One of the active Kickstarters I got to play while at MACE was Henchman The Game. This is an interesting cutthroat card game with a Character Skill drafting element of Deckbuilding at the start of the game.
Overall I see a lot of potential in this quick play game. The team behind Hull Breach is behind this project and this is a rules-light game compared to Hull Breah. I am interested to watch this project further develop.
The cards are humorous and the art is light-hearted and well done. (I have not seen any art other than what is on the KS) The goal in Henchman is to advance beyond the status of minion and become the evil overlord’s Henchman. To do this you must complete tasks and gain the most reputation among your fellow minions in an effort to become the Henchman. The players will have to work together somewhat… or they can tank the mission in hopes to edge ahead of the Minion In Charge of the Task. Both Minions and Minions In Charge have different rewards of penalties for each task. As the game moves from round to round of play the Minion In Charge moves from one player to the next.
Once your starting skills have been drafted for the most part this is the hand of cards you will have for the remainder of the game. There are one or two card options that when you finish Tasks for your overlord that can add more cards to your deck, but this ATM is not a key feature in the game. Thus why I call it a starting Draft game more than a Deckbuilder.
This game is live on Kickstarter but the game itself is in the early stages. So early that the demo we played was on blank cards with text only. It is very much in its first stages of development and some of the rules may change from the time I gave it a playthrough to what the finished product will look like.
With two days to go they are nearly funded, currently, they are over (90% funding on KS)
My Thoughts: This is very much a cutthroat game as each minion struggles to become the overlords New Henchman. Yet even with its cutthroat nature, it is light-hearted enough that you don’t notice it too much. This is also further cushioned by the fact that in most cases both the minions and the minions in charge will each benefit or suffer from completing or failing tasks.
I found it a fun fast paced game and I think if I had more time to get the time to dig deep into the game I would have found it has several layers of depth to it. Lastly from the few games I got to play of it I think that the sweet spot for this game will be 3-5 players.
Go give it a look over on KS here
Runkle Plays Games 