Games Night

Wednesday games night was last night and we finally got around to trying out Monsterpocalype from Privateer Press.

Monsterpocalypse is a two player game and each player assumes the role of a city destroying monster (aka Godzilla or Cloverfield) and his smaller "support units". The idea is to fight the otherplayers monster and and is kind of a WWE meets Godzilla thing!

We only used the basic combat rules, without expanding in to all the powers that the monsters and units have so it was pretty much of a simple slugfest. However it gave us a good introduction into the basic rule mechanics and we are ready now to move on to a fully powered-up session next time.

The basic game mechanic of using dice pools to activate various effects is nicely enhanced with the system of moving used dice from the unit activation dice pool to the monster's dice pool and vice versa! This adds an element of resource management into the game which is a nice addition to a simple fighting monsters game!

Until we have had a chance to use the full game with all of the special abilities it is difficult for me to give a complete review here, but I can say that we were all fairly pleased with the basic game mechanics and are looking forward to the next session.

The figures and game components are also worth mentioning! The figures themselves are pre-painted plastic and generally are of a high standard. The different factions are clearly identifiable whether they be "not-Godzilla", "not-cthulhu", "not-ultraman" or any of the other factions. The are well sculpted and reasonably well painted.

The games is played out on a paper terrain map showing the streets and obstacles of a large city block. The paper is a little thin and also the folds cause it to not lie very flat, which is somewhat annoying, but not a serious problem. If this game becomes a regular with our group I will be tempted to stick the play-mat to a board to make it a little more resilient.

Along with the monster and unit figures, the games also comes with a selection of buildings that the monsters can use as cover, and more importantly can destroy! These models are nicely produced and look great on the table during play. Even if we do not continue with Monsterpocalypse for very long, I can certainly see the building being used for micro-armour/6mm wargames in future sessions.

Monsterpocalypse is certainly not a cheap game to get into, with starter sets running to £16 and boosters at £9.99, but if a group of you all buy into it and switch around the pieces with each other to create decent factions, each player does not need to spend a fortune to get up and running.

I will post a further review once we have had another chance to play, and once we have tried the full rules.