I love Skyrim and Elder Scrolls games. I'm also into complex board games, like Car Wars (the original from the 80s), BattleTech, and miliary wargames. This game definitely feels like it fits in with the Skyrim theme, and it is definitely complex (and long). I have been playing this game for many hours (I have no idea how many) over several days so far, and I find myself constantly going back to the rule book to look stuff up. I was looking for a board game with a moderate or long campaign, loot collection, character progression, solo+coop play, and (preferably) little or no paper-based record keeping--this game has all of that. SOLO + COOP PLAY It works well solo, but with some house rule modifications (see the note about balance, in the PROBLEMS section below). As a 2-player game, it kind of works. I feel like it would be clunky with more than 2 people (see some video reviews on the internet about how that works). I tried to play it with my wife and she found it complicated and not engaging/enjoyable enough to want to keep playing it (so I switched to solo). TABLE SPACE The game takes up a lot of space. My 5x3 foot table is JUST large enough to fit it all (see the photo--the plastic chests, bags of coins, box of standees, dice tray, magnifying glass, and mug aren't included in the game). The complexity of setup, as well as the long session and campaign times, mean you're probably going to want to leave this all set up on a table across multiple gaming sessions. PROBLEMS I gave this game 1 less star because: * The rule book is difficult to find things in: it needs an index (and a good one); especially considering I have to constantly refer back to it * The characters and minis could have been better: Modiphius obviously decided to re-use minis from their Call to Arms miniatures gaming sets, as a cost-saving measure. They should have included some more logical models. For example, the Khajiit has bonus for stealth + lockpicking (so logically a thief-type character), and light armor in the game gives you bonus to stealth, but the mini has him in steel plate. The flipside of the character card has a female Khajiit in light armor dual-wielding daggers, so that is more logical, but you don't get the mini for her (you have to buy a separate minis expansion that costs a ton of money and has a boatload of wandering monster minis that you might not want). The Altmer has bonus for illusion + enchanting (so a mage-type character), but the mini has him in imperial heavy armor. The flipside has a female Altmer mage wearing a robe, but you don't get a mini for her either (that mini is in the minis expansion also). In Skyrim (the video game), the imperial's bonus ability is getting more money than the other races. In this game, the Khajiit (with the pickpocketing skill) is the cash king--imperials just get a better choice of treasure cards when they get to draw a treasure card (they still only get to pick 1). * The game has balance issues. Actual Skyrim balances the difficulty of the world to match your character. This game adapts also, but they only adjust the bottom end of the difficulty (so you can still encounter the hardest monsters at player level 0, but you won't encounter the easier monsters as you level up). There is a "story mode" and "solo mode" that make the game easier, but they still aren't enough. I had to create a house rule that caps the level of monsters in the monster decks: I only include monsters as high as my character level (or as high as the highest level player character in the game). Because you reshuffle the monsters you defeated back onto the top of their deck, you (most probably) will keep encountering that monster over and over again. This is a problem if the monster was too hard and you had to flee--you're probably going to just keep pulling it and having to flee again and again (not fun). By removing higher level monsters from the deck, you're more likely to be able to progress through the game successfully than get blocked by some quest that you are going to fail because you're going to have to face that same monster that you keep not being able to beat. NOTE ABOUT MISSING PIECES I got my game on Feb 24 2023. I read some reviews afterwards about how people received their game with some pieces missing. My game wasn't missing anything (that I can tell--I didn't do a thorough inventory). My guess is that maybe they received a returned game (?). OVERALL RECOMMENDATION The quality of the game seems high overall. I think it's worth the cost, considering other games I've bought. The game isn't for everyone, though. I think casual gamers will find it too complicated and frustrating. You might have to tweak the game with house rules to make it work better for you. If you're into Skyrim and complex board games, then this is something to check out (but try the core game before buying the expansions). If you aren't into both of those, you might want to look elsewhere.
