Quick Review - Clash of the Battle Goats - Kickstarter Preview

Clash of the Battle Goats
Designer: Brent Critchfield
Publisher: Studio Woe

Quick Review - Clash of the Battle Goats - Kickstarter Preview
Disclaimer

Last year a new, tactical card game burst on the Kickstarter scene.  With awesome artwork featuring an odd set of bizarrely mutated goats and an equally quirky collection of shepherds, Gruff was a huge success.  Now, about a year later, Studio Woe is back with the first Gruff expansion, which also plays as a stand alone two player game.  Clash of the Battle Goats is fully compatible with Gruff and adds two new shepherds and six new gruffs (mutant goats) to the mix (and more with stretch goals already being hit).  I don't have Gruff, however, so this review is strictly about Clash as a stand alone game.

Fully compatible with Gruff, but playable with two as a stand alone game, too.

Overview:

In Clash of the Battle Goats two players each take on the role of a shepherd with a small flock of thee mutant goats called gruffs.  Mix and match shepherds and gruffs between Clash (which will come with at least six shepherds and six gruffs) and Gruff (with seven shepherds and fifteen gruffs) and then head out to do battle.  Each shepherd has a unique ability and each gruff has a set of 15 ability cards with a variety of cool effects. 

Clash plays with two players (although Gruff handles four) ages 11+ in 15 to 40 minutes.  It's currently on Kickstarter through May 10 for $20 and is already over 200% funded, so it's just a matter of how many stretch goals are reached now.

It's Vim versus North in this battle.

Gameplay:

After selecting a shepherd and three gruffs, each player will then choose 8 of the 15 ability cards for each gruff to use in the game.  This allows each player to construct a unique deck that caters to their intended strategy.  The depth of this deck construction isn't anywhere near Magic the Gathering levels, but it allows a level of customization that is quick, yet meaningful.  Alternatively you can play with eight random cards for each gruff, but that does pose the risk of getting unbalanced decks.

North is one of two shepherds that came with my copy of Clash of the Battle Goats.
The Kickstarter is already unlocking a ton more shepherds and other additions!

Once each player has their shepherd, three gruffs, and 24 ability cards selected the battlefield is constructed.  The three gruffs line up on each side to protect their shepherd.  Gruffs have three stats each, Mean (attack), Fat (defense), and Weird (a resource the gruffs supply).  Shepherds have two stats each, Life (health) and Crazy (how much of the resource the shepherd has).  Small clips are attached to the cards and can be slid up and down as the characters gain and lose stats.

Track stats with special clips on the cards.  They can occasionally be fiddly, but overall work OK. 

On your turn the first thing you do is resolve any battles they declared on your previous turn.  That sounds odd, but it's one of the main mechanics that set Clash and Gruff apart from other tactical combat games.  When you declare an attack your opponent has their entire turn to adjust their defensive strategy.  This requires a drastic change to how you strategize for combat.  You'll end up having to plan several turns in advance to make sure you have the right gruff in the right position and that your opponent won't be able to defend.

After resolving any attack from a previous turn the main part of your turn begins.  First draw an ability card.  Then choose a gruff to activate (turn it sideways to show it has been activated).  Some gruffs have abilities that trigger when they are activated (like increase their Fat, Mean, or Weird stat, or sometimes something else).  If the gruff has any Weird, your shepherd increases its Crazy level by the amount of Weird the gruff has.  These are the only resources in the game, Weird and Crazy.  In order to play ability cards your shepherd must be crazy enough.  So activating weird gruffs allows your shepherd to play crazier ability cards.

The crazier your shepherd is the more powerful ability cards you can play.

After a gruff has been activated, any activation abilities are triggered, and your shepherd gains any available Crazy, you may play any number of ability cards from your hand.  The catch is the total amount of Crazy that the abilities cost can't exceed the total amount of Crazy your shepherd has.  So if your shepherd has eight Crazy you can play a single card that costs eight, two cards that cost four, or any combination of cards as long as the total Crazy does not exceed eight.  Your shepherd doesn't lose the Crazy, but it must be Crazy enough to play the cards.

