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A post apocalyptic alien world, resplendent with alien scavenger tribes, mutant warlords, giant crab monsters and weird technology. Where day brings sun powered radiation and night brings burning pools of acid. It is one of the weirder and more unusual otherworlds that you can visit in a Shadows of Brimstone game but as with most of the more difficult otherworlds it also comes with its fair share of rewards and advantages. As a deluxe otherworld (Blasted Wastes) it also comes with a full complement of figures including five different enemy types along with variations, loot, events, settlement types and more.
The World
The Blasted Wastes is unique among the current otherworlds in that it does not make use of the standard mine tiles. Instead you have the canyon with acts as a sort of otherworld lite. It fully integrates with the mine tiles and has its own card to be drawn as an otherworld option. The canyons are brighter that the mines and more vibrant but also come with a higher chance of being ambushed by enemies. It also has its own selection of cards including artifacts and loot.
On the reverse you have the blasted wastes themselves. An irradiated post apocalyptic world run by scavenger tribes and possessing many dangerous features. Environmental dangers change depending on the day/night cycle. This generally ranges from heat and radiation dangers during daytime to acid pools during night. It also comes with its own complement of items and artifacts. But unusually for an otherworld it also comes with new town types.
You can choose to head to a scavenger settlement after a mission in the Blasted Wastes. These have their own archetypes to determine the type of settlement and can range from a lawful town to ones more akin to raiders. These also have some very beneficial items, events and mini-quests you can embark on. For instance, you can collect alien life-forms and hand them into the barber surgeon or get a bionic leg to replace an existing injury. Or perhaps you would prefer a laser scope on your flintlock musket?
There is a lot of choice and it expands greatly on the existing available content while staying within the same whacky confines of Brimstone. The canyons are a little more grounded but come with their own threats. You can be ambushed by ghostly tribal warriors or find the remains of cavalry soldiers who may yield their powerful items.
Component Quality
The components are of a high quality. The tiles are nicely printed with some thematic art for both the canyons and wastes. Although the two sides are fairly similar in how they appear due to them both being a sandy outside area. One more yellow than the other being the main difference.
The miniatures are good and have some optional components as well as some optional posing to break up the monopose nature some of them have. There is also a good variety of enemies included in terms of visual design. The cards and supporting components are also of a solid quality in both printing and artwork terms. The cards continue the theme found in the ‘Wild West’ themed core sets and the generic artifact/loot cards are designed to be used with that genre as opposed to the Japanese ‘Forbidden Fortress’ core set so they are styled to that aesthetic.
Integration
The core components are designed for the Western setting but all the components are fully compatible with any core set. It depends mostly on whether you want to mix everything together for maximum randomness or make a tailored experience. The setting of Shadows of Brimstone means that anything can potentially turn up in the wrong time and setting and that is part of the main charm that you can find a laser gun in an ancient city or a musket in a post apocalyptic setting.
From a mechanical viewpoint the Blasted Wastes offers an absolute wealth of new gameplay content to advance your character. Beyond the typical loot and artifacts, the new towns and missions can allow some very unique developments. The Blasted Wastes towns offer a lot of special options to level up and gain new gear or perks.
In terms of missions you also get some nice variety from the usual style. There is a particularly grueling wave defence style missions with a large preset layout in the Wastes as well as scenarios for starting in the canyons instead of the mines. Which is a welcome break from the repeating dark corridors.
Downsides
The main downside of the Blasted Wastes expansion is that it is not particularly accessible at lower levels. The content although technically scalable is a lot more challenging than that found in the base game. This is also a good case for why the full randomness of mixing every Shadows of Brimstone set together is to the detriment of the game. It is much better kept for characters of level three onwards.
This is also true of the new missions which are punishing if you are not prepared. These issues can be almost entirely mitigated by keeping the expansion separate until you feel like a challenge and it would be unfair to say it is strictly a bad thing as the challenge is certainly part of the fun.
The other negatives are the same that exist in the core sets. The art is somewhat polarizing and the xp progression system is best ignored or pooled to avoid certain character builds levelling up far beyond their comrades ever have a chance to. It also bloats what is already a table dominating game into an even larger experience and storage solutions are definitely something to figure out.
Conclusions
Out of all the otherworlds the Blasted Wastes is probably the best one to get in terms of design and gameplay. It is worth it for the canyons alone and the feeling is more like getting two otherworlds for the price of one deluxe expansion set. The new towns are also a step beyond the other otherworld offerings and it really adds another entire variable to the post game downtime with new activities and items to buy.
There is also good enemy variation and the new foes have some interesting new mechanics designed to give more developed characters a harder time. It does however feel a lot more like mid-late game content rather than something for new characters so if you have only just picked up a core set then maybe hold off or go for a less intense otherworld expansion such as Derelict Ship or Caverns of Cinder.
That concludes our thoughts on Shadows of Brimstone: Blasted Wastes. Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and tag us on social media @zatugames. To buy Shadows of Brimstone: Blasted Wastes today click here!