Battle for Sularia Expansions: Review

Battle for Sularia Expansions: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Head to Head, Take That, Pre-Constructed Deck Builder
Player Age: 13+ 

Player Count: 2 Players

Time to Play: 30 Minutes 
Game Designer: Jesse Bergman, John Kimmel
Game Artist:  Various

Publisher: Punch-It Entertainment LLC

Year Published: 2016

BGG Weight: 3.25
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Today we will be discussing three expansions for 'Battle for Sularia'. Basically, the first two will outline newly added factions, where the third expansion boosts the deck building capabilities of the starter set.

Expansion #1 

Blood, Profit and Glory:

By adding 17 Synthien, 24 mercenaries that can be used in any deck, and 16 Jotune cards, this expansion opens the door to deck building for the base factions; the Synthien and the Jotune.
Additionally, a new combatant characteristic is included called ‘warriors’. These can be affected by cards that enhance warriors specifically. There are also new mercenaries that only allow players to have one in play, that give massive effects such as having another turn after the current turn. If the Sythien did not feel strong defensively before in this expansion numerous defensive cards have been added,  increasing the defence of sites and damage prevention that allow the Synthien to keep surviving.

Expansion #2 

Reign of Terror:

Following common cinematic and (novel related) pre-conceived notions of aliens, the Protoans want nothing more than to perform a hostile takeover using strength and mass numbers.
The game does well to emulate this portrayal by using tactics that spawn an overwhelming amount of token creatures. Using these newly generated aliens as expendable foot soldiers, they are soon sacrificed to either increase the attack/defence of their combatants, or are sacrificed to spawn larger beasts for the betterment of the colony.
If you prefer to keep these tokens alive instead of using them as sacrificial lambs, you can raise an equally formidable army by using their field presence to increase  allied combatants attack and defence. The Protoans are a versatile group of invaders willing to use their own to gain cards, increase their stats, or just to create an overwhelming army of brute strength. Clearly they are willing to do what they must to get ahead so be prepared and stay aware of these formidable foes.

Expansion #3 

The Good the Bad and the Savage:

The wild west has come to the battle in the form of the Exsularian race. The bounty mechanism that was added in the 'Blood, Profit, and Glory' expansion is reinforced with this new faction as it is used as a key ability. This function allows the combatant to attack another with an attack value equal to the bounty amount stated on the card. This attack is then immediately returned by the receiver, so basically it gives you an opportunity to kill an enemy combatant directly, where normally you can only target sites with attacks. The overruling strategy employed by the exsularians is field control. Their abilities help to  eliminate the enemy combatants and another ability called anarchy  adds a negative 2 defence on sites helps to control enemy sites. The last crucial part to mention for this faction is the characteristic ruffian. With the use of a combatant 'Headhunter' any ruffian can be searched from the deck and played for free. When played correctly, the exsultarian faction excels at calling forth your allies while maintaining the enemy at a safe manageable distance.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- Each new faction pack comes with another 100 cards where only 60 are used for a deck, therefore plenty of room for deck construction.
- The reinforcement pack for the starter decks includes plenty of mercenaries and deck building opportunities.
- The two new factions are a great refreshment from the original two.

Cons:
- Would love to see factions being combined in deck construction, as either duel faction cards or just a mode that allows for a deck to have multiple factions.

If you were not originally sold after playing the base game 'Battle for Sularia', then these packs could change your mind with the addition of game changing modifiers and new factions out to take the world as their own. Now there is plenty of room for customising play styles, new abilities that lead to more game variability, and increased storytelling engagement during gameplay. The core rules remain the same but the addition of these cards allow for much more control over enemy combatants. I am excited to see what Battle for Sularia has in store for future expansions and I would like to see more development of cards that affect characteristics, as well as more paths for decks to have increased focused for each faction. Overall I heavily recommend these expansions to breathe new life into your games of 'Battle for Sularia'.

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