Cthulhu Wars

Board Game Geek Reviews

1. 6 out of 10

   AztecTwoStep

   A meat and potatoes dudes on a map game, with ridiculously high toy factor and a distressingly dinky little board for such enormous minis. End game scoring is surprisingly mathy and swingy for a Ameritirashy romp. It's an entertaining game that I would play again, but the density of its entertainment value is a bit low, and I can think of quite a few 4 hour, 5 player dudes on maps games that trump this.

2. 9 out of 10

   2020BoardGames

   Awesome giant sculpts make for epic HP Lovecraft themed Kaiju Battles across the map of planet Earth. I share the same sentiment as most reviews I'd read already, this game is expensive which may make it inaccessible to a lot of gamers. Frankly I dig the excess Sandy Petersen injected in to this gem. The spine of this game's success is a well-balance asymmetric light warfare system. And the asymmetry between the factions is important and will absolutely impact the way in a player approaches the game. Rarely does a new player walk away reporting that they think they had played their optimal strategy. I would say it takes a minimum of 2 to 3 games games to begin grappling strategy since each faction has 6 unique spells, 2-3 unique units and unique special abilities for their great old one. All the various permutations of interactions are hard to wrap one's mind around in a single serving. However after your group gets a good grip on the checks and balances designed in to Cthulhu Wars - the mixed motives of each factions really start to shine through and make for a really fun combat-filled gaming experienced.

3. 8.5 out of 10

   bcnevan

   Somehow it accomplishes a nice through line between rule set and asymmetry. It plays fast and is easily explained. Lots of moments for reactive play and player choices cause ripples that change the game state over multiple turns. There's a nice tension to the game's tempo in view of the hidden scoring and the multiple ways the game can end (though the table isn't too surprised when the game ends via the annihilation track). There's table politicking and pretty decent moments of drama in the game, especially once the spell-books become more fully fleshed out. The game begins as a somewhat cold war and escalates naturally once the unlimited battle rule kicks in. Players need to be amenable to a sizable amount of bash-the-leader and negotiation, as there are no catch-up-mechanisms (unless you consider the way asymmetry builds in negotiation a catch-up mechanism). Replayability is centered on mixing up the factions in play, which means having a couple of expansions to mix up the offerings, so buyer beware. Largely, you need to change up the faction mix because the overarching strategy for a faction is fairly repetitive. However, the tactics of each session are quite differentiated, so there is plenty of play in just the core box (this again assumes the table does flex the negotiations). The largest issue is the game's world-building; it's incoherent to meaningless. But I'm not sure it matters all that much for what this game is intending to accomplish. Cthulhu Wars is one of the better--if not the best--of its style of game. My rating incorporates the bump for plunging for some expansions. If you are only looking at the core box, lower the rating closer to a whole point. Cthulhu Wars: Ancients (2018) Cthulhu Wars: Azathoth Expansion (2015) Cthulhu Wars: Sleeper Expansion (2015) Cthulhu Wars: Opener of the Way Expansion (2015) Cthulhu Wars: Windwalker Expansion (2015) Cthulhu Wars: High Priests Expansion (2015) Cthulhu Wars: Great Old One Pack One (2015) Cthulhu Wars: Shaggai Map Expansion (2019) Cthulhu Wars: Beyond Space & Time (2019)