Soda Pop Miniatures are responsible for the adorable dungeon crawl board game, Super Dungeon Explore (SDE). This is a game for 2-6 players with a relatively odd theme. Despite the trappings of a fantasy game at first glance, it really is themed more like an over the top video game. It’s an odd choice, but if you jump into the game approaching it like an anime-themed version of Gauntlet rather than a serious dungeon exploration game, there is a lot of fun to be found.

Players form up into a team of heroes to face off against a single player (or Console) that runs the baddies. The goal for the heroes is to wipe out the final boss monster, while the Console tries to eliminate the heroes. There are 8 heroes to choose from, while the Console gets a choice of 2 enemy types to field and one epic boss, or up to 2 minor bosses. The progression of the number of heroes is a bit odd, being either 2, 3, or 5 heroes against the single Console player. But you can have players field more than one hero, giving some flexibility to the number of players. I’d even consider allowing 2 players to play the Console, splitting the number of models to control or take alternate turns controlling the final boss.

Each side activates a hero, or a set number of monsters, and play alternates back and forth until every model on the board gets an action, ending the turn. Each model has a number of action points that allow them to do things like move, attack, or open chests, in any combination. The Console gets to spawn monsters at specific points. The heroes can attempt to destroy these points to reduce the number of creatures that pop in each turn.

As heroes inflict wounds, there is a special loot track that moves along and resets once the turn is over. At set intervals, heroes can obtain special loot to help them out. Another track records the damage from all models (both heroes and monsters) that continually progresses over the game. As this damage meter moves on, more powerful monsters can be spawned. So those 8 bit monsters can be replaced by 16 bit baddies (I’m not kidding about the video game theme).

If the damage track progresses too far, a boss gets to spawn. This also happens when the heroes manage to destroy all the spawn points. This becomes a neat factor with game play as heroes easily can use more powerful items to equip their characters, gleefully killing anything in their path. However with each monster they drop not only does the loot meter move up, but also the damage meter, increasing the likelihood of more powerful monsters being able to spawn in later turns.

Combat is a relatively simple affair rolling certain colored dice, with the opponent doing the same. If the attacker scores more hits (indicated on the dice) compared to their opponent, they inflict a wound. Most monsters have a single wound so this removes them from play (allowing them to be respawned later). Inflict enough wounds and a hero can also be wiped out, only to be able to respawn if a fortunate relic or treasure is found.

Monsters and heroes are not only represented by models, but also have a special card describing all their abilities and powers. There is quite a bunch too, from special moves, to different attacks. Additionally certain powers key off of certain abilities, that in turn may target particular defences. What you end up with is a surprisingly tactical game, with the heroes trying to maximize their actions during a turn to reduce the enemies on the board and what might pop back in later.

As the general artwork goes, it is very colorful and playful. The design of the loot cards is pretty neat, as they line up in particular orientations to the hero cards. The counters are also bright with several types indicating different status conditions. The figures are resin and surprisingly detailed. They assemble well, but expect to take some time gluing them together. I got mine done in a night, but I’d expect to take an afternoon or two to get them completed if working at a leisurely pace.

The models are quite a bit of pieces and fortunately there is a guide sheet you can now download to give you an idea how to assemble them. Most of the figures have wide slots and scored pegs that fit snugly into the main figure. Just about everything fit together without a hitch. Still, expect to fill some gaps with squadron putty and trim off a bit of flash. The only exception was the dragon boss model. That was a bit of a pain to assemble and I’d recommend tackling that first as it is easily the most frustrating to put together. After that, all the other pieces will be considered cake.

Sadly there are some negatives with the game. While the cards are pleasant to look at and colorful, they are printed on pretty flimsy stock. I opted to put mine in plastic sleeves, especially as they get handled so much. I seriously doubt they would stand up to typical wear and tear very well. Additionally the box is very cheap being corrugated cardboard. Expect to tape up the edges of that box also to reinforce it.

The rulebook does fairly satisfactory job explaining things, but I still ran into some hiccups determining how particular powers resolved. Also while there is a quick summary chart at the end of the rulebook, a play sheet or two would have been a welcome edition. Given the amount in the box, with color board sections, cards, and miniatures, I’m surprised they didn’t bother with a few sheets giving a quick summary of play and a short description of different status effects.

