‘Bloodsuckers’ Game is the Answer to Fans of Vampires… and RISK

Have you heard of Bloodsuckers by Fireside Games?

There is what, an entire subculture of people out there who obsessively play RISK, –and follow every single new game produced along the RISK product line. The game is its own mini-franchise. So if you love vampires, and you love RISK, then you need to check out ‘Bloodsuckers’. Not to mention, if you have a craving for a bit more imagination in your board games. I’ve played RISK, and I gotta tell you, people, –I realize that in some circles, a statement like this would get me beaten to death with a card table, –the shit is boring. But! I do like the strategy foundation. I just think there’s more we can do with the element of hostile takeover than RISK lets us get away with.

And this game is great because it brings over all the strategy and ruthlessness of RISK, with none of the mind-numbing, ass-chafing boredom. Plus, one game is less likely to take weeks to finish, since you’re not taking over the world. The idea is to take over a town, one location (out of five), at a time.

There was a previous article about this game, where we introduced you to what it looks like, the general theme and story; but we didn’t really get into any nitty-gritty gameplay details. That’s half the fun right? If you’re curious about gameplay, it’s deliciously simple, and only gets as complex and conniving as the player wants it to be. And since we’re trying to dominate a town by controlling innocent Bystanders, we’re going to make things as complicated and brutal as possible, am I right?

If you’re thinking, “I hate having to do the extra writing, drawing, paperwork involved in a complex card game”, stop it, you big wuss. This game comes with a ton of little doo-dads that help you keep track of everything, and you only have to write a bunch of shit down if you really want to take notes. You’ve got 134 cards:

  • 51 Vampire Cards
  • 51 Hunter Cards
  • 32 Character Cards
Plus! a bunch of other stuff to minimize the labor of writing things down, and drawing your own locations. Unless, you’ve got tons of time on your hands and prefer to do all that unnecessary stuff, you can use:
  • Action Tokens – For keeping track of duh, actions.
  • 20 Vampire &  Hunter Attack Tokens – These keep track of Vampire attacks, and Hunter attacks (10 tokens per class).
  • 6 Blood Tokens – These make your Vampires more powerful.
  • 6 Adrenaline Tokens – These make your Hunters capable of more actions.
  • 4 Turn Cards – Directions for what to do on your turn.
  • 1 Massive (kidding!) Rule Book
  • Fold-out Game Mat with Five Sections for Card Layout – Imagine, not having them scattered all over the floor!
  • Dial Board with Location and Time Dials
The dial board is my favorite. It keeps track of each location, what you’re doing in each location, and, what time of the day you’re doing it in. You can play as Hunters, who have the upper hand in the daylight hours, or be the bad guys, the vampires, and gain a creepy advantage by stalking the streets of the town at night. Whether you’re playing as human or undead, there are equal advantages and disadvantages to the classes you use. But there are always ways you can steal ahead of your opponent. The most important thing about this game though, is that it’s fun. It’s a light/medium strategy horror game that you can easily play with your kids or your friends, and have fun doing it. It’s addictive, but not likely to make anyone obsessed, and it takes a maximum of two hours to play. If you’re a hardcore card game freak, this might not be your cup of obsessive compulsive tea. On the other hand, you might get a kick out of it. We encourage you to try it because… it looks freaking awesome.

By annimi

Ashley writes for Vampires.com, Werewolves.com, and other sites in the Darksites Network. She's involved in several seedy and disreputable activities, smokes too much, and spends her late nights procrastinating for work on her first novel.

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