This week at the shop we added Guardians to our play shelves. This cyberpunk hero themed card game is for 2 or 4 players, and is a great introduction to card management and more complex deck building mechanics. Guardians is easy to learn, quick to set up, and has an expected playtime of under an hour. Come into Level One to check it out over the weekend while visiting the River Market!

The goal of the game is to score 9 victory points, the first player or team to do so immediately ends the game and wins. Players begin by drafting their heroes back and forth, which each come with their own set of cards  that will comprise your deck, along with a set of basic cards. Fight for control at different locations, using cards, actions, and fighting your opponent’s heroes. Players will take the side of either the Loyalists or the Vengers. These teams have the same functions, so they simply exist for flavor.

Begin the game by shuffling your deck and drawing five cards. Players have the option of one mulligan, but the second hand must be kept. Each turn is broken into five phases. Start with the control phase and move the control token if you have a readied hero where your opponent does not. After this is done, move into the Ready Phase where you can ready all of your controlled and exhausted heroes. After your heroes are ready, move into the Action Phase. Players may perform up to three actions including attacking, moving, drawing a card, or use the action of a card, location, or ability. There are additional abilities called exhaust abilities. These are considered free actions, but can only be performed during this phase and cannot be used as an interrupt on another player’s turn. Next in the Score Phase, add points for each location where the control token is on your faction space. Check and resolve any scoring effects at each location, and deal out a new location in place of ones that were scored. Remember that if you score 9 points, the game immediately ends and you win the game! Finish your turn in the draw phase. Simply draw a card and discard down to 8, this is the only phase where your hand limit is checked.

Guardians is simple to learn and quick to play. It is great if you are looking for a team based game or another two player game to your collection. There aren’t many components to the game, so setting up and tearing down the game doesn’t take much time. Expect a game to last about 45 minutes to an hour, and can only be played with either 2 or 4 players. We will have this game on our play shelf, if you are interested in coming by and checking it out!

Next week we are playing Legendary Forests, a new release from IELLO. In this light strategy game, you will place tiles to create your personal planet and try to make it the most beautiful! This relaxing game will be easy to learn and quick to play, we hope to see you there next Tuesday!