Kulkmann´s Gamebox - Tales of Glory

Tales of Glory

Author:
Romain Chastan

Publisher:
Ankama

2018

No. of Players:
2 - 5

EVALUATION

G@mebox publisher Frank Schulte-Kulkmann writes about the game:

Tales of Glory is a tile laying game in which the players acquire different sorts of Adventure tiles from a common display. Each player starts with his own individual Hero tile, and the newly acquired tile must be arranged around him, always fitting with their exits to the already placed tiles.

However, the fitting of the tiles to the existing outlay is not just a question of the exits, but furthermore the players have to decide where the connection is made, since there may be the possibility to get resources like potions, gold or a key from the connecting points when the connection is made.

These resources are actually needed to pay for the placement of tiles, along with fulfilling minimum requirements regarding the Strength or Magic Skills of the player's hero which also must be fulfilled. In total, 4 different types of Adventure tiles exist, and the requirements for getting the individual tiles may differ quite considerably depending on its type and content. Places and Treasures often will bolster a player's resource stockpile upon placement, whereas a tile with a Character often will serve as a trainer, allowing a player to increase his hero's Strength of Magic skill level, provided he can pay for the placement. However, the ultimate goal of the players is the placement of Monster tiles, since these are the ones which provide Glory points, the victory points of this game. Since three different stacks of Adventure tiles will be used one after the other during the game, the monsters' difficulty will scale according with the heroes increasing their skill levels, this keeping a challenge for the whole duration of the game.

A quite nice extra also are the Chest symbols which can be found on some tiles. When a player completes a Key symbol on one of the tile's exists by placing a fitting adjacent tile, the chest will be opened, providing the player with extra resources. There are also possibilities to get extra key tokens during the game, thus giving a player a nice opportunity to open a chest even if a tile has been placed much earlier.

Some of the Characters which can be found on the tile actually provide end game bonuses for earning additional glory points, allowing the players to count specific types of tiles like Monsters or Places which they may have added to their outlay in the course of the game. In addition, the game contains a set of additional Quest tiles which will be used in the advanced rules, allowing each player to get two secret tiles are the beginning of the game. These tiles also may provide end game bonuses or other interesting benefits, but a player may keep them secret until he decides to play them, thus leaving his competitors some uncertainty which kinds of bonuses he may still have up his sleeve.

Tales of Glory is a light adventure game which can convince with its versatile mechanism of tile placement, giving the players an interesting challenge how to develop his character in the best way in the 10 rounds of play. Since the Adventure tiles are acquired from an open display instead of a draft or random draw, the players have a very high degree of control regarding the tiles they want to acquire, giving them the possibility to plan ahead if no other player intervenes by purchasing the tile before. The game plays very smoothly, and with the cute artwork by Miguel Coimbra the game seems to be the ideal companion for light adventures with a bit of thinking.




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