Image Courtesy of <PERSON>
This review continues my series of detailed reviews that attempt to be part review, part resource for anyone not totally familiar with the game. For this reason I expect readers to skip to the sections that are of most interest.
If you liked the review please thumb the top of the article so others have a better chance of seeing it and I know you stopped by. If you thumb the bottom as well, I consider that a bonus. Thanks for reading.
Summary
Game Type – Asymmetric Strategy Game
Play Time: 20-30 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4 (Best with 2)
Mechanics – Variable Player Powers, Tile Placement, Hand Management, Hexagon Grid, Player Elimination
Difficulty – Moderate (Takes a bit of time to learn and several plays to become proficient)
Components – Good
Artist – Too many (see game page)
Release – 2006
Designer – <PERSON> -( Cry Havoc, The Edge: Dawnfall, Etherfields, Monolith Arena, Theseus: The Dark Orbit)
Overview and Theme
[Engage foreboding, deep, male voice narration]...
'In the future, the world is not what it once was. A great war between humans and machines tore the planet asunder and in a post-apocalyptic age humans hide amongst the ruins of once great cities, foraging for scraps, scant resources and food. Killing Machines patrol the cities and are sent forth from the north by the cybernetic entity known as <PERSON>. The killing machines knows as Termin seek out a charismatic leader in the form of <PERSON>, who leads a group of mutants in the wastelands that surround the cities...'
Hey what is going on here?
Ok so the background for Neuroshima Hex (NH) does sound a bit like the source material for Terminator mixed with Mad Max, but it doesn't make it any less cool.
In essence NH is about four factions that are at war with one another. 299
MOLOCH is just happy to destroy all non-machine life whilst the other three are seeking to survive and carve out their own existence. The two factions I have not mentioned consist of the Outpost, a highly organised army that seeks to take the fight to MOLOCH and the Hegemony, which represent human settlements that no longer care about the greater fight, lest it knock on their door.
What sets Neuroshima Hex apart from the majority of games on the market is that it plays more like an abstract design and the factions are asymmetrical in nature, meaning that each one has its own strengths and play style. Add into the mix that the players will acquire their units and other assets randomly via tile-draws and we have a unique bird on our hands.
It is also loved by thousands of fans the world over and this review is well overdue. Having introduced it to my 17 year-old lad just recently (who fell in love with it), I figured it was time to shine a light on this one again.
For the record, Oraczand released a re-implementation of NH in the form of Monolith Arenain 2018. I will touch on this game briefly towards the end of this review.
Grab me that steel net will you...I have some snaring to take care of!
The Components
There are many reasons as to why I heap praise on the game in the body of my review, but the production is not necessarily one of them. By all means the game has much greater quality today compared to the first edition, but it's not all perfect either.
One thing I do like about the production of the game, through the various editions, is that the game can be played with any mix of them.
For the record, this review and images used are from the 2.0 edition released around 2007/2008. The box cover art used above is from my edition but I have used the 3.0 Box Front at the end of this review also.
Board – The board is a hex-based affair and artwork in the background depicts a war-torn city-scape of sorts, which brings out the post-apocalyptic theme of the game.
What really matters are the 19 central hexes, which are used by most players. These are defined with a black border but I sometimes find the artwork and use of colours a little distracting.
The board is much larger than those 19 hexes however and that is to allow for some of the solo challenges to be played (they come standard in 3.0) and also some alternate modes of play\fan-based creations.
Surrounding the board is a HQ Damage Track, which allowed the '07-08' edition to do away with the dials that were created in the 1st edition. 581