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Game Design - James Mathe Artwork - Chuck Whelon
Players 2- 4 Ages 13 Time - 90 minutes
Thanks to Minion Games for providing a Review Copy

Introduction

Arriving home to find a large parcel sat on your doorstep is always exciting, even more so when you are not 100% sure what might be inside! Ripping away the packaging I found a brightly coloured box of considerable weight entitled Those Pesky Humans! by Minion Games.


I’m not a serious strategic player and the aesthetics of the box immediately appealed to my dungeon crawling tendencies, and with its cartoon style characters and quirky sense of humour, I knew it was a game I wanted to open and explore further.

Components:

I guess a word of warning might be useful here - don’t be put of by the almost child like appearance, its not a kiddies game but you do benefit when playing if you approach the whole experience with a sense of humour as this is by no means a serious dungeon romp! – in my view therefore perfect for an evenings entertainment with the family.
Opening the box to find over 200 card board gaming pieces can only be a good thing and it was with great delight I spent more than a few minutes pulling together the various components.

Unfortunately some of the card stock had been misaligned during the printing process so some of the card names were not centered. Not a big issue for me but I believe for others it has caused greater concern. Minion Games however have been extremely helpful sorting out the problems so you can at least rest assured that any concerns you may have/find are quickly addressed.

The quality of the components seems good (printing issues aside), the cardstock is heavy and shows no signs of warping once removed from the frames or after several game plays. The artwork and text works well for the style of play required and it all packs neatly back into the box once you reach games end.

The rulebook is black and white with nice line drawings mirroring those found within the game. The rules are will laid out, clear and easily understood, something I appreciate as I get very frustrated reading and rereading when all I want to do is play!


Gameplay:

The premise of the game is simple, one player takes the part of “Those Pesky Humans” plundering the depths of the Monster Lair (dungeon) for treasure, gold, fame and fortune, whilst the other player takes the part of the “Monster Lord and his Minions” endeavoring to prevent his ill gotten gains from leaving by the front or back door! As a Monster Lord you are responsible for building your domain via the use of 10 two sided room tiles, this helps to keep the game play fresh as each game can feel very different depending on the combination of tiles used.


Once built you strategically place doors (both locked, trapped and open) between rooms and place your gold, treasure and various must have artifacts about the place, each room tile will tell you what goes where. Finally you decide which three special ability cards you would like your Monster Lord to play during the current game. With all that going on the Pesky Human Player only needs to choose which three brave human characters are going to take on the latest challenge and their choice of attributes.

Once you reach this stage you are almost ready to begin play, all that is left is to take the two draw decks, shuffle and draw 5 cards each. The human player now takes center stage. The object of the game is for the human player via their three characters to remove three gems from the Monster Lair and for the Monster Lord to remove the three characters from his beloved home!

Turn sequence is very simple and allows the game to flow at a nice rate, it has three parts:

Phase 1 – Draw cards: These cards can add to your characters abilities, alter your surroundings, summon monsters, alter your opponents options and generally effect the game play.

Phase 2 – Movement: Each Human, Monster Lord/Minion can move a set number of hex spaces at dictated by their character card, via movement rooms are explored, doors opened or unlocked and resource tokens (gems, curses, traps and encounters) are uncovered.

Phase 3 – Combat: Any opposing character (if adjacent to each other after Phase 2) can enter the combat phase. Combat offers an opportunity for Monsters to rid their underground empire of humans and for the humans to continue forward in exploring new rooms and finding new toys to take home.

The rules allow for more than two players as well as options for quick play and also offer an example of game play. This helps to clarify the rules before starting and I wish more game manufacturers would offer this simple but hugely helpful addition.

Overall this is a quick, simple, fun and enjoyable dungeon-esk type game, the art work is unlikely to appeal to all but I think it really captures the essence of the game and will engage those that enjoy a game without the need for serious thought.


Minion Games have done a great job of packing lots “stuff” into a manageable sized box (albeit slightly heavy) that can be taken on holiday, to the pub or café allowing for a quick game whatever the situation, it’s certainly one that will be coming with us on the next family camping trip!

If you think you might enjoy the Minion Games range of products take a look at their Kickstarter Project " Across the realm, ordinary souls are longing for their dreams. Some seek wealth or power, others seek knowledge, but all pursue their own personal quest. Guiding your party, you populate a fantasy world with adventurers and enemies, recruit new companions, and venture forth out into the world of adventure!"

Find out more here.