Some details

Vita Luna is a board game played using cards. There is no die and randomness is kept to a minimum. This means the game is all about tactics and skill and requires you to think ahead.

As you fight battles, the winner gets to add powerful 'blue' coloured cards whilst the loser has to make do with the less powerful 'black' cards. This way your deck is built upon and, if you get far enough, you can even add the all powerful 'red' creature cards.

As well as the creatures, you have singular cards that are powerful one off's that can change the course of a battle. Once used, they're gone forever so you must use them wisely.

For some board gamers, player counts can really make or break a game. If you're in a position where you play a lot of games with just you and a partner, then Vita Luna is going to be a great choice for you. With each battle lasting approximately 10 minutes each, games can last about 30-40 minutes in total. It has a high replayability factor, and you can hone your tactics with each battle.

”It's the best beastie game. It's skill based rather than luck based - a bit like chess, but with creatures!”

- W Alice

”Where else can you fight a polar bear with a brown rat, a lion with a vampire bat or an oak tree against a black widow?”

- D Woosey

Here's what our test players say

More information

Vitaluna is a skill-based game with luck minimised. Players have to work out, several steps in advance, how their attacks will play out versus how their opponent's will. Although minimised, there is some luck inherent in the game, for example, in the basic game the shuffled cards may be of varying strengths, and you may well get a weaker hand than your opponent. However, with skilful play, and thinking ahead, whilst understanding the game mechanics, you should be able to overcome any initial weaknesses.

The way the epics play out is especially important to the progress of the game. You should make yourself conversant with what each epic does and how they are going to act in a coming battle. Most of the epics are positive, however, the anchor epic is a negative one which restricts the movement of your creature. If, for example, you have a sparrowhawk with the move anywhere epic, then once it is on the front row you can use it to swap out with any creature, as long as they don't have the anchor epic. So, you could either use it to get the sparrowhawk out of harm's way, or to move a different creature out of danger and place the hawk as a sacrificial pawn. Some creatures are basically just powerful, with no epics, like the brown bear. But you need to understand what the opposing creature’s epics effects may have on the bear.

The singular cards are very powerful but limited to a single use each. You may have a strategy as to when to deploy them but of course you must remember your opponent has exactly the same cards too. So, for example, if you play the swap card too early, your opponent could of course just swap it back again.