Stats:
No. of players: 2-4
Amount of time to play: 90-120 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 15-20 min

Earth Reborn Rules Description:

Earth Reborn is set in a post-nuclear disaster world where two factions have emerged from their underground cities. The actions are fighting and you will play against an opponent as either NORAD or the Salemites.

I want to start by saying this is a big game. There are miniatures, lots of floor tiles, and lots of rules. The game comes with 9 scenarios to play and each new scenario adds a few more rules into the mix. This is a game you will learn as you play. Since the game is so big I am going to give an overview of the game.

The NORAD faction consists of soldiers, scientists and engineers while the Salemites are occultists that experiment on the dead. Both factions have a variety of units and the units you use will be based on the scenario you choose to play.

First you must build the map, then deploy your figures and each faction will try to meet the given requirements to win. There is a good bit of variety in the scenarios. Rescue missions, dashing escapes, infiltration, and some scenarios only last a certain number of turns.

Each round you can give your units orders and even interrupt your opponents turn. You shoot, hack and run your way through the scenarios adding new equipment, character specific abilities and even spying and torture to your repertoire.

There are rules for different weapons and how to search rooms for them. You can capture opponents, create zombies, and scramble your opponent’s commands. The system is very deep and gives you a lot to play with.

The map is pretty interactive too. You can destroy the doors, walls and other elements on the map, interact with certain rooms (like the Missile Room or Command Post) and eventually build your own maps.

There is even a scenario generator to use once you’ve gone through the initial nine scenarios.

All the information you need is communicated via icons on the board or cards. Once you get the system down it is very efficient and streamlined.

A Quick Review of Earth Reborn:

Earth Reborn is complex, but with that complexity comes a lot of depth and variety. And although complex once you have learned the system it is very intuitive and straight-forward. Another great thing is you can use just the rules you want and thus adjust the level of complexity.

There is a learning curve and time will need to be spent to learn Earth Reborn, but you will be happy you spent it. If you are looking for a game you can just pull out of the box and play the full rules in one night, this is not it. The setup alone can take a while.

Also you can speed up the learning if you think it is going too slow by reading a couple section of rules and playing the later scenario. You can learn at your pace.

The components are great and though the miniatures aren’t painted they look very good. (I am even tempted to try to paint mine.) The storage is awesome and once you have put everything in the box a few times you should have an organized system that works to help you set up faster.

The rules are well-written and full of great examples. As I said before they slowly build and add new things. This is great for learning the game but is a bit cumbersome when looking for a specific rule or instance you kinda remember reading but aren’t sure exactly which section of the rulebook it was in.

The scenario generator means you can get limitless play. There is just a ton of stuff in the box and in the rules system. There are even scenarios on the web and some that add 3 or 4 players. There is enough content for you to be playing this board game for a long, long time.

Earth Reborn is a rewarding experience if you are willing to put the time into it. The depth is great and the intuitive iconography is a thing of beauty. It will take some learning but once learned play should go fairly quickly and will definitely be enjoyable.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 5 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 5 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6