If you are a fan of video games, then no doubt you have heard of the popular Xbox 360 game, Gears Of War
Game Overview:
Gears Of War: The Board Game
How to Play:
Once you choose a mission, it’s time to get down to tactics. You setup your board ahead of time by choosing specific tiles for the mission and laying them out. As with most games, the game is played over a series of rounds in which a COG will take his turn, and then you have the locusts take their turn. On your turn, you can take either default actions (move or attack) or you can play a card from your hand. Usually the cards will have extra things you can do, or give you bonuses.
Cards are the lifeblood of this game. You must use one for every action you take. So obviously they are important, but the real challenge comes from they are also your life points. Every time you take damage, you discard a card. Get down to zero cards, you are “bleeding out” and have to wait to be revived. If all the COGs are bleeding out, then the locusts have won and you feel shame.
Speaking of the locusts, they move using an AI deck. After you take your turn, you draw a card from the locust deck. The card will tell you which locusts get to move and attack (or possibly spawn). You never know which bad guy will be attacking each turn, which adds to the tension.
Attacks are made with die rolls, and there are a variety of weapons, each with their own attack stats and special abilities. Throughout the mission you’ll find more weapons (and who doesn’t love finding weapons), all straight from the video game.
My Session:
Well how did our rough and tough COGs handle the army of locusts? Better than their previous attempts for sure. The first time we played, we got a butt kicking. A serious one. I think we made it to room three before we all died. Not a good showing for the heroes.
This time, we played the same mission again (the intro one) and were doing quite well. The COGs were rolling well. We had left a pile of locust bodies in our wake. We made it all the way to the end of the mission. Our objective was to seal an emergence hole and kill off the remaining bad guys. We were battered and bruised but in pretty good shape, all things considered. We sealed the hole and flipped the mission card. It had us spawn about half a dozen bad guys. A little rough, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Or so we thought.
One COG took his turn and then we drew from the locust’s deck. And promptly drew the worst possible card in the game. We drew the firefight card that let every locust on the board attack us. (usually you are only getting attacked by 1-3 guys). We held out briefly, but in the end, the COGs were overwhelmed with a victory just out of their reach. Our heroes were overrun, the game was lost.
Final Thoughts:
So what did I think of the game? You might think that after 2 losses, I would not care for it. But I actually like this game alot. It captures the feel of the video game very well (if you are not in cover, you will get killed). The game has a pretty fast pace, fun combat action and once you get the rules down, plays pretty easily. I’ve only ever played it with 4 players, but have heard that it is somewhat easier with less. I am determined to beat this game someday though. Every time I enter my game library, I’m sure it’s taunting me. It’s definitely a keeper though and I’m sure it will get more playing time in the future.
If you are interested in getting a copy for yourself, it’s about $50
Final Score: 3.5 Stars – Great cooperative game play with some high quality components.
Hits:
• Highly detailed miniatures
• An instant hit with fans of the video game
• Cooperative game play is always a plus in my book
• Unique game play rules, the cards mechanic makes for tough choices
Misses:
• Game play is fairly long which makes it harder to get in multiple sessions
• Scenario based will somewhat limit replays
