Inspired by the hit video game that sold over 15 million copies worldwide, Monster Hunter World: The Board Game brings three ‘M’s and four ‘C’s to your tabletop: massive monster minis in a cooperative, choose-your-own-adventure-style combat campaign!
It’s time to journey to an uncharted land, because the Astera basecamp needs YOU. Become a hunter of the Fifth Fleet to track down and slay the fearsome monsters roaming the New World. Protect basecamp and craft awesome new equipment with the loot collected from your fallen foes, so you can take on bigger and badder beasts! Gather your party of 1-4 hunters* and venture out on quests made up of three phases:
First is the gathering phase, where you’ll trek through the lush jungles of the Ancient Forest—or the arid dunes and fetid swamps of the Wildspire Wastes—gathering resources and searching for a monster that could appear at any moment. Just like in the video game, the tabletop monsters can be wild and unpredictable, with changing moods and attack preferences. In this phase, you’ll use a choose-your-own-adventure style quest book to determine what state you encounter the monster in and how you’ll make your approach.
Next is the hunting phase, where you’ll attempt to slay the monster in fluid and dynamic combat that makes full use of the board and miniatures to bring your experience to life.
And, finally, the HQ phase, where you’ll craft new weapons and armour upgrades using the hard-won loot from your monster battles!
The choose-your-own-adventure element will immerse you in the New World, giving five unique ways to approach each monster before engaging in combat. Enjoy the beauty of the landscape as you would in the video game, and feel your tension build as you get deeper into the hunt… ...Because it’s crush-or-be-crushed with monsters as mobile as these. Enter dynamic and dangerous combat where positioning and teamwork are vital to success. Leap away from devastating attacks and strike when the opportunity presents. It’s vital you manage the threat, juggling which of your party members is drawing the monster’s attention at any given moment. One wrong move could spell doom! Where you strike matters, too. Earn the loot you need for the weapons you want by targeting different areas of a monster and wearing it down over time.
Speaking of weapons, use your player board to track your health, stamina, and equipment. Just like in the video game, your weapon is essentially your hunter class, with a unique deck of cards and upgrades you can swap out by crafting to gain newer (and more powerful!) bonuses and attacks. As for using those weapons? Combat is controlled by cards which you’ll use to create combos, meaning you’ll string together attacks at the cost of stamina. Keep an eye on your stamina to balance your offensive and defensive moves, or you might find yourself caught out and crushed by a massive monster attack!
Want to play solo? No problem. Monster Hunter World: The Board Game includes solo mode, where you can control a pair of hunters and quest to your heart’s content.
- Deep campaign with crafting and equipment progression
- Three-player co-op provides tactical depth and synergy
- Beautiful minis and thematic presentation
- Dynamic monster fights with branching outcomes
- Rules/ref sheets are not comprehensive; errata present; some references missing
- Time-card swinginess can be brutal and punishing
- Printed charts and some card texts can be misleading or incorrect
- Cooperative monster-hunting with crafting, looting, and progression between hunts.
- Ancient Forest campaign with three hunters, questing to defeat a Great Jagras and progress through a 30-day campaign.
- Choose Your Own Adventure–style campaign progression with branching scenarios and boss encounters.
- Osworn
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Break tokens and part breaking — Breaking monster parts grants resources and can change monster behavior on later turns.
- Deviation and monster AI — Deviation cards modify monster arcs and responses; paired with monster behavior decks.
- Dodge vs. defense — Agility/dodge options on attack cards offer a risk-reward choice to mitigate damage.
- Stamina board — Pool of Attack cards; filling the stamina board restricts actions and requires management.
- Status tokens — Poison, sleep, stun, and other tokens alter turns and effectiveness of attacks.
- Time cards and campaign progression — Choose Your Own Adventure segments drive the daily progression and encounters.
- Weapon-specific decks and shelling — Each character’s weapon has its own damage mechanics; shelling cards alter damage output.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I would say this game is for you if you're comfortable finding the same enemy multiple times with small differentiations.
- The time cards can be brutal.
- These minis are awesome.
- I'm really enjoying it.
References (from this video)
- Immersive theme; solid cooperative combat
- Complex rules; expensive minis; logistics-heavy
- Cooperative team-based hunts
- Monster hunting in fantasy landscapes
- Scenario-driven hunts with escalating difficulty
- Killer Knights (hypothetical)
- Zombicide
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative team-based hunts — Players collaborate to track, fight, and defeat large monsters.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Kickstarter allowed designers to pitch their ideas directly to the consumers and they then voted with their wallets
- it wasn't really so much a crowbar it was like a bulldozer used to knock down the door
- gamers love getting hyped about games
- the kitten corps
- the universe around gaming gets a boost from kickstarter too
- backers are invested as well and they're more than willing to let the designers know what they want to see