Howling at the moon will not do you much good in Pandasaurus Games’ upcoming title, “The Wolves,” unless you prove yourself to be the strongest pack leader. In this nature-themed game by designer team Ashwin Kamath and Clarence Simpson you set out to build the largest, most dominant pack in order to recruit lone wolves, hunt prey, and ultimately win the game.
Lead Your Own Pack and Exert Territorial Influence
While Kamath is a fairly new name in the board gaming community, Simpson has previously designed “Merchants of Magick: A Set a Watch Tale.” The art for the upcoming game is done by Paulina Linjama who will also be debuting in the board game hobby as far as BoardGameGeek’s database goes.
Regardless, “The Wolves” has the promising look of another well-detailed, beautifully designed and carefully thought-through strategy game where the pack leaders have almost cinematic-worthy names such as Tundra, Rocky and Grass. These names, though, are given more so to the type of wolf you are controlling as to the actual name of the four-pawed apex predators.
The game is contained in a hexagonally-grided central board with a total of five different wolf packs to pick from. The game itself is characterized as medium complexity when it comes to the rules and medium complexity when executing strategic decisions. “The Wolves” may be played by 2-5 players and it takes about 75 minutes to complete.
“The Wolves” will require you to do some strategic planning though as trudging through the unexplored terrain to dominate other wolves comes with its challenges. You will need to flip tiles that match the hexes you want to impact on the board, which could limit your choices in future, as the terrain changes.
Limited Choices as the Game Advance and Packs Clash
Each player has two actions per turn, with the idea of the game being to make you use your actions in such a way that whatever choices may follow after will be aligned with your pack’s goal to dominate others. To spread your influence across the board, though, you will have to move farther out from your original lair and establish new dens along the way to recruit others.
The good news is that the game will feel rewarding and almost any action along the way will grant you victory points so no player is left behind by the pack. There will be territorial control at play here with all packs seeking to secure the best terrains for themselves and exerting their unshakable influence over the most important territories.
The game will also allow you to downsize the board a bit when playing in a two-player setting, thus concentrating the action and pitting you in a battle where only the survival of fittest is possible. “The Wolves” should be up and available for preorder on August 22.