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“Magical cowboy cat vampires with a pyramid-robot companion fighting a magical dinosaur warlock with antlers…” Have I grabbed your attention yet?
Good! If you're like me and the weird and wonderful tends to pop out at you like a sore thumb, then Grimslingers is by far a game that both surprised me with how wacky, albeit well put together, the gameplay and overarching theme is. So, as per the norm, armed with a bottle of scotch, a sheriff's hat and some deputies, we saddled up to explore what the weird and treacherous world of Grimslinger had in store for us.
What is Grimslingers?
Designed and illustrated by Stephen Gibson, published by Greenbrier Games, Grimslingers is a western sci-fi style gunslinging card game set within a fantasy style world filled to the brim with magic. Players can choose between two different game modes; they either work co-operatively throughout a narrative campaign composed of four separate 60 to 90-minute play sessions, or go head to head in teams or a free for all using a wide selection of spells, items and abilities that they can pick up throughout the duel. (In Steve's case, he likes to throw human hearts at people... Because why not?)
Depending on whether or not you and your friends want to delve into a narrative or beat the snot out of one another in a competitive sling of guns and magic, Grimslingers has you covered on both fields. Yet, even so, the question boils down to this; what exactly is contained within such a small box to fulfil such a broad variety of gameplay?
Good question. Let's take a look, shall we?
Components and Set-Up
Despite the rather small size of the Grimslingers box, there is a whole lot to unpack from this tiny gem. The regular box contains the following;
- One rulebook.
- One story booklet.
- One Valley of Death map.
- One red meeple.
- One six-sided dice.
- Six anima cards.
- 12 archetype cards.
- 44 creature cards.
- 10 grimslinger cards.
- One Hank the Hunter card.
- 77 item cards.
- 20 number and event cards.
- 62 spell cards.
- 30 target cards.
- 18 tracker cards.
...Yeah, that's a whole load to unpack from one tiny box. All of these components do fit directly back into the box after gameplay (Albeit there are a few issues with sorting if you are a bit of a stickler for keeping a game box tidy, but I will get to that later). Once you have all of these individual elements split up into their consecutive piles, you're ready to play either game mode.
If you decide to play the co-op variant of the game, you simply have to hand each player a grimslinger, anima, and a set of trackers for both the anima and grimslinger, then a full set of each of the basic spells. The same applies to the versus games, albeit with the removal of the random encounters, the map, the story booklet and the little red meeple (Although he's still nice to keep around for moral support as you get gunned down by your fellow “Comrades”. Little red meeple will never betray you, unlike Steve...)
Still, once all of this is done, you are practically ready to play either game modes.
(Note: The booklet even outlines games in which you can ease yourself into the Grimslingers world, wherein you can remove the element of items and other content in order to just get used to the magic system in place.)
How it Plays
Depending on what style of game mode you want to play will vary on the gameplay experience you will receive.
With the co-op gameplay, players will experience a fully-fledged and written narrative, where they will set off across the valley of death in order to complete objectives over the span of four separate 60-90 minute games, each time gaining new resources, magic and other objects along the way. This version of the game focuses drastically on teamwork, hand building and tends to last for a fair while, giving players who have time on their hands the freedom to play a game that could take them a few play-sessions to get through.
If, however, you would rather work against your companions, or you simply don't have the investment of time to play a co-op variant of the game, you can also play duels. This version of gameplay is usually a lot faster and incredibly tactical, bluffing against your opponents while attempting to eliminate your target, as well as protect yourself from oncoming assault.
All in all however, each version of the game is a fairly unique, well-built and structurally sound card game, with each card bringing something unique to the gameplay.
Final Thoughts on Grimslingers
Usually games that boast multiple game modes and a variety of playstyles using one simple mechanic tend to be either stretched too thin or have less replay-ability due to such a loose mechanic, however in the case of Grimslingers this is nowhere to be found.
With such a well-put together mechanic, incredible use of narrative design and progression within its co-op storyline, alongside the fun that can be had with duels regardless of how many times you play it, Grimslingers is by far a weirdly rewarding, incredibly fun hand management game that I would highly recommend to those of you looking for something to fulfil your “magical-cowboys wielding energy swords and spirit guns while bending the elements to your will” needs!
