So it's been just over a month that I picked up Quarriors for our local group when a good chunk of our heroclixers went to Fan-Expo and thought we'd give it a try. I was already excited to give this game a try but this was a good chance to get other locals to play.

Well that worked so well that I now get calls, PMs and texts to see if I’m showing up early to Clix so we can play some Quarriors. We're done early, we can fit it a game of Quarriors. Superman sealed game took all of 3 minutes? Do you have Quarriors set up yet?


It would be far funnier if I was making any of that up.


So now that I've played Quarriors well over 100 times now (as our group is fairly quick about it......we can knock out a 4 player game in 15-ish mins most of the time) I thought I would share some of the thoughts our locals have on it. It should be noted, if you only play the game at the same # of players that it plays, we have found, very differnet depending on the # of players you have in the game.............I've played many 2 player games but for the most part it is usually 4 player games with the occasional 3 player game.


Teaching the Game

When we were first starting out we actually tried to explain all of the rules to each player and show them how things went.................Marmots and I are usually staples in the games and we finally decided that that was un-needed and if you just tell them how to read a die (Quid, re-roll, portal, pic) you learn almost everything you need 1 round into the game. In fact the only person (and I think we're getting up to about 30 players now who have played the Q) who had issues with this was my 'friend' K..............but he is the exception to most things. A common comment is 'let me just watch a game......' we tell those people to sit down right away..............no issues. It gets people into the game right away.


Set Up

Not sure if other groups do this but, very early on, it was suggested that we sort the spells and monsters (separately mind you) in ascending point value..............seems to cut down on the shopping time per turn when you can see you can afford to buy and anything before that point. Also dice to the side so that cards can be read easily or picked up to read depending on where players are seated.

The only reason to even bring this up is that we were playing at the store a while back and a magic player (who is also a Quarrior player from a different group so apparently he does have a soul ) came up and said that was a good idea after seeing us set up.

Pic


Spells

Spells seem to be the last thing for players to add to their play style..............when we started out there were two types of games. Games with Growth(green) spells and those where it was just monsters and portals being bought up. But after about 10-20 games you start looking at them and seeing their value............instead of just the 'oh well that monster is out there, I guess that spell will be useful here'. Growth spells are still a favourite though.


Creatures

Everyone has their favourites............like crazy ol'Marmots and his Oozes. Keeping in mind that we are usually playing with 4 players and the 2, 3, and 4 player games turn out to be very different in stratagy and tactics.....just a few highlights.....

Witching Hag - All of them. The die is just very powerful, the special she brings is just a bonus....and all three of them are good. They disappear really quick in our games.

Deathdealer - Specifically the Strong version(where you score after destroying a creature) but the normal version (trade with another players used pile.....I think I'll take your dragon )

Ghostly Spirit - The regular version (cull 1 basic quiddity to return to your ready area) is probably the most sought after die locally.............if you're lucky you can get 2.....you simply will not get 3. The strong version(when destroyed move to active pool) is also a favourite but it's not a game changer.

Defender of the Pale - The magic player, that I mentioned earlier, told us that their group found the Mighty version (where you increase the summoning cost for opposing creatures) was so powerful that they have actually taken him out of their deck! Now don't get me wrong, he's annoying for sure, but that seems a bit extreme to us. We've had it where there are 3 of them out on occasion but its just annoying not game breaking.................but that's just us.

Quake Dragon Well they are Dragons and just for that they are very strong...............now even more than the Ghostly Spirit the Strong version (Lv 1 and Lv 2 monsters can't even attack him!) is, in the opinion of our group, the most annoying creature in the game. At least he costs alot. We have nick named him the Grayson* Dragon.


So for our group, the game continues to be a HUGE hit. We can't wait for the expansion (becasue the corrupted quiddity, and affecting other players dice pools sounds all kinds of awesome!) but honestly even if this was it I think our play group would still be having a blast with this every chance we get for a long, long time.


Now that it's been out for a decent amount of time.....how are you guys finding it?

*The other word associated with Grayson.

Defender Of The Pale is in my experience the best creature in the game. Every version of it is awesome, and the value just goes up the more people there are playing. I'll grab these even before portals depending on the dice pool.

I've never had any luck with the strong Deathdealer. At all. Never once gotten them to actually score, and not for lack of trying. I think they're a little too expensive and a little too inelegant.

The one thing that I found myself valuing more and more as I played more games was the Primordial Ooze. It's expensive as heck, but very versatile. The one that clones things is invaluable in a game with four players, and the one with the attack and defense equal to the number of creatures is very good. Not a fan of the third one, but I know some people are.

They are very nice................when I want to play Defence first Pale and the Wizard are the way to go. We had a game recently where, 3 of the ** versions were out and one * version.......and someone pulled and rolled their dragon(Lv 3 too!).....only to find out he was onw Quid short to summon him.

That is shocking................wait, do you mostly play 2 player games?

We've found that the strong and normal ones are exceptional in 3-4 player games...........even if the strong version isn't going off each time he is summoned.

Oh the Ooze.

We have one local, Marmots who just loves the Ooze. And if you don't tell him, I'll agree, he is very powerful.

I'm not a fan of him for my dice pool because it's hard enough (most of the time) to A) get the dice in your hand you want B) to get it to roll want you want..............that I don't really want it to be contingent on what other people have out.

If there is something even a little less, potentially, powerful I'll take the consistant more often then not.


Oh, so I got the replacement dice for my defects and UndeadBullsye's(another local) wife has started to make us new dice bags......we got a chance to try out the proto-types last night.....very nice.

We're going to get her to look into puting logos on them.

We're thinking right now;

Red: Dare Devil
Black: Punisher (Punisher War Bag! )
Green: Iron Fist
Blue: ......we couldn't come up with something better than the F4 so it might be that.


You know I can't even remember if I've met UB's wife.....but I like her already.

Especially in games with a lot of players they make weathering the attack phases of three different opponents a lot more doable, and the fact that they're slowing down plays/letting you score more at the same time is excellent. Not like those silly clerics.


I play about an even number of two and four player games. Obviously the Death Dealer isn't great with two players, but even with a lot of squishy guys for me to kill I've found that they're too expensive for the amount of actual offense that they provide.


Consistency is nice, but the ability to copy a dragon when you attack, a defender when you are attacked, and a wizard when you score or whatever is sweet. And if other people aren't providing you a lot of options it means that they don't have very much stuff.

The Mighty Defender of the Pale more often gets called the Tax Man in our games.

We have played it amongst a pool of friends. Very cool game.

I am a huge fan and can't wait for the expansion next month