Asmodee – Abyss – Game of Strategy.

Product Information

The cost requirements show a number of ‘bubbles’ showing the exact number of different ally races required, including one ally type that must be used, plus a number which is the minimum total value of allies required (the illustrated rules do a much better job of explaining this, it is simpler than it sounds!). Soldiers are not very popular and are worth fewer Influence Points, but their Powers are useful against your opponents.

Abyss | Board Games | Zatu Games UK *A Grade* Abyss | Board Games | Zatu Games UK

There is a limited amount of player interaction, mainly in the form of the lord powers, and whilst these include some ‘take-that’ moments, they are fairly light, and won’t ruin the game for players at the sharp end of this. The game ends as soon as someone finishes their pyramid, then all players score their points. For each colour, you score points equal to the largest valued card in your pyramid. Additionally, for each colour, you look at the largest grouping of cards in your pyramid and you score 3 points for each of those cards. Whoever held the pearl majority card at game's end scores 5 points for it. Whoever has the highest score wins. Firstly, there is no limit to the number of allies that a player can have in their hand, so it is difficult to physically hold them all. It is unclear if these are meant to be kept secret, but we find ourselves laying them out face-up so that it is easy for players (and other players) to see what they have. As long as everyone agrees to this we’ve never found it a problem. The locations are also fairly simple, each detailing its own way of gaining influence points. Set-upleave it in its space on the board and reveal the next card. You must then offer the new card for sale, and so on.

Abyss Board Game Review - Deep Thoughts - There Will Be Games Abyss Board Game Review - Deep Thoughts - There Will Be Games

Any lords used to control a location are placed under it so that their powers are hidden and no longer used, so timing when to gain a location is important. No Limits They thus reveal a 2nd card. This time, the next two opponents turn it down, but the 3rd pays a Pearl to the active player to add this ally to their hand. The final thing you do on your turn is see if you have three keys in your possession. If you do then it is time to get a location tile. These offer sweet scoring opportunities but they will disable some of your sweetest lord abilities. You may select the face up tile, or you can draw blind 1/2/3 or 4 tiles and select one from those. Any you do not choose will be left face up in the market for your opponents to choose from should they wish later. Having said that, these locations are your points on the line so I ALWAYS draw four if I am drawing blind, I want as many choices as possible to find what works best for me. Once you “use” a key for a location, then you have to cover over the lord with the key you used, deactivating its ability. So you may want to try and hold off on getting that lord with a great ability if you would get a location immediately. Abyss End Game Scoring Players gain influence points (victory points) in several ways, but the core path involves exploring the depths to defeat monsters (worth random influence points) and gain allies; allies are used to then recruit lords (worth varying amounts of influence), and lords are used to control locations (which have their own criteria for gaining influence).There are two expansions for Abyss that are available. The first is the Bombyx Abyss: Kraken which brings in some more corruption in the form of silver pearls. These are worth negative points and can be spent as regular pearls but only if you have no “normal” pearls available to spend. So getting rid of them is tough, but the cards that give you them are simply so powerful. The additions to the game that this offers are relatively small and subtle, which you would expect from a small box expansion, but I do enjoy playing with it still as a shakeup to the base game.