Image taken from https://boardgamegeek.com/image/9085822/storybook-saga

Designer: Justin Schroeder
Publisher: Best With 1 Games
Artist: Cole Munro-Chitty

From what I understand, Storybook Saga is based on the mechanics of 7th Inning Stretch with some tweaks to fit the new theme. After having played 7th Inning Stretch and feeling pretty meh, I had high hopes I would like this one more, and that ended up being true!

Storybook Saga is a dice-based villain battling game where the player controls six familiar heroes that attack the villains in hopes of defeating them. In the last round, the heroes also face a boss villain. To win, the player must defeat three battles of villains, the third of which includes the boss. The player loses if all their heroes die or if they take too long in battles one and two (contingent on the location card).

To start, the player selects a location for that game, then gathers the corresponding companion and boss villain. There are eight locations each with their own unique number of rounds (what I referred to in the previous paragraph), rules for each round, boss, and companion.

Each round, the player utilizes six heroes which all have their own unique abilities and a corresponding number of dice. The heroes are arranged in two rows of three with each being a part of the left, center, or right, and well as the front (top) or back (bottom). These six heroes have to use their combined strength and abilities to try to defeat three villains in each battle that progressively get more challenging. If any are left undefeated after all six heroes activate, that villain (or villains) remains for the next round. Once all three villains are defeated, the next battle begins. Between battles, players are able to heal their characters and also draw new ones from the deck in case they want to replace one existing hero.

Each time the heroes activate, they get utilized from left to right top to bottom. The player rolls the number of dice that corresponds to that character and then assigns the dice to any character in their tableau. Every hero has specific abilities or certain dice requirements that must be met in order for the hero to attack and/or activate.

Before the heroes get to work their magic, though, the villains attack with a certain number of dice and their own stipulations. As you can imagine, the more challenging the foe, the harsher their attacks can be. Interestingly, though, once a villain is defeated, they get flipped over revealing an item on the other side that can be attached to a character or discarded for a bonus token.

The core mechanism is dice rolling and the main strategy is based on the character selection and dice placement. Obviously, with the main game being reliant on dice rolling, there is a fair bit of luck in this game, but the items and characters help negate this quite a bit.

In comparison to 7th Inning Stretch, this one has similar mechanics and choices, but I prefer the theme much more and I also enjoy the increase in variability. As I mentioned, each location is unique and has its own companion and villain, so that automatically makes eight total games to play before you’ve seen all the locations and villains. Then, with the inherent variability of the heroes, villains (and items), and dice rolls, there’s a lot to explore and each game feels familiar but distinct. I also found the decision space of this one to be better, deeper, and more enjoyable.

For me, this game is a real winner. It is really fun, has a good balance between luck and strategy, has amazing artwork and nostalgic characters, plays quickly (30 ish minutes per game), and has a solid amount of variability. In solo games, that’s all I need these days! I also found the locations and bosses have varying degrees of difficulty which I like; it’s not like all of them were really easy to beat or exceptionally challenging.

Some of the more recent Solo Game of the Months have been underwhelming for me, but I fell in love with this one. It’s not perfect, and it can be frustrating when the dice are mean, but it’s so snappy and engaging that I don’t really mind.