Terrene Odyssey Review

Terrene Odyssey

Designed by Chris Solis

Self Published (Terrene Odyssey)

2 Players (with 2 versus 2 variant)

30 Minutes

Strategic Party-Based Card Combat, Deck Creation

(8/10 Stars)

Hi everyone! Back in February of 2014 I interviewed the game designer Chris Solis about an upcoming Kickstarter for his game Terrene Odyssey (see interview here) and it was a Featured Kickstarter on the blog. Now, a little over a year later, here is my review of the final product!

First, the game components are very well done. The box is a good size box that isn't too small and isn't too large - fits the Goldilocks principle well - it is just right. The box has a nice feel to it and is very sturdy. When you open the box you will find lots of good stuff. 324 cards (3 copies of 108 unique cards), The game also includes lots of other cardboard tokens to help keep track of damage and modifiers. The tokens are good quality and double sided. I'm very glad these are included in the game, it is a must for the game play used. Very nice. There are player reference sheets which are glossy paper, also double sided with starting party suggestions (and strategy ideas).  The rule book is pretty well done, but it feels incomplete and I found myself with many questions as I played the game for at least the first game or two. Check out the Terrene Odyssey page on Board Game Geek for some clarifications provided in the forums. And lastly, but certainly not least - Terrene Odyssey has fantastic artwork! Love it. The card layout is also very nice.

One of the other great things about the game, is that the game comes with 6 different pre-constructed decks (along with starting party suggestions for each). This is very important because there is a lot of different cards and card types, and these pre-constructed decks are really well done and helps for quick games (especially with new players). Playing with these decks also allows players to see the different strategies available to use in future custom decks. My favorite is a spellcaster type deck so far, but I would love to make a good Engineer type deck. There is just so many different combinations to explore and that makes the game have great replay ability.

The game play at it's heart really is simple. You have a set number of actions determined by your current location card, and you utilize those actions to recruit new characters, make attacks, or use the various different abilities, items, or commands. Defeat your opponent by taking his hit points down to 0 from 50 or defeat all your opponents characters. It is a tight game with lots of strategy. You really have to plan out what you are doing to be successful because actions and cards in your hand are limited. You usually won't be able to do all that you want on one turn, so that requires you to make interesting choices on what you want to do this turn, and what actions you may want to save to react to your opponent etc. The gameplay is rich and seems to be done very well.

The game has felt a little long for me up until this point, but honestly this is probably due to the fact that I'm still new to the game and figuring it all out. This is a very enjoyable 2 player strategic card game. It is very well done from game play to artwork to quality of components. Currently on sale on Amazon for $39.99, it retails for $60. This seems a little high, but considering the amount of cards, tokens, and quality of components along with the fact that it is self published - I can see the reason behind it. If you can get passed the price point and/or you enjoy card strategic battle card games like this, I would highly recommend you check out Terrene Odyssey and that is How Lou Sees It!

(I was provided a free review copy of this game from Chris Solis.  There is a more detailed video review below.  If you liked this video review, please like and follow me!)

Starting Thunder

Thunderstone: Starter Set
Designed by Mike Elliott
2 to 5 Players
45 to 60 Minutes
Deck-building Game

Introduction
Dragon. Magic. Heroes. Weapons. Gold. Fantasy. Cards. Deck-building. Awesome.

This starter set is a great introduction to the world of Thunderstone, or I think so anyway. This is actually my first and only experience with the Thunderstone realm of deck-building and I really like it. I was introduced to deck-building by playing Dominion and it was a really new concept to me. Deck-building games are exactly what it sounds like; they are games where players start with a minimal starting deck and throughout the game cards are chosen to be added to a players deck by utilizing the cards already in his deck. The winner is the player who best builds and utilizes that deck (usually obtaining victory points of sorts). Take the fun of deck-building and add a solid fantasy theme with heroes fighting monsters in dungeons (leveling up your heroes as you go) - and you have Thunderstone! (Plus the name is really fun to say, and I find it a bit funny that recently there has been a big thunderstorm every night for the last two weeks - coincidence?)