There are three types of ability cards, Actions, Conditions, and Mutations.  Actions are resolved immediately.  They can do things like increasing a gruff's stats, moving a gruff, removing Conditions and Mutations, and more.  Conditions are active for an entire round (i.e. until the beginning of the active player's next turn, after combat).  These are usually cards that provide benefits (or penalties) to a gruff as long as they are active and certain conditions are met.  They'll usually provide combat benefits in certain situations, although they can do other things, too.  Mutations are generally permanent effects.  They can be positive (so you'll place them on your gruffs) or negative (you'll place them on opponent gruffs) and sometimes are global mutations that affect all gruffs on on team.  They'll generally stick around, but there are some abilities that allow you to discard mutations.

Different ability cards provide different benefits.

After cards are played comes the critical decision.  What to do with your activated gruff.  You have four choices.  You can either Grow, which means you increase any single stat for your gruff, Shift, which means you swap places with an adjacent gruff, Resurrect, which allows you to revive a gruff that has been defeated in combat, or Attack.  Attacking is obviously what this game is really all about, but attacking is a lot more thoughtful in Clash than it is in most games.  As I mentioned above, you don't resolve your attack right away.  Instead, you simply declare your attack and move your gruff into position.  Then you wait to see how your opponent is going to react on their turn.

Toof has six Fat, two Conditions, and one Mutation that make him a pretty solid defensive wall.

You won't be able to activate your gruff again until after you've activated every other gruff on your team, so you must pay careful attention to which gruffs you activate when.  There are some cards and situations that can change this, but generally you'll only get to use a gruff's abilities once every three turns.  This is something to be aware of not only when activating your own gruffs, but when deciding what to do with them since which gruffs your opponent will be able to activate may be critical to your strategy.  Sometimes it takes a couple of turns to make sure you have all your gruffs in just the right position to spring your trap for the big attack.

Lockjaw goes in for the attack!

The mechanics of an attack are pretty simple.  You compare the attacker's total Mean (attack strength) and any modifiers from Mutations or Conditions to the defender's total Fat (defense) and any modifiers.  If the total attack damage meets or exceeds the total defense the gruff is defeated.  This means the gruff gets flipped over and can't be used any more during the game until the owner uses a Resurrect action to bring the gruff back into play.  Any excess damage passes through to the shepherd.  If the total attack damage doesn't equal or exceed the defense nothing happens and the attack is over.  There are no counter attacks, no reacts, nothing like that.  But remember, the opponent has an entire turn to mount a defense, whether that means increasing the defending gruff's stats enough to fully block the attack, adding defensive Conditions and Mutations to the defending gruff, adding crippling Mutations or Conditions to the attacking gruff, moving a stronger gruff in to defend, or choosing which gruff to sacrifice to protect the shepherd as much as possible.

Lockjaw has a whole bunch of mutations from the opponent, but is it enough to stop his meanness?

Turns continue until one shepherd's Life is reduced to 0.  Then it's time to reset and battle again!

Final Thoughts:
When Gruff came out last year it won a number of awards.  The innovative twist on tactical battle card games is definitely worthy of attention.  The mechanics behind Gruff and Clash are simple: draw a card, activate a gruff, play cards, and take an action, but the delayed resolution of attacks, combined with the wide combination of characters and abilities, along with the simple deck construction choices make the battles in the Gruff universe unusually deep and tactical.  Allowing your opponent an entire turn to mount a defense requires a completely new way of considering strategy.  No longer are battles simply about getting the strongest attackers out at the right time.  Now you have to coordinate to get them ready at a time when your opponent won't be able to respond.  Sometimes this means going on the offensive right away with a series of small attacks.  Other times it means biding your time until you can go for a big attack.  Despite the simplicity there are a lot of bits of information to take into account.  And, although most of the information about each player is public (aside from the ability cards in their hands), with a lot of moving parts even the best laid plans can sometimes be foiled.

Vim is the other shepherd that is standard in the game, but a bunch more will be coming with the Kickstarter stretch goals.

