Heroes of Hand Air Land and Sea Review

1-4 players, Competitive/Solo Way, 4X Mode

Designer: Scott Almes

Artwork: Chad Hoverter

Publisher: Gamelyn Games

Overview of Gameplay

Heroes of Land, Air and Sea will task you with performing the universal four X's in gaming. Explore, Exterminate, Exploit and Aggrandize in no detail order. So what that all ways is that you and other players volition exist building upward an empire in dissimilar ways in hopes of garnering the most victory points past the stop of the game. And then allow's talk about those seductive 4 X's for a bit for those of you who are not familiar with them. Also whenever any one of these gets attained in the game, each player gets one more than round of play and and so the game ends.

When the game is first setup there are a plethora of exploration tokens placed all over the board facedown. When any unit moves and stops its movement on a tile with a token it gets flipped and that actor gets any good (or bad) matter is displayed. Once all the tiles on the board are flipped the Explore end game aspect is triggered.

Next is Exterminate. This one just requires a players main capital edifice to be destroyed. So while you are out exploring around if you go a wild pilus to attack another actor AND can drive your way deep into their stating island to lay siege to their capital AND destroy it, there is another stop game trigger.

Exploit is probably the about simple of them all. Just build all iii of your towers on the lath and boom there is another terminate game trigger. And I say simple but information technology's not equally simple as just plopping downwardly three towers. For one starting out you can just build one tower until you upgrade your capital metropolis so you can build some other etc etc. So it does accept some fourth dimension to get all these babies out there, plus you can but build one belfry on your chief island (two towers in a two player game).

And lastly is the Aggrandize 10. This i requires you lot to go all your serfs (workers) and warriors out on the board. So each of the four 10'due south audio simple plenty simply each one is balanced to take time and resources in some mode, shape or form. Managing how you cull to play is half the fun of the game and interacting with others trying to practise the same is the other one-half. Once one of the terminate game triggers has been met and everyone has 1 terminal turn then each histrion calculates upwardly their overall VP's based more often than not around the stuff they have upgraded and congenital. Now y'all would think that attacks and trying for the Exterminate cease game would be less favorable but you do go a point for initiating attacks and for playing battle cards during attacks as well.

So on your turn you lot will be placing a token on a specific spot on your role player board to take an action such as recruiting more than units or building more buildings. At that place are two different sets of deportment, the batch that allows OTHER players to likewise accept the Same action you just did if they have an available serf in their capital. And the set up of actions that allow YOU to take another action from that set if YOU take a available serf. The get-go set of deportment primarily revolve around your economy, gaining units, buildings, resources, spells etc. The 2d set of actions primarily focuses on movement (which sometimes can atomic number 82 to battles) and casting spells. So information technology'due south an interesting dynamic of what actions you should take vs what others accept that yous might exist able to have equally well IF yous have available serfs. You have to make sure to manage wisely.

Components/Game Lath

This game is super glorious in the component category. Each of the iv dissimilar characters out of the box (Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs) comes with their own histrion board that is thick and durable with lots of colour. Added to that are the insane amount of miniatures that are all unique from one another and colored differently to hands differentiate them on the board. The cards take a nice end to them and experience durable and premium. And on top of all that there are these really cool paper-thin buildings that you have to assemble out of the box. At present personally I love these things. They requite the game an amazing table presence and the way you add together some other piece to the capital building when you upgrade information technology is just awesome. That said they are decently durable BUT I don't trust them to final forever. Right now I have them bagged up based on faction into some good sized numberless. Some people simply toss them all into the box on top of the other stuff. Either style I do get the impression they volition get damaged.

The game lath itself looks nice and it'southward huge! It'southward super colorful and easy to understand the different areas. Withal equally big as information technology is I take withal had problems fitting all the maximum amount of minis on some zones. Each zone can hold a maximum of 5 miniatures then when you lot are moving an army effectually or doing battle with another, some zones will be inundation with units. On pinnacle of that if yous have a tower built on that zone, well you lot have even less space. My biggest gripe component-wise seems pretty inconsequential, simply it'due south the edges of the gameboard. All four sides of the main board are not wrapped, information technology looks as though they just cut the edges off and went with it. This concerns me as this will crusade the edges of the board to fray much easier over time and not only that but it'south just not as squeamish looking.

Overall though amazing production and incredible table presence in one case everything is gear up. And so much that I often forget the modest problems I have seen.

Box/Storage

The box is very huge and honestly it needs to be to hold everything once assembled. There are plastic holders for the miniatures that piece of work pretty well that also hold the cards. Y'all tin can handbag up the few tokens and lay the game board on the lesser of the box then prepare all the synthetic buildings on elevation of everything or bag them up if yous want. Either way I had footling trouble fitting everything inside the box. Also the box fine art and colors are fantastic. The game really stands out on my shelf always beckoning me to unleash it.

