FATE OF AKALON: TRIBES - GEN CON 2016 PRE-SALE REVIEW

Two-Gun Pixie Presents:

LEGENDARY

GAMING

012 – Battlefields

of Destiny

Already the scouring winds blow up from the arid wasteland which is the ever-growing heart of Akalon. Resources for both the fleeing tribes of elves and of orcs have dwindled dangerously low. Across the lone verdant field at the base of the mighty dwarven mountain stronghold, Hoary Crag, waits an orcish mass as strong as the elven clan. These fields shall feed many mouths but not the mouths of both tribes. Crosswise the two commanders eye each others' manpower and mettle. When the first sun breaks over Hoary Peak their forces shall meet. Hopefully enough will survive. They will be needed at nightfall; the time the dead arrive. For the dead bring battle. Perhaps they are all the last of their tribes; and as the prophecy of old states, when there is only one tribe left then will be known the…

FATE OF AKALON: Tribes

This installment of Two-Gun Pixie Presents: Legendary Gaming

is part of our special 2GP GEN CON 2016

Board Game Review series!

Designer: Robert Nicaise

Game Developers: Jeff Baker, Jeff Hale, Jamie Kelly

Graphic Design: Maria Fronckowiak

Artist: Mohamed Shazmiq

Publisher: Foursight Games

Publication Date: 2016

Suggested Player Age: 14+

Number of Players: 2 - 4

Average Play Time: 15 – 30 minutes

Game Mechanics: Hand Management, Trick-Taking, Variable Player Powers

Category: Combat Card Game, Fantasy

MSRP: $25.00

Shipping Weight: 2 pounds

foursightgames.com

The Box

Foursight Games knew they had made a game that people would want to travel with, that’s for sure. This box is heavy stock and should take a bit of a beating before it starts to get corner torn, dogged, and flattened as happens with many games you travel frequently with.

The art on the box catches your attention as it sits on the shelf and it won’t take up much room at all.

The Components

1 Rule Book

28 Elf Tribe Cards

28 Orc Tribe Cards

28 Dwarf Tribe Cards

28 Undead Tribe Cards

The rule book is a quick and easy read, 16 pages but it’s a small booklet so it is a fast 16 pages to go through. The rulebook also features many easy-to-follow visual aids to make sure you understand the game play. This is always appreciated when publishes do this, so thank you Foursight Games.

Each of the 4 Tribe Decks are very good quality and seem to be sturdy enough to stand up to the Twenty-Sided Warriors and their heavy-handed style of card slapping. I think these cards shall remain in good shape for some time to come.

The design of the box, rule book and 4 Tribe Decks leaves enough room for up to another whole set of 4 MORE Tribe Decks should Foursight Games decide to come out with expansion Tribe Decks in the future.

Overall I think that what you get; the durable box, the well-made cards, the thin rule book, and the "Foursight" to leave enough room for so much many more cards that this game's are worth it.

Set Up

Each player picks one of the four tribes, shuffle that deck, places it face down in front of them, and you’re ready to play Fate of Akalon: Tribes.

You are literally playing this game minutes after taking it off your game shelf.

Easy.

Game Play

After set-up the first thing to do is to determine who will start the game as the Attacker and who will begin as the defender. This is called the “Skirmish” and only takes place at the start of the game.

Each player draws the top card from his Tribe Deck and the cards are compared. The player who has drawn a higher value card (as seen on the top right hand corner of each card) is the winner of the Skirmish. The loser gets to decide who will start the game as the attacker. The winner places their card into their discard pile while the loser places their card in their Cemetery pile. If there is a tie then each player draws another card from the top of the deck and their scores compared. Again, all cards used for the Skirmish are either placed in their Cemetery or Discard Piles as mentioned above.

Now each player draws five cards from the top of their Tribe Deck to form their hand. You DO NOT Draw back up until ALL five of your cards are played. ONLY Then do you draw again to a hand of five cards.

From this point on no more Skirmishes are played, now the battles begin!

Each Battle starts with the attacker playing a card from their hand to the Battlefield, the play area in between the players. After the attacker plays a card from their hand to the Battlefield the defender gets to respond with a card from their hand to the Battlefield. Each player may play ONLY One card from their hand UNLESS a card in play says otherwise.

