Publisher: Unstable Games
Age: 10+
Players: 2 – 6 players
MSRP: $20
After initially blowing up with 2017’s Unstable Unicorns, Here to Slay remains Unstable Games’ most popular kid-friendly (and budget-friendly!) card game. I’m only slightly surprised that it has received a new expansion six years later.
Here to Slay pits players against monsters rather than each other, yet maintains the high-level of “take-that” interactivity that the publisher is known for. The small-yet-mighty Banner Quest expansion helps alleviate a major pain point in the original game, the anticlimactic party-win, while adding fun new strategies with the new class Banners.
Read on for our review of Here to Slay: Banner Quest!
Gather Your Party
If you’re unfamiliar with Here to Slay (or need a refresher): players select a party leader card, and take turns playing cards and battling monsters. Players win by being the first to slay three monsters, or by collecting a diverse party of six different classes.
Hero cards are added to the party, and each features an activated ability that can steal, destroy, or manipulate cards or dice. Item cards are equipped, spells are one-time use, and modifier cards can alter a clutch dice roll.
The dice add a fun element of exciting randomization, with players rolling 2d6 to activate hero abilities, challenge opponents, or attempt to slay a monster.
Each turn, players have three actions, deciding on when to draw cards, play cards, or chance a monster attack.
The original game is simple and straightforward, with a high level of player denial, stealing and destruction that could be shocking for families used to playing more co-op or “nicer” games.
Banner Quest is a small box expansion that adds 32 new cards, 2 new monsters, and 11 Banners. New class tokens are also included to support the new class-shifting cards.
The titular Banners are the primary focus. Over-sized like monster and party leader cards, there’s a Banner card for each class (including expansion classes), as well as one for monsters. The first player to recruit three of the same class in their party can unlock that class’ Banner, which provides a rewarding ability. However, if another player ever has more of that class, they steal the Banner. The monster Banner goes to whoever most recently slayed a monster.
Banner cards typically add a way to get a free action by discarding. The owner of the Fighter Banner can discard two cards to destroy another hero, while the Wizard Banner can discard a card to play a Magic card for free. The monster Banner adds a helpful +1 to dice rolls when attacking monsters (same as the Ranger party leader).
Banner Quest also replaces the previous anti-climatic, alternate win option of having all six classes in play, with being the first player to acquire three Banners. It’s a welcome change, as acquiring Banners is much more difficult and competitive (but also more rewarding), and puts the focus back on battling monsters (which is still the primary win condition).
The base game already included items that can change a Hero’s class, but the expansion goes a step further, adding new dual-class heroes that can change their own class, making it slightly easier to nab those Banners.
Unfortunately if you’re like me and don’t own the older class expansions, Barbarians & Necromancers, and Warriors & Druids, you won’t get the full benefit of Banner quest. Ten of the 32 cards (five each) are added just for those expansions, adding new class-shifting heroes, spells, and modifiers for their respective classes.
Components are a mix of high and low quality. The signature art style from Tee Turtle designer Ramy Badie is still a major selling point, combining cute with cool. The squirrel Bards just kill me every time they come up (Peanut! Fuzzy Cheeks! Tipsy Tootie!). The monster cards are also awesome looking.
On the flip side, the card stock is about the cheapest quality you can get, and some owners have complained about slightly different shading on the card backs of the expansion (though it wasn’t an issue for my copy).
The Rating
Here to Slay and its expansions have a recommended age rating of 10+. While the game is easy to teach and play, reading skills are required to determine hero abilities, spells, and items.
Some cards, mainly Bards, depict alcohol and clearly intoxicated hero characters.
The Takeaway
Here to Slay is a solid, fast-paced card game I can play with kids and adults, provided nobody is a sore loser when their heroes are destroyed, cards stolen, and rolls modified. It’s an overly-aggressive game in an era where many family games perhaps play it a bit too nice and safe.
Banner Quest slightly enhances the overall gameplay by rewarding players for doubling down on the same classes, while keeping the focus on slaying monsters. It’s well worth investing in if your family enjoys the base game.
Here to Slay and the Banner Quest expansion, as well as premium play mats, are available now at Unstable Games and other retailers.
Here to Slay: Dungeons is coming to crowdfunding site Gamefound in this Spring.
