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Review of Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem – Grim Bastards Club Expansion
Blurb from the publisher: 'The Brothers Grim...
A venerable, respected club, the Grim Bastards leverage their deep connections to bolster their club coffers.
Everyone wants the Bastards at their back and are willing to pay dearly for their support.
The Grim Bastards Club Expansion includes everything you need to add an additional player and this dangerous new club to your games of Sons Of Anarchy: Men Of Mayhem.
Loyalty, for a price.'
What you get: Your EUR 17,50 or GBP 15 or USD 20 will buy you a copy of Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem - Grim Bastards Club Expansion, an expansion in the Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem game line that started with Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem, a 90-minute boardgame for three to four players. The box contains the rulebook in English which is also free of charge on the company's website, as well as the following items: one Clubhouse Card, 10 Plastic Dudes, 87 tokens, one Player Blind and one six-sided Die.
For those never having heard of the franchise, Sons of Anarchy is a wildly popular and acclaimed TV crime drama series which was completed after a run of seven years. It follows the lives of Sons of Anarchy, a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in California's Central Valley. Even though the show centers on Jackson 'Jax' Teller, vice-president and son of one of the founders of the club who begins questioning both the club and himself, the boardgame does nothing of the kind. This is about being the most successful gang around. No questioning, no remorse, no nothing.
Gameplay: The Grim Bastards Club Expansion allows a fifth faction to enter the fray (or even a sixth, if you own Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem - Calaveras Club Expansion. SoA can now be played either with this club substituting another one in a four (or less) player game, or adding a fifth (or sixth) player on the table. Each additional player makes the game last an additional half hour.
The Grim Bastards start with high amounts of Assets and Cash and a rather limited amount of Guns. They also start with a high Heat. When they take the fall, they can sell one Asset for three Cash. Even more interestingly, in pile-ups they can ally themselves to rivals and add their Throwdown bonus to theirs without rolling. Apart from the material for the fifth (or sixth) club, two new hardcore options are introduced. Fifteen To Life eliminates one of your dudes from the game every time you take the fall. Arson on the other hand allows the Patch Holder to eliminate a location (except from the Police Station and the Hospital) and replace it with a brand new random one. Anybody on that site is returned to his Clubhouse.
The strong points: More clubs means more mayhem. I enjoy having a choice for my four player games, as well as having the option of a fifth player. The Grim Bastards continue where the basic game left things off: modular game (in case you are still learning it), high player interaction, a screw-your-partners mentality, and components of the same quality standard as in the original release.
The Grim Bastards are solid and provide for an interesting gaming experience, even though, as expected, they might need some taking use to. I enjoy asymmetrical factions in my games, and when it comes to balance this gang appears to tick the right boxes. Enriching yourself while taking the fall sweetens the rather bitter pill. The enormous advantage that the Grim Bastards have though is their Gang Rule which effectively allows them to switch sides in pile-ups. For that reason and were you to buy one Club Expansion alone, I would recommend the Grim Bastards over the Calaveras. There will be more mistrust, more engagement, more of an effort to keep this gang by your side. Social interaction in SoA was high already, yet with the Bastards on the table expect your games to become even more heated. Hmmm, here is heat again; try to keep it low. In fact it is one of the first things you want to take care of, if you wish to make any serious profit.
There is nothing to explain rules-wise, if you intend to play by the basic game's rules only. If you intend to use the hardcore options I just described, these were the actual rules, not a synopsis. Learning time: 10 seconds. They are an intrinsic part of my game nowadays, seeing how they make taking the fall harder, while increasing the desirability of the Patch.
The weak points: There was this funky promotion relating to the Grim Bastards when the basic game came out, with some items handed to purchasers at cons outside the box and the Clubhouse Card alone being included in the basic game. Not everything was handed out, and some were left wondering about how to use the incomplete additional material that they received. This expansion rectifies the situation and solves any issues. All you need is in the box; nothing else is needed.
If you felt that the four player game drags (I didn't), adding a fifth or a sixth player is not going to improve the situation. In a slow group that might mean plus fourty five minutes. I personally enjoyed the games with more players more than the ones with less.
I really wish the price was lower, probably around the EUR 10 to 12 mark. A fifth (and a sixth) player is a must for the game, yet it comes out as more expensive than it ought to be. Variants, alternative rules, something, anything more crunchy would have made the expansion a must-have. It is rather bare bones as it stands.
Conclusion: Grim Bastards, just like his Calaveras brother, can either add choice to your game or accommodate a larger number of players. It does what it sets out to in a no-frills way. I can't complain about that, but I do wish it offered more rules-wise.
To find out more about Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem - Grim Bastards Club Expansion and Gale Force 9, take a look at its dedicated Sons of Anarchy web page at http://soa.gf9games.com as well as its generic one at www.gf9.com.
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