• by Mike Clarke
  This review was first published to BoardGameGeek in Sept. 2013 

The back story in Duel is set in a virtual reality game of the future in which you absorb a personality matrix to become one of a number of fantasy, sci-fi, historical or fictional characters: Roy Rogers or Robin Hood anyone? Beowulf, Pat Garrett or Little Annie Oakley — she’s awful good with a gun!

In this future story, the character you become winds up in an arena with other characters who form your team to carry out quests in a deadly contest that awards points for combat, for taking down parts or all of the enemy’s base, for gaining Lith’s, the game master’s favour and for going on and completing adventures.

There’s only five points available in a typical two player match.
Which team wounded the enemy the most, captured the most prisoners, took down most locations in a base? — there are seven — gets, only one point.

Which team gained Lith’s favour? — one point. Which team had more markers on an Adventure? One point. Who successfully impressed the most denizens in the land?  One point. That’s it. No victory point salad here. One task may involve two hours of gameplay but only one team gets its point.

This game feels a lot like Earth Reborn without all the chrome. Moving, fighting and shooting feel the same, but the process here is far more intuitive and streamlined. The game tells its own little stories that are the product of game play, not flavour text. The fighting is not predictable so it’s dangerous although better equipment definitely influences the odds. You don’t go into fights unnecessarily. Even when your opponent is outmatched, he can still get lucky and deliver a debilitating hit just like life. That’s why you need your teammates.

It’s combat driven but you won’t score most of your points fighting. You’ll score them on adventure challenges so it’s about more than fighting. There are places to go, people to see, riddles to solve. The game is played in teams that can field as little as six or as many as 12 or more characters a side. You get to pick up lots of very cool weapons from across all four ages.

Bigger teams = bigger maps (they’re called platters). The adventures take place on the “keys” that link these maps together one of which is your “Base” where you can get healing, pick up items and imprison members of the opposing team so you can “interrogate” them for their items.

This game is less work (there is some work) than a war game and a helluva lot of fun. It feels pretty epic when you’re playing and it’s very playable. It could be an Earth Reborn killer for me. I’ll have to judge it on future plays. Like Earth Reborn, you learn it in scenarios, but there’s less of them and they’re a lot faster to get through.

I think this one’s a keeper.

Update: Seven plays in now including Triad and Jump Dual and I wouldn’t change a thing in my original review. This game is the real deal— rich, exciting and full of surprises. It just keeps getting better largely because it reveals its strategy grudgingly, one little nugget at a time. There’s still lots to discover. And best of all, it’s still fun.