Luna Llena (Full Moon) is a semi-cooperative horror-survival game for 2-7 players. There are two sides: Werewolves and Humans.
The game starts after the Human hikers have spent the night at Aguirre's Forest, and find two of their party missing. The humans must find the Wolves' cave, rescue prisoners and find their way out of the cursed forest in order to win. The lycanthropes are looking to increase their own herd, so their aim is to stop the humans from escaping, and turning some of them into new werewolves.
Here's a review from BGG (submitted by duchamp):
BACKGROUND STORY:There is this "Aguirre Forest", well-known for the myth, that werewolves are living in it. Usually, nobody enters it, but a group of young hikers want to have some exciting fun and come here for camping. After their first night, one tent is torn apart and two of their group are missing - kidnapped. Unfortunatley, these two were the only one who knew a little bit about the forest`s territory, having purchased a map of it a couple of days ago. The map is also gone with them. The rest of the group now has to find them and see what happens next - the adventure begins. In the course of the game, they will find the trail of blood and objects left behind - maybe to lure the group? Anyway, they have to find the werewolves' lair, free the hostages, get the map and then escape out of this hell! Best, before night falls. Because... it will be Full Moon tonight!
VERY SHORT OVERVIEW:Hikers are exploring the forest trying to find the trail to the werwolves` lair and items on their way to help them fighting against the lupine pack. They have to take care of themselves and others to avoid being bitten - this might turn them into werewolves after 12 rounds. Having found the lair, they try to free the hostages, find the map and with that the exits out of the forest - and get out.
During one round, the hiker players discuss about what to do first, then simultaneously play a card for their character and go on through the frightening forest. After their turn, the werewolf player decides what to do, mostly gaining or playing special cards or first sniff and then attack humans trying to infect - or kill them. Combat is resolved through cards.
At day, the werewolves are not too strong - but wait for the night! Hikers better hury, werewolves have to skillfully structure their timing for their success.
SETUP:In the centre of the gamespace a hex is placed, representing the camp. At the distance of one hex six setup-hexes are placed around it - these are rather calm and positive spaces, but turned face-down, so you don`t know exactly what to expect. Players get their material and several piles of cards are placed at the side. Hikers get their character sheet(s) with different numbers on it representing their Life strength, Calm, Combat strength and Dexterity skills. Tokens are put beside them for Life and Calm, since these vary in the course of the game. The players also get an initial hand of cards (number depends on the number of players).
The action cards for the hikers should be close to them to be drawn easily. Six dice and a bag with 34 cardboard hexes are placed within rech of the hikers, too. Infection tokens are waiting to be assigned to humans, when they are bitten by werewolves. Face-up they are all the same (a wolf`s head), on the reverse side they are marked "immune" or "infected". There are 1 or 2 "infected" infection tokens beside 4 to 7 "immune" tokens.
The Pack of Werewolves-player gets his character sheets with a single number: Combat strength. The number of werewolves is one less than the human players - with 6 or 7 players the same.
Additionally there is a "pack card" pile with special actions to purchase during the game and two tokens for "very special" use - only once in a game: Mother Moon and Father Tree magic rituals.
Near the pack of werewolves there is the "Lair area" (at least this is how we structure this): The Lair hex, two Exit hexes, the items which can be found at the lair, plus two hostages with infection markers (they are already bitten and wait for the night to become werewolves or prove to be immune - and get killed).
At one side of the table you place the other piles of cards: Items (objects or surprises which can be found by the hikers), Special Items (to find "inside" other items: backpack or corpse) and Combat cards to resolve confrontations.
There is a note pad included in the game (together with a pencil) showing the gaming area of 37 hexes in an overview. One sheet get the hikers, the other one the werewolf player. He draws a continuous trail of ten lines connecting hexes from centre to centre, starting at the centre and ending at the lair of the werewolf pack. This drawing is kept hidden - the hikers have to find this trail being their interim goal.
GAMEPLAY:The actions for the hikers are executed through "action cards". Each player gets a certain number of them (depending on the number of players / hikers) and getting a new one or discarding down to the original number between the turns.
