Set a Watch - Swords of the Coin: Rapid Review
Rundown:
Set a Watch is a fully cooperative tower defence (line defence) game. Where players are managing through dice allocation to prepare for the round(s) ahead in the camp phase, then defeat the onslaught of enemies in the watch phase. The catch is there are nine rounds to the game and the watch and camp phase are largely separated with only one character acting in the camp phase each round. Each character will have two camp phases throughout the game. Every other character will fight during the watch phase.
Camp Phase:
Once players have agreed on who is going to camp, that character will now start the camp phase.
At the start of the camp phase the camp character will un-exhaust one of their abilities and un-exhaust all their exhausted items. The location for the round will also be revealed changing the campfire, determining how many enemies will be in the line and applying a special condition or effect for the round. In this dice allocation phase there are some limitations on locations, each character board has a unique ability which can only be used by that character, a heal action that requires exactly 6 value die, an equip action which requires a die value of four or more and rune actions that require double or triple values across the dice being used in the section with a minimum of two dice being used in the runes.
Heal allows the player to un-exhaust one ability of any character.
Equip is used to swap one ability unequipped with an equipped ability of the character activating this action. If the ability being swapped off the character is exhausted. Then the ability to be equipped will be exhausted as well.
Chop Wood moves the firewood token up by two, when the firewood reaches certain values it will allow the first two or first three enemies in the watch phase to be revealed. Giving the players more information on how to best engage the enemies.
Scout Ahead will preview two enemy cards from the top of the deck, placing them back onto the top of the deck or underneath the deck. The next time this action is used in this camp phase the die value has to be larger.
Check Map will let the player choose between the top unused locations and the location in the deck. The unused locations are special camp locations that make the round easier. The location chosen will be used for the next round not this round.
Rune Actions; the rune actions are represented on the back of the location cards and they will allow the player to Bolster, reroll all and any characters dice in the watch once; Vanquish, which will discard one card from the horde and lastly Seal, which searches the graveyard for an unhallowed card to be placed at the bottom of the unhallowed deck. If the unhallowed deck runs out the players will lose. Each of these actions can be done once per camp phase and requires doubles or triples to use the rune actions.
Merchant Phase:
Once camp actions are completed there is a merchant phase. Players will gain coins during the game. The main method being when characters take camp actions with coins on the location they gain the coins. Each time a coin location isn't used in a camp phase a coin is added to the location after the merchant phase. The character in the camp phase will purchase items for themself or any other character with the maximum amount of items being two per character at a time. The items will be refilled after this phase is concluded.
Items come in four types, discard after use, passive abilities, abilities that are activated with a die (activate) and abilities that are exhausted when used and flipped over. Activate items are ready to use in the next watch phase and exhausted items need characters to enter a camp phase.
Watch Phase:
During the watch phase, players have to hold the line.
When there are no actions left to take any surviving enemy will deal damage shown on their card then be added to the horde (all these cards are added to the line in the final round). When characters are damaged they have to exhaust an ability, when all players have exhausted abilities at the end of a watch phase the game has been lost. Players have no turn order in this phase and can activate their dice in any order they choose.
In the watch phase players can do direct attacks by dealing damage equal to the value of their dice.
The distance in line is dependent on their attack type, melee characters only have a range of one dealing damage to the first character in the line, range characters have a range of two dealing direct damage equal to the first or second enemy.
Characters can exhaust, discard or activate their items, lastly characters can activate their abilities. This can be done in two ways, using a dice or exhausting their ability. The interesting element of this, is that it can be done twice in a turn.
But is down to the player on how and in which order they choose. It can only be activated with a dice if it isn't already exhausted. Once all enemies in the line are defeated the next round begins.
Alteration:
There are six characters included in this version of Set a Watch. As an engine with the compatible stand-alone games and expansions there are currently over 20 characters that can be played. Each character has a dice type allocated to them shown by the banner, five abilities (which three can be equipped at a time), unique camp ability and often other unique character attributes. The uniqueness of these characters and the interesting play styles they create is part of where the game shines. To fully understand characters though there are some elements that aren't on the character components and in the rulebook.
The barbarian is a strong hitter with D12 as her dice. Her abilities however come with a setback, they cannot be activated twice in a round like normal with a dice and exhausting. Instead they can only be used by exhausting. The barbarian allows for extra healing through her camp ability, swapping out an ability like a standard equip but instead of keeping the same state as the previous ability the new ability will instead enter un-exhausted. Through large dice it makes the barbarian more unlikely to activate rune and heal locations when camping.
The Witch contains low dice which makes some camp actions unachievable like healing while making some camping actions easier such as the runes. The witch contains a familiar which will slowly peck the enemies to death, allowing the familiar to do a direct attack (with no die cost) once per round while also containing a passive effect. All of the witch's attributes relate to the specific die value when the die is spent to activate the ability, when the ability is activated through exhausting the x result will count as a one. The witch may not be a direct attacker but they will use their number results much more carefully to keep watch.
