The Reckoners review

 It all started with a book series. Reckoners ("Avengers") is a trilogy by the American writer Brandon Sanderson: "Heart of Steel" (2013), "Avenger of Fire" (2015) and "Star of Scourge" (2016) plus the story "Mitosis". Sanderson did an interesting twist on the superhero template, turning them from humanity's saviors into humanity's worst nightmare.

 The action takes place in the near future in Newcago, ten years after the appearance of a comet that turned many ordinary people into superheroes... or rather, superhumans - because superheroes only have special abilities. The strongest of the superhumans have divided the world among themselves, and ordinary people do not dare to challenge their tyranny. The so-called epics gave free rein to their baser instincts. Newkago maintains some semblance of order as it is ruled by one of the strongest epics in the world: Iron Heart. He has invulnerability and doesn't seem to have any weaknesses. He rules the city with an iron fist. No one dares to oppose him, except for a handful of rebels - avengers. The Avengers are a small group of people who secretly study the weak points of the epics. Obsessed with hatred for epics in general and Steel Heart in particular, David Charleston dreams of revenge for his father's murder. Armed only with bravery and one of the world's most closely guarded secrets, he tries to join the ranks of the Avengers. And together they try to achieve justice...

 So, the Reckoners deck takes place during the first book. David joined the Avengers, and together they fight Steelheart and his henchmen. Here you can play as David, Megan, Abraham, Tia, Cody or Prof. Each character has its own ability and its own set of custom dice: three special (corresponding to the color of the character) and three standard. The difference between special and standard dice is the ratio of the different symbols on the faces. For example, Abraham prefers to openly attack epics, Tia - to do research, etc. Armed with dice, you go on a mission to save Newcago.

 There is no single field. It consists of tablets of the city's districts, which mark the characteristics of its guardian epic (HP, number of research points needed to find its weakness, etc.). And there is not much space for miniatures of those who are in the area. In total, there are as many as thirty different epics in the game. The steel heart has a separate tablet and unique abilities (more on that later).

 After the layout, the course of the heroes begins. There is no strict order, everyone can act when they want - at least after each action of a comrade. However, it is worth noting that the game is hardcore. It is necessary to carefully cooperate with comrades, a mistake can become fatal.

 The mechanics tied to the cubes are quite simple. You can roll your dice pool up to three times, after each roll one of the dice is blocked; it is no longer possible to throw it over. When all cubes are blocked, the actions that fell on them are played. As already mentioned, there is no turn order, so players must negotiate to play out chains of actions as efficiently as possible. From the outside, such a system may seem strange, but it is completely thought out.

 With rare exceptions, the player can do something only in the area where he is. Possible actions include:

• earning money (a dollar for each matching symbol);
• activation of abilities or items (effects are indicated on the cards);
• research (each symbol accelerates finding the epic's weakness);
• henchman attack (each symbol - minus one policeman);
• attack of epics (each symbol damages an epic);
• weakening of epics (each symbol reduces the power of the epic by one: shift to the left of the power track on the tablet);
• developing abilities (each symbol will give one talent for the next turn; these are wildcards that can be applied as any symbol).

 In addition to basic actions, you can sacrifice a die to affect nearby areas where you are not:

• destroy the established barricade (they do not allow entering or leaving the area);
• move to a neighboring district.

 As in the book, all epics have their own superpowers. Some are even invulnerable... until you find their weakness. Every epic has a weak spot. The action of research allows you to advance along the appropriate track; when you reach the end, the epic will become vulnerable. The choice is yours - to quickly "saw" the track (it's faster, but more dangerous and sometimes useless) or to operate in "observation" mode (slower, but more effective). Every decision is important. Thus, each player has six actions per turn (sometimes more, sometimes less). How to maximize their effectiveness is up to you.

 But manipulating the results of the dice is not the only difficulty in the game. Newcago is dangerous. You will have to pay for everything, and sometimes a very expensive price.

 After the end of the course of players, you can get useful bonuses. Killing epics isn't just about letting off steam and showing off your power. Each dead epic is usually valuable information about the Heart of Steel, that is, progress along the research track of its weakness (more on this later). Also, in this phase, you can spend a small amount of money to buy items and other necessities. Then comes the course of epics.

 At the beginning of the epic turn, Steelheart checks to see if each district has its own "guardian angel". If someone is killed, they are replaced by new random epics from the reserve - each of them has a small strength indicator at the start. Then all epics are activated and in order, starting with the one in the same area as the Steel Heart, apply their abilities from left to right. Some help the Steelheart by strengthening his abilities, others call for police reinforcements, others are treated... After its activation, the epic becomes stronger: the power track moves to the right by one (or more, if there are policemen nearby). The stronger the epic, the more damage it will do if left alone. There are always epics on the field equal to the number of players plus one, so it is impossible to deal with all of them. It is necessary to act optimally and deal with the most dangerous ones, not forgetting about other things.

