Review

Anima Mundi by @asaeil.games is a strategy fantasy wargame for 2-4 players that feels like a video game was simplified and brought to your table in its physical form!

Gameplay Overview

In Anima Mundi each player starts the game by choosing one of the four available factions. During the game the players gather resources, build and expand their base and equip their champions and their armies in order to defeat the enemies (the other players’ factions). Defeating an opposing faction means either defeating all of their champions or destroying their base.

The game takes place in rounds, which are further split into 3 phases each.

During phase 1 of each round players reset their army’s abilities, gather resources and create new units. This phase is done simultaneously for all players. Naturally, the more mines a faction controls and the stronger the base they have, the more resources they gain and the more units they produce. That’s something that evolves constantly as the game progresses.

During phase 2 of each round players can expand their base by building new facilities or upgrading the already existing ones, transfer units from their base to their champions’ armies, buy artefacts, trade resources or repair their base. All of these happen simultaneously once more, so there is minimum downtime.

Lastly, during phase 3 of each round, the action begins! In this phase, players take turns moving their champions with their armies around the map, taking control of mines in order to gain more resources in the future, attacking other champions and later on, attacking the enemy bases if they wish to.

Once all three phases have been completed, a new round begins. The game ends once all but one factions have been defeated, as we mentioned earlier. The last standing faction wins the game!

Components, Setup, Rules

The Anima Mundi copy we have in our hands is a prototype in its very early stages, so we cannot really comment on the quality of the components for the final product. From the game preview on the @asaeil.games website though, we can definitely see how much thought has been put into making the game look cool and be easy to use. It was very fun to see how the prototype we have in our hands will evolve and come to life in the future!

The setup of the game took a little longer than we expected, since the map is made of individual tiles that need to be put together one by one. It still wasn’t long enough that would keep us from bringing the game to the table, just something to keep in mind. There is a very good reason for that too. Using individual tiles means there are endless possibilities for the layout of the map which brings so much more replay value to the game! Once you’re experienced enough, you’ll have the freedom to create a different map every time, changing the parameters of the game and, naturally, influencing the strategy that will give you the victory!

Lastly, the rules felt a lot at first glance but were surprisingly easy to understand and remember. There is something about Anima Mundi that just makes sense and feels intuitive once you understand the flow of the game, which also makes it easy to think ahead and plan a strategy for future rounds. We did have to check the rulebook during the first few rounds to get reminders for each phase, but after a while, even that wasn’t needed.

Our Thoughts

Anima Mundi brings simplicity to a strategy game, which felt pretty good for us. Strategy games tend to have heavy rules and very lengthy play time so this was a pleasant change. Being able to play a faster strategy game and also controlling the game length by choosing the size of the map is something we truly appreciate. Not every day is the same and having the ability to choose something simpler is great!

The four factions and the champions available are unique in their abilities and the different combinations of factions with champions make for a different game each time. Add to that the endless possibilities of the map and the different map sizes available and you get a ton of replay value. We also enjoyed the story behind each faction and how it made sense for them to have the abilities they have. Each one shines under different circumstances and you’ll have to follow a different strategy to take advantage of that!

The problem we ran into a couple of times when we first started playing was the game ending way too early because one of us would get too lucky and too aggressive early on. Especially with just two players in smaller maps, this can mean a very early victory before the game even starts to flow. This can easily be fixed with a bigger map or a different layout though, making sure that the bases aren’t too close to each other. Talking with the designers, we found out there was also an extra rule to make up for that and it will be included in the final version of the rulebook.

All in all, Anima Mundi brought something new to the table for us. Playing a strategy game with much simpler rules was something that we didn’t know we want, but we do! If you feel the same way, check out the preview on their website and keep an eye on their Kickstarter page because the launch of the campaign is coming soon!