Tabletop_Gaming__April_2019

tabletopgaming.co.uk 77

WHAT’S IN

THE BOX?

◗ 91 sword tiles

◗ 12 sword guards

◗ 10 sword hilts

◗ 12 sword tips

◗ Five sword pommels

◗ 18 sword magic cards

◗ 48 sword relic tiles

◗ 24 sword

mastery cards

◗ 10 solo player

variant cards

◗ Scoring tracker

◗ Five player tokens

◗ First player token

◗ Forge tile

the Expanded Edition. It contains so

many Kickstarter stretch goals so that

getting them all back in the box is a

genuine struggle.

More importantly, it adds another

three routes to victory points: sword

mastery, relics and tips. e clever part

is that you’re not supposed to use them

all at once. You mix and match. e

rulebook even includes advice on which

ones work together particularly well.

Each one completely changes

the tone of the game. e core cut-

and-decide mechanic stays, but the

combinations of gems you’re trying

to create, either turn by turn or at

the end of the game, goes upside

down. Relics are particularly great,

sword tips a little disappointing, but

they all bring their own avour and

add longevity.

Swordcrafters looks like a kids’

game and it’s simple enough for the

family, but there’s both breadth and

depth here – and length too, because

the funnest part is seeing who’s got

the longest. Come for the displays of

potence, stay for an intriguing and

delightful game experience.

JAMES WALLIS

I

n Swordcrafters you craft a sword.

Out of cardboard, sadly, and the

blade you’re going to create has

a strange blocky quality that looks

more like a child’s construction toy

or something from a mid-‘90s Final

Fantasy game, but it’s an actual 3D

sword with four sides, each studded

with gems in the way that regular

swords aren’t. At all.

Put that aside for now. You’re

going to make your sword by slotting

cardboard tiles together, so the sword

will have four sides. Essentially you’re

building four columns, and the tiles

you put on each side will depend on

(1) what tiles you can get, (2) how

long the other sides are and (3) what

victory conditions you’re trying to

complete. Here’s the nub of the game:

it depends.

You get your tiles each turn

by cutting them. Yes, it’s clever;

mechanic as metaphor, all that. You

lay out a random selection of tiles in

a grid, then the rst player splits it in

two, horizontally or vertically, and

the next splits one of the halves, and

so on. en you go round again, each

taking one of the chunks. It’s a game

version of that way of splitting cake

between kids, and it works really well.

ere’s a huge rst-player advantage,

but that’s based on who takes one

particular tile, so it all functions.

en you build your sword, which

is really satisfying. e tiles are robust,

the grooves well cut; it all holds

together surprisingly well. You can

even swing it about a bit. No idea how

long it’ll last, but I’m optimistic.

And then you score. In the basic

version of Swordcrafters there are

three ways of getting victory points:

longest sword, sword quality (sets

of gems per side) and sword magic

(particular gem combos, on cards).

is works ne. It’s a decent game

in vanilla form, but this review is for

Well weapon

SWORDCRAFTERS: EXPANDED EDITION

TRY THIS IF

YOU LIKED...

SPLENDOR

Mechanically it’s

nothing like Splendor,

and it’s not about

the gems either. But

the two games have

a similar flavour, and

the way they engage,

puzzle and satisfy is

tonally close.

(^) PLAY IT? YES
Swordcrafters is packed with
novelty, charm, intelligence and thick
cardboard. It’s unique and a lot of fun.
20-30m 1-5 6+ £48