Sands of Time Catacombs

Let me get this out of the way first, just received this and it is actually the third edition. Like the other reviewer I had seen Catacombs on Shut Up & Sit Down but it wasn't till they did the Let's Play that I was sold.Of course in the grand tradition of boardgames once those guys talk about a game you can't buy it for love or money. After cross referencing with Dice Tower I was hit with a wave of consternation upon learning that there exists multiple editions and Third is the superior of them. Needless to say I about hit the ceiling when I got home and found that beautiful box art staring up at me from the brown cardboard.Maybe I'll post an actual review of the game after playing...

Catacombs is an innovative twist on traditional dungeon crawling board games that is as unique as it is fun and exciting. The game pieces are wooden disks of various sizes and colors representing Heros, Monsters, and Spells which the players control by flicking across the board like paper football or shuffleboard, dealing damage to the enemies they collide with. This skill based gameplay keeps the game exciting since you never get bogged down in stats and dice. Game play consists of a sequence of rooms where the four heros battle monsters controlled by a 5th player known as the overseer, earning magic items along the way until they reach the final conflict against one of the Catacomb Lords. Each character class has different abilities, like the Elf's Arrows, Wizard's spell book, and the Barbarian's rage ability, which all work well in the context of flick based physical board game. It's a really different board game that is completely fun!

So, I heard about this game from "Shut Up and Sit Down". They are funny as hell, and basically make me want to play every game they talk about.As far as this game goes: Amazing. Fun.The rulebook is a little confusing. It took a couple of times to understand all the little bits. If you are the one running the board, and controlling the monsters, a fair bit of advice would be to sit down and get a fairly good grasp of the rules before you ask your friends to play.I think you can say that about any board game.Please buy this game. It really is a lot of fun. And online, you can find some variant classes, and there are expansions with more monsters. And more classes. And more boards. I'm not sure about that last one. Umm. Bye?

Catacombs is an odd blend of dexterity and dungeon crawl games. There are a variety of token sizes (depending on monsters and characters) that you will flick across the board to damage enemy tokens. It ends up being a lot more fun than it sounds like initially. I highly recommend the Caverns of Soloth expansion to add more characters and give the players some options. The other two expansions are nice, but don't add as much. I wish there was an expansion that added more board layouts, though.

I play a lot of board, card and video games. It's refreshing to see a game that requires physical skill and strategy. I'm in my forties and I game with people of similar ages. We all enjoy Catacombs. We tend to take longer playing than most though, but I think it's because we discuss strategy more.