Cartographers: Heroes Review + Map Packs 4, 5, & 6

Cartographers: Heroes from Thunderworks Games has players mapping out the realm over 4 seasons. Each season has two objectives that will allow players to score points. These can vary from having to fill a full row or column or having a certain type of terrain in an area. In typical flip and write fashion, rounds work by flipping the top card and doing what it says. It can be a terrain type or a hero or a monster. Monsters cause negative points if they're not surrounded or if the hero hasn't taken care of it. Once a card is flipped that causes the value to be higher than the seasons timer the round ends and you score points for each objective, coins, or lose points for monsters. After the 4th round, the player with the highest score wins.

If you get bored of the basic maps, there are 6 expansion maps with new cards and challenges for each. I'll be talking about 4-6 in this review.

Map 4: Frozen Expanse: There are frozen areas on the map that will give players more coins if they surround them and certain squares must have a terrain type in its spot or else they cannot be filled. This is a fairly simple map pack but it adds in some extra levels of strategy.

Map 5: Kethra's Steppe: The map requires a beacon to be lit. This serves as an extra objective. You need to fill in the shaded area of the map surrounding the beacon otherwise you may lose some points.

Map 6: Hornhelm: This is the most drastically different map of the ones I played. The map itself is simple, but this adds in a market where you can spend coins to add in new effects and earn points at the end of the game. It's a really unique twist to spend coins for something opposed to scoring points.

The Good: Cartographers Heroes is such a good time. Having the new maps is not something that is completely necessary but it's nice to have. The gameplay is very simple but it's also very deep with strategy. You need to be careful where you place your terrains or else you may lose points or shoot yourself in the foot. The solo mode is also very well done. It does not make huge changes to the game but it's always a great challenge.

The Okay: Scoring is a very odd concept in this game. Some of the cards require a lot of thought to figure out or constant referencing to the rulebook. Once you have the hang of it it's fine but they can be tough to figure out at times.

The Not So Good: This is a tough section to write. Cartographers may be my favorite flip and write. I don't play a lot of these types of games. I'll say that the heroes are a nice touch, but they're not a game changer. If you have the original Cartographers you may not have a need to pick up Heroes.

Final Thoughts: Cartographers Heroes is a great way to get into the franchise. There is a ton of variety in the map packs and you'll never play the same game twice. If you already have the original Cartographers this may be a skip but if you're looking to get into it then I couldn't recommend this enough.

Thanks to Thunderworks Games for sending me a review copy.