The coolest best thing I have ever done in my life is being a father
Caleb, the best 6 month old little brother ever
Orangemoose wrote:
This game is not for me, but I do enjoy your honesty and enthusiasm. Keep 'em coming
Totally fair. I think one of the reasons I dig this game is BECAUSE I wasn't a big Magic player. It would be impossible to say that the game wasn't at least a little inspired by the ccg game, but since I was coming into it new (plus the fact that it uses some elements of a game I love) Elemental Clash grew on me with each successive play.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, and thanks for the kind words.
Thanks a million for your awesome review and for taking the time to do it! I liked it a lot. Expected far more criticism
A few clarifications (Don't wanna be nit picky but I guess our valued viewers would like to know...):
Two minor rules issues:
- You get one free redraw (new hand of 7 cards). Then if you want another redraw you have to go down to 6 and so forth...
- You cannot choose to attack creatures in the opponent's DEF Zone directly. Their owner chooses whether to block or not.
- Yes I did the artwork myself
- It does say on the box that it is a 2 player game. You could however try it with up to 4 people if you got the FAT Pack!
- I did not borrow that stacking mechanic from Call of Cthulhu LCG. The basic concept of Elemental Clash was laid down way back in 2006 before Call of Cthulhu LCG hit the shelves (or before I was aware of it)...
Having said all that I want to thank Undeadviking again for the brilliant review! Glad you liked it Lance!
Please know that Elemental Clash will be in distribution by April if everything works out as intended. That means it will be on the shelves of your FLGS soon...
Great, light card game. I used to play magic (casually) and yes pokemon, so this similar style (creatures, spells, conflict) as an LCG as opposed to a paycheck stealing CCG, is great. And the price is very affordable.
Excellent tutorial and review on what I consider an underrated game...you hit the nail on the head when you said it's "Fun"...easy to teach with more depth than you would think.
I plan on getting the "Fat Pack" as well.
I'm like you in that I also never liked MTG but I do like this.
I agree that Andi is truly passionate about his game and a very nice fellow to boot.
Thanks Lance, A nice overview. I had not heard of this game. It looks enjoyable.
I think the challenge is there are LOTS of great card games out now that share similar mechanics with the LCG style of play and collecting. There are also some fantastic deck building games, which while different, still compete in the similar space.
Also, being restricted to two players is a challenge for lots of people like myself who belong to a large gaming group. My two player experience is usually with my son or wife and I can see them taking the view your wife did of the game.
Anyway, not a bad looking game but I am not sure how high on my list it might get.
How many more cards do you get it the fat pack over the started set?
The coolest best thing I have ever done in my life is being a father
Caleb, the best 6 month old little brother ever
Thanks for all the kind compliments..and thanks to Andi for the rules corrections.
You never played Call of Cthulhu? Really? You are missing out, though I am sure you are just a little bit slanted towards your own creation.
Pretty neat that you came up with the same sort of resource stack idea though - and please don't take that as a backwards sly way of saying you stole it.
I won't take that the wrong way Lance! Thanks for pointing that out to me!
I should play Call of Cthulhu LCG I know... You see the problem for me is that I am suffering from a constant lack of players. I consider myself lucky if I manage to round up another guy to play 2 player M:tG, Dominion, EC or some other game of my devising once a week...
Thank you very much Lance! Perfect example of a review that fires on all cylinders. It introduced me to a game I had never heard of before and got me interested enough that I am going to seek out and purchase the item I love the gameplay and art. Really looking forward to gettting this one in the home and playing it with others Thanks again Lance!
To the deveoloper: Thanks for seeking out a review from Lance and giving all of us a chance to find out about your game I'm SOLD!
Great review, Lance. I've seen this game before (I think, on gamecrafter, where my first game is) and never got a real feel for what it was about. Your review answered quite a few questions about the game.
I much prefer the LCG style of card game as well. I've got a fairly big pile of CoC cards myself.
And way to go Andy on the massive amounts of art you had to create.
Well if I am concerned I'd love to send you guys a free review copy of the game. Problem is that we already sent out so many of them and I really don't know if my publisher will agree to send out even more free copies. Will ask them about it...
If anyone wants to try Elemental Clash we can do so online via the VASSAL gaming engine! Just geekmail me if you are interested. Would love to play a game or two with you!
No more confusing me for tickmanfan. I swear I got more thumbs when I was him!
The $wingin' Utter$ are a kickass punk band from California. Look em up.
You know...I was really prepared to hate this game. So much so that when Andreas hit me up to take a look at it, I was like "yeah, sure! I'll get right on that!"
I've played a TON of card games, be they Collectable, Customizable, Living, Dead, Undead...you get the point. What I look for in a game isn't so much theme or how simple or complex it is. I want different...unique, mechanics that we haven't seen before. Something that makes you say "Neat!" Obviously, given the dearth of collectible or customizable card games at the time of it's release, Magic: The Gathering is King of the Hill. There have been numerous games released since, but most are just the "flavour of the week/month/whatever". Most come and go. A select few stay. Usually not because of some hot theme, but because the mechanics supply something enjoyable and addictive that the competition doesn't. Think Jyhad/V:TES, Legend of the Five Rings, or Doomtown (If you force me to, I'll even acknowledge YuGiOh). All had very respectable runs in the industry. There are others that were great and unique, but either the company would run out of the cash to keep promoting it, or WotC would buy the game and run it into the ground. Examples of games that lasted shorter than they should have include: Shadowrun, Mythos, Middle Earth, Netrunner, Battletech, and much more.
