That goes without saying, I know... But This War of Mine: The Board Game (like it's older brother and original version on PC), is brutal, harsh, unforgiving... And so awesome to have in my collection!
This game holds VERY true to the video game. It's rated mature, for 18+ due to it's dark theme. The designers did an amazing job bringing a great video game to the table without question. I already had four plays under my belt since it arrived last Wednesday (which includes being away at the cottage for 3-days). Two of those plays came this morning. And although I'm getting better (ever so slowly), I definitely can't call myself a survivor yet. In fact - not even close. 😂 Yet every play is even more exciting and enjoyable, despite knowing death is inevitable in this game.
THE BOOK OF SCRIPTS
I touched on the Book of Scripts in my Unboxing post here in the ST Loner's Lounge. This is your bible, your guide, your story. Over 1500 scripts including some rule FAQs, storylines, consequences and more. I'm really loving diving in at different points to see what is going to happen. 🙂
Speaking of which, this is NOT a game for those who don't enjoy diving into books. You HAVE to in this game. It's part of the story and fun. It's not long - anything from a sentence or two to a short paragraph is all. I'm really enjoying it and absolutely blown away how the designers could come up with this to make the game flow similar to the original PC game.
*Side note - I've wishlisted the expansions and watched a couple unboxing videos for those already and each comes with another book of scripts!! So much variety and rabbit holes with this game. No two games are alike!
SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN HOW YOU PLAY
TWoM is an excellent solo game in my opinion. As a co-op game, you can play up to 4 players. However, what's different than any other game I've seen is that you are not any specific character. In TWoM the multiplayer game is more about the story, the conversations and the choices. There's a rotating "leader" who will ultimately make his/her final call of what choice to go with, but otherwise, everyone is everyone in this game.
Even in Frostpunk (I compare these two games even on PC because they're both darker themed survival and story), each player has a leader character with a bonus ability. Not here though. You work together and die together.
THE DECISIONS & CONSEQUENCES ARE BRUTAL AND ABUNDANT
There's so much available to do to try to survive, along with so much that MUST be done - yet only so much time to do so. I've had a thing the last couple games of building a simple heater early on to reduce illness when it's too cold. But that takes away from time trying to find water and food!! Which are also kind of important ya know? Both of which are scarce by the way in your war torn city.
In my case, sure my characters weren't getting sick, but they certainly were getting hungry. By the time they're nearly starving to death, I don't have time or the ability to try to FIND food and/or water. Granted, each day I can send someone out to scavenge at various locations around the city to bring home whatver they find and that they can carry. However, there lies the problem - each character can only carry so much. Some items you find have weight to them which count against your inventory amount (example: mechnical parts have a weight of '1'). The neat thing is, EVERY time I scavenge, no matter what I find I can also CHOOSE to bring back wood/components/water (the 3 basic resources). But each resource has a weight of '1'. So if my character can handle carrying up to 3-weight in his/her inventory, do I take items I found that are worth more in trade and/or can be used to craft something later? or do I take some of the basic resources back with me to the shelter to help build something or hydrate us? UGH!!! TOUGH CHOICES.
NO REMORSE OR EASY DAYS
I've learned quickly in my early plays at the table how there are no easy days when war is happening. You may feel proud of one of your characters and how much he/she found and returned with after a night of successful scavenging. All you can think of is how full your storage will be with these newly found items and your other items you had stored away. But each night there is a night raid (most nights) and your character(s) on guard may not only get wounded but things get stolen! Most of the time, the most expensive/valuable items are swiped first. So returning with your newfound items won't stock up your storage like you hoped... 😮
On top of that, some locations may have residents that aren't always friendly and your character(s) who were sent out into the city at night (which is the "safest" time to do so) my even return wounded or worse ... may NOT return.
AND THEN.... 😳 The morning of each new day, providing you survived starts with an event card draw. These typically will add varying levels of cold temperature for the day that you need to consider, and also some unexpected twists that aren't always going to help. (See below)
This card was drawn in my first play today (I believe on Day 2). It's a little reminder NEVER to be confident or cocky even if you've made it through a day fairly unscathed. This card, as you've figured out, means there's less food from the little that's already around to find. Yikes!!!
In game two today, I ended up with a rat investation which caused me to have to discard a certain amount of green tokens. In my storage at that point I had a couple vegetables and cigarettes. So away they went because of the stupid rats!! (Welcome to how this game will twist things VERY quickly on you)
THE VARIETY
The base game alone has so much variety, which I absolutely love! It's just never the same, there's so many options of how you can go about your survival ... and so much that can go wrong. Oh! And then, if/when you ever have a "handle on that", you can try your hand at one of the two scenarios that come in the box as well. OR you can flip the board over and deal with more sniper fire if you're not careful as things are more advanced on that side of the board!
I mentioned before how I could have had this game a while back (a couple times) for $30-$40 CDN on Facebook Marketplace. However, honestly I don't mind one single bit paying the $80 CDN for this new game in my collection. Not only is it worth it, but the timing is right; At the time I saw those bargains it only caught my attention and had my curiousity, but I really didn't know the game and I didn't have the PC game. With now having had the PC game for a year or so and enjoying that, the timing was simply right to get this in my board game collection and to enjoy for a LONG time at the table! 😋