After each player has placed a card (or cards if directed to do so) in the Battlefield the point total for each Tribe Card played is calculated, just like you did for the Skirmish. The player with the highest score wins that Battle. The winner places their used card(s) into their Discard Pile (Unless the card directs them otherwise) while the losing card is placed in that players Cemetery(again, unless directed otherwise). When discarding cards you may place them in the Discard Pile in any order BUT after they are placed in the Discard Pile they MUST Stay in that order unless a card instructs you otherwise. Defeated cards are placed directly into that player’s Cemetery Pile.

The winner of each Battle gets to be the Attacker in the next round.

At this point in the round each player adds up the Score in their Cemetery Pile. Whenever there are 30 or more points in a player’s Cemetery Pile that player has lost. In a 3 or 4 player game the game continues until there is only one player left. That player wins the game.

IF Any player has NO Cards in their hands at this point they draw another 5 cards from the top of their Tribe Deck. You ONLY Draw from your deck at this point in the round IF YOU HAVE NO CARDS IN YOUR HAND.

If a player’s Tribe Deck ever runs out shuffle (Only) the Discard Pile to re-form your new Draw Deck. IF You ever need to reshuffle and have no cards in your Discard Pile then you lose. This just might happen if too many cards are in both the Cemetery and your Out-of-Play discard pile (some cards direct you to place cards in the Out-of-Play are. An area for cards neither defeated nor eligible for return from the player’s Discard Pile).

Final Thoughts

I love the fact that literally the only set up time is how long it takes to pick a tribe and shuffle the cards. Brilliant. Thank you. In minutes I can have this on the table and a game begun.

Personally I am glad that Fate of Akalon is not a collectable card game although I do want to see expansion Tribe Decks and maybe an expansion deck with a Treasure or Equipment Deck in it, even a “monster” deck for a gladiatorial feel to this game maybe. As long as I don’t have to buy variable booster packs trying to chase down the more powerful and rarer cards while building up a thousand useless “spitball” cards. So again, thank you Foursight Games.

But what does all that matter if the game is under par?

Thankfully I don’t know as Fate of Akalon: Tribes really delivered a fun game that is insanely easy to learn and takes no more than thirty minutes to play, at least until after your first game and you understand the tactics that each Tribe excels at.

Me, I’m really not much of a fan of combat card games anymore. In fact, there are only two I run at my table these days (You’ll have to read my past reviews to learn one of them, the other will be featured here on Legendary Gaming as soon as Two-Gun Pixie gets sent the Kickstarter in a few months… Bwhahahahahahaha). Fate of Akalon: Tribes now makes three combat card games I will gladly throw down on my table for a few quick games or maybe even a tournament style game day.

I enjoyed the use of the three different discard piles (so to speak). It all made thematic sense to me; The Cemetery Cards are dead and gone from the game (unless you are playing the Undead Tribe whose deck is great at manipulating the Cemetery). The Out-of-Play pile represent cards that may have had only one ability, are consumed/destroyed when used, leave the battle/banish, etc. This game mechanic is important when you have to reshuffle your Tribe Deck as it continues to lessen your draw deck as well as eliminate cards from a second use.

Having to wait until you have no cards in your hand to draw back up to five cards creates a great series of strategic leaps in your mind. The need to plan out the possible tactical use of each card is fun (or cards if one lets you play a second card along with it - such as the Elf Archer which lets you play a second card along with it - like another Elf Archer which will then let you play a THIRD card).

However, at the same time being the attacker is tricky since your opponent responds to what you have and you have no idea how many points each of their remaining cards are worth. This actually does make the combat system work in a rather smooth way. Generally, unless you get a $#!+ draw for your hand, most combat will be fairly back-and-forth between each player being the attacker and the defender.

For a game that really looked a bit too simple to be a lot of fun I was more than surprised to realize that this is a game I will play again. I can see Fate of Akalon being taken off my shelf to show to new players at my gaming table as well as to use as a gateway game.

If you’re already a fan of combat card games than you should definitely check this game out. The price averages out to about six-fifty for each tribe deck and you get four with the game. It has no set up time other than shuffling your chosen deck. It plays in as little as 15 minutes. The combat system is easy and runs quick, you’ll be slapping cards down like the Flash at a JLA Poker Night without needing to read them after only a couple of games. It’s small and easy enough to travel with so you can be playing this while waiting on line overnight for Star Wars VIII tickets or for a SDCC event to start.

In the near future this game may well become a common game day request, it's a bit early to tell but it might.

In the meantime, we’ll be playing this again in the Nerd Wasteland. Care to join us?