Adventure Land

Today's game review is of the 2015 release, Adventure Land.  For 2-4 players, it plays in 45 minutes.

Overview
The kingdom is in peril, being attacked by vicious fog monsters who appear at random in the plains.  Beat them and win the king's favor!  To do so, you'll need to prepare by collecting herbs (randomly appearing in the forests), swords (randomly in the mountains), and companions (randomly in the cities).  You can also find gold in the river, but beware the water sprite, who roams up and down the stream devouring all in his path.  Can you prevail?

An important thing to note is movement rules.  All players start their adventurers in designated slots on the top left of the board.  The adventurers can move only right or down throughout the game- never left or up.  Therefore, choose your moves wisely . . . for once an adventurer reaches the lower right of the board, their adventure is over.

Simplified Gameplay
After setting up the game board and components, players alternate turns (clockwise order).  On his turn, each player takes two actions:

1. Turn over 2 terrain cards and place items on the game board
• Each terrain card will have a grid coordinate and an item- herb, sword, companion, gold, or fog creature
• For each terrain card, randomly choose a matching item from the stockpile and place it face-down on the appropriate grid coordinate
2. Move adventurer(s)
• Move one adventurer as far as you like in a direction you choose (must be right or down)
• Move one adventurer (it could be the same or different) as far as you like in a direction you choose (must be right or down)
• When your adventurer lands on a grid coordinate occupied by an object (herb, sword, companion, gold), you obtain that object
• When your adventurer lands on a fog creature, you fight that fog creature

Fighting fog creatures

• Each fog creature has a strength value (lower left) that you must match or exceed to defeat it
• Your combat strength is calculated as follows:
• Your adventurer and each companion with him counts as 1 each
• You can choose to use your herbs, which increase your strength by the number indicated on the herb
• You can choose to use swords, which increase your strength by the number indicated on the sword (if any) AND by rolling one die for each sword you use
• If you win combat, you defeat the fog creature and earn points (lower right)
• If you lose combat, your adventurer and all companions are defeated

Game in progress (image from here)

The ultimate goal is to have the most points at the end of the game.  How you earn them depends on the adventure you play (three are included).  You generally earn points by collecting gold, defeating fog monsters, and accumulating companions.

Review
I like this game reasonably well.  It's easy to pick up and fun to play.  The items popping up on the board is an interesting twist, and collecting them is fun.  There's a nice balance between collecting and fighting- do too much of either and you'll probably lose.  The movement rules are interesting (if a bit odd), too- you need to pace yourself to not exhaust a given adventurer too soon.  Different adventures add further variety.  Though the game is listed as ages 10+, my 4- and 7-year-old love this game- which heightens its appeal for me.  It's not the deepest game out there, but it's an enjoyable experience.

Rating: A-