HeroQuest's Stephen Baker is back in the design arena, and his next board game is a frantic dice-based battle royale where everyone plays as gladiator dinosaurs. Currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter, Saurozoic Warriors combines the push-your-luck elements of dice games like Yahtzee with card-based arena combat that's giving us serious King of Tokyo vibes.
Publisher Boss Fight Studio describes its new board game as "a contest of brute force, luck, and showmanship". "Roll your custom Fight Dice, unleash devastating attacks, and use your unique deck of action cards to outthink and overpower your rivals. Every turn is a chance to win over the crowd, claim powerful rewards, and edge closer to ultimate victory."
Judging by the bright colors, the eight-and-up age recommendation, and the fact that the youngest player takes the first turn, this is 100% designed as a family board game. Despite that, we can see a lot of mechanics that will interest all age groups.
Each dino-gladiator has two resources to manage: health and glory. The first, naturally, represents your current constitution. Lose all of your health, and you're eliminated from play - with the last dino standing declared the winner. Glory, on the other hand, represents how popular you are with the crowd. It can be spent to acquire crowd cards with unique benefits. These can also be used to trigger power ups from your player board.
Gladiators also have a private hand of action cards that dictate your movement and attacks. You'll need just the right circumstances to use them, though. Each turn, you'll roll a collection of dice, and you must be able to source all the icons on an action card - from the dice results or other cards - to trigger your intended action. Don't worry if you roll all duds, though: each symbol on the die has its own minor action you can perform, so that turn won't be wasted.
Saurozoic Warriors has enough intricacies that its combat system feels strategic but approachable. It also has a delightful volcano mechanic that enhances the game's theme. Standing at the peak of the volcano gains you plenty of glory, but if you're standing too close when the hunk of rock erupts, you'll be taking some serious damage.
The Kickstarter page offers the board game for $50. There are two deluxe tiers, the first costing $120 and the second $220. Both add two expansions with new warriors and a Magma Lord that players who have been eliminated can take control of to stay in the game. The cheaper deluxe pledge also includes a bonus gladiator and deluxe components, while the pricier one comes with premium card sleeves, a dice pack, and a neoprene playmat.
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