An astronaut, a badger with a crossbow and a wendigo walk into a dilapidated chapel. No this isn’t a set-up for some corny joke, or the start of some weird D&D campaign, this is Sudden Conflict. A game where you can take characters from any version of the game and throw them together for a wonderful mish-mash of a team. Follow along as we dive into the tactical dice rolling in our Sudden Conflict review!

Sudden Conflict Review – What Is It?

Sudden Conflict is a two-player skirmish board game with miniatures, where a player takes command of a team of unique characters from across a multiverse that’s constantly on the brink of annihilation.

The best and most enticing part I find is that while you can keep your team the way they are when they arrive in the box, if you have either of the other versions you can actually take characters from them to create a unique and more diverse team. Currently, there are 3 versions of Sudden Conflict that are coming to Kickstarter in March. 

The three variations of Sudden Conflict, which we’ll detail below.

Sudden Conflict: Galactic Throne 

“The universe is ancient and empty. Once groaning with billions of civilisations upon countless overpopulated worlds, fantastic technology allowed pilots to navigate through solar systems with little danger of becoming lost or stranded. But this age of technological advancement, cultural enrichment and universal prosperity was not to last.”

As the name suggests, this version sees a galaxy on the brink of collapse. As an evil tyrant conquers countless planets, only one group has the tenacity to stand up to her and take her down, no matter the cost. Galactic Throne sees you take control as either The Empire of Melar or The Galactic Resistance also known as “Rangers”. If you love your space operas and your wars among the stars, this version may be for you!

Sudden Conflict: Ukyo

“The ancient and eternal Empire of Ukyo has weathered the barbaric storms of the Outlands for a thousand generations, protected by an erratic succession of rulers known as Celestial Imperators. The current Imperator, Kaori, was once a peasant hero able to quell bandit uprisings with a word, guilt slaver rings into vows of purity, and turn even hardened criminals towards charitable endeavours. With the celestial visions granted upon ascension, Kaori ensured that all embraced her dream of peaceful unification. Ukyo prospered, for a time.”

Ukyo is a universe made up of anthropomorphic animals with hints of Asian mysticism and culture. You can take command as either The Emerald Masters who have worked to further their schemes by mining and destroying the lands of their people. Or you can take up arms as Heaven’s Liberators, a group of those who have been impoverished by The Emerald Masters who had destroyed their lands. Now branded as outlaws and thieves, these not-so-cuddly critters work to overthrow their new masters and bring a new balance to the world. If you like your Eastern cultural themes, go ahead and pick Ukyo up!

Sudden Conflict: Valrona

“The Ashen Plague descended upon Valrona, drifting from the night sky to settle across the city like the first gentle snow of winter. The following morning, Valrona’s citizens ventured forth to work the fields, tend the slaves, and trade in the markets, only to contract one of the deadliest afflictions the world had experienced. No-one knew what caused the Ashen Plague, for even the Clergy’s most powerful miracles and prayers did nothing to alleviate the suffering caused, nor assist in burning the curse from the lands.”

Stepping away from space operas and Eastern mysticism, Valrona gives us a taste of gothic horror that many will be familiar with. A land that had a plague set upon it and with the plague came the death of all the children within the city walls. Along with many others falling victim to the plague, so did the queen of the land, Queen Anastasia. With the queen falling ill, the protection she gave the land begins to fail and so the towns are now prime targets for the beasts of the night.

Here you can take command of either The Ashen Alliance, protectors of the realm and those who wish to keep the peace in the queen’s absence. Or you can take control of The Tryptic Vile, a group of exile, outcasts and aberrations who seek to bring down the cities and allow darkness to swallow all. This is the set I got to play with and I have to say, I found it a hell of a lot of fun playing as a vampire, witch and, what is essentially, a wendigo. If gothic horror is your vibe, be sure to back the game and grab a hold of Valrona.

Sudden Conflict Review – How to Play

First thing you need to do is pick your battlefield. Each edition of the game comes with a game board that can be flipped upside down for a different battlefield. This won’t have much of an impact on gameplay except for how your characters move around the board. Next up you have to select your team of three characters.

Now if you only have one edition of the game, the answer is pretty simple in that you just pick three from the box. However, with more editions comes more choices. You can mix and match any character so long as you come to a full team of 3. You also have the option of drafting your picks where you and your opponent take turns picking from a random selection of characters that get dealt out.

Once you have your team, next is choosing where to put them. First off, a random player is chosen to take the initiative and the opposing player gets a white momentum die. Next, each player takes turns, starting with the player who has the initiative, putting their character minis down on the board in a deployment zone. Deployment zones are groups of spaces on the board connected by a dotted line. Once a character is placed in a deployment zone, no other character can be placed in that zone.

Now we get to the good part! The fighting. If this isn’t the first turn, both players roll 5 black action dice and whoever gets the most hits takes the initiative and the other person gets a momentum die. The active player chooses one of their ready characters to move around the board and perform an action. Each action and movement costs an action point and each character has 2 action points to use. Once the character has used all their action points the opposing player can then move and use the actions of one of their characters. This continues until all characters have acted and the next turn starts in the same order. The game is finished once a player has lost all of their characters. 

As mentioned before, each character has their own abilities including combat abilities. A character can attack any opponent adjacent to them or, if it’s a ranged attack, in line of sight. Basically, if you can draw a line from your character to theirs without hitting anything, they are a valid target. Each attack has a different damage type, Body, Mind and Soul.

When attacking, the active player rolls a number of action dice equal to the number dictated for the attack by the character card. Then the defending player rolls the number of action dice equal to their defence for that damage type. If the defending player has more hits on the dice, no damage is taken, however, if the attacker has more, then the defender takes the difference in damage and damage is permanent.

Of course, if you want that little bit of edge in a fight you can use your momentum dice. Simply put, using one adds an extra dice to your roll and can be used for attacking, defending or really just using any abilities. That’s the meat and potatoes of playing Sudden Conflict. While there is more to it, pushing, hazards, and different passive abilities, I find it’ll be much better to sit down and have a look over the rule book for the finer details.

When it comes down to it, the game can get quite in-depth and it’s far from a quick game. Between set up and play, the game can take an hour or two. This is also dependent on the luck of the dice rolls. When I got to trial the game with a friend, there were multiple times when the dice would either come up with the same small number of hits or nothing at all. Granted this would just mean Lady Luck wasn’t on our side that night, but I still recommend clearing your schedule if you’re sitting down for a game.

Sudden Conflict Review – Conclusion

Sudden Conflict is a fun and strategic game that I can see becoming a big hit. Made right here in Australia, Sudden Conflict is the culmination of 3 years of hard work and passion that will finally see the light of day shortly. With dozens of ways to build your team, you can play as you want and try out new combinations each time. While the games do take a while to play, I still had a lot of fun being strategic with my moves and coming back from the brink of defeat.

Between the in-depth story, unique art and strategic gameplay, Sudden Conflict has something for everyone, and it needs your help. Sudden Conflict will be launching on Kickstarter on the 12th of March 2024. If you want to support the creators and get more Australian games out there, head on over to the official Sudden Conflict Kickstarter!

So, why should you play Sudden Conflict?

• You enjoy in-depth lore
• Memorable art
• Strategic miniature gameplay
• You enjoy the long game.

Why you may want to give it a pass

• Not your style of gameplay
• You prefer a game that doesn’t go so long.

A preview copy of Valrona was kindly provided by the creators for our Sudden Conflict review. If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out more of our tabletop coverage and join us over on the Qualbert Discord to chat with us about all things boardgame!