The hiker players first discuss what to do best and who is able to do what. Then one card for each character is played simultaneously. The actions are (in resolution order):
- EXPLORE: You are looking for the trail, checking one side of the hexagon your character is situated: Roll the dice according to the "Dexterity" number of your character. For a "5" the werewolf player has to tell, if the trail is going this way. For a "6" he additionally has to tell, if the trail is leading through one of the adjacent sides.
- SEARCH: If the character is situated on a hex with a positive number besides the "Item" symbol (the limit of found items), a search can happen: Dice roll, 5 or 6 are hits and the character gets the top item of the cardpile. If "backpack" or "corpse", several "special items" are drawn immediately. Hikers mark each found item on their map chart because of the limit. Items belong to the character who found them, but can usually be given to other hikers in the same hex.
- FORWARD / RUN: As an additional action without any card, each character may move to an adjacent hex space. If this is not revealed yet, the player draws a hex out of the bag, places it into the space and the character enters it. If you enter a hex, you have to take the consequences (for instance, if it is a dreadful place, you lose calm). If you have played a "RUN" card, the character moves two hexes (and may change directions). If a character has played a "HIDE" card, moving is not possible.
- ALERT: Staying alert can be important if werewolves are threatening (and they always tend to do that), for it gives you more combat strength plus a Calm token. Additionally you can step in for some teammate being attacked and fight for him or her.
- HIDE: You get Life and Calm tokens for hiding where you are and recover a bit from the hard day (or night). You are harder to find by werewolves this round, but you cannot move in this turn.
- (SECOND) SEARCH: Following the same rules as the first one, this is the opportunity for characters who have played a SEARCH card but decided to move before doing so.
The action cards are single actions or combinations of two (you have to decide after all players have revealed their cards, which one to chose) and "free actions" (Jokers). There are also "wildcards" to be played not as one of the simultaneous actions, but additionally, when needed. They give you some Life or Calm tokens or add Combat strength.
Hikers can also use their "Determination" tokens. They get one of these each turn and can spend them for changing cards, helping teammates in several ways or add dice to your rolls.
Humans have the possibility to check their infection tokens during the day on a special hex and even get rid of it with a special talisman item So they might face the opportunity to accept their fate, join the werewolf pack and share their victory or loss of the game (being a mole in the hikers` group from this moment until night falls) or try to avoid this, staying loyal with the group.
The Werewolf has a number of "Planning Points" (getting each round as many of these as hikers started the game) and can choose freely how to spend them. He can:
- PURCHASE Pack Cards for 3 Points (hand-limit of 5).
- PLAY Pack cards. These actions are rituals or additional abilities
- SNIFF: If hikers are located on hexes with a number besides the wolf symbol, he can roll dice according to that number. 5 and 6 are successfull sniffing attempts and he can attack the hikers. For gory detils, see "Combat" below. If the roll was successful and there are no "unhidden" characters in the same hex, he can roll a second time to find the "hidden" characters and attack them.
- ATTACK: He can harrass hikers, frightening them or fighting them. At the day, to reduce LIFE tokens and luckily infect them, at night, to reduce even more LIFE tokens and eventually kill them.
- COMBAT: The combat mechanism between werewolf and human is a consecutive "push your luck" card draw. Each character envolved gets a first card from the card pile and places it face-up besides his character. There are cards increasing the combat-strength and some special cards. Some good, some bad. Each character is free to "stand" and face the fight or get more cards, unless he draws a "stop"-card (no more cards) or a "stumble"-card (immediately losing the combat). During the day, losing humans are bitten and get an infection token without knowing, if it is a "infected" or "immune" and losing life points. Werwolves are just wounded and can get healed for some Planning Points. At night, things getting worse and LIFE is reduced severely.
- SEVERAL SPECIAL ACTIONS: "Bloodthirsty Frenzy Attack" means to have the choice after a successful combat: reduce LIFE of a losing hiker by 3 instead of 2 tokens or look secretly at his infection marker and know his / her fate). There are also two magic rituals to block the hikers` way or chosing the next hexes they will find. This freedom in planning makes the werewolf part the much more "strategic" part.
When the hikers find the Lair (not by chance, they have to track it down by EXPLORE actions!) they can search and find the hostages and the map. Of course, the lair hex is a pretty dangerous place, too ...
After finding the map, Exit Hexes are added to two of the forest`s corners and the hikers try to get out there before...
