Kinfire Delve – Vainglory’s Grotto

Welcome to The World of Atios

Starless nights have returned and threaten the town of Din’Lux and its inhabitants.

The Head of the Seekers Guild has entrusted a mission upon you –

To venture beyond the city gates to the well known as Vainglory’s Grotto and seek out Vainglory, a capricious being who treasures beauty and power. If left unchecked this legendary fiend and its otherworldly minions will rise and unleash their terror on the overworld. Your task – to delve deep into Vainglory’s Grotto seek out The Master and destroy him.

Overview

Kinfire Delve is a series of standalone games that you can mix and match to either expand your challenge or combine to increase the player count to 4 players.

On their own each set is designed for 1-2 players (cooperative). As someone who tends to play a lot of solo board games I am focussing this review on the solo mode only, although the cooperative mode is not significantly different.

The game itself is much smaller and condensed compared to its’ parent game, Kinfire Chronicles, which is a huge, sprawling and immersive role playing game set in the same fantasy world, designed by Kevin Wilson, best known for games like Arkham Horror and Descent.

Vainglory’s Grotto sees you, the seeker, attempting to delve to the bottom of the well, represented in this game by a deck of cards. In order to reach the end and face The Master in the final battle you will have to vanquish a variety of foes, overcome challenges and avoid traps using tactical card placement. You’ll need a bit of luck on your side as the roll of the die can also play an integral part in the final outcome.

The Box and Components

The box is a small affair with absolutely gorgeous artwork which runs like a babbling stream throughout the Kinfire series of games. The fantasy themed artwork really works for me personally and it reminiscent of AD&D, intricately drawn to evoke mystery and enchantment without ever transgressing into the realms of cartoon and anime.

Card quality is extremely good; robust enough to withstand endless gaming and the iconography on each card is clear, simplistic and colour coded, although in low lighting I do find myself reaching for my part-time spectacles in order to define between the pastel blues and greens.

A 10 sided die is used here as a hit point counter and there are 4 custom dice containing the symbols and colours depicted on the cards.

The card damage counters are nothing to scream about but are sufficient and workmanlike for their intended purpose and do not detract from the overall look and feel. Everything fits neatly back into the box and there would be ample space to drop in all of the components from one of the other sets in this series if you wanted to expand, thus making this a very portable game that you can take away on holiday with you. A small coffee table is all that you’d need to drop this on to and you’d still have plenty of space left over for your coffee mug.

Game Setup

Setting up Vainglory’s Grotto is a childishly simple process which takes me roughly 2 minutes to assemble. Choose from one of the 2 seekers, each of whom has their own elegantly designed set of unique cards. They are easy to define from one another which makes life so much easier to sort out if the cards get mixed or combined at any point.

There are 3 different Master cards included which ensures that each game will play differently and the Seekers will never know what awaits them until they reach the final showdown.

Gameplay/Rulebook

Believe me when I tell you that i’m not one for ultra heavy board games, suffice to say that when i do stumble upon opportunities to get a game to the table i rarely have the time or the inclination to devote hours and hours fathoming out how to play the game. If i have a couple of hours of an evening to sit down and play i need to know that i can set up, quickly refresh my ageing brain of the mechanics and finish the game before my bed starts to beckon.

Anyway, i was able to get to grips with Kinfire Delve within 10 minutes of setting off. Yes, i made terrible choices, blindly tripped into futile situations and naively hurtled into battes i could never win. But it was through these mistakes that i found the game hammering at my mind to immerse myself in the strategies and become at one with Vainglory’s Grotto.

The rulebook is straightforward and easy to understand, leading you step by step through each phase of the game. The information on each card is clear and without debate so i never found myself once having to flick through the book or jumping onto Youtube to clarify an action.

Gameplay is uncomplicated but that doesn’t been that there is nothing much going on at all. Every action that you make will have some kind of result or counter action so moves have to be meticulously planned out rather than opting for a bull in a china shop approach.

And to top it all off, whatever moves you decide to make amy all depend on the roll of the die, lady luck must be on your side. Yes, calculated risks are involved but i’m not one of these gamers that believes that there should never be an element of chance in a game, as chance and fortune is all part of our everyday lives.

I’ve never won the lottery. But i still could.

A.I

Many solo games get bogged down with complex tasks between turns that seem to take away the joys of taking your actual turn. Here, with Vainglory’s Grotto, that bugbear doesn’t exist (although there may actually be a Bugbear in the game) and you are able to quite fluidly attempt a challenge, take the rewards or suffer the consequences of your failures and move on to your next obstacle. Cards can be replenished, but at a cost, so use them wisely or before you can say Delve you’ll be consumed with exhaustion.

Final Thoughts

In review i would highly recommend Kinfire Delve Vainglory’s Grotto to anyone that likes a relatively quick to play, easy to set up game that has enough working parts to make it interesting and thought enhancing without it ever feeling tedious or too simplistic in its mechanics. Age recommendation is 14+ which is about right but could easily be played by people younger i’d say. The games i have played have lasted roughly 1 hour which i believe is about the optimum time for a solo game. The theme and backstory is there but it’s not overpowering or bewildering – Dodge stuff, fight stuff, clear stuff, get through the pack, kill the baddy and save the entire planet.

I find it extremely portable and lightweight in more ways than one and a pretty easy teach even to inexperienced or casual players.The table footprint is small enough to sneak out in a caravan and amazingly you get a decent amount of game for your pennies and the prospect of getting the reasonably priced expansions for character, plot and event variety gives Vainglory’s Grotto even more clout than a cave troll.