Invincible: The Dice Game

Invincible

Invincible: The Dice Game, from Mantic Games, you play as an upcoming hero looking to make a name for yourself and battling villains and heroes to do so.

The Guardians are looking for a few new heroes to prove their worth, step up and join their team. His standards are high and so are the risks. Will you push yourself far enough to be invited in? Mantic Games‘ Invincible: The Dice Game gives you the chance to prove yourself. Are you game?

Player must venture into an area filled with threats, whether they be hero or villian. Who wants to live forever anyway? This is high risk for a potentially higher reward, what could go wrong? The game is meant for 2+ players, each drawing cards and rolling dice to determine the outcomes. Each step of your path gets more or more dangerous.

Overall mechanics are quite simple, draw a card, roll some dice, then evaluate the results. This game is modeled after Mantic’s Hellboy game but is meant to be played as a standalone title. As I speculated in the unboxing video, I wonder if their dice games could be combined? Technically they shouldn’t be BUT I tried it. Felt like I was reliving that anniversary issue of The Walking Dead where they brought in the art team from Invincible but it was all a fever dream of Rick’s. I loved that mini story. This took me right back to that and was fun but absolutely batshit, but in a great way.

This game is fun and chaotic but if you intentionally mix with the The Walking Dead game (even though it’s not meant to) is even more so. The art on these cards look like they are straight from the comics in full color and the overall quality is top notch. Simple and easy to learn mechanics with this art and a great time means an absolute win!

Overdrive- The Turbo-charged Arena Sports Game

Overdrive

Overdrive is an arena sports game that is a spin off of Mantic’s Warpath universe where players have 8 rounds to score points.

Mantic brings an arena sports game that is somehow a throwback to our days on the playground with Overdrive. Each player takes on the role of a coach and takes turns choosing their three players. The game comes with six total players with eight additional players available (for now) for purchase in packs of two. With the additional players added, each coach will still select one at a time until they each have three. This means if you purchase these packs someone is getting left out of the game like I was from kick ball. There is of course a six player option for coaches that makes picking your team more interesting. Basically each coach chooses their six players and then alternate to pick three from the list. The caveat here is that when picking one character the other coach can’t pick the same character even if they have them.

Overall mechanics of the game are quite simple, focusing more on a dynamic game that lasts on average between 60-90 minutes. This is the perfect amount of time more games these days for me. Overdrive consists of eight rounds of action where only the first round you can’t score any points. The goal is to have your three players in the zone that is designated the scoring zone. The board has six of these zones and a random one is chosen each round. If you have your player fully in the zone you score. As I said, it’s quite simple.

The game is rated for ages fourteen and up but can be played with even the grade-schooler crowd as well. That is to say they should be able to understand the mechanics but at their age struggle with the strategy. For an introductory game into tabletop gaming this is a great choice with simple mechanics and virtually no models needed. The fact that they come fully assembled (other than the bases) makes it even easier for this. The randomness of the scoring zones does detract from the game for me though because it is less about strategy and more about luck. Are you in the zone? Great, here’s a point. There is still strategy to the game, mostly in combating the other players to get you to the zone you want to be in but the scoring is still random. Despite this mechanic the game was still enjoyable and the new players you can add have me quite curious.

Armada – Mantic’s game of Naval Warfare

Armada

Does Armada from Mantic stand on it’s own or is it the next best thing for players and fans of Games Workshop’s Dreadfleet?

Mantic‘s 2 Player Starter for Armada has arrived and in their words is the Game of Epic Naval Warfare based on Black Seas from Warlord Games. As their description implies, the game of Armada is a naval battle skirmish game. What it doesn’t imply is that it is centered around the world of Kings of War.

During gameplay, the initiative or turn order is dictated by the direction the wind is going. Those positioned in favor of the wind go first. This is the first time I’ve ever seen this type of initiative mechanic. Combat is basically a continuation of their movement mechanic too, where you move your ships into position and unleash hell on the enemies from your row(s) of cannons. The game is quite dynamic in how the ships move and attack. For Kings of War players it also adds to the growing world for your own armies but fails to deliver towards progressing towards any sort of story or lore.

Compared to Dreadfleet, the gameplay is solid but where it fails is the detail on the models. The models are great, don’t get me wrong but the quality of Dreadfleet’s are far, far, FAR superior. Alternatively the assembly is much easier with Armada. With Dreadfleet no longer supported and this game still getting regular releases and it’s own core following it would seem Mantic wins in overall. Speaking of support, this is one of the first titles I’ve heard of that is directly setup with the Wargaming Simulator that is Warhall, allowing players to enjoy the game on the go or online with friends! I have always said I wanted a tabletop simulator that allowed you to play games like Warhammer and I think this may be exactly what I’ve been dreaming of. Add direct support for a well designed game like Armada and you have an extra large win!

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