Bad Bones is a Tower Defence, Take That Game.

Title: Bad Bones

Year Published: 2019

Designer: David Flies

Publisher: Sit Down!

Players: 1-6

Game Time: ~45 minutes

Set-up Time: ~5 minutes

Ages: 8+

Theme: Fantasy

Mechanisms: Grid Movement, Simultaneous Action Selection, Take That

How to win: Score the most points by protecting your Tower and Villages from invading Skeletons.

Game Description

You lead the good life at the top of your tower, contemplating your peaceful kingdom and chatting with your charming neighbours. Life is absolute happiness. Well, it was…

Your kingdom is at siege by the living dead. You raise troops, build walls, lay traps, prepare magical spells and even wake your pet dragon. Hopefully, they can be slowed, or if you’re devilishly crafty, they can be turned toward those traitorous adjoining kingdoms. 

How to play Bad Bones

Basic Rules

Advanced Rules

Bad Bones Round-Up

I really enjoy digital Tower Defence games so I was always on the lookout for a board game one.

There are a few including Age of Towers which I saw at Cannes and Kingdom Rush which I have backed on Kickstarter. The first is solo and competitive and the latter is solo and co-op.

Bad Bones is Solo, Co-op AND competitive all in one.

It’s also level on production levels and complexity but has a higher player count and shorter playtime.

Admittedly, at the time of writing, I haven’t played either of the other two. Hopefully Kingdom Rush is good when it arrives and I’ll get a chance to play Age of Towers at some point.

This is a very fun game. It’s just a case of survival and well-timed sacrifices.

You have your traps that are worth end-game points. But sometimes you just have to let them go. You need to allow them to take that double hit to save your Tower or Village.

Then you have the Hero. He wanders around slaying everything… But he only moves one space, like a King in Chess. How do you best use him and to make sure you stay alive?

Throwing Skeletons at each other is fun as you pass your diverted and catapulted Skeletons around the table to the other players. It’s a good balancing mechanism assuming the players are paying attention.

Just trying and keep everything alive sounds easy. But if you’re not aggressive you can easily find yourself overwhelmed. Too aggressive and you’ll easily lose Traps. Also, clear your board and you’ll be a target of all those wandering Skeletons the other players have chased away.

Rating I give it 8/10

First Impressions from Essen 2018

Jesta ThaRogue