20 Strong: Too Many Bones Deck Expansion – Dice Battles, Tyrant Encounters & Strategic Gameplay

This was a requested gift for someone. He loved it.

If you're new to the 20 Strong game, like I was, it's basically a solo play dice management game where you battle monsters/bosses using a set of 20 dice. You need the base game to play and the base game comes with the "Solar Sentinels" deck. This "Too Many Bones" deck is an expansion for the original game. The expansion has a completely unique deck of cards and bosses and plays as its own unique game, but it uses the same core dice mechanics and dice as the original game. The really cool thing is all of the expansions include some universal character cards that you can use within any of the expansions ( so I could use one of the elves from this deck to play in the Solar Sentinels deck).The game itself is really well designed and is a ton of fun for those game nights where you just can't find anyone else to play with. I'm still working on my dice management and still find it a bit difficult to get all the way through to the bosses but I still have a blast with it.The game components are all top notch. The cards in this expansion feel like they are made out of a plastic-like material and feel sturdy and durable. The deck also includes an instruction book that tells you the directions for this specific deck (there are also some good tutorial videos from the manufacturer available online).Overall I'm loving these expansion and I would definitely recommend them if you're looking to expand the fun of your 20 Strong games.

I'm played the Solar Sentinels deck included with the 20 Strong base set a few times and this is the first alternate deck I've tried. It was a little confusing to get into the flow as there are some notable differences, but I stumbled through an initial play to get the basics, then found a play-through on youtube which clarified a few things for me. Have played a few more times since then and I'm quite enjoying it. Similar fighting system overall to SS, but the back-up plan system is pretty cool and offers some nice choices. The progress of how many baddies to fight each round is kind of cool as well - you can strategically decide when to face the encounter deck to avoid battles as needed. Pretty smooth gameplay overall once I understood the rhythm, and just like SS so much of this is about managing dice.As with everything Chip Theory seems to do, the component quality is excellent and these cards are just a delight to touch. Art is great and graphic design is very well done.Overall, great game and happy to have another deck at my disposal. Looking forward to now trying the Hoplomachus deck!

If you read other reviews you'll see that the component quality in this (as with all games from Chip Theory) is awesome. This is an expansion/variant deck for the base 20 Strong so it is just cards, but they are high-quality, waterproof PVC cards with awesome artwork and foil highlights.Like the base game's Solar Sentinals deck, this is designed for solo play and features the same combat system with a few tweaks. Solar Sentinals is pretty straight-forward battling bad guys until you reach the boss at the end. In the Too Many Bones deck there are a few additional layers: namely Encounters and Backup Plans. You also use the counter to keep track of turns and the amount of baddies you encounter each round increases.Overall the changes add some complexity to the game flow and decisions, but I felt that the overall experience was very similar to the base game. The additional elements didn't change how I felt playing the game much, thus the four stars instead of five. I think I'd have preferred something that felt like a new use of the existing system as opposed to a variant on the same experience. But for you, the TMB deck might be enough of a change.Encounters come in three types, one that increases the current battle difficulty but decreases the final boss difficulty (usually, depending on the boss), one that gives you a choice between increasing the current battle difficulty and paying a cost/penalty to get a reward, and the third that requires specific dice to be applied to unlock an ability.The Backup Plan lets you save dice with misses for later battles in order to use your character's special ability. This can often come in handy when used at opportune moments, or can also be used to upgrade your character's stats and other abilities.There are a few other minor changes to the standard game, too, but they are fairly minor.After playing several games of the Solar Sentinals deck and the Too Many Bones deck I feel like the changes are fairly superficial. Yes, they add some extra layers to the game but they don't really change the overall experience or feel of the game. You are still trying to progress through a series of bad guys until you can fight the boss. If you like the TMB theme and want a little more complexity then you might want this deck. Or if you play a lot of solo games and want something just a little bit different, then this is fine. For me it really scratches the same itch.My summary for the Too Many Bones deck is pretty much the same as my summary for the Solar Sentinals base deck, which is essentially:I've found 20 Strong - Too Many Bones to be a fun, if pretty standard, solo monster combat game. It's pretty typical of the genre (think Unbroken, Mini Rogue, Tin Realm, etc.) but does a few interesting things. As with most of these types of games, lucky combinations of characters, rewards, and dice rolls can make a game pretty easy, but an unlucky combination can be really punishing. As you play more you'll get familiar with the strategies and card combos required to succeed, but luck will still play a big factor.I've enjoyed both 20 Strong decks so far and still have to try out Hoplomachus: Vindication to see what it does differently. I'm also curious about the new decks coming out this year for Cloudspire and Tanglewoods as they seem to push the boundaries of the 20 Strong system even more. If you enjoy this style of game, definitely check out 20 Strong. It's a great title in its genre and has a lot of potential for different experiences with different decks.

What a great expansion to an already great game. This is one of the only games that I will actively play on my own (single player). This expansion gives me more to do in the game, there is more game to be played! I recently got a new character for the game, and now I have more missions, what else could I want? The game itself is a good mix of strategy and dice throwing. It's much better than solitaire, so why don't you go ahead already and upgrade your alone time!