20 Strong: Tanglewoods

20 Strong: Tanglewoods Deep Dive

What the Community Thinks About 20 Strong: Tanglewoods

20 Strong: Tanglewoods is Chip Theory Games' fairy tale wave of its solo dice system, and it splits reviewers who already know 20 Strong well. Board Game Animal put it at number two on its list of the best reprints, remakes and re-imaginings of 2025, although Justin notes that backing it was a personal thing and that there had only been a few plays so far. Alex Radcliff of BoardGameCo, who picked it up at Gen Con 2025, calls 20 Strong an excellent system and likes Tanglewoods arguably the best of the decks. On the other side, One Stop Co-op Shop rates Tanglewoods weaker than the original releases, and Board Games UnLocked put the set on its list of the most disappointing games of 2025.

The coverage is varied in kind. Only Board Games UnLocked and One Stop Co-op Shop dig into individual decks. Grant Lyon and Totally Tabled present retail rundowns that describe the product rather than judge it, BoardGameCo's segment is a short look back at what stayed in the collection a year after Gen Con, and a second Board Game Animal video lists Tanglewoods as a most anticipated 2025 title before release. The shared ground is the 20 Strong system itself; the open question is whether the fairy tale decks build on it or weigh it down.

Core Mechanics That Define 20 Strong: Tanglewoods

Dice Allocation Against a Deck

Grant Lyon describes 20 Strong as a solo game of fighting through a deck of cards, defeating bad guys and clearing obstacles with a shared set of colored dice. Some dice are stronger and some are weaker, so the recurring question is when to save the strong ones and when to try to win with the weak ones. Grant Lyon calls it a puzzle of trying to fight through the deck, lists it at 30 to 60 minutes and at medium weight, and explains that the dice set works with every deck Chip Theory releases, while each deck brings its own mechanisms and win conditions.

Fairy Tale Decks With Their Own Rules

Totally Tabled's retail rundown names the three boxes: a red deck pitting Little Red Riding Hood against the Big Bad Wolf, a gold deck with Goldilocks against the three bears, and a white deck with Snow White against the evil stepmother. The channel explains that each box "adds unique rules and twists to the basic system," so each deck gives a different experience, and that players can combine a deck with the original core box or buy a new core box bundled with the red deck. Board Games UnLocked adds that the decks share some DNA: every one has a merchant, and monsters drop gold that serves as currency to buy back exhausted dice or pick up items. In the red deck, every card carries a fate effect on its back, which the reviewer liked.

The 20 Strong: Tanglewoods Experience

Thinky Solo Combat

For Justin at Board Game Animal, the appeal is a dice chucking solo game that can be "challenging and punishing, but also exciting and exhilarating." The recommendation is aimed at anyone who wants something puzzly with combat, challenging but thinky, and entertaining throughout. Justin adds that the variety in the Tanglewoods decks leaves a wild amount to explore, and that even the few early plays elevated a system already considered near perfect for what it is.

Long Sessions for a Random Game

Board Games UnLocked tells a different story about pacing. The reviewer played all three decks back to back while preparing reviews and felt the extra systems kept piling on. For a game this random, the channel argues, the sweet spot is 30 to 45 minutes, yet sessions consistently ran over an hour, and the co-host's single play of the red deck ran about an hour too. That is where the randomness began to wear on the reviewer. The fairy tale theme did nothing for the channel either.

What Makes 20 Strong: Tanglewoods Stand Out

Art and Production

Totally Tabled says all three boxes showcase "stunning Manny Trembley artwork along with artist Serena Shiani." Board Game Animal's anticipation video points to the classic fairy tale theme paired with Manny Trembley's artwork as enough to be sold on the set, and Grant Lyon says Chip Theory does a really good job with production and that the artwork is great. Those comments come from previews and retail rundowns rather than gameplay reviews, but no channel faults the presentation.

A Small Box That Travels

Portability is the one strength that even the skeptics grant. Grant Lyon notes that 20 Strong boxes are small, which makes it a good solo game to take on vacation or to pass the time in an airport. One Stop Co-op Shop has lost some love for the system but is keeping every set because it packs so much varied gameplay into a small package, and it calls the game very portable and travelable. Its verdict on Tanglewoods is "a keep for now."

Potential Drawbacks

Uneven Decks

Board Games UnLocked ranks the three decks red, then white, then gold. Red is the favorite because it is the most straightforward, and its fate cards were a highlight; the other two have weird systems and, in the reviewer's words, "don't really utilize it in that cool of a way." The reviewer adds that some decks make little use of items and that some items are weak. One Stop Co-op Shop reaches a similar place from another angle: Tanglewoods "was not a full-on winner," and the channel would only recommend a couple of the decks, pointing viewers to a separate ranking video for which ones.

A Step Down for Series Veterans

Both critical channels measure Tanglewoods against earlier 20 Strong releases. One Stop Co-op Shop calls it maybe weaker than the original set of releases and says the series overall has been on a downward track. Board Games UnLocked liked Hoplomachus, Solar Sentinels and, with some frustration, Too Many Bones, and does not think Tanglewoods is "as good as the first three." The reviewer suggests the system works best when a deck grows out of an existing game. BoardGameCo is the counterpoint: Alex Radcliff highly recommends it while noting that it is another iteration of a system already owned, so it is not new in the way a fresh game would be.

If You Enjoy 20 Strong: Tanglewoods

Board Games UnLocked points players toward the earlier 20 Strong decks. The channel rates 20 Strong: Solar Sentinels as one of the best because it feels more roguelike and seems designed for the system, and 20 Strong: Hoplomachus comes up in the same discussion as a surprise favorite; players who enjoy the dice system but find the fairy tale decks too busy may prefer those. Board Game Animal compares the growing deck library to Unmatched: as with that line, there is probably a deck for everyone by now.