Tiny Epic Quest Review

Tiny Epic Quest Gameplay

The game is played over five rounds, with each round having a Day phase and a Night phase.

Day Phase

The Day Phase in Tiny Epic Quest involves players moving around the board and performing quests. Some quests are movement type quests which can be completed during the day, whereas some are treasure quests which involve exploring a certain Temple for a specific item.

The Day phase consists of four turns, irrespective of player count, and movement is controlled by the Movement cards. There are five Movement cards (foot, horse, raft, gryphon and ship) to choose from and these dictate how the players move. For example, moving by horse allows player to horizontally to any new Map card.

The first player selects a Movement card and can choose to either move or remain idle. All other players then choose to either move as detailed on the selected Movement card or remain idle. Then, going clockwise, each other player selects a Movement card and the process is repeated. This happens until four out of the five Movement cards have been selected and the Night phase begins. Once a Movement card has been selected it cannot be used again that turn and is flipped face down.

When idling, if a player has at least one hero in any player's castle they gain one power or one health up to their maximum.

The Map cards have a left and a right region, and players can choose which region on the Map card they end their turn. The regions include Temples that let players potentially gain Legendary weapons or items during the night phase. Spell Obelisks allow players to learn spells during the night phase, Goblin Portals which allow players to fight a Goblin during the night phase and Mushroom Grottos that have an immediate action  and are not activated during the night phase.

When moving through a Map card that contains an aggressive Goblin (red side) the player must spend one power and flips the Goblin to its passive side.

Night Phase

During the Night Phase in Tiny Epic Quest, players will take turns rolling five Adventure Dice, attempting to gain items by exploring Temples, learn spells at the Obelisks and kill Goblins at the Portals. The start player rolls the dice and resolves them in a specific order;

1. Any Goblin symbols rolled deal damage which is distributed clockwise starting with the start player. So, if three Goblin symbols are rolled in a two-player game, player one takes one damage, player two takes one damage and player one takes another damage.
2. Any Power symbols rolled grants players Power up to their Maximum. This is distributed in the same way as the damage above.
3. Any Mushroom symbols rolled Conjure Magic. The Magic token is advanced one space on the Magic track for each Mushroom rolled. Depending on the amount of magic conjured and the spell attempting to be learned will determine if the players are successful or not. For example, if a player is trying to learn a spell that is two levels above their current spell level the Magic token must advance to the second level on the Magic track. However, the higher the Magic token progresses the more negative effects of the dice roll occur. The Goblins do more damage, the Power symbols don't give Power etc. If a player is trying to learn a spell two levels above their current level and the Magic track only moves up one level before the player rests then the no spells are learnt that turn.
4. Any Torches and Scrolls are used to explore Temples and all players can use these symbols simultaneously. The Temples have a certain requirement for the number of Torches or Scrolls to advance through. For example, the Ice Temple requires one torch, then one more torch and then two torches and then a further two torches. Players can spend two power to "Forge Ahead" - effectively giving themselves another torch or scroll.
5. All players can use all the Punch Symbols to attack Goblins. For every Punch symbol rolled one damage is inflicted by each player (not each Hero) to a Goblin. If a player is attacking two Goblins they can't use one symbol to inflict one damage on both Goblins. If the Goblin is attacked five times it is killed and the player takes the token from the board.

When the dice have been resolved they are passed to the next player that rolls them and resolves them in the same manner as listed above. Play continues this way until all players have flipped the Adventure Card to the Rest side. When Resting you are safe from the Goblin Attacks, but don't get to take part in resolving the dice (i.e. gaining Power or Torches/Scrolls).

When a player has decided to rest any Heroes on Portals, Obelisks or the last space of the Temple must return to the castle and receives the corresponding reward (Item, magic spell etc). Any Heroes on a Castle, Grotto or Temple track that is not the last space must remain. Players receive one Health or one Power for each Hero returned to the castle.

If a player has killed a Goblin they increase their Max Health by one for each Goblin killed. For every spell level learnt players increase their Max Power by one.

Each Legendary item requires the player to explore two different temples in a specific order to obtain the item. Once the first temple has been explored for one of the items it is moved along the track to remind players that they have completed that temple and can move on to the second temple.