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For ages the vile Doom Knights have sought to gather the remaining Thunderstones to fulfill a prophecy of corruption over the lands. Now the first Thunderstone has been discovered in the Dungeons of Grimhold and the Doom Knights have sent their minions to claim the relic. The Villagers of Barrowsdale gather brave souls to face the dungeon and keep the Thunderstone out of the hands of the Doom Knights.
I should start off here with a huge thank you to Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) for sending me (and some others, check out the rest of the carnival) a free copy of this game to review. That’s some good mojo right there from a company that has enough faith in its product and cares enough about its niche customer base that it will invest in the community. Now, on to the review!
What Is This Game?
Thunderstone is a deck-building card game for 1-5 players that follows the story of an ancient relic and the forces that vie for its possession. The players represent parties of adventuring heroes who hope to enter the depths of the Dungeon of Grimhold and procure the ancient Thunderstone before evil can gain a foothold in the Village of Barowsdale. The box says that it takes about 45 minutes to play, but I find that number varies based on what cards come up in play and everybody’s familiarity with the rules.
I have been interested in deck-building games but will admit that I have had no experience with them until now. This has been an education for me. I equate the experience to a tabletop version of an RTS-styled video game. You manage your resources, design a plan of attack, and try to execute it as your plan develops. It’s a really cool idea.
How Does It Play?
The gameplay is fascinating. I would think that a game built on resource management would eventually fall into a pattern. Particular strategies become so intrinsic to the game that the game becomes less about composing a strategy and more about seeing tried-and-true methods play out. Much like Risk, where whoever controls Australia has a course laid out for his or her self that readily ends in world conquest if the pattern is followed.
This game is different. The village is different every time. There are different monsters in every dungeon. Even the heroes are different. The game comes with a randomizer deck that creates everything before play. There are 11 Heroes, 8 different Monster types, and 19 different kinds of things you might be able to purchase in the village. You only ever use a limited number of each: 4 Heroes, 3 types of Monster, and 8 different Village items on top of the Basics. What this means is that everything that happens in the game will be different every time. Strategies are different depending on what comes up and I don’t think it’s possible to plan for every possible contingency. Even if that happens, there’s always the expansions.
My Thoughts On This
The game is pretty smooth in its execution. The Randomizer makes setup take a little extra time, but really that’s to be expected. The way that you build your own deck and then use it handles pretty nicely. It seems to have a pretty steep learning curve, especially for the uninitiated, but once everyone is in the groove, it plays well.
There’s a lot of math, and number-crunchy players might have an advantage over others who might be less math focused. For example, a monster in the Dungeon might have Light: 2, divide Magic Attack in half, and have a Health of 7. This means you need an attack of 11 unless there’s Magic Attacks involved (Light provides a penalty of -2 for every point the monster has, and Light varies based on how deep the monster is in the Dungeon and whether or not the Heroes have any Light sources of their own). In that case, the need might go as high as 22 if your Attack is all Magic. Keeping track of all the numbers can get complicated. In the games I have played, the math was handled a lot more cooperatively, leveling it off for those among us who are more challenged by math. I can see more adversarial groups treating this as part of the game, but I think that sort of thing might hinder another’s enjoyment of it. You’re not forced to do things one way or the other, so do what works for your group and it’s a relative non-issue.
I will say this is a pretty game. The art is by Jason Engle. I’ve seen his work before and here it certainly does not disappoint. It’s evocative, consistent, and each card gives clear indications of the things that live in the game.
Overall
Thunderstone is a great game. It’s mechanically sound, the art is fantastic, and there’s a ton of replay value. If there’s one thing I think this game needs it would be some sort of play mat so that the things on the table can be clearly marked. This become important when dealing with things that might be forgotten if there’s nothing indicating them (like Light). I have really enjoyed playing this and expect that it will enter my regular rotation of games.
An additional note: My copy of the game came missing a card. I contacted AEG about this, and they shipped out a replacement immediately. No questions asked. Good customer support goes a long way in having a viable product. This put a pretty positive spin on the whole thing, even if I didn’t already like the game.
Links
- Don’t forget we’re part of the Game Night Blog Carnival! Check out the list of participating blogs here
- As we are in the line of participating blogs, be sure to check out the next link, Going Last.
Watch your threatened squares, gang. We’ll talk again soon.
