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Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze is a cooperative board game that allows up to four players to team up and fight against a common enemy, the villain, who is controlled by the game. Players can choose heroes from this game or mix in characters from other Unmatched games. The goal is simple: defeat the villain before it completes its harmful objectives.
👥 1-4 players, ages 9+
⌛ Playing time: 20-60 minutes
📝 Designers: Jason Hager & Darren Reckner
🎨 Artwork: JJ Ariosa, Anne Benjamin, Marie Bergeron, Ashley Floréal, Satoshi Kamanaka, Nastya Lehn, Kwanchai Moriya, Ian Reed, Jason Taylor
🏢 Publisher: IELLO Games (review copy provided)
Getting Started with Tales to Amaze
The game follows the basic rules of the Unmatched series but introduces new elements tailored for cooperative play. During the game, each player has a turn where they can perform two actions. These actions can be any combination of moving their characters on the board, playing a scheme card to use its special effects, or engaging in combat with the villain or its minions. Combat is a key part of the gameplay, where players choose cards to attack the enemy, and the enemy uses cards to defend. Players need to think carefully about which cards to use to be effective against the villain and its minions.
The game’s villain has a set of objectives that it tries to complete. There is a threat track on the game board that shows how close the villain is to achieving its next objective. Players win the game by reducing the villain’s health to zero. However, if the villain completes all of its objectives or defeats all of the players’ characters, the players lose the game.
Spotlight on Villains: Mothman and Martian Invader
In Unmatched Adventures, players are up against two unique villains, Mothman and Martian Invader, each with their own set of rules and objectives that add different challenges to the game.
Mothman’s main goal is to destroy bridges on the game board, which are crucial because they connect different areas, allowing fighters to move and attack across them. Each time the threat marker reaches the end of the threat track, Mothman destroys the lowest-numbered bridge still intact. Players can prevent this by removing doom tokens whenever they perform a maneuver action near a bridge. If Mothman destroys all four bridges, the game ends with a loss for the players.
On the other side, Martian Invader focuses on an invasion strategy by sending alien tokens into various fields on the map. These alien tokens cannot be attacked directly, but players can remove them by using a maneuver action if their fighter is next to a field with aliens. The Martian Invader advances its threat track each time it places aliens and reaches its goals faster if the fields are filled with more aliens. The ultimate defeat for the players comes if all four invasion tokens are revealed, marking the Martian Invader’s complete invasion.
A Closer Look at Gameplay and Features
Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze can be played alone or with up to four players. Created by Jason Hager and Darren Reckner and published by IELLO, it’s designed for players aged 9 and above, with each game lasting about 45 to 60 minutes.
The rulebook is easy to understand, thanks to clear instructions and helpful images and examples that guide new and returning players through the game setup and play. The game components are of high quality, featuring beautifully detailed miniatures and vibrant artwork that enhance the gaming experience.
Each character in the game has unique abilities and a distinct play style, encouraging players to try different strategies and characters in multiple games, adding to the game’s replay value. Characters from other Unmatched games can also be brought into Tales to Amaze, offering even more variety and replayability.
Final Thoughts
Playing Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze was an enjoyable experience. The game combines the well-loved mechanics of the Unmatched series with cooperative elements that bring players together to strategize and overcome challenges. It’s a great choice for those who enjoy the Unmatched series and are looking for a game that tests both their strategic thinking and teamwork skills.
📝 Disclaimer: We received this game from the publisher, IELLO, for review purposes.
