We often see games lean toward fictional characters with supernatural abilities as their protagonists. When games aren’t doing that, they employ everyday Joe’s that somehow have the ability to wade through mobs of enemies with two punches and an uppercut (I’m looking at you, Cody from “Final Fight”). “Unperfect Heroes: Battle Lines” doesn’t feature such people. Rather, the protagonists here, if you can call them that, are misfits looking to cut in front of their opposition in order to obtain their goal (getting to the front of the line). “Unperfect Heroes: Battle Heroes” is scheduled to launch on Kickstarter in January 2020, so it goes without saying that all the content you will see and read about here is subject to change. Per FCC regulations I’m required to disclose that I received compensation in order to cover this game, though any thoughts and/or opinions listed here are my own.
My prototype copy came with a deck of cards, twenty character tokens, four token stands, three double-sided scenario boards each with a unique theme, and a rulebook. My copy also included three extra empty card deck boxes with a note that these “expansions were coming soon”. I’m assuming these were included for promotional purposes and can be bought later separately from the main game. The game box itself lists a player count of 2+ players with an appropriate age limit of 14+ and an average play time of 7-32 minutes. With only four player token bases, I’m assuming that this game was meant to be played with an average of 2-4 players.
Setting up the game is fairly simple: Pick a scenario board and then one of its two sides. Next, pick a character token and place it on the number closest to the bottom of the board. The cards are shuffled into a shared deck, though if you have more than one deck each player may claim their own. The first player is chosen at random, called the “Line Cutter”. This person deals seven cards to each player to form their secret, starting hand. The role of the Line Cutter will pass clockwise at the end of every turn.
“Unperfect Heroes: Battle Heroes” is all about cutting in front of other people until you reach the end of the line. It’s kind of similar to that of Steve Jackson’s “Munchkin” in that it’s silly and features a board in which players are trying to make their way to the end.
A typical turn plays out as follows:
The Line Cutter, or Cutter for short, chooses an opponent to cut in front of. The opponent is now the “Target” and will place one Target card face-up, but may place a second one to help their first Target character by adding their action stats together (except for “Move”) once the Cutter follows suit with a Cutter card. The Cutter may likewise play a second Cutter card to help their initial card. If the opponent played two Target cards and the Cutter only played one, then the Cutter moves back a space having automatically lost the confrontation. If the opponent can’t play a Target card at all then the turn is automatically over, with played cards being discarded as appropriate and players’ hands refreshed. Random Crap cards can be played at this point to help themselves or hinder an opponent.
There are three actions that can occur at this point, “Fight”, “Bribe”, or “Chicken Out”. The Cutter will be tasked with comparing the stats of his characters to beat those of his opponent’s Target(s) in any of the three actions.
Fight – The Cutter’s Fight stat must be equal to or greater than the Target’s Fight stat to move forward the number of Move spaces shown on their first played Cutter card.
Bribe – The Cutter’s Bribe stat must be equal to or greater than the Target’s Bribe stat to move forward the number of Move spaces shown on their first played Target card.
Chicken Out – The Cutter’s Chicken Out stat must be equal to or greater than the Target’s Chicken Out stat to stay put, however the Target is moved back one space for every Target card played.
Some board effects might resolve at this point.
Players will discard all played cards and any they don’t wish to keep so that they can refresh their hand back up to seven cards. The role of the Cutter proceeds clockwise. Play continues until one person reaches the end of the line first, in which case they win the game.
Editor’s Note: The above doesn’t cover all of the rules found in the manual, but should give you an idea as to how the game is played.
As noted above this game has somewhat of a similar vibe to “Munchkin”, just without the dungeon delving and treasures. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because the game makes up for it in other areas. For example, your cards have bonds and special abilities listed on them. Bonds are represented as a silhouetted symbol, like a light bulb, family of three, a strongman, and what have you. When playing two cards of the same bond symbol you’ll be able to observe special abilities. The family of three’s special ability, for example, adds a value of 2 to their move value.
The bonds/special abilities are a game changer and probably one of my favorite things about this game. While you do get to refresh your hand at the end of a turn, you never know what you’re going to draw next. You might run into a situation where you’ve got two Target cards left in your hand, both with the same bond symbol, and you’re torn in playing them both or saving one in the event that your hand refresh doesn’t grant you any more Target cards. It’s a risk/reward situation that adds an extra level of fluff and strategy to the game.
Speaking of fluff, I’ll come right out and say that the art is not appropriate for younger kids. With such things as the “Can of Fart Spray”(Random Crap card) or the “Oldy Moldy” Target Card (worse than what I’d see at Walmart), parental guidance would certainly be appropriate. I’ve often encouraged parents to play certain games with their kids despite the age limit on the box being too high…I wouldn’t recommend it here. It’s crude and chuckle-worthy in some places, but nothing so offensive that I had to put the game down and walk away. The characters on these cards are colorful to say the least.
As you folks know I generally don’t review prototypes or offer any sort of final verdict in a preview. That said, I do think the quality of my prototype is top notch. The three double-sided boards were a nice touch, the sci-fi/alien theme being my favorite. Despite some iffy PG-13 themes, the art was pretty good too. I’ll admit to being curious as to what the cards from the expansion will look like.
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Editor’s Note: I was informed by the developer after the fact that that they were going to forgo the Kickstarter Campaign and self-publish the core game instead. I’m told that a Kickstarter campaign for the expansions is planned. You can find more information about the game on their official website.