Moonrollers Review
We’ll never be free of the UA if we don’t have the right people on our side. Only the finest crew can be considered for the Moonrakers, so get out there and beg, borrow, bribe and steal whatever you need to convince them to join us! Let’s roll!
2-5 Players 30-45 Mins Age: 14+
Designer: Robert Hovakimyan
Artist: Lunar Saloon
Publisher: IV Studio (IV Games)
“Step Up To Red Alert.” “Sir, Are You Absolutely Sure? It Does Mean Changing The Bulb.”
Moonrollers is a 2-5 player dice rolling, push-your-luck game set in IV Studio’s Moonrakers universe. In the game you compete with other players to recruit crew members by fulfilling requirements on crew cards using the results of dice rolls. Doing so will reward you with prestige points and enough successes will win you the crew members themselves, giving you access to their unique abilities to use in future turns. Be warned though, failure to complete all of a crew’s requirements may leave them open to being poached by one of your rivals, leaving you with only the prestige you secured in your previous dealings with that crew member.
Throughout the game, players will gradually assemble a crew of individuals, becoming ever more capable of fulfilling future requirements and gaining prestige. While the game is, by its nature, heavily luck driven, much of this luck can be mitigated through the use of recruited crew abilities. For example, changing one result to another, adding extra dice for your next roll, or multiplying results just to name a few. If you are unable to lock in at least one die on a requirement after you roll, then you ‘bust’. Busting means you must remove all tokens you placed that turn and your turn ends. After a successful roll, you can choose to stop voluntarily, thereby locking in any completed requirements, and thus, the prestige points, but leaving that potential crew mate at risk of being poached by another player.
Some requirements contain hazards which, if completed, requires the player to take two random hazard tokens, choose one to keep and return the other face down to the draw pile. Each hazard tokens is worth either 1, 2, or 5 points. 1 point tokens have no hazard symbols, but the 2 and 5 point tokens have one and two hazard icons respectively. This is important because at the end of the game, when players revel their hazard tokens, whomever has the most hazard symbols will be unable to score any of their token’s prestige points.
Play continues until a player has collected one crew of each Faction, or three crew of the same Faction. Meeting either condition will immediately end the game and final scores including any prestige points from hazard tokens will be tallied to determine the winner.
It’s important to note, that though they share the same art style and iconography, Moonrollers and Moonrakers are two completely different games. This is not “Moonrakers Lite”, Moonrollers is doing its own thing and, in my opinion, does it solidly.
“I Am Holly, The Ship’s Computer, With An IQ Of 6,000. The Same IQ As 6,000 PE Teachers.”
Moonrollers plays quickly with turns being a satisfying mix of rolling dice, placing player markers and drawing hazard tokens. There is just the right amount of decision space for a game of this type, do you stop rolling or risk going bust? Do you try to lock in a requirement that provides a hazard token or leave that risk to another player? The clever use of crew abilities adds tactical nuance to the gameplay and allows players to feel a sense of accomplishment and progression.
The more crew abilities you acquire, the more options you’ll have to control the dice on your turn. However, these abilities can’t be stacked, for example, you cannot change one result to another then use that new result to trigger another ability, so learning which cards to collect to maximise mitigation can make all the difference.
Games are short enough to play two or three in a row without any trouble, making Moonrollers an ideal starter or finisher to a game night or a nice quick game you want to play a game that is lightly competitive, fast to set up and pack away and fun from beginning to end.
Each game lasts between 20-40 minutes depending on the number of players, though in a couple of instances we had games last over an hour due to a number of factors, usually involving unfavourable dice or particularly competitive players trying to keep one another from getting certain cards to trigger the end game before their scores were competitive.
Hazard tokens add an extra twist to the game by providing some interesting decision space and allowing players to secure prestige points on incomplete cards is rewarding and player-friendly. While the level of player interaction is relatively light, the game really shines when players are paying attention to what their opponents are trying to do. Noticing that another player is close to ending the game and finding that one’s own score isn’t yet where it needs to be could prompt you to try to poach the card away to not only prevent the end game from triggering, but to secure yourself more prestige. The gentle tug of war can up the tension in the best way and lead to some fun moments when several players are on the cusp of victory but are battling for their final cards or 11th hour prestige.
