Overboss - An Introduction

 Overboss - An Introduction

Game Specs

• Advertised Player Count: 1-5
• *Actual* Player Count: I have yet to play this with other people, but the solo mode is...fine. It gets me excited to play against other people! But because there are only two actions each turn, it's fairly predictable while playing solo
• Playing Time: 20-30 minutes (this is extremely close to accurate, even with new players; it's a fast one!)
• Age: 8+
• Premise: Each player is a "boss monster" (a la the old 16 bit Nintendo games) that has emerged from their respective dungeons to conquer the overworld! Each player will draft tiles onto a board, seeking to create the most powerful map and claim the title of Overboss!

Yeah, originally, the game was called Overlord, but some copyright issues caused them to change the name of the game to Overboss. I like the art, so I'm glad it stayed the same through the simple name change.

This game isn't quite available just yet - I received my copy earlier than stores because I backed it on Kickstarter. I don't usually back games on Kickstarter because I'm extremely wary of them living up to any sort of promise. But as I already love Boss Monster, I trust Brotherwise Games and feel comfortable backing their projects, even if it turns out I don't love whatever I backed. Odds are I'd have bought it later anyway. As my copy of Overboss just arrived this past weekend, I only got it to the table yesterday.

I read the rules as soon as the game arrived, and it seemed really simple and straightforward, but I always have to try out a game before I can tell you whether or not I really grasped the rules. In this case, the rules are extremely simple and straightforward, and I maybe checked the rulebook twice while playing the game. I did regularly check the way the game is scored because the different tiles score in different ways, so a guide card for each player on how tiles score might have been helpful. But aside from that, the rules are well-written. I really enjoy the components, as well as the in-box storage. It's easy to set up, easy to put away, easy to find everything you're looking for, etc. And as a continuation of what we see in Boss Monster, I enjoy the art for Overboss.

There's really not much to playing the game, honestly. You draft tiles to place on your player board. Each tile piece comes with a smaller token that is either a monster, a mini-boss, a crystal, or a portal. The first three of these play a role in how you score at the end of the game; the portals do not score at the end, but you can use them in-game to move tokens from one tile to another to improve your planned score at the end of the game. That's all there is to it! The solo mode as offered by the game's creators is either an "Arcade version," in which you simply try to get an all-time high score, or a "Campaign version," which I've not yet tried. Honestly, I would not play the solo mode of this game again. I played it a couple of times to get a handle on the game, but beating my own high score for something like this is just not appealing to me. And the campaign version is, I'm sure, fine. But if I want to play a campaign game of some sort, I'd rather just set myself up with Descent or Imperial Assault or some other game that's actually designed to be a fulfilling campaign. The gameplay is simple, straightforward, and fast. I imagine that will actually carry over to more players because each player is more or less focused on their own boards. Sure, you might draft a tile in order to sabotage the plans of another player, so you'll be watching other people's boards. But for the most part, there's a Villainous feel to this game, wherein each player is mostly focused on their own board and trying to win rather than interrupting other peoples' attempts to win.

The larger tiles are the ones you'll be drafting to build the Overworld on your player board, while the smaller tiles beneath are drafted alongside the tiles.

There are variants of the basic game, with tiles that are more advanced to score (and thus require more planning than the basic tiles), Boss Monster cards that each player can boast (each of which give two bonuses - one that occurs in-game when the name is revealed, and one that occurs at the end of the game during scoring), and a couple of other things, all of which will serve to ensure that plays of the game are different from one another. I'm looking forward to trying these different variants to add some spice to the gameplay! But as I mentioned, I'm only interested in playing this game with other people; for me, the solo mode is negligible. I appreciate its inclusion, as that's become a norm in board games, as a lot of us do enjoy playing board games by ourselves. I personally have a bunch of games I enjoy playing solo. But Overboss simply isn't one of them. But as I said, I'm looking forward to enjoying this with other people at the table soon!