move into close combat which most times means they will rip the face off of a space marine if they can close with them. After playing three games my buddy and I concluded that both sides really benefit from just sitting back and waiting for the other to come to them, which makes for a pretty boring ass game.

The Verdict

Despite a few flaws (mostly above issue with both sides deciding to hunker down and wait for the other to come to them), I really enjoyed playing the game. I can see a lot of potential to expand the game. For example, it would be cool for an option to add more factions, more equipment and new missions and especially multiplayer options for three plus players. I saw that there are three expansions available on the games workshop website, but the reviews I read about them leads me to believe that they are not worth the money. All they really do is allow you to play new space marine chapters (which I suppose is cool). But in the 40K universe there are so many cool factions it would be nice to see more options. I still have Deathwatch: Overkill to assemble and play so its possible that some of the issues with Space Hulk are addressed in that game. I would recommend this game to anyone who wants to play a relatively fast and fun miniatures game but doesn’t want to fuss with a lot of assembly.

Review: Warhammer Quest – The Silver Tower

I finally had a chance to play through the first scenario of the Silver Tower board game by Games Workshop. This is the first Warhammer Quest box set that reimagines the old Warhammer Quest game.

The Components

The box and and its components are amazing and of extremely high quality. The miniatures need to be assembled, so this is a strike against it in that it takes a lot of time to put together and actually start playing right away. On the plus side many of these miniatures are useable if you play Age of Sigmar table top battles. The cardboard dungeon rooms are of solid stock and look like they should survive warping and heavy play. The cards also seem to be thick enough to survive wear and tear of game play.

The Rules

The rules are relatively simple. Most of what characters can do are noted on their character’s card. One player is designated each round as the rune marked player who rolls the destiny dice and controls the monsters and reads from the adventure guide. Destiny dice act as community pool for players to take from. On each player’s turn they roll their own pool of dice and then take actions fighting, moving, exploring and so on. Actions are taken by spending a d6. For example, I first roll my 4 dice comprising my pool getting a 1,3,4 and 5. The Runic Waraxe of the Dwarf (Fireslayer) requires that I spend a die of 1 or higher to use it to attack an enemy. Then I use that same die to roll the attack, scoring a hit on a roll of 2 or greater and dealing 1 wound to the enemy. When characters are wounded they lose a number of dice equal to the number of wounds they take. As play progresses characters have a chance to heal, find treasure and gain renown which allows them to gain skill cards.

The Dungeon

The Silver Tower is lair of the Gaunt Summoner, a power minion of the Chaos Lord Tzeentch. The dungeon is explored in 8 quests. Each quest involves the creation of a randomized exploration deck that provides a lot of replay ability. Each chamber creates a set or random encounters. The monsters act based either the text from the adventure guide, which also provides flavour text describing the room, or are rolled on a behavior table for each monster. At the end of each quest the characters get a piece of an amulet that provides them more powers and once assembled the true name of the Gaunt Summoner and granting them whatever they desire.

My Thoughts

We played the game with three people, but I think you really need 4 for the best experience. I love how re-playable the game is. The number of hero options that come in the box and available for purchase is staggering. You can use heroes from the Shadows over Hammerhal game too. The random dungeon creation is awesome and the villains and the behavior table is fun. My only real gripe about the game is the organization of the rules. There is no index and the rules really force you to have to search through the book for them as you play. I wish they would have made monster cards with their behavior tables on them. Instead all that is in the book and requires a lot of page flipping during the game. I would be willing to forgive this, but the cost of this game was astronomical when compared to similar dungeon exploring games. I’ve noticed Games Workshop has a trend of making their recent board games with a dual purpose of providing miniatures that can be wither used as part of the game they come in or for their 40k or AoS lines. My LGS tells me some people just buy these box sets just for access to a lot of cheap minis when compared to buying units individually.

The Too Long, Didn’t Read Version

Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower is a fun dungeon crawling miniatures board game. I highly recommend it if you enjoy Games Workshop products and/or don’t mind spending the time to assemble the miniatures. The rules are simple yet provide a nice granularity. Each hero feels unique and fun to play. The organization of the rule book leaves a lot to be desired, but is still functional and lets you start playing relatively quickly out of the box. The game is expensive, but this could be used as the start of a Tzeentch army if you play Age of Sigmar, thus being a deal depending on your point of view. I really enjoyed the game and am looking forward to trying out Shadows over Hammerhal, which looks like it may have improved certain aspects of play, as well as providing more heroes and monsters to play with.