As for how Clash holds up on its own though, the game I played felt a bit lacking in variety.  With only two shepherds and six gruffs to choose from there didn't seem to be a whole lot of spice.  The games I played all felt very different, despite playing with the same combinations most of the time, though.  Depending on who I played against the games were fast, vicious battles, or longer games of push & pull while we maneuvered into position for the killing blow.  Games lasted anywhere from 15 to almost 60 minutes.  So, even with a limited variety of characters, the prototype of Clash of the Battle Goats does provide a breadth of interesting game play experiences.

The artwork is fantastically bizarre.  Each goat is a treasure!

However, the Kickstarter version of Clash is already being packed with four additional shepherds. This will add tremendously to the scope of Clash, making it feel more fleshed out as a stand alone game experience and less like an expansion that can also be played on its own.  I'm not sure if there will be any new gruffs in the stretch goals for Clash, but if you pair Clash with Gruff you'll have an incredible amount of variety to choose from. Billions of different combinations, not including the Legendary Gruff cards that are included with Clash's stretch goals and the ability to refine each gruff's ability deck.  I'm sure there will be future expansions as well, which will only add to the richness of the Gruff universe.

Back now and you can have this adorable critter in your herd!

So, overall I highly recommend Clash if you are interested in a very different tactical card combat game experience.  It'll be unlike any other game you've played.  And if you already have Gruff then backing Clash should be a no-brainer!  If you don't have Gruff, consider grabbing both in the Kickstarter now.  The campaign runs through May 10 and you can pick up Clash for $20, both Clash and Gruff for $55, or a complete collection, including a playmat and more for $75!

Preliminary Rating: 7.5/10
This review is of a prototype game.  Components and rules are not final and are subject to change.

Did you like this review?  Show your support by clicking the heart at Board Game Links , liking GJJ Games on Facebook , or following on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

GJJG Game Reviews are independent, unpaid reviews of games I, George Jaros, have played with my family and friends.  Some of these games I own, some are owned by friends, some are borrowed, and some are print and play versions of games.  Where applicable I will indicate if games have been played with kids or adults or a mix (Family Play).  I won't go into extensive detail about how to play the game (there are plenty of other sources for that information and I'll occasionally link to those other sources), but I will give my impressions of the game and how my friends and family reacted to the game.  Quick Reviews will only get a single rating of 1-10 (low-high) based on my first impressions of the game during my first few times playing.  Hopefully I'll get more chances to play the game and will be able to give it a full review soon.

Quick Review - Starving Artists - Kickstarter Preview

Starving Artists
Designer: Mike Wokasch
Publisher: Fairway 3 Games, LLC

Quick Review - Starving Artists - Kickstarter Preview
Disclaimer
Back in October I went to the Madison Protospiel event and got to play a number of great games.  One just recently funded on Kickstarter (see my review of Flag Dash), and now a second is launching as well.  Starving Artists was originally created to compete in The Game Crafter's survival game design contest.  And guess what, it won!  I played a 4 player game of the contest version in Madison with the designer, Mike Wokasch, and his son and when I heard it was coming to Kickstarter with a few updates, I was super excited.  I have a degree in fine art (sculpture to be exact, despite a career in web development), so the theme and art in the game really grabbed my attention.  What's more, my wife loves the theme and artwork also, so this is a perfect game for my family, thematically anyway.  Read on to see if the gameplay matched my expectations.

Overview:
Starving Artists is a 2-4 player game for ages 10+ (although my 6 and 9 year old gamer sons played it just fine).  It takes about 45 minutes and comes packed with gorgeous, classic masterpiece paintings from many great artists.  The Kickstarter launches on April 19 and the game will be available for $29.

In Starving Artists, each player is an artist trying to survive by completing paintings.  There is one resource in the game, paint, and it is used to both paint your paintings and as a currency used both to purchase canvases and as earnings when selling completed paintings.  Players must also manage their meals, which is the equivalent of health or strength - if you hit zero meals left you are out of the game and the end game is triggered.  The paint is represented by cubes in seven different colors: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Purple, Orange, and Black.  Each canvas in the game requires a different combination and number of paints in order to complete the painting.  Once a painting is completed it can be sold to both earn new paints and to gain a few meals.