If the bounty hunter helps defeat enemies when they are discarded he can collect them as a bounty (maximum three). He can then use these bounties to gain bonuses for attacking the same creature type in the line. The other main benefit of the trophies is he can sell them at camp for their damage values.
The monk has a lot of strong abilities that trigger based on die values shown on their spent/unspent dice. What's great about the monk is his camp action allows him to upgrade his dice to stronger dice types like D8 and D10.
The artificer has a staff which they will charge through various abilities. The reason they are charging this staff is to defeat enemies by using the staff once per round, this only works if there are charges larger than the enemies health. The charge counter of the staff is then halved. Meaning the player has to use the right abilities to rebuild the charge value.
The heretic is great at using the enemy deck to their advantage, whether this is returning unhallowed enemies back to their deck, or using a powerful enemy on the top of the graveyard to defeat an enemy in the line. A favourite ability of the heretic is the fact that he can use low dice wisely and change the value of an enemy's base health.
Pacing:
There is a great pacing to Set a Watch, at the start of the game players feel powerful and easily keeping the enemies at bay. A lot of the focus at this time is about gaining more items not necessarily about managing the enemies. In the middle of the game camp locations like scout ahead and check map become much more paramount for smoother watch phase creating easier locations and preventing certain enemies from appearing. As the game continues further those camp actions go to the wayside since players need to focus on healing, vanquishing and rolling better dice through bolstering.
This occurs because throughout the game stronger enemies will be added to the enemy deck through unhallowed enemies.
This creates a great atmosphere. Unhallowed cards are stronger enemies that will be added to the creature deck through acolytes and summon cards (mainly) creating stronger enemies as the game progresses.
At the start of the game players get to learn and adjust their characters to their play style. But, as the game continues they lose abilities through use or through enemies reaching the camp. As this continues the game pivots to survival and every move counts, knowing when to allocate dice and exhaust abilities/items and having a strong strategy when a player leads the camp phase becomes paramount.
Interaction:
This is a fully cooperative game, where player synergy matters. Players must survive nine rounds. Each character has to be the camper twice in the game. In the camp phase recovery is part of it but the more crucial part is making sure the other characters have a successful watch phase. This is done by managing items and healing necessary abilities, this isn't purely for the camp character but can be used to manage any character's capabilities. Players will actively seek out the camp phase based on their exhausted cards and their dice results.
The watch phase is played with free reign in turn order. Allowing for fully cooperative strategies, since no player needs to complete their turn in one sitting instead actions occur with no turns and this phase simply ends when no player wishes to take any more turns. An example would be that players with certain abilities can defeat weaker enemies at the front of the line allowing stronger hits to be applied when newer enemies are revealed by other players.
For a balanced party of heroes, no matter the player count four characters have to be used in any game, with two players sharing two characters each and at three players the player in camp will be able to use the unaccounted character. This makes the game feel very different at the player counts, allowing for more strategic play at two players, less character ownership at three players and at four the player at the camp will feel truly at the camp as they don't interact directly in the watch phase. Once a comfortable player count is found, this is the kind of game that may lead to players staying to a certain player count. For me that would be two mainly and at times four players.
Determination:
-Characters feel wildly different.
- Interesting dynamic between the two phases, camp and watch phase.
- Dice results/types matter in different ways then normal dice allocation games.
- Each game needs four characters with players having multiple roles at lower player counts.
Set a Watch has a very engaging system developed. Players are using dice allocation to defeat the enemies that appear through a line defence game. The trick with the game is that it is broken into two main phases the camp and the watch. One character each round will enter the camp phase, (each character needs to camp twice in a game) healing players, equipping their abilities or items to any character, and setting up the enemy and location deck in everyones favour. The other phase each round is a watch phase with the other three characters. These characters can use their dice to use items/abilities or cause direct damage to enemies within their range. Not every action needs to use a dice instead items and abilities can be exhausted requiring that character to heal in a future camp phase to remain useful. This is a fully cooperative game with simultaneous (free turn order), that is not easy to quarterback as the phases simply run so fast. The pacing of the game is excellent as the characters become stronger, more powerful enemies are added to the deck creating a constant pressure on the players. A positive and a negative is that each player count feels different as four characters need to be used each game no matter the player count. Which will create drastic feelings per each player count leading players to different preferences. This is the kind of game and engine that will excel from a deep dive from the players as it is a rich system with a vast array of characters, and enemies available. Characters have an array of different abilities, dice types and other key components. If you are looking for your next cooperative favourite that you can take time to explore the system I can easily recommend Set a Watch and easily recommend swords of the coin as a great starting point.
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