GoSu -- Goblins Wreaking Havoc Against Each Other All For The Sake of Supremacy

[Gerald]

GoSu (Goblin Supremacy) is a game that's been on my radar for awhile now... so I eagerly pre-ordered it and thru various channels got my copy relatively early considering I live all the way in the Philippines.  The game first came out in french, closely followed by the english version.  The review I'm doing now is for the english version.  I honestly don't know if there're any differences to both, but in case there were, I just wanted to get that out there.

Unlike before, I'm not going to put my conclusion here at the start... if you prefer not to read thru what I have to say, feel free to scroll to the end.

As of right now, the game is mostly sold up thru most online retailers, though a couple of them might still carry it.  Of course, you could always find a copy thru eBay or thru the BGG Marketplace.

COMPONENTS:
In the box, you find a bunch of cards, a well-written instruction manual, a handful of tokens of various sizes and... that's it.  The artwork (from the box to the cards) is superb and the cards are made from good quality stock.  The rulebook is witty and fairly well-written.  Its not perfect, but its still a heck of alot better than most of the rulebooks I've read.  I'd love to say more... really, I would... but there really isn't much else to say, that's everything that's in the big box.

Obviously, they're planning to release more expansion (doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out) hence the extra space.  For the price, I'd say the components were just about what I expected.  But as I always say, to me, its all (or mostly) about the gameplay.

GAMEPLAY:
The gameplay itself is fairly simple.  On your turn, you can only do one action amongst a handful that's available to you.  You can turn in your tokens for cards.  You can lay a card down.  You can mutate a card.  You can activate a card.  Or you can pass.  I realize I skipped thru alot of the intricacies, but that's mostly what you do in this game.  Once both players pass, a "Great Battle" occurs.  The first player to win three "Great Battles" is declared supreme.

What's great about the gameplay is that despite the simplicity, there's a certain meatiness to the game akin to to other (more expensive) CCG's or LCG's.  When I first found out there were only 110 cards in the game, I thought there couldn't possibly be much meat in a game that contained so few cards, but boy was I wrong. 

During your first few plays, expect some down time because there's alot of text to digest.  But I believe this'll smooth out with more plays.

COMPARING IT TO OTHER CARD GAMES:
Its hard to compare GoSu to a specific game, because its a hybrid of various games put together.  I can say that it is LESS text-heavy compared to Innovation, also less deep, but slightly less chaotic as well.  I definitely like it better than Race for the Galaxy, because its easier to pick-up and play due to less iconography.  Like almost any card game, it is also (at least partly) luck driven. 

FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you haven't guessed by now, I am LOVING this game.

I've played this game with CCG players, a semi non-gamer or two, and my wife... and everyone liked it.  No complaints whatsoever.  The only downside I see so far is the medium/large footprint (for a card game) this game leaves.  Definitely no buyer's remorse on my part.

Should you get this game?  If you like card games like Race for the Galaxy, Magic, Pokemon, etc... then get off your bum and go pick-up a copy of this game.  If you're averse to reading thru alot of text and just don't like cards in general, then avoid this game.

Overall, a great game that would be a great part of anyone's collection.  Two thumbs up!

[darkrock]

+1 I LOVE this game. 

Between RFTG and GoSu, still RFTG. As the game has depth and always feel the adrenalin rush.. its because its a RACE. The problem is its not easy. It takes a lot of games(+5-10) before you truly understand the game. I usually advice my friends to use the AI program and play a couple of times.

GoSu, it still has a place for me because it is a confrontational game which i dont get it in Race. One thing, it can be easily picked up by any Magic player which is a plus as there are lots of Magic players here. We can have more players. Eventually, they will buy this game and we can have some tourney. Yeah! Wishful thinking.
 

[ClaroPaulo]

This game grabs you firstly because of the beautiful artwork on the cards. Things may look bleak and disheartening when you find yourself passing early on the round due to lack of cards ---  maybe luck based but its my opinion that its about hand management and using activation tokens

The strategy here is deep. It looks tactical at first but youll find there is strategy where you think ahead coinciding with the tactical decisions you make.

This has to be one of my favorite card games so far for the reasons stated above and the level of interaction it gives. Other card games feel solitaire like to me and as a gamer I enjoy having confrontation and player interaction a lot.

GoSu --- 8.5/10

The expansion on March 2011 adds 100 new card but what you do is you swap out the clans. Im thinking of adding the clans more than swapping though as a variant. Basically youll have 10 clans then choose 5.

Its playable on its own though

[xtriker]

I want to try this out. when can we play?

[darkrock]

We can meet at Robinsons Galleria. Just let me know time and day ahead.

[dyeyk2000]

What's a discussion without any disagreements right? Haha.

To balance both sides of the coin, I think I'm the type of gamer who just doesn't like this one. But to be fair, I'm probably averse to overly complicated card games. (RFTG does nothing to excite me).

(at this moment.. I actually stopped typing and took a good long pause to think why I don't like the game haha)

I think it's because thematically it doesn't make sense. It's supposed to be a war among goblin factions, but it really doesn't feel like that. You expect lots of explosions and sweeping effects in a goblin war, but GOSU feels like a slow build of military operatives wherein you can occasionally sabotage (ala spies) your opponent's position. And it's a slow build without a climax, you just say "I have more goblins than joo! I own joo!" and that's it! Instant victory point!