You'll need to paint some masterpieces in order to survive!

Gameplay:
The game is played in a series of rounds.  At the start of each round players have to feed themselves, pass the first player token, and then add some paints from the main stock into a common payday pile.  Then players will get to take one action at a time until each player has taken two actions.  Between rounds there is a selling phase where players can sell any completed paintings before the next round begins.

The choices are simple, but the decisions are difficult.  There's a lot of depth here!

Actions available each turn include Work, Paint, and Buy.  With Work you get to draw three paint cubes from the bag.  To Paint you can apply up to four paint cubes to their corresponding spaces on a canvas you own.  And when you Buy you purchase a canvas from the market (for 1, 2, or 3 paints depending on how long the canvas has been available) so you have something to paint on.  Paints used to purchase the canvases go into a central payday pile.  You are also allowed to trade paints from either the payday pile (at a rate of 2 to 1) or the main paint bag (at a rate of 4 to 1, or possibly 3 to 1 depending on the final rules).

As you paint more you'll be able to add paints to the canvases you are working on completing.

After each player has taken two actions the selling phase starts.  Any players that have completed painting canvases can then sell the canvas.  Each canvas has a value that it is worth and a number of meals that it provides.  When a completed canvas is sold the player can increase his meals by the amount of the canvas and then take the number of paints indicated from the payday pile (paints used on the canvas go back into the bag).  Then that canvas is worth a certain amount of points at the end of the game.  The catch is, if more than one player sells a completed painting, paints are collected from the payday pile in a round robin fashion.  The player with the most valuable painting gets to choose four paints first, then the next most valuable painting nets that player two paints, and each other player then gets one paint each.  This repeats until each player has collected all the paint they are allocated or until the payday pile is exhausted.  So if you sell at a time when other players are selling and the payday pile is fairly empty there's a chance you won't get as much paint as you expected.  But waiting to sell a painting means you'll get closer to starving as you run out of meals.

The Scream, worth 1 meal, 8 paints, and 2 points, is one of the many famous paintings included in the game.

The game goes until either one player paints a certain number of paintings (depending on the number of players) or until one player runs out of meals (and either starves or gets a real job, depending on how hard core you want the theme to be).  If one player runs out of meals then the other players finish that round and the game ends.  The player with the most points worth of sold canvases at the end of the game is the winner.

Fun for the whole family!  And learn a bit about famous paintings, too!

Final Thoughts:
The use of paints as both a resource and currency, and the way selling canvases results in a bit of marketplace competition creates a great economic engine that adds a bit of player interaction to a game that is otherwise a pretty solo experience.  Each player is working to manage their own paints and canvases, but it's important to pay attention to what your opponents are working on, too so that you can try to sell your canvases at an optimal time, decide if you should buy a new blank canvas now or wait until another player buys a canvas to make the one you want cheaper, and pay attention to what paints other players are collecting.  Coupled with the great theme and artwork, this makes Starving Artists a great game for both casual and serious gamers.  A game lasts about 45 minutes, which is a perfect length (the first prototype I played went on a little too long, so the revised rules really improve that).  The mechanics were simple enough that my six year old son played fine (he's used to much more complex games though) and the strategy was deep enough that my gamer friends really enjoyed the game, too.

The game was great for both my family and my gamer friends!

I did have a few concerns with some of the randomization that happens with the paint cubes that come out in the game though.  There is a lot you can do to control your own fate, but sometimes the colors you need just don't come up when you work and aren't available in the payday pile for trade.  In those cases there's just nothing you can do to prevent yourself from starving.  That's one aspect of the game that is still being playtested and balanced.  A few solutions that I suggested include being able to paint a portrait by trading in four paints for one meal.  Or being able to sell a completed canvas a second time to get those meals, but lose the points the canvas is worth.  Mike Wokasch had a few other things he was working on, too, and I'm confident this little hiccup will be resolved by the time the campaign is completed.  It's a minor issue and the game was still a ton of fun.  And at the very least, it's an easy house rule to add if you need to.

