Toy Battle Board Game Review: A Solid Strategy Game for Two Players

Toy Battle comes successful a compact container designed to lucifer a locking metallic toybox, adding a playful interaction close from the start. Inside, you'll find a abbreviated acquisition manual (with a QR codification for a video overview), a subordinate assistance sheet, and respective heavy punchboards containing each of the unit tiles. There isn’t overmuch to punch retired – conscionable 48 full troops (24 bluish and 24 red), with 3 copies each of the 8 unsocial artifact units you'll power during the game.

Two high-quality woody stands are included to support your troops upright, organized, and hidden from your hostile during play. A tiny brownish container holds 16 medal markers utilized for scoring, and you’ll besides find 2 simple-to-assemble retention boxes (one blue, 1 red) that assistance support your troops separated and unafraid erstwhile the crippled is packed away.

Beneath everything are 4 double-sided crippled boards, each featuring a chiseled terrain for a full of 8 themed battlefields. These scope from castles and cities supra the clouds to volcanic jungles, cemeteries, and abstraction stations. But they’re much than conscionable cosmetic changes; each committee has a unsocial layout and peculiar bases that tin beryllium activated to trigger game-altering effects. Every quadrate inch of the game's container is utilized efficiently, with everything fitting snugly backmost wrong erstwhile playtime’s over.

Rules and How It Plays

The extremity successful Toy Battle is to beryllium the archetypal subordinate to either conquer your opponent's office oregon cod the required fig of medals by controlling terrain. To execute this, players instrumentality turns placing troops onto the battlefield, starting adjacent their ain office and advancing on connected paths until 1 of the triumph conditions is met.

To begin, players prime 1 of the 8 terrain maps. For your archetypal game, the rules urge playing connected the Castle Field representation arsenic it features a symmetrical layout and straightforward peculiar basal effect. One subordinate takes power of the bluish troops, portion the different commands the red. Medal markers are distributed based connected icons shown connected the map, and each subordinate shuffles their troops into facedown stacks. The starting subordinate draws 3 troops and places them connected their rack, portion the 2nd subordinate draws four.

Players execute 1 of 2 actions connected their turn: either gully 2 troops from their reserve oregon spot a azygous unit connected the terrain. Drawing troops gives you much options to enactment with, but it besides gives your hostile a accidental to beforehand toward victory. When placing troops, you tin assertion an bare basal connected the committee oregon screen 1 of your opponent’s troops if your unit’s powerfulness is higher. Balancing the request to support unit with the request to support your rack afloat is 1 of the halfway strategical dilemmas successful Toy Battle.

Each unit has a powerfulness level from 1 to 7 and a unsocial effect that activates erstwhile played. For example, Skully, the 1-power unit, doesn’t connection overmuch earthy spot but lets you gully 2 further troops, making it a invaluable early-game play.

Other troops see Cap'n, the 2-power portion that allows you to play an other unit during your turn; Jumbo, the 3-power portion that lets you discard 1 of your opponent’s adjacent troops; Hook, the 4-power portion that tin beryllium placed onto immoderate basal connected the committee to get down force lines oregon disrupt your opponent's plans; XB-42, the 5-power portion that allows you to randomly discard a unit from your opponent's rack; and Star, the 6-power portion that lets you gully a unit from your reserve portion putting a beardown assemblage connected the board.

Roxy, the 7-cost unit, doesn't person immoderate effect, but is the strongest modular unit successful the game. Then there's Kwak, the joker portion that tin beryllium played connected apical of immoderate unit but tin besides beryllium covered by immoderate other, making it some flexible and vulnerable.

While the troops are designed to lucifer acquainted children’s toys similar greenish service men, dragons, and robots, I ne'er truly felt similar I was waging an epic artifact container war. Most of their abilities didn’t consciousness thematically appropriate, and they often came crossed much similar generic meeples than chiseled characters with charm.

There are 3 copies of each unit successful a player’s stack, but 4 are removed astatine random earlier the crippled begins. This adds spot of randomness and a furniture of uncertainty that carries passim the crippled arsenic you effort to deduce what you and your hostile mightiness inactive person successful reserve. Anticipating and playing astir imaginable moves becomes a important accomplishment successful Toy Battle, creating changeless micro-decisions that yet signifier the result of the match.

Another cardinal constituent to see is the terrain you and your hostile are playing on. Each of the 8 maps offers a unsocial layout, with aggregate paths starring to your opponent’s headquarters, akin to a MOBA. Bases on these paths service arsenic spaces wherever troops tin beryllium deployed, and with lone astir 5 betwixt headquarters, you'll beryllium warring for power astir immediately.

Most maps besides diagnostic peculiar bases that trigger unsocial effects, similar returning a unit to your rack, drafting from your reserve, oregon reclaiming a discarded unit. These hotly contested spaces tin plaything the momentum of a lucifer if utilized wisely. Some boards present assortment successful different ways, specified arsenic an asymmetrical layout with an other office for 1 subordinate to defend, oregon a cardinal portion that nullifies each unit effects. These twists unit you to rethink your attack and support each lucifer feeling distinct.

As mentioned earlier, reaching your opponent’s office isn’t the lone mode to win. Each representation has medal tokens scattered crossed some sides, appearing arsenic azygous medals oregon grouped successful twos oregon threes. If your troops power each basal surrounding a medal oregon medal group, you assertion it. Be the archetypal to cod the required fig for that terrain, and you win. This alternate triumph information makes for tense moments and forces you to set your strategy connected the alert depending connected the authorities of the board.

While Toy Battle doesn’t connection the layered complexity recovered successful immoderate different battlers and whitethorn not entreaty to players seeking deeper strategy, its speedy setup and lightning-fast matches marque it a amusive summation to immoderate collection. It’s approachable for each ages, tin beryllium taught successful minutes, and perfect for families oregon younger players. With astir games wrapping up successful astir 10 minutes, it’s casual to play a fewer rounds and locomotion distant feeling satisfied without committing your full afternoon.

Where to Buy Toy Battle

• Get it astatine Amazon
• Get it astatine Walmart
• Get it astatine Asmodee

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