![]() That said, it is priced to be an average production-you can find copies of the game for under $60. The look and feel of the physical components are not thrilling. One side of the board is pre-printed with the game’s base scenario setup, complete with ritual temples that have to be controlled to score points each around, and spaces pre-printed with trees/forests that serve to slow players trying to walk their Champions around the map. In fact, the entire board for Ascension Tactics isn’t great. I was expecting minis that simply weren’t as nice as the ones in the deluxe edition of the game, or even standees that were cut out in the shapes of each character, taller, more color, easier to see the names of each Champion from across the table. In Ascension Tactics, these miniatures are small cardboard squares placed in a plastic base, a base that struggles to hold the cardboard. Lots of great features, maybe an inch or two tall, the physical representation of a character in action. ![]() 3-D, to give players the sense that the picture on the card they are holding has really come to life. Most, if not all, tabletop veterans have an idea of what miniatures look like: grey, unpainted plastic sculpts that can be painted later. Not miniatures.Īscension Tactics, then, starts with a lie: it’s not really a miniatures game. The retail/non-Kickstarter version of the game doesn’t have miniatures at all. The demo I walked through with Gary at GAMA Expo showed pictures of miniatures, but he did mention that he was showing me pictures of the deluxe version. The large Ascension Tactics box arrived and I couldn’t rip off the shrink fast enough. But first, we need to address those miniatures…or shall I say, “miniatures.” What I don’t know is why the seven credited designers thought there was a market for people who love deckbuilders but want to attack each other with miniatures, as opposed to attacking cards in the market row.īecause there is no such thing as bad Ascension, I’ll talk through who I think this game is really for. Therefore, Ascension Tactics is roughly 50% classic Ascension and 50% skirmish game, with “Champion” minis represented on the board and under the command of each player. ![]() In speaking to Gary, Ascension Tactics is a way to keep Ascension’s core gameplay loop intact-start with a terrible hand, slowly make it better by buying cards from a central card market, work to cut the fat by getting rid of those terrible starting cards-then adding on a miniatures combat game that plays out on a regular ol’ game board with hexes, terrain, and line-of-sight rules. If you’ve never played a deckbuilding game, dozens of games have taken the format to great heights, from dungeon exploration games like Clank! to Euro game experiences featuring deckbuilding as a part of a game’s mechanics, such as Lost Ruins of Arnak.ĭeckbuilders are everywhere. Whether this becomes elevated fare is based on a simple question:ĭid Ascension need a “troops on a map” variant?Įlijah Longwell wrote a review for Meeple Mountain on Ascension: Gift of the Elements, the 2017 release and one of the 70+ expansion games and promo packs released since Ascension hit the tabletop scene in 2010, soon after the king of the deckbuilding category, Dominion, was born.īoth Dominion and Ascension provide excellent deckbuilding experiences that are still being copied today. If you remember that there’s no such thing as bad bacon, and you are a fan of Ascension, you’ll be in at least decent shape with Ascension Tactics. I met Justin Gary at GAMA Expo back in March, and while that was a career milestone for me (who doesn’t love meeting their game design heroes?), I was mostly excited to get a review copy of Ascension Tactics: Miniatures Deckbuilding Game to the table. I love the base game and I’ve played 6-7 of the expansions now, mostly the early stuff like Storm of Souls and some of the first promo packs. I’m sure I have played over 500 rounds of the game that way, along with a handful of in-person plays. Nowadays, I mostly play Ascension on my iPad as a filler activity between other tasks. All pork bacon is at least decent bacon, so I’m never gonna pass that up.Īscension: Deckbuilding Game was my introduction to deckbuilders a decade ago. Like, bacon that I took one bite of, then did a “spit take” and threw that slice away. I can’t really say I’ve ever had bad bacon. (By “bacon”, I mean the pork stuff turkey bacon is, well, not for me.) It’s great! Here at the Bell household, we do a big breakfast every Sunday and bacon is usually on the table.
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