BOARD GAME REVIEW: PAPER TALES (2018)

Paper Tales by Stronghold Games came out of nowhere a bit. A simple card-drafting, tableau-building game on the surface, this game wears its 7 Wonders inspirations on its sleeves (in terms of wars, resource generation, etc.). However, in this case, inspiration does not mean it is just a poor mans copy.

Paper Tales does a couple of things very differently. Firstly, you have to place your units in a front and back rank to determine who fights and who doesn't. For the most part, this doesn't really play a big part as you just stick powerful units at the front and weaker units (resource generating) at the back. The main thing it limits you on is your military strength. Eventually you can play a fifth unit by upgrading a building, which is a really good idea.

The big change, however, is the aging mechanic. Most cards only stick around for a couple of turns (generations) before growing old and dying. Add to this a very tight coin income (unless you specialise in coins at the expense of other things), only 4 rounds to build buildings (the main source of VP outside of wars), and only 4 battles, you have a very tight game. 

This is a very tight game and the hard choices start immediately and only get harder with time. Do you use up your limited income to fill up with 4 units in round 1 or save a bit to try to get a stronger unit in round 2. In addition, you always have to keep in mind people can hate draft against you and keep the strong units from you. The only round that has some easier choices is round 1 as most times you want to get as much out as possible. However, this can be easily solved by drafting an extra card on the first round if so inclined. I never found it much of an issue as the first round gave plenty of other choices already.

Playing through the round also goes very quickly. Drafting, everyone takes turns simultaneously and at only 4 rounds, there are plenty of options you can explore to score points and alternative pathways you can take in following games. Add to that the variable buildings and great solo mode from the expansion, this game is a real winner.

5 out of 5 tearable waffles.