The game screams expansion, especially with the Console monsters. This leads to another detraction with the game, repetitiveness. While there are quite a few hero options, the Console is limited to two choices of monster factions. Even worse, there is one epic boss and limited mini-bosses. After a few plays, you are going to get the feeling of sameness, fighting through hordes of creatures to face the same end boss that has the same powers and the same game effects. I’m certain more content is in the pipe, it’s just a shame that different power cards for bosses weren’t initially included.

The Good – The models are nice and painted up I think would be gorgeous. The theme is light and playful. I think the mechanics move well and the game captures that feel of a frantic battle game, with hordes of minions being cut through until everyone has to gang up on the final boss creature. All the while, there are nuances to most of the models (both hero and monsters) with enough abilities and powers to keep things interesting. It also feels pretty balanced, so each player can give it their all and no one side has to pull any punches.

The Bad – Surprisingly the cards and game box are pretty flimsy. While there are enough heroes to mix things up and keep them fresh (8 out of the box), the Console forces are a bit limited. The greatest offender is the single epic boss monster. I can see keeping it limited based on the models, but no reason a few different cards could be introduced to give it different abilities. That is the biggest slight with the game and I think repeated play will have that feeling of ‘sameness’ creep in.

The Verdict – I’m a bit torn. As a miniature wargamer this is a good buy if the theme appeals to you. You get a pleasant little skirmish game with a ton of models that will be fun to paint up. The game is light and is a refreshing take on the typical dungeon crawl of other more serious games like Descent, or the recent WotC adventure board games.

However as a board game enthusiast I would tell folks to pass on this. I think the investment (both money and time assembling the figures) is simply not worth the asking price. You will end up with a game that will start to feel a little repetitive with frequent playthroughs although I’m certain more models and expansions are in the works.

In a way, I fall into the same bit of advice I give to folks that are interested in getting into Warhammer Fantasy or 40K, don’t buy it for the game unless you are planning on enjoying the modelling and painting aspect. That is the greatest flaw with Super Dungeon Explore. It seems more of a vehicle to sell miniatures than to sell a game. For folks that love miniature games and the painting hobby, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of the SDE. If you are a straight up board game fanatic, it will be much less so.

I’ll end this with a plea to Soda Pop Miniatures. Late next year when SDE has been out a while and hopefully you’ve rolled out an expansion or two, revisit the basic game. Rework the components and release a ‘game console’ version. Bump up the box and card quality. Throw in some summary play sheets. Add maybe another map board. Dump the miniatures and include all the heroes and monsters as cardboard counters. Throw in another monster faction, or at the least a few epic bosses and mini bosses. At a reduced price (say around $35 USD) I’m certain folks would pick this up. SDE is a fun game. It’s a good game. I think the inclusion of miniatures meant cutting some corners, not to mention bumping up the price, which ends up being factors that keep it from being a great board game.

Jump Gate is a sci-fi themed, 2-6 player game. From Matt Worden Games it revolves around space exploration and gathering of resources. I managed to pick it up from Fun Again Games which released their own version of the game with a bound color rulebook and a larger box for all the components.

The objective of the game is to claim resource cards in various sets. As players explore and claim cards, some resource cards are linked with a black hole. When these cards are claimed, a player drops one of his tokens onto the black hole tile. When a total of nine tokens are collected on the black hole tile the game ends.

It can also end when all the planets are claimed and the only unclaimed resource cards have black hole icons on them. Having a low amount of tokens on the black hole tile is important, as the player with the highest amount of chips there gets a large penalty to their final score. This adds an interesting twist to the game, as players might have to balance out picking up a specific resource to fill out a set, potentially getting a lot of points, while at the same time contributing to ending the game and possibly having too many markers on the black hole tile.

Players travel around different planets moving around in a circle in either direction. Additionally they have a set of navcomp cards. These cards do a lot of game functions. They allow a player to utilize the jump gate and travel to a planet of their choosing. They also allow a player to scan and claim a planet, all of which is done by matching up the symbols and numbers on the planet with the proper navcomp cards. Additionally, many navcomp cards can also allow the player to have special actions (basically allowing them to conduct game actions without paying required navcomp cards).

Each planet starts with most resource cards hidden. As players travel around the planets, they can scan them, adding a player token to the planet tile. When the planet is finally claimed, each scanning token allows them a choice of the revealed resource cards. This becomes an important strategy as players race around the table trying to scan planets, allowing them to gain resources later in the game. Bonus points are also awarded to players that scan or claim planets.

