Red Rising: Rapid Review
Information:
Mechanics: Hand Management, Set Collection, Drafting
Player Age: 14+ Player Count: 1 - 6 PlayersTime to Play: 45- 60 Minutes
Game Designer: Alexander Schmidt (II), Jamey Stegmaier
Player Age: 14+
Game Designer: Alexander Schmidt (II), Jamey Stegmaier
Rundown:
'Red Rising' is a point salad game where you are trying to create a hand of people (cards) that will score you the most points. This game is based on the characters and world of a best selling book series by Pierce Brown, which I have no attachment to as I have not read it before playing this game. On your turn you will play a card, activating its deployment effect and then gain a card from another location. You now activate the location effect of where you gained your new card from. This is mainly used to gain points in various ways such as collecting helium, striving to have the most influence or move one space along the fleet track. The player can also go to luna to gain the Sovereign Token (worth 10 points at the end of the game) and activate their house ability, or they can draw blind from the top of the deck and roll a dice to see which benefit they gain. If any player does two of the following things or all three are achieved between all players the game will end. These things include;
- reaching seven on the fleet track
- gaining seven helium
- having seven influence
The players will then score three points for each helium, score based on the distance you have travelled on the fleet track, score per influence (different points per influence are received based on if you have the most, second-most or least amount). Each player will also score their hand. Each card will have guaranteed points on the top left and then at the bottom they will have bonus points or deducted points based on certain criteria. This may be the amount of helium or influence you have, or by being with a certain character or gaining points per every character of a certain colour.
Alteration:
This game has an abundance of alteration as each card is fully unique with a different scoring value, deploy effect and bonus scoring. There are 14 character colours (‘houses’) that each has a unique feel which I can only assume matches the book series.
This may seem problematic as each character wants to be paired with particular other characters or colours but this is balanced by the orange characters who can act as any one other character during game end. Grey cards can also be treated as one other colour in addition to their original grey at the end of the game.
Due to the primary objective of hand-building, you will mainly focus on 5-7 characters every game. This helps the game remain fresh as you will pursue different combinations and strategies based on the cards your hand is built around.
Production:
I am reviewing the collector's edition for which the components are simply amazing. The player pieces are metal, each faction has its own card tray,
and the helium tokens are held in their own vacuum-sealed container. With components like this it elevates the game to be much more immersive and helps the game stand out.
The other amazing detail, is on the production of the cards, each card has icons on the left hand side of the card that shows how this character scores bonus points. This involves the faces of the people they want to pair with. These images really help players to plan at a quick glance, especially because a lot can be happening each turn.
Interaction:
The interaction can be really layered for this game. Firstly, you can push towards the end of the game when you have a series of cards that you are happy with. To do this you scout instead of doing the normal action on your turn, which is simply drawing a card from the deck and then placing it on a location and activating that locations effect. Through that you can speed up the game to end it when you are happy with your hand. Players will also fight over having the most influence as the player with the most will score four points per token, compared to the alternative of two or one point per influence token.
Through the deployment effects you can heavily block your opponents once you determine which characters they are driving towards. To make this easy there are many cards that allow banishment of other cards (remove them from the game).
Determination:
Pros:
- Every card is unique.
- Like all Stonemaier games, the rules are easy but the game is filled with tough decisions.
- Amazing components.
- Unique hand-building scoring.
Cons:
- The game can feel long once you have completed or are close to completing your hand.
- The abilities of the locations can feel too similar.
Red Rising has skyrocketed to one of my favourite Stonemaier games. I just love when games have a completely unique deck as it increases the replayability while increasing the strategy. The unique aspect of building a hand this way for end game scoring isn't something I often see. It means you have to make tough decisions with what characters you want and what characters you are willing to sacrifice. Stonemaier Games have made yet another great game. This one is getting a Silver Seal of Approval.
Click...feed the addiction:
Comments
Post a Comment