Chainsaw Warrior Game Review

Chainsaw Warrior

This game was released at a time when the 'Book Games' were popular. You know the sort of thing - you read a passage and turned to another if you chose to do this, this or this.
Chainsaw Warrior is basically a card game version of them. The board is just a place holder for the various decks and markers. You begin the game with a spot of role-playing, by rolling up your warriors stats in Endurance, Wounds, Hand-toHand, Reflexes, Marksmanship and a skill.
Endurance determines how long you resist radiation and zombie venom
Wounds - when it reaches zero you die.
Hand-to-Hand - how good you are without a weapon.
Reflexes - How fast you can react to sudden events
Marksmanship - how good you are with weapons.
Skill - Improves the above or gives extra skill Climbing or Hiding.
The time track records how long you have left. Each turn it is moved forward one, representing 30 seconds of time. If you haven't won after 60 minutes, you lose.
The House deck is what the game is about. This is divided into two decks, with Darkness being shuffled into the 2nd deck. This just ensures that you won't meet Darkness straight away. These cards depict parts of the house - Room, Corridor, Elevator, Stairs, Balcony.
Once you select your starting equipment, the game begins by turning over the top card of deck one. This tells you what encounter you have. When it's resolved, you move the time marker forward a space and draw the next card. Play continues in this fashion until you find and destroy Darkness, or his minions destroy you.
The game mainly consists of fighting creatures. For example, you stumble across a Zombie. You are carrying a Blaster and have Marksmanship of -1. The card says a 7 is needed; you therefore need 8 to kill it due to your poor marksmanship. Snag is, if you don't defeat it, time moves on 30 seconds and you try again. Get some bad rolls and you could find time slipping away...
SUMMARY:
Well, as solo games go, it's a fairly enjoyable experience. Of course, it's you against the game - and the game usually wins, but you can win just often enough to make you want to play another one. So, as a game to play when all your friends are unavailable, it can be an entertaining way to pass the odd hour or two.
Review by Brian