Having seen Monumental at several events and not having a chance to play it. The prototype arrived with us a few days ago (while I was away at BGG.CON) and we finally sat to a game this evening. However, with less than 24 hours left on the Kickstarter there is not time for a full walkthrough so here's just a few thoughts and even more pictures.
Anyone that knows me knows that I am not a fan of miniatures in games, partly as I feel they inflate a game's price unnecessarily, however Monumental offers you the option to pay more for these rather stunning miniatures or if like me you know you'll never get around to painting them you can select the standard version with cardboard chips for less money and still receive the same gameplay experience. So for you miniatures fans, heres a look at some of the stunning pieces available in the deluxe version that we saw at Table Gaming Live in September.
There are certainly elements to the game that are used in many other games, but Monumental doesn't feel like any one of these other games. The core game mechanics are CIV building, and 4X which combining the two is creating a pretty monumental experience (get it), and theses are pretty familiar themes on their own. Domination over a modular somewhat randomised setup, with 3 basic resource types (Military, Knowledge, and Production) as well as Gold and Culture. It then adds in DeckBuilding and card usage like we've not seen before. Cards from a player's deck are laid out in a 3 by 3 grid and one row and one column of that grid are activated in a turn. Meaning that it's often necessary to play a combination of good and not so good cards in the same turn to get what you want. However, cards purchased are immediately placed on the top of your deck, so when activated cards are removed from the grid and replaced from the deck at the end of the turn the newly purchased cards come into play straight away.
Generating large amounts of resources allow you to build Wonders which give you good one time bonuses when they are built, however they are then put into your deck and grant you great abilities during the game.
Monumental is currently on Kickstarter and live until Thu, November 22 2018 5:00 PM UTC. They're currently heading towards £500,000 and 5,000 backers, with only one stretch goal outstanding. So tomorrow is going to be the last opportunity to get this as it is not going to retail.