Visual Appeal /Theme

Another win for this game. As I mentioned above the box just screams with the art and colors. The unlike factions all look outstanding between the mini sculpts and the player boards adorned with the imagery y'all would expect from the races involved. All the constructed towers and capital buildings and flight machines and boats for each race is unlike also. Well the capitals and towers are all designed the same, just have different colors and art on them. At present the boats and flying machines are all completely different designs.

The theme itself is your pretty basic and standard fantasy theme. At that place is some flavour text on the hero cards and in the manual only for the most part you lot won't be focusing on that while playing the game. I don't think this really detracts from the game at all but it would have been nice to have an original story or perhaps even a solo campaign that involves all of the races in some way.

Rulebook

I won't deny this game took me some time to learn. The rulebook isn't terrible and it's actually super easy to reference every bit the pages are oversized and sections are color coded to allow easy findings. Personally I think they went a little too far with the battle mechanics. They made fighting likewise circuitous to the point where information technology non simply confuses players with the need to reference the manual but as well slows the game down considerably. Otherwise the game runs at a polish pace with little downtime to be had. Only when a boxing starts each player needs to figure out what the strength of each piece involved is, add those up. And so decide if they want to play a battle card, add those totals together. THEN play a tactics carte du jour that peradventure tin can further add together to their strength. Information technology'due south not something that is super difficult subsequently you've washed it multiple times only first fourth dimension players are going to be struggling a fleck.

Well-nigh everything you need to know apropos well-nigh of the remainder of the game is listed on the individual players boards such as the cost of each unit of measurement and building then that's super handy once you lot sympathise what it all means. There is likewise a big reference sheet that lists what each of the exploration tokens ways on 1 side and so a turn construction on the other side. You will for sure want to keep that handy as you play equally you lot will be referencing it oftentimes.

Tabular array Talk/Fun Factor

There is no dubiety that this is a fun game. Information technology's exciting building up your empire while also skirting the lines between your border and the other players. Non knowing whether they are going to attack or if they merely desire to be left alone. The thing is you really need to get out at that place off your starting isle if you promise to win. Those precious resource and exploration tokens lay in wait on other islands ripe for the plucking. Or I mean you lot COULD just turtle up and recruit all your units onto your own isle merely then yous would be missing out on those glorious end game VP's by not edifice more towers (just 1 on your main island unless playing two thespian).

The bottom line is there are many means to play this game and honestly none of them are wrong if yous are having fun. Even on your turn other players can too perform that aforementioned action equally long as they take a serf to pay for it. So lots of users will stay engaged on every turn non only for those extra deportment but to keep an eye on their ain borders for any possible build-up of military….

Optimal Player Count/Replayability

So the game can be played solo and even has a dedicated solo manner that I take played. This isn't some tacked on solo mode either. There is a deck of solo way A.I. cards that are used and even a unlike side of the player lath. The rules are changed drastically for the solo AI role player and let me tell yous it is a challenging game! The only gripe I had with the solo way was the enemy movement was pretty disruptive at times, unremarkably when information technology came to them utilizing the air or ship vessels. Other than that I had a nail playing the solo mode and am notwithstanding working my way through each new game with a different race to examination out their differences.

In a two role player game at that place are a couple minor differences such as the ability to build two towers on your starting isle rather than i. The other is that ane of the 4 starting islands on the board is non used at all and as such cannot be moved to. I really liked this actually and enjoyed the 2 player game a lot because of it. This gives each player their own starting island PLUS i more complimentary for all island that battles could be waged at or even a good staging point for invasion…..

The 3 player game is much the aforementioned with i actress open isle that anyone can jump on and harvest those precious exploration tokens or toss upwardly a tower on. And if you are wanting a longer, more than epic game then the 4 player manner would work for you lot. At present in a 4 player game at that place are no "costless" open islands. All 4 players are taking upwards all the land on the board and so ANY expansion to another isle will probable exist met with resistance. Personally I like this as it creates an immense amount of role player interaction but for those of you who don't like the in your face battles and then this might not be for y'all. Although personally I would recommend information technology.

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Positive Last Thoughts

If you take been looking for a 4X manner game then wait no further. I believe this game encompasses everything that a good 4X game should and it does it well. The colors, fine art and components are all nifty and the table presence is outstanding, one of the best that I take seen actually. There are so many routes you can take to win and methods you tin employ. Even if you lot are non playing to win (I never do) yous will have a peachy time just managing and upgrading your empire.

Negative Terminal Thoughts

The game can run LONG with higher actor counts peculiarly if you are playing with new players. Didactics information technology tin exist a chore as there are many different aspects to learn and ways to win and so this can be confusing starting out. The contesting is overwrought and I think would be more fun if toned down a flake. The one main component miss was not wrapping the edges of the game board to preclude fraying.

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Source: https://fuzzyllamareviews.com/2019/07/24/heroes-of-land-air-sea/

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