Overboss: Duel Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Overboss: Deul, a two palyer game from Brotherwise Games. Overboss: Duel takes the tile laying game play from Overboss and converts it to a two-player experience.

Back in 2021, I reviewed the tile-laying game Overboss from Brotherwise Games. It got high marks from me for its replay value, easy to learn rules, and streamlined mechanics. My biggest gripe with the game was from setup and tear-down. Having to pick apart all the piles and tokens at the end was a pain.

However, it appears the folks at Brotherwise may have been listening as Gen Con this summer brought us the release of Overboss: Duel. This is a stand-alone (although it can be used as an Overboss expansion), two-player-only version of Overboss. Is the quicker setup along with the modified rules and overall win? Let’s find out.

If you have played Overboss, you’ll find a lot of similarities in the ruleset here. In fact, the rulebook even has a dedicated section for returning players. But for those new, never fret, the turn structure is actually quite simple.

On a player’s turn they will draft one set of tiles and tokens from the 4 available in the market. The tile must be placed somewhere on the shared board (either on your half or your opponent’s). The token must then be placed on a tile (if it’s a monster). There are a few tiles with specific rules on what tokens can be placed on them, but for the most part, you are free to place tokens anywhere. Although you do get bonuses for placing monsters on matching terrain types. After that, the market is refilled and the next player goes.

I should note that new to Overboss Duel is that many tiles now have immediate actions when played. For example, the Road tile lets you swap any two tokens on the board when