Thunderstone (Base Set) Card Game Review

Fans of deck building games will already be familiar with how Thunderstone plays. As will fans of Dungeon crawlers. There have been many deck building games since Dominion, and while I can't speak for all of them, Thunderstone kicks it's butt by a mile. An RPG where I can buy gear and level my heroes up in the village OR go to the Dungeon and fight monsters? Sign me up. It beats those games where all you can do is buy items in order to buy other items, to do things that allow you to buy still more items. I want combat, I want theme and plot. I want an epic battle. Thunderstone delivers!



The artwork is amazing and after playing several games, you really appreciate how beautifully designed this game is. All of the cards work extremely well together and every game is different thanks randomizer cards used to set up the game.

On your turn you can do 1 of 3 actions: Go to the village and buy items like heroes, weapons, spells etc., rest which means destroying a card from the game for good or go to the dungeon and fight monsters for victory points. Whoever has the most victory points at the end of the game wins. You start with 6 militia, 2 daggers, 2 iron rations and 2 torches.

Some monsters will give you a disease when fighting them, which weakens an attack when it shows up in your deck. Others will kill one of your heroes outright during battles etc. When you defeat a monster you gain XP, which can be used to level up your heroes and make them stronger with better abilities.

The base set gives you 11 heroes, 8 monster types, and 19 village cards. Every game is unique. How you build your deck in comparison to what cards are available will determine how well you do. Think of the militia like the red shirts from Star Trek. These guys are weak and expendable. You will want to purchase or upgrade your other heros and treat these guys like the cannon fodder they are.

The replay value is high thanks to the random setup of each game. This is one that you will take out and play daily. Once you get the expansions, you will play it all the time. I bought this game in December. It is now March and we have played it nearly every night in between.

Players: 1-5
Playing Time: About 60 minutes
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