Of all the videogames that could make the transition to the tabletop format Gears of War is perhaps the last one you’d pick out of the lineup to do so. Neither the game’s design or its lore is something I’d peg as good source material for a tabletop game. Someone over at Fantasy Flight obviously though otherwise though and green-lit this game, which proves to be a well designed product, but not one that manages to stand out all that much.
Designed for 1-4 players the game puts each person in the boots of a Delta Squad member taken right from the game. Each squad member has a unique ability and that he can utilize as throughout the match to gain a edge. While these sound ludicrously powerful from the outset it becomes dreadfully apparent down the line that these tools merely enable you to survive to Locust horde and never overwhelm them to an effective degree.
This tabletop incarnation mostly takes inspiration from the first Gears title with most of the scenarios and the arsenal brought over. If you’ve spent any time whatsoever with one of the videogames you’ll no doubt recognize most of the pieces and weapons at play here. A few small absences aside it’s about as faithful as you’d expect it to be.
You’ll most certainly get some decent playtime out of this game seeing as the each of the 7 scenarios’ terrain changes each time you play. There’s an entire card deck dedicated to the construction of the board with pieces being put together with each card drawn. What was a long winding corridor in one match can take the form of a sprawling courtyard in the next, complete with all manner of flanking routes and elevated positions to take advantage of.
The production quality of this game is perhaps its best aspect. The tiles that compromise the board are hardy and very well detailed as to make it clear what pieces of the environment represent. Elevated positions, emergence holes and cover are all clearly visible and with a game that has so much going on from turn to turn its very nice to have such an easy to use board.
The 7 card decks are all really well illustrated with both screenshots from the game itself and fragments of original concept art printed in great detail on every card. Managing all these mid game can get quite hectic though, seeing as there are about three decks worth of cards to constantly draw from as well as a handful constantly laying about the board.
The decks in question have three separate functions. There’s an entire deck dedicated to the weapons you pick up and use throughout the match that details the damage, ammo use and special effect of each weapon.
Then there's a deck composed of order cards. You can hold a maximum of 6 of these, drawing 2 each turn. Upon executing a move, combat or revive action you discard one order card. They can also be discarded mid in combat to pull of dodges and defensive manoeuvres. In addition to acting as the main resource each card can just straight up be played to make use of the function printed on it.
Finally there's the Locust deck. The Locust' actions are completely governed by the cards drawn from this deck and the deck changes constantly depending on what the types of enemies you're currently facing. It works fantastically well and really does force co-operation out of the players as you feel like your constantly under threat from all sides.
The highlight of the entire package though, has to be the Locust miniatures. While small each of them is surprisingly well detailed with all the texture and minor details that we associate with these enemy archetypes nailed down. The Berserker and Theron Guards in particular boast some exquisite detail.
I wish the same could be said for the player character figures, but aside from the same level of detail they're really disappointing. Each of them is a really nasty shade of red and the fact that all four of them are more or less in the same standing position makes them really hard to differentiate from one another.
There also not plastic inlay so make sure you have some plastic bags and rubber bands handy to properly store this game. Aside from those two bugbears I this is actually a really nice package overall, especially once you start to put everything to use.
Combat is mostly dice based with offensive die getting rolled against defensive die in order to calculate damage. Discarding or playing certain cards allow you to dodge, negate or deal more damage and the weapons themselves influence your range, damage and ammo consumption.
At first it feels like there's an overwhelming amount going on in the game itself, what with having to keep track of cards, players, enemy movement. ammo counts and wound counters but it all starts to blend together after you've played a few rounds of it. As soon as you get properly to grips with it proves to be a wonderfully smooth and fast paced game, but those early slow hours may deter you altogether.
I genuinely do like this game, but I also feel that there's not really a stand-out element to any of its mechanics. Everything just feels as though it works as intended. There's no real innovation or radical change from how these types of games usually play which is a real shame as there's some clear room here for new mechanics outside of the usual spectrum of tropes put to use in this genre of squad based combat. It is very open to modding though and you'll need not look far to scrounge up some interesting modules for it.
It's still a fun romp though and the theme may serve to carry it for a few people. Its also not as hellishly complicated as some of its peers so it's actually a really good place to start for anyone looking to get into tabletop gaming in general.
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