 After the servants' turn comes the turn of their leader. The steel heart plays a special role in the game; he is at the epicenter of what is happening. Has a separate tablet. And he is invulnerable. This is a harsh reality – at least in the early game for sure. Then, as you investigate, you discover that there is a vulnerability in his defenses. In the game, this is represented by the research track on the steel heart tablet. Of course, it is much more important than the research tracks of other epics, and it is desirable to collect information about it in the first place. The more time passes, the more dangerous the Heart of Steel will become. You can dig for information about him in two ways: by using research symbols or by killing epics. Once his secret is revealed, you can try to kill him. His HP depends on the number of players.

 However, the Steelheart will not humbly stand and wait for death, but will deal devastating blows. He will terrorize the population, reducing their numbers, then organize raids to find out where you are hiding (if successful, you will lose an action die for each shelter opened; these can be recovered in the procurement phase). Having released a couple, he will arrange additional obstacles for you: new policemen, new barricades, and not only in the area where he himself is. All this may seem excessive, but do not worry: there are chances of victory. And, finally, the Steel Heart will move to a new location depending on the dice dropped (however, the old location can also become the "new" one). Heroes cannot do anything to Steelheart unless they are in the same location as him.

 How to win? It's simple: kill Steelheart. How to lose? Even simpler: defeat occurs if the population of the city reaches zero. And it falls quickly. I repeat, it is difficult to win. As in books, there is a sense of overwhelming power of epics. There are more of them, they are better organized and more powerful than you can dream. However, desperate heroes enter into an unequal struggle. Yes, the game is difficult, but the victory is all the sweeter.

 From a thematic point of view, the game is an undisputed success. The authors perfectly brought the book universe to power. Everything is like the original: both the behavior and the abilities of the epics. However, to enjoy the game it is not necessary to know the original, and there are no spoilers in the game. It is also worth noting the excellent work of the illustrators, who created a wonderful atmosphere even without a playing field. Fans of the universe will appreciate the little references to the books.

 In terms of gameplay, the game is not revolutionary at all. Nothing important new, but the metal turned out to be successful. Despite the massive box, the gameplay is very easy to explain and get involved in. The layout, if you are not playing for the first time, happens quite quickly. The moves are also fast, but the decisions made are important, sometimes critically important. Every mistake can be costly, the key to success in co-op. Of course, the typical co-op problem of alpha can occur, but it is smoothed out a bit with randomness and a lot of epics and items with various abilities. In addition, by default, the dice are rolled simultaneously, and the alpha cannot keep track of them all (unless, of course, he is a hidden epic).

 As for the difficulty level, many may be put off by how hard Heart of Steel is to beat. It seems that the more you work, the worse the situation on the field becomes, and the negative effects can add up in devastating chains, which is especially unpleasant when playing together. But is the difficulty of the game such an evil? Given its length, you can easily play several games at a time, and the challenge, in my opinion, is mandatory for the cooperative, so as not to lose interest in it quickly. Co-op is too easy - it's like an easy-to-solve puzzle that you immediately forget about. Reckoners offers a nice balance between an impossible challenge and just fun. Reckoners is a lot of fun to play: it feels like you're fighting a near-hopeless battle against a titan, and that makes the atmosphere even more immersive. Yes, the characters suffer, but these fans suffer.

 The components here are of fantastic quality, especially in the deluxe version. Everything looks just great. Chic illustrations, convenient tablets with a well-thought-out distribution of cubes, excellent little ones. The cards are also of high quality and pleasant to the touch. Everything is very well worked out; such attention to detail pleases. It's just a pity that all the urban areas are so similar to each other - a little variety (and I'm not talking about the illustrations) would not hurt here. However, these are trailers.

 Can you call this game a rare gem? In a way, yes: Reckoners are indeed rare, and it's not easy to get hold of a copy, unfortunately. However, this problem will be solved by the new kickstarter, which will release an addition plus a reprint of the base. It's a shame that this board is so hard to find and so poorly advertised considering how well it's made and what a fan it delivers.

 Overall, Reckoners definitely succeeded; both in terms of gameplay and components. Simple, but not primitive. Easy to master, hard to defeat. Fanova, but thoughtful. That requires thinking through actions, but not overly complex. A pleasant surprise, a great adaptation of the book and a quality game.