Armed with just an army of tiny figurines, two players duke it out in Token Terrors Battlegrounds. Token Terrors, published by Terrible Games, is more than just a simple skirmish game. This little box actually houses multiple applications and secrets! Does size matter?
Anyone who opens the small box of Token Terrors is greeted with a tightly packed load of components filled to the brim of the box. My Warlord’s Wealth Deluxe Edition contains 70 Token Terrors (the small, colorful figurines, 10 for each faction), a small game board, a card for each faction, dice, a secret box of extra content, and two large, high-quality cloth bags. In addition to the rulebook, the game also includes a comic book and a 5E Minions Manual (more on that later).
In addition to all these components, the box of also contains a game: Token Terrors Battleground. In Battleground, players start by assembling an army of 10 figures from different factions (Zombies, Goblins, Flying Machines, Swamplings, Wyverns, Soldiers and Elves). Players can combine to their liking, but mixing and matching different factions between players is discouraged (as it would be truly chaotic). Players toss their 10 figurines into their bags and randomly draw 5 different tokens to start their teeny tiny token army with. They place these five figures on their side of the game board as they please. They place the remaining minis in their reserves, set their surge dice to value 1 and the game can begin.
In turn, players activate one of their tokens. By activating a token, they can perform up to (at least) three actions. Players can move to an adjacent square on the game board, enrage their tokens for extra power, attack or activate a special ability of the token’s faction. By deploying surge points (indicated by the surge die), players can perform more actions during a turn. A player can earn surge points by having a token perform three consecutive move actions or by resting the token at the end of the turn (the token is then turned backwards).
Each faction has special abilities, which players can deploy. Zombies can use special actions to necromance other zombies (how necromantic), Flying Machines can build new Flying Machines and move them in groups (always be wary of robotic AI’s…), etc. The player that is first to defeat all tokens of the other player (on the battleground and in the reserve) wins! Tokens are defeated by attacking. Some factions fight at long range and some up close and personal (melee). A token standing next to tokens of the same friendly faction gains more power (for attack and defense). A token can attack multiple times during a turn if possible. If a token has received damage equal to its power during the same turn, this token is defeated. Tokens that are not resting may be able to dodge long-range attacks and possibly also retaliate during an attack.
Token Terrors Battleground is a very entertaining and challenging game. It is a highly thematic abstract strategy game that is somewhat like an asymmetric chess. Because players can assemble their own army from different factions in a variety of compositions, the game has a tremendously diverse setup. Because each faction has unique characteristics, the game is also extremely strategically varied. However, Token Terrors is not just the skirmish game: I had already mentioned the 5E Minions Manual. You can use the tokens as minions or monsters during your role-playing sessions like Dungeons & Dragons. The Minions Manual contains an explanation of how to use the tokens. Of course, you can also use the miniatures as you wish during a role-playing game. Observant Magic The Gathering players may have noticed that the tokens bear familiar names to certain elements of MTG and are also called tokens quite coincidentally. The Token Terrors can also be used as tokens during a game of Magic. Do you have a deck where you use a lot of flying machines or goblins? Maybe you’d like a more personalized set of tokens as well. Token Terrors Battleground contains a lot of content for a small box and the content is well worth it!