NIGHTThe whole game is changing gear into this second phase. Werewolves and infected humans transform into beasts now. Transformed humans (and their players) join the pack now and strengthen the lupine side, sharing their victory or loss of the game. Two (or even three) Werewolf players may also share their Planning Points and discuss, what to do.
Of course, there are LOTS of more things, details, symbols (but quite obvious ones, no problems here) and possibilities, but this is more or less the game.
END OF THE GAME:Luna Llena ends, when the fates of all characters of one side is resolved:
All humans transformed, dead or saved, OR all werewolves dead.
Since the werewolves are losing as soon, as the first human escapes, players may also stop at this very moment, but like in a movie, you just won`t do that. You want to know the whole story!
FEELING:And this is the strength of the game. It is like a movie experience. An adventure. Dangerous, exciting. Players are involved in the characters` personal choices and fate. Since the humans discuss their next steps, but may also spread and follow different approaches simultaneously (sometimes not knowing, if they can trust each other, but usually only for a couple of rounds) there are very intense group dynamics. The werewolf on the other side has the villaneous part. He can act more strategical. He knows a lot more (if the humans are walking the wrong way, if he is ttacking them or not, what he will do the next turn), he can influence their success through rituals, he doesn`t share their fear - he plays almost a completely different game.
COMPONENTS:At first sight, I was a bit disappointed by the very small cardboard tokens (small cubes are much better to handle). On a really plain, polished table surface, these are not easy to pick up - but on any kind of table-cloth this is no problem at all. The cards are not of the best quality (sleeves ordered yesterday). The 16-pages rulebook is not on the top-notch-side (layout is a bit cramped) and you will probably miss out some details in your first game. But there are overviews of all hexes, cards, symbols, a Player Aid sheet with a detailed turn sequence, a sample round with annotations, all in large format - so, you will find your way.
The quality of the material as a whole (cardboard hexes, markers, sheets, and so on) is better than of many small publishers, but maybe not the "glossy" high end you expect from Kosmos or another major company. The art is outstanding, though. It is a realistic comic-book style and captures the atmosphere in many details. Everything fits together very well and it looks great, when the forest is growing and being explored by your hikers.
CONCLUSION:As you already know by now, this is not your typical "Euro" - ressource management, worker placement, optimizing your move to finally achieve some victory points. This is a 2 to 3 hour film session. A story invented and experienced by the players. You need the right group for this. It is great for gamers who prefer medium-weighted games with lots of interaction and communication. It`s interesting, that many of the details are not there at once. You don`t have to understand each and every hex and symbol to start the game, but the hikers explore the opportunities of the game step by step, hex table and player aid at hand. In other games this would be a bit distracting, but here it is part of the game: You explore the game while exploring the forest! This fact makes it much easier to play and teach this compared to other games with such an amount of complex details, interdependent decisions and different mechanisms.
(NO) VERDICT:I have not played this enough to give a real verdict, but in the moment, as you might suspect, I am captivated by this game. I missed out some rules in the first games, so some situations seemed to be "strange" - but I found them resolved by a line in the rulebook afterwards.
The symbols, special qualities of hexes and items are all very thematical, so almost "intuitive" - again making this much more accessible than some sci-fi plot or Fantasy world you first have to get used to.
The overall feeling of the game also depends on the number of players. With 2 players, it is a duel from the very beginning. Maybe a human character joins the pack of werewolves - the player doesn`t. He is as much a strategist as the werewolf.
With 3 players it is a bit of a hybrid: both human players control 2 characters making it a bit of a split situation.
From 4 players on, all humans control only a single character and the game unfolds in its genuine way. I haven`t played with 7 players yet, but maybe there is a bit too much going on then.
I would highly recommend it for gamers who are happy to follow an overwhelming, partly chaotic, but well designed and balanced horror-trip, who want to communicate and share some experience. I would most highly recommend it to parents with teenage kids. Just set the game up and lure your kids off the PC to the game table. They will not leave again. Being the werewolf part in the first game, your 14-year-old daughter will have fun the next time to terrorize the helpless hiker-parents!
Not recommended for people who demand "wooden cubes for victory points" mathematical games with a silent group of heavy thinkers.
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