REVIEW

Legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer Board Game Review

by Daniel Clarke, October 2nd, 2018

Welcome back avid tabletop fans. Join us as we review the Legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer Board Game by Upper Deck. Whether you are a fan of the 90s supernatural high school show or just a fan of taking down bad guys with friends, this might peak your interest. So, grab your stakes, practice your incantations, and shuffle your cards as we save the world!

Upper Deck and the legendary game engine, originally created by Devin Low, have several tabletop adventures in their catalogue. These range from all manner of TV shows, comics, and films. The buffy edition pits you against the big villains of the show in the ultimate battle between light and dark. Build up your deck with useful and powerful heroes such as Buffy and Angel, save innocent bystanders from demons, and defeat the big evil aiming to unleash their master scheme to plunge the world into darkness!

How to Play

Game Setup

The game is geared towards 1-5 players and can take roughly 30-60 minutes. It comes with a whopping 500 cards with nifty dividers to keep them neat and tidy, courage tokens (more on them later), a light/dark token, and a gorgeous playmate of the battlefield that will be Sunnydale. You will require around 3-4 foot square to play.

Firstly, layout the play mat in front of your current party of board gamers. This is where all the cards in play will be used and kept in view. On this play mat there are sections for the hero deck which contains potential allies to recruit, the villain deck which holds the bad guys you need to beat up, the bystanders that can get caught up in the fray, and associated big bad sections with their schemes, strikes against the players, and any villains that escaped.

There is also the library where you recruit your budding heroes, the area of Sunnydale where the villains like to hang out and cause trouble, a light/dark tracker which gauges the balance in the fight, and potential slayers that can join your party. All these combine to provide the board by which you and hopefully your friends will beat back the forces of darkness.

So, onto each player’s decks; the alpha and omega of your experiences and the means by which you claim victory. Start off by creating your deck with 8 Watchers and 4 Initiative Soldiers. Watchers are your recruiters which you can play to add heroes from the library. Initiative soldiers are your basic attack cards to take down evil.

Next, place the Potential Slayers, Wound cards, and Bystanders (face down) on their associated slots on the board. Remember to shuffle the cards that are meant to be face down on the board. No cheating now! After that it’s time to choose a Big Bad for the war. The Big Bad vary from the king of the vampires, The Master, the evil version of Angel, Angelus, as well as others. Pick one at random and add their related Big Bad Tactics face down underneath at random.

Afterwards, you need to create the Villain Deck. You want to make it a fair fight don’t you? To do this pick a Scheme card at random and follow its “setup” instructions. For instance, “Epic Struggle” tells you to add 8 Scheme Twist cards to the Villain Deck. Next, add 5 Master Strikes which are power attacks that can be sprung upon the player by the Big Bad. look out for those! Depending on the number of players, add the Villain Groups, Henchmen Groups, and Bystanders to the Villain Deck then shuffle. This makes up the encounters for Sunnydale battleground.

Lastly, time to construct your Hero Deck. Again, you want a fair fight so populating Sunnydale the cast of the show to help you is something you want to seek out. Pick 5 random Heroes and add all their related cards to the Hero Deck then shuffle. This deck is the main source of power for your own person deck. Once shuffled, place 5 Hero cards from the top in to the Library face up. You will be recruiting these heroes to aid in your efforts in vanquishing the demented souls plaguing the world.

Overall, the game is a vast center piece with lots of components. It can be easy to be overwhelmed by the grand scale of the board game. However, the rule book has several quick reference guides to get you started in no time. This is great for those who want to lean into it quickly. It takes around 5-10 minutes to setup depending on how big your party is. It is not really design for the pick up and go adventures. But, great for a night of vampire slaying! The finished setup is very exciting and looks beautiful.

Playing the Game

Now, onto playing the game. To win, you must defeat the Big Bad and their tactics 4 times. You do this by playing cards that have attack values that equal or surpass the Big Bad’s and their tactics. Although beating the main villain is the name of the game, when playing with others you can keep track of how many Victory Points each of you have to see who achieved the most. Victory points can be gained by defeating henchmen, rescuing Bystanders, and defeating the Big Bad and their tactics.

