BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER BOARD GAME

Product Information

Once the monster of the week is dead, it leaves a clue in its location, three monsters of the week equals three clues. When the characters get these clues, the Big Bad’s plot cards are revealed. Three plot cards reveal the Big Bad on the board and the end game begins. This adds a clue collecting aspect to the game that is reminiscent of Buffy and is a reliable, effective mechanic. As cooperative games go, Buffy is fairly simple and light. This is more of a beer and pretzels game, best played for the experience. It’s not a heavy, deep, Robinson Crusoe or Mage Knight type of game. Complexity wise, I’d put it in the same category as Pandemic or Flash Point: Fire Rescue, or some “experience” semi-co-op games like Betrayal at House on the Hill or Transylvania: Curses and Traitors. There are some decisions to be made, but a lot of what happens to you in the game is determined by random card draws and unpredictable events. Skillful play can mitigate these things to an extent, but there are games where you just get hosed by fate. The event cards. Where bad things happen. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the cult classic TV show in its newest board game incarnation. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from Jasco Games, pits the players in the roles of the iconic TV white hats, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Angel and Spike against the Big Bads of the TV series; The Master, The Mayor, Adam, Glory, Caleb and the First across the city of Sunnydale. Players race across Sunnydale, slaying Demons, dusting Vampires and collecting the much-needed items to face against the monster of the week to uncover a clue to the big bad’s plot against Sunnydale and the world. But all is not as it seems; the baddies move around Sunnydale wounding the scoobies and killing vulnerable townies and eventually the big bad will reveal itself.

The artefacts add much needed theme to a degree; they are not as difficult to find as some ‘artefacts’ in other similar games, Angel has the special ability to just draw them and tomes can be discarded to find them. However, the ease of getting powerful items is off set with the danger of drawing an artefact that is unhelpful, such as the box of Gavrok adding further complications that needed to be solved by the players. But fear not, there is one last hope for the gang, the artefacts are powerful items that can help save the world, but be warned, some are more trouble than they are worth and might hinder the path to victory. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer board game looks nice, the original artwork is great but there is not enough of it, all the vampire tokens are the same vampire, all the demon tokens are the same demon. The event cards have minimal artwork; the monster of the week cards have minimal artwork and the Big Bad plot cards are equally bereft of art. This is a real shame as the artwork that is there is fantastic and if it had been spread across the entire game it would have been wonderful, as it is…it isn’t. Gameplay in Buffy is very similar to many familiar cooperative titles including Pandemic, Eldritch Horror, Forbidden Desert, or Flashpoint: Fire Rescue. If you’ve played any of these (or most other major co-op games), you’ll instantly recognize many familiar mechanisms and ideas.

Event cards are one of the main ways the game progresses. Each one adds baddies and/or townies to the board and an event like moving baddies or townies, or stopping certain locations being used, this adds much needed randomness to a game that is very mechanical in nature. Each Character has a unique special skill which is thematic to the character. Buffy is good at fighting, Willow can do more with magic than anyone else, Xander can help others and so on and each of these special abilities makes choosing the characters that you play interesting and something to consider if not everyone is in the game. The rules are easy to learn and teach. The rules themselves are well explained and laid out in a nice glossy rulebook that also includes an example of play that is always helpful as well as the usual appendix of FAQ and clarifications for the cards and location abilities. During the first few games, the rules are going to be referenced a lot, particularly around the monster activation phase. We Saved the World. I Say We Party! When the game starts there are baddies to kill, a monster of the week to fight with certain items and townies to rescue. So much to do and so few actions, this leads to one inevitable result – analysis paralysis. With an open-ended game the first player can look at the board and say: “What should I do?” Of course, at times it is very obvious what needs to be done, but there are times when the fast-paced game slows because the players are looking at the board and trying to puzzle out the way forwards with all the options available. For those familiar with Eldritch Horror, one look at the board will have you making direct comparisons between the two. The design of the Sunnydale board bears a lot of similarity to Eldritch’s board. Eldritch is by far the heavier (and longer) of the two. Buffy feels a bit like “Eldritch lite,” though. You’re moving from location to location, resolving events, and dealing with baddies. Both are good games but given a choice, I’ll take Buffy due to the theme, lower complexity, and shorter play time. Just be aware that, despite the looks, Buffy and Eldritch are two very different beasts.

Although these plot cards add dynamic game changes, they can feel generic. There is some theme to them, but it is not all it could be. For example, you won’t find a plot card for Adam that says remove his power core (like in the series.) and this does leave a gap in the game that could have easily been filled and added so much more to it. Given that the plot cards are random it would not even reduce the replay-ability. But if you are a fan of the show? And you’re playing with other Buffy nerds? The game is a pure blast to play. The stories and evil plots make sense. The plots, Monsters of the Week, and Big Bads are ripped straight from the show. The Scooby gang heroes have special abilities that make sense for their characters, and the Sunnydale locations offer thematic abilities, as well. It’s like playing through the show. Monsters of the Week

Rarity

Next is the choice of the Big Bad. Each has new original artwork, with a list of specific events and abilities assigned to each one. They are unique from each other, but the theming is very subtle if it is there at all. Reading a special ability of one of the Big Bads might not lend itself to you knowing who it actually is, which makes each of them seem a little generic, though a few have hints of theme, for example the master has lots of Vampire related abilities and Adam has kill demons and townie abilities. To me, though, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Board Game is the best of the Buffy Games. (At least so far.) Those looking for a heavy game with groundbreaking gameplay won’t appreciate Buffy and those who aren’t fans of the show may struggle to find the fun. But I can easily recommend the game for fans of the show. No, your brain won’t be broken by the game, the gameplay is similar to many other co-ops, and there is plenty of randomness, but it delivers an evening of vampire-slaying goodness with some great nods to the show. If that’s what you want from your game night, Buffy delivers.

In terms of recommendation, I’m going to score Legendary Buffy from the perspective of a “moderately interested” fan of the series and also as someone who really loves the series, because I think it is an important distinction. The theme here is very strong, as is the fan service, and this feels like a Buffy The Vampire Slayerrelated product through and through. For anyone else, Legendary Buffy is still a very solid game and I really do like how adaptable it is in supporting replayability and variable player count. It’s also just a lot of fun. Because Legendary games are so strong on theme, you might consider one of the IP’s I mentioned earlier a better fit for you, so if that’s the case you should go with your preference. For a semi-co-operative game, the interaction is minimal. For the majority of the game, you’re just doing your own thing. There’s not really any reasons to need to work together, aside from just taking a bad guy each. And there’s no real way to sabotage others, making it a little unnecessary to even have a winner. This could probably just be a co-op game. Closing Comments on Legendary Buffy Now another Buffy gaming generation is born, but is this first offering from that generation better than its predecessors?

Price

During each round, each player is given four action tokens to spend as desired to move through the town, fight monsters, conduct research, or use their character’s special ability. Players take turns using one token at a time until all tokens are spent. Players should work together to determine the best use of their actions to stave off the monster invasion and protect the townies. Plot cards for the Big Bads.