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Had my regular Cthulhu Wars crew over today. We usually try to start with something else (we've been playing a fair amount of Tiny Epic Crimes lately) and when talking about a couple other games, I...
SebastianBludd wrote: The 1e art looks like it's "in universe," drawn by a steampunk scientist living in the game's world as he catalogs the monsters humanity is going up against, as well as the items they're using to fight them. For me, it reinforces the tactile aesthetic present in several of HPL's stories, where protagonists record their experiences in papers or journals as they're messing around with forbidden tomes. It's a familiar approach but it has its own style, and it's very evocative and makes me want to learn more about the world, which is not a low bar to clear when one is talking about steampunk nonsense.At its best this makes for a tense and tactical exploration of your options as you prioritise objectives and struggle to keep waves of monstrous abominations at bay, with your agency always straddling the chasm between fight and flight as pragmatism dictates. In certain instances however, the randomness baked into the spawning of both beasts and items can render you a bit of a behemoth, which robs the game of the teeth it has so carefully sought to cultivate.
Monster Spawn –Every player rolls a d10 and compares the result with the spawn value of the current chapter. If the roll is equal or greater a monster card is drawn and that monster is placed on a spawn monster icon on the map. Now, that being said, I have to be honest and admit that I don’t know much about steampunk but I did go into this review with an open mind mainly because I understand that the Mythos cross and compliment many genres and themes. So how well does Machina Arcana pair these two genres into a horror game you should to add to your collection? Read on!
The 2e art is the equivalent of a band recording their second album with "better" production, where it ends up obliterating everything that was interesting about their sound in the first place. There is no need for a game master, no special conditions based on the player count, and a modifiable duration and difficulty setting. Second are the illustrations. These again seem to be purposeful. They’re done in grayscale to give a feel that they were drawn by some neo-Victorian artist. All the images seem to radiate the mood of Machina Arcana by the fact that they are all done in dark tones of this sinister horror game. This style of art truly compliments both genres and the overall horror theme. If four-color images were used I believe this would have been a mistake. All images of the characters, monsters, and treasure give the game a creepy and weird authenticity to it. How to Play: Each player gets to run a unique explorer, each with their own unique stats and special abilities.
Inside the Premium box you will find core content, expansions (Recurrence and Geometry of the Void), and a premium leaflet. Premium leaflet lists additional content, and rule explanations for the expansions. The steampunk genre fits seamlessly with the Mythos and to be honest, I think it does better than most. You could possibly plug-in another genre but the designers again were purposeful to use the neo-Victorian mixed with Mythos images for the artwork and decorative elements. Overall, when you first open the box the steampunk images and dark tones give you that creepy and weird feeling that you should expect to find with Cthulhu based horror games. This was an excellent pairing of genres for this horror theme. Players will find a large variety of weapons and equipment, some of which can be modified. Monster Action – Meat & potatoes for monsters: players will now act and move monsters following the monster action rules outlined in the game manual. These rules are straight forward to play. Monsters either have abilities they can use if they are able to and if not then they are to move towards the nearest explorer. There’s a variant rule (Puppet Master) this suggests allowing a fifth player to be the game master and has control over the monster (think Overlord in Descent), I like this because then you can add another player and not have the players do silly things with monsters. When played as intended, the game is very hard. There's no way around that. Additionally, there are lots of things going on - understanding the mechanics is crucial to wield Her properly.Final Score: 4.5 Stars – A well-built game with huge replay value. A must have for any gamer that enjoys a challenging horror themed tactical dungeon crawl. The best person to answer this question is Katie from Funagain Games (they merged with Ship Naked and are the company handling our distribution). The overall rules and iconography are not difficult to understand but there’s simply a lot of information to absorb. This is why I thought a key to the rules was starting players off with the Intro Mode. This is a masterful why to teach the game. It tells you up front and lets you get through some of the herky-jerky first game experience in a more toned down difficulty environment. Yes, explorers will die in the Intro Mode but it’s a much easier mode because there will be less monsters spawning, less chance to trigger a horror event, and it uses a reduced chaptered scenario. It really gives players (and possible Puppet Masters alike) the chance to understand and master the rules. I have to add if you never stop playing the Intro Mode then you’re really missing out in the intended game experience. The second half of the rulebook takes players from the intro mode to the normal mode.
It’s obvious to see and I really have to applaud the overall thought, intension, and effort of the designers. Their work makes Machina Arcana an easy must have and play for me. The game was built with quality components top to bottom. It mixes the two genres steampunk and Cthulhu that complement each other very well and help set the dark and sinister tone for this horror themed tactical dungeon crawl. MarloweSpade wrote: I agree entirely with preferring the 1E art to 2E; I think it contributed greatly to the whole atmosphere, which clearly was of primary importance to the designer. I agree entirely with preferring the 1E art to 2E; I think it contributed greatly to the whole atmosphere, which clearly was of primary importance to the designer.
Machina Arcana is a cooperative game for 1-4 players runs between 40 and 120 minutes per player (depending on the mode). Machina Arcana plays best with 1-4 players. Game Overview:
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