Fancy a strategy game that combines pawns, critical thinking, a game board, and dice? Do you find all those pieces in “Chess” to be a bit too confusing? “Tower Capture”, a game currently retailing on The Game Crafter, may very well scratch an itch you didn’t realize you had. Before I begin I’m required by FTC regulations to disclose that I was paid to cover this game, though as always any and all opinions are my own. The only thing “paid” for here was my time.
Tower Capture = 2 Players, Ages 12+, Average Play Time = 30 Mins
Components & Setup
The game includes 10 white and 10 black pawns, 3 white and 3 black pass tokens, 1 white and 1 black tower, 2 dice depicting different colors, and a game board. The manual was about a page long on one side.
The two players sit across from each other with the row of black triangles facing them. One player takes the white pieces and the other the black pieces. Players place their 10 discs onto the hexagon spaces closest to them and their tower onto one of the 10 triangles closest to them. The tower’s location is fixed and cannot be moved. The youngest player goes first.
Gameplay
Players alternate turns. On a player’s turn, they’ll do the following:
1. Roll 2 dice – The result of the red/yellow/blue die indicates which color triangle the player must move through and the white/black die indicates which color the player must move onto. Moving onto an enemy pieces removes it from the board. Players cannot land on their own pieces.
2. After the dice roll a player may instead pass their turn by using a pass token if they are not fond of their choices. A player cannot pass if all of their pass tokens have been used. If a player has no valid moves, a second roll is permitted. If there are still no valid moves, they pass without spending a pass token. A reroll is only permitted if there are no valid moves.
Gameplay continues until one player lands on the hexagon in front of their enemy’s tower. That player wins the game! Alternatively, a player will simply lose if they have no more pawns on the board.
Review
I’ve taught the game of “Chess” over the course of my lifetime and I’ve come across a few people who just outright refused to learn anything beyond the basics because the game was too abstract. While disappointed, I avoid judging…I’ve always maintained that there is a game out there for anyone, it’s just a matter of finding it. I feel like “Tower Capture” would be a fun alternative to those who despite “Chess” because of how strongly skill-based it is.
Along that same vein, I love the idea that dice are used to determine where a piece may move. Can you imagine rolling a die in “Chess” to determine what piece moves? While there are many “Chess” variants out there (“Bughouse, Crazyhouse”, etc.) and there are many “Chess”-themed video games out there (“Pawnbarian, “The Ouroboros King”, etc.), I’ve come across very few “Chess”-like games that use dice.
What encourages me to recommend this game over others I’ve seen is the fact that there is only one type of piece to worry about. “Chess” features pieces to where knights move this way, bishops move that way, and castling can happen under these circumstances…you get the idea. ‘Tower Capture” doesn’t take many lessons to learn, in fact everything can be taught pretty quickly.
Does having only one piece type detract from the complexity and strategy of a semi-abstract game such as this? I didn’t think so. “Chess” is definitely a more complex game but “Tower Capture” still gives me something to think about. A lot of my time was spent calculating odds on my opponent being able to roll what they might need to capture one of my pieces and deciding if I wanted to take the risk and pursue another means of attack somewhere else.
One thing that kind of threw my theorized strategies for a loop during my first game was the fact that spaces in this game are not the same size. Pieces will always be on either the larger black or white spaces, but they must move through the smaller red / yellow / blue spaces. Couple this odd spatial pattern with a limited number of pass tokens and you’re left wondering, quite often, when you should play chicken and not move at all. I was also trying to best figure out how many of pieces to leave on defense so as to protect my tower from capture. I’m sure there’s a meta strategy but I have yet to figure it out.
There was one glaring issue I saw as soon as I opened the box and setup the board. The black pieces blended in with the black squares and the white pieces blended in with the white squares. This made it difficult, at a glance, to see where all of my pieces were in relation to everything else. I would have gone with different piece colors…beige and gray maybe, instead of the white and black pieces. When you’re trying to strategize but have to fight the chameleon like effect your pieces have on certain squares…well, that’s an unnecessary problem. That is one accessibility issue that needs addressed ASAP.
I’m sure you folks are tired of hearing me say this, but games sold via The Game Crafter tend to be more pricey than usual. Bulk production is cheaper while TGC makes things to order on a smaller scale. This game’s price tag is $39.99 which is a bit steep for what you’re getting, which is a shame because the game itself is pretty good and the ideas sound. I really, really hope the developer decides to crowdfund this so that the game can have better components AND be cheaper to the masses. The current price tag is really my only genuine complaint with this title, aside from the art / color choices thing mentioned above.
While I do prefer pure abstract over partial, “Tower Capture” is a breath of fresh air. If “Chess” had a fun and more light-hearted little cousin, this game would be it. Don’t let the dice deter you, there’s still a lot of “big-brain” moments to be had while playing this game. The kids at home can tell me if I’m using that lingo correctly…ha!
Final Verdict: 7/10 (Good)
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Buy: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/tower-capture
Developer Website: https://www.agentqgames.com/tower-capture
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