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Let’s be honest, in these troubled times it’s easy to see why “Futuristic Dystopia” is practically a genre in and of itself. According to films, literature, video games the future is… well all too often pear-shaped. What this says about our collective culture I’m not sure, but when it comes to boardgames, I tend to steer clear of grim-dark, depressing futures. It may seem shallow, but I look to gaming for an escape from real world problems and I just don’t need any more doom and gloom in my life. So I was initially dubious about Earthborne Rangers. Set thousands of years after an ecological disaster, here is a world where the remnants of humanity had survived underground and had only just begun to repopulate the surface. So far so Fallout. The key difference, though, is that this future world has managed to recover and instead of an irradiated wasteland, humans re-emerging to resettle a lush and verdant wilderness. So instead of a survivalist game where players fight to extract scarce resources, Earthborne Rangers presents a community trying to learn from mistakes of the past and set up their fledgling civilisation in harmony with the environment rather than simply exploit it. Not a mutant cannibal or Fallout shelter in sight!
So, in need of an all-too-rare shot of hope in humanity, I took the plunge and bought Earthborne Rangers back in late December as a birthday present to myself. Because I’m worth it. And I am here to tell you that I am very glad I did as, at the risk of spoiling the rest of the review, it’s fantastic and has taken up more of my gaming time in the last 6 months than all my other boardgames combined. I can honestly say that not since Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion has a boardgame felt quite so instantaneously addictive and immersive. More surprisingly, I have spent most of those hours playing alone without becoming bored or distracted.
But great though Earthborne Rangers is, there have been a few annoying mosquitoes on my otherwise picturesque trek around the Valley. So let me try to give you an overview of the world, mechanics and feel of the game and why, despite its flaws, Earthborne Rangers is already likely to be my game of the year. Then you can judge for yourself if you are ready to join the Rangers.
A View of the Valley
Earthborne Rangers is a customizable cooperative card game for 1-4 players, similar in style to the “Living Card Games” that Fantasy Flight make, such as Arkham Horror. Earthborne Rangers consists of different decks which will comprise the players’ characters, their location as they travel around and people, animals, plants or obstacles that they encounter along the way.
Arkham Horror (and the Lord of the Rings LCG) are story-driven cooperative games, where a Player’s choices will influence the next game, for good or ill. While playing, certain choices might add characters or equipment to a character’s deck or steer the players to different outcomes. While these decisions are important, the major events in each mission are set points which need to be completed to continue the game. The narrative can branch off but nevertheless the overall arc of this story is linear in nature. Earthborne Rangers takes a different approach by offering an open world for players to explore in the space of thirty game “days” which represent gaming sessions- basically when your deck runs out, out day is officially over (although you can finish sessions earlier if you choose). Hence, while there are missions to uncover and complete and an overall campaign story does reveal itself, you are rarely compelled to complete missions and certainly not in any specific order. Once players have made it past the first, beginner mission, they are free to go out and explore the valley, visit different locations, uncover side quests or simply wander round seeing what they find. The main story will still unfold, but in theory you can just let this go on without you and carry on exploring the Valley- though you might get some dirty looks from characters you meet along the way! In other words, Earthborne Rangers attempts to be a card game version of videogames like Zelda: Breath of the wild or Elder Scrolls games where players decide what they want to do with their gaming time. And, on the whole, it is remarkably successful in achieving this.
How to Play
The key to every game of Earthborne Rangers is the player deck. At the start of a campaign, players will each construct a deck of thirty cards to represent their Ranger. They will choose from sets representing Backgrounds, Specialities and Personality traits to try and create an individual Ranger tailored to their playing style with whom they will navigate the challenges of the Valley. The rulebook encourages you to try a little roleplay here, choosing personality traits for instance that match the sort of Ranger you want to play. Personality cards have titles such as “Bold” or “Thorough” but in reality are the least thematic elements of the game as they tend to simply add symbols to tests that Rangers will take (more on that later). Background and Speciality cards, on the other hand, provide Rangers with access to equipment, one off events called “Moments” and permanent effects which are very much in keeping with the type of Ranger. Shepherds, for instance have a number of Companions they can add to their deck who will stay on the table once played and offer Rangers ongoing support and actions. While Artificers have a wide range of tech and gear to assist them along the way.
