TALES FROM THE RUINED CITY – SEWERS MODULE
With snipers everywhere, it becomes harder and harder to move around the city. We have no other choice but to descend underground looking for new routes and new ways to scavenge.
This week, we have another update about Tales from the Ruined City, the first expansion for our bestselling title This War Of Mine: The Board Game. Some time ago we’ve described the first two scenarios. We would like to focus now on one of the largest game modules for you to experience when playing the game – the Sewers.
Within the labyrinthine bowels of the besieged city made up of concrete basements, old town, forgotten cellars and modern waterways, you will find a path straight to the centre; the path offering you protection from omnipresent sharpshooters and marauding soldiers above, yet dangerous enough not to be treaded lightly.
Underground passages
The Sewers module enables you to send Characters on the Sewers Exploration that ends with a short Scavenging in 1 of the 3 available Locations. If a Character becomes part of the Exploration Party, they may find crucial resources, useful items and interesting people. Unfortunately, whoever descends underground will miss the whole Day Actions phase, and will have to overcome many obstacles of this dark, damp place.
Your excursion through the city sewers in Tales from the Ruined City is represented by cardboard Sewers Map tiles laid out depending on the path you choose. Once you start moving, you draw either a Corridors card or a Rooms card according to the current position of the Exploration Party, as marked with a special token. Then, a number or a letter from the tile informs you which part of the card to resolve. Some options have no effect, others force you to lose items, suffer Fatigue or Illness or make a roll to overcome some obstacle. Many others trigger a Reality Impact based thematically on the place where the exploring Characters currently are. That way, you can experience a very unique encounter or challenge from one of 235 scripts found in the Wartime Diary I book.
Untold stories
The scripts turn the sewers into a place with a life of its own – a life you will have a chance to live whenever you play. Thanks to completely new narrative , you will experience horrors of war to the utmost: deserters hiding from their superiors, forgotten stashes, stairs leading to shelled buildings, flooded corridors, underground markets, and many more. Additionally, when compared to the ones found in the base game, some of the Sewers scripts in Tales from the Ruined City are very complex, offering you an immersive experience and multitude of choices. This way, with such stories within stories, you will want to explore the sewers even more just to know all of them.
However, every journey must finally end. Once you manage to pass through 3 Map Sewers tiles, the exit to the outside world will be waiting for you. A successful Sewers Exploration allows you to resolve a Scavenging in a random Location. Although it is shorter than the one in the Scavenging phase, it offers an opportunity to return to the Shelter with valuable goods and – most importantly – still participate in another Scavenging under the cover of night.
Into the light
All in all, as the Sewers module may enrich any game mode – be it a campaign or a Scenario – you will quickly learn that it is a very versatile tool to make each playthrough a unique, engaging experience. With 8 large cardboard map tiles, 22 new cards and over 150,000 letters / 80 pages, you can expect hours of exciting gameplay.
That’s it for now. In the next preview we will write more about 3 remaining Scenarios and until then – stay focused! This War of Mine: The Board Game – Tales From the Ruined City will be available in Q3 2018.
Presented components are not final and may be different from the final physical copy of the game.