Happy 5th Birthday to Sentinels of the Multiverse!

My 2014 Top 100 Games ranked Sentinels of the Multiverse at #36... and I'm willing to bet SotM will be in the top 40 again in 2016. (Yes, dear readers, I'll be revealing the final 10 games of the 2014 list over the next couple of weeks... and posting my 2016 list not long after that!)

Sentinels is a cooperative comic book game that uses multiple card decks (heroes, villain, environment) to tell the story of a "battle royale". It's enhanced by a well-developed mythos and a plethora of sly references to various "real" (read: DC/Marvel) superheroes. It plays well with 3-5 players... and actually works alright as a solo game if you're willing to deal with a lot of cards on the table. (So, fans of LOTR: LCG or Pathfinder Adventure Card Game should feel right at home here.)

This last week was the celebration of five years of Sentinels... of course, since we didn't start playing SotM until the Enhanced Edition came out, it's just four years for us. Over time, we've acquired all the expansions (Villains should arrive here on Tuesday evening) and the majority of the promo cards (variant heroes and villains to play with the original decks). 

I've also picked up the Sentinels iOS app... along with the Season One pass for added content. I'll fully admit that it seems silly to buy digital versions of cards I already own - but the implementation of the app is flat-out amazing.

Another thought about owning both the app and the physical game: if I want to play the game by myself, the app is the way to go. But if I want interaction with other players, the physical cards are a much better means to an end. (Note: I still have not tried the Sidekick app, which helps "officiate" the game.)

But the end is near... or at least the end of this story. Greater Than Games just announced that the Kickstarter for the final expansion will go live on February 9th. No surprise - we'll be throwing our cash on the table.

This won't be the end of the Multiverse - Sentinel Tactics will continue (a skirmish game that we like better as a free-for-all rather than the published scenarios) with a new standalone game and expansion in early 2017... and the SotM RPG is due this summer.