“Caverna: Frantic Fiend” will be the second big expansion of Uwe Rosenberg’s “Caverna: The Cave Farmers”, and this time, you won’t just have to compete with the other players, there will be a whole new threat to deal with.
Much like in the original game, the latest Caverna expansion will have players take on the roles of dwarven families that will have to forage and compete with one another for precious resources that will get scarcer each round. They will have to both take care of the forests outside of their mountain caves and delve deeper inside them. The faster they cultivate and mine, the faster will their mountain cave become a mountain hall. The player with the most developed home mining board at the end of the game will be declared the winner.
The Green Tide Approaches – How Will You Keep It at Bay?
“Caverna: Frantic Fiend” will bring a new level of challenge by introducing the ancient enemies of the dwarves – the rampaging orcish tribes. Now, players won’t just have to compete against each other, but against the orcs as well. They will have to keep their armed dwarves and hounds at high alert, in order to repel potential invasions or expand further outwards into the forests outside of their caves.
But fighting them head-on need not be the only tacting. The more cunning dwarven families may instead choose to bribe the orcs to switch the direction of their attacks at their convenience or lure them into cleverly placed traps to land a devastating blow. Either way, the quicker a player deals with the orcs, the greater the reward will be.
These added strategic elements will bring even more excitement into the game, and the different tactics the players can use will not only increase the level of fun but also replayability. “Caverna: Frantic Fiend” will also include a new challenging solo campaign.
New Game Markers Means New Ways to Play!
Future buyers should note that “Caverna: Frantic Fiend” will be a standalone expansion. This means that while the base game is required to play, it is not compatible with the first expansion “The Forgotten Folk”. Combining the two will lead to major disbalances, leaving some players incredibly weak, which is not fun for anybody.
“Caverna: Frantic Fiend” will also play with its own markers, replacing all original ones. Some mechanical and thematic improvements have been included to allow for more action variety, immersion, and ease of play. One such example is the exclusion of the base game’s “Harvest Events”. Keeping with the “orcish invasion” theme of the expansion, the “Harvest Events” will be replaced with 4 “Orcish Event Boards” and “Bribe Markers”.
“Caverna: Frantic Fiend” will be published by Lookout Games and is set to launch on 31 October, with a retail price of $28.98.