Crystal Clans

Board Game Geek Reviews

1. 5 out of 10

   David_Artrex

   Kartengesteuerte Kampfmechaniken für zwei Spieler. Sechs asymmetrische Fraktionen und ein paar nette Ideen. Im Endeffekt ist das Spiel aber enttäuschend flach und wenig überzeugend.

2. 5 out of 10

   Gabavon320

   I actually put all of the components from this game into the box of summoner wars to save space so I understand if no one wants to trade for this game, haha.

3. 8 out of 10

   Andy Parsons

   I feared that Crystal Clans might be a Summoner Wars knock-off with equally bad artwork. There are certainly similarities. There are the familiar opposing factions with different strengths and weaknesses. The board is a grid of rectangles, though CC reduces it down from 48 to a mere nine. Unit cards in both games have a summoning cost, an attack factor, an ability to absorb hits and a special power. There is a familiar hand size of five cards. CC feels a quite different game for two main reasons. The first is its victory condition. Fond though I am of Summoner Wars, the win condition of eliminating the opposing summoner does mean that games can drag on. CC's objective is simpler; control two of three board spaces that provide crystals, take the requisite action, do that four times. The second difference is that CC player turns are unstructured. You choose one of five actions at a cost in initiative and carry on choosing actions until your opponent has the initiative. It's a two-player version of the Thebes/Glen More/many others player who is last of the turn track takes the next action mechanism. While the three crystal spaces are focal points for conflict, the players' home spaces are also important. Not only are they mostly where units spawn, an attack on your opponent's home space can cost them dearly in terms of discards. Your deck doesn't simply run out as it can, disastrously in Summoner Wars, but reshuffling your discard pile gives your opponent a crystal. For the most part, I appreciate what CC does differently. I would liken it to the rapid action of a real life fencing match, whereas Summoner Wars is the epic duel at the climax of a Errol Flynn movie. There is a time and a place for both. Oh, and while the box artwork is crappily reminiscent of an eighties children's cartoon, the card art is slightly better.