Today I want to tell you about a board game, the acquaintance with which I was accompanied by a sense of deja vu. In 2017, I did a review of the game Pathfinder. Card Game: Skull and Shackles. Starter Set. I played a few times , in the base, thought about buying the following additional sets sometime, revealing the story… But I never bought anything. I didn’t do it right away, and then the sets disappeared from the sale, which put an end to my complete playthrough of the game.

What I’ll have in my review today is a reimagining of the old Pathfinder card game series. You don’t need to buy anything else to play this game. The game is completely stand alone. Is the new Pathfinder worth the attention? That’s what we’re going to talk about today.

What is this base set?

Pathfinder. Card Game is a whole series of games, two of which were released earlier in Russian (Return of the Rune Rulers and Skull and Shackles). In total, the series had 4 big boxes with different stories, including additional sets of scenarios and characters.

For the new, fifth, box, the game’s authors decided to take a different approach. They decided to relaunch the series with a new look and updated rules. In fact, it’s like a new game taking into account all the grinds of the old gameplay. Therefore, those who are familiar with previous releases will immediately understand what’s going on here, only having to study the innovations that cosmetically change the game.

What’s included?

440 cards, 12 character tokens on stands, 5 dice (d4-d12), a bunch of state tokens and victory points, a booklet for a quick start, rules and a book of adventures.

The very first thing that catches the eye is the lovely organizer inside the box, which hasn’t been seen before in releases from Hobby World. Essentially, the organizer is simple, but very functional. The box is divided into three compartments, each with foam padding that holds the cards together very firmly. There are also large card dividers that can be used to conveniently sort the cards by type. I used to constantly have to rummage through numerous bags and stacks of rubber banded cards, but now everything is wildly convenient and pleasant. The cards are in plain sight, it’s easy to pull out the right stack and find the right card.

Unfortunately, since the cards need to be shuffled a lot, I had the corners of some cards come off in the second game. At the same time I tried to shuffle the cards carefully… So I recommend to put protectors on the cards right away, because then it will be a shame when the cards turn into rags.

How to play?

Honestly, this is the point where I hesitate, because I don’t know how best to tell you the basics of the game. If you are familiar with the other games in the series, you already know what you need to do in this game, so it will be enough just to familiarize yourself with the list of changes. And if you’re not familiar, it won’t be very clear to you what the main point of Card Pathfinder is if I go straight to impressions. So let me tell you about the rules, and to whom they are clear in absentia, you can go straight down to the impressions;)

You’ll need a lot of time to learn the game. I’d forgotten what the rollbook was for Turtles and Shackles, which I’d played previously, so I was a little shocked at the 32-page booklet written in small text. I would have picked this game apart, played it, and written a review as early as last year, but I was a little lazy to force myself to sit down to read a bunch of small text, so I waited for vacation, looking askew at the game’s rules. In fact, there wasn’t a lot of complicated text in there. The rules won’t cause problems for someone who has played something from the Pathfinder card game series before. Literally in a couple hours I read everything and was ready to play.

In fact, in the rollbooks (basic rules and rules for a quick start) everything is chewed up in great detail on each point, so that players do not have any questions, the answers to which would have to look for on the Internet. Here you will be told about deck building, and about pumping characters, and about the value of blessings, etc. etc. etc.

All right, let’s get to the heart of the game! Pathfinder. Card Game. The base set is a complete adventure that doesn’t need any add-ons. It includes a campaign consisting of 3 adventures, each consisting of three scenarios (plus there’s an optional tutorial scenario). That’s a total of 10 scenarios, completing which will complete an entire adventure.

It begins with you being contracted to accompany a trade caravan, but have unexpectedly been attacked by wolves. As you fight off the wolves, you notice in the distance that the wizard’s tower in the village of Belheim is falling apart. Then the local authorities offer you to explore the ruined place, in which, as you have already guessed, somewhere hidden evil.

Now about what you directly need to do when going through the scenarios. Each player chooses a character to play as. Dwarf, elf, human, robot? Any whim for your money! Each character has his or her own deck of cards, which is initially made up of starting (zero) level cards. As you progress, you’ll be able to replenish the deck with stronger items and spells. A paladin, for example, will have weapons, armor, and blessings in his deck, while a mage will have a deck full of spells and magic items.

The scenario involves having multiple location cards for players to pick from. The more players, the more locations available to explore will be on the table.

Each location card is labeled with what cards it consists of. For example, 3 monsters, 2 obstacles, 1 item, 2 weapons, 3 companions, etc. You simply take random cards of the appropriate types from the box and assemble a deck from them. At the very end, one villain or minion card each is added to the deck. For example, in the tutorial scenario, the caravan leader is the villain and the servants are the wolves.

At the beginning of the game, players place their character tokens on the selected locations, draw the starting number of cards in their hand, place a deck of 30 blessings on the table, which serves as the game’s hourglass, and begin playthrough.

Bottom line

Yes, I’m the kind of maniac who enjoys goblet tossing and card flipping, so the board game Pathfinder. Card Game I enjoyed it. It makes me want to play more. Admittedly, when you can’t get through one scenario several times because of dice rolls, it starts to get a little angry. In that case, I pause for a while to cool down and reignite my desire to go further.

If you wanted to buy something from this series of Pathfinder card games, this game is the best choice from what came out in Russian. One box is enough to play and to go through the story. So, imho, the price of the game is fully justified.

I recommend it to those who like to roll dice and try to pump up their heroes. The game is quite specific, so it’s better to try it before buying it – in case it doesn’t work. 7,5/10.