Disclaimer: I was sent the game as an unpaid review copy, and the opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.
Overview: (from the designer on BGG)
Hexfall begins with two Champions facing each other across an almost empty battlefield. From there, the players take turns drawing tokens blindly from their bags and deciding how best to use what they have been given. New Warriors join the fight, units turn to cover different directions, smoke closes firing lanes, walls divide the board, and traps make apparently safe ground dangerous. The battlefield grows one decision at a time, with both players trying to gain an advantage before the next fight begins.
When a Fight token is played, everything that has been built on the board is put to the test. Warriors attack in initiative order, and their position, facing and range determine exactly who they can strike. A carefully placed unit might catch several enemies at once, while one push, pull or turn made earlier may leave an opposing Warrior exposed at the worst possible moment. There are no dice rolls to rescue a poor plan or spoil a good one—the outcome comes from reading the battlefield, anticipating the opponent and making the best possible use of an unpredictable hand.
The aim is to outmanoeuvre the opposing warband and eliminate its Champions. If both sides survive until the final fight, the player who has dealt more damage to the enemy Champions wins. Hexfall uses familiar ideas from tabletop skirmish games, including facing, range, line of sight, armour and battlefield control, but keeps them contained within a clear hex grid. There are no army lists, rulers or lengthy setup, and the rules are simple enough to start playing quickly. As more Warriors and battlefield effects enter play, however, each decision becomes part of a larger tactical puzzle.
Rules & Setup:
The rulebook is very well laid out with plenty of diagrams and descriptions, both of turn sequences and available actions. Hexfall is a game with no dice rolls, and you win using skill not luck.
Set up is quick and easy, with 99% of play tokens starting in your game bag (included), and the small neoprene gaming mat is a very nice touch, as lots of games like this give you a paper mat, and charge you fair mor for the game itself.
Set Up involves
1. Agree terrain if using
2. Choose a starting player (roll a dice etc.)
3. Each player chooses and places 1 of their 3 Champions, and the 2 opposing starting Champions cannot be within 2 hexes of each other.
4. Your other 2 Champions and other tokens of your colour go into your large bag, and you give it a shuffle.
5. Whomever placed their Champion first takes the first turn.
Theme & Gameplay
Hexfall is a fantasy themed game between Orcs and Dwarves (more races are planned), where you will draw tokens from your bag and play 1 or more onto the battlefield.
On each turn you use the following sequence;-
1. Select a friendly warrior and move it 1 legal hex, rotate it, or do both.
2. From your bag draw 3 tokens, and if less than 3, draw them all.
3. From the 3 tokens, discard at least 1 non Champion token (if possible). Every Champion drawn MUST be played onto the board.
4. Play your retained tokens in any order, keeping none for later turns.
Fight Tokens – when played or discarded go into your ‘Fight Pile’. If you draw more than 1 Fight token only 1 can be resolved, unless you draw 3 tokens all at the same time, as this triggers the ‘Final Fight’. Again, put all 3 in your Fight Pile and resolve only 1 fight.
When both players have all 5 Fight tokens in their Fight piles, return them to their respective bags, and shuffle.
Tokens of any kind can only be played onto empty hexes, although a Warrior may at a later stage move or be placed onto a Smoke or Explosive trap hex.
You cannot place a token outside of the Battlefield, or onto blocking terrain.
Warriors caught in a trap cannot be moved, but you can still rotate it, and a Warrior may be moved more than once if caused to do so by separate effects.
When you trigger a ‘Fight’ by laying a Fight token you immediately mark every living Warrior with an activation token, and then resolve initiative from the highest down to zero. Warriors with the same initiative attack at the same time, and you assign and apply all damage. If appropriate you then remove all destroyed pieces from the board, and if this means a Warrior is destroyed before it’s initiative would cause it to attack, then it doesn’t attack.
Once initiative zero Warriors have been you then detonate all the remaining explosive traps. You then check for victories and draws, and then the fight token that was just played in placed in your Fight pile.
You win a game of Hexfall by eliminating all enemy Champions, or if the game reaches the Final Fight you deal more damage to enemy Champions than your opponent does to yours.
A draw is called if both players final Champions are destroyed in the same step of Initiative, or if after the Final Fight both players have done the same amount of total damage to enemy champions.
Artwork and Components:
The components in Hexfall are of excellent quality, and the game certainly benefits from this, as it looks impressive on the table, without taking up a lot of space.
My copy had what looked like 3D printed terrain pieces, which were superbly detailed and really did enhance the battlefield, and they would look even better painted (a job for another day).
The tokens are nice and thick and the colourful artwork on them stands out nicely against the neoprene mat, which again is an excellent addition to this 2 player started box.
The Good:
The components, rulebook and mat are all superbly done, and you do get a wow factor upon opening the box. There are also more free STL files on the 2D6UK website for players to download and print more ‘bling’ for their games. Again, a very nice touch.
There is also a ‘bridge’ which allows you to join multiple mats together and make the game larger and for more players.
The Other:
For a game of this level, I can’t find any negatives to really say about Hexfall, and hopefully they bring out more factions in the near future.
Final Thoughts:
Hexfall is a nice addition to my collection, and I thank Filip for sending me the review copy. If you are looking for an easy to get into small tabletop wargame then Hexfall might just be the right thing for you. The rules are easy enough to get your head round, no reliance on dice rolls, and strategy plays a big part in your eventual success or failure.
Check out the 2D6UK website for more info and how to order a copy for yourselves.
