I like Deck Building games. They come complete and ready to go right out of the box. Several have some unique mechanics that make them stand out, like Clank! or the Legendary encounter series. The one thing most of them have in common is starting out with a set of basic cards and turn by turn gather better cards, usually by spending some type of resource.
Edge of Humanity doesn’t, in fact, player’s trash cards almost every turn. More so, a common strategy is to keep your deck thin for reasons we will discuss later. But does adding this unique mechanic, make it a good game? Grab your gun, your gear and let’s try to survive, it’s the end of all we know, but we’re not going down without a fight.
Edge of Humanity, from Golden Egg Games, is a 2-5 player deck builder set in a time where the last of Humanity gathers in colonies. Each player is a colony leader and the one who has the most success building their colony and rescuing survivors wins.
To start, each player selects a set of a colony deck, takes the matching standee, and 7 health tokens. Place each standee or player marker on the survival point track at the X.
Next, choose if you are using one of the three pre-built scenarios. The base game comes with 3 (viral epidemic, nuclear survival, and alien invasion). Each of these is an ELE (Extinction Level Event). Advanced rules allow for customizing a scenario.
Take the scenario and set it face down with the intro card facing up. Next, take the main deck and create trade piles (2 cards each) equal to the number of players plus one. For example in a two-player game, create 3 trade piles.
Next, shuffle the survivor deck and layout the top 5 in a row, placing the unlucky symbol above the rightmost card. Decide who goes first and give them the first player marker and you are ready to play. Draw 5 cards from your starting cards to form your hand and begin.
There are 4 types of cards, Action cards, supply cards, building cards, and survivor cards. Each type can have multiple uses. Supply cards are the game’s currency and are used in building and recruiting. Supply cards do not get discarded when used, but are trashed (removed from the game) If a card has a trade value, it may be used for that in the trade phase. Action cards allow a player to perform a specific action. Buildings are used to gain SP and require supplies to complete. In addition, they also grant an ongoing benefit. Survivors also grant SP and some offer ongoing benefits to the player as well.
Each round has 5 phases; Event, Action, Trade, Recruit, and Clean up. The first player draws the top card from the event deck, reads the story side, and each player in turn order resolves the revealed event and its effects.
Starting with the first player, each player takes one action. Actions range from playing an action card, completing a building or discarding. If a player chooses to play an action card, play the card, paying any costs, and resolve its effects. Most action cards either allow a player to gain a card , a free action, or health. If a player ever runs out of health, they are out for the remaining phases of the round and refresh back to 7 health during the cleanup phase.
Constructing buildings is one of the ways players earn survival points (SP). To construct a building, play a building card and any number of supply cards you wish to use to complete it. Each building has a supply cost and can be built in multiple turns. Once a building has the required number of supplies, the building is completed, all supplies used are trashed, the player earns the SP for completing it, and any bonuses take immediate effect. Move their standee up the track equal to the SP awarded.
The last action, allows a player to discard any number of cards they wish to. Remember how I said, that a strategy is to keep your deck thin, this next step will enlighten further.
Once a player has completed their action, they discard any cards played and drawback up to their hand size. Whenever a player needs to draw cards, and their draw pile is empty, they immediately select one survivor from the survivor row, add it to their discard pile, shuffle it, and draw cards needed to refill their hand.
A good strategy is if you have cards you don’t need at the moment and your draw pile is empty, using a discard action, will gain you a survivor and refill your hand.
After each player has taken their action, the trade phase begins. This is basically a silent auction where each player selects a number of cards they opt to use for their trade value, as a bid for a trade pile. Each player reveals their bid, and the highest bidder gets to select a trade pile first, then the next highest selects one and so on until all the bidders have selected a pile. They take their pile, place it in their discard pile and trash their cards used to bid. Bidding in the auction is voluntary, but a player who does not participate cannot gain cards.
In the recruiting phase, player’s have the option to select a survivor from their hand, pay the recruitment cost and add the survivor to their colony. Each recruited survivor will reward a player with SP and some also give a bonus that takes immediate effect. Like the other phases, any supplies used are trashed. Like buildings, move the player marker up the track for the amount of SP gained.
The final phase, clean up, is when the trade piles are refreshed. First, each trade pile, not selected gains one card, and new piles are created for the other ones. Next, the survivor under the unlucky symbol is also trashed, each remaining one slides to the right and a new survivor is added to the line-up.
Pass the first player token to the next player, and a new round begins. One thing to note, players, do not draw back up to their hand size before the next round, but use their remaining cards after the trade and recruit phase.
The game continues until the last event is played, or a player reaches the 11 space on the SP track.
Edge of Humanity is very different than other games of its type. It requires some different strategies than most other deck builders. Hand management is crucial to winning. Knowing what cards to use for what purpose, making sure you have cards you need for the next hand must go into whether you are willing to trade or recruit. Is the trade pile of 4 really useful cards worth the risk of reducing your hand down to 2 or 3 cards for the next round worth it? These are the kinds of decisions required in order to win.
Events can be both beneficial or catastrophic. Knowing how to adapt and make the most of what you have is vital. This type of gameplay creates decision making that goes right along with the theme and gives the game a great sense of realism. When a game’s mechanics can do this, it creates an exciting and dynamic gaming experience.
The game’s components are very good quality card stock. Cards are laminated and are very sturdy. The artwork is grim and completes the theme very well.
To answer my original question, I firmly believe these unique mechanics make this a great game. They may not work for others, but with this theme, it’s fantastic.
I enjoy the unique strategies required, the theme and the overall gameplay. The replayability is great as customized scenarios can be created to form very original stories. The game can also be played without a scenario, but simply to gain SP to determine a winner. I definitely see this becoming a personal favorite.
Sam Healey of the Dice Tower, has a nice overview of the game.
Written by Ed Carter
