Tiny Epic Dungeons Review - Good...But Still More Tiny Than Epic

[@KrazyMook]

Big fan of Jaws of the Lion, but when my group is looking for a quick crawl in under 60 minutes we have been pulling out Tiny Epic Dungeons more frequently.

[@kumanight]

This game is a smash hit for me. It's fun, punchy, setup and teardown is quick and it's a blast killing goblins and getting loot. The minis look great (that drunk panda 😂) and the custom boss meeples look really good. The teach is also super easy - takes 5 minutes. Definitely agree with the iconography overload, but it only took me two games to internalize it. Honestly, I don't play Gloomhaven JoL anymore because in the time it takes to setup, I'm well into a game of TED. It's become my go-to solo dungeon crawler.

[@kumanight]

Forgot to mention that the game doesn't out stay it's welcome. I can bang out a solo game in 50mins and a 3 player game in 90.

[@BoardGameGreeks]

About the icons gripe I learned to "read" the dungeon monster and hero cards in 3 play sessions. No need for cheat sheet anymore. I don't understand why you would say that in such a negative way...

[@pietroviske]

Also there is a easily missed rule that is fundamentally changes the game if not used correctly: Whenever you gain a loot (colored icon), you can either draw a new loot or pick one from the discard pile. I played a few games thinking the only way to pick items from the discard was to use an action with the grey icon

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep :) aware of that one but for sure easy to miss :)

[@Harvestersz]

He always looks like he'd rather be somewhere else. Can't put my finger on it, but that's the vibe I get from this guy.

[@JoeHuddleston]

They have a PDF you can download that describes exactly how every card works, in English sentences. I found it after our first playthrough, and it would have helped tremendously.

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, I've heard of it, if my only issues were the iconography that would help.

[@mikeb2598]

You can’t really compare TED with One Deck Dungeon. There is no exploration in ODD. You just flip door cards and draft dice to clear monsters and traps. ODD has characters that develop but feel more flat. There are no rewards like weapons or armor to collect, just skills and stats to improve. Way different experience and I hesitate to call it a dungeon crawl IMO. JOTL is not tiny in any way. Also it is a campaign game with really no exploration. It is more epic though. Dungeons are not revealed as you go, they are laid out neatly for you as you start. The campaign aspect makes the game lousy for traveling as you have to travel with your game group to make it work. TED is travel sized. Works if you like random dungeon exploration type crawlers like Bardsung. Has depth and variability of play through characters and treasure rewards. Has dice mitigation through cards and skills that use focus like mana. The game provides a strategic enough combat system to not feel like just random dice chucking. The presentation is quite good for a $30 game. For what it is, a moderately complex dungeon crawl in a tiny box, it really is quite epic.

[@kumanight]

I also agree that One Deck Dungeon doesn't compare. It doesn't give the Dungeon crawler feel at all.

[@riChchestMat]

The boss lair is wasted, because as soon as you unlock it, you have to kite the boss through altars elsewhere in the level. There’s no reason to kite it back because it’ll be dead before that happens.

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, it felt like an entire ruleset for one turn of the game. Could have skipped it

[@beerman2000]

Agreed. It was an amazing idea that fell completely flat with the necessity of kiting the boss through the alters. 2 very conflicting ideas that made 1 of them useless. Idk how that wasn't discovered in playtesting

[@go2ars]

Haven't tried Galaxy yet but Dungeon is the best of Tiny Epic series I have played so far.

[@kumanight]

Same here

[@caesarsihombing2822]

what games have you played?

[@fan-i-am]

I'm brainstorming 2 possible house rules for the Boss Fight. Instead of getting the Boss to walk over Altar spaces to dispel his damage protection, 1) once he gets damaged down to an Altar space on his health track, he teleports to an Altar space! Then we chase him to damage him more, Rinse & repeat. OR 2) You can "pick up" an Altar token as a free action & carry it with you. Once the Boss fight starts, you need to spend a free action with the Altar token in the same room as the Boss to dispel his protection(once per turn). This way you might actually get to utilize those spaces in the Boss Lair card!

[@kumanight]

First house rule sounds more fun imo

[@fan-i-am]

@@kumanight yeah but I really wanna use the spaces in the boss room! Feels like a waste u know

[@kumanight]

@@fan-i-am Good point I didn't think of that!

[@fan-i-am]

@@kumanight Although...if he teleports away, the bad guys will automatically come to YOU! So you can stay on a good space, rest & wait (or kill goblins), or rest THEN go chase!

[@mitchstanek7809]

On ease of play the Dized app tutorial makes it so much easier to understand.

[@jjose451]

Agreed! The icons were so bad that they gave a card index to translate what every. single. card. meant.

