Command of Nature: Review
Information:
Player Age: 10+
Player Count: 2 - 4 Players
BGG Weight: 2.38
Time to Play: 30 - 60 Minutes
Year Published: 2024
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the VR Distribution.
Introduction:
Command of Nature is a head to head deck building game where players are controlling a formation of elemental creatures (maximum of six). Players will use these creature’s abilities and command cards to ultimately defeat the opponent’s elemental sage.
Game Anatomy:
Elemental Cards:
Each elemental card contains a cost on the bottom left to buy from the marketplace (starter cards have a starter symbol instead), an attack value on the top left, and a health value on the top right. There will also be a special ability which will occur in the daylight phase (sun icon) or when the requirement is met. Above the ability will be a highlighted I, II, or III (or numerous highlighted), this will show which part of the formation the elemental has to be in to have their ability activated. This is crucial to the planning and strategy of the game.
Command Cards:
Command Cards are used throughout the game to deal damage, protect your elements, or gain an advantage in another way. This is the main way players will attack so it is crucial to store up on attacking command cards. Attacks will either be melee (formation I to formation I) or ranged, allowing to attack two spaces away (formation II to I or vice versa).
Each command card has a cost to purchase them found on the bottom left of the card (or a starter symbol). The background will signify what the command is used for; purple (attacking), blue (utility), red (instant commands). The red commands can be used on other players turns normally gaining a bonus or defence when attacked.
Tokens:
There are four tokens that will be used throughout the game; coins (to buy more cards), damage counters (to keep track of damage as it will not refresh between turns), shields and boosts (to increase the health and attack of the elemental it is on). Once a player has defended or attacked with these tokens on, all of the shields or boosts will be removed.
Individual Player Packs:
Each player will choose one of the four elements, gaining a starter deck with unique cards and their own board with unique faction actions matching playstyle.
Each starting deck will contain three elemental champions. These champions have powerful abilities, however they start out unavailable and will unlock as you defeat either 4, 6 or 8 enemy elementals. There are cards that will sit on the player board to signify the ability is currently locked.
Formation and Battling:
Formation is pivotal in this game for two reasons. Firstly, most attack commands will only allow for you to attack as far back as row II. Secondly, each elemental has particular rows in which they can activate their abilities.
Each elemental only has one life when it comes to battling. If defeated they are discarded from the game, so it is important to protect the elementals that prove to be effective for your plans. When a vacant spot arises the elementals in the back of the formation will move forward, making sure row I and, if possible, row II is filled.
Setup:
The setup will change based on player count. I have only played this game at two players so I will be focusing on the two player setup.
Player Setup:
- Each player chooses a sage (element) and takes the corresponding sage board and their starting deck.
- The abilities on the sage board will be covered by the respective elemental commanders. These commanders and the abilities will be gained later when the required number of enemies have been defeated.
- Place the elemental tracker on level one of the track.
- Create your formation by having a basic elemental on row I and 2 basic elementals on row II. Start the sage in the centre of row III and choose one elemental warrior to place on either side of the sage.
- Shuffle the remaining starter deck and draw five cards.
Game Setup:
- Place all tokens within reach of players.
- Shuffle the command deck and elemental deck separately and create a display row of three cards next to both decks.
How to Play:
Players will take turns back and forth until one player has had their sage defeated. On a turn there are four phases (daylight, action, market, draw) then the turn passes to the other player.
Daylight Phase:
If a player has any elementals in their formation that have a daylight effect (sun icon) they may now activate. The crucial part to remember is that only elementals in the correct formation section can activate their daylight effects.
Action Phase:
In a two player game the player will have four action points to spend, where any unused points will not roll-over to another turn.
A player can do these actions in any order (if at all) and can do the same action multiple times as long as they have action points. The actions are:
- Summon an elemental from your hand into a blank section of the formation.
- Play a command from your hand and discard the card afterwards.
- Draw one card from your deck.
- Swap the position of two connected elements.
- Use one of your faction actions that are revealed as you defeat enemy elements. Only one faction action can be used each turn.
Market Phase:
In this phase you can buy any card in the marketplace and place it in your discard pile. As many cards as you can afford can be bought and after buying a card that empty spot is immediately refreshed by a new card from the respective deck. If you have an empty formation spot when buying an elemental card, two more coins can be sent to immediately place it into the formation, effectively skipping the deck-building process. By spending one gold either the elemental display or command display can be completely refreshed. The other important part of this phase is you can sell any card in your hand, removing them from the game and gaining gold equal to half the cost rounded up, or 1 gold if it is a starter card.
Drawing Phase:
In this phase players will firstly discard any cards they choose from their hand then replenish back up to five cards, re-shuffling their discard pile back into the deck if needed.
Final Thoughts:
- You can unlock more abilities and strong champions as you defeat more elementals.
- How you form your formation is pivotal to successful combat.
- Fun art.
I have only played a few Unstable Games and I have always loved the art style and theme but found they didn't have quite enough strategic decisions. Command of Nature breaks this viewpoint for me. It has all the elements that draw me into the other Unstable Games but involves a great amount of strategy. Head to head deck-builders are a popular genre now so this game will obviously take a lot of similarities from the genre, however, there are three parts I find really different with Command of Nature. These being the command cards, formation, and permanent death. Each of your elementals only have one life so once in your formation they basically stay there until they are defeated and removed from the game. Due to this it is pivotal to keep close the elementals that work with your strategy. This is also why positioning in the formation can be so important as you are more protected the further back you are but also the least effective in combat. If the elemental is an offensive character you will normally find their ability will only activate in row I, at the head of combat. Lastly, I really like the use of command cards, which is what your deck will mainly consist of. It's only one part of the strategy to have strong elementals; it is also pivotal to have the command cards that allow you use them effectively by doing ranged or strong attacks. Command of Nature really resonated with me and I am looking foward to bringing it to the table more to further understand the different strategies involved. If you like Unstable Games but prefer more strategic options I can heavily recommend Command of Nature.
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