BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER BOARD GAME

Product Information

For a semi-co-operative game, the interaction is minimal. For the majority of the game, you’re just doing your own thing. There’s not really any reasons to need to work together, aside from just taking a bad guy each. And there’s no real way to sabotage others, making it a little unnecessary to even have a winner. This could probably just be a co-op game. Closing Comments on Legendary Buffy Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from Jasco Games, places you at the heart of the epic showdown between the Scoobies and a Big Bad based on the classic TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After all tokens are spent, the monsters and Big Bads activate, dishing out wounds and killing the townies. Once the monsters have all had their fill of destruction, a new round begins and play continues until the game is won or lost. Although these plot cards add dynamic game changes, they can feel generic. There is some theme to them, but it is not all it could be. For example, you won’t find a plot card for Adam that says remove his power core (like in the series.) and this does leave a gap in the game that could have easily been filled and added so much more to it. Given that the plot cards are random it would not even reduce the replay-ability. Throughout the game, you’ll also be able to collect items and artifacts to boost your skills and help you fight. Events will pop up that direct you to place more vampires and demons on the board, as well as causing detrimental effects to the heroes. Every time you think you’re making headway, you’ll face some new peril that threatens to undermine your heroic efforts.

The rules are easy to learn and teach. The rules themselves are well explained and laid out in a nice glossy rulebook that also includes an example of play that is always helpful as well as the usual appendix of FAQ and clarifications for the cards and location abilities. During the first few games, the rules are going to be referenced a lot, particularly around the monster activation phase. We Saved the World. I Say We Party! When the game starts there are baddies to kill, a monster of the week to fight with certain items and townies to rescue. So much to do and so few actions, this leads to one inevitable result – analysis paralysis. With an open-ended game the first player can look at the board and say: “What should I do?” Of course, at times it is very obvious what needs to be done, but there are times when the fast-paced game slows because the players are looking at the board and trying to puzzle out the way forwards with all the options available. Event cards are one of the main ways the game progresses. Each one adds baddies and/or townies to the board and an event like moving baddies or townies, or stopping certain locations being used, this adds much needed randomness to a game that is very mechanical in nature.But fear not, there is one last hope for the gang, the artefacts are powerful items that can help save the world, but be warned, some are more trouble than they are worth and might hinder the path to victory. The game is broken down into two main phases; the action phase for the players and the monster phase for the baddies, monster of the week and the Big Bad. Then the next round starts again with the action phase; this makes for a fast-paced game, where it could easily have been bogged down in itself. Those who aren’t fans of the show have a harder time. First, since they don’t know the lore, it’s harder to get into the game. There’s a lot of, “Wait, who is this person?”“What does this mean?” and “Why is this important?” questioning that goes on. Also, non-fans seem less tolerant of the game’s breezy play style. They seem to expect something deeper, more challenging, and thinkier and are often (in my experience, anyway) disappointed with Buffy.

Once the monster of the week is dead, it leaves a clue in its location, three monsters of the week equals three clues. When the characters get these clues, the Big Bad’s plot cards are revealed. Three plot cards reveal the Big Bad on the board and the end game begins. This adds a clue collecting aspect to the game that is reminiscent of Buffy and is a reliable, effective mechanic. In the Buffy episode, “End of Days,” Spike says, “We’ll go be heroes,” as they head off to defeat Caleb. That line should have been the tagline for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Board Game because you (the players) are off to save the town of Sunnydale from the Monsters of the Week and Big Bads. As a member of the Scooby gang, you’ll fight to slay the baddies before they kill all the townies (or you)!Gameplay in Buffy is very similar to many familiar cooperative titles including Pandemic, Eldritch Horror, Forbidden Desert, or Flashpoint: Fire Rescue. If you’ve played any of these (or most other major co-op games), you’ll instantly recognize many familiar mechanisms and ideas. During each round, each player is given four action tokens to spend as desired to move through the town, fight monsters, conduct research, or use their character’s special ability. Players take turns using one token at a time until all tokens are spent. Players should work together to determine the best use of their actions to stave off the monster invasion and protect the townies. Plot cards for the Big Bads. Familiarity isn’t a bad thing, though, particularly in a game of this weight and style. Familiarity with the concepts means you’ll be up and playing sooner. And it’s not to say that Buffy feels like a rip-off of any other game. Most co-ops play similarly, simply due to the nature of the beast. There are only so many ways to make a co-op game work. Buffy simply works within an established framework to deliver an experience of slaying vampires and defeating the Big Bad, instead of eradicating diseases or putting out a fire. A few artifacts to help you win.

As cooperative games go, Buffy is fairly simple and light. This is more of a beer and pretzels game, best played for the experience. It’s not a heavy, deep, Robinson Crusoe or Mage Knight type of game. Complexity wise, I’d put it in the same category as Pandemic or Flash Point: Fire Rescue, or some “experience” semi-co-op games like Betrayal at House on the Hill or Transylvania: Curses and Traitors. There are some decisions to be made, but a lot of what happens to you in the game is determined by random card draws and unpredictable events. Skillful play can mitigate these things to an extent, but there are games where you just get hosed by fate. The event cards. Where bad things happen. The artefacts add much needed theme to a degree; they are not as difficult to find as some ‘artefacts’ in other similar games, Angel has the special ability to just draw them and tomes can be discarded to find them. However, the ease of getting powerful items is off set with the danger of drawing an artefact that is unhelpful, such as the box of Gavrok adding further complications that needed to be solved by the players. While this is sufficient for a number of games (I’m not bored, yet, after 20+ plays), true Buffy fans are going to long for more content to keep things interesting over the years. There’s plenty of room for expansion here and I hope the game gets its due. The Buffyverse needs Cordelia, Oz, Anya, Tara, Dawn, Dark Willow, Faith and so many more to feel “complete.”In terms of recommendation, I’m going to score Legendary Buffy from the perspective of a “moderately interested” fan of the series and also as someone who really loves the series, because I think it is an important distinction. The theme here is very strong, as is the fan service, and this feels like a Buffy The Vampire Slayerrelated product through and through. For anyone else, Legendary Buffy is still a very solid game and I really do like how adaptable it is in supporting replayability and variable player count. It’s also just a lot of fun. Because Legendary games are so strong on theme, you might consider one of the IP’s I mentioned earlier a better fit for you, so if that’s the case you should go with your preference. To me, though, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Board Game is the best of the Buffy Games. (At least so far.) Those looking for a heavy game with groundbreaking gameplay won’t appreciate Buffy and those who aren’t fans of the show may struggle to find the fun. But I can easily recommend the game for fans of the show. No, your brain won’t be broken by the game, the gameplay is similar to many other co-ops, and there is plenty of randomness, but it delivers an evening of vampire-slaying goodness with some great nods to the show. If that’s what you want from your game night, Buffy delivers. Next is the choice of the Big Bad. Each has new original artwork, with a list of specific events and abilities assigned to each one. They are unique from each other, but the theming is very subtle if it is there at all. Reading a special ability of one of the Big Bads might not lend itself to you knowing who it actually is, which makes each of them seem a little generic, though a few have hints of theme, for example the master has lots of Vampire related abilities and Adam has kill demons and townie abilities.