The last time my gaming group met up, we ran Cutthroat Caverns. This game, by Smirk and Dagger Games, came highly recommended by a number of people from the TW forums, and I have to admit we had a blast with it. My thanks to Brel and Adrian for this one.
I can't help notice though that the game wasn't recommended just to me, but more to my gaming group. We have a reputation as a bunch of self-serving backstabbers, who regularly play co-op games. It has never been just about winning the game in my group, but its how much you can beat down each other along the way.
In Cutthroat Caverns players take on the roles of adventurers who have just obtained an all powerful artifact, and are in the process of escaping the caverns. The game throws a series of encounters at the players that can either be boss battles, or events. There is a catch however, and that only the 'killing blow' awards players with prestige. The player with the most prestige after a set amount of encounters wins, but of course players can also win by getting those in the lead killed first.
The game is played in rounds consisting of 4 distinct phases. At the first part of each round players draw initiative cards, this makes turn order for every round different. After which, the second phase lets each player place one attack card face down on the table. Attack cards can potentially do 0 to 200 damage points, or enact special effects such as items stealing or doubling up of a second attack.
The third phase is where 'player interaction' comes in, as each reveals and resolve their faced down attack cards in initiative order. Note that the sequence and amount of applied damage determines who gets the kill. As each attack card is revealed, players have the option of playing action cards to change the outcomes. There are cards like "Rally" which aid an ally's attack by adding damage to it, and then there are cards like "Trip" that cancels someone's damage and makes them miss the next round.
If the monster somehow survives the antics of adventurers, it attacks during the fourth phase of the round. Each monster attacks and effects gameplay differently. some might simply say "attacks player #2 for 10 points", whilst others might have really lengthy explanations for adding tentacles and blocking players. Of course before ending the round players get another chance of sabotaging each other, yes there are cards like "Meat shield" that volunteer your friends to take the damage for you.
Playing the game and watching my friends play it without me made me appreciate a number of its qualities. First and most important I believe is that backstabbing and getting each other killed is not as much fun as backstabbing someone just as they are about to execute a DoubleDamage-FocusedStrength-100Pts.Attack. The second thing I found was its not really about the what bosses you encounter (we drew the dragon on stage 2, then a goblin for the final boss... and yes the goblin took longer to kill), but its about who you encounter those bosses and events with. The third and last revelation would be that I really need sleeves, not only for the main cards that get shuffled and reshuffled into decks and hands, but for the big encounter cards as players keep passing them around to read and re-read the rules printed on most of them.
Over all this is a great game. Moderately easy to pick up, even for more casual players. Some cards tend to be wordy, but their effects are easy to resolve games-wise thus becoming clockwork in no time. My copy of the game came with a few cards with bubbled surfaces, I'm not sure how this came about, but the defect was not significant enough to affect gameplay. I would definitely recommend this to friends and would really encourage people to try this with a gaming group similar to mine and let loose all your inner needs to be sneaky backstabbing friends.
-alger
In Cutthroat Caverns players take on the roles of adventurers who have just obtained an all powerful artifact, and are in the process of escaping the caverns. The game throws a series of encounters at the players that can either be boss battles, or events. There is a catch however, and that only the 'killing blow' awards players with prestige. The player with the most prestige after a set amount of encounters wins, but of course players can also win by getting those in the lead killed first.
The game is played in rounds consisting of 4 distinct phases. At the first part of each round players draw initiative cards, this makes turn order for every round different. After which, the second phase lets each player place one attack card face down on the table. Attack cards can potentially do 0 to 200 damage points, or enact special effects such as items stealing or doubling up of a second attack.
The third phase is where 'player interaction' comes in, as each reveals and resolve their faced down attack cards in initiative order. Note that the sequence and amount of applied damage determines who gets the kill. As each attack card is revealed, players have the option of playing action cards to change the outcomes. There are cards like "Rally" which aid an ally's attack by adding damage to it, and then there are cards like "Trip" that cancels someone's damage and makes them miss the next round.If the monster somehow survives the antics of adventurers, it attacks during the fourth phase of the round. Each monster attacks and effects gameplay differently. some might simply say "attacks player #2 for 10 points", whilst others might have really lengthy explanations for adding tentacles and blocking players. Of course before ending the round players get another chance of sabotaging each other, yes there are cards like "Meat shield" that volunteer your friends to take the damage for you.
Playing the game and watching my friends play it without me made me appreciate a number of its qualities. First and most important I believe is that backstabbing and getting each other killed is not as much fun as backstabbing someone just as they are about to execute a DoubleDamage-FocusedStrength-100Pts.Attack. The second thing I found was its not really about the what bosses you encounter (we drew the dragon on stage 2, then a goblin for the final boss... and yes the goblin took longer to kill), but its about who you encounter those bosses and events with. The third and last revelation would be that I really need sleeves, not only for the main cards that get shuffled and reshuffled into decks and hands, but for the big encounter cards as players keep passing them around to read and re-read the rules printed on most of them.
Over all this is a great game. Moderately easy to pick up, even for more casual players. Some cards tend to be wordy, but their effects are easy to resolve games-wise thus becoming clockwork in no time. My copy of the game came with a few cards with bubbled surfaces, I'm not sure how this came about, but the defect was not significant enough to affect gameplay. I would definitely recommend this to friends and would really encourage people to try this with a gaming group similar to mine and let loose all your inner needs to be sneaky backstabbing friends.
-alger
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