I’ll leave you with a short tip that will make you a better player in the long run and help you have more fun: experiment each time you play. Try different strategies; buy different cards. Sure, it won’t work every time, but you’ll learn the ins and outs of the game a lot faster and you’ll be enjoying a different experience each time you play. What more do you want from a game? The main board represents a dungeon in a cross-section as if the viewer were looking at it from the side. Rooms and paths between them are indicated to show where various loot can be acquired and what paths will require more movement, keys, or fighting to fend off minor monsters. A ground level line divides the map into an upper section and lower section labeled the “Depths”. Players aim to reach a room with an artifact and leave the dungeon from the entrance/exit in the upper left corner of the board. Items available at the dungeon market.

If you’re not putting much Clank! in the bag, you’re less likely to die a painful death. While it might seem unavoidable to play your basic Stumble cards or even Dungeon Row cards that generate Clank!, there are many ways to mitigate its impact. Cards that let you discard from your hand, like Sleight of Hand, are favourites of mind as this means you don’t actually have to play the discarded cards. Some other effects in the game will allow you to trash your Stumbles, while other cards will give you negative Clank!, actually taking it away from the banner (but not the bag). Monster cards will have a red banner on them. You’re going to run into a lot of these bad boys, so make sure you can deal with them. The sword icons will determine your strength and the strength of the monsters. If you’re able to match the strength of the monster by using cards in your hand, you’ll be able to defeat it and you’ll get the reward that’s listed on the card.

Expansions!

The rules are very comprehensive and include full details of how to set the game up for a 5 or 6 player experience. There are not that many differences and you can easily be ready to go in just a few minutes by following the rule book. Note: The official solo version of Clank! uses a mobile app. The rules detailed below have been created by fans of the game. It uses 9 extra cards instead of the mobile app. Included with this expansion is a new minor secret called ‘Potion of Stealth’. When used you remove one of your Clank! cubes from the board and instead add one for each of your opponents. All in all, the components are excellent, especially considering the game’s moderate price point. So, how does the game play out?

Some cards in the Dungeon Row and the Goblin in the reserve can’t be bought. They must be defeated by paying the combat cost in their bottom right corner. When defeated, these monsters are discarded from the Dungeon Row and replaced at the end of the turn. They’ll also give you some kind of bonus – often gold, which we’ll get to later. The single Goblin is always available to be killed, and combat can be used to defeat the monsters that lurk in tunnels, shown by the monster symbol on the board, that will damage you if you can’t beat them off.

Before you can get started with Clank! there’s a bit of set-up that needs to happen. First, you have to choose which map you want to play – if it’s your first time, you should use the more basic game – then you need to lay out all the necessary tiles. This means randomly placing one major secret on each of their spots spot and two minor secrets on each minor spot. You’ll also need to choose and place out the artefact tokens (five for two players, six for three players or all of them for four players). Finally, place the Monkey Idols on their spaces and place all other tokens within easy reach of the board. We may not know of any new Expeditions, but Renegade Game Studios and Dire Wolf Digital have given us a glimpse of what 2019 has in store: Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated. This new expansion will introduce “legacy-style gameplay” to the Clank! system as players progress from amateur dungeon explorers to the leaders of powerful corporations. A large part of the enjoyment in a game like Clank! comes from discovering strategies and ideas for yourself, but there are a few things you can be aware of to make those first games go a bit more smoothly and gain an edge over the competition. Buy movement cards This surprisingly was my first ever ‘ Clank!‘ experience and it was so much fun that we (my wife and I) agreed that we need to find a copy for ourselves post-haste!! So, what did we enjoy so much.

Since the original game, Clank! has seen the release of numerous spin-offs and expansions, from the sci-fi Clank! In! Space to a pair of standalone legacy games set in the world of D&D actual play series Acquisitions Incorporated. You cannot attempt an escape from the dungeon if you haven’t grabbed an artifact and you can only carry one. Make sure it’s worth risking your life for! The goal of Clank! is to get into the dungeon, steal an artefact and as much other treasure as you can get your hands on and get out again before Nictotraxian kills you. Sounds simple enough, right? Here's how it all works. Player TurnsWhile looting the Dragon’s keep, you’ll only be able to escape with 1 artifact, so you better make sure it’s a good one. If you’ve never played Clank! before, my hope is that this article will give you everything you need to jump right in. If you like the game but you’re wondering what expansions to go for next, then you’ll also find the information you need here. What is Clank!? The Basics and Core Mechanics The Clank! mechanic, where some cards generate Clank! cubes, is also very effectively used to balance more powerful card effects. Cards that would otherwise be under-costed, often generate Clank! as a way to offset their greater power. It also adds interesting decisions for players who have to weigh up how many cubes they want to risk going into the dragon bag. I’ve found that different people will naturally be more or less averse to taking these risky cards, which creates a great opportunity for each player to play the game in a way they enjoy. Grab at least one artifact before booking it for the exit. Naturally, the most valuable artifacts are deeper down in the depths. The cards in both versions of the game all have icons representing their value in acquiring other cards, movement and/or combat. The publishers ( Renegade Game Studios) have cheekily retained the same movement and combat icons in Clank! in Space that they used in the original Clank! The rule book may describe the swords as ‘laser swords’ but they look rather more like medieval shortswords than lightsabres.

What else will the Expeditions series bring fans of Clank? We’ll have to wait and see. What’s coming in 2019?The game art is also well done, and because it takes a more thievery approach to the dungeon delving fantasy adventure theme, it stands out. The graphic design is clear and engaging. Overall, it’s friendly and uncomplicated. The map itself only starts as a couple of spaces and is only opened up once a player needs to leave the current tile they are on. That player then chooses a tile at random, first from the purple starter tiles and then from the blue tiles, and places them in any rotation that they would like. Sometimes the placement of the tiles can help you but, at other times they can divert you in ways you would not expect/hope for. These can be a fun way to mess with the other players too without being overly aggressive or upsetting for them. Once you have got your artifact/s you may leave the dungeon at any point and when you do each turn where you would have played your cards then becomes a turn for the dragon to draw Clank instead. So, once one player leaves it becomes more and more chaotic as everyone else tries to escape before they die. If you excape from the dungeon you recieve a plus 20 point token, if you finish on a purple tile when you die you still get to count up your points but, if you die in a blue zone you are dead and finish with 0 points. Final Thoughts