aka pastor guy: #4: Summoner Wars (Mark's 100

Summoner Wars

Mark's Ranking

Print Status

Why It's On The List

Here's what I wrote a couple of years agao: "Summoner Wars is a fantasy battle board game that involves positional board play, deck & hand management, and dice combat.” What got left out of that description was just how much fun it is to play. There’s a healthy helping of randomness to spice up the game, but there’s also some real skill in playing each faction well… and Colby Dauch (the designer) deserves a mountain of praise for getting such variety out of a simple & straightforward game system. Even if you don’t like fantasy combat games, you should give this one a try..

Tips & Tricks:

Each deck plays VERY differently... I can not emphasize enough the learning curve involved here. Because the game is quick, it's easy to get experience and "learn" the decks - but expect to get your rear end handed to you by an experienced player the first time you pick up a deck.
The easiest decks to play (this is my opinion) are Guild Dwarves and Tundra Orcs. From the Master Set (which is probably the best way to jump into the game), I'd suggest the Mountain Vargath or the Sand Goblins.
The deck-building aspect of the game is really nicely done... it adds another layer to the game but it's not required to enjoy it.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention the excellent iPad app for playing Summoner Wars. Yes, they've had their problems for the last few months - but it sounds like that will all be fixed with the next iOS7 update in February.

Extras

I wrote an extended review of the game system as part of my review of the Master Set for the Opinionated Gamers website... and I just realized today that I'd never reposted that to this blog. (Three guesses what tomorrow's blog post will be...)

==========

If you feel a need to catch up on my admittedly-aging Top 100 as of February 2012 list, you can check out:

aka pastor guy