RPG Mat for DnD/D&D - Tabletop Review

Every party regardless of where they are sitting around the table knows that a map is often the best approach to a campaign or a hectic time limited one-shot where you have a literal two hours to storm the castle and obtain what you are there for. The map puts things into a visual perspective so that there is no real argument on distances when a fireball torches your party.

Enter this mat to draw maps on. A lot of us have been gaming for years and as time has gone on we've purchased Mega and Mondomats in order to visually see our campaigns. Now as good, and as durable as they are, they are both expensive for their size and take time to set up as the harder material they are made out of will keep the shape of it being rolled up for the first part of the gaming night requiring coasters or large minis to hold down these edges. 

What impressed me the most about seeing this mat for the first time wasn't even the mat, but the package that it came in. Shouldn't it have been bigger? Opening the package and seeing it folded up caused me to worry for a few moments as mats should never be folded as those creases will NEVER come out. This was very far from the case.

The mat is made from a very soft silicone that easily lays itself out leaving no creases and no need to weight it down while it retakes its original shape. Drawing on it and erasing it are just as easy as wiping off the coffee from that one clumsy player that you always have to worry about. It's ok, we love you all the same!  

The only possible downside that we've seen is if you have pets. Cat and Dog hair love to stick to it so having a cloth on hand is a must but since you're wiping marker off anyway, there shouldn't be an issue.

Overall it's a great mat for the price and several of us on the team are happy we picked a couple up for our individual campaigns!

Mat Information

Platform(s)
Tabletop Role-Playing Game
Publisher(s):
Ergon Games

Source:
Purchased after a reach out from Publisher
You can find it on Amazon.com

Article by Pierre-Yves
Article by Marc L.

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Tokyo Ghoul - Tabletop Review

Tokyo Ghoul: The Card Game is an excellent deck-building game based on the equally excellent Tokyo Ghoul anime. Recreating a turf war between players, Tokyo Ghoul is about recruiting allies, taking on your enemies through combat, or through controlling a number of locations. With art straight out of the anime and easy-to-follow instructions, Tokyo Ghoul is an excellent addition to any board gamer's library, fan of the anime or not.

The primary goal is to control three Wards (locations) in Tokyo and in order to do that, one must gather and spend influence. Influence is gained via the Allies that you have on the board every turn and each Ally has a number of influence that they provide. The higher the influence the better the chances to win. Allies will stay on the board until they are wounded, so targeting an enemy's highest value influence is a good way to stunt their growth. When you have enough influence you can then buy newer, better allies but rather than purchasing those cards from a shared deck, like most deck builders, you purchase them from your own hand/deck. Once you purchase an ally, it will be immediately placed in your discard pile, for use later (similar to how Xenoshyft works).

Allies are not the only thing influence can be used to purchase and if you are daring enough, you can gun straight for spending influence on the winning conditions, which are to control multiple Wards/locations. Though difficult and risky, it may be a worthwhile tactic if you are a veteran player and are playing with new players (though that is a cheap move). That said, there are boons to controlling locations as the controlling player will get a bonus (listed on the location card itself).

A nice little feature is that a location can be stolen from the controlling player if the controlling player has no allies in play. This can introduce an interesting dynamic, forging temporary alliances between players as they try to steal, or prevent others from stealing, a particular player's locations. Eventually though, it will become a free-for-all and a race to gather the most influence to purchase the victory condition. There were a few times that there was something of a windmill effect happening, where player on the left would attack the player on the right to reduce allies / steal locations and the behavior would go around the table a few times before someone is unable to move forward; it was fun, if tense due to tempers.

The other players are not the only threat though, as there are enemies that will be drawn. Those enemies, though recruited similar to Allies, will instead be placed into the play area and before that player can take any other actions, the enemy must be defeated. Once defeated it rolls back into the discard pile which means you have the potential to redraw that enemy in a later hand, thus halting your advance. This dynamic ensures your games last more than 15-20 minutes and once you draw an enemy card, adds an additional layer of tension (the good kind).

Tokyo Ghoul is, once you get through the rulebook, an excellent deck-builder. Though it is no Clank!, XenoShyft, Dominion, or Legendary Encounters, it is worthy enough to be mentioned in the same paragraph. Fun gameplay, excellent art, easy to get into, and based on an ultra-popular anime property, Tokyo Ghoul: The Card Game has everything one would want out of a quick deck-builder. A worthy addition to any anime fan or avid card-gamer, Tokyo Ghoul: The Card Game is available from most major boardgame sites for preorder (you can find it here: https://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/249531 and here: https://www.miniaturemarket.com/njd440201.html )

Game Information

Publisher(s):
Ninja Division
Genre(s):
Fantasy
Horror
Players(s):
2-4

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Robert

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