Post by Gilvan Blight on Oct 22, 2006 14:41:13 GMT -5
Disclaimer: OK only played this once and no one playing really had the rules nailed down yet, so this is just a first impression review. Future plays would be needed for a better feel of the game.
Summary: For 2-5 players where 1 player takes on the role of Dracula and the others play Vampire Hunters. The game takes place over a map of Europe with Dracula moving about the various countries and the hunters trying to catch and destroy him. Dracula moves in secret leaving a trail (indicated by a set of cards 6 long) wherever he goes. Every place he leaves he leaves an encounter behind. Hunters move about the map trying to pick up the trail, gaining equipment and initiating encounters. Encounters range from events that help or hinder the hunters to battles against the Counts minions. Combat is handled with a rock paper scissor themed system using item/attack cards. Each player chooses a card face down, dice are rolled then the cards are compared to indicate the result. The game goes until either Dracula gets 6 'points' (by having 6 days go by, or by killing hunters at 2 points each, or by maturing vampire minions which take 6 turns to mature and probably a few other ways due to event cards) or the Hunters destroy him.
The Good: the presentation of this game is pretty top notch, as is to be expected from Fantasy Flight. There are counters for every single possible card effect, tons of cards (for combat, for events, for items, for minions, etc). The map is very large and clear to read, and the player 'mats' all have spots indicated to show which and how many items or event cards are held. The art is also rather nice. The basic game play of hunt the Vampire is a ton of fun. Especially when you are just a few turns from the Counts location (OK 2 turns ago he was here, and he moves only by road so he could only possibly be here, here or here). The combat system was rather interesting and unique. It seemed excellent when we first started playing, but I know we messed up a few of the rules. The overall feeling was still a good one.
The Bad: the original version of this game was 5 player only. This one pretty much is too. I was very disappointed to learn that to play with less then that a player would have to play 2 characters. I was hoping for a better reduced player game (perhaps the Trail gets a few cards longer, or each player gets 2 moves to Dracula's one, or something). Due to the complexity of the game, I think this could be a long game. You need more then your usual hour or so for a board game for this one. I don't think this was only our case because we had to look up so many rules. I was disappointed to see what I thought were necessary components missing from the game. The original had a 'DM' screen of sorts that Dracula would use to hide his moves. This one came with nothing of the sort. We had a shoe box mock up that Montey made that worked great, but it would have been nice to see something included with the game. In addition nothing was provided for Dracula to track his movement, meaning he either had to memorize where he went or keep checking the movement track to see where he had been (again based on a suggestion from boardgamegeek we had a fix for this).
The Ugly: very complex with a high learning curve. This seems to be a trend with Fantasy Flight's remakes. They take a great game, and add a ton to it. This is cool, but it also means there's a lot going on at once and a lot to learn. The sheer number of different items and events were staggering. The amount of options Dracula seemed to have seemed overwhelming as well. I'm sure all this added complexity makes for a better game in the long run, but it's an awful lot to learn and get used to.
Overall: this game gave a good first impression. I would definitely like to try it again with a better understanding of the rules. I had beautiful components (even though some useful ones appeared to have been missed), a cool premise, a good core mechanic and an interesting combat system. Due to the complexity though save this ones for your gaming friends and pull out Settlers for casual players.
Summary: For 2-5 players where 1 player takes on the role of Dracula and the others play Vampire Hunters. The game takes place over a map of Europe with Dracula moving about the various countries and the hunters trying to catch and destroy him. Dracula moves in secret leaving a trail (indicated by a set of cards 6 long) wherever he goes. Every place he leaves he leaves an encounter behind. Hunters move about the map trying to pick up the trail, gaining equipment and initiating encounters. Encounters range from events that help or hinder the hunters to battles against the Counts minions. Combat is handled with a rock paper scissor themed system using item/attack cards. Each player chooses a card face down, dice are rolled then the cards are compared to indicate the result. The game goes until either Dracula gets 6 'points' (by having 6 days go by, or by killing hunters at 2 points each, or by maturing vampire minions which take 6 turns to mature and probably a few other ways due to event cards) or the Hunters destroy him.
The Good: the presentation of this game is pretty top notch, as is to be expected from Fantasy Flight. There are counters for every single possible card effect, tons of cards (for combat, for events, for items, for minions, etc). The map is very large and clear to read, and the player 'mats' all have spots indicated to show which and how many items or event cards are held. The art is also rather nice. The basic game play of hunt the Vampire is a ton of fun. Especially when you are just a few turns from the Counts location (OK 2 turns ago he was here, and he moves only by road so he could only possibly be here, here or here). The combat system was rather interesting and unique. It seemed excellent when we first started playing, but I know we messed up a few of the rules. The overall feeling was still a good one.
The Bad: the original version of this game was 5 player only. This one pretty much is too. I was very disappointed to learn that to play with less then that a player would have to play 2 characters. I was hoping for a better reduced player game (perhaps the Trail gets a few cards longer, or each player gets 2 moves to Dracula's one, or something). Due to the complexity of the game, I think this could be a long game. You need more then your usual hour or so for a board game for this one. I don't think this was only our case because we had to look up so many rules. I was disappointed to see what I thought were necessary components missing from the game. The original had a 'DM' screen of sorts that Dracula would use to hide his moves. This one came with nothing of the sort. We had a shoe box mock up that Montey made that worked great, but it would have been nice to see something included with the game. In addition nothing was provided for Dracula to track his movement, meaning he either had to memorize where he went or keep checking the movement track to see where he had been (again based on a suggestion from boardgamegeek we had a fix for this).
The Ugly: very complex with a high learning curve. This seems to be a trend with Fantasy Flight's remakes. They take a great game, and add a ton to it. This is cool, but it also means there's a lot going on at once and a lot to learn. The sheer number of different items and events were staggering. The amount of options Dracula seemed to have seemed overwhelming as well. I'm sure all this added complexity makes for a better game in the long run, but it's an awful lot to learn and get used to.
Overall: this game gave a good first impression. I would definitely like to try it again with a better understanding of the rules. I had beautiful components (even though some useful ones appeared to have been missed), a cool premise, a good core mechanic and an interesting combat system. Due to the complexity though save this ones for your gaming friends and pull out Settlers for casual players.