Build a deck, navigate a dungeon, and steal riches from a dragon are in this fun new game. Come check out Clank!, a potential noisy classic by Renegade Games!
Clank! is a 2-4 player deck building board game. If that seems strange to you, it is. Clank! is a hybrid of two different types of games.
Part deck builder and part dungeon crawler board game. Designed by Paul Dennen and published by a collaboration of Renegade games and Dire Wolf, a typical game will play in about 30-60 minutes.
In Clank! you play as a cunning thief out to steal all the best riches. There is a catch though, these treasures happen to belong to a sleeping dragon. You see, the more treasure you steal the more points you get, however, it’s also how you generate more and more “Clank”! As you buy cards from the market row new ones will turn over for the next player and if any have a dragon attack symbol, well all the Clank! players have created all get added to the bag of black cubes.
If your color cubes ever get drawn from the bag that is damage that you have to take. Too much damage and you get knocked out, and depending on whether or not you made it back above ground determines if you survive or not. Each player must delve into the dungeon to acquire an artifact of various value. Only by gaining these artifacts can you begin making your way back to the surface. Once out of the dungeon and off the board the end game occurs and the remaining players must race back before it’s too late. The winner is the player with the most loot.
Now, you can play quick and dirty by running in and grabbing the earliest artifact but it’s not worth as many points as the ones further into the dungeon so there is a push your luck element to this game. Also if you are knocked out and haven’t made it above ground you won’t be saved by the villagers and therefore will not score. So risk versus reward is a heavy part of Clank!. The different cards you can gain to build up your deck vary from companions to treasure to monsters you can fight for rewards. Some of these cards will hurt you or other players with various effects.
The most unique feature of this deck builder is not only are you trying to build your deck, but you must also navigate an actual board which is two-sided so you can customize your adventure. Some of the cards will have movement, skill for buying new cards, and swords for fighting monsters. There are also hazards on the board itself such as random monsters, disorientating caverns, and locked doors. Also, as players loot Moreno artifacts or dragon eggs the dragon increases his intensity and hits harder and harder.
For even more variety you can play with the Sunken Treasures expansion which adds a new double-sided board featuring an underwater maze to navigate. This introduces a few new mechanics such as having to make sure you resurface to breathe when diving underwater. Also, there is now a third expansion featuring an Egyptian pyramid dungeon will be released. This will add a wandering mummy to avoid on top of dodging the dragon.
If fantasy is not your preference then there is another base game called Clank! In Space which adds a sci-fi theme as well as a more advanced gameplay. No more rushing in and out with the loot. Now you must hack different sectors of a space station and you are trying to outwit Lord Eradikus, a cybernetic terror instead of a dragon.
So in review, Clank! has something for everyone and I highly recommend it to fans of deck builders as well as adventure board games. I actually ran demos for this during International Tabletop Day and it turned out to be a sleeper hit. My local FLGS couldn’t keep up with demand after that.
Seems Renegade Games knows amazing games when it sees them.
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About the Author: Christopher Guyton
