Lee Wardle
United Kingdom
Huddersfield
West Yorkshire
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I work at a school for students with Emotional and Behavior problems. I cracked open my copy of this for the first time with a group of 14-16 year old male students who had just finished a project on Bram Stoker's Dracula.
I won't cover the rules here but will instead bring you the combined views of the students I work with.
What did they think of the Components?
They all loved the art. Mainly because their hormones are kicking in and half the game's characters are hotties. Goth chick Rose, savage Sasha and the seductive Amber proved to be the most popular. Never fear though if you prefer your vampires in the masculine, as you can choose from the suave Bruce, the boyband-esque Luther or the Rugged Erik to name three of the five.
The character cards themselves are landscape cards with a health bar, character picture, some flavor text and the characters' special ability.
A ton of chits is provided for marking scores, health, Invitation responses etc. These are standard square card chits, double sided.
The draw deck contains the same great graphics and, for the main, easy to read text. The cards seemed to be showing some edge wear after only a few plays. Maybe this is the cut of the cards, rather than the cards themselves and any burr will come away after a few more plays.
Some of the text on the Vampire slayer cards is written in red with a picture in the background. A few of the students found this difficult to read, but it is only a couple of the cards.
The board is large and clear with no unnecessary drawings or text to distract from its function.
components 4/5
Was it easy for them to read the Rules?
The rules are well written and we made it through several games only referring to the rules once to check how to handle event cards when everyone has one.
The pictures are clear and a good example of play cleared up any misunderstandings we had initially.
rules 5/5
How easy is it to play?
As most of the players were familiar with Incan Gold they found this game very easy to play. The only concern was using the scoring chart on the main board. The pupils found it difficult to keep track of whose chits were whose and how to move them up the score track when it became more crowded.
The game mechanisms worked very well and all the players felt the tension in the choice between heading for their crypts with their amassed bloodlines, or staying out to face the dawn, vampire slayer, or wrath of a player's event card!
The first few games were played using the "active" chits, but by the third game they had abandoned this in favor of optional rule 5 and simply stated if they were staying active or not.
It would have been easier to have the flavor text and special abilities separate on the player sheets. The students found they had to read the whole thing if they forgot what their abilities were.
ease of play 4/5
What did they like the most?
The art work!
They loved the fact that this is Incan Gold Plus. Everything they liked about the push-your-luck mechanic was still there, only it was better. The daylight always tickling the skin, the threat of a vampire slayer round the next corner, other vampire players using events or powers to weigh you down.
Individual Vampire Powers were a big hit. They took it in turns to be each character to see who could use it the best.
What would they change?
Everyone agreed that a linear scoring chart would have been easier to use and would have sped up the game play.
Chits chits chits! They ended up all over the place. All the students ended up playing the optional rule 5 to avoid using the "active" chits and would have preferred cards for their response to the "invitation" event.
Overall
All the pupils loved playing this and I know I will be getting it out at my own games club at home.
If you love Incan Gold then this is a very good next step. If you don't like Incan Gold then this might be for you instead.
The theme works well, despite the daylight track sometimes moving backwards. There are different types of danger to face whilst gaining bloodlines and the individual player powers really add something to an already great game.
NTH School overall 4.3/5
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