Deckbulding is one of my favorite gaming mechanics-there are many different ways I have it seen it done. A good deckbuilder really builds and builds, giving you chances to hone in on your ideal combinations. Today we are going to take the idea of building a deck and flip it on its head when we see what the opposite looks like in gameplay.
We are looking at the game Chiseled, published by Copper Frog Games. It is designed by Michael Epstein with art by Ali Swei and others. It plays from 1-4 players in approximately 30 minutes.
The game includes 4 decks of 45 cards that are your Sculpture deck along with 13 Tool cards, 8 Critic cards, 4 Check in cards, 4 player mats and 24 Waxed marble cards.
Objective
The goal of the game is simple-using the shared set of Tools players will take turns removing cards from their Sculpture deck to score the best statue points at the end of the game. Points are gained via the attributes of your statue and the Critics bonus points, but look out for scrap pieces that will get you negative points as well.
Gameplay
Each player receives a Sculpture deck to start along with a player mat and 7 Tool cards are placed in the middle of the play area. The player mat is where your Draw pile will sit and it gives you reference to where your Trash pile and Discard Pile will go. Each player also gets a Turn Order Guide and Check-In card.
The 8 Critic cards are shuffled and 3 are placed face up on the table. The Critics arrive to rate all players Sculptures when any one player reaches 0 on their Check-in card, this signaling the end of the game.
Each deck contains 9 head, 9 arm and 9 body cards which are called the Sculpt cards along with 18 Scrap cards and each body type is divided into either gold, silver or onyx materials. All of this information is shown on the cards via symbols.
In your turn there are 6 steps that you will take. These are:
1-Scuplt. Here you will select a face-up tool card from the ones available to use this turn. If they are all face-down you will flip them all back up. You will use the effect on the card then flip it face-down. These cards often let you move cards to your discard pile to keep or trash pile to remove.
2-Clean Up. Any cards still in your hand at this point go to your discard pile.
3-Plan. Draw a new hand of 3 cards. If your draw pile is empty you shuffle and reuse your discard pile.
4-Consult the Critics. Check to see if your hand 3 or more Sculpt cards. If so, reduce your Check-in card value by one.
5-Pass. Play now passes clockwise to the player on your left. At this point you also have the option to start over if your Sculpture is getting out of sorts.
Once someone’s Check-in card reaches 0, the game enters the final round and each other player gets one more turn.
After the final round the Sculptures are scored based on the scoring track for the number of cards you have of each Sculpt type. Scrap cards are always negative points. Critic cards will award bonuses as well based on meeting their criteria. The player with the highest point total wins!
Impressions
Chiseled offers up a unique gameplay opportunity in the world of deckbuilding-a chance to do some deconstruction instead of trying to build it from the ground up. Reverse deckbuilding is a good way to define this game, it let’s you smooth the edges and try to design the best and tightest deck that you can. But you have to be careful at times not to knock a chunk or two off that may score you more points!
I enjoyed the game at all player counts 2-4 and found that it was quick game with enough pace that it never felt too laggy between turns. There isn’t much on player interaction except for when and which Tool cards you pick. Making sure to leave yourself good options can be very important as the deck progresses down.
Overall Chiseled is a game I can get behind, a new look at an old favorite gaming mechanic given a chance to shine. I love games that offer a unique look at a style or mechanism of gameplay and this is definitely on thst list. So if you love deckbuilding and want to see it as something new, I think you will really enjoy this game!
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