Monolith Arena is a 2-4 player skirmish game with a fantasy setting, released in 2018 by Portal Games. Its author, Michał Oracz (already known for Cry Havoc e This War of Mine), he is also the designer of Neuroshima Hex!, title from which Monolith Arena is inspired by most of its mechanics. In this article we will analyze the game in its entirety, from the proposed settings, to the materials, up to clearly explore the dynamics of the game. Will this author's game be able to convince us to the end?
Monolith Arena setting and materials
When a red comet appears, the greatest warriors from around the world gather to compete in a bloody tournament. The setting is definitely not the strong point of Monolith Arena: the information we can find on the box and the game manual is very scarce. It is a generic fantasy world, populated by different races whose champions periodically challenge each other in fights to the death. Men, Dwarves, Demons and Elves are the four factions present in the base game, but new races have already been announced with the proposed expansions (the wizards in the expansion "Academics"Released in 2019 and i G in the expansion coming this year).
The game materials, as always with the titles of Portal Games, are of excellent quality: tokens and cards are made of thick cardboard (a feature that we greatly appreciated since it facilitates the placement, movement and removal of hexagons during the game), excellent plastic monoliths composed of three hexagons stackable each on the other. We didn't like the choice of colors of the factions, with the red of the demons and the orange of the dwarves that tend to blend slightly during the game.
Game dynamics
When a red comet appears, the greatest warriors from around the world gather to compete in a bloody tournament
The main mechanics of Monolith Arena is the placement of tiles: in turn, each player will draw three face down tiles of his faction, discarding one and deciding whether to play the other two, discard them or keep them for the following rounds. The game tiles are of three types: unit, rune ed orders. Units and runes are placed on the game board, orders are spent instead to activate the placed tiles. Whenever the order "battleIs played (or when all the board's hexes are full) a battle begins and the various units are activated in order of initiative (attacking opposing units or using special abilities). The goal of each player is to inflict as many wounds as possible on the opponent's banner: this is a tile that will remain on the battlefield from the beginning to the end of the game. Monoliths are the novelty introduced by Monolith Arena compared to Neuroshima Hex!: these are stackable card holders, in which at the beginning of the game each player will secretly insert his own banner and two units of his choice. The monolith can be "opened" by the player during the turn to deploy the two hidden units and it will close automatically, recalling the two units (if they survive) at the end of the next battle. The game ends when a player runs out of tiles to draw (but not before having resolved a final battle) or when a banner is destroyed (in which case the opponent is declared the winner).
Considerations
Thematically, the setting collapses like a house of cards: between runes that can be deployed (and attacked by the opponent), monoliths that open to let out the units hidden inside, deployments that are too free on the battlefield (also directly behind enemy lines) there is no match between the game mechanics and the simulation of a real battle. We are mostly faced with an abstract, to which a fantasy setting has been forcibly stuck.
Although suitable for 2-4 players, the various modes proposed for 3 and 4 players are not up to the 1 vs 1 clash and we do not feel like recommending them in the first place. The rules are not always linear, there are some exceptions to keep in mind during the game and ambiguous situations. Some effects are indicated only in the game manual, others only on the faction card, while few are shown in both places: if you forget the meaning of a symbol, the search could be complicated.
Nonetheless, the title involved us and let us play for several games: after a first phase (in which all the players wanted to try each faction of the basic box) each of us chose a race to study and deepen in the following games ( in this we have been facilitated by the duration of the game, which settles on 30-45 minutes as stated on the box).
Ultimately, if you feel that miniatures are not essential in a skirmish, if you are looking for something tactical and quick to play 1 vs. 1, Monolith Arena is a title to be taken into consideration despite some flaws.
