Sub Terra Game

Product Information

The three expansions introduce a small number of their own tiles (usually only three or four) that add new features into the game, as well as a new character. These tiles add features such as horror nests that can be destroyed by a bomb carried into the caves ( Annihilation) or evidence that must be collected before leaving ( Investigation) These expansions can only be used one at a time since each has a unique victory condition, but each one switches up the idea of simply finding the exit, which really prolongs the lifespan of Sub Terra. There are ten characters in the base box that vary between rogues, healers and combat-focused archetypes. Playing with a team that is spread over these different classes will benefit your team massively. You will need someone who can explore fast, someone who can fight and possibly someone who is defensive or can heal more effectively than regular players can. This way you have a nice balanced team that can hopefully overcome anything this pesky volcano throws at you. Between the base game and the expansions, there are something like nine characters all said, and each one is different. The Medic (unsurprisingly) is an efficient healer, whilst The Leader can give her actions to someone else. The Bodyguard can protect others and The Exterminator can destroy horrors – which will usually KO any character as soon as they reach the same space. The Diver has one of the most interesting abilities, and can use flooded spaces to teleport around the game space.

Investigation adds 15 new item cards that grant your cavers powerful abilities. Recover them from the cave floor, or choose the ruthless Agent who starts fully equipped. The darkness hides many things. Be prepared. There are also new Doom hazards which multiply the danger of the hazard card drawn on the next turn. The Items After you have taken your actions you roll the hazard die, this die is death incarnate and will repeatedly annoy and frustrate the team, which I suppose, is its job after all. This die has a few possible outcomes from setting off traps, making your character stumble or even spawning and activating the Guardians. Guardians are defenders of the temple and want nothing more than to leave all your carcasses lifeless on the volcano floor. Most items will be discarded once used, so you always need to be considering your options. Is this the right time to use your grenade or can you lure one more horror toward you? Do you use your scrawled map to discard the sheer drop in the hopes of getting something you can move through easier? That horror is awfully close.The caver boards and the cave tiles are made from high-quality cardboard and despite having made it to my table many times none of the pieces are showing any signs of wear and tear. Sub Terra could make a great gateway game for newcomers to the hobby as there isn’t an overwhelming number of rules to explain before getting started.

Your success in Sub Terra is determined by how many cavers successfully make it to the exit before you run out of time. No cavers left behind? You’ve won yourselves a gold award, well done! One caver left behind gets you a silver and two cavers left behind gets you a bronze. Three or more cavers left behind? There are no awards to be had here, this only means defeat, time to reshuffle those tiles and try again! Final Thoughts I found them to be a great addition to the game. Where the horrors have the feel of a slowly impending doom, constantly pushing you forward; the Leapers are deceptively deadly, taking 2 health points if they hit rather than a one-shot kill and luring you into a false sense that you can handle that.I find the individual elements in Sub Terra: Extraction work together in a cohesive way that adds to Sub Terra and changes up the gameplay. The Leapers are particularly fun, and I basically consider them to be integral to the game and wouldn’t play without them now. The Mercenary is also one of my favourite characters to play. I feel so useful and powerful, luring horrors into my trap like Rambo and taking them all out. The biosamples objective is a fun twist on the old objective and makes you think differently about callously leaving people behind, but I do wish that I could collect the samples on route somewhere as part of the task rather than have them from the start, so they feel more a part of the world. Overall, I am a big fan of the new content and Sub Terra: Extraction adds a lot of elements which I play with on a regular basis. In Sub Terra players spend their turn exploring and revealing the tunnel system around them, attempting to survive the various perils of the cave, from floods and cave ins to gas leaks and scree. Players each have a role which gives them specialist abilities, such as an Engineer with dynamite to blast a new route or a Scout to find a route more easily.

It’s inevitable that when most board game fans hear the words “Tile-based game” they will immediately think of the perennially popular Carcassonne, which set a very high benchmark for the genre upon its release 19 years ago. Sub Terra is another tile-based game but you won’t find quaint castles, monasteries and lush green fields here, nor will you see sunlight, so strap on your head torch and lets go spelunking as we are going on an adventure deep underground into a network of dark, unexplored caves. Sub Terra – The GameIn Sub Terra II: Inferno's Edge, players will be progressively revealing new tiles, forming the board, mapping the volcanic temple from its sunlit entrance to its fiery core. As players explore through the temple, they will have to overcome obstacles, avoid hazardous terrain, and face the ferocious guardians of the 'artifact'. On each player's turn, after taking their actions, a random hazard will activate, making careful planning of actions essential to survival.