Sometimes the colors you need just aren't available.  I expect that to be fixed in the final game though since it's an easy fix, mainly just a decision on which method works best for the game.

The only other concern with the game is the reliance on accurately identifying the colors.  This will definitely be a challenge for colorblind players and can be difficult in lower light situations even for those without color sensitivities.  There are a few tips in the rules for helping out color blind players and each canvas has a list of the quantities of each color paint required, but that doesn't help with identifying the cubes as they come out of the bag.  Yellow and Orange are particularly difficult to tell apart at times.  I'm not sure if there's a good, cost effective solution (different shapes for each color might work, but then pulling them out of the bag becomes less random).  Still, this is a minor issue in a game that looks fantastic in part because of the great colors.

The colors of the cubes are bright and vibrant, but sometimes difficult to tell apart.

So, overall I really, really like Starving Artists.  The theme is wonderful, the artwork is gorgeous (it has to be since it's composed of some of the greatest paintings of all time), and the gameplay is simple yet strategic.  Starving Artists would be an attractive addition to any game collection and is sure to capture the attention of gamers, families, and art lovers alike!  Plus, the whole thing is packed into a nice, portable sized box.  If you follow my blog you probably know that I really like big games in small boxes.  The Tiny Epic games are some of my favorites, and Starving Artists is a great addition to my collection of small, portable games with big gameplay.  Now, let's see if Mike can come up with an expansion for classic sculptures!

So check out Starving Artists on Kickstarter starting April 19.  Visit http://www.starvingartistsgame.com/ where $29 will get you one copy of the game shipped in the US ($10 worldwide shipping).

Preliminary Rating: 8/10
This review is of a prototype game.  Components and rules are not final and are subject to change.

Did you like this review?  Show your support by clicking the heart at Board Game Links , liking GJJ Games on Facebook , or following on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

GJJ Games is proud to be a part
of the Everything Board Games Network.

GJJG Game Reviews are independent, unpaid reviews of games I, George Jaros, have played with my family and friends.  Some of these games I own, some are owned by friends, some are borrowed, and some are print and play versions of games.  Where applicable I will indicate if games have been played with kids or adults or a mix (Family Play).  I won't go into extensive detail about how to play the game (there are plenty of other sources for that information and I'll occasionally link to those other sources), but I will give my impressions of the game and how my friends and family reacted to the game.  Quick Reviews will only get a single rating of 1-10 (low-high) based on my first impressions of the game during my first few times playing.  Hopefully I'll get more chances to play the game and will be able to give it a full review soon.

Quick Review - PWNs - Kickstarter Preview

PWNs: A Game of Strategic Mayhem
Designer: Ryan Boyle
Publisher: AWRY Corp, LLC
2-4p | 20-45m | 10+

Quick Review - PWNs - Kickstarter Preview
Disclaimer Support me on Patron!
Back in September I was contacted by Ryan Boyle about reviewing a whimsical combat game he was working on called PWNs (pronounced 'pones').  It was still in development at that time, but it looked interesting and I said I'd be happy to play it when it was ready.  It took about six months, but when it was ready to play Ryan sent me a prototype copy.  I've played a few times now, but was it worth the wait?

Overview:
PWNs is a light strategic combat game with a lot of chaos and mayhem.  The game is for 2-4 players ages 10+ (although my 6 year old played without any problems at all) and takes about 30-45 minutes.  PWNs will be on Kickstarter in mid to late May.  I'll update this review when the Kickstarter details, like price and launch date are available.  PWNs is now on Kickstarter, through June 22, 2016!  Be sure to check out the PWNs Kickstarter Campaign where you can grab a copy of the game for $34 ($39 for a deluxe version with exclusive cards and abilities) plus shipping.

PWNs are on the march!

