Review Details

Aristeia! Core Game (Last Chance)

Product Review (submitted on March 21, 2018):

Futuristic Arena combat, where heroes from all historical eras fight it out for supremacy -- and corporate sponsorship? Yes, please!

This game is a solid 5 stars. It's fast, it's fun, and the standard edition is playable -- right out of the box. All you have to do is set up -- which takes maybe 15 mins for the preset, learning scenario. Play through that: you'll find the rules easy, and largely intuitive. The learning game gives you plenty of solid examples to teach you the rules. Just remember: Green Actions aren't Attacks! And Activate Switches before resolving the Action. If you have further questions, look up Beasts of Wars' You-Tube videos on the game.

Warning: If you aren't prepared to buy this game -- right now! -- Do Not Watch the Videos! They capture how stupidly fun this game is and you will want to buy it!

Once you play through the demo game, use the optional draft rules to mix up the teams: There are some interesting surprises lurking in the character synergies. Rinse and repeat. After a few games, you'll find you can play a full, very fun round in less than an hour.

What's so cool about the game? The initiative system let's you decide which of your team must go -- right now! Need the healer to Heal? Queue her up first. Need your powerhouse attacker to send that opposition Scorer to the Infirmary, queue them first instead. Also, all 8 characters have unique abilities. For each player on your team, you add 2 Unique Tactics cards to your basic hand of 10 Tactics cards. Tactics interrupt the normal flow of events, allowing you to re-roll dice, add dice to increase the chances an Action will succeed, etc. Generally, victory points are gained by moving your characters into a scoring zone -- while simultaneously preventing your opponent from doing the same.

NOTE: Be warned Corvus Belli METAL minis are simply the best "toy soldiers" -- ever -- anywhere. The minis in this game are PLASTIC. While they are very fine, understand that they are about 80% to 90% as good as the metals. BUT the plastics are pre-assembled: MEANING YOU CAN OPEN THE BOX AND START PLAYING IMMEDIATELY. And these are beautiful plastic minis! If you want the higher detail of metal, and don't mind the "fuss" of assembly, take a look at the Collectors' Limited Edition.