Howdy, it’s time for another board game blog! Today we are going to take a look at Krosmaster Arena by Murat Celebi, Nicolas Degouy, Ankama, and Japanime Games.
Krosmaster Arena is a tactical strategy game for 2-4 players. Each player builds a team of characters (each one having a card and matching figure) and tries to eliminate the other player(s).
At the beginning of the game each player takes 6 “Gallons of Glory” (GG), four dice, and their team. Place the terrain on the designated spots on the board (Trees on stump spaces, Bushes on shrub spaces, and Crates on box spaces). Place coins (kamas) on the indicated spaces (1-2 coins as shown on the space) and one on each “Demon Door” space.
On your turn you move your figures orthagonally (up, down, left, and right, no diagonals) around the board. You will attempt to cast your character’s spells and attacks on your opponents. You are also picking up coins (kamas) to buy upgrades (demonic rewards). Each figure has their own individual stats (level, movement, hit points, action points, initiative, spells/attacks, and special abilities) that they can use to try and eliminate the other team.
You start the turn by “Rolling for Tension” (rolling 2 dice) and applying the corresponding special abilities to your chosen character(s). A shield gives armor, pow gives critical, boot gives dodge, and magnet gives lock, respectively. There are also the egg-shaped “Dofus” which can be turned into any of the four, and the pow/boot which can be critical/dodge, respectively.
These powers will let you roll extra dice when attacking, defending, trying to keep players from running away, and while trying to escape from them.
You move around by spending movement points (MP). Then you use your teams stats to try and deal damage to your opponents by spending the appropriate amount of action points (AP) for your spells. Each spell has an element type: wind (purple), earth (green), fire (red), water (blue), or neutral (black). You are rolling for critical (pow) to add damage, your opponent is rolling for armor (shield). Then adding the determined number of wounds to drop their hit points (HP). You can even summon creatures, bombs, and traps, to aid you in your endeavors (each with their own stats).
You can also spend AP to pick up kamas (1 AP per coin). The kamas are spent on “Demonic Rewards” upgrades (1 AP to buy rewards) when standing on a “Demon Door” space. These rewards range in cost and usefulness dependent on their level (3 kamas for Granite, 6 for Jade, or 12 for Gold). They range from damage boosts, defense boosts, special abilities, new gear like weapons, armor, pets, and even the very powerful “Dofus”. Some are a one-time use, some last until your next turn, and some the remainder of the game.
You are victorious when either your opponent has no more characters left standing or when you deplete their GG. You take GG when you knock out other characters (dependent on their level, i.e. a level 3 would yield 3 GG), buy it on a Demon Door for 10 kamas, or when the “Tension Rises” (by rolling doubles on a tension roll, causing each player to lose 1 GG).
What obviously stands out about this game is the artwork by Edouard Guiton and Alexandre Papet. The cute and at times morbid “chibi” style is what really draws players into the game. That really makes you adore your little figures along with the amazing art on the back of your characters cards.
Krosmaster Arena is based on the French company Ankama’s popular massive-multiplayer-online (MMO) games “Dofus” and “Wakfu”. The latter also spawned an animated series of the same name (now on Netflix). The characters from the show are even available to use in the game!
As an added bonus, everything Krosmaster related comes with a code usable in the online version of the game. You can test your mettle against players the world over and get to see your adorable characters running around in beautiful 3D graphics.
The game retails at $79.99, and comes with everything needed for 2-4 players. There are a number of expansions, new boards, and at the time of this writing 3 seasons worth of figures (numbering well over 100 characters).
I give it 8 dismembered chibis out of 8.
Until next time, keep playing games, and master your Wakfu.
-Trevor L. Cooper is an avid board gamer. When he is not gaming he can be found at Zia Comics, home of all things awesome.
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