You will never become a God!

Thanos Rising (2018) Compte Rendu

​Designer : Andrew Wolf
Publisher : USAopoly 

1-4 players
60-90 minutes
Ages 10 and up 

Written by Guilou 

Thanos Rising: Avengers Infinity Wars is a game by Andrew Wolf. This designer is not unknown since he is also responsible for a very good family deckbuilder, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle. Thanos Rising has the difficult task of adapting the Marvel universe and going beyond the mere fact of being a licensed game to become a real game. It is published by USAopoly .

Thanos has arrived. No one is immune. Overcoming it is going to be the biggest challenge ever for the Marvel superheroes. As Nick Fury puts it, we do not win a war with feelings, but with soldiers. Applying these precepts to the letter, you find yourself promoted to commander of a squad. Each player has their own team to travel faster in the galaxy. But this is a pure cooperative, losing or winning together. So at first, your squad is composed of a single superhero that you choose, taking into account also its headquarters. Four Super Heroes are available this way: Gamora, Doctor Strange, Black Panther and of course Captain America. The game is playable from 2 to 4 players. But it is quite possible to play alone by taking at least two heroes (only one becomes very complicated in terms of difficulty).

​Each Hero card in the game brings you bonuses. You will be able to benefit from more dice, raises, powers, care, to turn dice on other faces, ... But for that you’ll have to recruit them. Your main mission is to prevent Thanos from recovering the Infinity Stones. If he gets there, he will become too strong to keep your hopes of defeating him. Suddenly, it is necessary at all costs to prevent it. But you alone will not go very far. Thus, you will try to browse the Galaxy to recruit the most Heroes into your team. The more you have, the more powerful you will be. But beware, some may be reluctant to come, you'll have to convince them.

Thanos is represented by a large pre-painted miniature and is located in the center of the Galaxy, divided into three zones. Each area contains three cards. At the beginning of a round, you will send your team to one of the three areas.

Then you throw the two Thanos dice to symbolize his actions. The first die corresponds to his search for Stones. Each face of the die corresponds to a stone color. Six faces ... so six stones. To follow the progress of his research, we will have a second board representing the Infinity Gauntlet. Each stone has a track consisting of five locations. When the die indicates a color, place a yellow gem on the corresponding location. Once the five sites are filled, the stone is found and the associated power can be released. But for that, we must again fall back on the color. Be careful, the powers of the stones are very powerful. The more Thanos finds them, the more difficult the game will become for the heroes. Thanos's second die is his turn action. He can rotate from left to right, or concentrate in his search for stones (you then raise the stone again and you add another gem), or finally activate his henchmen in other areas of the galaxy.

When Thanos moves into an area, damage is dealt to all the heroes present in that field. In other words, the heroes that can be recruited but also those of your team, if they are present. In addition, if a villain is present, he is invigorated by the presence of his master. As a result, his power becomes active. If Thanos does not move, he stays in the area where he was. But his influence is always present. Thus, the damage due to his presence is there and the bad guys react.

​Once Thanos has played, it is the turn of the active player's team. With the help of your team, you will try to recruit new heroes or defeat enemies present in that area. You only interact with the cards present in your teams zone (except specific power). For this, there is a number of dice based on your base and the heroes you have. There are four kinds of dice, each favoring a type of combat (or recruitment): physical (red), mystic (green), cosmic (black) and technological (blue). To fight or to recruit, the way of doing things is the same. Each card has symbols that correspond to the condition to be fulfilled. Each complete condition allows you to recover the hero in your team (so they heal) or inflict damage on the villain. Each character has a certain number of life points. Once all the boxes have a damage token, they die at the end of the turn (which sometimes can give you time to save them beforehand).

So, in turn, you roll your dice. You must assign at least one die on a single asset (or to discard one die). Then you can reroll the rest. And so on until all your dice are spent or discarded. At the end of your turn, you get the cards you've hired and the dead (friends or foes) are discarded. If you've hurt henchman, you'll earn a bonus token (which can be played to help or help your teammates). Vacant places in the galaxy are replaced by new cards (this is how villains and heroes appear).

​You play this way until either Thanos or the Heroes win. Thanos win if he recovers all the stones, or if ten heroes are dead, or if a player ends up without a hero. Heroes win if ten villains are dead (hard mode).

Level of rules, the game is not complicated to understand. Moreover, the rulebook is quite well done and reads without any problems (although some questions may remain before the first part).

The quality of the material is not the best (cards and trays can be quickly warped) but remains functional and pleasant. Special mention to gems and stones. The idea of ​​a giant Thanos is very good (but the pre paint remains functional without being beautiful), it puts you in the mood. Separate trays are also a good thing. By cons, the game can take a little room on the table, especially four players.

In terms of illustrations, the choice was made to insert the photos of the actors of the different films (rather last of all when we see the look of Thor). For casting, the choice is very important. You’ll find the most traditional and the most recent. You can have fun saving your favorite characters at the expense of strategy or playing more finely.

The mechanics of games are very simple. A mix of Yatzee with risk taking and events that can happen. Luck is an omnipresent factor. Sometimes it can go very badly if the dice are against us. Far from being a foil for this type of games, it only accentuates replayability. This one is very important: different cards available, reaction of Thanos, rolls of dice, random fights, different recruitment ... Thanos Rising is finally a game within the reach of all. A family cooperative, simple in the rules, but difficult to win. Although it really depends on the group. The arrival of the wicked and the reactions of Thanos will quickly define if saving the universe will be a walk in the park or a nightmare beyond compare.

​Finally, Thanos Rising is a nice surprise. Based heavily on the Marvel license, the game offers good immersion. At first glance, one could think of being faced with a simple game, Yatzee rethematized but it's not so. Behind the system of dice, we find a game of quite interesting combos. Each hero has a power of its own but this power can depend on the members you have in your team. The constant pressure of Thanos and especially its unpredictability adds a lot of interest. You will have to play finely and pay attention to who recruits who and why. The importance of mutual aid is not negligible in this game. The union is strength. Not being a big fan of Marvel, I really enjoyed this game. We really feel during the game, a rise in power of our heroes. It must be admitted at first we were not that smart against the phenomenal power of Thanos. Then, as and when our team competes or even surpasses the level of a game ... well if everything goes well.

USAopoly has managed to overtake the licensed game to make it a real game. A fun game,  intense, and to put in all hands, in those whose importance of luck is not scary. Thanos Rising is still a good game, from the imagination of Andrew Wolf and somehow quite faithful to the film. You’ll lose with fury, you’ll win with honor and struggle relentlessly against the end of the universe, that seems so inescapable.

Technical Score 8/10
A lot of material, good ideas, an impressive Thanos. Too bad, there are some problems that lower the rating.

My BGG Score 8/10
(Very good game, I like to play and willingly propose it)
Easy to play, difficult, fun. The game offers a good fun experience as long as you like the dice. Indispensable for fans of the film and the license.

Combined Score 8/10
And now, it's your turn...