Who doesn’t like a nice tea party every now and then. Why not have one with Alice, the Red Queen, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, and/or the Jabberwock. You think, “what could go wrong?” Well…
Wonderland has lost all frivolity and madness… Where once there was joking and frivolity, now there is just anger. The Tea Party is entirely sane, the Red Queen speaks in whispers, the Jabberwock has escaped the poem, and Alice returns to find Wonderland a pale shadow of its former self. Each Leader takes up arms to restore the Wonderland they loved. Some fight for eternal Tea Parties, some for the sake of fighting, others wish to remove all the heads, and one wishes for nothing more than a return to the perfectly illogical Wonderland that was. (Introduction in the Rulebook)
Druid City Games took the Wonderland story and stepped it up a notch in a way that you are the main agent of your destiny but at the same time, you must keep an eye open how your opponents are being affected as well. So this week, we present to you Wonderland’s War.
WONDERLAND’S WAR (2022)
The Looking Glass has shattered, madness is being drained from the inhabitants, and war has come to Wonderland. Alice, Mad Hatter, Red Queen, Jabberwock, and Cheshire Cat must gather all that they can while playing nice at the Hatter's Tea Party before going to battle!
In Wonderland's War, 2-5 players take the role as a faction leader who has been invited to the Hatter's tea party. Drink tea and eat cake as you move around the table drafting cards to gather your forces, build your towers, upgrade your leader, and recruit Wonderlandians to your cause — but one must be careful as shards of the Looking Glass are spread throughout Wonderland. Once all the plates are empty, the Tea Party is over and war begins. Use the forces you gathered to battle your enemies in familiar locations, but make sure not to draw your Madness chips or your supporters will abandon your cause and you will be out of the fight. Can you muster enough strength to win the battle, or will you just try to complete Quests instead by meeting the right conditions such as gaining region bonuses and set collection throughout the game?
After all the battles have been fought, a truce is called and everyone meets back at the tea party to plot their moves for the next fight. After three rounds, the faction with the most points will be crowned as the new leader of Wonderland!
Weight 2.95/5
In Wonderland’s War, each player takes on the role of a famous Wonderlandian leading a Faction to war to right the wrongs that have befallen Wonderland. The game is played over 3 Rounds (I, II, and III). During each Round, there is a Tea Party phase and a War phase.
During the Tea Party phase, the characters rush around the Tea Party making preparations for Battle. You will place Supporters into the Regions of Wonderland to gain a foothold, gather the support of other Wonderlandians, recruit Allies in the form of Ally chips to your cause, and find magical Forges that you can use to unlock your Faction’s unique abilities. In the War Phase, the characters go to Battle wherever they have placed their units and use the Allies they have gathered during the Tea Party. During Battle, you will draw Ally chips from your Battle bag and add their Strength to the fight. The player with the highest Strength will win the fight, earning Victory awards and building a Castle in that Region. But beware, the tainted Madness that escaped from the broken Looking Glass is spreading throughout the land. The longer you Battle, the more chance your Supporters will be corrupted by the evil Madness and abandon your army.
~from the “Gameplay Overview” (p.6 in the Rulebook)
What is stated above covers the essentials of the game. The Teas Party Phase is where you go around the tea party table drafting four cards (one at a time) that provides you various benefits such as increasing your leaders strength, gaining a Wonderlandian ally, a new quest card, and more.
Most of the cards allow you to place a various number of Supporters into one region (some cards allow you to place additional Supporters).
One thing to beware of though is that a lot of the cards also have you rolling the Shard die. The player with the most Shards at the end of the Tea Party gains an extra Madness chip to add to your bag but returns half of their shards to the center of the table (everyone receives a madness chip at this point). Shards left over at the end of the game are worth negative points.
Moving to the War Phase, each player with any units (castles not included) in a region will “battle” it out. Any region with only one player in it is an uncontested area and the lone player still participates in a solo “battle.”
You may be asking why we are using quotes around “battle?” It is because you will be drawing chips from your own bag that you have collected to move up the battle track. There is no direct damage to your opponents. If you draw a madness chip you remove one (or two if it is the double chip) of your own supporters from the region. You can stop any time during the battle before you are busted (no more supporters or too many madness chips). A reason you might want to stop, even if you are behind on the battle track, is because you fulfilled one or more quests. The winner, in a multiple person battle, gets both the victory points and gets to place a castle and the second place finisher gets half of the victory points available.
Once the War Phase is completed (all five regions have battled), you then reset the Tea Party area and proceed to round two, then round three. Final scoring is simple. All you do is add up your current victory points with your end game objectives (and bonus points) on quest cards minus the number of shards you have left over.
What we like about the game
The overall aesthetics of the game, both deluxe and retail editions, is beautiful. The artwork takes you right into the story. From the characters to the game boardvand the rest of the components, this is a game you would enjoy just looking at.
The gameplay is easy to understand. Once you learn the handful of symbols in the game, turns go quickly with you being able think ahead of what your next move could possibly be.
We love that the War Phase of the game is essential you battling yourself and taking “self-inflicted” damage. Yes, at times you want to outlast your opponents on the battle track but at the same time you want to do your best at completing the quests at hand to get maximum points off the cards.
The last thing to note, is that we do love that it is a game in which you can play up to five players. Sometimes we struggle to find games that play with a fifth player and because this game allows it, it has the strong chance to make it to the table more often.
What we don’t like about the game
My wife’s only complaint is that she feels there isn’t enough ways to earn more quest cards, likewise, I could probably say the same thing about gaining the faction abilities. However, without going into deeper analysis, it might be that we are just not drawing the “right” tea party cards when we want them.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This game is wonderful. Even though we haven’t played it with more than three players, others we have talked to who have the game had stated that at 4 and 5 player the game is “Wonderful” and is a lot of fun (just takes more time to play).
It isn’t that difficult to learn and play even though it looks like it is a very busy game, it really isn’t. The biggest drawback for us, with the deluxe edition, is that clean up takes a more time than set-up does because you need to sort the chips and put them away properly (unless you are one that doesn’t care and will just put things away all scattered).
We give this game a 9 out 10.
If you are fine with using standees and cardboard chips, the retail version would be fine to play. The upgrades to the game (the miniatures and premium chips) are nice to have but not necessary. If you love Alice in Wonderland or any story book themed games, then this one is a must have to your collection.
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