Now, I'm sure many of you are wondering, "why the long build-up?" Well, one of my favorite things in a card game is when they tie your "life" or whatever you want to call it, to your ability to bring things into the game and compete.
Jyhad/V:TES does this with a "Blood Pool" that is both your life points and your currency for bring out Vampires and other cool stuff.
Legend of the Five Rings has the players bringing out personalities and other "Permanants" through 4 "Provinces" that have a "Strength" and are attacked by other players. Destroy a Province and that player now can only deal out, reveal, buy and bring into play from a selection of 3 cards instead of 4. Lose a second Province and your deck is now less than half as efficient as it should be.
Battletech had players attacking and defending each others' "Stockpiles" aka your deck of cards with giant robots called Battlemechs. There weren't spells you could cast, but there were other cards that you could play that represented fancy manoeuvers and acts of subterfuge that would take place in this alternate-future Sci-Fi game based on the Battletech miniature-based wargame. The Command:Resource cards worked much like the mana-generating lands in Magic. You played the resource cards and since it was designed by Richard Garfield, players would tap the resources to pay the costs for the 'Mechs, then deploy them.
Elemental Clash is a living card game that I would compare favorably to each of the 3 previously mentioned games. As of right now, there just isn't the complexity and depth that V:TES and L5R achieved through a multitude of cards released, but that's alright too. I don't mind customizing decks, but ultimately, more than half of the fun of a card game has to come from the actual gameplay and not from deck building. That tension is all too familiar though. I enjoyed Battletech immensely, and lamented its untimely demise. As every attack that got through your defenses whittled away at your supply of cards, you'd feel that pressure to start working your opponent over, lest you cede all momentum and the game to your opponent. Every time you lose and lose cards off the top of your deck, it could be the crucial cards you were banking on drawing soon to swing the game in your favor. You might make the arbitrary gamble to "let this attack go through...I can afford a few cards lost" only to see both copies of the lynchpin card to some grande scheme or combo be lost to the abyss. Nothing much you can do but sigh, suck it up, and go out shootin'. Make him earn it! It's the same exact feeling in Elemental Clash! I love the mental anguish that comes from trying to figure out whether or not to assign a creature to attack or defend. It's that delicate balance between playing as efficient, lean and mean as possible, and good ol' luck of the draw. Just as how your best laid plans can be torn asunder by a lucky draw from you opponent, you can appear to be on the ropes a few turns later and draw just what you need to put a monkey wrench into their plans.
So, even though the amount of actual time I spent mentioning Elemental Clash was small by comparison, I do so to lay the foundation for why I like it. I LOVE the fact that it's cheap relative to a Magic or any other CCG collection. It's easy to teach and to play, yet it provides some of the same fun and tension I enjoyed out of several CCG's of times long since past! I loved playing using some friends cards so much, I'm getting some cards of my own, and so should you!
Edit: You know, true reviews were never my thing, but maybe I ought to think about filming some commentary for a video blog of sorts if I'm going to be this verbose. Less risk of finger cramps and carpal tunnel!
No more confusing me for tickmanfan. I swear I got more thumbs when I was him!
The $wingin' Utter$ are a kickass punk band from California. Look em up.
I'm tired and lazy right now, so I'm not going to post an actual link, but Google or look up Captain Planet on wikipedia or something.
It is pretty much an American television and Pop Culture phenomenon, but long story short, there were 5 kids that represented specific elements, one of which was curiously given the "Heart" element. They would call Captain Planet to the rescue of some environmental terrorist activities through shouting the elements in a specific order and holding out their fists which were adorned with elemental rings.
One of the first things that popped into my head when first exposed to the Elemental nature of your game was sadly Captain Planet. It was supposed to be a cartoon that was "good" for kids to watch with a positive message, but it was pretty silly at best. The voice of Captain Planet was notably played by Tom Cruise for the first several episodes before they went with a professional voice actor who I'm sure commanded a much cheaper salary.
*
*Another American Pop Culture reference. There were these little segments that aired immediately after kids cartoons that were informative and educational in some way shape or form and they finished each segment with the above image, which was animated, which implied the more you know, the better off you are or something. Just more nostalgia for Americans. Sorry to hijack things! I'm smack dab in the middle of that silly sleep-deprived state I tend to settle into when I've been up all night either reading or on the internet.
Oh we had Captain Planet in austrian / german television ("Kaptain Erde")when I was a kid. Didn't get your joke at first as I barely remember the cartoon
It's fun, it's healthy, it's good exercise. The kids will just love it. And we put a little sand inside to make the experience more pleasant.
You know, they say there was a man who jumped from the forty-FIFTH floor? But that's another story...
jilocasin wrote:
Oh we had Captain Planet in austrian / german television ("Kaptain Erde")when I was a kid. Didn't get your joke at first as I barely remember the cartoon
I'll never forget the Captain's incredibly bad puns...
Posted Fri Mar 4, 2011 2:07 pm