One important element for each Ranger to choose is the Aspect card which will determine the amount of Energy they have in four key areas of their character: Focus, Fitness, Compassion and Awareness. Players choose an aspect card with a value for each of these Aspects from one to three and this determines how much of each energy type that they will have every turn to play their cards and complete tests. Cards in Ranger decks all have a set energy cost to play, however tests tend to vary and give players a choice of how much energy they want to spend. Players can also commit cards from their hand if they have the right symbols to improve their chances of the test being successful however one energy is always needed as a minimum. Hence when a Ranger’s supply of energy is completely depleted or they do not have the correct cards to use the energy they have remaining, they will generally need to rest and end their turn; although some abilities on permanent cards may be free or may increase a Rangers energy pool in some way. This is why choosing an Aspect card is so important. You need to ensure you have enough energy to play the cards in your deck. There is no point having an aspect with three Awareness energy, say, if your deck consists mainly of cards which require Fitness and Focus to use.
First day on the Job
The Valley map details various locations linked by paths through different terrain features and is essential to navigating through the game. To travel from one location to another, players create a Path deck of event cards made up of two sets of cards, one based on the
Location you are travelling to and one for the corresponding terrain your journey will pass through. Location cards tend to relate to the Specific towns and features in the valley. Some of these locations are generic and you will draw three cards randomly from the “Valley” deck to represent people and things you could encounter anywhere on your journey. However some location are unique and have their own cards representing the people, buildings and sites of interest that you will only find there.
The terrain decks represent the different types of challenges that travelling can throw at you; including different fauna and flora of the regions as well as obstacles and geographical feature. When a location and terrain is shuffled together these become the Path deck and each Ranger will draw from this at the start of their turn to represent travelling along the way. The Path deck, then, represents the challenges Rangers will overcome and the obstacles that may prevent you completing your journey. But it also offers interesting side quests, opportunities to heal or get cards back from your “fatigue pile” (basically, cards lost from your Ranger deck through negative effects in the game) or even ways to swap cards into and out of your deck as you progress through the valley.
Path Cards drawn are placed in one of two locations- either “along the way”, representing a nearby location ahead of all Rangers; or “within reach” which represents directly in front of the specific Ranger… or “all up in your grill”, as Ranger kids probably like to say.
The Path cards will provide the main elements of your Ranger Playing area, especially as they build up over time, however there are other important cards which help to create a more interesting and immersive playing environment.
Location Location Location
Firstly, there is a specific location card for every destination point on the map. This will show a Progress target that Rangers will need to reach (represented by progress tokens) in order to “clear” the location, ie to allow Rangers to move on to another location. Progress tokens can be placed in a variety of ways depending on each Ranger’s deck, but the most common way is by completing a Traverse test. Location cards may also have unique and specific additional tests printed on them which Rangers can choose to carry out to aid them on their journey. For example, a mountain location might have a “Scout” test that allow them to use the vantage point to survey their surroundings. In game mechanics terms this means the player who successfully completes this test can look through, and change the order of, cards coming up in the path deck. Once the location card is cleared, Rangers can then choose to travel to another destination at the end of the turn, clearing aside any path cards, including those still left in play, and create a new path deck for featuring your new chosen location. This can be a huge relief as it often means that trickier beasts and features are immediately discarded as you move on avoiding these threats.
Weathering the Storm
Another feature is the Weather card. This will change as you progress through the valley, depending on the day of the mission. Your first few days will be in bright sunshine, however things soon get a little more tricky as you progress through the 30 game “days” of the campaign and the weather occasionally takes a turn for the worst. Weather cards will have unique features on them as well as Challenge effects (more on them later) which can generally make life harder, or occasionally easier, for the Rangers in their journey. In addition to adding a little chaos to the game, Weather cards also provide a neat way to adjust the level of challenge that the Rangers will face. Too easy? Try crossing those Mountains in a thunderstorm. Struggling a little? Then given yourself a break in the clouds and pull out the Perfect Day card and suddenly the game becomes a little more forgiving. All in all it is a lovely, thematic way of adjusting the difficulty setting to match the players’ tastes.
