The Alpha sees players control a pack of wolves on the hunt for food, aiming to become the dominant pack. To do this the 3-6 players must decide on which prey to hunt. Some prey is easier to catch, others are more difficult, but the reward for this risk can be far greater.
Set Up
Set up is a breeze, You give each player a Den Board, an Alpha Pair, six Beta Wolves and a Conflict Token, all of a matching color. The Food Tracker board is unfolded and set in the middle of the play area. Each player puts one of their Beta Wolf markers on the “5” space on the board, denoting they currently have five pieces of food. The Region Tiles are laid around the board and vary depending upon the number of players.
Gameplay
Players take turns placing a wolf on an animal (or berry patch if you want to play it safe) to hunt. This repats until all wolves have been played, including the two-headed alpha pairs (these represant 2 wolves in an aera, and each player has one in their color) Then you figure out who get’s what food. The player with the most wolves on a creature rolls the die associated with the animal. The number that comes up is how much food that player gets. Beware, you could get an X, which is nothing. Or you could get killed, in the case of the livestock. But, with greater risk comes the greater reward.
If there’s a tie for most wolves, the players secretly decide whether to share the kill or fight for it. If both players share, then they split the food evenly. If only one shares and one fights, the fighter gets it all. If both fight…then each player loses a wolf for a few turns due to injury.
Gameplay goes fairly quickly. There is a chance depending on whom you are paying with for some serious AP, as you have decided where you are going to place and wolf, and then if you are going to share and fight. Depending on the group you are playing with, you might end of just sharing every time or fighting every time, it’s going to depend on the group. So this might make the game go a bit longer.
The Components
All are solid, the board is nice and thick, and looks like it will stands up over time. The dice are well made so they did not cut corners here. The wolf meeples are well done as well, nice smooth wood feel. The stand out is the amazing artwork! All the animals are drawn to draw attention, the detail is amazing I can say this was my favorite part of the game, the artwork really stands out for sure.
Final Thoughts
The Alpha would be a great game for your family, as it’s very easy to learn and play, kids would enjoy this very much I would think. I think this would make a great gateway game if you want something easy for someone that’s not into the hobby.
The Alpha can be purchased directly from Bicycle Games, or from Amazon.
Bicycle Games provided our copy of The Alpha for this review, this is no way had any outcome on the review and my opinions of the game.
Recent Comments