Duel of Ages

 My favorite part of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was when Ghengas Khan was skateboarding around with a football helmet on, wielding a baseball bat. I found humor in the situation, and remember thinking that if Khan was around today, that's probably exactly what he'd do. Now there is a game that accurately simulates that same feeling.

I first heard of Duel of Ages (DOA) when perusing the Gathering of Friends reports. I saw that their was a game that was playable from 2-16 players. This is a rare thing in games, so it immediately caught my attention. I searched for it here on boardgamegeek, and then found the official site. One thing led to another, and soon I purchased the game, and have read quite a bit of it.

It's gotten a lot of loud hype, but is it worth it?

The short answer is YES! YES!, OH YES!

And now for the longer answer. If someone asked me to describe DOA, I would describe it as a cross between Mageknight, Cosmic Encounter, Frag, Squad Leader, Warhammer, MTG, and an RPG. That may make it seem as if DOA has spread itself across too many genres to be good at any of them. Quite the contrary is true.

A short description of the game: The players are split into two teams (don't have to be even): black and white. Each team controls several characters. These characters range from four different eras (ancient, colonial, modern, future) and real life (Buffalo Bill Cody, Geronimo, Willaim Wallace, etc.) to fantasy (Joshua the superhero, Grok, etc.) Each character has a set of stats for health, damage, speed, wits, aim, etc. They also have special abilities that make them unique. The teams then maneuver these characters through challenges and adventures, while fighting off the characters of the opposing team. After a predetermined time limit, the game ends. Victory points are determined by how many characters are remaining on each team and how many adventures have been completed.

Now for some points in the game:

1). Variety: This is the true scope of the game. If you just buy the basic set (which should satisfy most people) you get enough characters and equipment that I'd think you'd have to play the game scores of times to ever run across a duplicate situation. If you buy 1 expansion (or even all of them) the combinations are so many that I don't think you will ever have the same game twice.

2). Balance Issues: According to the designers, every character in the game is very balanced (with the exception of one weak character - who I haven't figured out yet). Some characters come across as weak or useless, but all characters have moments where they shine! It's amazing how you can use each character differently - and almost none of them feel as if they are carbon copies of other characters. As you play the game, you will feel yourself growing attached to your characters, and will hate to have one killed, stolen, or imprisoned.

3). Fun: Many, many games are considered great by the gaming public. Some games are really, truly great games - but just don't have that "Wow" - fun factor. Frag is a good example of a game that has the fun factor, but is not a very well balanced game. DOA, however, not only has the fun factor down - it is a very well balanced, smooth playing game. There is almost no downtime, and you are drawn into the story of your characters. After games, instead of talking about the mechanics, I'll say things like - "Remember when Geronimo unleased the tiger on the Bladed Terror and the Bladed Terror shreaded him? It's a good thing that Jedadiah Smith was able to take his helicopter to the top of the ridge and draw a bead on the Bladed Terror with his pistol!" You find that each game becomes a story, an adventure, one that you will immediately play again. And every character might have that moment to shine: Where the mountaineer climbs up the cliff to escape the raging monster, where the kung fu master was mind-warped by Jolie, where several players tried to get through the insane dungeon of Geoff and failed, where Tex was able to raid the enemy base of all their valueables. It's just that fun. You'll be talking about the game afterwards for days - and it won't be hard to get players to try it again.

3) Genres: I think this game will appeal to people of many gaming genres. CCG players and Cosmic Encounter fans will like the diversity of the characters and equipment. Strategy and War gamers will like the tactics used on the battlefields. Theme enthusiasts will like the excellent background story and the story that each game becomes. Board gamers will be enamored by a solid game system that seems to have no gaping flaws or is "broken".

4) Support: The author and producer of the game are very involved in the community. They have the best board game site I have seen for a specific game, ever. It has all the rules for the game and its expansions so that you can read them before purchasing. It has the statistics for EVERY character, and pictures of many. They are quick to respond to emails, and will help with questions and ideas. They encourage people to send in their own artwork and ideas, that might even get used in the game!

5) Artwork and Bits: Contrary to what Cheapass games says - most people love beautiful bits and artwork. I have pulled the Cannes game out many times, only to continually put it away because the artwork is so bad. I like to see nice bits and artwork. It helps immerse one into the world of the game, and makes it generally more fun to play over all. This game does not disappoint. The boards (platters and keys) are beautiful, with many different scenary items and "cookies" scattered across them. Each card has stunning artwork - especially the item cards. You might catch yourself staring at the weapons and animals, because they look that good. The labyrinth cards, the hero cards, the backgrounds - all are exceptionally done. The method used to do the artwork is fantastic. As for the cardboard counters for the heroes - they are nice, but I wish that they had been two sided, as it takes a good bit searching through them to find your characters for each game. I helped by writing the characters' names on the backs, and you only do this once a game, as you set up - so it's a minor quibble. The boards were bent a little, also - but the publishers have apologized for this mistake (at the printers) and have corrected it for future editions.

6) Luck and Strategy: I'm not a huge fan of games with no luck (Chess, etc.) because in life, strange things can happen. I'm also not a huge fan of games with all luck (Yahtzee, etc.) because I want to have a lot of control over the game. DOA fits well between the two. There is a lot of dice-rolling, but you control the events surrounding the dice rolling. For example, Grok is a very strong character - good at fighting. However, he is as dumb as a brick. I could send him on a wits challenge, hoping against hope that I'll roll a "12" - the only thing that would work - but it would frankly be stupidity (just like Grok!) on my part. He's much better used on the field, whacking away on other characters. Each character has a use, and a good commander will stick them all in the right place.

7) Expansions: This immediately turns many people off to games - its why many of us boardgamers stopped collecting CCGs. Set after set would come out, with better and bigger characters, etc. But with DOA, all you need to have fun is to buy the original set. Then, after that, you can pick which one of the 7 expansions (more to come, I think) to buy. Each one is different and adds a lot to the game. Set two adds some more maps, characters, and team bases. If you buy any expansion - this is it! Set three adds so many maps I doubt you'd ever want to buy more. Sets 4-7 each add a pile of characters and weapons and equipment. Each expansion also adds a "key" - a small board piece with special rules. You can mix and match these as you please - all are very well balanced, and nothing really throws off the game that much.

8). Money: The game is a bit expensive - but it is good quality, and you'll certainly get your money's worth playing it. And it's not expensive at all when compared to other games with similar components.

9). Rulebook: Not only are the rules available online, but the rulebook itself is well-written, well designed, and easy to use. There are some small reference cards to help remember the charts, but the charts are so easy to memorize that you probably won't use them after one or two games. The rulebook is short, funny, and not confusing at all (like many other rulebooks). I was able to teach the game in fifteen minutes, and during the game - we consulted the rulebook twice - pretty good for a ninety minute game.

10). Time: Time is variable in the game - the game ends when you want it to. We played a 90 minute game last night, and it went quickly. We could have easily played for 2 or three hours. You could play a 60 minute game, but I don't think it would be as much fun. This may detract it for some people, with a time reference of 2 - 3 hours, but the time went fast, and we enjoyed every minute of it.

11). Humor: I'm not always a fan of Cheapass or Steve Jackson components, but I love their humor. DOA has great components, and is saturated with humor. We laughed many, many times while playing.

I could talk at great lengths more about the game - but I want to go play now! I'll close by saying this - check out the games that I rank highly here on boardgamegeek, and compare your ratings to them. I rank this game a "10" because I'll play it anytime, any day, anywhere. If I had to descibe this game in one word, I'd say "fun". Do yourself a favor - play this game, and you'll have fun too.

Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"