More importantly however the weather cards, location cards and path cards help to create a living, changing environment for Rangers to interact in and with. This isn’t new, although the world building alone is rich and charming, but this is often a key feature of many story driven card games.
Challenge Accepted
Apart from playing their cards, taking tests are the main way in which Rangers will interact with the world around them. As previously mentioned, whenever a Ranger takes a test, they will spend energy, commit cards if they wish and will try to gain a certain amount of success depending on what they are trying to do. This could be putting progress on the Location to help clear the area; cause Harm to a predator to scare it away or simply communicate with a person or animal to try and convince them to help. To prevent these tests from becoming a simple maths exercise, the Challenge deck provides a little uncertainty to proceedings. This is a deck of thirty cards from which a Ranger must draw randomly every time they take a test. Each card in the deck has a value for the four Aspect energies ranging from -2 to +2. Since all tests relate to one of the different energy types, players will never be entirely sure how much they need to commit to guarantee that their test is successful. However, the most innovative and possibly fiendish part of the deck is the presence on each card of challenge effects.
Every Challenge card has one of three symbols represented by a coloured band at the bottom of the card. Each card in the path deck, and many other cards such as location, weather cards and even some mission cards, will have one or more challenge effects written on the bottom, which can trigger when a challenge card with the corresponding symbol is drawn. These are often thematic in nature, for instance in the presence of a Doe, a Buck may attack a rival or a Predator will attack a prey animal that is in the same location. They may even attack character cards that are in play or a fellow Ranger. The more path cards that are on the table the more events that can be triggered and the more unpredictable each test becomes. Cards in play will often create a domino effect, being moved around areas of the table and triggering other effects in the process. This can mean that even a successful test can have several unintended consequences depending on where you are and which creatures and features are sharing your world at the time. It makes for an unpredictable and organic ecosystem and feels genuinely unique in what is essentially a card game.
Controlling the Narrative
The final important aspect of Earthborne Rangers that I haven’t touched on is the Campaign Guide which Rangers will use at various times throughout the adventure. Every character, mission, special location, as well as certain major events also, will reference a paragraph in the Campaign Guide. This can add flavour, humour and often important mission information to the adventure and is meant to be read out loud for everyone. This makes Earthborne Rangers feel at times like an old fashioned ‘choose your own adventure book’, with decisions or choices offered which then link to different sections of the book. However, the text reading never becomes overwhelming or intrusive, as it can do with some other campaign games, and in may cases you can skip them (if you are revisiting the same location and nothing has changed). It helps that the text in the book, and on the cards for that matter, is generally very well written so never feels like a slog. Over all the places and people in Earthborne Rangers feel so well thought through that even minor characters as appear to have their own life outside the adventure and while they are not always welcome encounters, they rarely feel forced or jar with the surroundings. Given that the main mechanic for creating the world is shuffling decks of cards, this in itself is really impressive.
Trail Mix
I said at the beginning of the review that Earthborne Rangers isn’t perfect and this is certainly the case as there are a few frustrating and at times infuriating elements tot the game which could put off more casual players.
Firstly, and to my mind most importantly, there is scant information in the rules to help a beginner to create their first Ranger deck. This is the first and perhaps most important decision a player will make in Earthborne Rangers, certainly in the early part of the game and it can be daunting. The number of cards available to choose from is impressive but intimidatingly large. While the text on cards is fairly straightforward to understand the sheer number of card effects and descriptions means it isn’t immediately obvious how cards will interact with each other or how often those effects will be needed. In the end my first deck was based as much on the pretty art work (and it is lovely) as on the way different cards can synergise or help other Rangers.