[@BoardGameCo]

Yup... That's not good.

[@beneisen6982]

Gamelyn realized the iconography was rough so they created a reference sheet for every card, which can be found on the official page.

[@BoardGameCo]

Good to know, if I were keeping the game that would help.

[@JBearwa]

My 3 House rules. Simple, fair and logical. 1) For 2 & 3 players on Act 1 / 2 start at start but Map end game is earlier. RE: this does not overwhelm the team and gets them an opening odds same as a 4 player game has. (Download my jpg on board game geek Tiny epic dungeons, file download it has the modified Act 1 map with these rules. Just do the same on Act 2) 2) Trading: Give or take one item in same room per 1 movement cost. Exchange just cost another movement point, it is two movements for two 'give' actions. RE: you are physically in the same room doing the exact same thing twice. This is an orange free action with a movement cost per item given. Giving someone something is not a heroic big action it should not be blue. 3) Each player starts game with one starting gear/spell. Draw two of either gear or one of each, pick one and shuffle extra back in or for a easier game placing unused in the discard pile AFTER all players have drawn and picked. RE: Why would heroes go in unarmed. Note players cannot trade gear until they are in the dungeon. None of these breaks the game - I've tried it. 1 Trade for 1 movement as Orange free action in same room is logical and consistent. One starting gear is planning for dungeon mission, and if / when 1-4 goblins are at start you are not team wiped. Note: Late game you might not need movement as much, but you are still not OP as the game lvl's up in difficulty too.

[@jonkirk2118]

Great review! Many thanks. I've got everything Tiny Epic that came out before this game. I will take the plunge at some point. One disappointment rules-wise is how the torch moves after each player turn, if I read that right. It's a mechanism I see in lots of games that just grinds my gears, whereby the game time moves on after each player's turn, suggesting that each character was standing around doing nothing whilst only one character acted. It creates thematic dissonance for me. I'd have preferred it if each character got to act, then the torch moved, which would simulate the characters acting at the same time even if player turns are resolved sequentially. Alien: Fate of the Nostromo did that with the alien getting an action via an Encounter card after each player's turn and it killed the game for me. Thanks.

[@kellysooth602]

That’s a fair homebrew rule.

[@JoeHuddleston]

Zui Xiong looks like a nod to the Pandaren from World of Warcraft. Lara Gambit is Lara Croft from Tomb Raider.

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep!

[@misterbxiv]

Can you imagine how much cash they could rake in if they made “Big Epic” versions of these games?

[@BoardGameCo]

I'd be much more down :)

[@dannynova3412]

I think Jaws of the Lion may take up less table?

[@ScytheNoire]

I think I would have preferred the heroes to also be wooden meeples. Also, it's so hard to pack all of this between the two boxes. They picked a box size years ago, and now they keep trying to fit too much into that box size. Should have learned like Garphill did and moved to a larger box size already.

[@johnathankokoski]

Same. I ended up picking up meeples to pack in the box

[@kumanight]

I really do wish they had a bigger box. Especially after sleeving the cards it's hard to fit everything. I have a good amount of box lift, but managed to pack it all in.

[@Reverie42]

This was the first game I painted, and I'm a big fan of the minis here. For non-painters, I agree that the flat minis don't mix well with the meeples. Fully painted though... The minis are reeeeally nice on the table.

[@preacherbeeman3437]

@@kumanight I sleeved the cards and kept the minis. I can fit everything into the two boxes quite well. I then put those two boxes and my printed appendix in a gallon zip-lock bag. It travels wonderfully.

[@dorkangel1076]

I found all the minion meeples and minis fit in the Stories expansion box (and I've even a little bubble wrap in there to protect the minis as I've painted them). Everything else fits in the base box (though I didn't purchase the Boss Meeples).

[@siriactuallysara]

Potions and perils is a must have expansion to give more variabilities. I have not tried stories cause it makes the game toooo long. So I think that expansion isn’t needed

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep stories is useful for the extra chars.

[@elektrikpandesalgaming]

Good sir! thank you for this review! my wife brought this to me as a Christmas gift, she haven't told me yet but I saw her ordering this from Amazon as a gift for me and I'm excited about this game ❤❤❤

[@dekdekan]

i like the game and dont have problem with icons, it looks intuitive to me. What my problem is, i tend to forget to check what icons on the already revealed rooms are. so when i move through the dungeon to fight minions (or need to go to specific room) i miss all the traps along the way. but i find this kind of problem with many new games, where the vivid graphics makes icons overlookable

[@Michael.Virtus]

I backed the all-in pledge. You summarize everything perfectly. For me the boss-dragging around is the absolute worst.

