Summoner Wars: Reviewed!

Again, another attempt at this thing. The problem with writing this one isn't so much a format issue, but wanting to talk about things that aren't the game per se (you'll see). But here it goes.

Game: Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games

Again this one has been out a little while, but just recently got a complete re-release. It`s impressive as the original starters (two decks each, paper mat) got replaced by this beast:

Bask in the glory, fools

Suddenly the number of factions (decks) in the starter tripled, you get an actual board (was separate), dice and wound tokens. Makes the starter doubling in price not so bad really.

More after the jump.

Play style: so here is where it gets tough. The problem is the game is intuitive once you play, but explaining it on paper is a really really hard thing to do (like with most board games). So here is the attempt:

Each player chooses a faction deck. This will be what you're playing. Each deck has a card that tells you what starts on your side of the board. You get out the corresponding cards in your deck and place them accordingly. One of these cards is your summoner.

Not a summoner card, but something you can use to bash heads.

Then decide who goes first, and from their you take turns back and forth until someone loses their summoner. Each turn has 6 phases (if i`m remembering right), and certain things you do in those phases. Whoever goes first skips the first three (so no drawing, summoning or events right away). Once all of the phases are done, next player goes.

That's the bare bones of the game, yes it's more complex than that overall. That being said it impressively isn't as complicated as it could be and plays extremely smoothly, as everything is quite clear on what is going on. It also stays fair due to limiting how much can be done in certain phases, normally three units can move and three units can attack. This is where strategy comes in for the most part, and where being able to outplay opponents will normally show through.

If I completely confused you, try this explanation, it probably makes more sense.

Your deck and things you kill are your two resources to cast spells. When i had heard this originally i was a bit concerned as discarding cards seemed like the primary way to play cards (already see the issue there?).

My concerned face. Much like my excited face, or my angry face.... or my happy face (19x)

Because of you getting what you defeat to help fuel spells though, it ends up not being as bad as you think it will be.

It stays interesting through having events and each card having an ability that bends the rules in some way (extra movement or attacking, bringing things back, the standard kind of stuff for this kind of game).

The factions in the game each have a different play style to them, so it`s hard for the game to get boring, even if you only bought the master set (this could have been a problem with the old starters, but i`d say it got fixed pretty well). there`s also faction decks and reinforcement decks that act as expansions for the game, which further lengthen the period the game stays fresh if you pick them up (there`s is a warning to this that will come up shortly).

The only real criticisms I have are that the game can end up fairly one-sided sometimes, or that it can hilariously swing the other way (all it takes is killing their summoner to win remember). The more valid criticism in this respect is that although the game generally rewards smart play, the chance factor in dice rolling on attacks means that it doesn't always. Anybody who plays games with dice can handle this, but it does feel a little more devastating in some cases because of the attack limit though funnily enough.

A surprisingly balanced game believe it or not (most of those cards don't do much so it just looks one-sided)

The only other thing right now is that you can customize your deck some, but at the moment there just isn't the depth of cards to do it really (this will come with time).

There is an interesting issue with the game that I can''t label as a criticism, but it should be noted as it is. This beast has clearly been designed for more summoners to be made for each faction, and with some mechanics in mind for each one. While it is subtle in most cases, there are two factions so far that it seems rely heavily on the mechanic they come with (the swamp orcs out of the master set, and the fallen kingdoms, which are a separate faction deck). The only problem with them going forward is that the mechanic they use will have to either become a crutch for both, or future designs for the two factions will have to break away from them, meaning the older cards will only go with the original summoner they came with. Given the amount of time between releases for the game though, it will be quite a while before this kind of thing comes up.

Price: Depends on what you get/want to get. The master set clocks in at 50 canadian. This sounds steep, until you realize what it comes with. The original starters which are coming up for reprint clock in at 25 Canadian. Thus, in order to get the same amount of stuff that's in the master set, you would need to buy both of the original starters, the premium board and 2 faction or reinforcement decks (the only reinforcement decks currently available are designed to give the original starters deck customization options, I'll count them because of that).

So for 6 factions, or four factions with a bunch of options, and a premium board would run roughly 85 bucks (15 for the board, 50 for the starters and 20 for the two expansions decks you buy). Of course, this all goes together too mind you, so if you want to go all out you could have 14 factions (16, and 9 with customisation options overall when the dust settles for now) and 2 premium boards (cram two together to make it a 4-player game). It would be a whole lot of game for sure. Otherwise, I'd advise the master set, or waiting one of the original starters if you really REALLY like the idea of one of the original factions. Somewhere in between is where I ended up.

Overall: I say worth it, it's a lot of fun and if you just pick up the master set there's quite a bit of variety. If you want to do cheaper and wait for the reprints of the original starters I can understand, but the better board is almost too much to pass up. It also give me hope for the next game Plaid Hat has out (it can be ordered online, but doesn't seem to be available in stores yet). Hopefully they take off though.

I'm excited for mutant cultists though, whenever they get released.

Wow, this went really long, stop talking now.

Ta!