Frostpunk: First Attempt at Helping my People Survive the Frozen Lands on the Table

*Spoiler alert - I did NOT save my people. 😫 Not even close!*

Yesterday afternoon, after watching my Manchester United absolutely suck in their game 🙄, I had a chance to sit down to dive into the world of Frostpunk at the table. I was so excited to see how they could take such a deep game from PC to table, while holding the feel and difficulty of the video game.

There was so much to learn and figure out (and still so much to continue to learn and figure out). It took me approx 60-70minutes to get all setup. Don't let that turn you off. Setup definitely isn't quick with Frostpunk, but it's nowhere near that. Remember, this was my first play and I had to figure out what was what.

The big question is; Would this fit on my gaming table downstairs? Or would I need to play on our large dining table upstairs whenever I want to play this? Thankfully, I figured out a way to make it work in my regular gaming space. That said, I should be able to modify my initial attempt a bit more to make it more workable. Either way, here's my setup before diving into the game yesterday...

This is NOT everything. But the majority needed to play the initial scenario. (and I must say - My Expeditions mat works really well with the Frostpunk theme 😍)

My other couple player boards were on my wooden desk chair beside me. I'd prefer it all to be in front of me on the table, but it wasn't inconvenient by any means...

I won't dive into a ton of the gameplay here, as JW mentioned he'd be happy to post a review/more indepth post about the game, which I'd love to share.

Let me just say one simple word... WOW! 😮

Throughout my hour-ish figuring out/setup time, I went through a bit of "I'll never figure this out" thoughts as I do with my BIG games like this. However, that quickly turned into "THIS... IS... AWESOME!" thoughts that remained the entire way through my first attempt at this deep, survival game. 🤗 The designers did an AMAZING job at bringing everything about the video game to the table. The theme, the feel, the incredibly tough decisions, the variability from play to play... Incredible.

For a VERY quick idea:

• There are MANY ways to LOSE this game.

•  It's designed as a VERY tough game, with VERY tough decisions.

• The game plays over up to 15-rounds and each round has 9-phases.

Don't let the 9-phases thing scare you either. Most are quick. The bulk of the game takes place in phase 6: The Actions phase. Within this phase, you have multiple choices of what you do to help your people survive in this alternate reality, harsh world.

Let me share this with you - I lost in round 3. 🤣 Which is about on par with how good I am at the video game version as well. 🤣🤣 Yet I loved every second of it!!! The game is constantly throwing twists and turns at you that you have to deal with (or not deal with for that matter). Sickness and death are a given in the harsh winter world you and your people are trying to survive in. It's VERY much balancing so many different aspects of survival. I love it!!!

One of the many ways to lose, is if your people lose HOPE. As you can see here in the pic, my hope track (bottom row with the dove) dropped down to ZERO due to more citizens dying (despite my best efforts). Therefore... I lost.

Yes it was many hours at the table, but trust me when I say it didn't feel like it. I was completely immersed and excited as I learned how to play this great game at the table. That said - there's ALOT still to learn.

I'll retiterate again, that setup time (and even play time) will be down even just on my next playthrough (which I hope to do today or tomorrow) now that I have a better idea of things.

All in all - this is an incredibly great addition from the top of my wishlist to have in my collection. 😎