For a semi-co-operative game, the interaction is minimal. For the majority of the game, you’re just doing your own thing. There’s not really any reasons to need to work together, aside from just taking a bad guy each. And there’s no real way to sabotage others, making it a little unnecessary to even have a winner. This could probably just be a co-op game. Closing Comments on Legendary Buffy For those familiar with Eldritch Horror, one look at the board will have you making direct comparisons between the two. The design of the Sunnydale board bears a lot of similarity to Eldritch’s board. Eldritch is by far the heavier (and longer) of the two. Buffy feels a bit like “Eldritch lite,” though. You’re moving from location to location, resolving events, and dealing with baddies. Both are good games but given a choice, I’ll take Buffy due to the theme, lower complexity, and shorter play time. Just be aware that, despite the looks, Buffy and Eldritch are two very different beasts. The game is broken down into two main phases; the action phase for the players and the monster phase for the baddies, monster of the week and the Big Bad. Then the next round starts again with the action phase; this makes for a fast-paced game, where it could easily have been bogged down in itself. Once the monster of the week is dead, it leaves a clue in its location, three monsters of the week equals three clues. When the characters get these clues, the Big Bad’s plot cards are revealed. Three plot cards reveal the Big Bad on the board and the end game begins. This adds a clue collecting aspect to the game that is reminiscent of Buffy and is a reliable, effective mechanic.

Players race across Sunnydale, slaying Demons, dusting Vampires and collecting the much-needed items to face against the monster of the week to uncover a clue to the big bad’s plot against Sunnydale and the world. But all is not as it seems; the baddies move around Sunnydale wounding the scoobies and killing vulnerable townies and eventually the big bad will reveal itself. During each round, each player is given four action tokens to spend as desired to move through the town, fight monsters, conduct research, or use their character’s special ability. Players take turns using one token at a time until all tokens are spent. Players should work together to determine the best use of their actions to stave off the monster invasion and protect the townies. Plot cards for the Big Bads. Event cards are one of the main ways the game progresses. Each one adds baddies and/or townies to the board and an event like moving baddies or townies, or stopping certain locations being used, this adds much needed randomness to a game that is very mechanical in nature.Throughout the game, you’ll also be able to collect items and artifacts to boost your skills and help you fight. Events will pop up that direct you to place more vampires and demons on the board, as well as causing detrimental effects to the heroes. Every time you think you’re making headway, you’ll face some new peril that threatens to undermine your heroic efforts. Each player takes one action at a time, resulting in very little down time for each, again adding to the great pace of the game where it feels like there is always something happening. The actions that each player can take are; As cooperative games go, Buffy is fairly simple and light. This is more of a beer and pretzels game, best played for the experience. It’s not a heavy, deep, Robinson Crusoe or Mage Knight type of game. Complexity wise, I’d put it in the same category as Pandemic or Flash Point: Fire Rescue, or some “experience” semi-co-op games like Betrayal at House on the Hill or Transylvania: Curses and Traitors. There are some decisions to be made, but a lot of what happens to you in the game is determined by random card draws and unpredictable events. Skillful play can mitigate these things to an extent, but there are games where you just get hosed by fate. The event cards. Where bad things happen. When defeated, each monster of the week will drop clues as to what the big bad's ultimate evil plot is, and allowing the gang to plan on how to overcome the evil plot with the required items.

Next is the choice of the Big Bad. Each has new original artwork, with a list of specific events and abilities assigned to each one. They are unique from each other, but the theming is very subtle if it is there at all. Reading a special ability of one of the Big Bads might not lend itself to you knowing who it actually is, which makes each of them seem a little generic, though a few have hints of theme, for example the master has lots of Vampire related abilities and Adam has kill demons and townie abilities. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from Jasco Games, places you at the heart of the epic showdown between the Scoobies and a Big Bad based on the classic TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What’s odd is that I’ve questioned these people as to whether or not they like other lighter co-op games like Pandemic and the answer is almost always yes. It seems that the Buffy theme is the make or break aspect of the game for them. They don’t “get” Buffy, so they don’t enjoy the game. They do “get” eradicating disease, or fighting fires, or Eldritch lore, so they enjoy those games. All this to say, if you’re not a fan of the show, you’ll probably just want to skip Buffy.But if you are a fan of the show? And you’re playing with other Buffy nerds? The game is a pure blast to play. The stories and evil plots make sense. The plots, Monsters of the Week, and Big Bads are ripped straight from the show. The Scooby gang heroes have special abilities that make sense for their characters, and the Sunnydale locations offer thematic abilities, as well. It’s like playing through the show. Monsters of the Week After all tokens are spent, the monsters and Big Bads activate, dishing out wounds and killing the townies. Once the monsters have all had their fill of destruction, a new round begins and play continues until the game is won or lost. The artefacts add much needed theme to a degree; they are not as difficult to find as some ‘artefacts’ in other similar games, Angel has the special ability to just draw them and tomes can be discarded to find them. However, the ease of getting powerful items is off set with the danger of drawing an artefact that is unhelpful, such as the box of Gavrok adding further complications that needed to be solved by the players. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the cult classic TV show in its newest board game incarnation. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from Jasco Games, pits the players in the roles of the iconic TV white hats, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Angel and Spike against the Big Bads of the TV series; The Master, The Mayor, Adam, Glory, Caleb and the First across the city of Sunnydale. Although these plot cards add dynamic game changes, they can feel generic. There is some theme to them, but it is not all it could be. For example, you won’t find a plot card for Adam that says remove his power core (like in the series.) and this does leave a gap in the game that could have easily been filled and added so much more to it. Given that the plot cards are random it would not even reduce the replay-ability.