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, it does a lot right, but not enough.

[@armstronghawkins9183]

I just bought TED after planning not to get it (mostly--and I've never not bought a game for this specific reason--I was turned off by the art direction...not the iconography, just the overall art design). Mostly, I know I have friends who will love an under-2hour crawl. But I think...we're going to come up with house rules to alter the boss-dragging. : )

[@gcaddo]

@@armstronghawkins9183 would love to know what house rules you come up with to fix the 'boss-dragging' :)

[@BoardGameTime40]

Thanks for the review, Alex!

[@BoardGameCo]

Absolutely :)

[@bobsteel1981]

They may have a problem with releasing Tiny Epic Minis as Games Workshop used to have a game called Epic that was Warhammer 40K with minis that were around 6-10mm tall. GW aren't known to being friendly when it comes to what they see as trademark infringements - even suing people over using the term space marine. Maybe calling it Gamelyn Tiny Minis or something.

[@ChrisGloschat]

Hey Alex, great review! I've got a quick question for you, but I'm happy to hear from anyone else in the comments. How would you compare the play experience to Dice Throne Adventures (over your right shoulder)? My kids would like an accessible dungeon crawler and I'm not sure if I should pick up Tiny Epic Dungeons or Dice Throne Adventures. It's worth noting I already own Season 1 and Season 2 of Dice Throne. There is a big difference in price point, but I'm also already a fan of Dice Throne, so if it's good enough by comparison I'd happily pay more. I'm also curious how you think it compares from an ease of learning standpoint for kids.

[@CHIPSSALTY]

The easiest dungeon crawler for young kids on the market is probably Coraquest.

[@RokuRG]

Youre always so negative. Ive seen 4 reviews and they all started with complaining about the game, no matter how good or bad it was.

[@dabruuzer]

Thanks for this review. I am still very new to the hobby, and have been seeing the Tiny Epic series everywhere. As I am still figuring out what BG mechanics I actually enjoy, your vids are very helpful. I may give one of the series a try, hopefully from the pre-owned market. Budgetary realities prevent me from simply hoovering up any game I have a whim to, unfortuately. Any opinions on which Tiny Epic to look for, used?

[@kumanight]

Dungeons, Galaxies and Epic are the most popular ones, I'd start with those. I love Dungeons and Epic didn't really do it for me.

[@thessik5660]

Dungeons is my absolute favorite, and currently one of my favorite games. My #s 2, 3, and 4 are Dinos - fantastic little worker placement game where you are trying to "ranch" dinosaurs to sell off to dinosaur amusement parks. great little spacial and resource game, with the main mechanism being worker placement. Galaxies: Blast Off - this is kind of a re-imagining of Galaxies, but is quite a bit easier to jump into, and none of the negative player interaction that is in Galaxies. Also a fantastic resource management game with the main mechanism being dice rolling. Another bonus of this one is that it can play in less than 30 minutes. And lastly, Zombies - this one is just a fun dice rolling zombie killing game with quite a few different ways to play, with quite a bit of variety in the quests that need to be completed to win. all that being said, I have yet to come across a T.E game that I didn't like.

[@wicaksonoadi1035]

@@kumanight What did you mean by "Epic"? Is there another game called Tiny Epic Epic? XD

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

I'll try it.

[@BoardGameCo]

Go for it

[@scorpian223]

The iconography alone makes it a hard game to get to the table.

[@burgsrus]

Totally agree and the reason I got rid of the game!

[@kumanight]

I agree that there's a lot, but it only took two games to internalize. The iconography follows a pretty straightforward pattern.

[@kennedyeduardooliveira272]

Incredible. You must only play kids games then. The iconography is fluid after 2 or 3 plays

[@burgsrus]

@@kennedyeduardooliveira272 Thanks for your input. That seems a bit extreme for a small box game. I had an easier time picking up the rules of Terraforming Mars. Good thing that is only a kid game. ;)

[@kennedyeduardooliveira272]

@@burgsrus well youre kinda right. TM is a kid's game

[@bryanscollick8305]

I do enjoy this game. There is a great BGG chart that describes each card and character.

[@BoardGameCo]

Glad you are :)

[@otterlydorky]

How would you rate this as a gateway game to introduce someone to dungeon crawlers?

[@seansmith2650]

I wouldn't. Too much of the game revolves around iconography to a point where you need an faq open to see how certain weapons even function

[@kumanight]

Highly recommend. There's not a lot of rules overhead. Just read the icons for the players, there are a lot of them but they're pretty easy to understand once you get the format. Also definitely get the Card Appendix (it's on BGG and the Kickstarter updates) it's essential.

