Critical Brit #8: Grey Gnome Games Review

Hey gang, Welcome back to another edition of Critical Brit.
In this edition I’m going to talk about how fun it is to play with yourself.
Those times when there’s no one around and its only you.
Well, you can just reach into your pocket, slide it out, and have a fun little session all on your own.
I am, of course, talking about the tiny tin adventures from Jason Glover & Grey Gnome Games.
And while it’s all about solo fun, it’s also a threesome as I’ll be covering Tin Helm, Gates, & DustRunners.

Anyways, enough of this suggestive filth, “what are you rambling on about?” is what I imagine you’re thinking about now.
So I first came across these altoids tin games via a kickstarter campaign share on the hellmouth that used to be called Twitter.
It offered a 30 minute randomised dungeon crawl with characters, loot, & all that good stuff, all in a fantastic tiny tin.
Now kickstarter type things can be a bit of a gamble with a lot of promises that dont always materialise (looking at you Chronic Blunt Punch!) but thats video games.
Boardgame kickstarters are a much safer bet (***EDITOR’S NOTE*** Tell that to Space Goat!) as the designer will have a fully developed prototype, with artwork to show off, and the money is essentially just going to manufacturing cards, boxes, etc.
They were a little premium (especially with UK shipping) but they are made to order and with the quality materials and, artwork from Jason Glover, they feel it too.
And they might just be the thing to stuff in a stocking for that dorky someone you know this Christmas, even if that dork is you.
So first I’ll give a short break down of each game and then some extra thoughts at the end.

Tin Helm
Tin helm is a randomized dungeon crawl with a selection of areas and situations you choose from as you go.
So once you start you reveal one card, say its a Grotto with potential dangers & rewards indicated by the symbols on it.
Now, you can play that location or you can pass by, but you must play the next location whatever it may be, for better or worse.
Fighting all kinds of familiar, and not so familiar, monsters while searching for that sweet loot.
It has a push your luck element to combat where you can add energy to an encounter to make it easier but you only have a certain amount to use before you get tired, so use it wisely.

Gate/Gates
Gate and its expansion, Gates, are a deck building tower defence game that, again, takes 20-30 mins, or 40 with the expansion.
You lay out your town cards, use the dice as health counters, get your starting villagers, and prepare for the demon onslaught to begin.
Each card you draw from your hand gives different amounts of gold to buy more villagers, ability to repair defences, or attack power to slay the invading monsters.
As the tide of attackers moves in they go after buildings, villagers, and some spread fear.
If they destroy the titular Gate or the brilliantly named Fearamid fills to the top, it’s game over.
There’s some great monsters in this one.
It’s a fun time with my only criticism being the ratio of villager cards Vs attacker cards could do with a tweak towards a bit more variation in monsters.
It definitely improves with the expansion tin and the sweet neoprene mat I got with it.

DustRunners
Dust Runners is a Mad Max chase through the post apocalyptic desert, racing from location to location scavenging for fuel and ammo while staying ahead of the pursuing enemies.
Its reminiscent of FTL for anyone who played that with its choice of paths through the maps & the reversible cards add variety.
You can have a few variations of vehicle for more armour or fuel capacity to help while you move from location to location trying to find modifications to improve you survival chances and avoid random raiders.

That’s each one explained, now here’s my thoughts.
I love the micro experience and the art throughout is great.
At first play they can be a little confusing due to how many steps & mechanics are squashed into such a tiny package, a larger manual would probably explain them better than the rules cards, but there’s always YouTube vids to explain anything you’re confused on.
Another thing would be scope.
While the tiny tin package is the thing that drew me in, playing Gate’s expansion, Gates, really opens the base game up and does kinda make me want a larger experience out of the other two.
But, again, the small scale is the whole point and that they do very well.
I love what Grey Gnome games has done with these games and watching the designer’s youtube development videos (https://www.youtube.com/@jasonglover6615) explaining how they’re made from rules to basic considerations like how many cards & dice will actually fit into the tin has had me scrolling TheGameCrafter.com (the place that actually manufactures the games) wondering what kind of adventures I could put in those charming little tins.

Overall, they are a fun little game experience, in a nice & neat package that, despite some confusion to start, pack a lot in.

Special thanks to our resident Critical Brit, the good sir Steboost!

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