The deckbuilding genre of games is a relatively new one. Sure, there’s been card games since the beginning of time but the idea of adding new cards to your deck while (hopefully) stripping out other, less powerful ones was first seen in Dominion. Released in 2008, it sparked an explosion of similar games including Ascension (deckbuilding with fantasy monsters), Tanto Cuore (deckbuilding with Japanese anime maids) and Penny Arcade (deckbuilding with… uhhhh… Penny Arcade).
It’s only been in the last couple of years that people have taken the concept and tried to do something a little better with it. Martin Wallace mixed it with wargames and ended up with A Few Acres of Snow. David Sirlin’s Puzzle Strike turns the whole thing into a Street Fighter-esque battle for supremacy using chips. And then there’s Quarriors which ignores the cards entirely, substituting them for dice and adding a whole heap of randomness…
In order to win you’re looking to score a predetermined amount of glory points, done by spending Quiddity (the in-game currency) to collect creatures known as Quarry from a randomly chosen selection in the middle of the table. Taking dice from your bag, you’ll roll them and see what appears – Quiddity is what you’ll see most frequently, but if monsters come up you can summon them in a bid to get yourself some points.
The more Quiddity you roll, the stronger the monster you can acquire and the more points they can score for you – only one purchase per round, though. Of course, you’ll need to actually roll them before you can even bring them into play; it can be somewhat frustrating to pick up something immense like a dragon then never actually be able to summon it, but thankfully it’s pretty rare that this happens…
Once Quarry are up and attacking on your behalf, it’s a matter of checking their attack versus each of their enemy’s defence value (all of which is found on the dice face). Have a higher value and you wipe them off the table, forcing your opponents to add them to their discard pile. All you need to is keep your own Quarry alive for a whole round of play – manage to do this and you’ll score those precious points. You’ll also have to discard your attackers, but they’ll be back out before you know it.
Scoring also allows you to cull dice from your pile, a vital element to get your head around is you’re going to win. By getting rid of weaker dice (and believe me, you start off with nothing but weak dice) you’ll be able to cycle through your better Quarry and Quiddity much quicker, meaning that those all important heavy hitters are much more likely to appear. Manage to pull out and roll a few of these in a turn and the balance of power could well swing your way very quickly.
Spells are also available for you to pick up that allow for a bit of rules manipulation. These can boost your Quiddity, let you pick up more dice in a turn and much more, and while they’re certainly useful you’ll find that most players focus on grabbing Quarry, especially when their first getting to grips with the game. Once folks start investigating them, prepare for some very interesting play…
From the off, Quarriors does its very best to present itself as a fun, quick playing blast of a game. While something like Dominion is an excellent game, it does suffer from Multiplayer Solitaire Syndrome where each player is focused almost solely on their own play. Quarriors pushes the interactivity – there’s no way you’ll win unless you go on the attack, so you simply have to get up in everyone else’s face. The fact that you’re all throwing fistfuls of dice only adds to the excitement; after all, who doesn’t love dice? Admittedly, some people may be mildly annoyed by their size – they’re a little smaller than standard d6 – but when you consider the fact that there are 130 included in the base set alone, you can’t begrudge the team at Wizkids making a tough call that to do something to make the game a little more affordable.
Base set? Oh yes, for there are plenty of expansions available already. Want some Negative Quiddity to chuck into other players’ dice bags? Feel the need for a whole new bunch of Quarry? Looking for a selection of even stronger spells? You’ll be able to get the lot, but I’d suggest sticking with the original box for a while. The Quarry and Spells each come with three different cards of varying levels of power so there is plenty of replayability – you’ll be mixing up all manner of monsters that you’ll be looking to recruit, seeing what combinations work well with each other and what magic can be used to boost their abilities.
