08-17-2011, 02:56 PM
So, I was fortunate enough to have a friend kindly pick me up a pre-release copy of the game at GenCon. I got my paws on it last Friday and was able to play one quick game.
Initial thoughts upon opening the box:
- The the Quick Start rules were the last items packed in the box, so they are the first thing that you see. This is a nice touch. In preparation for the game, I had read the full rulebook online, but the other players had not. This QuickStart ruleset quickly brought everyone up to speed for the core rules.
- The board is big and pretty, folded into thirds. I was never a huge geography buff, so I must sheepishly admit that I learned a few things just by looking at the board.
- Beneath the board are baggies upon baggies of minis! One for the heroes, one for the villains, and the rest for the generic nazis, mobsters, temples, and zeppelin.
- The blue Glory and gold Fortune discs are a nice touch as well. They have the FANG FFP mascot on one of the sides, and a skull on the other.
- Lots of cards broken down into lots of decks. I think I counted about 11 decks. The number of decks seemed intimidating, but once we started playing, we did not really notice.
Thoughts on my First (and only, so far) Playthrough:
It was late, a little after 11pm when we finally got around to playing. I was set to play with my frinds Ben and Erin, but Erin didn't think she would last the whole game. We talked her into playing a couple rounds, just so she could get a feel for the game. I meant to take notes on which characters were chosen, and what Artifacts were on the board, but it was late and I forgot, maybe next time, so these will be generalized reflective thoughts on the game.
- The character I drew was Alexander Cartwright. Being a Cartwright, he has the Resourceful ability as always. This turned out to be huge as I was able to choose to discard about three The Spread of Darkness cards (place a nazi token on three empty land spaces).
- The turn structure is different than the other FFP games and keeps the game moving at a nice pace. Rather than waiting for each player to take their full turn - Move and Adventure - each phase is completed by each player before moving to the next, starting with the winner of Initiative each round.
- One thing that I noticed about the Artifacts is that there are going to be some that are just more worth the time to travel to to get. I initially went after The Shadow of Zeus, but it was only worth three Fortune but required five dangers to be overcome. In comparison, there was another item across the map that was worth five fortune but only required three dangers.
- Being our first game, we all played very reckless. Constantly Pressing On and risking the compiled Glory during that turn. I had learned my lesson fairly early on, and by midgame was sitting pretty. Ben was the first to sell an item, but lost all the Fortune from getting KO'd. My strategy for next time will be to Camp Down often during the early game.
- The Dangers deck has multiples of the same Dangers. In scanning the deck, it looked like there doubles of each danger. What is neat though, is that each danger has a unique Cliffhanger. During one play round, Ben and Erin each drew the Car Chase Danger and both failed. Erin had gone first and flipped the card to see what her cliffhanger was. When Ben failed she said "Ooh, you're in same situation as me!" but was surprised to see he was in a different predicament.
- We did not run into any situations where two Heroes were going after the same item at the same time. I hope this happens the next time we play.
- The Allies and Items decks are well worth the Glory at 5 a peice. Well worth stocking up on Glory and spending it as soon as you are in a City.
Well, that was a bit of a ramble. But my final thoughts are that this is a very well thought out game and is well worth the monies.
Cheers!
Initial thoughts upon opening the box:
- The the Quick Start rules were the last items packed in the box, so they are the first thing that you see. This is a nice touch. In preparation for the game, I had read the full rulebook online, but the other players had not. This QuickStart ruleset quickly brought everyone up to speed for the core rules.
- The board is big and pretty, folded into thirds. I was never a huge geography buff, so I must sheepishly admit that I learned a few things just by looking at the board.
- Beneath the board are baggies upon baggies of minis! One for the heroes, one for the villains, and the rest for the generic nazis, mobsters, temples, and zeppelin.
- The blue Glory and gold Fortune discs are a nice touch as well. They have the FANG FFP mascot on one of the sides, and a skull on the other.
- Lots of cards broken down into lots of decks. I think I counted about 11 decks. The number of decks seemed intimidating, but once we started playing, we did not really notice.
Thoughts on my First (and only, so far) Playthrough:
It was late, a little after 11pm when we finally got around to playing. I was set to play with my frinds Ben and Erin, but Erin didn't think she would last the whole game. We talked her into playing a couple rounds, just so she could get a feel for the game. I meant to take notes on which characters were chosen, and what Artifacts were on the board, but it was late and I forgot, maybe next time, so these will be generalized reflective thoughts on the game.
- The character I drew was Alexander Cartwright. Being a Cartwright, he has the Resourceful ability as always. This turned out to be huge as I was able to choose to discard about three The Spread of Darkness cards (place a nazi token on three empty land spaces).
- The turn structure is different than the other FFP games and keeps the game moving at a nice pace. Rather than waiting for each player to take their full turn - Move and Adventure - each phase is completed by each player before moving to the next, starting with the winner of Initiative each round.
- One thing that I noticed about the Artifacts is that there are going to be some that are just more worth the time to travel to to get. I initially went after The Shadow of Zeus, but it was only worth three Fortune but required five dangers to be overcome. In comparison, there was another item across the map that was worth five fortune but only required three dangers.
- Being our first game, we all played very reckless. Constantly Pressing On and risking the compiled Glory during that turn. I had learned my lesson fairly early on, and by midgame was sitting pretty. Ben was the first to sell an item, but lost all the Fortune from getting KO'd. My strategy for next time will be to Camp Down often during the early game.
- The Dangers deck has multiples of the same Dangers. In scanning the deck, it looked like there doubles of each danger. What is neat though, is that each danger has a unique Cliffhanger. During one play round, Ben and Erin each drew the Car Chase Danger and both failed. Erin had gone first and flipped the card to see what her cliffhanger was. When Ben failed she said "Ooh, you're in same situation as me!" but was surprised to see he was in a different predicament.
- We did not run into any situations where two Heroes were going after the same item at the same time. I hope this happens the next time we play.
- The Allies and Items decks are well worth the Glory at 5 a peice. Well worth stocking up on Glory and spending it as soon as you are in a City.
Well, that was a bit of a ramble. But my final thoughts are that this is a very well thought out game and is well worth the monies.
Cheers!
)