I've added a new game to the vaults here at Mik's Minis, the deck-building card game Thunderstone. As you can see from the pic, I not only picked up the base game, but the first expansion as well, Wrath of the Elements.
For me theme wins out over gameplay and even innovation. I'm all about theme, and that's what drew me to TStone initially. Well, that and the fact that all my friends already own Dominion, another (excellent) deck-building game. There are similarities between the two, but they're also worlds apart. Thunderstone is a fantasy game through and through; Elves, magic, monsters, and the like. Your goal is to assemble a party of adventurers, equipment them with weapons, spells, and other items, and go into the dungeon to slay some fiends. The game is basically a cross between the flavor and action of Munchkin and the mechanics (loosely) of Dominion. Sounds like a good hybrid in my book.
It's a card game, so after you've shelled out $40-$60 bucks, and get ready for the big opening, well, it's kind of letdown. Just know you're getting...cards. Not minis, not game pieces, no markers or chits, not even a meeple. Just cards. If you're buying it in the first place, you know already, so moving on...
I kept opening, sorting, opening, sorting, over and over. This took the better part of my morning, but it was worth it in the end. I didn't realize the expansion box was oversized on purpose in order to hold all of the expansion cards plus the cards form the base game, very cool. I also didn't realize the expansion box came with raised and labeled card dividers for both sets in order to sort them properly. These are pretty much a must.
When it was all said and done I realized much to my delight that bottom of the expansion box (seen loaded here with all the cards from both sets) fit snugly in another box. Over the holidays I picked up a gift box of Wild Turkey 101, which came with a bottle and two glasses. Well the two went together like they were for one another, so now I have a fancy-pants box holder.
For the most part this was more of an "unboxing" post, which the kids tell me is 'so hot right now'. I have a couple of TStone games under my belt already and I do like it, I'll have to get into mechanics and gameplay later though. Until then, enjoy!
It's a great game! I sometimes feel like it drags a bit in the end game (i.e. we all can tell who's winning, but we still need to kill 18 more monsters in the dungeon just to get to the stone), but like you, I absolutely love the theme.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the Dragonspire expac. I love the cards in that set!
Unboxing, and waiting for stuff to arrive I ordered always makes me feel like a kid awaiting christmas morning.... >.>
ReplyDeleteThanks Mik for another great gaming idea. I may just have to check this out!
ReplyDelete@Cawshis Clay: Thanks, I was kind of getting a wee bit of buyer's remorse. Nice to hear it does have some legs to it. I'm working my way up to Dragonspire...Doomgate is next!
ReplyDelete@Draxius: I know!
@Meatball: I've got a post coming up with ten games shown and reviewed, keep your eyes out for that.
Mik- Unsolicited advice? Get Dragonspire first, then grab the other ones. Dragonspire adds a few great cards that "speed" up play. Runs as a good counter-point to the cards like Traps and Treasures that slow the game down in Doomgate and Wrath of Elements.
ReplyDeleteI was feeling sad remorse and then Dragonspire "rebooted" it for me. Now I wish I could get my friends to stop playing Dominion for a minute and try some dungeon crawling Thunderstone with me. :)
@CClay: Thanks for the tip, I'll put that forward in the HUD. The only snag I see being my new love that came to me after I picked TStone up...but more on that in a day or two!
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