[@Reverie42]

It's a great intro dungeon crawler with a caveat... You -must-have someone who already understands the timing rules and iconography to teach it. For context, I regularly play this with my kids, who are 6 and 9, and they have no trouble with it.

[@loarnchilcote9895]

Thank you for your review! Could I please ask your opinion on better alternatives for tiny box dungeon crawlers? Thank you!

[@BoardGameCo]

None that sitting to mind sadly, I've yet to love any smaller box dungeon crawlers.

[@rokettv3000]

Mini Rogue, awesome !!

[@steviebwoyy]

One suggestion - slow down a bit! :) Also, would appreciate a few more suggestions outside of One Deck Dungeon & JotL?

[@BoardGameCo]

Zombicide:)

[@ghstrdio]

Great review! I've been looking into these tiny epic games lately. Thanks!

[@infamousjc09]

I really like this game! Nice little box to play. I enjoyed the game play and I love the second phase of dragging the boss around the dungeon to weaken it. Though I guess depending on the layout of your map it can sometimes feel difficult and drawn out. My biggest gripe is the iconography. I think that they over complicated it by trying to cram so much information on a card with symbols. I kept the glossary open on my phone to decipher each card because I was getting most of the symbols wrong. Nice fun game to set up and play when you only have an hour or so to play.

[@infamousjc09]

Wow this wasn't even a giveaway video and I somehow won a PS5! 🙄

[@MemphiStig]

So even in a game "free" actions have a cost? Come on, whatever happened to fantasy, where free actually means free? I mean, what does free even mean if it isn't free? I expect it from advertisers, it's kind of their go-to, but not here. They should give it a better name. Looks fun, tho, if a bit crunchy. We used to play a lot of Talisman. That's about as close to "epic dungeon" as I ever got in a board game.

[@DarkAgent80]

We didn’t care for this one, and it was because of the iconography. We spent more time looking up what the icons meant and room descriptions than playing. Which wouldn’t be so bad but the rule book isn’t well laid out. Spent mote time searching forums and docs to fond rules answers than actually playing. Really took us out of the experience. Ill be trading/selling this one.

[@smkross]

If the brand didn't sell itself as "epic", do you think that would modify your rating?

[@JacobPorterLadder]

The kiting of the boss at the end of the game is kind of anti-climactic

[@BoardGameCo]

Yep, every time

[@fan-i-am]

Best played with the mat!

[@kumanight]

The playmats are so good!

[@kevinyoung3235]

I like this one but agree with much of what you’ve touched on. I’m still not sure I’m using the “bonus action” gear sets correctly…

[@kumanight]

Download the card appendix if you haven't, it's essential.

[@kevinyoung3235]

@@kumanight Thanks! I’ll have to check it out!

[@kumanight]

@@kevinyoung3235 No problem, you can find it on the bgg page :)

[@Voidsworn]

Looks a little clunky. I have an idea for a cleaner game similar to this. Still, will likely buy this. :)

[@pietroviske]

I played the game extensively and I really think variability is not an issue. It is way more than I expected for a game of this size (I am counting the expansion in). Plenty of bosses and each minion has its own unique token , plus the minis that they managed to fit in. The rules are complicated since there is a lot of weird combinations and powers that could have different order of activation, and the manual does a poor job at explaining the edge cases. There is no way to learn this game correctly if you don't read the FAQ or the text descriptions on Dized. That said, after you play a few games solo and read the FAQ you can easily explain it to other people. The thing I disliked the most is the Potions and Perils mini expansion, the Perils are super anti-thematic. Theme is also something that could have been easily improved - one of the skills in the game is the ability to walk over walls, which doesn't make any sense in a subterranean dungeon lol

[@seansmith2650]

I think the best part of the game is the exploration. When I got to the boss fight and learned what I had to do I just stopped playing lol

[@kumanight]

Exploration and looting is the best part for sure

[@maxf.7262]

A comment for the algorithm ;)

[@RiHa_Games]

Review day is always a time of peril and woe. Will there be a 4,5; will I have to buy a new game and slap Devon ('s challenge) in the face.... or even worse sell a game before I even played it, because you don't rate it above a 4 ;-)

[@BoardGameCo]

You're safe today :)

[@kevinsayers5985]

I hated this game. I think it's the worst tiny epic game Gamlyn has made. You can easily get to a point in the campaign where you're essentially over ran with mini bosses and are unable to even act and the iconography, OMG, the iconography, is the worst I've ever seen in 15 years of board gaming.... Geez 🤦🏻‍♂️. This game went straight to the sell pile after 2 plays and has also made me hesitate backing tiny epic stuff anymore.