Once the board has been setup up each player will take a turn to act upon the world before them. On your turn, play the top card of the Villain Deck into the Sunnydale section. Depending on what card is revealed depends on what happens. Villain cards invade the once normal High school and can hinder your efforts with Ambush effects. Resolve these as they appear. There can be a maximum of 5 Villains on the board at any one time. If any more appear, the leftmost card escapes and is deducted from your Victory Point total at the end of the game.

Other cards that might appear are Bystanders, Scheme Twist, and Master Strike. Bystanders are automatically captured by the right nearest Villain. Defeat the villain to rescue them, gain Victory Points, and activate the effect on the card. Scheme Twists activate the Twist effect on the Scheme card. This can be potentially harmful to your campaign against the Big Bad so watch out. As for Master Strike, these active the Master Strike effect on the Big Bad. These a nasty moves by the antagonist which you don’t want to be subject to many of.

Once the Villain Deck phase has been resolved, you get to play cards from your hand and turn the tables. In this phase you can recruit heroes from the Library and fight any villains on the board including the Big Bad. To recruit a hero, simply play cards that have Recruit Points (the star icon) equal to or more than the points required on the card in the bottom left.

If you want to take on the ugly faces of disaster then simply play cards with attack values (the slash mark icon) equal to or more than the villain you want to take on. Remember to play all effects on the cards you encounter. Some targets might be more desirable to attack than others. Once all cards have been used, place them and your hand into the discard pile, including the ones you have recruited, ready to be added to your deck later on. Then, draw 6 new cards and reshuffling your deck if you run out.

Other rules that come into play are as follows. Whenever the situation occurs, which is detailed on the cards or on the board, you may gain Courage Tokens. These tokens can be used to add +1 to your recruit or attack values to aid in your efforts. Nothing like a bit of human spirit to get you through the day! Also, the Light/Dark Track will shift throughout the game. Going toward the light will grant you more Courage Tokens. Fall to the darkness will activate the Big Bad Dark effects and can synergise with some of the villains. Definitely keep an eye on this!

Once the Big Bad and their tactics has been defeated 4 times you win the game. You are free to high five and jump into the air 90s style and count your individual Victory Points to see who the overall winner is. If the Scheme condition is met then you lose and the world is subject to torment under its new master. But, the forces of light can always come back to kick but next time.

The gameplay of the Buffy Board game can be a bit overwhelming at first. However, once you get your head around planning ahead and constructing your deck to beat the Big Bad it can be very fun. The rush to gain new heroes to increase your power and the sense of urgency filling you up as another scheme twist brings you closing to ultimate defeat. There is also a ridiculous amount of replayability with the combinations of heroes, villains, and scenarios. For fans of the series, whether it be Buffy or Legendary, this is wonderful. It might be less appealing to those who haven’t watched Buffy but, even if you are playing with those who do, great fun is guaranteed.

The Flavour

One of the main points that shine out with this board game is the quality and original content. Again, fans of the TV series will squeal in glee when they sift through the cards of their favourite characters and scenes. Not only that but the play mat is well themed and feels great to play on. Much like the rest of the Legendary series, it is designed with the feel in mind with a perfect combo to the game mechanics.

Also, there are additional ways to increase replayability, challenge, and fun to the game. These include different game modes and difficulties, adjusting the hero composition for a more competitive vibe between players, and a final showdown with the Big Bad to add one more hurdle to win the game. All in all, you can play the game dozens of times and each time can be a different experience.

Verdict

Overall, the Legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer board game is a cultural and engaging rollercoaster of a ride. Once you get into the mentality of bettering your deck to win the game it opens up into a thrilling race to beat evil and relive memories of the hit TV series. It is very fun and keeps you wanting to try out more scenarios as your finish the last. It might not appeal to those who haven’t watched the show. But, if you have a friend who has it is definitely recommended to play it with them and wreck the forces of darkness together! You can find this blast from the past of a board game on the official Upper Deck website.

Stay tuned for more news, reviews, and previews. Until next time, smile and game.