Tales of Glory: Review of the Medieval Placement Board Game

In the test, Tales of Glory has proven to be an entertaining, easy-to-learn, but at times profound laying board game about heroes in a fantasy medieval era. The title is available in this country in a German-language localized version from the Swiss publisher Board Game Box,

They do exist: the underrated board games, the entertainment value of which turns out to be surprisingly high. Tales of Glory is one of those titles that hasn't been brought to the table for a long time, but then regrets not having done it sooner. Heroes just have to prove their worth first.

Truly heroic: Tales of Glory

Tales of Glory is a truly heroic game in which you don't just slip into the roles of brave warriors, but re-enact their everyday lives. Every move in the board game localized by the Swiss publisher Boardgamebox for the German-speaking market represents a day in the life of a hero. The original was published by Ankama. The author Romain Chastan came up with the idea, and Miguel Coimbra optically left his mark on the title.

Adventure, fame, fortune, the unknown - a hero's life is full of experiences. This can be replayed in the fantasy medieval board game by two to five courageous people who are not averse to the drafting of tiles and the balancing of resources. The start of the hero day is quicker than you can scream “Ogre!”: Put down the game board, place the number of tiles corresponding to the number of players, put the rest of the material ready, then you can start. The basic rules are simple, but the Tales of Glory is far from easy. Some steps need to be carried out several times until the ideas are behind them.

The fantasy medieval board game requires a training period, even if it is not a long one. However, one can groan about the victory conditions: It's simply about points. In Tales of Glory, the journey is the goal, because the heroic days are filled with adventure, gold, and the chance to dive deeper into the game after first games. The board game shines with its learning curve, which is also noticeable for connoisseurs. You have to like the prestige point hunt, the theme of which is coherent but interchangeable.

You should play ten rounds, no more and no less

The game is not played until the first heroic death, but a fixed number of rounds: namely ten. During this time the heroes do what heroes do. Beat monsters, for example, but prefer to collect treasure or pour all sorts of brews into themselves. Which adventures the players want to go on, they choose from a display in the middle of the table. Then tiles are placed and cards are selected to reveal them at the same time. If the chosen adventure is already occupied, a new round can be chosen. At some point the destinations are distributed and it goes on. Investing in the hero is of course not free of charge. In the course of the game, it is important to make decisions that are as sensible as possible and appropriate to your level of experience. At the end there are points for the experience.

By now it should have become clear what Tales of Glory is actually about: Optimizing points. It is important to make the most intelligent strategic decisions possible in order to get the maximum amount of prestige out of the display. This is also the biggest point of criticism of Tales of Glory, because the more similar the skills of the players, the more frustrating it can be if you fail to catch your chosen adventure again. Not all tactics lead to success. You have to be content with the poorer choice, otherwise it will be difficult to maintain motivation. The joy is all the greater when the starting game marker reaches you again: in contrast to many other board games, this is an advantage that should not be underestimated.

Incidentally, this also creates an annoyance factor depending on the situation. You can of course block the strategies of other players with the adventure selection. Points can be earned directly through quests, something through monster brawls, but also through actions that influence the tasks according to future or past heroic deeds. It is always important to pursue your own strategy, but not neglect that of your opponents. Keeping an overview is not easy, but one of the keys to getting there. This is especially true because at the beginning randomly distributed order tiles can even tip a game over.

Overall, Tales of Glory is a solid board game with no major highlights. In return, however, there are few to criticize. What has to work works. Anyone who has understood the principle, can do something with the fantasy medieval theme and is looking for an alternative to games such as 7 Wonders or Carcassonne will even consider Tales of Glory to be a little gem.

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Conclusion

The ten laps pass in flight. Sometimes you even get the feeling that the game is over too quickly. This is due in particular to the simple basic rules and the straightforward gameplay. Manage tiles and collect a lot of things, these are the two core components of Tales of Glory, which is a board game without extravagance and fully designed for entertainment. The gameplay shouldn't be underestimated, however, as it offers tactical depth. The strategic decisions are manifold, there are many ways to get victory points. Often the games run out because the balancing has worked extremely well.

Tales of Glory is the kind of family game that can be brought to the table in different combinations of player types. After a few introductory games, the point quickly comes when you give in to optimizing. The topic of the board game is basically arbitrary, but fits with what is offered. In each round, it is important to make decisions that are far-reaching. Because many combinations make sense, but some are particularly effective, what you do at what point in time actually has a noticeable effect. In any case, you don't bother with trivialities in a game of Tales of Glory - this benefits the flow of the game and the duration of the game.

The illustrations and the material are successful, so that Tales Of Glory can be seen as one of the prettier representatives among the shallow placement games. The game is a bit of a surprise hit in its own special way: The board game offers a lot more than you would think at first glance.

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