USD ($)
EUR (€)
Now I have to admit here that I love pulp fiction. As an older gamer who grew up at the tail end of pulp fiction, I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to play the game. The Phantom, for those who are not aware, was the first hero in tights. They made their first appearance in 1936, and continue to be published today. Not to mention the movie with Billy Zane from 1996.
Setting Up
This game is a pure joy to set up for a solo play. It sets up in minutes. Tear down takes about 10 minutes, as you need to order the cards to fit the narrative nature of the game. While the cards were not as high quality as some games, I used sleeves to ensure a feel and texture that I prefer to handle - and of course to protect the cards. There are a few tokens that fit nicely into an included bag; however, I chose to use a geek box for easier access and set-up during play.
There are three stories included with the core game. I played Year One, which was included in the box, as well as the Upcoming Expansion Terror In Mawitaan. Set the hero board down for your legend. You can play with The Phantom, Diana, or both. Then separate and shuffle your decks, into the wound cards and the unique deck that you get with both legends.
The Game
The game is played in phases. Once you are familiar with the rules, select a story. Each story is self-contained with the narrative deck. You start reading the first part and just follow the instructions, which may include additional cards to your legends deck, cards for the destiny deck, and object cards. Once you set up the game, you start through the various phases.
You start each turn with the recovery phase, where you can heal wounds or untap exhausted allies. You then draw the destiny card that needs to be addressed during your turn, or turns through the objective. Year One, you deal with Slave Girls that need rescuing, while having to fend off Slavers, all while trying to destroy the slavers' camp. How you deal with them is decided through the preparation and action phase.
First, you draw up to three cards. You can use them either a resource, take a token that matches the resource, or use a resource to play the card for its action, item, or ally. There is a wide variety of cards that help you draw more cards. Look at the destiny or wound decks so you can plan ahead. The most valuable token is the skull token, as you need this to initiate any combat. This gives you a base attack of one. After this, you draw your next card. If there are any skulls or diamonds you will add one for each of those on the card. Once the wounds exceed the Slavers' life, they are knocked out.
The Phantom never kills, or is killed. But they can be knocked out by taking too many wounds, which you need to manage during the game. If you survive and achieve the objective, such as rescuing the slave girls and destroying the slaver camp, you move on to the next part of the story, which is hunting down the Ultimate Bad Guy.
Extra Features
Once you play the game, you can of course build or modify the deck that comes with the game. There are rules for customization. There is loot that you can gain for the next game, as well as achievement rules which can give you advantages during the game you play. I played on the recommend newbie level, which does not use the loot or achievements. Not using these did not impact any of the games I played. You can still do well on the easier levels if you just use what you get through the stories.
One of the highlights of the game is the pulp art that is included with the cards. If you love that old style of watercolour pulp art, the game uses licensed art from the actual storyboards from the original artists. This for me was the biggest factor in wanting to play the game. However, I can say I was super surprised at how much I really liked the game. So much so I asked to playtest the expansion and was granted the privilege of getting the Print and Play files.
Overall this game was a heck of a lot of fun, the game mechanics could be applied to just about any pulp hero, and I personally would love to see The Shadow or The Green Hornet taken up. This is a fantastic gaming alternative to some of the bigger publishers who have games that play similarly. The Phantom will not be leaving my personal Collection anytime soon.