In PWNs each player controls a set of pawns (called PWNs) and the goal is to eliminate all opponent PWNs on the board.  Each PWN starts out with 5 HP (Health Points) and will be able to move, attack, and heal throughout the course of the game.  If a PWN's HP is ever reduced to 0 that PWN is KO'd (Knocked Out) and is out of the game.  The last player with surviving PWNs is the winner.  The battle is conducted on a grid of 64 squares, much like a chess board, but instead of black and white squares each square is a different terrain: mud, grass, dry grass, and water.  Throughout the course of the game different effects will change the terrain, converting grass to mud, mud to holes, setting dry grass on fire, freezing lakes to ice, and more.  Some of the terrain is hazardous to the PWNs, some is just more likely to become a hazard.

Holes and lakes are two of the types of hazards that the battlefield will have.

Gameplay:

Playing PWNs is very simple.  Setup consists of each player selecting their team (there are no asymmetrical powers, so even though each character has flavor text the only real difference is the colors) of PWNs and their corresponding mats, setting the starting HP to 5 for each PWN, and drawing a number of cards that varies depending on the number of players.  Then you choose 4 random starting tiles (square tiles composed of a 4x4 grid of 16 different terrain spaces).  These are randomly assembled to create an 8x8 grid.  Finally each player places his four PWNs in the first two rows on a side of the playing area.  Currently these starting tiles are just cardstock weight squares, but in the final version I'm told they'll be thicker chipboard mats, held together with a frame, kind of like how the Catan hexes are held together with a frame.  This should make for a nice, solid playing surface as opposed to the somewhat floppy prototype playing area.

The cardstock starting tiles were annoying in the prototype, but fortunately they'll be nicer chipboard mats in the final game.

Once all the PWNs are placed the first player begins.  Each player's turn consists of three phases: Move, Action, and Health.  During the Move phase a player may move the PWNs up to three spaces total.  They can move one PWN three spaces, three PWNs one space, or any combination that totals 0-3 spaces.  Next comes the Action phase.  This is where the meat of the game comes into play.  During the Action phase players get to choose one PWN to attack opponent PWNs.  Once the Action phase is resolved players can play any Health cards during the Health phase.

Managing HP is important, otherwise your PWNs wind up KO'd.

There are two types of cards that can be played during the Action phase: Elementals and Attacks.  Elemental cards generally affect the terrain of the board.  If a PWN happens to be unlucky enough to be standing on an affected space on the board the may get some damage done.  Sometimes there may be a satellite that crashes into the earth, setting spaces on fire.  Or maybe a hurricane blows forth, blowing all PWNs in a certain direction, possibly into a hazard.  Elemental cards are great for adding a general sense of chaos to the board, ensuring that nothing stays the same for long.

Elemental cards can not only set the grass aflame, but also turn water to ice, cause lakes to expand, and more.

But Attack cards are the really fun part of the Action phase.  PWNs comes with a wide variety of Attacks.  Everything from Molotov Cocktails to a Bag of Stinky Leftovers to Halitosis is fair game.  Some Attacks directly damage PWNs.  Some send a PWN running into hazards.  Each one is great, but some are more useful in certain situations.  You don't want to don the Scary Mask and just make a PWN run across the board, you want to scare that PWN into a hole, fire, or crash him into another PWN (which does damage to both PWNs).

Oh, the choices...  I think I'll use a Poison Dart and keep my Block in case I'm attacked...

But not every Attack card is guaranteed to be successful.  A few require rolling a die to determine just how destructive they are (like, does a vulture swoop down for the attack or a dragon).  And most Attacks can be avoided if the victim plays an appropriate Reaction card.  Some Reaction cards simply protect a PWN from being attacked, or let them dodge out of the way, but some Reaction cards turn the tables on the attacker and make him the attackee!  Using the Sniper Rifle on a PWN that has a Reflector could be the end of the attacking PWN!

Oh yeah, that's a good card to play on your brother!

During any phase of a player's turn they can trade in a card from their hand to gain a new card from the deck, so sometimes it's worth it to just lay low and shuffle cards around until you have what you need to move in on a big strike.  But you need to be careful, because sitting in one place for too long makes you a prime target!

Beethoven and Happy are trapped between the giant lake and the wall of flames.

