Journey to the center of the Savage Core

Portions of the text for this review originally appeared in my Savage Core Expedition Journal project blog at OnTableTop.com.

As is often the case with skirmish games, the thing that initially drew me to Savage Core was the miniatures. I was shopping for wild west figures and stumbled into what might have happened if Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs had worked together to design a line of miniatures. The Savage Core is an underground primeval jungle populated by superintelligent apes, lost Atlanteans, ice age cavemen, dinosaurs, and more.

The game looked interesting too, so I wasted no time in placing an order. In fact, I got so distracted by thoughts of pulp adventure that I completely forgot to order the cowboys I went there for in the first place...

A game of Savage Core is a head-to-head battle, with around seven figures per side. A player's force revolves entirely around their faction’s Boss, an individual character who has six game stats and a unique set of “tricks,” special abilities that can each be used once per game and are themed to that character. Your other six models (in a normal game) are “Bods,” nameless minions whose stats might vary slightly between one faction and the next but who don’t have any particular abilities of their own.

A game round starts with each player rolling for initiative to determine who will go first. Each player then gets a chance to play one of their tricks, which can be anything from devastating area attacks to causing an opposing figure to get lost in the jungle, only to reappear on a later turn.

The first player moves all their models, then the second player moves, then the first player makes all their attacks, then the second player. Going first isn't an advantage, as the second player will have the opportunity to move out of range before you get a chance to make any attacks. The only thing that can possibly help with this is the fact that movement distance for each figure is random, with each model rolling a d10 and adding their Clip (movement) value. So if you move into position for a great ranged attack, you can at least hope that they don't roll high enough to get away. It might sound fun in theory but in practice it can be pretty aggravating.

Combat in Savage Core is resolved first by an opposed roll using the relevant stat (Moxie for ranged or Buff for close combat) plus a d10 roll to see if the target is hit. After all hits have been determined, the targets roll for each successful hit to see if they’re wounded. Bods die after one wound, but Bosses can take four or five before they go down. Damage is resolved at the end of the round, so if one of your characters gets eliminated they’ll still get a chance to attack before they go.

By far the most interesting thing about Savage Core is Double Trouble. On any round that both players roll the same number for initiative, it triggers a random encounter taken from a list that can include anything from a wave of lava creeping across the board to a ravenous T-Rex stomping out of the bushes and eating any models it comes into contact with. Double Trouble is what got me interested in the Savage Core rules set in the first place, and it is easily the most fun and interesting thing about the game.

These encounters add a lot of flavor and enjoyable chaos, but they don’t happen nearly often enough in an average game. We were lucky to get one on our first turn, but in our previous match we didn’t get one until the last round, when it was too late for it to have any appreciable effect. And it’s certainly possible to go a whole game without having one at all. There is a scenario in the rule book called “Rumble in the Jungle” that has a Double Trouble encounter happening every single turn, but that seems like a bit too much.

I do like how simple the game is -- there's not a lot you have to remember, with only one named character on each side, and the six once-per-game abilities still provide a fair amount of flavor and variation between the different characters. It’s not like Shatterpoint, where you really have to stay on top of the synergies between characters, or Knight Models’ Batman, where each character has so many complicated special abilities that it’s impossible to keep track of it all.

On the other hand, the game can (and does) swing wildly based on the egregious amount of die rolling. Successful hits only result in damage half the time (even less for ranged attacks), which can be frustrating. Additionally, most of the the more powerful and interesting trick cards require a seemingly arbitrary die roll in order to work, and there is generally no way to mitigate these rolls. And don’t get me started on rolling for movement...

It might just need an attitude adjustment to make peace with the randomness of it all and enjoy Savage Core for what it is. But this is still a miniatures wargame that require a hefty level of preparation in the form of assembling and painting models and terrain -- the game play needs to be substantial enough to justify all that work.

Rating: 3 (out of 5) There are a few great concepts here, and the setting and miniatures are magnificent, but the core mechanics revolve around completely arbitrary die rolls a little too much.

