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Consider this: the average board game costs about fifty bucks, retail. Not even Eagle Games, famous for enormous games, makes games that would cost you a C-note. So when Adiken tells you that the Nin Gonost Game Case will set you back $150, you know there had better be some serious game in that box.
For those unfamiliar (which I wager is a fair number of people), Nin Gonost is a dungeon crawl game using metal miniatures, magnetic floor tiles, and a ludicrous number of specialized dice. Adiken sells a large quantity of material for the game, including paints, brushes, miniatures, doors, tiles, and more.
What's In the Box
Two components ultimately decide whether the contents of the case are worth the high price tag – the quality and quantity of the materials, and the quality of the rules. Happily, the first component seems to support the financial outlay.
The stars of Nin Gonost are the miniatures. There are fourteen unpainted pewter miniatures total – four heroes and ten bad guys. They are all, for the most part, well-sculpted and attractive.
If the miniatures are the stars, the magnetic tiles are the gimmicky co-stars. These innovative tiles can be assembled quickly to make a huge variety of dungeons, and the little walls can be added for dimension. There are not enough walls to surround the floor tiles, but they serve their purpose well enough. These tiles add an enormous amount of dimension to the game, not to mention being fun to look at.
Also inside the box are the dice, dozens of six-sided dice in different colors, each bearing different numbers and symbols. These are the core of the Nin Gonost system, and seem pretty darn cool at first glance. If they could be used outside Nin Gonost, they would be even sweeter, but you would be hard-pressed to find a use for them given their odd number distribution.
Because nobody likes ugly minis, the Nin Gonost case includes six bottles of paint and a very nice brush. The colors are not everything you will ever need to paint, and with only one brush, you will probably need more, but the quality of the paint is very high, and the brush is extremely nice.
The case also includes four sarcophagi with removable coffin lids and four doors that can open and close. These can really improve the visuals for a game, especially when players can swing doors closed to cut off pursuit, or kick them open to hand out beatings.
The rules book is attractive enough, with a pretty full-color cover and decent black and white art throughout. The layout of the book works well, and allows the reader to find the rule he needs when he needs it.
Finally, the whole package comes in a sturdy wooden case with a leather handle and metal snaps. The case alone is attractive and sturdy, worth a good-sized fistful of cash all by itself. Add in the minis, the doors and coffins, the magnetic tiles and the paint, and just the components might be worth $150.
The Game
Of course, most buyers are not inclined to purchase a game solely for the components. If that were true, Nin Gonost would certainly be a contender, but to be a true value at any price, the game needs to have decent rules.
I won't lie to you – the basic rules are horrid. The game essentially devolves into taking turns swinging on each other, rolling the varicolored dice and praying for a roll high enough to kill each other with a single swing, since you can't chip away at your foes. For a more in-depth review of the rules, read my review of Dungeon Clash.
In case you don't want to read a whole different review just to make sense of this one, the brief version of the Nin Gonost system has each combatant rolling a die, the color of which is based on the fighting stat. Modifiers change the type of die rolled, so a +2 modifier means the player rolls a die two steps better than normal. The highest roll hits the foe, and if the damage calculation is higher than resistance, the enemy falls. Otherwise the enemy laughs heartily, and a valuable lesson is learned.
The advanced rules offer a lot more depth and possibility. They make a game that can truly be a dungeon crawl, not just an exercise in pushing metal around the board. The single greatest improvement, in my opinion, is the introduction of wounds. The basic rules determine the result of an attack as a kill or a miss; now, by comparing the damage result to the victim's constitution, a character can be hurt without being killed. The luck factor that made the basic game so tedious is reduced considerably, since now I can battle huge foes like the troll and whittle him down.
Other additions to the rules are also handy. Characters can pick locks, rush locked doors, open coffins, sneak attack, cast spells, catch arrows, and otherwise enjoy a greatly expanded selection of choices.
Players of Nin Gonost may have a few complaints. At first glance, the system appears to be fairly clever, with the various dice replacing the customary system of adding modifiers to the outcome of a die roll. However, some may consider the system cumbersome and unnecessary, and wonder why the creators of Nin Gonost did not see fit to just add numbers together to get bigger numbers.
Another complaint might be the fact that characters can almost always strike back in melee, so initiative is largely irrelevant. Even if a character is blind-sided, the dice always allow a simultaneous counterstrike. This can also make melee attacks a very bad idea, since an orc is just as likely to die on his own turn as he is on the knight's turn.
These complaints may not bother some players, and others may deem the game irrevocably broken. To judge for yourself whether you want to play Nin Gonost, you can download the advanced rules from the Adiken site for free (www.adiken.com).
Summary
The sheer quantity of cool stuff in the Nin Gonost game case is nearly enough to justify the cost of the game. The minis are nice, the magnetic tiles are cool, and the extras are high-quality. The case is exceptional, though it will not hold much in the way of expanded material – if, for example, you own Dungeon Clash, you will not be able to fit all those miniatures in the case with everything else.
The rules for Nin Gonost are serviceable, if not brilliant. The advanced rules, particularly the ability to wound a foe, make the game considerably more dynamic and interesting. I would not say that this is the last dungeon game you will ever want to buy, but it is still a good game.
Substance: 3 – The rules are not bad, but they are not awesome.
Style: 4 – Cool miniatures, cool tiles, and cool extras make a pretty cool package.
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