Black Rose Wars Duel Kami

I don’t understand why duel versions of well-known and popular games keep coming out. Couldn’t they just call them something else, or are they benefiting from the reputation of an already established brand?

But we won’t talk about that today, because I invite you to read my review of Black Rose Wars DUEL Kami. It is a smaller version of the big rose, tailored directly for two players.

What are we going to do here?

Our task is still to duel for the title of grand master of the lodge. This time, however, we will do it in Asian style. Add kung fu fighting to all this, and everything should be as fast as lightning.

For those who don’t know Black Rose Wars, I’ll say right away: go play it. Don’t hesitate, because you have to experience the excitement of throwing fireballs at each other and other nasty tricks for yourselves.

Gameplay

Each turn is a round, so this game uses different terminology than we would normally use.

However, putting that aside, this time we will only have 4 turns to achieve our goal.

At the beginning of the turn, we will consider an event that will affect the situation on the board. Compared to the big roses, we will know what to expect in each turn, so we can plan how to position ourselves accordingly.

Then we will move on to the research phase where we will acquire new spells. This time, however, we only have one school of magic to choose from. Let’s not count on any advanced deck building.

This new school of Shugendo involves summoning equipment that will strengthen our physical actions. Thanks to this school of magic, we will also get better card draw. The difference is huge, and it will be easier for us to obtain forbidden spells, which are very powerful.

To sum it up, I would say that it is simply excellent. Our fists will turn into deadly weapons that can strike enemies from a distance. We will feel like a monk in an RPG games or like we are in an Asian movie where everyone flies and fights in slow motion. Perfect for fans of martial arts action movies.

We also get two new mages to choose from.

Abe No Seimei looks a bit like an official from Netflix’s Kingdom. His skill set focuses on stability tokens. His spell, which prevents dice from being swapped in rooms, is particularly cool.

En No Gyoja uses equipment cards to turn himself into a true killing machine. From his appearance, you can tell that he is a typical sensei who will want to sell you the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, and then possibly invite you for a quick herbal tea.

Next, we move on to the spell programming phase. We will continue to play face-down spells and choose which side we want to place them on. This is standard in Black Rose Wars.

We will still activate rooms, destroy them, and walk around them looking for ways to fight. Teleports connecting two rooms will help us move around. Unfortunately, there will be no more hiding places. You can be attacked from literally anywhere. Interestingly, we can also add them to the large version of the game.

A big change, however, is the available quests. This is something I always complained about during my games. We used to draw them randomly, and unfortunately, it often happened that we couldn’t complete them because, for example, we went for a different school of magic.

In Duel Kami, we get common quests for all players. Points for them are awarded to the person who completes them first. From the very beginning, we know what we should focus on. The tasks are also adapted to this new school of magic, which is a plus on the one hand, but on the other hand, we cannot use them in the large Black Rose Wars. In my opinion, this is a change for the better, and I would like to see this solution implemented in the larger version.

Unfortunately, in DUEL we don’t get any familiars to activate. There won’t be any little imps flying around our feet, and we won’t be tripping over useless totems. It’s a bit of a shame, but we get someone else in return.

A new Avatar, Black Rose Mononke, will join our struggles. He is a demonic samurai who can wreak havoc and disrupt our plans. We can treat him as player number 3. We will be able to beat him, and he will be able to damage us in return. We can also set his difficulty level if we want a bigger challenge. Even the second level can give us a hard time. Playing with him is much better. Definitely more chaotic, but in a good way.

In terms of components, it’s excellent. The board has numerous cutouts for our dice. There are places for cards to be neatly arranged. The miniatures have a lot of detail. Although the miniature of our Avatar takes the lead here. It’s a shame that the other mages weren’t made in such an epic style as Mononke.

Summary

The gameplay in Black Rose Wars Duel Kami is the same as in the big rose. However, I really like the small changes introduced in this version. The gameplay is faster. The tasks are easier to complete. The new school of magic kicks rivals, and the equipment turns our limbs into weapons of mass “fistification.”

Final verdict: Everything I love about Black Rose Wars, but with an Asian flavor and in a smaller format.

Pros

• Interesting school of magic
• Something for martial arts enthusiasts
• Two new mages
• Avatars to spice up our battles
• Faster gameplay
• Teleports

Cons

• It’s a shame there’s only one school of magic
• Limited deck building

[Game provided by Czacha Games]