A few months ago I was excited to get in on this Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/435243061/edition-wars-by-gamer-nation-studios . It seemed like it had a similar feel to the popular Munchkin game so I decided to buy into it. After a long wait, Gamer Nations Studios was finally able to finish their project. The Edition Wars box arrived at my apartment and thus, here is the review…
Edition Wars is a tounge-in-cheek strategy card game by Gamer Nation Studios and its made for 3-5 players. Each player takes the role of a Gamemaster vehement on defending their game edition while trying to complete a party of six gamers. You can purchase the game here. Since this is our first review, please tell us how you like the styling and what changes you would like to see. Thanks!
Fun Factor/ tl;dr
To get as straight to the point as possible, our group really enjoyed playing Edition Wars. We tend to like games that involve screwing over your opponents or bluffing your way to victory, and this game has both of those elements. The parody of the gaming community is done really well and we had a good time just typecasting our group into the various gamers and gamemasters that were provided. Plus, all of the swag was really fun to pick up and play, although I think my gaming group is going to have a thing with microwavable breakfast burritos now and that worries me. Don’t ask: you’ll understand when you get the game.
Fun Factor: 9/10
Clarity
Usually, I’m the one in our gaming group that likes to brave new gaming systems. Unfortunately, this also means that I have to be the one to explain the rules to everybody else. Long, complicated rules tend to make me want to stab my eyes out, if my group still isn’t 100% sure how to play by the end of the first game, then I doubt we would ever pick it up again. There tends to be long lag times between board/card game sessions and eventually it becomes a chore to re-explain complicated rules to people who don’t quite remember them, let alone new players.
I’m glad to say that Edition Wars does NOT have this problem. In fact, I would say the rules to play are so easy a caveman can do it (*Ba Dum Tss* , please don’t sue me Geico). They’re barely a full page long and they get straight to the point. It only took one quick read through and everyone was ready to play. In addition, all of the cards explain what they do very well and as an added bonus there’s even a small FAQ section in the rules regarding very specific in game scenarios where cards might contradict each other.
Ease of Play/Rule Clarity: 10/10 A short rulebook with easy to understand explanations means that you’ll be playing this game in only a few minutes.
Game Mechanics
As I said, Edition Wars is a pretty simple game to get into. At the beginning of the game each player draws a unique gamemaster card that provides them different bonuses or ability. The basic goal of the game is to steal gamers away from other gamemasters by battling with three types of battle cards: blog, snark, and merch (mechandise). On each turn you can initiate a battle with another gamemaster for a specific gamer and the person with the highest point value at the end wins. The great thing is that all of the cards are played face down and you’re allowed to play cards that don’t add to your point value. I’ve always liked games where you could bluff the other player, so this simple mechanic sat pretty well with me.
Besides battle cards the game also has critical effect and swag cards. The critical effect cards are great because they add a lot of flair to the game. They can change a loss into a win and in many cases can just generally screw over your opponents. Upset that Johnny bluffed you last turn? Make him regret it by forcing him to lose his next battle. Swag cards represent your gaming gear: sparkly dice, pizza, gaming tables, and more. They provide bonuses for battling and sometimes special effects that can steal gamers away from another gamemaster or save you from a nasty critical effect card.
All in all, the game works really well. It doesn’t try to do anything particularly groundbreaking, but I don’t see that as a bad thing. It’s easy to understand, and it has enough backstabbing to make the sinister GM in my heart giggle maniacally.
Game Mechanics: 8/10 Rules for the game aren’t particularly groundbreaking, but there’s definitely enough meat on it to make the game fun.
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