The Refuge Review:
B&B Games launched their Kickstarter campaign for The Refuge on the 15th of September in 2016. Really, they had me at zombie.
I enjoy it. It is really that simple. I’ve picked it up to play again and again, which is a good sign to me of a sound game. I gave it an 8 on BGG. It has good mechanics, and I love the premise that we all have to essentially shove each other out of the way to be accepted into the zombie free zone. Very cutthroat, I likey.
The art is nice, the minis are cool, and the cardboard pieces all have a very sturdy feeling to them. Only a couple cons stood out to me with this game. For one, there weren’t any notes or explanations for the special cards, meaning that I had to do a lot of flicking through their comments to find all the rules. Secondly, there is the different graphic styles, fonts and card heights on the ‘base’, ‘expansion’ and ‘exclusive’ cards. You get the feeling that a different person formatted each set. So not the best quality control team.
The best thing about B&B Games though, is that they follow through with their promises. A mix-up meant that the BackerClub Exclusive card for the game was not produced. Instead of washing their hands of it, B&B designed, produced and sent it to me within 3 months of my pointing it out to them. That’s customer service.
The Refuge Components:
The Refuge How-To-Play:
Be the first to get to the refuge. On your turn, you can either draw a card, play a card or move. You can only get to the refuge if you’re on the last tile before the finish line and have a key card. That’s pretty much it. The rest of the rules involve strategy, deciding whether or not to stay off the board for a few rounds so you can pad out your inventory with cards, deciding where exactly you’d like to start and thinking through card and tile combos. For example, you could create a zombie near your own character on one turn, and on the next, move to a switch tile to exchange spots with an unsuspecting “friend” so they end up at the zombies mercy. Or you could bluff your friends into using an EMP when you’re near the end and don’t have a key so you can redraw your entire hand and destroy everyone else’s. It’s pretty much open to your imagination.
Treasure Chest:
I compiled the expansion card details into a handy printable pdf for my personal gaming use, so no one else has to troll through the comments section. Click on the treasure chest to get yours free today.
Oh and if you don’t have The Refuge, you can buy it now from Amazon for $39.99 + shipping.