by Chris Cormier
Did you know that Wombats poop is square? ⬜💩 Neither did I.
Theme Does Matter Players are Wombat Generals battling their opponents by recruiting fighting wombats with different amounts of Poop. - Yes, I said, poop.
Wombat Kombat is a blast!
Wombat Kombat is a set collection game with some dice rolling, hand management and player interaction.
Players are collecting Wombat Cards and playing them in sets in front of them. When you play a set of Wombat Cards you all the cards must be of the same type and you can't add wombats to them in the future.
Only 1 set of each type of Wombat can be in play at the same time.
If you want to play a card type that someone else has already started collecting, you need to have collected more of that card than them. That player loses their set (and gets negative points for those cards at the end of the game). Only one set of each type of Wombat can be in play at the same time.
Each card has a different fighting wombat and a number on it. The number tells you how many of that card there are of that set in the deck and how many Poop Points you get at the end of the game if you managed to collect enough of that type of Wombat.
Yup, that's right. The winner is the player with the most square poop! ⬜💩
Some cards have icons with special abilities that you can use one time, only when you play them. And there are 3 different decks of event cards (occasionally triggered during Kombat) that add a lot of spice to the game and up the Fun Level. The event cards come in 3 different "flavours" :
Immediate Cards provide affects that happen once and then go away,
Continuous Cards provide affects that change the rules of the game a little bit and stay in affect until another Continuous card is drawn, and
End Game Cards change the scoring at the end of the game.
I really loved ♥️ the event cards and how the three different decks brought something different to every game. This was my favourite part of the game and will add a considerable amount of replayability to Wombat Kombat.
Food Cards can be added to your sets to make it harder for opponents to have enough cards to overtake your set and Predator Cards remove cards from opponents' sets and make it easier to collect enough cards to replace an opponent's set.
Food Cards add to your sets to make it harder for opponents to have enough cards to overtake your set.
Both of these cards give players enough options during the game to provide several different strategic and tactical opportunities. And there is the perfect mix of these cards in the deck.
Combat, or erm... Kombat provides a use for many of the cards that you might not otherwise be able to use (if you don't have enough for a set for example). resolved with one player choosing an opponent and both choose three Wombat Cards from their hand. Each card also has it's own set of attacking and defending numbers in the lower right corner. These numbers on the cards are revealed simultaneously, totaled and added to a die roll (there are attacking and defending dice that add to your number).
The winner of Kombat immediately gains a few victory Poop Points. They also return two of the cards used in Kombat to their hand but the other wombat becomes a "Glorious Wombat" and placed in a special scoring pile to provide bonus points at the end of the game. The winner also gets take one of the loser's Kombat Cards into their own hand, and discard another (losing points for this card at the end of the game), leaving the loser just one of their original fighting cards to return to their hand.
From the Box Wombat Kombat 2–6 Players, ages 8 and up
Playing Time: 30 minutes
Designer: Arif Nezih Savi
Published by: NeoTroy Games
Wombat Kombat ends when one player has a certain number of sets in their tableau (determined by the number of players) or when the draw deck is exhausted. Points are awarded for the sets collected and wombats in your Glorious Wombat scoring pile. Points are lost for wombats defeated in Kombat and The End Game card may alter the point values further.
The winner is the player with the most Poo.
Final Thoughts
I received a pre-production copy of Wombat Kombat to play and showcase on my social media accounts. But I enjoyed the game so much, I had to make the time to write a longer review of just how much I liked the game. This is another Kickstarter game that deserves to be produced and deserves a spot on your shelf.
The game is a light hearted battle with different levels of player interaction that never feels frustrating and provides lots of laughter.
Wombat Kombat is an easy to learn family card game for 2-6 players, ages 8 and up and can be played in about a half hour. The cards have cute and very funny art. The game is a light hearted battle with different levels of player interaction that never feels frustrating and provides lots of laughter. I really liked how Wombat Kombat was all about direct conflict between players but it never manages to never feel mean.
Wombat Kombat is a blast! This is a family-friendly small-box game that will stay in my collection and see a lot replays on our table.
Two thumbs way up for Wombat Kombat. Highly, highly recommended!
Designed by Arif Nezih Savi and on Kickstarter right now. Check out the Kickstarter from NeoTroy Games: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/301935033/wombat-kombat