Chainsaw Warrior
Great 80's action movie theme.
Solo game play.
App available.
Really, really hard.
OOP.
Solo game play.
A great throwback to the 80's, one of the first solo games with a well executed theme. Its tough to find these days and vicious hard game to beat, certainly worth your time to play if the theme appeals and now easily available as an app.
Go on release your inner action hero.
Travel back in time my friends to the 1980’s. The golden age of action horror movies, muscle-bound heroes and bad hair (all three are in fine form in They Live). Released in 1987 by Games Workshop Chainsaw Warrior was an instant no-brainer.
Essentially this is a John Carpenter movie in a box, minus Kurt Russel. If you’ve watched Escape From New York multiple times, then you are absolutely going to love this.
Call me sss… oh wait what was his name?
The set up is straight out of an 80’s direct to video release. It’s 2032, and a malevolent warp gate to some nightmare dimension has opened in a New York apartment complex, naturally. We the hero a special forces commando called out of retirement (of course) has only 1 hour to storm the building with a blistering array of heavy weapons and save the world.
This is such a cool game and a rare Solo effort from Games Workshop. The game comes with a comic book that helps to set up the pulp feel, and strangely for a GW title, the rule book is relatively simple and straightforward. (anyone who has played Dark Future will understand the pain to which I allude)
Played out on a bland board with a timer ominously taking pride of place in its upper right corner representing your state of the art digital watch. This is used to track the countdown to doomsday and the end of the world and stuff.
After an initial set up which see’s, you randomising your hero with some simple stats which affect your health and weapon prowess you then get to do the board game equivalent of the equip your weapons montage prevalent in the 80’s.
Where’s the BFG?
The game plays out by progressing through two decks of cards representing the corridors and rooms of the apartment complex (sort of like a fighting fantasy book). Each of these cards will have a hidden surprise beneath it (usually a monster), and you have to battle your way through (somehow) to eventually reach Darkness the big bad buried somewhere in the second deck. Kill him and win the day. (yeah right!)
The Meat Machine (game over man!)
It’s as simple as that. But boy is this game tense, every turn that timer is ticking away and worse some encounters will cost you valuable seconds burning away into that narrow 60-minute window. Despite the shonky visuals before you know it you are the board game equivalent of an action hero (you will have to provide your own one-liners). Each deck predominantly features bad guys most of them zombies and ghouls, hidden among them are some really nasty surprises.
This game is unrelenting, nigh impossible! If your not running out of time, your bleeding out or irradiated and then you turn the next corner and are faced with a mutant or robotic zombie thresher machine and by that point your down to a sharp stick and harsh words (yeah your ammo runs out too).
It’s brilliant stuff, and even though it will hand you your backside 9 times out of 10, it’s such a manic tense ride on the way you know you want to play it again straight after.
When I got this out to take the pics I didn’t intend playing, but the temptation was too great, maybe, this time, I’d beat the swine. No, not gonna happen 40mins into proceedings with my ammo running dry and suffering from radiation poisoning I turned the corner and was promptly torn to pieces by a pack of hungry rats, the indignity.
Love love this game. Gutted that the sequel that was hinted in the rule book never came out an Alpine Nazi occult stronghold assault. This could have been the start of a blissfully violent series of solo challenges, and in light of Time Stories and its modular design one can dream of a return to his franchise.
So by now your thinking I want this game, but where can I get it. I’ve seen on eBay and can sometimes be picked up for a reasonable £10 or so, I was lucky enough to procure a second copy this summer from a car boot for a couple of quid. I then felt safe to allow the kids to try their hand at it without the fear of jam stains or missing components.
But all is not lost the game has been released as an app. It features some updated visuals and is every bit as challenging as its board game counterpart, so for under a fiver you too can savour this classic on your phone or tablet. Go on you know you want to.
