Set A Watch Board Game
The Kingdom must once again be protected from dark Creatures that threaten its safety. The Acolytes are plotting to resurrect the most dangerous and vile Unhallowed that your team has just defeated.
Players: 1-4
Game Time: 45-80min
Complexity: Low
Age: 13+
Release Year: 2018
It is time for the noble Adventurers to unite and defeat the wicked Creatures leading this scheme. It all comes down to four mighty Adventurers who must visit the nine crucial locations and put an end to this horror once and for all. The Adventurers have unique abilities that they must combine to stop the Unhallowed from being resurrected and wreaking unimaginable havoc on the world.
Made by Mike Gnade, Todd Walsh, Andreas Rocha, and Robert P. Schneider, Set a Watch is a unique board game for 1-4 players. Your role is to work with your team and conquer the Acolytes in nine targeted locations to prevent the release of the Unhallowed. But, your ability to defeat the Creatures and win the game relies on seamless teamwork, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
Published by Rock Manor Games, Set a Watch has quickly become one of the most popular cooperative puzzle games out there. The game originally got crowdfunding on Kickstarter and now, with its versatility and unique design, it will quickly win you over when you give it a try.
Gameplay
Seat a Watch must always be played by four adventurers. So if there are four players, each player is assigned one Adventurer. If there are two players, each player gets two Adventurers. But, if there are three players, then there must be one flex Adventurer that the player in Camp controls while they are on Watch.
You can choose the game’s difficulty level by varying the number of Summon cards. For example, you can select one Summon card for easy, two for moderate, three for difficult, and four Summon cards for very difficult.
You must also select the campfire level at the beginning of the game. You can either start the Campfire at a standard seven Firewood value or make the game more interesting by rolling the dice to determine this value.
This card game’s main plot is that the Adventurers will travel to nine different locations to defeat evil creatures. So the game is divided into nine fundamental rounds. In each round, one Adventurer is selected by dice rolling to stay at Camp and perform Camp duties and rest, while the rest of the Adventurers form the “watch.” The Adventurers on the Watch must protect the players from the evil Creatures.
The player that is in the Camp does not participate in active combat. Instead, they place their rolled dice on an available slot on the camp, the Runes, or on the Adventure board and perform actions that can assist the Watch. Additionally, they can also refresh an exhausted card for free.
Camp actions include chopping wood, scouting ahead, checking the map, healing, and equipping. Besides this, each adventurer also has unique Camp action that they can use once per round.
While in the camp, you must also activate the runes by rolling the dice for actions such as Seal, Vanquish and Bolster.
All Adventurers must go to Camp and rest twice during the entire game. When you go to Camp the first time, you take a rest token and put it on your board. When you go to Camp the second time, you flip over the rest token to indicate that you have gone twice into camp. At the end of the game, all players go into the Watch in the ninth round.
The players on the Watch must battle evil Creatures to protect the location. The number of Creatures you must defeat is written on your Location card. The Creatures are set up in a “Line” accordingly and must be defeated one by one.
The firewood value determines how many Creatures are revealed in the light of the Campfire. And you must always start your combat by displaying the Creature closest to the campfire. Then, the Adventurers in the Watch must defeat the Creature and send them to the Graveyard using their Ability cards and dice. Players can use direct attacks by combining or assigning their die values to the revealed Creature. If the value meets or exceeds the Creature’s health, it will be defeated. You can also exhaust one of your Ability cards when battling with a Creature. But you can only use each card once per round. Additionally, you can use your passive abilities to defeat the Creature as long as they are facing up.
If the Adventurers on the Watch use up all their actions while the Creatures on the Location remain undefeated, the players must add the Creature card to the Horde pile. Then you must exhaust cards from the Adventurers on Watch.
You can move on to the next location if all the Creatures have been defeated and the Adventurers on Watch have not been exhausted. If an Adventurer has finished all their Ability cards at the beginning of the Watch, then they cannot participate in the ensuing battle.
A new location determines the number of Creatures you will face, the effect on your Campfire’s firewood, and the unique effects that players experience during the round.
You will move through eight random locations as a team following this strategy until you reach the final location.
At the last location during the final round, the rules are slightly different. Firstly, as mentioned previously, all players must go on Watch. However, if you want to increase your campfire, you can exhaust a card to add more firewood.
In the last round, you must place the Creatures normally, and the team must defeat all of them. Additionally, the Horde pile is placed at the end of the Line, and Creatures are added to the Line as needed.
Even if you don’t clear the location, you can win if you have one Ability card leftover after Creature damage. However, if all the Adventurers have exhausted their Ability cards without defeating the Creatures or bearing their damage, then the game is lost.
The game is also lost if the Unhallowed deck is empty, but a Summon card is revealed.
Design
Set a Watch comes in a regular retail version and a deluxe edition. As the name suggests, the deluxe version has some exclusive components, a more elegant design with a black cover and metallic ink, and unlocked stretch goals, in addition to the contents found in the regular version.
The magnetic box doubles as a playing board, a crafty and well-thought-out feature. This reduces the number of elements in the box and makes it easier to carry. The box has numerous components and cards. However, the number of pieces is relatively low compared to other board games, so it is relatively easy to manage.
The game uses various colors to give off a medeavel and mystical ambiance so that you genuinely feel like you have been transported back in time and are battling evil Creatures live.
Game Experience
Set a Watch cooperative game can be played by anyone aged thirteen years and above, and although teenagers make up a large chunk of avid players, this game is enjoyed by adults just as much. It requires thinking on your toes, planning carefully, considering various strategic options, and striking at the right moment. All of which makes the game equally enjoyable for people of all ages and genders. The game is child friendly and is a great way to help boost players’ imagination.
The board game lasts about forty-five to eighty minutes on average, so it does not drag on for too long or become tedious. Set a Watch is a relatively straightforward game to play. The instructions are simple to follow, and after a trial game, you will be more than familiar with the rulebook. However, the game does require a fair amount of planning to win, and this can come with practice.
One thing that we noticed is the importance of Skill cards. Although not many people pay heed to these, they can come in quite handy in various situations.
Another essential factor to pay heed to is how and when to use the Ability cards. For example, you must decide whether you should use your Ability card and exhaust it to help you defeat a creature. Or if you should save it for the next round because you may not be left with enough won’t have enough ability cards to help you in a challenging situation as the game progresses.
An interesting angle to not on this game is how while the players in the Watch are battling together to defeat the Creature, one person in Camp is protected and gets to rest and recharge. If it is a particularly brutal round, the Adventurerson Watch May suffer significant damage while the adventurer on Camp is protected.
However, the Camp duties they perform help strengthen the team and win, and each player gets to go to Camp twice to even out the playing field. Still, we cannot help but note this fascinating asymmetric playing field that is quite different from the usual cooperative board games.
Players can set the difficulty level. Still, if you don’t make strategic choices and defeat Creatures during the game, they will go to the horde to be battled by you at the end, which increases the game’s difficulty significantly as well. So you have to coordinate with your team members about what action you should take on your turns with your cooperative players.
Final Thoughts
The Set a Watch board game is an engaging cooperative puzzle for people of all ages to partake in. Suppose you have a creative imagination and enjoy a little bit of mystery, some old-fashioned warrior battles, and the spirit of camaraderie. In that case, this game is something you should look into. The graphics and various components of Set a Watch are excellent and add to the game’s overall experience. This board game creates a thrilling, fun, and exciting atmosphere that you will enjoy if you decide to give it a try.
