Quarriors! Review: Fight as a Brave Quarrior and Claim Your Rewards

In Quarriors!, we'll mine (get) creature and spell dice from our dice bag (our Quarry) to defeat our opponents as Warriors. Bingo! Marketing magic: Quarry + Warriors = Quarriors!

As magical warriors, we'll compete and become the best Quarrior around!

Quarriors! is best played with 2 to 4 players for ages 14 and up by designers Mike Elliott and Eric. M. Lang. It was illustrated by J. Lonnee and Chris Raimo.

It was released in 2011 by Wizkids. Its basic mechanisms are deck, bag, and pool building, and dice rolling.

Its designers, Mike Elliott and Eric M. Lang, have worked on more than 250 games together. The illustrators, J. Lonnee and Chris Raimo, have, combined, illustrated more than 140 different games. And these were great games as well, like the Game of Thrones board games and Magic: The Gathering. Combining these brilliant minds could not yield anything besides an excellent, award-winning game: Quarriors!

Since it was released, Quarriors! has been nominated for multiple awards and won many prizes: it was nominated for the title of Most Innovative Board Game and Best Family Board Game by Golden Geek. It was also nominated for the title of Best International Game in Japan and Australia in 2011, but it was in 2013 that it indeed won a prize: Best Family, Party or Children's Game, by the Origins Awards.

Let's dive right in!

Empress Quiana is looking for her new champion, a new magical warrior (which you are). To be selected, you'll have to manipulate the mysterious powers of Quiddity to summon creatures and spells, attack, and, at the same time, defend yourself to earn glory. That is the context of Quarriors!.

The game itself is quite simple to explain and play - but it still demands a lot of strategy at all times.

Basically, once the game starts, you'll have, at your disposal:

The place where we can get these cards and respective dice is called the Wilds. It's also where we'll spend our basic resources (Quiddity) to capture them and control them so we can use them whenever we like.

Each player will start the game with 12 dice: 8 basic Quiddity dice that will give you resources to capture creatures and spells, and 4 Assistant dice, which will also give you more Quiddity. You'll also be able to reroll them, and you'll have basic creatures to get victory points (glory points). These 12 dice are stored in your bag (the Quarry).

A Quarrior! turn includes:

The most fun part is summoning creatures and keeping them alive for a turn so you can score them at the beginning of your next turn. So, creatures that defend themselves well are crucial. These living creatures will be your main source of glory points.

And here's the secret: after you score your creatures, they'll go to your "used pile", but, because you scored them, each of them will let you cull one of your used dice from the pile. But why would you do that? Simple: to clean your dice pool. You'll start the game with 12 basic dice, which are considered useful early on. However, as you go to the Wilds to get better dice, you'll need to "clean" your dice pool and make sure to only leave the best dice you have in it. That's one of the main strategies of the game.

After you do that, it's time to get another 6 dice from your bag. You'll need a bit of luck for this step, but you can mitigate this with by cleaning your dice pool, like we mentioned before. Put these 6 dice on your active pool.

Then, you'll have to fight with everything you've got. It's time to summon the creatures you got from your dice rolls, cast spells, and/or save Quiddit for later on, when you go to the Wilds to get another creature or spell die. Use your head to create the best game plan possible!

If you summoned any creatures on your turn, they'll go to your ready area and are ready to attack immediately. This is when you'll destroy (or not) enemy creatures to make sure your opponents won't get any glory points from them.

Next, you'll have to consider your options carefully. After you attack (or not), you'll need to get a single die in the Wilds, and pick the creature or spell you'll capture really well. They'll go to your dice pool.

If you like playing combos, this is the best part: combining creatures and spells makes a lot of sense. Use this in your favor!

After you do that, put all the dice you used this turn in your used pile.

Then, just pass the turn to the player on your left.

Basically, that's a turn in Quarriors!

There are 2 ways to end the game, and pay attention, as in both of these cases the game ends on the spot:

or

If there is a tie, the player with more dice in their ready area wins. If there is still a tie, players share the victory!

Well, let me tell you, straight up, the best tip I have: build a good dice pool! Quarriors! is well-known for its dice building. It is the only way you can mitigate your RNG - with better dice in your pool, you won't have to rely that much on luck.

Another strategy that works well is setting up "combos" with creature dice and spells - and it is certainly quite effective. Spells somewhat "protect" your creatures and make sure they'll survive until you can score them. Don't forget that!

Summoning an equal number of offensive and defensive creatures also worked really well for me. Offensive creatures (which have a lot of attack power) will give you many glory points, and defensive creatures (which have a good amount of defense) will absorb the damage and survive. Or, at least, sacrifice themselves so another creature can score.

Keep in mind that scoring is the only way you have to cull your starting dice, which are the weakest dice in the game. Otherwise, your dice pool will never be strong because it will include these starting dice. This is terrible and won't help you at all - it will also significantly delay your progress.

The gist of it is: summon strong creatures, attack your opponents as hard as you can, and, at the same time, maintain a good line of defense. That's how you'll guarantee a lot of glory points and cull basic dice from your dice pool to make it as strong as possible.

These tips are important because, remember, the game ends on the spot when someone gets a certain number of glory, or if there are four or more empty creature cards (cards with no Quarry dice on them) after a player captures a Quarry die in the Wilds. This means the game can end at any minute, so reading the game state is essential.

Follow these tips, attack and don't forget to defend yourself, and become the Champion of the Empress in Quarriors!

Check out this unboxing:

Learn the rules:

Watch some gameplay:

If you're looking for a fun game with eye-catching artwork that is easy to teach and makes you work on your math and resource management skills, focus, strategies, and ability to read game states, Quarriors! is the game for you!

In this game, you'll have to do a lot of math (because of how much creatures and spells cost), then manage what you got from your dice rolls, and much more. Everything in Quarriors! requires great math and resource management skills to invest in one thing or another, so it is a great game if you want to work on these skills.

It is also a gorgeous game that impresses even the most strict critic, and is easy to teach. Everyone can learn a lot from this game without even realizing it, as they'll be too distracted with the beautiful artworks and how easy it is to play. From a teaching perspective, Quarrior! really knocks it out of the park!

You'll also need a lot of focus, as you'll need to read the game state every round, regardless if it is your turn or not. Your opponents can attack you at any point, and that adds a bit of tension to the board. You'll have to watch closely as your opponents use their dice and see which creatures and spells they bring to the board - all of this will directly impact your game strategy. All players should pay attention in these moments!

Furthermore, it also requires a lot of strategy, particularly when you set up your defense and offense at the same time. It is a great game for strategy enthusiasts.

Quarriors! is a lesson in math, resource management, and demands a lot of strategy, focus, and observation skills! Work on these skills with Quarriors!

I highly recommend Quarriors! for your collection!