“We Have Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself. Apart From Pain. And Maybe Humiliation And Obviously Death. And Failure.”
While the overall experience is fun and satisfying, there are a couple of areas where Moonrollers falls a little short of perfection. Firstly, games can often feel a bit short, even when playing the long game variant, the experience often ends just as you start to get a satisfying selection of abilities. You just begin to get into a groove (and actually remember to start using your powers) when all of a sudden, the game is over and you find yourselves counting far too many hazard tokens. There are times I’d like the experience to last a little longer, and while not exactly a deal-breaker, the shorter play time can feel jarring.
I spoke above about the limited player interaction, and this is an area where I’d love to see some improvements, perhaps with an expansion that introduces abilities that trigger on anther player’s turn, or allow or prevent the poaching of cards either before or after they’ve been secured. At the moment, while providing a solid play experience, I feel that much of the game takes place in my own bubble.
Having played a significant number of games in a short period of time, I would also love to see more cards introduced as there are currently only 30 or so in the game, more cards or modular expansions would greatly increase the appeal and extend the life of the playability. If Moonrakers has taught us anything its that IV Studio has no shortage of ideas when it comes to expansions, even going to far as to include a mini expansion for Moonrakers in the Moonrollers box! C’mon IV Studio, I’m dying for more content already! It’s been over a week!
“According To The Damage Report Machine, There’s Several Small Fires, Lots Of Smoke And The Navicom’s Fizzing. Oh, Damn. Now The Damage Report Machine’s Exploded…”
The art of Moonrollers cards matches with Moonrakers and that’s Fine by me! I love the tech-noir overtones and the minimalist approach to the card layout, each image is striking, distinctive and oozing with character. My copy contained the holo variants of the cards which adds even more dramatic flair to the table.
The other components in the game are of the usual high quality found across IV Studio other titles, from the double layered prestige board and snappy linen finished cards, to the colourful custom dice and score cubes, everything looks great. Once point of contention however would be the colours of the cubes themselves.
Perhaps its just my aging eyes, but under certain lighting conditions, there often isn’t much to distinguish between the yellow, orange and green cubes in particular. I’m not even colourblind (to my knowledge) so I can imagine this would be an even bigger issue for those who are. Perhaps forgoing the transparent plastic for more distinctive coloured components would have alleviated this? It’s a minor quibble, but could be a deal-breaker for some gamers.
“Stoke Me A Clipper, I’ll Be Back For Christmas!”
Moonrollers is a fun, snappy and immensely satisfying push-your-luck game with a strong pedigree, leaving little to whine about. For the most part, any issues I described soon fall aside as players get deeper into the game, with the exception of the cube colours for those that may be affected by such a design choice, the overall experience is rewarding and keeps me coming back for more. In fact, it very quickly became our group’s most played game in just the past couple of weeks. Yes, the shorter play time and fast set up was a factor, but that simply speaks to the ease with which players can get this gem to the table. Have IV Studios re-invented the wheel? Perhaps not, but what they have done is take the solid underpinnings of dice rollers and push-your-luck mechanics and merged them into a great game that has certainly found a permanent place on my shelf. I highly recommend trying it on for size!
Thank you for joining me once again and I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on Moonrollers. For those who have had a chance to try it out, what did you think? Yay or Nay? If not, do you have a favourite game from IV Studios? I’d love to hear you thoughts in the comments below or Above Board’s Facebook group. Remember to follow me on Instagram as well to keep up with my latest gaming adventures. While you’re at it, why not check out my reviews of IV Studio’s other great titles, Moonrakers and Fractured Sky, and be on the lookout for my upcoming review of Mythic Mischief Vol.I & II. In the meantime, take care, and I look forward to bringing you some Christmas-themed reviews in the coming month!
