Unveiling the Deceit: A Preview of the Game Backstabbers
Updated: May 9
Designing custom charecters is not reserved only for role playing games. In the upcomming game Backstabbers players will create a charecter by assisgning values to their's skills. Then they players will battle it out and see who can be the most ruthless. Steeling, attacking defending and eveing coming back from the dead to continue harassing the living players. Backstabbers has all of this in a tight package coming to Kickstarter March 19th 2024.
Setup
The setup and gameplay for Backstabbers is quick and easy. Each player is given a player board and 6 cards numbered 1-5 with and counter card. Then each player gets target cards with each other player's character on it.
Game Play
Each player board has a spot for each of the numbered cards and the counter card. Each player chooses a spot for each numbered card. Much like picking stats in a role playing game. A player might choose to sacrifice defense for attack or health. The five spaces that the cards numbered 1-5 are played face down on are Health, Attack, Defend, Grab, or Steal. Each player will also place their counter card face up on the counter spot.
The Goal of Backstabbers is to be the first to 10 coins or the last player standing. During the second phase of the game players will choose a target card and then one of the actions. Players will reveal them simultaneously. When I have been playing I find it best for players to flip the target card onto the action they choose. This makes it all a little more simultaneous. All the actions are taken at the same time. If more than one player attacks a single target player, each attack is then resolved one at a time. This allows the target player to use their defense against each attack.
Attacks work simply. The player who has used the attack action against a target player then deals that many wounds to the target player. If the target player has activated the defend action then the target player reduces the winds by the value of their defend action. Players may choose any target card to play on the defend action as it does not target any other player. There are two other actions a player may take, a player may grab or steal coins.
The excitement when all the player flip their actions is real.
The grab action lets the player take as many coins as the value of the action card on the player mat from the coin pool in the middle of the table and place them on their player mat. If the player is attacked at the same time they have chosen the grab action then the grab action is canceled. Steal works similar to grab. The player will take the value of the steal action from the player who's target card was played to the action. If more than one player have targeted the same player they will take the coins in order of the value of the steal action highest to lowest. If it is a tie then they take them evenly and leave the remainder on the target players mat. The last action card on the player mat is the cancel card. The cancel card can be played to cancel a players attack on them. When the cancel card is played the attacking player takes the amount of damage intended for the target player. The panel card can only be played every other turn.
After all the actions are resolved then phase 3 takes place. Check everyones health if a players health is lower than their health value then they have died. If all players have died this round the game is a tie. If a player has died they can continue on as a ghost. Ghost can then in future rounds play target cards on attack, defend or grab and if the target has chosen the same action then its canceled. Ghosts can play in the game until there are 2 players left. As phase 3 proceeds check to see if there is a winner by counting up the coins on each player mat, if a player has 10 then they have won. if more than one player has 10 or more then the player with the most won. If players are tied for the win play another round to break the tie.
Thoughts
This is a fun fast paced game that has intuitive rules. The excitement when all the player flip their actions is real. The quality of the game is good. This will be a staple at our table especially while we are waiting for the last stragglers to show up for game night.
If you are looking for a game that is fast pace light on rules and strategy but is still a lot of fun and exciting then, Backstabbers is for you. Backstabbers is all the fun of role playing and paper rock scissors distilled down into the lowest common demoninator.
Players: 3-6
Year Published: 2024
Recommended Ages: 12+
Time to Play: 10-30 minutes
A pre production review copy of Backstabbers was provided to Bert's Tabletop Games for this preview by Backstabbers. The final product may differ than what is shown here this is a preview.
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