Once a planet is claimed (and after others that scanned the planet have claimed their choice of resources) the remaining resources are up for grabs. Anyone that orbits the planet has a chance to pick up a card with no restrictions. Again this adds an interesting choice for players. Discarding specific navcomp cards, if a player scans a planet they can ‘stake a claim’ on future resources and gain extra points, however to get these resources someone must also later claim the planet. At the same time, once the planet is claimed then anyone can swoop in to take up the remaining resources freely without having to use navcomp cards.

At the end of the game players score points for claiming and scanning planets. Also the player that has the most tokens on the jump gate tile get a bonus. However, most of the victory points are earned for collecting recourse cards in various sets. The meat and potatoes of these points are from gem resources. Not only do you want to claim a lot gem resource cards, but also try and focus on having one color to make up your total. Additionally many other resource cards offer more points making a pair (dark and white energy) or forming up a large set (water), while others just offer a high point bonus. As all this is being tallied, the player with the most tokens on the black hole tile gets a penalty to their score.

This scoring can make for some interesting gameplay. To get a lot of points you need to focus on specific card sets. Meanwhile you want to claim resource cards to prevent your opponents from doing the same. This sort of makes for some cut throat play as players race from planet to planet scanning and carefully picking up select resources, all the while watching your opponents and trying to see what resources they are trying to collect. If players are going for the same resource, this can be a a little hectic trying to pick up the right cards that will offer a large point bonus at the end of the game.

Recently Jump Gate has been picked up by a larger publisher and will be released as Space Mission. The German release offers much nicer components and the rules have been worked over a bit for more streamlined play. There is no black hole tile in the German Version, and play ends when a certain number of special resource cards are discovered. Another tweak is with the scanning action. In Space Mission, players can look through resource cards and actually ‘claim’ a resource that will be picked up later once the planet is developed. It’ll be interesting to see how folks enjoy the different games. I might even consider trying out the Space Mission rules with my version of Jump Gate (it’ll require modifying the resource cards though).

The Good – Jump Gate is a pretty fun set building game. It captures the theme pretty well as players try an race around the board scanning and claiming planets at the right time. There isn’t much direct interaction with other players, but picking up certain resources and claiming planets can impact other players. Additionally there are more planet tiles than what is used to play, allowing for a slightly random layout of worlds each game.

The Bad – There seems to be a scoring dump when the game ends. You have to parse out a lot of resource cards into various sets, and it can be a little difficult to know exactly how many points you have as you are playing (unless you take the time to re-tally your score each turn by yourself). Also as strategy goes, it really seems that players need to rush in and scan as many planets as possible initially. Even though there are other options, it seems to push players onto one strategy track if they want to score a lot of points. Also I will say the components are a bit spartan and simple, even with my boxed edition that is supposed to be the more ‘upscale’ version. However, it’s hard to knock the game for that given it is from a smaller publisher.

The Verdict – Overall I enjoy Jump Gate and found it much more engaging with more than 2 players. While direct player interaction is limited, you do get a feel that you are at times in a frantic exploration race with other players. Getting to scan worlds before your opponents allows an opportunity to get choice resources when it is claimed later, and also allows you to plan out what resources to collect. While this at times seems to be the best strategy, having other players in the mix can muck up things quite a bit, so you have to be flexible with your plans.

I feel adding up victory points at the very end can be a little convoluted to tally. This also means it’s somewhat nebulous to gauge how well certain players are doing during the game. The components are a tad simplistic and low quality, but I bought my copy for about $15 USD and consider it a bargain for the game inside. I think Jump Gate captures that feel of space exploration well enough and makes for a fun game.

Race for the Galaxy is a sci-fi themed resource card game for 2-4 people from Rio Grande Games,. The game portrays the player as a budding space-faring civilization attempting to expand its reach throughout space. On the whole I really enjoy the game, but there are a few reservations I’d have for certain gaming groups.

The object of the game is to gain the most victory points from a limited pool. The game ends when the victory points run out, or players have put 12 cards in play. Overall I like the effective time limits with the game. It really pushes players to try and make the most of each turn, as sitting back and biding your time won’t work. You have to be constantly trying to produce and sell goods, or continually make developments and claim planets. Players earn victory points primarily through building developments and colonizing planets. Another key means of earning victory points is through the selling of goods.

