This player has used the top wheel to pick up the first green disc and place it into the second wheel. Downfall isn't a new-player friendly game but that's not because it's hard to learn, it's not difficult to learn and teach at all, rather it's not new player friendly because you simply can't have enough experience to know just how threatening the game itself can be to your survival until you play it a few times. While players try to outwit each other, they can practice valuable skills in strategic planning, critical thinking, and visual reasoning. Enter Downfall by Tasty Minstrel Games, a 4X game that plays out over a set number of turns and uses card drafting as the action selection mechanism for players.

If you don't feed your survivors you lose points, and if you don't have the oil to fight back the spread of radiation then you are doomed. It is also interesting watching the other player/team’s turn to see if they are going to help you out.The game world itself is each player's biggest enemy, so moving in and taking territory often felt like kicking someone while they were down rather than taking down an adversary. When these cards are drawn they are immediately discarded and the Event track token is advanced one space down the track. I think children under the age of seven could play the game as they shouldn’t have any trouble understanding the rules. After our first few plays we simply quit placing the airships on the stands because they didn't really save any space anyway, and it wasn't worth the time investment it took to re-build them for each play.

Two players are set up and ready while the third (top left) decides how they want to place their starting pieces.The only thing that makes each faction Unique is a single Leader card, although the Leaders are profoundly different, and each is powerful in their own way. Ultimately, in games with less than 5 players, we started removing some of the water and dead tiles to at least ensure that someone wouldn't get completely hosed from the start. Thankfully each card has a minor action printed on the bottom and, when used smartly, can bail you out in a time of crisis. For the player in this position, the game, which is already difficult enough, can feel absolutely brutal and lopsided.

Food and oil are absolute necessities, while metal and stone are handy but a lack of either is not crippling.The player boards do a good job of reminding players what each action does, and they have spots for your 2 Reserved cards, your deck, your discard, and slots for acquired technologies. Other than the reliance on luck/guessing where the other player’s discs are, the game just feels like your opponent has more impact on your fate in the game than you have yourself. There are always a fixed number of turns in each game of Downfall, and the Event track really helps lend the game an air of foreboding as you can always see just how many Winters away each upcoming event is, but you can't ever be sure just when those cards will be drawn. What initially drew me to Downfall is the idea behind the game seemed unique and something that I had not seen in other games that I have played.