Stats:
No. of players: 1-5
Amount of time to play: 60-90 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 5-10 minutes

Thunderstone Advance Numenera takes place in the RPG setting of Numenera. See what elements and game mechanics are added in this new stand-alone expansion.

Thunderstone Advance Numenera Rules Description:

Thunderstone Advance Numenera plays a lot like the other Thunderstone porperties. If you have not tried Thunderstone or Thunderstone Advance read my overview and review of them. I will assume you have a basic understanding of the series going forward and will just highlight the new additions in the Numenera set.

Like other Thunderstone expansions, Numenera bring new items, villagers, monsters and heroes. This set also includes new settings and treasures. The settings are from the Numenera world and affect the game in different ways. Once certain situations happen in the game they require you to roll a d20 and determine the exact affect based on your roll.

Two of the new heroes gain the ability to mark monsters after visiting the dungeon. This lets that hero react and increase the health of the marked monsters. So your marks make is harder to kill that monster for everyone but you.

Some of the monsters in Numenera have the trait Doomladen. Monsters with this trait may be harder to kill when you visit the dungeon with one in your hand. Also some weapons are more effective against monsters with the trait.

The experience points in this set are colored. You may use them as cyphers to get a one-time bonus or to level up heroes as usual. There are six colors and only may be played per turn. Blue lets you draw a card, gray destroys one card, green adds one magic attack, orange gives you two gold, red adds one physical attack and yellow adds one light. When you kill a monster you draw the tokens from a bag that is included.

No familiars are included in this set, but there are three new Thunderstone bearers and two new scenarios.

Quick Review of Thunderstone Advance Numenera:

Thunderstone Advance Numenera is a fun combination of a classic deck-builder and a new science fiction fantasy RPG setting. Not a lot has changed but the some of the new elements add some great options to the game.

The components are really nice. The art is excellent, the rules are thick but well-written and the cards are high quality. I do wish there was a player aid with details about the dungeon sequence and cypher abilities.

The new experience tokens are great. Being able to use cyphers to boost and help your heroes makes XP more useful and helps the game flow better. With a blue, red, green or yellow cypher you can risk going into the dungeon more.

The mark ability is mixed for me. I like the idea of it, but it can make the game take longer or clog up the dungeon. And the settings are cool, but I can’t say that they pull me into the Numenera setting a lot.

Thunderstone Advance Numenera is a great-looking, stand-alone expansion for this series. I am not sure I’d mix it with my classic Thunderstone sets, but it is fun on its own. If you are a fan on Numenera and are interested in Thunderstone, buy this. If you like Thunderstone a lot this is another good expansion in the series. If you are new to Thunderstone you might be better off starting with the Thunderstone Advance set.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 2 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 4 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6