Board Game Review - Block Mania (With Mega-Mania Expansion)

Rob Lake reviews Block Mania Board game from 2000 AD...

The hit game of the 80's is back with a brand new edition by Rebellion Unplugged. 

Block Mania is a two-player game of Block Vs. Block in Mega-City 1. Each player takes control of an entire Mega-City Block, as they attempt to destroy their neighbours. Featuring work by Space Hulk designer Richard Halliwell, Block Mania is a frantic, yet deep strategy game based in the unforgiving world of Judge Dredd. 

The game takes place on 2-4 game boards that represent a whole Mega-City block. Players then take it in turns to deploy their randomly selected Cits within these mega structures. With the whole aim of quickly building up enough forces to storm their neighbours to eventually be the last block standing. Each turn begins with players rolling to find out how many command points they will get that turn. Command points dictate how many units you can command and if you can recruit that phase. This all varies from the action, but high rolls can lead to quite a lengthy turn. 

Each unit has a command value, the cost in which to command it, which then allows you to move the unit. Moving a unit costs one movement point per tile, unless your on a special tile. These range from grav-pads, elevators, to the Sky-Rail and Pedway which connect the blocks together. 

When it comes to shooting, Block Mania uses the traditional Warhammer method of damage vs. strength. You roll a D6, add the weapons damage value to the roll and then subtract the defending units strength. If the result is 6 or more, the defending unit has been destroyed. Close-combat is a different procedure, which sees a "dice-off" between the units. The victor is decided by adding weapon damage and strength to the D6 roll, with the lowest scoring unit being destroyed.

 

Units consist of your staple Mega-City 1 citizens. These range from Juves, Mobs, Cit-Def squads, to Super-Heroes and even the murderous Kleggs. Each unit has its own special rules and counters, so there is a lot of information to learn. Thankfully there's an indepth rule book to steer you onto the right track. 

To keep players moving, Block Mania uses a set of cards known as Mania Cards. These cards are drawn and utilised by each player during their turn. Using a Mania card allows you to tip the war into your favor such as attacking buildings directly or commanding a team of powerful Klegg mercenaries. Once the deck of Mania cards has depleted, the endgame is then triggered. This is symbolised by Mega-City 1's finest - the Judges. The reverse of the Mania cards features a Justice rule. These are special actions that aim to end the game as the Judges crackdown the Block War. These actions range from deploying H-Wagons, Riot foam and even Dredd himself. It's frantic but great fun in trying to wipe-out your opponent while simultaneously avoiding the law. 

Once the last block as been removed from the board its then over to each players score to decide the winner. This is determined via players adding up their score, then adding any points earned due to damaging their opponents block directly. If you happen to collapse your opponants block, it's then incredibly difficult for them to win. Unless they collapse yours! 

Included in my review copy of Block Mania was the multiplayer expansion, Mega Mania. Mega Mania includes everything to make Block Mania a 3-4 player game. Mega Mania still plays the same but within a circular pattern. Both my experiences of Mega Mania consisted of fragile alliance's being formed to attack the winning block, to then being betrayed later on. 

The Mega Mania expansion also comes packaged with the Happy Hour expansion. This new set of rules was previously released via Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazine. Happy Hour adds new units and equipment to the base game, but it's not something your forced to use.

That's what makes Block Mania such a fun game. It's incredibly random and each game plays differently to the last. Your never forced into one particular playstyle and games can be won within a variety of ways. While the various rules can seem overwhelming to begin with, within a few games they all flow naturally. For fans of the Dreddverse Block Mania is the definitive Judge Dredd game. It's a semi-decent simulation of life in the Big Meg. It's dangerous, wild, incredibly random and one that's full of danger...and that's just Block Mania! 

Rating 8/10

Block Mania and Mega Mania were provided by Rebellion for the purposes of this review. 

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev