This weekend was home to a monumental moment: I not only actually read and learned how to play one of my boardgames but was able to teach it and run it pretty smoothly! So to set the stage, I had hit up One Eyed Jacques a few weeks prior to view their recent damaged pallet games. I scored a great find in a busted up copy of Mansions of Madness. Box has a nasty hole but with some clear packing tape, I was able to repair the box back to a useable form.
Contents of this game are top notch. The investigator figs are the exact same that Fantasy Flight Games is selling seperately at high prices (although those are pre-painted and these are mono-grey) for Arkham Horror. So getting 6 is a plus. Next are the monsters. You get a great deal of excelently sculpted monsters from Maniacs to Hounds of Tindalos to the likes of Cthonians and Shoggoths (both are pretty darned huge and you get 2 of each!!). Another really impressive addition are the figure stands. To start, the monster stat cards slide into the bases to reveal only the monster's name, horror, and evade stats. When prompted, the Keeper can then look underneath the figure to see it's damage, life, and special attacks. Each monster varies slightly so you never really know which monster you have fielded until you are prompted to. This adds a nice bit of randomness to the game and makes each monster slightly unique. Another nice addition to the base is a little clip where you place numbered wound markers that help keep track of wounds on the monster. Not mind blowing but certainly useful and a welcome addition.
The game board is broken down into a variety of double sided cardboard tiles. So far they seem to be pretty sturdy (no warping or such). Artwork on the tiles is really well done. I was impressed with the level of detail used. When the tiles are all put together, they really put forth the image of a well done game board. The tokens included are much the same in their great detail and material sturdiness.
On to gameplay. The first thing that hit me when reading the rulebook is that the keeper plays much like a Dungeon Master. They carry a lot of the game responsibilities and seem to make most of the game decisions. When an investigator explores a room, the Keeper reads all the cards to them, sets up the puzzles (more on these later), reads flavor text, etc... When combat happens, they flip and read the cards as well. While on that topic, combat is really unique and innovative. Basically, the investigator declares an attack against a monster and nominates what type of weapon they plan to use (ranged, melee, sharp/blunt melee, & hands). The Keeper then goes to the combat deck that matches the monster (Beast, Humanoid, Eldritch). They then flip cards until the top half of the card matches the type of attack the investigator has chosen to use. From there, you get a little bit of flavor text followed by an attribute test the investigator will need to take in order to attack the monster. This is followed by flavor text and results for both Pass and Failed rolls. When a monster attacks, the same method is used except the bottom half of the card is used.
The puzzles were a nice and interesting addition. I like the variance of the puzzles but I feel that it takes too much time to solve the puzzles. During our game, 1 puzzle ate up about 3-4 turns. 1 investigator worked on it while the other two hung close by (harrassed by a Maniac at times). The rules state that the other players cannot interfere or discuss the puzzle. While this makes sense from one standpoint, I agree with one of the players in that the investigators in the same space should be able to discuss the puzzle.
The game it'self ran pretty smoothly. The Investigators were under a time crunch to solve the mystery of the mansion. Their downfall was their lack of attention to the flavor text. Each game has the Keeper answer a few questions that dictate the flow of the scenario. Certain items, puzzles, and other cards are drawn and placed depending on the Keeper's answers as do the encounter card's effects. So as the investigators explore, there will be clues laid out in the flavor text in the items and such that they find that assist them in where they should go next. The addition of trauma and mythos cards add some spontaneous fun to the game but can break up the flow since they can be played at any time during the investigator's turn so I found myself stopping the players sporadically to play these cards.
All in all, I enjoyed the game but that could have been because I was the Keeper so always had a plan with plenty to do. I give the game a tentative 4 out of 5. I really need to play it a few times more as an investigator to really experience the game in it's entirety before I can really give it an accurate rating.
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