There is a prologue available which purports to guide players through the process of creating their first deck before they embark on the main journey. Honestly though, it does no such thing, and thanks to some ambiguous wording and at least one typo, it succeeds in confusing the issue far more than helping. My advice for any new player is to ignore the prologue entirely and simply build a deck that you think will be most fun to play and start on the main adventure. Then if it isn’t working for you, swap cards in and out as you see fit. It may not be in keeping with the spirit of a role playing game (it is the equivalent of changing your basic stats on the fly) but honestly, in the absence of better advice about how different cards will impact your game, it is far preferable than struggling through early game with a hopelessly imbalanced deck.
My second issue is with some basic errors in text on the cards and particularly in the Campaign Guide. Given the sheer size of the game it is not surprising that some mistakes have been missed however the first edition of the game contains errors which can make missions and general gameplay grind to a halt in certain scenarios. Luckily however, the Campaign Guide and the card erratas are all available free on a website. Until the second edition comes out at the end of the year, I strongly recommend that new players use the online version of the Guide when playing. In fact the online website has a number of free resources which new players will find useful, including some premade Ranger decks for players who need more help in the beginning, or just don’t like deck creation. Overall I would say that, despite these minor issues, the aftercare support for Earthborne Rangers is excellent and a sure sign that the developers have a real passion for their creation.
My final criticism for Earthborne Rangers is actually a fairly minor one but probably threw me the most. That is the way in which the Path deck and travelling works. As I said previously, the path deck is made up of the place you are travelling to and the terrain you travelled through. Yet basically, putting this deck together and gaining the location is the equivalent of arriving at the destination. Any location specific events or missions trigger before you have even tackled a single card there let alone put progress on the location card! This caught me out so many times in the early part of the game as I would put the wrong terrain with the wrong location deck. It just didn’t seem thematically correct to say that you automatically arrive at a place but then have to “clear” it to leave. Ultimately, this didn’t in any way spoil my game play, it just jarred in what was an otherwise intuitive game system.
Final Thoughts: Go, Go Flower Rangers!
As you can probably tell, I could wax lyrical about this game endlessly. I haven’t even touched on all of the cool game play systems, such as Ranger injuries, fatigue or upgrade cards and frankly I don’t want to. Part of the joy of Earthborne Rangers has been exploring the game world and finding out how things work for myself. And there is no doubt in my mind that this is intentional on the part of the game designers, and it is this spirit of discovery which perhaps led to the less than comprehensive rules that accompanies the game, and why I cant really be too critical. The makers of Earthborne Rangers clearly want you to start playing as soon as possible, as if they can’t wait for you to try it. One of the lovely things in the rule book is the mention of the “Delightful Rule” which tells you everything you need to know about the games philosophy: That is, if ever you get stuck and can’t find a rule or explanation for what to do in game, simply make the choice that works out best for you and the other Rangers. It is such a nice touch and frankly makes up for any errors or errata that may have been missed in the text.
Despite any gripes and frustrations I have fallen for the Valley hard. In spite of the times I cursed the Challenge deck throwing up yet another -2; or feeling my heart sink as a card I hate reappears in the path deck like a recurring blister (I’m looking at you Whispering Grass!). Despite the gradual realisation my deck is unbalanced with three quarters of the campaign to go or my confusion over mission instructions due to a missed typo. To be honest, maybe it’s in part because of these issues that this game has taken hold of my imagination and hasn’t yet let go. At the time, you groan and grumble, maybe throw a petulant rude hand gesture in the direction of the path deck, but just like with the best trail walks, afterwards you just feel good about yourself for working through it and carrying on (“ nice try Caustic Mulcher but you messed with the wrong Ranger this time!”).
So it’s not for everyone. Obviously! It’s not a game you can easily play in one sitting (although the website has some one-day missions for Rangers who want a short adventure). If you don’t enjoy co-op or solo play. If you are not keen on lots of in game reading. If you prefer games with a darker tone, aggressive player interaction or you simply don’t enjoy open world exploration then I don’t think Earthborne Rangers is likely to change your mind. But for anyone else, especially someone who needs a refreshing alternative to the dark foreboding future that is often on offer to gamers, I can thoroughly and whole heartedly recommend joining the Rangers. I’ll see you on the trail.