Skip to main content

Heart of Crown - Path Before Heaven: Review

Heart of Crown - Path Before Heaven: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Deck Builder, Card Drafting, Variable Player Powers, Hand Management
Player Age: 12+ 
Player Count: 2 - 4 Players
Time to Play: 30 Minutes 
Game Designer: Ginkgo
Publisher: Japanime Games
Artist: Medilore, Yuki Takahata
Year Published: 2015
BGG Weight: 3.0
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

Objective:

This expansion can be added to either of the base games for 'Heart of Crown' and 'Heart of Crown - Fairy Garden'. It adds one new princess, 10 new types of common cards and a new card type called ‘support cards’.

New Common Cards:

Of the ten new common cards, there are five that help to enhance the variability of the game (two of which have more interactions with calamity cards).

The other five cards introduce a new key term to the game in relation to card abilities, this is the ‘conditional activation ability’. These abilities work like hand activation abilities in the base game, where they are played from your hand but will need a certain action to happen as a prerequisite. For example if you draw an extra card on your turn or place a succession card into your domain. In this instance, each action can only activate one conditional ability.

Support Cards:

Support cards are like a second princess. If you spend an extra two coins when you elect a princess you can gain a support card to add to your domain (only one supporter can be added this way). When you do this you can choose any support card and they will either add succession points, activate immediately, or give you an ability that can be activated each turn.

New Princess:

The new princess Ru Li will help you to gain more supporters in your domain. The amount of supporters is based on how many large cities you place in your domain on the turn you elect her.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:
- The supporters add a new layer of strategy to ‘Heart of Crown'.
- Conditional effects can create a more optimised deck.

Cons:
- The game may take longer due to players trying to reach eight coins instead of six to elect their princess.

This is a great expansion for 'Heart of Crown' mainly due to the new mechanism that supporters add. Not only do they help  to optimise your strategy after the election, but they also help keep the princess election fresh. If you are looking for unique ways to further enjoy ‘Heart of Crown’, this expansion is a must. The conditional effects add unique choices on how to use some cards while the support cards keep the game refreshing.

Click...feed the addiction: 

Japanime Games
Path Before Heaven on BGG
Expand Your Game Facebook page
Expand Your Game Instagram

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Wyrmspan: Review

Wyrmspan: Review Information: Mechanics:  Engine Builder, Hand Management, Drafting,Set Collection Player Age:  14+  Player Count:  1  - 5 Players Time to Play:  90  Minutes  Game Designer:  Connie Vogelmann,  Elizabeth Hargrave (Designer of original game). Game Artist:  Clémentine Campardou Publisher : Stonemaier Games Year Published:  2019 BGG Weight:  2.66 Disclaimer:  A review copy for the game was provided by the VR Distribution. Introduction: Stonemaier Games is well known for a bird-watching game called Wingspan. Wyrmspan is a spin-off game with a similar essence of engine building but with many changes that creates a different feeling game and allows room in your collection for both. The two most notable changes are the lack of dice and the introduction of a new currency called silver coins which will determine how many turns you have per round. Game Anatomy: Silver Coins: At the start of every round, players ...

Critter Kitchen: Rapid Review

Critter Kitchen: Rapid Review Information: Mechanics:   Worker Placement, Set Collection, Variable, Simultaneous, Programmed Movement Player Age:  10+ Player Count: 1  - 5   Players Game Designer:  Alex Cutler, Peter C. Hayward Game Artist:  Sandara Tang Publisher:  Lucky Duck, Cardboard Alchemy  Time to Play:  20 Minutes  Year Published:  2025 Disclaimer:  A review copy for the game was provided by the VR Distribution.  Rundown: Critter Kitchen is a simultaneous worker placement game played over seven rounds. It will have players gaining ingredients from several locations in preparation for creating three dishes; twice in the game and a final seven-course meal for the critic at the end of the game. Each round you will be sending out three workers; a mouse, a lizard, and a boar. Each of these workers has a speed (order of resolution) and an amount they can carry. This alternates from the mouse resolving first but...

Power Hungry Pets: Review

Power Hungry Pets:  Review Information: Mechanics:   Player Elimination, Card Game Player Age:  7+  Player Count:  2  - 6 Players Time to Play:  15  Minutes  Game Designer:   Zwierzaki żądne wÅ‚adzy Game Artist:  Seiji Kanai Publisher : Exploding Kittens Year Published:   2024 Disclaimer:  A review copy for the game was provided by the VR Distribution. Introduction: There have been many variations to the classic microgame Love Letter , and Power Hungry Pets is Exploding Kitten's twist on this classic. In the game, you are aiming to win multiple rounds by having the highest-valued card at the end of the game or by eliminating all the other players.  Game Anatomy: Each card will display a value from 0 to 10. This value determines the card’s strength when comparing against opposition. The deck is made up of 21 cards, the lower cards populate more in the deck such as value 1 has five copies, values 2 and 3 have three copi...