We've Got Supers! (A Review of Sentinels of the Multiverse: Enhanced Edition)

They're back!

Superheroes. Who among us hasn't at one time in their life donned a blanket cape or rushed around the park pretending to have flight or super-strength. The draw is undeniable; if you are a superhero, you can still be yourself, but stronger, faster, better. Since we can't actually get superpowers (yet?), what better way to experience the excitement than playing a boardgame about being superheroes?

While a number of superhero games had been released in the past, most were quick knockoffs or movie cash-ins with no real quality inside the box. Then, one day, along came Sentinels of the Multiverse - a superhero game not tied to a movie, show, or comic book, targeting the hobby-gaming market with the promise of substantial gameplay. We reviewed the original game, which came in a tiny box and consisted entirely of an unruly mess of cards. We liked it, but felt that it fell short in many areas.

Fortunately, the game was successful enough to warrant an expansion (and then two more), and with that first expansion came the new "Enhanced Edition" of the base game. With some gameplay tweaks, a much larger box with better storage, and the addition of tokens, lets talk about how the Enhanced Edition improves upon the original game.

News Bits: 4/22/2013

Lots of good stuff to read this week. Thus, the NEWS:

Indie Boards & Cards funding a rerelease of Coup in the Resistance universe [Link] In my review of the first edition of Coup, there were three main cons I noted about the game: nonstandard card size, bigger box than necessary, and limited availability. Indie Boards & Cards is fixing all of these. While I like the minimalist art of the first edition, the new, future-chic art is cool too. And, as Josh Edwards noted on Twitter, this new edition of Coup will still benefit the charity in Maine that the original game supported. Overall, I'm hard-pressed to think of a better value for $15, especially considering the promos that will be included in this new edition (support for up to eight players, a new, optional character, and Merlin/Assassin promos for the original The Resistance game). The coins, I've learned, will also be upgraded from the flimsy plastic chips to cardboard chits.