Components / Rule Book
First of all, the box feels amazing. Yeah, is it really weird that I like the feel of a box? The box is nice, the cards are great. The inside of the box allows for many more cards to be added from other expansions and it also comes with card dividers. This starter set however does not include any means of keeping track of experience points (I just use dice face which works pretty well - although, I do believe some or one expansion(s) exist that provide means of keeping track of experience points). The rule book is pretty easy to understand and does well at providing visual examples/instruction on the cards. The rule book does have a nice summary on the back that can be referred to as you get used to the different actions etc.

Game Overview
Setting out with 6 basic soldiers, 2 torches, 2 stone shards, and 2 spears each adventurer sets out to strengthen their coffers, heroes, and gain the most glory (victory points) by defeating monsters and of course the dragon which is found deep in the dungeon. 12 card start, players draw 6 cards for their turn. Players can then choose to go to the village and use the cards in his hand to purchase/hire other cards to help strengthen their deck adding cards with greater money, attack values, or light (to help fight those nasty monsters). In the village players can use experience to level up heroes making them much stronger to handle the more difficult monsters getting a greater reward. The other main action to be taken is to run into the dungeon and fight monsters. You win, you get experience and victory points (maybe a disease card or two - battle damage is not uncommon even in a win). You lose, the monster heads back into the dungeon and you lose the opportunity for progression (sad day for you). Game progresses, monsters flee or get killed and players rack up victory points. Once the dragon is slain (or sneaks out of the dungeon) the game is over! Easy as that.

Gameplay and Thoughts
In these cards, there really isn't any way to attack or affect your opponents other than defeating the more valuable monsters before they do, or getting the level 3 amazing heroes first. Although there isn't great player interaction, the gameplay and theme of the game is fantastic as you and the other players battle through the dungeon and choose different ways to strengthen and use their decks.

Players take turns deciding what would best help their deck with the cards they currently have in their hand. Usually, that means checking to see if you can easily defeat a monster gaining victory points, experience points, and perhaps a bonus provided by that monster. Killing monsters means obtaining victory points and very important experience points which help level up your heroes to become more powerful (and get you another 2 points if you get them leveled up to the max level 3). If you don't have a good fighting hand, then you need to decide what village card can best help you in either future battles, or in purchasing better cards
in the future.

There are many ways to improve your deck and things to consider. If you venture into the dungeon without any "light" (certain cards like the torch, and rolling sparks have a light value - or the Tower hero) the monsters become more difficult to defeat due to the darkness (darkness increases as you go farther into the dungeon). Getting too many victory points upfront could cause issues, but that is generally want you want to do. You may want to start getting cards that have a nice dungeon ability while also providing money if you need to expand your deck that way or purchase new heroes.

Some cards have a "magic attack", which just gets added to your other attack numbers. Some monsters require magic however to defeat it. I like the concept here, but this is one area where it is a bit disappointing because the game only has one of the monsters in the entire monster deck that requires it (would love to see some of the expansions). Some of the magic cards such as Rolling Sparks doesn't require a hero to use it which is nice though - which takes me to weapons. Weapons can add great numbers to your attack, but they do require a hero to wield it (and that hero must be strong enough to lift the thing in the first place).

There really is just a lot going on in this game, and yet it isn't too much. Everything is understandable and I really enjoy the defeating monster concept of the game. There are 3 different variety of monsters and they all have a nitch of sorts (beginner - battle damage type, medium - infest you with disease undead type, and hard - just a lot of hit points type; *keep in mind these are not the official name of the types). There is a lot going on with these monsters! Experience points, victory points, gold rewards, trophy rewards, disease infestation, battle damage, and the timing element of the game. And it all works beautifully.

Keep in mind that this is a "starter set" and the game comes with just enough to wet your palate. For example, 4 different heroes are chosen and available for purchase (or leveling up) and the game comes with 5. The village is made up of 8 cards and the game comes with 10. The game is amazing, and there are opportunities for great variety and expansion with other sets. Not being familiar currently with the other sets of cards, I think these cards are good ones and I do feel that this is a great base/bare bones version. I really can't wait to try some of the other expansions and I think that after playing this game, you would be right there with me adding all the expansions you can to your wishlist and that is How Lou Sees It!

A big SHOUT OUT to AEG for making this review possible. THUNDERSTONE!