Chris Schenck
United States
Dayton
Ohio
GO BUCKS!
Stop touching me!
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This review is the first in a line of similarly-styled reviews. I always like it when reviewers set a style for themselves and stick with it. That way, I know what to expect from certain reviews when I see the link. So I'll be branding my "Once More, with Feeling" reviews in a similar fashion.
The goal of these reviews will be to summarize how a game feels when playing it. Because ultimately, when it comes time to choose a game to play, my game group talks about them in terms of how the game felt during the last few plays. There is no discussion of the mathematical purity of the game, or philosophical debate about derivative mechanics. How did it feel when we played? That's how we decide, and that's what I hope to provide with this line of reviews.
The Feel of Summoner Wars
Gameflow / General Impressions
The game immediately feels comfortable to new players, because the core rules are very streamlined and easy to understand. The strategic and tactical complexity comes from the interactions of abilities on the units, and the often agonizing (in a good way) decisions that must be made on every single turn. See the "Strategy / Tactics" section below for more information on that topic.
The pace of the game can vary widely, which is great. If you and your opponent both go full-out and summon as many units as you can, it'll be a violent frenzy with a high body count. It becomes a self-reinforcing loop too, because all of those bodies on the battlefield are magic points waiting to happen when you kill them. Summoning units creates a bunch of targets, who provide a bunch of magic points, which can be used to summon even more units.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you both spend time building magic and only summoning the odd common unit here and there while building up additional walls, it's going to be a positional battle between Champion units, with Common reinforcements pulling in behind the bigger units near the end.
The possible variations in decks, combined with the ever-changing pace of the game makes for a fresh experience each play.
Strategy / Tactics
This is the meat of the game. As others have said, this is really a tactical miniatures skirmish game disguised as a card game. There are many layers of things to consider on each turn -- all of which have benefits and consequences. The presence of so many factors can feel a little intense at times, but it's best to just pick a general strategy and go for it, as long as you're willing to change it up when you see that it might not be working well against your opponent's plan. You have to manage your flow of units (going for small faster-deployed units, or waiting for the big boys?), the defensive/offensive balance of your unit movement, your flow of magic points through killing enemy troops and discarding cards from your hand to your magic pile, positioning of walls ... all while constantly monitoring the abilities and magic available to both players.
It's not as overwhelming as it sounds, but all of these thoughts do float around on each turn. In a way, the game is somewhat self-balancing: That swarm of units your opponent just brought out are easy for you to kill, and will provide you with magic points when you do. That big nasty Champion he summoned cost him a slew of magic, and you'll likely have the advantage of magic points while he recovers from that expense. The inherent balancing of the design is what makes the game feel winnable, even if you're facing a bad situation.
Luck
There is luck in this game, since there are many dice rolls. So this is not a game for those into pure abstract strategies, or folks who have a violent aversion to dice. I'm not a big fan of luck in general, but in this game the luck is mitigated by the fact that normally a die fails only on a roll of 1 or 2, and multiple dice are often rolled. The lower chance of failure, plus multiple dice means that the luck frequently averages out well.
When playing, it feels like there's just enough luck to provide some variation in play, without dominating the overall outcome. Strategic flexibility is key, and it's felt very strongly throughout the game. When the occasional adrenaline-pumping miracle shot does happen, the players minds go into overdrive trying to figure out how this new development has impacted the dynamics of the battle. Most of the time, victory goes to the player who most effectively adapted his plans based on changing landscape of the battlefield. Without dice to wiggle the odds around a bit, this wonderful feeling of dynamic tactical response wouldn't exist.
Downtime
Essentially none. While you can't directly do anything on your opponent's turn, you'll be more than interested in keeping an eye on every move he makes, to assess how you might have to change your plans in response. I've not yet played the 3 or 4 player versions of the game, but with the 2-player game downtime is not an issue.
Looking Back
Here's the coolest thing I have to say about Summoner Wars: Whenever I've lost a game, I've never been able to blame bad luck. I always find a moment or two in the game where I should have made different decisions based on what I saw my opponent doing at the time. That statement means that I rarely feel truly out of the game until the very last turn. Even when I'm on the ropes, I often feel like a comeback is possible if I manage my resources carefully. That's a rare thing for me to say about a game.
There's a lot of room for growth with this game -- especially considering the potential introduced by a 4-player team game, and future expansions and customizations of the decks. I've introduced the game to several people now, and I've heard that magical phrase "lets try that again" almost every time.
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Chris Dupuis
United States
Burien
Washington
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Excellent review and I love the format
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This is a very solid review. You describe exactly what I am curious about!
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Jerry Hawthorne
United States
dallas
Texas
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Great review cbs42! that pretty accurately describes the game and I think you covered it all. In the luck section, I might point out that there is that luck-of-the-draw factor that is a feature of most card driven games. Knowing what to do when you have a lousy hand is as important as knowing what to do when you have a really good hand, and all of that depends on the current "flow" of the game.
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David Glassbrenner
United States
Virginia
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I completely agree with this review. Great review and stellar game to boot!
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SuperflyCircus Pete
United States
Independence
Kentucky
www.superflycircus.blogspot.com - Best Reviews Ever!
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LOL, love your blurb on luck. Me, if bad luck didn't exist I'd have none at all. That being said, when I played this fairly recently the luck aspect really didn't come into play, and I was thankful for that.
The real trick to the "luck" of SW is that the only time it can really affect you is when bad things happen at the worst possible time, and even then it's a one-time deal that you can recover from.
Can't wait for the expansions!
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Lasse Petersen
Denmark
Copenhagen S
A tip of the hat to papskubber.dk
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Liked the review. Thanks for a good read.
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Posted Fri Nov 27, 2009 9:11 pm
