The one thing I can say about Townsfolk Tussle without any doubt whatsoever is that it has style in considerable abundance. When set up it is cartoonishly colourful, with artwork and miniatures enthusiastically dedicated to the ‘rubber hose’ style of animation. It knows how it wants to look and it accomplishes this goal completely.
The box is chunky with a solid and weighty feel and, once opened, everything is laid out logically and in a manner that facilitates quick set up and tear down, a quality that is greatly appreciated compared when compared to other similarly sized and priced games currently available.
Whilst not an overly space hungry game, it is hardly small. When the main game board and the double sided shop / boss board are placed side by side, the end result allows 4 players to be easily and comfortably accommodated. It is also colourful and eye catching, with large, cardboard tokens acting as terrain pieces.
The rulebook is clear and logically laid out, making any reference during playtime quick and unobtrusive but, given the games simplistic mechanics, after a few play-throughs this should no longer be necessary.
The game itself is a 1-4 player boss battler, with each game consisting of 4 consecutive battles. Before each battle, there is an opportunity to buy items from the Peddler (shop), with each player also having random town events and individual quests to complete.
The battles themselves are relatively quick affairs, with a moderate level of strategy in them. All things considered, I would have to say that this game functions very well as an entry point into the boss battling genre. It is not too complicated, not too harsh or testing and, on the whole, good, clean fun. This lack of strategic depth, however, can easily count against it when it comes to more experienced players.
The artwork in Townsfolk Tussle is nothing short of gorgeous (yes, I am a particular fan of the rubber hose style of animation, so please factor that in, but still, the artists have done a sterling job here), with the character boards (both player and boss), the cards and even the rule book and the box being almost universally eye catching. Then the miniatures, if anything, are even better. They are almost overflowing with character and, as a particular highpoint, can be easily painted by anyone regardless of skill level. You can even get away with just using plain colours (no shading or highlighting) and they will still fit in the overall aesthetic of the game and look great on the tabletop.
As stated above, the game has simple mechanics and an easy to follow flow. As such, I feel it would be a very good choice for someone new to the ‘boss battler’ genre.
The game comes with 7 player characters and 12 bosses (who operate quite differently from one another), and with each game involving 4 randomly chosen bosses to fight, there is plenty of variety to be had and the opportunity for vastly different games on subsequent play-throughs. The terrain layout also changes depending on the boss you are fighting.
The game’s simplicity also works in its favour when it comes to player interaction, with boss and player turns being quick to complete, meaning that no player will be sitting twiddling their thumbs for too long whilst waiting for their turn to come round again. The town phases between battles are also quick and unobtrusive, allowing players to remain focused on the part that really matters in a game like this…the battles.
The components in Townsfolk Tussle are universally of a good quality, a factor that seems aided no end by the thought given to storage and the quick set up and teardown. As stated above though, the miniatures really are a highlight.
There is, however, a negative with this game and, unfortunately, it is a big one. It all comes down to the Peddler’s Shop and the fact that, at the start of the game, it has ten items placed in it for players to buy before the first battle. Depending on which items end up there, you can have an entire shop full of goodies that boost your characters so much that the game literally becomes trivialised, or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, nothing worth even a second glance and an uphill struggle for the rest of your time playing. The sheer degree to which this affects the entire game is really quite incredible and, if you are especially unlucky, can completely spoil the entire game for you.
There are, of course ways round this, such as house rules to ensure only cheap, simple items are placed in that first ‘Peddler’s Shop’, but that really takes more effort from the players than the game has any right to ask.
