Devil Island: Clan Ika - Feeling a Bit Salty
/Super Dungeon Explore – Chibi Ninjas are just amazing. Several years ago Sodapop/Ninja Division released Ninja All-Stars the game was beautifully designed with amazing miniatures and had a ton of potential. There was even a pretty decent campaign system that would allow you to run a league of ninjas competing for the top prize. Unfortunately the game tried to be cute with a weird dice mechanic that didn’t quite catch on.
I played the core game a bunch when it first came out but never got beyond the basic ninjas. The unique clans and characters probably added a bunch to the game however getting past the weird mechanic was hard. Recently my kids and I have been playing my collection of Ninja Division board games. They really wanted to like Ninja All-Stars, everything about the game clicked right away except the dice mechanic. Rolling, canceling out opposing elements and then having to chose from results that could be potentially detrimental seemed like way to much work. Thematically the mechanic should replicate then fast and furious ducking, dodging and striking of a martial arts dual and on paper it does. However in practice it’s just not quite right.
Luckily Ninja Division realized they should focus on their core game: Super Dungeon Explore and began releasing more rules for the various clans. It doesn’t look like you can get all of them in print versions, but much like Knight Models Batman game you can grab the digital version from their website. Hopefully they’ll make all the cards available sometime in the future.
Anyway history lesson aside I finally got a chance to put some paint on these little ninjas. I can’t wait to play them in Super Dungeon, they should give the hero’s a run for their money. I’m pretty sure Killamari and Salty will annoy those pesky heroes that dare to challenge the might on the Dark Console.
