This is a guest post from Ivhan Rusli
If the mobile video game Clash Royale and the Disney movie series Toy Story had a board game baby, you’d have Toy Battle! Similar to Clash Royale, Toy Battle is a quick, two-player tactical game where you’re aiming to secure objectives by placing troops and using their effects at the right time. Wins come from either capturing key targets or meeting the terrain’s medal goal.
Where Toy Battle is reminiscent of Toy Story is in the playful artwork of the maps and types of troops you get to control. While you won’t get to play any troops from the actual movies other than the Army-Women (using the official IP would make the game cost-prohibitive), you wouldn’t be surprised if these characters showed up in one.
Gameplay Overview:
You have a rack (hand) of troops with unique powers and strength values. On your turn you choose one of two actions:
- Draw 2 troops onto your rack
- Place one troop on the board
It’s a tactical game of tug-of-war: new troops must connect back to your HQ in an unbroken line, and you can only play on an empty base or on top of an enemy troop if your troop’s value is higher.
Tactical variety comes from:
- The Troops: There are three copies of 8 unique troops with special abilities.
- The Maps: The game comes with 8 different maps with unique terrain, geometry, and special bases that break the rules of the game.
- The Setup: Before you start the game 4 troops are randomly removed from each player, so you will always play with some uncertainty.
To win, you must achieve one of two goals:
- Capture: Connect your troops in an unbroken line from your HQ directly to the enemy’s HQ.
- Control: Be the first to secure the required number of medals by completely surrounding specific regions on the board.
Game Experience:
Toy Battle is a delightful experience that brings some nostalgia to those familiar with the Toy Story movies. (I can’t help but think of the Army Men sneaking around Andy’s house when I’m placing multiple Army-Women down in a row).
As you play the game, you’ll likely develop an affinity for certain troops and hope to draw them early. And if you don’t, you’ll quickly learn that if you don’t adapt right away, the game is over.
Because of the playful theme and fantastic artwork, this “take that” game doesn’t feel punishing. It’s fun to see Kwak, the Rubber Duck, take over a base controlled by Dinosaur!
For a game that is easy to learn, it’s deceptively strategic. It’s a simple system that yields tough decisions. There are so many different paths to victory and defeat. And, with 8 different maps to play, there are a lot of different strategies to discover.
But in every game, you will constantly ask yourself: What do I play, and when? Do I burn a turn drawing cards to fish for the perfect counter? Do I push aggressively to bait my opponent into wasting their heavy-hitters, or play it safe? What are the chances they are holding the one troop that can stop me?
While the Toy Battle is tactical in every sense of the word, there’s definitely some luck involved that can only be mitigated so much. I’m 100% for the random removal of 4 troops at the beginning of the game to create some uncertainty, but you won’t know until near the end if you removed troops that you needed to win the game.
There have also been games that came down to the wire and depended on who would draw the troop they needed first. There’s definite disappointment when you feel like you lost due to bad luck, but there’s also glee when you feel like you won due to good luck.
Because the game is so easy to set up and clean up, it’s one I’ll bring with me in case there’s some unexpected downtime. Depending on how much time I have, I’ll often play the best 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 5 before moving on to a new map.
Final Thoughts:
Toy Battle is a highly aggressive “take that” game but packaged into a lightning-fast 10-minute match. Because games are so brief, the frustration of a sudden loss or a terrible troop draw is over quickly. Although the decisions aren’t difficult, brain-burning grand strategy calculations, the tactical tug-of-war nature will make you feel like a genius one match and a dummy the next. After the sting of defeat, you’ll want a rematch, convinced you were just one move away from a win, and that, to me, is when you know you’ve got a fantastic game on your hands.
Final Score: 5 Stars – Fast, clever, and highly tactical for a micro-battler. Toy Battle scales down the area-control genre into a tight, accessible duel that proves you don’t always need an hour to deliver meaningful tension. You’re bound to play this one “To infinity and beyond!”
Hits:
• Easy to learn and fast to teach.
• Vibrant, playful artwork that perfectly fits the theme.
• Deceptively strategic decision space for a 10-minute game
• Great value for the price point
Misses:
• The random troop draw at the beginning could leave you with a real disadvantage.
About the Author:
Ivhan Rusli lives in Brantford, Ontario. He’s the director of a not-profit-children’s charity and has been working with kids and youth for over 30 years. Ivhan has been able to draw this family into the board game world with varying degrees of success. With a young adult son, teenage son, and ten year old daughter (going on 30) and a wife who loves to play the same game over and over again he’s always on the hunt for the perfect family board game. Ivhan’s also admittedly attempting to recover from Board Game Acquisition Disorder.
Source: Board Game Quest
