Wild Assent – Two Heavy Games in One Box

Recent miniature based games from Kickstarter often fall into two categories: skirmish games and co-op games. Both types are pretty popular, but the latter usually does a bit better when it comes to funding. The game that we want to talk about today merges both of these genres,  while adding a solo mode as the icing on the cake. Meet Wild Assent – a project that will become available on Kickstarter in less than 2 weeks.

Hunters and Arenas

The world, where the action of Wild Assent takes place, suffered from lots of painful changes over the past 30 years. King got murdered by an elf called Veraclea and the whole country is under her rule. Malicious elf took a liking to gladiator battles at the arena. She quickly turned it into one of the most important events in the country, even though most nobles and citizens weren’t as excited about it as her.

To get a steady stream of fresh gladiators, a group called The Seekers was established. People branded as these are forced to gather slaves and monsters, and bring them to the arena. If they keep doing well, they get their freedom back. If they fail – they may become gladiators themselves.

The Hunt is On

Hunt mode is the co-op/solo part of the game. Apart from the story, it’s completely separate from the other mode. Players can try the survival variant, where they need to survive 10 seasons of fighting and capturing beasts. More advanced people can attempt scenarios from the scenario book. These are more difficult and have more complex victory conditions.

Each player can control up to 4 characters at once. They venture into a dangerous jungle called The Wilds, establish a settlement, hire workers and start looking for beasts. Capturing these will bring them gold and glory, but will often pose threat to their lives. Phoenixes, golems, gryphons – all of them require unique strategies and approach.

Each seeker has a set of skills, some of which need to be unlocked. The actions of each creature are controlled by their own decks (think Gloomhaven).

Morituri te Salutant

Meanwhile, completely different people fight each other in the arena, using beasts captured by the Seekers. This is the second part of the game – the competitive mode made for 2 to 4 players. Each player controls one Assent character, who can communicate with beasts, and a bunch of creatures controlled by him or her. Before every game you decide whether the goal will be killing everything or just the Assents.

Each Assent character is different – some specialize in fast combat while others can heal themselves. Players can gain new skills – up to 2 from a pool of 5 per character. Monsters also have their own abilities, and it’s good to pick a beast that makes up for the weaknesses of your Assent.

To spice up the game, elven queen will often affect the board thanks to her own deck of cards. Veraclea can reward a gladiator who does what she wants, punish others or change the core rules of the game.

Wild Assent on Kickstarter

Wild Assent merges two popular genres and gives players many ways to customize the gameplay to their liking.

Whether you feel like cooperating with or competing against your friends, you should find something that suits you everytime you open the box. This, paired with amazing minis, makes Wild Assent one of the most promising projects of Fall 2018.

Wild Assent will enter its crowdfunding phase on October 16th.

Campaign link