Godsforge Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Godsforge, a dueling game published by Atlas Games. In Godsforge, players are playing creations and spells to try and reduce their opponent's life total to zero.

If you’ve spent time in the BGQ Discord (which you definitely should) you’ll know there is an ongoing debate about what exactly is a dueling game. And what is a skirmish game? And all other kinds of inane conversations about definitions of things.

Godsforge is here to present another conundrum. I was drawn to this game initially by the amazing cover with the intricate artwork and metallic-y gold accents. And then I found out it is a dueling game which is always something I want to check out. But is it?

Godsforge gameplay is incredibly straightforward. Each round will have four phases:

The cards you can play come in two varieties. Creations that will stay from round to round and spells that are powerful one-time effects. Each card requires you have a certain combination of dice to play it. Generally, these will be specific numbers or something like “three in a row” or “two odd”. Luckily, if you roll a 1 it is wild and can be used as any number. You will also collect veilstones (which take the form of shiny gold nuggets) throughout the game which can be used to increase or decrease a die’s value.

You can only play a single card and if you can’t play any card, or don’t want to for some reason, you can take four veilstones instead. Once a player’s health is reduced to 0 they are eliminated. Play continues until only one player is left. However, in every round after any player is eliminated all attack phases get 7 extra damage to insure it comes to an end fairly promptly.

As a rule, I’m a fan of dueling games like Magic: The Gathering, Monolith Arena, and