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The Kingdom is in grave danger once again, but our mighty adventurers are nowhere to be found. The King has stepped in and offered to pay any mercenary for taking up arms against the darkness. This quest falls on the shoulders of four mercenaries, each with a unique set of skills, to band together to vanquish this evil from the Kingdom.
Set a Watch: Swords of the Coin is both a standalone game for 1-4 players and an expansion that can be combined with the original cooperative game. Featuring all new characters, this bunch of adventurers has to be motivated to work together. Every round you will visit all new locations and pick an adventurer to rest and get paid to take camp actions. You can use this coin to purchase powerful items from the new Merchant board and item deck. These items will assist the rest of the party on watch as they battle a line of all new creatures trying to make their way into camp. It is still a battle to keep the campfire burning! Use your wits and skill to fight for the light…or all will perish in the darkness.
—description from the publisher
- tight, crunchy puzzle that rewards precise dice allocation
- solo mode works exceptionally well and is the strongest play experience
- market upgrade provides meaningful balancing and strategic depth
- compact packaging and strong aesthetic with a memorable gimmick lid
- extension/expansion potential with more heroes and enemies
- scales poorly with more players; can lead to analysis paralysis and quarterbacking
- first edition had language inconsistencies that required FAQs (addressed in the sequel)
- finale length can be longer than desired if rolls and draws don't cooperate
- cooperative puzzle-solving under siege, with a market-driven loadout system
- Dark fantasy dungeon-crawl with runic magic and a tent-pole quest to seal darkness
- standalone campaign-in-a-box with modular encounters and a linked progression
- Set a Watch (original)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- camp phase and runic actions — each round begins with a camp setup where players chart the rounds, heal, and prepare runic actions tied to dice
- Dice allocation — players roll dice and assign them to attack or activate unique hero abilities, with careful resource management
- item loadouts and versatility — items interact with hero abilities, offering a balance between offense, defense, and utility
- market coin economy — coins accumulate on unused action spaces and via card effects to buy items with ongoing or exhaustible effects
- monster reveal and horde escalation — baddies are revealed based on campfire strength and can join a final horde if dice run out
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is a thoughtful crunchy and spectacularly presented puzzle best enjoyed solo
- the market is a pretty desirable upgrade
- the coin is all around better it's more robust