Customer Reviews

Blue Moon

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Blue Moon has slowly become one of my favorite games. It is easily both my favorite two player game and also my favorite card game. And I have a lot of games. It is the combination of depth, complexity and art that makes it so good. It creates a whole world. The Blue Moon world. I love it. If the odd ruleset, with the many special situations, keeps sending you back to the rulebook, persist. It is worth it.

Blue Moon has been compared to Magic: The Gathering. In play it feels different. Instead of a single long fight, you have a series of shorter ones. This means you can retreat from a fight (losing), but live on, hopefully with your strongest cards still to play. Another key difference is that you can play Blue Moon very well with factory decks. Each Vulca deck is the same. It has been play tested against all the other decks. You can build a custom deck also, but only according to rules that ensure balance. You may not have two identical cards in any deck, which I think is a good rule.

I particularly like the high production values for this card game. The cards are over-sized (the same size as many tarot decks), it comes with a board that organizes gameplay, three plastic dragons that function as scoring tokens, and a well printed and mercifully mistake-free rulebook. It also has a well designed box insert that holds everything in place. This is far above your typical card game and well worth the modest cost of the game. The game is also very good without any of the expansion decks. The two starter decks alone are fun to play for a long time.

The deck you choose gives you strategic direction, and the cards you draw give you tactical opportunities. This interplay of strategy and tactics is what makes the game far deeper and more re-playable than you would expect. The ludicrous fantasy theme and half naked babes give you.. fantasy and half naked babes! Of course if you find stuff like this obnoxious then this may not be your game. My girlfriend won't play this with me because of the art (she is missing out on a great game).

There has been much debate over whether the decks (each representing one of the various Blue Moon peoples) are balanced. They are. However it is clear that some decks are harder to play well than other decks. In the base set, for example, the Vulca seem stronger at first than their opponents, the Hoax. But, as you learn the decks you will find that the Hoax are a very good match for the Vulca. If all decks were easy to play, there would be no depth to the game. I still find that the two starter decks are one of my favorite match ups in the entire pantheon.

At times the game "feels" like it has flaws with some of the decks feeling more powerful than others. They most likely aren't, but to casual gamers, I've noticed a complaint there (especially with the 2 decks you get in this game box). The box also comes with 3 dragon tokens and a board, none of which seem really needed in order to play the game (any tokens and knowledge of the card set up is enough).
Nevertheless the game is fun and when you get the expansions it adds to the playability and duration of enjoyment. Since my days of Magic the Gathering well are over, this seems to have taken over nicely. The rules can be confusing in the beginning (becomes self explanatory after a while), but at least not everchanging. No expensive rare cards here or heavy puchasing requirements in order to compete. No hours at night deck building (although the option is there if you have that kind of time). Too bad the game isn't more than 2 players, multiplayer could be very cool.

I bought this game because while I like all games I have a particular fondness for card games. I was into Magic for a while but was annoyed by the collectible (gotta keep buying more cards!) aspect of the game. Blue Moon delivered in spades! (And hearts and diamonds). The rules are a little tricky for a card game (trickier than Magic) but not that hard to master. The game play is quick and smooth. Basically, each player takes a race or tribe and takes turns playing cards in a series of three battles: first player to get three battles up on an opponent wins. The battles are fast so each game can be finished pretty quickly, in under 30 minutes. Each tribe's cards are have unique themes and advantages which make for different tactics. There is a luck factor (sometimes you just don't get the card you need) but skill is present (I usually, but not always, beat my very bright 10-year old son when we play). The cards themselves are pretty cool looking, as large as Tarot cards and with lovely drawings.

The only slight down side to the game is once you get hooked you'll want to buy more tribes (the starter game only has two tribes included) and that'll run you some extra money. But unlike Magic there is no need, you're set to play with just the basic game. Buying more tribes just gives you more variety to play with. (And there are advanced rules that allow you to construct your own decks, but they only add chrome to an already lovely game.) At the very least I'd recommend buying the Khind: there's nothing like having the old men of the Hoax (base game) face off against the young punks in the Khind.

I highly recommend this game.

Blue Moon is a two-player collectible card game very similar to Magic the Gathering. The main difference is in how cards are played. In MtG, players must put out special "mana"-generating cards which they then use to play the other types of cards (creatures, spells, etc.). In Blue Moon, players are allowed to play a single creature card and multiple support cards. Each card has an attack value and the attack values of each card in play are summed to get a total attack. The opposing player must then play a combination of cards whose total attack is greater or else lose the round. There are also leadership and spell cards which affect gameplay in various ways. The winner of each round "attracts" a certain number of dragon figures (usually 1) and the player who controls all 3 dragons wins the game. The dragon figures are plastic and posed such that they are fairly durable (no worries about heads or tails being snapped off). The cards seem pretty durable as well, better than the average deck of playing cards. The game comes with a board with designated areas for each type of card for each opponent. While this is nice, it is not necessary, and could be a hassle if playing on the road or in a plane.