Yes, there are game ending conditions for variety. But those are tricky if you're gonna put it in a game. Some like em in their games, some don't. I happen to be in the latter. Specially if thematically, again it makes little sense. (And that's a great thing about MTG, you look at an uber card that has board sweeping effects and it looks just like how you'd expect an uber card with board sweeping effects should look like. That's not the case with GOSU. All the cards kinda look the same. There's no sense of increasing power by looking at the cards. Ok maybe for the third tier cards there is but for the rest, none.)

But there's one thing I like about the game. And I love love love it to bits. Despite what I said about it, the art is still superb. The actual illustrations are preeeeettyyyyy, and as I said, my only issue with it is they could have tied it much better to the card abilities. The art also tends to take a back seat when you're trying to analyze 45 cards in front of you including your opponents. Would have preferred a better card layout.

And last na.. icons, did I say the cards barely have icons on them? At least RFTG attempted to to do this. Here you're left to read blocks of text on every card. Imagine trying to analyze 45 blocks of text in front of you. Not fun. They could have made it sooo much easier. Big boo boo there.

So there, that's my "slightly" negative review of GOSU from a guy who cares a big deal about theme (notice I did not touch on gameplay much). Would I play it again? Why not? It's not a bad game and probably very strategic/tactical like the others said. But sabi nga ng iba "steady lang".

PS
Love you Claro and Dex. Hahahaha.

[ClaroPaulo]

I think it's because thematically it doesn't make sense. It's supposed to be a war among goblin factions, but it really doesn't feel like that. You expect lots of explosions and sweeping effects in a goblin war, but GOSU feels like a slow build of military operatives wherein you can occasionally sabotage (ala spies) your opponent's position. And it's a slow build without a climax, you just say "I have more goblins than joo! I own joo!" and that's it! Instant victory point!

I beg to differ here. It was my sentiment when I first tried it out. Get card place card get more goblins. But later on, I sometimes opted not to be the winner in the great battles so that I would get more cards etc.

Also, the theme is spot on! Youre a Goblin general hiring goblins from different clan. You dont go into battle ill-prepared so you muster up your troops but like all wars, you send in scouts/raiding parties/saboteurs to weaken the enemy before sending in your troops and thats how the game feels.

You place in the Green and Blue to recruit and draw cards then you got the Red and Black as the sniper/saboteurs.

Yes, there are game ending conditions for variety. But those are tricky if you're gonna put it in a game. Some like em in their games, some don't. I happen to be in the latter. Specially if thematically, again it makes little sense. (And that's a great thing about MTG, you look at an uber card that has board sweeping effects and it looks just like how you'd expect an uber card with board sweeping effects should look like. That's not the case with GOSU. All the cards kinda look the same. There's no sense of increasing power by looking at the cards. Ok maybe for the third tier cards there is but for the rest, none.)

Again disagree here. I wont get into details but I will say one thing. Play it again with us and youll see it took me awhile to figure it out as well.

The art also tends to take a back seat when you're trying to analyze 45 cards in front of you including your opponents. Would have preferred a better card layout.

Thats the case in ALL complex card games.

And last na.. icons, did I say the cards barely have icons on them? At least RFTG attempted to to do this. Here you're left to read blocks of text on every card. Imagine trying to analyze 45 blocks of text in front of you. Not fun. They could have made it sooo much easier. Big boo boo there.

RFTG is easy to understand? A lot would disagree about iconography hahaha! Man, people still ask me what does this icon do again. Im glad its in text, at least they can read up on it while waiting for their turn

[dyeyk2000]

Haha all valid points Claro. And like I said, I have no nitpicks with the gameplay and the strategies involved other than how it relates to theme and card layout.

Simply said, if the question is -- do I have a good grasp of the strategies and tactics needed to win the game? I would think so. Are the strategies compelling enough? It probably is.

But if the question is -- does it feel like an all out goblin war aka goblin supremacy? I would say no, for all the points I outlined above. It's a game about sabotaging your opponent, not smashing him with goblins haha. Was the card layout done well? Again no. I would refer to the grand daddy of CGs aka MTG who has taken great pains to simplify card abilities if not into icons but into 1 word references. They understood that accessibility hinged on this, and RFTG followed suit. It's simply more pleasing to the eye, and to the brain to do this.

For example, they could have said TRAP (FREE 1:2), COMEBACK: TRAP (FREE 1,2:2) -- instead of saying TRAP a FREE level 1 goblin from army of up to 2 opponents. If behind in victory points, TRAP a FREE level 1 or 2 goblin of up to 2 opponents instead. (not actual text, but you get my drift? -- also, I don't claim to be an expert on wording card abilities, but this is just an example haha)

This may well come down to personal tastes and what you look for in a game. That's why I introd with what I look for in a game and what I'm averse to. It is my hope that gamers who have the same mindset as me, can be better prepared. I'm sure gamers who don't think like me, can dismiss my comments.

[ClaroPaulo]

Opinions would differ of course. In that point, we agree to disagree hahaha!