Unicornus Knights

Anime stylized box artof a happy princess doesn't do it justice.

This is one of the best designed games I've ever played. I hope that's a strong enough start for you, especially given how many board games I've already reviewed. In this cooperative war game, up to six players must somehow guide the revenge hungry princess to defeat the emperor (before time runs out!?).

The setup can be a tad lengthy especially if you aren't used to how the flower shaped tiles are meant to be joined together, but the summary is that the princess starts at the furthest part away from the Emperor. Most of the tiles in between are ruled by randomly chosen Empire leaders while the farthest edges are where the princesses allies (that's the players) start. Game play from here goes pretty quick!

On a turn each player will either be collecting knights, gathering supplies, sending those to someone else, drawing a bonus card or moving. Now each knight adds another die to your combat roll, but to move you must pay one supply per knight! This means big armies move slowly, especially over difficult terrain. If you end up in a space with an enemy, roll your dice. Some characters are better at attacking, some better at defending, and some are better not fighting at all.

When the bad guys move it's simple: blue ones stay put no matter what, white ones (or leaderless ones) will only move at you if you walk right beside them, and red ones will always move one space closer to the nearest enemy. As soon as they are one step away from a player (or the princess) most of them get a fate card which can really shift the game as some can be made friends and ALL of them have an ally power.

As for the princess, she comes in different flavors too with the easiest being one the players can control (the others just always max move towards emperor like an idiot). She can have the largest army but that also means potentially move the slowest, and in combat she doesn't roll dice. Instead the bad guys do the maximum damage they can on her (and her forces) and if she still lives - even if its just her with 1 HP left, she obliterates anything on her space - making her both the weakest and strongest piece on the board.

That's really the bulk of it, but those fate cards that make each villain different per game are awesome - meaning each telling of this tale is memorable and different from the last. Highly recommended!