The Warriors has become a cult favorite amongst film fans and aficionados, and now the 1979 movie has been brought to the world of tabletop courtesy of Funko Games in The Warriors: Come Out To Play. Players will take control of The Warriors as they attempt to make their way across town to their home turf, but things are going to get dicey along the way, and you’ll need to choose your battles, add to your arsenal of cards and weapons, and work together as a true crew to make it there. You can feel the enthusiasm for the film in the presentation, and players have more control over the pace of the game, making for a more customized experience despite the linearity of the adventure. The Warriors keeps the fights coming without overstaying its welcome, and fans of the cult classic will enjoy their time back in the world.
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The Warriors has 2 to 4 players making their way from The Bronx through enemy territory as they make their way to Coney Island, and as you make your way through you’ll have to take on seven other gangs in a variety of locations, culminating in a final battle at Coney Island. Along your journey, you’ll bolster your deck and your arsenal by landing on certain spaces, and you’ll also need to rest and move cards from your discard pile back into your hand to ensure you can survive the trip.
Most of the strategy lies in how you approach your trip through the opposing neighborhoods to your final destination, as you can try and speed up the pace or slow things down, each offering their own advantages. Some will try to avoid unnecessary fights and skip over spaces that make you draw extra Bopper cards, which will bring along fights at a quickened pace. Others will take on everyone that challenges them, and those players will likely also want to take advantage of each space on the board to build up their options in battles. There’s a balance to strike between the two, and that ebb and flow is part of what makes moving across the direct path through the city so fun and challenging.
Spaces on the board allow you to do things like pick up War Cards (other Warriors with various abilities) and Weapon Cards, which can be things like Brass Knuckles, Chains, and Switchblades. You can also return a card from your Discard to your hand, which you’ll need to weigh against taking a full-on rest. Again, strategy comes into play here, as taking a rest allows you to bring all of your Discarded cards back into your hand but you can’t move, while finding a Discard space moves you forward on the board, though you can only return one card from your Discard to your hand.
You’ll also encounter Fight Tokens at key points, which are unavoidable fights and must be completed to move forward, though those aren’t structured in Boss Fight style like you might expect. Instead, those are just normal fights that are randomized by the Gang you pull and the Location you pull when a fight is initiated, though there are some variables to be aware of, and they freshen up the battles just enough. For instance, if a Gang is higher up on the Reputation Track than you, you’ll need to cover one additional spot on the Location Tiles, and each Gang also has its own unique ability, changing up your approach. Some will make you discard cards while others will only let you roll a certain amount of dice in that encounter, and if the numbers are a bit higher on the cards, you might find yourself with a steep challenge.
Most of the challenge in Warriors doesn’t come from individual battles, however. Instead, the challenge is more a byproduct of the volume of battles. When you move to a space or take an action (like resting), you will need to draw from 1 to 2 Bopper Cards. Some of those cards don’t negatively affect you, but others will have a host of negative effects, and once you’ve drawn the third Threat Card, you will follow the text on that card and then you will be challenged to a fight.
Strategy and playstyle become important at this point, as you can take on the fight or run away (with the exception of certain Threat Cards). Running away lets you avoid the fight but you lose a reputation on the track, and if you fall below 7 on that track you lose the game. If you fight every single battle, however, you might find yourself not progressing across the board very quickly and low on cards because you aren’t taking a chance to regroup and reload your hand with Rests or Discard spaces.
Each Warrior also has unique abilities that you’ll need to pay attention to and maximize, which can help mitigate the damage from enemies, give you additional dice to roll in battles, help your teammates reload their available hands, and more.
Battles themselves are relatively straightforward, you discard cards and roll the number of dice indicated on the card or by specific abilities. Each Gang and Location card has spots with a number on it and a picture of weapons on it, and whatever you roll and your weapon options will dictate if you can cover one of the spaces on that board. Everyone proceeds turn by turn until everyone’s been knocked out or all of the needed spaces on the Gang card have been covered and completed, so while it’s not elaborately complicated, the system is easy to learn and fun to take part in. One more element of depth would’ve been welcome, but I still enjoyed how quickly the battles progressed.
The board itself looks fantastic and the miniatures are solid, though the final battle was a bit anticlimactic. Sure the difficulty was a bit higher and towards the end you are trying to make sure you’ve got as many of your cards available for use. Still, it wasn’t different enough to feel distinct from other battles along the way, and some added element might have made it feel a bit more special.
As for the cards themselves, the artwork feels authentic to the film and the components are well made, though each character’s deck could’ve used a bit more individuality. Each character has one distinct ability, while the other cards link to their starting weapon and allow for the use of two dice instead of one and the ability to use your weapon to cover any weapon space. Aside from that one card, there isn’t much to separate the characters gameplay-wise, and one or two additional ability cards would have been welcome to add more choices to your turn-by-turn mix.
The Warriors is a thrilling experience that keeps the energy up with frequent battles and a quickened pace. Battles become second nature sooner than later, and while the unchanging nature of those battles might bore some, others will love how quickly you can be up to speed on how the game works and how to maximize your character and your hand during throwdowns. Fans of the classic film will enjoy returning to this world and the moment-to-moment action, and Funko Games impresses in their execution of the film’s theme and overall aesthetic. If you’re a fan of the franchise, this is an easy recommendation, and for those looking for a game that allows both experienced and new players to hit the ground running, this is right up your alley.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Published By: Funko Games
Designed By: Prospero Hall
Art By: Henning Ludvigsen
The Warriors: Come Out To Play is available now.
Review copy provided by Funko Games