Final Thoughts:

The concept behind PWNs is simple, but it is hugely fun.  Sending these PWNs around the board, attacking your opponents, changing the terrain, is all hugely satisfying.  This isn't going to be your 3 hour, highly strategic Euro game.  It's not even an Amerithrashy strategic war game.  It's simply a chaotic battle that gives the feel of a bunch of unorganized kids having an epic paintball battle, but with slightly odder weapons.  I'm not sure I'd recommend the game for a group of serious gamers (although it could be a good starter or end of the night game just for a few laughs), but this is an excellent game for families.  My sons (6 and 9) and their friends absolutely love PWNs.  I think it's the only Kickstarter preview I've had where they've pulled it out to play on their own.  I've played with adults, too (although never a game with only adults) and everyone has always had a great time.

There are always hilariously fun choices to make.

There are only a few minor issues with the game as it is now, and some of these issues are simply because it is a prototype.  I mentioned that the game will be coming with thicker starting tiles instead of the thin cardstock tiles.  This is almost a necessity.  The game is fun, regardless, but the thin tiles are just a pain to play on.  But when I mentioned it to the designer, Ryan said it's already planned to be fixed in the final game.  Also, a minor concern is that some effects that apply to PWNs (like being frozen, poisoned, trapped in ivy, etc.) are difficult to indicate.  We've been playing by using the card that caused the effect to indicate which PWN has been effected, but Ryan has indicated that they'll be adding better markers to indicate various statuses.  A few of the interactions between attacks and reactions were a bit confusing, too, but that should all be clarified with some adjusted text and FAQs in the rules.

Mr. Decaf is trapped in ivy and Houdini is on the run.

I think my only big complaint about the game is the player elimination aspect.  The current rules say that you play until there is only one team of PWNs left.  In a 2-player game this is fine, but in a three or four player game there can be a significant amount of time between when the first player is eliminated and when the game finally ends.  PWNs is generally a pretty quick game, but being eliminated 15-20 minutes before the game is over is never any fun, especially when some of the players are kids.  The good thing is that I made a suggestion to Ryan and he really liked it.  Instead of playing until one team is left, play until one team is completely eliminated and end the game right there.  The winner is the player with the most PWNs remaining, or with the most HP if there's a tie.  This make sure no one is left out at all and also makes sure that no one is ganging up on any other player.  It also speeds up the game a little bit, too.  The games I played with this variation were a lot more fun for everyone and added an extra level of strategy, too, since you have to decide who to attack because you don't want to end the game when someone else has too many PWNs left.  So it's very possible that this will make it into the final rules, either as the primary rule set or as a variant to the last-PWN-standing rules.

Play until one player's team is eliminated and then determine the winner, that way no one has to feel left out.

So overall I really liked PWNs for a fun, crazy family game.  It offers a bit of light strategy with a lot of funny action.  I never felt like I was a slave to the game, but also never felt like any player had a huge advantage over any other player.  Every game I played ended up being a close game and every game was a ton of fun.  PWNs is a roller coaster ride of mayhem and strategic chaos!  My sons, their friends, my friends, and I all had a great time playing PWNs!  

I think this is the only Kickstarter preview I've done where the kids insisted on playing without me.

If you want something that is light, plays quickly, and is full of crazy family fun, check out PWNs on Kickstarter through June 22, 2016!

Preliminary Rating: 7.5/10
This review is of a prototype game.  Components and rules are not final and are subject to change.

Rating Scale

Did you like this review?  Show your support: Support me on Patron! Also, click the heart at Board Game Links , like GJJ Games on Facebook , or follow on Twitter .  And be sure to check out my games on  Tabletop Generation.

GJJG Game Reviews are independent, unpaid reviews of games I, George Jaros, have played with my family and friends.  Some of these games I own, some are owned by friends, some are borrowed, and some are print and play versions of games.  Where applicable I will indicate if games have been played with kids or adults or a mix (Family Play).  I won't go into extensive detail about how to play the game (there are plenty of other sources for that information and I'll occasionally link to those other sources), but I will give my impressions of the game and how my friends and family reacted to the game.  Quick Reviews will only get a single rating of 1-10 (low-high) based on my first impressions of the game during my first few times playing.  Hopefully I'll get more chances to play the game and will be able to give it a full review soon.