Mechs V.S. Minions is the first board game made by Riot Games. To be honest, I didn't realize that there was such a game until I saw some posted an image on Facebook that I wondered who dared copies League of Legends. After a quick search, I finally realized that it was an official board game published by Riot Games.
The first wave had already gone so I was in the second wave, which said that it would be shipped in July. However, I got an email last week saying that it had been shipped, and I got it a day before yesterday (5/11). The game cost me only 75 dollars plus 5 for shipment. It was a true bargain considered how many accessories came with the game. I mean, Mansions of Madness: Second edition costs 99.99, and Cthulhu Wars is 199.99.
For people who are interested in the gameplay, I am not going to cover it in this article, but Riot Games had a good video about it.
So let's get started. We can see that the box is pretty large, 21 x 14 x 5 inches, I didn't weight it, but it was quite heavy.
Upon opens it, you can see the game title "Mechs v.s. Minions" printed at the center of the cover. Interestingly, Riot Games didn't put their company or League of Legends logos on the cover.
When turned over, you will see the five LOL characters from the game, Rumble, Tristana, Corki, Heimerdinger, and Ziggs. I will recommend Riot Games that if they are interested in making an Asian version, try to use Ahri, Yasuo, Wukong, and Sona :)
Here is product number. The one I got is #11,391 out of 15,000. This game is currently unavailable on the official website, not sure if Riots Games is planning to open the third wave.
Game Contents. It totally worse the price by just including 100 Minions and 5 Mechs figures, not to say all other accessories.
After the box is opened, we could see a welcome letter written by Rumble.
You can even see some Easter eggs at the back :)
The first and second layers are all minions and some game accessories.
In the third layer, we could see a huge pile of documents. These are game scripts and the instruction. Some people might have noticed that Riot Games had also paid details on designing boxes and containers.
The fourth and also the last layer, we could see the control panels, game boards, and more accessories.
Some people might be curious about what is in this sealed box. Well, since it says DO NOT OPEN, I am not going to open it :) You will receive an instruction to open the box when you reached the certain point of the game.
Now here comes the figures. Do notice that they were colored in details.
The sandglass was also well made with details.
The poor minions that LOL players hunt in the game. There is a total of 100 minions, and they came with four different designs. Although they are in plain color, Riot Games didn't forget to add some black lines to make it more vivid.
Some other accessories from the game. The coins and wheels are made with metals.
These are game documents. There are 11 envelopes with a TOP SECRET mark. Mechs and Minions are not a LOL-like game. It is a Strategy game with RPG elements. Every every envelope includes a game script and extra accessories, and all scripts connect closely with each other which means you could not and should not skip a level. The game will become harder as you proceed, and new rules, accessories, and cards will be added to the game.
These are map tiles. They are double-sided that grassland is on one side and lava land on the other side. The game script will tell you which side to use and how to arrange them.
Some other accessories, the long board above is the control panel, corresponds to each of the Mechs, and there is also counters, decks, and an extra map tile (double-sided)
I am not going to unwrap the cards since I haven't received my card sleeves......but you could see some of the card design on the instruction page below.
Overall, even though this is the first time Riot Games publishes its own board game, they did not compromise regarding the build quality and contents and in the meanwhile, charges a reasonable or even bargain price. The game received 8.4 on BoardGameGeek and is ranked 24th overall, 18th in strategy games, and 7th in thematic games, which is quite impressive for a publisher who was new to the board game market.
The only downside of the game, if I have to name it, might be the replayability. Since the game is story-driven, players might have less motivation to play the same script again. However, since the game has already provided you with all essential accessories, it is also possible for the player to come up with their own stories and scripts. As the community grows, which means Riot Games must keep producing and advertising the game, we might expect that if the future, there will be more and more customized scripts that we could play.
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