Asmodee – Abyss – Game of Strategy.

Product Information

If nobody wants to buy an Ally, you either add it to your hand and end your turn, or reveal the next card and sell it, and so on. One of the great things I like about Abyss is the interesting dynamic between the interactions of all the components. The main action you will be taking will be exploring for the ally cards. Eventually you will get enough of these allies to buy a Lord card, which is what you really want. The Lords in turn, will help you out for a while until you acquire enough keys to control a location. So that is almost an engine building (but not quite) aspect to the game. When you finally get a location, you will lose the special abilities of any Lords you used to capture it.

Abyss - The Board Game (Bombyx) - Noble Knight Games Abyss - The Board Game (Bombyx) - Noble Knight Games

In my opinion, the rulebook would have been stronger if the “clarifying” section hit on each Lord and Location instead of just a handful. I can understand how different players might interpret some of these cards differently and we should never have to go to an auxiliary source to get accurate information. This aside, the rest of the rules are laid out perfectly and there are plenty of detailed pictures to help walk the user through the varying actions one might take.

The Location cards have some fun and interesting powers as well as additional end game scoring opportunities. They are nothing groundbreaking but they offer another means of scoring and a focus. Randomly determine the first player of Abyss. You can do this in any way you like, some of the ways that are commonly used to decide who goes first is by a simple dice roll, however, some people like to go all out and do it based off of something more personal. A simple google search can give you some creative ideas. I ended up really enjoying Abyss and seemed to constantly wanting to give it another play. I know 5 Tribes was Bruno Cathala’s hit game to come out of Gen Con 2014, but I think Abyss shouldn’t be overlooked. It ended up being a really clever card game with a good mix of interaction between players and mechanics. At its heart it may just be a simple set collection game, but there is a surprising amount of depth in this medium weight game. Keep collections to yourself or inspire other shoppers! Keep in mind that anyone can view public collections - they may also appear in recommendations and other places.

Abyss Review - Board Game Breakdown Abyss Review - Board Game Breakdown

The second expansion is Leviathan: Abyss which adds some direction to how the monsters are fought. In the base game, you just fight the monster and always win, but in this expansion, there is abit more about the fighting aspects. This introduces a lot more strategy to the gameplay in my humble opinion. Next, a player will add the collected Lords to their Senate Chamber. The Senate Chamber will be created as an inverted pyramid, with five cards at the top, four cards under that and so on. Lords must be placed from left to right, top to bottom. If you add a Lord that you do not have the colour of already present in your Senate Chamber, then you take a coat of arms token and place it on the newly laid Lord. If the colour of the Lord is already present the coat of arms token is moved to the Lord with the most influence points. The Coat of Arms token (one for each colour) must always be on the most influential Lord. Master Of The Locations Once a player recruits their seventh lord (or the court runs out of lords), the game draws to a close, and the player with the most influence wins. On The CardsPlot at the court – If there is space at the court (fewer than six lords there), players may, if they choose, pay pearls to lure new lords to the court, giving them more choice of lords to recruit. The Leviathan Expansion builds on the amazing gameplay of Abyss and adds a few new elements into the game. Abyss is set in an underwater city where you and your fellow players are vying for control in a game of underwater politics. You will use all of your cunning and wits to buy and win votes in the council. You will need to recruit the most influential Lords to utilise their powers and take control of territories. Allies, Lords and Monsters

Abyss | Board Games | Next Day Delivery | Zatu Games UK Abyss | Board Games | Next Day Delivery | Zatu Games UK

Abyss is a game about undersea politics (yes, that's a thing) where two to four players compete to have the most influence, by affiliating allies, defeating monsters, lobbying the council, recruiting lords, and controlling locations. ComponentsTo become the new King of the Abyss, you have to acquire the most influence points (victory points). Influence points are gained in a variety of ways from allies, lords, and locations. You can also earn influence points by slaying the great monsters that patrol the depths. If you draw a monster card, you can fight it (ending your turn) or discard it and keep drawing. Any cards not chosen are placed in their appropriate pile in the council chamber spot on the game board. When you have finished your mandatory actions, your turn ends and the next player to your left goes. The game ends when either any player has either recruited their 7th Lord or the Lord court needs to be refilled but can’t. At this point, the active player finishes their turn, each other player gets one last turn, and everyone counts up their influence points. The player with the most wins. Any cards you pass over while exploring get added to their council pile, this could leave your opponents with a great opportunity. P.S.: If anyone has an experience with the expansions for this game, I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments!