Unearthly beings battle to the death in bizarre environments.
DARK VENTURE: BATTLE OF THE ANCIENTS
Designer: Rob Lemon | Publisher: Gilded Skull Games
Battle of the Ancients is both the second standalone release in the Dark Venture line, and also the second title from designer/ publisher Rob Lemon. Just like its predecessor, it has a dark vibe blending science fiction and fantasy to form the backdrop of a stylized alien world. It’s an enthralling setting, carried between both games, and it’s full of sensation and wonder. That’s about as far as the commonalities go between both Dark Venture releases.
The previous title was an adventure game, reminiscent of titles like Runebound, Xia: Legends of the Drift, and Western Legends. You controlled a single character, wandered around a map, and made story decisions with branching choose-your-ownadventure elements. Battle of the Ancients is a skirmish game. It’s more like Mythic Battles: Pantheon or Warhammer 40k: Kill Team. It’s still a board game that eschews miniatures for cardboard counters, but it’s an evocative battle between small armies as you dig through the muck, traverse rivers, and split skulls.
Asymmetry is a key feature here. There are five distinct factions with more available in the two separate boxed expansions. From the Varpen whose units grow in size and strength, to the Dhargon that collect resources on the map to construct their soldiers, there is a wide array of strategies and features that provide a tactical puzzle to solve. These are even options for players to take on the role of a single hero vacant of a supporting cast - this evokes a similar feel to a more combative Vagabond in the popular area control game Root. Just like the ruleset surrounding the different species of warriors, the details are rich and narratively inspiring.
Battle of the Ancients is defined by its creativity. It feels more a sandbox than a straight brawler. You can play in straight up battles where you compete to fulfill faction specific as well as public objectives for points. You can engage in scenario play with more oblique and interesting goals. Or you can play entirely narrative driven miniature campaigns where you and your friends battle an A.I. controlled faction and utilise a little book that spins off decision-based story snippets. It’s wild how malleable and successful this game is in capturing these distinct formats. None feel an afterthought or tacked on, all feel organic and sharp. The automated opponents are controlled by a series of cards which walk you through a procedural phase of spawning and activating units, moving, and seeking targets to battle. It’s not the most robust system but it’s also not thin or too susceptible to player-induced trickery. I do think Dark Venture: Battle of the Ancients runs best as a competitive endeavour, but the adventure mode with narrative exploration is somewhat mesmerising and rather unique.
All of these various play options are woven together under the common trait of an expressive and vibrant world. The map certainly comes alive through the wild artwork, but it’s also full of neat little quirks. You can vault off bridges into streams. You can tear up the earth to extract minerals. You can storm inside of buildings and move your units to a sideboard as they seize the upper floors. You can also erect fences and walls to stymie the opposition.
This inventiveness runs off a simple activation system where a dice pool offers your action options for the turn. It’s a very stripped down mechanism that offers a degree of choice narrowed by random input. Combat is also resolved through dice rolling and is the most loose part of play, sure to aggravate those who place tactical control as their top priority.
It never loses itself under the weight of its systems or oppressive uncertainty. In some sense, these dice-based mechanisms sit as merely the scaffolding behind the curtain to the wonderful asymmetric abilities and clever unexpected twists. This is a fantastic indie release and stands larger than the previous Dark Venture title.
CHARLIE THEEL
WE SAY
Wonderful conflict, creative solutions, and such a wide range of devious content. This is rich with narrative to create and explore, and the experience only sharpens with repeated visits to the table top.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
◗4 Booklets (Rules, Scenario, Faction Guide, Adventure)
◗ Double-sided game board
◗5 Faction dashboards
◗ Victory point track
◗4 Oversized reference cards
◗184 Cards
◗3 Large building floor tokens
◗358 Tokens
◗10 Fence miniatures
◗10 Wall miniatures
◗1 Cloth bag
◗22 Dice
◗32 Wood cubes
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED CAVE EVIL…
Gathering
resources and marshalling a demonic army in service of carnage binds both games together. They also each retain a fiery indie spirit that’s singular.