Shields Up: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Hand Management, Head to Head, Micro GamePlayer Age: 12+Player Count: 2 PlayersTime to Play: 30 MinutesGame Designers: Patrick McNeil Year Published: 2018BGG Weight: 2.00
Disclaimer: A preview copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Disclaimer: A preview copy for the game was provided by the publisher.
Introduction:
Shields Up is an 18-card micro-game that has players vying for control of space as they try to assemble their weapons to blast each other out of orbit. If a player has all their shields removed and receives one more hit they will lose the game.
Card Anatomy:
The cards in the game will either work as shields, be built up to be a weapon or will be used straight away and discarded.
Each card has a special ability at the bottom. Some of the weapons will have several circles on the left-hand side that will display how many of these cards need to be played to activate their ability. Some cards will also have a red circle on the right-hand side that will display the damage they will cause when resolved.
Space Mine:
Our of all the options, the space mine is a special card that can be used to outright do damage as an action, or can be placed as a shield to resolve one reciprocal damage when the shield is destroyed.
Setup:
- Shuffle the deck
- Deal each player two cards face down, this is their starting shield cards.
- Deal each player two cards as their starting hands.
- Reveal two cards faceup as the market.
- Place the rest of the cards as a draw pile in the middle of the play area.
How to Play:
Players will keep having turns back and forth until one player is defeated or they are both defeated due to cleverly placed mines and a draw occurs.
On a turn, a player has two actions they can use in any combination they choose:
- Draw one card.
- Spend one action to buy the oldest card in the marketplace.
- Spend two actions to buy the newest card in the marketplace.
- Place one shield in front of themselves (three shields is the maximum).
- Play a card and resolve its effect or play a card to building a weapon.
Final Thoughts:
- Quick to learn and portable.
- Range of different one-time-use cards.
- Feels very luck dependent.
- The main strategy seems to be based on building the death ray (which would be instant death no matter the shields).
Shields Up is a quick-to-play and highly portable pocket game. Due to the speed, it can easily be played in your day-to-day life. However, I have played a few micro games now from different companies and I didn't find enough content in this game to compare to what I have played. The game felt hugely driven on gaining the death ray, but few cards let you take cards in front of the player or from their hand to make it a constant fight for the cards. Instead, it just felt like luck of the draw. This is a game that is meant to be played quickly, and is a filler game that has added benefit being portable. If you are constantly on the move and want a game that you can take anywhere this is a head to head game you may want to get.
Click...feed the addiction:
Comments
Post a Comment