I’d heartily recommend giving Quarriors a shot if you’ve got even a passing interest in trying out deckbuilding. Some examples of the genre can be a little pompous but Quarriors puts the emphasis on fun, so it’s particularly suitable for younger players – it only takes a round or two to understand how the basics work so is very easy to just get into and play. Plus having those handfuls of dice to hurl across the table is just so satisfying…
It’s only been in the last couple of years that people have taken the concept and tried to do something a little better with it. Martin Wallace mixed it with wargames and ended up with A Few Acres of Snow. David Sirlin’s Puzzle Strike turns the whole thing into a Street Fighter-esque battle for supremacy using chips. And then there’s Quarriors which ignores the cards entirely, substituting them for dice and adding a whole heap of randomness…
In order to win you’re looking to score a predetermined amount of glory points, done by spending Quiddity (the in-game currency) to collect creatures known as Quarry from a randomly chosen selection in the middle of the table. Taking dice from your bag, you’ll roll them and see what appears – Quiddity is what you’ll see most frequently, but if monsters come up you can summon them in a bid to get yourself some points.
The more Quiddity you roll, the stronger the monster you can acquire and the more points they can score for you – only one purchase per round, though. Of course, you’ll need to actually roll them before you can even bring them into play; it can be somewhat frustrating to pick up something immense like a dragon then never actually be able to summon it, but thankfully it’s pretty rare that this happens…
Once Quarry are up and attacking on your behalf, it’s a matter of checking their attack versus each of their enemy’s defence value (all of which is found on the dice face). Have a higher value and you wipe them off the table, forcing your opponents to add them to their discard pile. All you need to is keep your own Quarry alive for a whole round of play – manage to do this and you’ll score those precious points. You’ll also have to discard your attackers, but they’ll be back out before you know it.
Scoring also allows you to cull dice from your pile, a vital element to get your head around is you’re going to win. By getting rid of weaker dice (and believe me, you start off with nothing but weak dice) you’ll be able to cycle through your better Quarry and Quiddity much quicker, meaning that those all important heavy hitters are much more likely to appear. Manage to pull out and roll a few of these in a turn and the balance of power could well swing your way very quickly.
Spells are also available for you to pick up that allow for a bit of rules manipulation. These can boost your Quiddity, let you pick up more dice in a turn and much more, and while they’re certainly useful you’ll find that most players focus on grabbing Quarry, especially when their first getting to grips with the game. Once folks start investigating them, prepare for some very interesting play…
From the off, Quarriors does its very best to present itself as a fun, quick playing blast of a game. While something like Dominion is an excellent game, it does suffer from Multiplayer Solitaire Syndrome where each player is focused almost solely on their own play. Quarriors pushes the interactivity – there’s no way you’ll win unless you go on the attack, so you simply have to get up in everyone else’s face. The fact that you’re all throwing fistfuls of dice only adds to the excitement; after all, who doesn’t love dice? Admittedly, some people may be mildly annoyed by their size – they’re a little smaller than standard d6 – but when you consider the fact that there are 130 included in the base set alone, you can’t begrudge the team at Wizkids making a tough call that to do something to make the game a little more affordable.
Base set? Oh yes, for there are plenty of expansions available already. Want some Negative Quiddity to chuck into other players’ dice bags? Feel the need for a whole new bunch of Quarry? Looking for a selection of even stronger spells? You’ll be able to get the lot, but I’d suggest sticking with the original box for a while. The Quarry and Spells each come with three different cards of varying levels of power so there is plenty of replayability – you’ll be mixing up all manner of monsters that you’ll be looking to recruit, seeing what combinations work well with each other and what magic can be used to boost their abilities.
I’d heartily recommend giving Quarriors a shot if you’ve got even a passing interest in trying out deckbuilding. Some examples of the genre can be a little pompous but Quarriors puts the emphasis on fun, so it’s particularly suitable for younger players – it only takes a round or two to understand how the basics work so is very easy to just get into and play. Plus having those handfuls of dice to hurl across the table is just so satisfying…
