The game’s title comes from its tense noise mechanic, which sees players generate noise as they make their way through the teetering piles of gold and jewels. Over time, Clank cubes are added to the board, eventually triggered by a card that activates the dragon’s rage. If more loot has been stolen, the dragon’s ire is greater, increasing the risk of damage to the players.

After opening the box, players are immediately presented with an expansive space that includes cards, a main board, counters, wooden cubes, meeples and a nicely made velvet bag with dragon logo. The cards are of decent quality. The board is nicely constructed and lays flat with ease. The counters are a bit thin, but they’re enough to serve their purpose. The cubes are standard, but the meeples are very nicely designed adventurer shapes, which helps draw players into the theme. Monster cards will have a red banner on them. You’re going to run into a lot of these bad boys, so make sure you can deal with them. The sword icons will determine your strength and the strength of the monsters. If you’re able to match the strength of the monster by using cards in your hand, you’ll be able to defeat it and you’ll get the reward that’s listed on the card. We may not know of any new Expeditions, but Renegade Game Studios and Dire Wolf Digital have given us a glimpse of what 2019 has in store: Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated. This new expansion will introduce “legacy-style gameplay” to the Clank! system as players progress from amateur dungeon explorers to the leaders of powerful corporations. Some cards in the Dungeon Row and the Goblin in the reserve can't be bought. They must be defeated by paying the combat cost in their bottom right corner. When defeated, these monsters are discarded from the Dungeon Row and replaced at the end of the turn. They'll also give you some kind of bonus - often gold, which we'll get to later. The single Goblin is always available to be killed, and combat can be used to defeat the monsters that lurk in tunnels, shown by the monster symbol on the board, that will damage you if you can't beat them off. Don’t discount the bonus points for making it outside alive. It’s a whopping 20 points, which definitely can tip the scales in your favor. Pros & Cons Pros:

Clank! Review – with Tom Vasel

One of the best things in the game is how the cards in the card row are balanced for multiple ways to score points or gain abilities. A few cards do nothing but award bonus points for collecting certain items in the dungeon. There’s an array of high point value gems that also enable you to draw cards. There are also several monsters whose defeat can gain a player a high number of coins, a risky but profitable strategy. With each play, the variation of the cards and the time they arrive in the game drives new considerations to strategy, making replays exceptionally interesting. Retrieve an Artifact token and escape the dragon by returning to the place you started, outside of the dungeon. All in all, the components are excellent, especially considering the game’s moderate price point. So, how does the game play out? If you’re already a Clank! expert, then jump straight over to our review of Clank! Sunken Treasures, and Clank! The Mummy’s Curse. One area shows the actions the second player will take on its turn. The second area is used for the card number and decision icon.

Before you start playing, you need to set-up the board. You can choose either the beginner’s dungeon or the more advanced dungeon on the flip side of the board. You then assign tokens representing artifacts, hidden secrets and a couple of other valuable items to their places, which are all clearly marked on the board and labelled in the rule book. The number of artifacts changes slightly with the number of players to keep the games competitive. Note: The official solo version of Clank! uses a mobile app. The rules detailed below have been created by fans of the game. It uses 9 extra cards instead of the mobile app. Included with this expansion is a new minor secret called ‘Potion of Stealth’. When used you remove one of your Clank! cubes from the board and instead add one for each of your opponents. One of the most noticeable ways that Clank! gets ahold of players is surprisingly a metaphor for the gameplay itself. The game design is unassuming, a thiefly shadow that slips in without appearing impressive. Gameplay is straightforward, almost routine. And then finally, a mad dash to escape raises the tension, and walking away from the table players will realize how much fun they had, despite the stumbles along the way. Where Clank! does need a pause before commitment is in aspects of its theme and endgame. These are noticeable flaws but whether or not they affect the game’s fun seems to swing a great deal between players. Some will overlook these, but others may see these as extreme negatives.If a player hits 10 damage, one of two things happen. If they’re in the subterranean part of the dungeon, below the grassline, they die in the dragon’s jaws. This means they’re out of the game and get no points. If a player is above ground, however, daring villagers manage to save you and you can keep all the points you’ve gained up to that point. The end of the game The aim of the game is to get into the dungeon, grab at least one artifact, and get out without dying. The winner is the player with the most points at the end (although it’s possible for all players to lose, more on that shortly). You are getting so much in this expansion that the best way to describe it is like a party in a box. There is a mechanical sub-theme in some of the new cards, as well. Several cards give powerful effects when discarded, which gives you some excellent options for resource-gathering and hand-filtering with base game cards and some new discard enablers.