The game this week is also a dungeon crawler that provides you with a different board each time you play so the adventure is never the same from one game to the next which is a lot of fun and keeps the game interesting.
Oh, did I tell you who published this game yet? It is by Rebel Studio, the same company that brought you the beautiful game Meadow (see Entry 73). So how do we like this game of theirs? Read on my friend, read on.
CHRONICLES OF AVEL (2021)
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BGG Description
Chronicles of Avel is a cooperative board game for the whole family. Take the role of brave heroes and heroines with a mission to save your magical land.
Create your character and give them a unique name. Get your equipment, upgrade it and prepare for battle. But remember to wisely choose what you carry as your backpack has limited space. Armed and ready, explore the land in search of adventure and fortune.
Answer the Queen’s call and fight together against the servants of the Black Moon. Defend the castle, banish the Beast, and save Avel!
In Chronicles of Avel players will be exploring the world of Avel, moving on a modular board created from hexagonal tiles (different every time). On their journey they will encounter dangerous monsters to fight and roll dice to determine success. Each victory leads to a prize - new weapon, armor, potions and gold - which will make heroes more powerful and unstoppable. But to earn equipment players will have to search through magical bag and choose using only their sense of touch. Victory awaits for those who will cooperate, prepare themselves and defeat the Beast and all his servants.
Weight 1.93/5
A Little More Info
This is a game that you are fully engulfed in co-operative play. The rounds go quickly, and the action is constant.
Each turn you can take two actions which are the following (you can duplicate an action):
• Movement: Move your character pawn to an adjacent tile. If the tile is flipped, turn it over and reveal it adding a monster to it if it needs one.
• Battle: You get 3 clashes (dice rolls) to defeat and/or take damage in a monster fight. Your equipment and potions add additional dice and/or bonuses in the fight. Defeating the monsters gets you various rewards.
• Tile Action: There are a handful of tiles that have specific actions that will help you to win the game. From creating moon seals (to close a monster portal), to creating traps for fighting the beast, building walls to protect the castle, and more.
• Rest: Because you are will most likely take damage during battle, resting allows you to earn two toughness markers (hearts) back to restore your health.
There is an additional action you can take if you are sharing a tile with another player (with no monster) which is you can freely exchange equipment and coins. You just have to remember that everything must be fit on your character sheet or in your backpack.
So now what needs to be addressed is how you win or lose the game? To win the game, defeat all the monsters and the beast. Sounds simple enough right, however, if any monster or the beast reaches your castle tile the game is a loss.
Last thing to note is that in the solo mode, you take four actions per turn instead of two and the Beast has the same strength as in a two player game.
What we like about the game
Like most of our entries, we discuss the artwork in the game. Each tile and monster is beautiful. It fits nicely with the theme and feel of the game. Also, as someone pointed out in our 4 player game which I got to introduce three other players to it the Beast figure actually has a butt.
The next thing we liked about the game (when played correctly) is that the battle action you get three attempts to defeat the monsters. Any damage to an undefeated monster stays with them and they don’t get healed.
Even at a 4 player count, the game is fast.
Because you are working together, you can plan out your turn ahead of time so that there isn’t a lot of downtime. With only two actions you take each turn, the play is fast.
We do love that this game can be setup in many ways and does have suggested setup patterns with difficulty levels. This means that no two games will be alike since you shuffle the tiles facedown.
We also like that if you don’t have your own character name you can roll for it on a constellation chart with many combinations to get.
As a side note, there is a companion app which is not required for the game but is nice because it assists you with character names and tile setup.
What we don’t like about the game
There isn’t anything that we didn’t like about the game with the exception that we really feel it is not a good two player game. It really stands out a three and four players.
The character sheets should have been double sided (with male and female characters) so that you don’t have to tear out more sheets than needed because just to get to the gender you want to play. Also with the character sheets, they allow you to color them to make your character even more “special” which is not really needed at all.
I think most people would have been fine with generic outlines on the player board or even a triple-layer board which you could select a male or female side.
FINAL THOUGHTS
My wife loves cooperative games more than I do, but I have to say that this one is a huge exception. I love that it is an easy game to play and that it has the battle element that keeps the game engaging. It has a very nice table presence that does not take up a lot of space.
If I would have known that I would have liked this game as much as I do I would not have waited so long to get it. Rebel Studio has another winner on their hands. We love Meadow and we love Chronicles of Avel. Maybe our next game of theirs to review will be Blossoms which is sitting on our shelf.
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