When you sit down to form your adventurer in the gaming world, there are many different troupes you can live through. There’s the fighter, the wizard, the paladin and many other unique and vibrant choices. But for me, the one that always pulled on my creative energy has to be the thief. The cunning, stealthy character out to take care of number one and get rich or die trying. What if you instead were a master thief and had your own group of hirelings to do your bidding and help solidify your reputation as the top thieve in the town? What if you could also make some deals with shady characters to get a little bit of wizard magic and push ahead of the competition? Well all these things and more are possible when you sit down to play the newest game in the world of 10 Minute Heist: The Wizard’s Tower-Thieves Den.
Thieves Den is designed by Alice Davis and Illustrated by Denis Martynets with Graphic Design by Dylan Aldaine. It is developed by Daily Magic Games.
Components:
1 game board
1 direction tile
11 power tiles
10 scheme cards
5 player boards
60 location cards
42 fence cards
5 score markers
30 thief tokens
55 treasure tokens
Gameplay:
Each player starts with a player board, 3 thief tokens and the maker for the score. Your Score starts at zero and the thieves all have a seat, one each in the chairs on your player board. Each player also starts with a Scheme card, this will be your hidden agenda goal you are trying to score off of for the end of the game.
The board is set up with a draw deck of Location cards, a row of Fence cards and two piles of resources-the thieves in the forest area and the treasure token in the city area. A stack of Power Tiles 3 also will be on the board to be revealed each round.
Each player has a player board that is your hub, the location of your acquired Treasures, Thieves, Scheme Card, Location Cards and Fence Cards. Here is a rundown of what each of those components entail:
Treasures: These are what you will be acquiring through the work of your skilled Thief, there are 5 different types of Treasure types, and you gain them in a variety of ways in the game. On your player board you are able to store a maximum of 8.
Thief: These will do your work for picking up Treasures from Locations and delivering them to the Fences, and recruiting other Thieves and assorted specials on the board. You may put one Thief at each seat so a maximum of 6 at one time are available to you.
Scheme Card: This is your secret agenda card, and you will have 2 different types of Locations you are trying to collect to fulfill and score bonus points for each set you collect of them.
Location Cards: These cards are where the Thief tokens will go to steal the available Treasures. Each Location has an ability, and you get the Treasure or effect of the card when you either play it instantly, when you add a Thief to it or if you own the card and someone else plays a Thief to it and you gain the bonus on the card. Each Location has a type that is listed on the card as well.
Fence Cards: Each Fence Card is person looking to buy your stolen Treasures. They have a list of specific Treasures they want, and you play a Thief to the card to signify that you have fulfilled that order. Each Fence also has a type, and you will score bonus points at the end of the game based on set collecting these Fence types.
The game breaks down to 3 phases per round with a total of three rounds of play. The Phases are:
1-Scouting Phase
2-Thieving Phase
3-Cleanup Phase
In the Scouting Phase each player is given 4 Location cards and does a draft with them, picking an passing one card. Each card is played in front of the player and immediate effects are performed or they wait for the Thieving Phase. Each player will have a total of 3 Location cards and the final is discarded.
In the Thieving Phase the main gameplay happens, where each player will send out a Thief, sell Treasures and take actions. The different actions include selling to a Fence, stealing Treasures from a Location, using a Power Tile, Delivering Treasure to the Witch, Recruit a new Thief or Burgle Treasures.
Each player takes one action and the play is passed clockwise. Once you pass you are done for the round. There is no limit to actions, but eventually you will run out of options to play a turn.
In the Cleanup Phase players reset their board by returning Thief tokens on Locations to the seats and keeping Location cards on the left of your player board. Treasures used to obtain Power Tiles, given to the Witch and Recruit Thief tokens go back to the supply.
The game plays 3 rounds, and at the end players score points off of their Fence type set collection and Scheme cards along with points scored during the game already. Points equal Prestige and the player with the most Prestige wins the game!
Overall Impression:
This game brings some interesting mechanics together and meshes them into one game quite well. It starts off as a drafting/card selection game that quickly evolves into a worker placement game each round. The series of three rounds is the perfect amount of time to play across this game as you scramble across the Locations to acquire the best treasures and move them into the hands of the Fences.
I really enjoy the card selection and worker placement qualities this game brings. You always feel like your choices matter in this game which at times makes it so it can be hard to select just that right move to cascade you into further actions for the rest of the turn. I also really like the way the Thief tokens are used in gameplay giving you access to a variety of options and returning sometimes (but not always) to your player board. This helped you decide how important a move now would be based on the need for more workers in the future.
I also really like the artwork here. This game already looks great even in prototype form. The Fences especially are gorgeous and deserve to highlighted as stunning works-you can tell the design direction has been done well. This game is bound to get even better since this is a prototype version and there is still some room for component upgrades.
Overall I really liked this experience and gameplay as it takes some different but familiar mechanics in a whole new direction on how to best use them. Thieves Den hits on all cylinders for me and after playing it I looked forward to the next playthrough of it again-it was a hit with family and friends for us in our gaming group without question. So if you are looking for a great experience sitting around the table comparing treasures and loot with your fellow Thieves then look no further than Thieves Den on Kickstarter!
(promotional consideration provided in the form of a review copy)