• Savage Core official website
• Savage Core Facebook group

A kinder, gentler wild west: Old West Empresario

There are a few games in my collection that I would classify as “comfort games” – games I’ve played enough times, and with relatively simple rules, that I don’t need to worry about re-learning the game when I sit down to play. These games tend to be relatively non-confrontational, but not often cooperative, as co-op games tend to ramp up the difficulty to compensate for the lack of a thinking opponent. No, I’m talking about games that are relaxing to play, maybe after a stressful day or on a lazy weekend, competitive but not overly confrontational.

One of my favorites in this category is Old West Empresario, a sadly out-of-print game about building a town in the old west. The western theme appeals to me, but what appeals to me even more is the simple but engaging game play.

Like a surprising number of wild west games, this one is about building a town. The game starts with 12 tiles, representing buildings, in the center of the table. These are in groups of two, with each group numbered one through six (identified by a number tile). The rest of the tiles go in the box lid or a bag, to be drawn randomly throughout the game. Each player starts with a Town Hall and a random tile, which begins the game on its unconstructed side, and also a character with a unique game ability, and three coins. Additionally, the game begins with three sets of two Wanted cards, each of which will reward the first and second player to accomplish particular objectives.

At the start of each game round, the starting player rolls a number of six-sided dice: two for each player plus one extra. These dice are placed next to their corresponding set of tiles in the center of the table. On each player’s turn they choose one of the remaining dice and either take a tile from that die’s set, or use the die to activate their town (more on that in a moment). The die is then discarded, and after each player has taken two turns the last remaining die is used by all players to activate their towns.

When a tile is taken, the player can either discard it to gain three coins, or place it in their town on its unconstructed side – the building it represents will still need to be built. Tiles must be placed adjacent to other tiles. A lot of the game’s strategy is in where you place particular types of buildings, as many of them will give income, end-of-game victory points, or other bonuses based on what buildings they are adjacent to.

But buildings still have to be built, and this is where activating your town comes in. Instead of taking a new tile, a player can use their turn to choose a die and then activate all the constructed buildings in their town that are marked with the number shown on the die. Early on this will be your town hall, which allows you to construct the other buildings that you’ve placed, but eventually you’ll have a range of different options such as gaining townsfolk or coins, collecting extra tiles, or even forcing your opponent to lose a coin with the dreaded Undertakers (which also causes you to lose points at the end of the game if it’s too close to the center of town).

Since you only get to activate the buildings that match the die you’ve chosen, you have to think carefully about which tiles to place in your town. If you end up with a lot of the same number you’ll get to do a lot when that number comes up on a die roll, but if it doesn’t, you won’t be able to do much on your turn. You also have to think about when to choose and place certain tiles, since their neighboring buildings will affect how many points they’re worth a the end of the game. But if you wait too long to grab that tile, one of your opponents might get it first.

The game ends when one player has 15 or more buildings in their town, or when a pre-determined number of townsfolk counters have run out. The townsfolk are a secondary currency used to pay for some game effects, and are also worth victory points. Additionally, the artwork on them is adorable, and eagle-eyed players might just recognize a few of the characters...

Maeve and Dolores from HBO's Westworld.

Townsfolk from Old West Empresario.

The only direct competition is the available dice and tiles each turn, and the Wanted cards which offer extra points to the first and second player who hit specific achievements such as having a certain number or type of buildings in their town. So it’s fairly non-confrontational and puzzle-like, but in a good way Honestly I like it better than similar but more complex games like Carson City, especially when considering its effort-to-entertainment ratio. The amount of decision-making hits that sweet spot where you always feel like you have good options, without descending into the dreaded analysis paralysis.

Sadly the game’s publisher went out of business a few years ago, and I don’t think it made enough of a splash to entice anyone else to pick it up for a reprint. But there seem to be plenty of copies out there, on eBay and in the used games market.

Rating: 4 (out of 5) One of those great “simple but engaging” games that we might not play all that often, but is always a joy when we get it to the table.