A (Very) First Impression of Thunderstone Advance: Numenera
I picked up this edition of Thunderstone Advance at GenCon Indy 2013, on Friday. There was a fairly large stack of them still available as of Friday afternoon. I got home, tore open the shrinkwrap, and organized the cards.
My background:
I played Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin quite avidly when it first came out. In fact, I have a detailed analysis, and a FAQ of all rules questions up to a certain point in time for that game, which can be found on these forums. I bought each expansion, and at some point the game lost favor and it was no longer a go-to game for my regular gaming sessions. I am also experienced with somewhat similar games, such as Legendary, and of deck-builders in general.
First Impressions:
This is a big game! The box is heavy and full of cards (602 total--45 of which are randomizers).
The rulebook is thick (40 pages) and thorough. In fact, if you had no idea Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin existed, you would not be handicapped in any way. I don't believe the rulebook even mentions the earlier Thunderstone Advance games, although the box does say they can be mixed together. Unfortunately, my rule book was smashed inside the box and creased a bit.
The cards are bright and colorful, much like the printings of Caverns of Bane and Root of Corruption rather than ToR. There is some variation in ink saturation within each type of card group but it is not detracting. The art is attractive, and the theme makes for some interesting imagery. This is just a sample of the types of cards in this set:
The board is much more interesting with better art and colors. It appears to be functionally similar to the original board.
There are 81 Basic cards, 156 Hero Cards (12 of each hero), 103 Monster cards (10 of each plus 3 Thunderstone Bearers), 176 Village Cards (8 each, except for Unstable Crystals with 16), 6 Treasure Cards, 20 Disease Cards (called Iron Wind), and 10 Thunderstone Shards. 386
Wow!
The Basic Cards are reproduced in this version with the recent color saturation; they are exactly the same otherwise. I will certainly substitute them in for all Thunderstone: Advance games from now on.
The game comes with a bag to hold the XP tokens:
The XP tokens are now color-coded, and contained within the bag. Gain a token--draw randomly from the bag. Spend a token--put it back in the bag. They are now also known as Cyphers. You can use one cypher per turn, in the Village or Dungeon. They have the following effects:
Blue--Draw 1 Card
Gray--Destroy 1 card
Green--Add Magic Attack +1
Orange--Gain 2 gold
Red--Add Physical Attack +1
Yellow--Add Light +1
I think this is of great benefit; we often had many extra XP tokens left at the end of the game that otherwise provided nothing of value.
The Settings cards are oversized cards with pictures of Numenera locales:
They are not mandatory, but before a game the players can agree to use one. A 20-sided die is provided to roll at predetermined times, and the text on the cards give instructions that can significantly alter the game.
Two sets of mark tokens are also included, in five colors each:
These tokens work with the Rugged and <PERSON> heroes, who have abilities that mark monsters in the Dungeon. If either the <PERSON> of Rugged hero is in play, at the start of the game, each player chooses a color that represents their mark. One example would be to mark a monster in a hall with a Rugged token of your color, and if an opponent defeats that monster, you also gain 1 XP.
The heroes in this set are named in a more systematic manner, to better convey what to expect as you level them up. We have Strong, Clever, Intelligent, Learned, Rugged, Stealthy, and Swift, with more descriptive names on the level 2 and 3 varieties of each.
Overall, I am very excited to play this set. It is not so much an expansion, but a new (yet familiar) Thunderstone Advance experience. Most of the cards operate very similarly to the other sets, and there seems to be no reason at all that you can't simply mix them with the earlier Thunderstone:Advance cards.
If you have a chance to pick this up, I don't think you will be disappointed! 755