Nightfall
[5301]
$39.99
It does not sit on the shelf crying out for your attention. It waits for you to find it. It is not garish nor colorful nor laden with cartoonish text and images. It is simple and silent. It is patient, for it knows that you will seek it out.
And when you first see it, you are struck by the beauty of its simplicity. A single word on a dark, murky background…
NIGHTFALL.
And as you approach, the murky images become clearer. They are grotesque and horrifying, but you are not repulsed. You are drawn in. Curiosity? Perhaps. But as you reach for the box, you know that you are going to a very dangerous place.
Nightfall is a new game by AEG. It is a deck-building game, but it is not just another deck-building game. It is more. Unlike other games of this type where you build your deck rarely hindered by the actions of others, you must attack and defend for the key to winning is to survive. Where other games are a footrace, Nightfall is a war.
It relies on some familiar game mechanics, and introduces us to three nuances, including a way to give an advantage to losing players, that put this game in a class by itself. The phases of play: attack; play a series of inter-related actions; resolve those actions; and acquire cards, all require careful thought and planning. There is even strategy in the last phase, drawing cards from your deck to rebuild your hand!
First, all of your minions must attack, then disappear, leaving you defenseless unless you can rebuild an army in a later phase before you are inevitably attacked.
Second, you build a chain of actions and reactions, linking cards in specific order hoping they will benefit you because… Each of your opponents can add to that chain, possibly hurting you or helping themselves.
Third, once the chain is complete, the effects are resolved with the last one being resolved first. So all other actions in the chain resolve before yours. If you are fortunate enough, your army has been replenished. If not, then you are vulnerable.
Fourth, you can now buy more cards for your deck.
Then fifth, you replenish your hand to its original size (five). But there is even strategy here, for if you had suffered wounds earlier, when those wound cards return to your hand, they can be exchanged for two cards, increasing your hand size. So suffering wounds isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The game is intricate, but not difficult. The strategy seems simple, but is, in fact, subtle. Knowing when to play and when not to play is key. Once you have learned how to play this game it goes very quickly. There is one final nuance that I’ve not outlined here that further adds to the strategy aspect of this game.
And the final stroke of genius is in the box itself. Do you sleeve your cards? Ever try putting sleeved cards back into their original container? AEG has designed the storage area large enough to hold sleeved cards, and its divider system allows for orderly storage for this game and future expansions in a single box… sleeved or not.
I give it five stars and think it’s the best of breed among this type of game. If you like deck-building games, but also like competitive interaction, then this is the game you are looking for. Seek it out. It beckons quietly.
And when you first see it, you are struck by the beauty of its simplicity. A single word on a dark, murky background…
NIGHTFALL.
And as you approach, the murky images become clearer. They are grotesque and horrifying, but you are not repulsed. You are drawn in. Curiosity? Perhaps. But as you reach for the box, you know that you are going to a very dangerous place.
Nightfall is a new game by AEG. It is a deck-building game, but it is not just another deck-building game. It is more. Unlike other games of this type where you build your deck rarely hindered by the actions of others, you must attack and defend for the key to winning is to survive. Where other games are a footrace, Nightfall is a war.
It relies on some familiar game mechanics, and introduces us to three nuances, including a way to give an advantage to losing players, that put this game in a class by itself. The phases of play: attack; play a series of inter-related actions; resolve those actions; and acquire cards, all require careful thought and planning. There is even strategy in the last phase, drawing cards from your deck to rebuild your hand!
First, all of your minions must attack, then disappear, leaving you defenseless unless you can rebuild an army in a later phase before you are inevitably attacked.
Second, you build a chain of actions and reactions, linking cards in specific order hoping they will benefit you because… Each of your opponents can add to that chain, possibly hurting you or helping themselves.
Third, once the chain is complete, the effects are resolved with the last one being resolved first. So all other actions in the chain resolve before yours. If you are fortunate enough, your army has been replenished. If not, then you are vulnerable.
Fourth, you can now buy more cards for your deck.
Then fifth, you replenish your hand to its original size (five). But there is even strategy here, for if you had suffered wounds earlier, when those wound cards return to your hand, they can be exchanged for two cards, increasing your hand size. So suffering wounds isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The game is intricate, but not difficult. The strategy seems simple, but is, in fact, subtle. Knowing when to play and when not to play is key. Once you have learned how to play this game it goes very quickly. There is one final nuance that I’ve not outlined here that further adds to the strategy aspect of this game.
And the final stroke of genius is in the box itself. Do you sleeve your cards? Ever try putting sleeved cards back into their original container? AEG has designed the storage area large enough to hold sleeved cards, and its divider system allows for orderly storage for this game and future expansions in a single box… sleeved or not.
I give it five stars and think it’s the best of breed among this type of game. If you like deck-building games, but also like competitive interaction, then this is the game you are looking for. Seek it out. It beckons quietly.
Date Added: 03/27/2011 by DON TSUCHIYAMA
