Matthew BaileyA day or so ago, as part of our Spooktacular, I looked at “Cthulhu Wars,” a fantastic Risk-style war game that brings the general feel of Risk into the modern era with much better components and a far more interesting experience overall.
Jack(9) and I have become really obsessed with playing “Cthulhu Wars” over the last week or two, but one small thing that stopped me from giving it an instant recommendation is the price. “Cthulhu Wars” is incredibly expensive, starting at around £150, and even more if you want the latest releases that come with extra miniatures.
Then, if you want to buy more expansions, you’re looking at roughly £50 per expansion, unless you snag a deal. But since they don’t tend to have much retail stock, you’ll probably end up looking on eBay or going directly to the company, which can also mean a hefty USA shipping cost if you’re outside the States.
That’s where “Cthulhu Wars: Duel” comes in, a scaled-down two-player version (in size) of the original game, with a few key differences. Yet, it plays almost identically to the main game and, more importantly, is considerably cheaper, coming in at around £30.
On the surface, “Cthulhu Wars: Duel” is pretty much the same game. It has a world map that looks similar to the one in the main game; in fact, the “Duel” map is slightly prettier and nicer to look at. All of the mechanics are here, and all of the characters too, exactly as they are in the full-scale release. The key difference is that you’re using cardboard standees instead of the oversized miniatures from the main game.
Now, the miniatures in “Cthulhu Wars” are amazing, but their quality isn’t as good as what I’ve seen in other productions, largely because they’re made from resin instead of plastic. You can’t usually get as much detail out of resin as you can from ABS plastic.
In reality, I don’t think the cardboard standees take anything away from the experience, and I’m someone who loves miniatures. The standees are well-produced, the artwork is great, and especially for the cultists, it’s a lot easier to see what’s going on. Plus, they fit the theme perfectly.
Beyond that, the game is essentially the same. The only real difference is the addition of a Decay track, which adds a really clever balancing mechanic. When one player runs out of power during their turn, any further turns they could take add to the Decay track. Then, every subsequent action by the other player costs extra power, making it harder to create devastating combos once your opponent is out of moves. We actually love this mechanic so much that when we now play the larger base game, we’ve started including the Decay mechanic as it makes the game feel more balanced and eliminates those big, undefendable plays that can feel punishing.
All of the components are lovely. The standees are really nice, and the artwork, in my opinion, is better than the original. It all fits into a nicely sized box. This is the full game… just for two players. That said, there’s another smaller box game called “Cthulhu Wars: Duel Extinction,” which I don’t have but have just ordered.
This game comes with two more factions, which are expansions to the base game, and they’re all interchangeable. That means you can mix them with the “Duel” factions. While it might feel a bit crowded, I don’t see why you couldn’t use the characters from both “Duel” games to play with four players. That would give you the full “Cthulhu Wars” experience (minus the miniatures) for about £60, versus the £150-200 needed for the main game.
In terms of complexity, “Cthulhu Wars: Duel” is very playable with children. There’s a bit of reading for the individual mechanics, but once you understand the rules, it’s straightforward. There’s nothing hidden, so as an adult, you can talk through the options a child has on their turn. Sure, the artwork depicts gruesome monsters, but there’s no blood or anything inherently scary. I’d say it’s very playable with a child aged around 7 or 8, depending on their ability and familiarity with board games.
While it’s not worth spending £200 on the base game unless you absolutely adore it, I can wholeheartedly recommend “Cthulhu Wars: Duel” as a must-buy if you have any interest in war games or if you want something that plays a bit like Risk but better. This is an instant recommendation.
Absolutely fantastic stuff, and I’m sure I’ll be recommending it regularly in the future.
