As a lifelong fan of both superhero comics and of board games, the Holy Grail for me has been a superhero-themed game that would evoke the feeling of the comics. Three-word answer: This isn't it. Which is not to say that this is a bad game. It's more to say that what I'm looking for is probably impossible. Therefore, let me discuss this game on its own merits. This is the first game from a new company (Quest Machine), and, as far as I know, the first game by designer Sam Clifford (and coincidentally, this is my first attempt at a game review). And quite a fine first effort it is, well-produced with attractive components, and game that plays easily and is a lot of fun once you take it for what it is. The premise of the game is that each of the 2-4 players controls a two-person team of superheroes, patrolling a fictional city looking for crimes to fight, hoping to ultimately gain enough renown to become the city's "official" superheroes. The game comes in a large box that contains a lot of components, but is largely filled with air (the back of the box promises upcoming expansion sets, so one might be charitable and say that they thinking ahead in providing storage space for same). The non-air components include: a (somewhat flimsy) deck of "Research Cards" a (too-large and somewhat extraneous) scoreboard wooden Action Markers and scoring markers (the back of the box boasts "High quality wooden components from Germany", but they're really nothing special), color coded for each player 12 nicely illustrated Hero Markers (for marking your heroes' locations in the city), along with 12 corresponding "Hero Cards" (for tracking off-board status) 4 color-coded player mats, as corresponding player dice (2 six-siders in each color) and corresponding stands for the players' Hero Markers 7 crime scene markers (and a eight-sided die, marked with compass directions rather than numbers, for moving them) 25 big, thick tiles used to assemble the city a small variety of tokens for indicating hero equipment, etc. The components are perhaps a bit "over-produced" (except the flimsy research cards), but attractive. Gameplay works as follows: The city tiles are randomly placed in a 5 by 5 square (with the "Crime Land” tile in the middle). A certain number of crime scenes (how many depends on the number of players) are placed on the board (The initial placement of the crimes is poorly explained in the rules, and would have been easier understood if it had been illustrated. This was a serious lapse in what were otherwise very clear rules). Each player is randomly dealt two hero cards and a number of research cards, and, after getting the corresponding markers, they alternate placing their heroes in the city. The eight-sided die is then rolled for each crime scene in turn, to move them to new locations. (You will notice that the board is randomly set up, the crimes are randomly set up, and the heroes are distributed randomly. If you do not like randomness in your games, this game might not be for you.) The game then begins, continuing until one player has accumulated 36 Hero Points, or until the Research Card deck is used up (at which point the player with the most Hero Points wins). Each player has four action markers of their color, and one white action marker (plus certain heroes have additional action markers). In each round, beginning with the player with the most Hero Points, players take turns using one action marker at a time to perform actions. When all players have used all their actions, the round is over, Hero Points are scored (these are scored in descending Hero point order, and as soon as someone achieves 36 points, the game immediately ends. A nice touch that encourages targeting the leader), and if no one has won, the crime scenes are moved again (placed in "Crime Land" if they move off the map), and a new round begins. The white action tokens are used to draw a research card. The other tokens are used to 1) play a research card, 2) move one of your heroes one space horizontally or vertically, or 3) cause one of your heroes (when in a tile with a crime scene) to fight crime. The research cards come in a variety of different types. Power Ups enable you to increase a hero's combat ability. Gadgets give a hero additional powers, or can be used to hinder other players' heroes. Adventures give you additional hero points on a one-shot basis. Fame cards give you additional hero points each round. Fate cards are used to hinder other players. Supervillains (which can be played out of turn and without using an action) make crimes more difficult to fight. Most of your hero points will come from fighting crime. Fighting crime is a simple procedure. You expend an action, and roll a die. Each block tile has a number on it from two to five. If your die roll plus your hero's combat ability (which can range from 0 to 3) equals or exceeds the value of the block (or of a supervillain card played on the block, if any), your hero has been successful, and may no longer move or fight this round, and the die is left on the block. (This is because another player's hero might fight crime on the same block later in the round, and if his/her roll is better than yours, your hero is no longer successful, you get your die back, and are free to move or fight with that hero again.) At the end of the round, each successful crimefight gets the successful player Hero Points equal to the value of the block (Also, certain blocks give additional bonuses to the successful player). And that's more or less all there is to it. No, it isn't. After all, this is superhero stuff, and what's a superhero without an origin and superpowers? Each of the 12 heroes has 1 or 2 powers and an origin type. The Origin types ("Tech", "Mutant" or "Chosen") affect the bonuses for certain blocks, make certain supervillains tougher for certain heroes, etc. The powers, like the alien powers in Cosmic Encounter, change the rules for the characters. To me, they seem well balanced, in that characters will either have 1 really good power or 2 lesser powers. Characters either have one of: Superspeed: Character (not player) gets one additional action token for move, fight or play card Detective: Character (not player) gets one additional card draw token Magic: Character gets to roll two dice when crime fighting and choose the better one Teleport: Character moves to any tile for a single move action Inventor: Character starts with a gadget and may play gadget cards without using an action Noble: Character gets one hero point per round simply for existing or two of the following: Fly: Character may move diagonally Super Senses: Character gets an additional action token (for fighting crime only) Blast: Character may fight crime in horizontally or vertically adjacent tile Transform: Character starts with +1 combat ability Thus, Shadowboxer is a Tech hero with Detective power, Pyre is a mutant with Blast and Fly, and so forth. To sum up, this is a fast-moving and fun game (just about the right length for what it is), perhaps a bit over-produced (except with inexplicably flimsy cards). It's not a deep-thinking game, and those who dislike randomness or dicefests would be advised to give it a pass. But for the rest of us, while it's no masterpiece, it will be fun to play now and then, and will stand up to repeated play. Back to Table of Contents -- Game! # 5 To Game! List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by George Phillies. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com