Hornet Leader: The Cthulhu ConflictPublisher: Dan Verssen Games
Release Date: October, 2013
MSRP: $29.99
Designer: Dan Verssen
Number of Players: 1
Playing Time: Varies (about 30 minutes per mission)
Product #: PN-32061
Age Rating: 12 and up
ICv2 Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
It truly must be that the "stars are right:" Cthulhu and its creepy, flappy, tentacle-endowed minions seem to be just about everywhere. Everywhere that's game related, at least. Now, thanks to Dan Verssen Games and its new Hornet Leader expansion, even serious war games--once immune to such foolishness--have been infected by the Great Old One's cult-like following.
Summary: If you are unfamiliar with Hornet Leader, here's the idea: You are in command of a wing of attack aircraft, based on one of the United States' aircraft carriers. You are confronted with a series of missions, most of which come down to "fly here, blow stuff up." Under your command are a number of pilots with varying abilities. You choose which pilots to assign to each mission, then supply them with a mind-boggling array of incredibly destructive technology. This is the strategic level of the game. Once you have prepared your planes, you set up a small game board where the actual air strike is played out, turn-by-turn. This is the tactical level. (This clever mix of strategic and tactical elements in a robust solitaire system makes Hornet Leader's slightly more tactical cousin Thunderbolt Apache Leader one of my favorite solo games of all time.)
In any normal, sane world, that would be enough of a challenge for any armchair commander. But apparently 2015 is the year that Lovecraft's notorious creation rises from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to threaten all life on earth. In a surprisingly rational response, the U.S. government dispatches you and your attack wing, thankfully equipped with the very latest in military technology (and a nuke, for good measure), to blast Cthulhu back into whatever kind of slumber he’s been enjoying all these years.
Originality: It is always difficult to award a high originality score to a game expansion, and The Cthulhu Conflict is no different. The game play is fundamentally identical to the basic Hornet Leader, it's just that you now must contend with reality-warping events and mind-shattering enemies. But Verssen deserves credit for handling these concepts nicely within the constraints of the Hornet Leader system. The defenses put in place by Cthulhu and its minions are bizarre and unpredictable. You really do feel that reality itself has somehow been offended by the events in the game. Insanity is handled nicely without being overwrought: when a pilot succumbs to a "sanity attack," a tile with a sometimes-amusing phobia is permanently attached to him. Further sanity attacks increase the potency of the phobia until the unfortunate warrior is dragged off to the psych ward, undoubtedly babbling about things that go flap in the night. Add in a few advanced weapon systems, including aerial combat drones and advanced guided missiles, as well as insane evil cultists, and The Cthulhu Conflict has quite a few new ideas packed into it.
Presentation: The game's artist, Christian Quinot, has done a fine job of capturing the creepy unreality of the Cthulhu mythos. His illustrations are dark and full of menace, and you just can’t quite figure out exactly what it is you’re looking at--as if your mind were rebelling against what stands before you. As with all Dan Verssen Games, component layout is clear and functional, if a bit Spartan. Effective, but I wish it were prettier.
Quality: The overall quality of components is quite good. The box is sound and sturdy. The counters are good, thick cardboard that will stand up to use. The cards are a bit stiff, but for the most part they are not shuffled during play. The rulebook is full-color and glossy throughout, and presents the new concepts in The Cthulhu Conflict quite nicely. Unfortunately, the Hornet Leader rulebook is not as well-polished, and you'll likely have to contend with that during play as you will have to puzzle out how a few of the new game mechanics mesh with the old.
Marketability: Cthulhu is hot stuff for certain, and Dan Verssen Games has built a loyal following with its quality production and solidly-designed titles. Add the two together, and you should have a certain winner. But, since this is an expansion and not a stand-alone game, the market for The Cthulhu Conflict is really more dependent on its father, Hornet Leader, than any virtue it has on its own. The price tag is reasonable, considering what's in the box, but as an add-on to a ninety-dollar base game, it does represent a significant investment.
Overall: If you like Hornet Leader, and you are interested in Cthulhu-style horror fantasy, then this expansion is an automatic for you. If you're just a fan of the basic game and you want a wild and unpredictable set of new challenges to breathe a little extra life into it, then this expansion is perfect for you, too. But, if solitaire attack aircraft strategy games are not your thing… well, let's just hope somebody else steps up to the plate before the Great Old One devours us all.
I really like what's in The Cthulhu Conflict. My only real disappointment is with what isn't there. The expansion offers a number of separate campaigns, but no way to link them together to see if you can survive the entire war. Maybe that would just be too sanity-rending? That I can overlook, and maybe figure out a way on my own. A much bigger disappointment is the fact that Cthulhu himself does not actually appear in the game. No matter how badly you want to, you just cannot drop a nuke on his head. Alas.
Because of the title's limited audience, I must give this game expansion 3 out of 5.
See what I think of Hornet Leader's cousin here: "Review: 'Thunderbolt Apache Leader' (Board Game)."
--William Niebling