The cards are used for everything in the game (save for victory point chits). The cards themselves represent planets and developments (resources to allow the player to do special actions). However not only are they different cards what you actually play on the table, but they are also are used as a currency and as goods to produce and sell for victory points. As there is a hand size limit, it makes for some interesting choices to decide what cards you discard in order to ‘pay’ for colonizing a planet or building developments. Additionally, many cards have a synergy in effects so this discard choice can sometimes be a bit of a conundrum for players (as there are some really neat combinations you can make).

I actually like this idea. While it’s true that at times I enjoy having lots of components in games (ex. Terraforming Mars or Puerto Rico), it is refreshing to have a game that is a little more utilitarian with how goods and currencies are represented in game.

Each turn a player selects one action they like to take. Actions range from exploring (going through the deck and selecting a card to add to their hand), to placing developments and planets in their area, to producing goods to sell or gain victory points. If the player selects this action, typically there is a small bonus (say, paying one less resource to build a development). The twist is that all the other players also get to do the same action. So if you want to colonize a planet, everyone else around the table gets to do the same thing, save that small advantage you would get for selecting that action during your turn. It’s an interesting process. While you are rewarded with some bonus for taking a typical course of action, everyone else gets an opportunity to undertake the same activity.

There are some events that take a turn to two to develop, so it is not uncommon to try and produce and sell goods while other players have no resources available. So you are continually looking at the cards other people have in play, and trying to undertake actions that won’t be extremely beneficial to them. There is also a bit of gambling involved. As the bonus for selecting an action is not tremendous, sometimes you might opt to select another. All in hopes that the other player selects something that would help you, while you direct your limited choices to some other important action. Sometimes this works, and sometimes everyone focuses in on a particular course of action for the turn.

It plays rather well and moves at a fairly good pace. The only complaint I have (and it is a big one) is that there is a steep learning curve to the card symbols. While the game mechanics themselves aren’t too hard to grasp, each card has several icons on them relaying different characteristics and uses for the card. I find you really need about 2 games or so under your belt to recognize all the symbols and icons. This is further compounded with particular names and icons having nothing to do with the game, rather they relate to other expansions. Despite having large color icon cheat sheets in the game, it can still take a while for a new player to get up to speed.

As another quibble, I don’t think this might be everyone’s cup of tea as a strategy game. There is a lot of randomness with the initial draw of home planets and cards in your hand. Typically it takes a turn or three before you can cement a strategy. I like this aspect of the game, as it keeps your planning fluid and changes from game to game. I’d liken it to being a ‘puzzle’ game. You at first are unsure what route you need to take in setting up your empire. As things unfold, you get a clearer picture as you figure out a particular strategy. This might drive some players bonkers, as they want to sit down and try a particular strategy right from the start. In Race for the Galaxy you really can’t do this.

The Good – This is a fun strategy game. It’s random and deep enough to allow a player to explore a lot of strategies. While there are some really nice individual planets and developments, just about all the cards mesh with other particular cards, making for some interesting synergies in play. I also like the mechanic that has players select their turn actions that affect everyone. While it’s not quite involved as other games with trading of cards and such, it still requires you to take a look around at what other people are doing and think about your plan of action for the turn. You can play with 2 people which is always a plus.

The Bad – The learning curve is a bit steep on this one. As I stated, mechanics-wise it is not much however there are a ton of symbols, icons, and colors a player needs to process. It can be daunting at first and you really need to expect a new player to get a few games under thier belt to be able to grasp everything. Also, theme-wise there are a lot of neat little titles of cards with some fun artwork, but on the whole you could swap out just about any other symbols and names to mimic just about any other genre. So while it does has a sci-fi theme, the rules and actions are simply an abstract mechanic that don’t really seem to capture the feel of a space exploration and expansion game. Also, out of the box you can only play up to four people. I still like having a game that seat a few more around the table.

The Verdict – I really enjoy this game. I find it’s meaty enough with options and combinations to make for a fun strategy game, and just enough player interaction to make it interesting. There are several expansions for it, most of which add additional players (up to 6) and also add additional combinations and other variants to alter game play a little. I have found some of the expansions hit or miss, but I do appreciate allowing me to have additional players. Still, right out of the box you will find a great strategy game. I highly recommend having this on your game shelf.