Tanglewoods Red Review - The Road Less Travelled

[@aloharay]

You can house rule this game to make it more fun for you. Such as, look through the fable stack of cards and remove a couple of the negative ones to reduce the chance that a fable in game is going to hinder you. If you think it is too hard to get gold for the merchant, either stop bribing so often, or grant yourself +1 gold for each defeated enemy. The whole point is you can customize the game so it is a FUN solo game for you.

[@Paul-ro6py]

We are quite excited about this series of 20 Strong. Was not invested in the first series.

[@BoardGameCo]

Yes!

[@dayoltay]

Thank you both for your honest reviews

[@BoardGameCo]

Of course!

[@philthephreak]

I want to buy these just for the art! They are gorgeous. Stellar review, thank you both! The gameplay looks great too, but do you think it would get repetitive once the sense of discovery is gone? How many plays to see all the monsters, fables, and items? Also, what is your avg play time?

[@sallygene]

Thank you so much for this in-depth review. I am a sucker for cute packaging and theme, and this has been marketed heavily to me on Facebook. I think that the sameness of the boss battle along with the reliance on lucky draws turns me off to the game. Or, at least, I know that I'll hold off on purchasing until after I'm able to play a few rounds myself and get a better feel for it. I appreciate your honesty and your thoroughness. You've saved me $100 (at least for now).

[@RvLeshrac]

Good news, with CTG, even if you decide not to get it now, it will all be available as-presented from CTG, no crowdfunding-exclusive junk beyond a fair discount.

[@AlasdairMacKinnon]

My first thought when I looked at this one on the campaign page was that it reminds me of Slay the Spire, which is no bad thing. I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking that - but also heartened by your comment that Tanglewoods does its own thing with it.

[@jbringas9582]

I love Professor Meg’s fair maiden look, with the tats!

[@BoardGameCo]

It's definitely something :)

[@Paraboloid0]

Perhaps the items are an allegory for crowdfunding board games, there's always a new shiny but is it worth the cost? Very Thematic :)

[@erickchang8791]

Interested to see how you rank the other 2 decks once their gameplay is available and you both get previews for them! Originally liked SS but it started to fall a bit lower due to the gameplay feeling pretty samey after a while (only 6 heroes and 4 bosses). Sense of progression is static: you're strongest at the start of the game (all 20 dice available) and scraping by a win by the end. It was fun briefly, but lack of hero progression and few interesting combos to see after 10 plays HV is where the game shined a lot: there's perfect information and growth trajectories you can decide on based on what's available: buff stats or recruit dice? Plan what to face so you seed the Scion deck with what you want, and plan your Primus routing around dice recovery. All good stuff and solid variety (9 heroes 9 bosses) One boss at the end of each of these decks make me nervous about the replayability of the endgame so will see how the campaign unfolds!

[@jdvirelli]

I'm excited by the new Tanglewoods decks just for some variety, but I'm not sure they'll be my favorite. The art doesn't pull me in, and I agree the lack of boss variety could make this one same-y. I actually like Too Many Bones > Hoplomachus > Solar Sentinels. Maybe it's just the nostalgia of TMB pulling me in, but it does really manage to capture the spirit of the game and condense it down to a bite-size package. I hope there's an Undertow/Unbreakable set in the future. Hoplo I felt drags on longer than I like, and SS is like the "arcade" version of 20 Strong. Also, Eila and Something Shiny is so so good! It's such a pleasurable game that's easy to dive into, and feels rewarding after each play as the story progresses and you gain various things (no spoilers). It gave me "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" vibes, absolutely love it. I'm looking forward to running through it again in the future, which is not something I expected when I bought it.

[@mithrandir510]

More Meg the Red :)

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol I'll let her know

[@pedroneves8913]

I really like the game. I like the paths choices mechanic. I was wondering is there something similar as 20 strong and specifically tanglewoods but for 2 players?

[@inoutsoccer11]

It’s definitely different, but the closest thing I’ve found is the Kinfire Delve games. They scratch the same itch for me personally. I still prefer 20 Strong, but Kinfire delve does play at 2p +

[@pedroneves8913]

@@inoutsoccer11 thanks , I will have a look :)

[@thegamesninja3119]

Is White and Gold hair to follow?

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol I would imagine

[@thegamesninja3119]

@BoardGameCo I figure it us due to follow. I can only speculate what will be done for Cloudspire. Those are not only hair decorations but defensive towers. 🥷

[@patricksteele]

Alex, did you move closer to Meg or are you both still flying and driving to meet up? Also I'm all in for 20 Strong, the original games were good and I hope these will be as well!

[@eliinameow8658]

I see Odalin on the shelf xD.. but thanks for the review too!

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol soon

[@tonyf2330]

is this rated out of 5 or 10, the vibe was kinda iffy like you didnt like it, maybe its just cause the the list of things your not keen on was right before the rating, but you did say its good for this series, been tempted to get into 20 Strong but im kind of confused now 😅

[@felidonis_4z40]

They rate on a scale out of 5 on this channel

[@tonyf2330]

@@felidonis_4z40 thanks :)

[@mikeybh72]

I don't often say this but I find the character design off-putting in these Tanglewood decks.

[@BoardGameCo]

Interesting! I love the art

[@TheDankFarmer]

For me personally, its the theme that falls the flattest.. I dont know why but it seems there is a massive trend to make board games with cute bubbly graphics with cats and stuff and themes that look more designed for children in 1st grade than it is for grown adults. I appreciate the artist Manny has children, even saying his oldest who is like 7 is his "co developer" which is super cute and fun I'm sure for their family, but at the end of the day I'm a 35 year old dude and simply do not want to sit down and play a game that looks like it was made for a 7 year old girl, so its a pass for me, I appreciate the review though!

[@ChipTheoryGames]

The goal of 20 Strong is to be able to explore a huge number of art styles, themes, and universes. Not only that, but in price and complexity, we very intentionally brought it to market to be a more accessible line in general, meaning only doing harder/more serious themes would be missing the mark as it would massively limit who we think it can appeal to. We started with decks that we knew would appeal to our core fanbase (and we have a Cloudspire deck in development, among other unannounced decks with more mature themes, including one that might go in a horror direction). For this go round, we intentionally went with a theme and art style that would be a little more mass market in appeal. Not in any way an indication of where we're going as a company, but we happen to *love* Manny's style, and he's been a personal friend to us and Chip Theory for man(n)y years. It's been a dream to work with him on this!

[@TheDankFarmer]

@@ChipTheoryGames I think Manny is an exceptional artist, its just not art that resonates with me personally. I also really like 20 strong as a game system and the first batch of offerings were great. I have no problem waiting for more decks that are more to my aesthetic/style of art, wasn't trying to come off too negative - I just notice a big trend of cats/kitens/bubbly cute stuff...etc in board game offerings as of late likely due to that wider market appeal and its just a bit disappointing to me personally. Nothing wrong with that obviously companies can do what they want, I just have to accept it and wait for something that catches my eye - goodluck with the gamefound campaign!

[@blairblack281]

amen.

[@ralder1]

And I'm just a 37 year old dude who loves this aesthetic way more than the dark and serious themes, to each their own I guess 🤷

[@brianmattei7134]

@@ChipTheoryGames Makes sense, appreciate the response. I will be waiting with baited breath for a horror theme for this. PLEASE get the guy who did Solar Sentinels, his art is absolutely sick!