In terms of recommendation, I’m going to score Legendary Buffy from the perspective of a “moderately interested” fan of the series and also as someone who really loves the series, because I think it is an important distinction. The theme here is very strong, as is the fan service, and this feels like a Buffy The Vampire Slayerrelated product through and through. For anyone else, Legendary Buffy is still a very solid game and I really do like how adaptable it is in supporting replayability and variable player count. It’s also just a lot of fun. Because Legendary games are so strong on theme, you might consider one of the IP’s I mentioned earlier a better fit for you, so if that’s the case you should go with your preference.While this is sufficient for a number of games (I’m not bored, yet, after 20+ plays), true Buffy fans are going to long for more content to keep things interesting over the years. There’s plenty of room for expansion here and I hope the game gets its due. The Buffyverse needs Cordelia, Oz, Anya, Tara, Dawn, Dark Willow, Faith and so many more to feel “complete.” Despite great artwork (art was used over stills from the show, but it’s slo close to the real thing that there’s not much difference), much of the theme and the immersion in the game comes from players filling in the blanks. A board game can only cover so much ground, so when you’re playing with people who can recite lines from the show and know why certain thematic elements are used, it’s much more fun. The standees, start player and Monster of the Week tokens. There have been three “hobby approved” Buffy board games so far. (A fourth in the Legendary franchise is coming later this summer.) The first, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Game,” was from Hasbro/Milton Bradley and is widely regarded as a great game, despite it’s mass production origins. (I have it and love it. Best yard sale find ever!) The second was also called “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Board Game” and was widely panned. Both came out in 2000, at the height of the show’s popularity. Now, to celebrate 20 years since the show’s premiere, we gamers are once again sinking our fangs into the Buffyverse. (20 years? Yikes, I feel old.)

When the game starts there are baddies to kill, a monster of the week to fight with certain items and townies to rescue. So much to do and so few actions, this leads to one inevitable result – analysis paralysis. With an open-ended game the first player can look at the board and say: “What should I do?” Of course, at times it is very obvious what needs to be done, but there are times when the fast-paced game slows because the players are looking at the board and trying to puzzle out the way forwards with all the options available. In the Buffy episode, “End of Days,” Spike says, “We’ll go be heroes,” as they head off to defeat Caleb. That line should have been the tagline for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Board Game because you (the players) are off to save the town of Sunnydale from the Monsters of the Week and Big Bads. As a member of the Scooby gang, you’ll fight to slay the baddies before they kill all the townies (or you)!Gameplay in Buffy is very similar to many familiar cooperative titles including Pandemic, Eldritch Horror, Forbidden Desert, or Flashpoint: Fire Rescue. If you’ve played any of these (or most other major co-op games), you’ll instantly recognize many familiar mechanisms and ideas. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer board game looks nice, the original artwork is great but there is not enough of it, all the vampire tokens are the same vampire, all the demon tokens are the same demon. The event cards have minimal artwork; the monster of the week cards have minimal artwork and the Big Bad plot cards are equally bereft of art. This is a real shame as the artwork that is there is fantastic and if it had been spread across the entire game it would have been wonderful, as it is…it isn’t. To me, though, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Board Game is the best of the Buffy Games. (At least so far.) Those looking for a heavy game with groundbreaking gameplay won’t appreciate Buffy and those who aren’t fans of the show may struggle to find the fun. But I can easily recommend the game for fans of the show. No, your brain won’t be broken by the game, the gameplay is similar to many other co-ops, and there is plenty of randomness, but it delivers an evening of vampire-slaying goodness with some great nods to the show. If that’s what you want from your game night, Buffy delivers. Those who aren’t fans of the show have a harder time. First, since they don’t know the lore, it’s harder to get into the game. There’s a lot of, “Wait, who is this person?”“What does this mean?” and “Why is this important?” questioning that goes on. Also, non-fans seem less tolerant of the game’s breezy play style. They seem to expect something deeper, more challenging, and thinkier and are often (in my experience, anyway) disappointed with Buffy.