More on that monster climbing cuteness

Let's take a look at Maul Peak by Pencil First Games again! 🙂

I love the theme: a clan of small bears 🐻 trying to defeat hulking beasts 👹 in an asymmetrical battle. But perhaps one of the biggest strengths of the game is variety - especially if you choose to play as the baddies, as there are 4 Guardians to play, and all of them quite different! 🤩

1️⃣ Saboso is a frost monster who can freeze ❄️ adjacent enemies so they skip their next turn, and he can take frozen enemies from his space to lock them away in a cell in his stomach. This is actually his unique win condition: having 4 enemies locked away is an immediate victory! 🏆

2️⃣ Veblyn is a huge spider 🕷️ who can spin webs 🕸️ everywhere on the map, that make it difficult for the bears to move around - though they can destroy webs. Veblyn can take a diagonally adjacent webbed enemy and move them into his lair. If there are ever 3 bears in the Lair, then Veblyn wins. 🙀

3️⃣ Quagra is a giant hydra all about influencing the minds 😵‍ of the Grizzar. He can add confusion cards to their deck which are useless, or even move them with mind control. The Grizzar can get rid of the confusion cards, returning them to the confusion deck, but if the deck ever runs out, then Quagra wins. 👿

4️⃣ Trovak & Gnarl are actually two figures - a giant 👺 and a three-headed wolf 🐺. Most abilities have to do with commanding Gnarl to move around and attack the bears. Power cubes that are used go on a power track and if it ever fills up, then Trovak & Gnarl win the game.

All of these mechanics revolve around positioning, trying to hit as many bears as possible and make it harder for them to climb up and do damage. I think the biggest advantage for Guardians is how they can all use the Mend ability to heal damage from themselves - then it takes a lot more effort for the bears to get to that location and deal damage again.

If you play as the bears there is a bit less going on. Although you have different classes you can summon, they’re always the same in each game. But! You do get to pick a Winter Beast out of 6 to play with its special ability - and this could be a bunny too! 😍🐇