Shardhunters by Lycan Studios

This little small box game falls right in the sweet spot for me so it was easy to decide to back it on Kickstarter. Shardhunters by Lycan Studio just arrived and I was able to pull it out and play a couple of quick hands of it. I don't know if any of the normal terms apply for describing it. It involves blind bidding during the Hunt phase to try and collect Monsters since the person with the most monsters at the end of a Hunt gets a "shard." Why do you want shards? Well, you use them to buy more Shard Hunters and the first person to win a Hunt with 5 Hunters is the winner.

While I am not sure the theme makes sense if you think too long about it, the game play is definitely challenging. Trying to guess whether your opponents will bid low or high during a particular combat and then bid enough to beat them while also planning your strategy for the next 3 combats of the Hunt keeps things interesting. The Hunters add special rules to each Hunt which will make it easier to collect more shards. This means your opponent may not try and win a Hunt but simply play cards that activate their Hunter's special abilities.

What do I like about this game? First, the cost relative to what you get. It was about $14 for what you see above. I think it falls right in line with what I would expect to get for that price. The cards have a nice matte finish and a decent thickness to them. Second, it plays 1 to 4 players in about 20 minutes. This is a perfect set up for me. I like these small games to be quick and from what I can tell it plays equally well regardless of the player count. Third, because the game relies on out-thinking your opponent, I feel like it has a lot of replayability. What do I mean... ok, this is not a game of finding killer combos. It does not necessarily require that you have the best cards in your hand, only that you play them wisely. For example, in the second image I have played a 1, 2, and 1 which is probably not enough to beat my opponents, however, my Hunter's special ability gets me a Shard for having 3 different colors out. You can strategize in the early Hunts to just collect Shards and get Hunters faster.

What don't I like? The rules require a little intuitiveness to understand. They explain what a Hunt is and how to get Hunters, but nowhere does it say when you put Hunters into play. It also says you collect the Monsters as Loot when you win a combat, but at no time that you will shuffle them back into the deck for the next Hunt. I feel they could have spent a little more time on the rules sheet to make it more clear. This is a decent filler game that I look forward to trying a bit more.