Judgemint of the Realm Lords

 

I took a break from unpacking after a big move to break out Judgemint of the Realm Lords, a mint-tin game that I picked up a while ago. While an epic snowstorm blew on outside, I played a single session on the kitchen counter and figured I'd do a write-up about the experience.

Judgemint of the Realm Lords is a solo fantasy adventure game where you choose a hero and set about trying to save the realm from a series of evil "realm lords" before the doom track runs out. The game is so small that it literally fits in a mint tin (a refreshing change from my Talisman set, which literally fills an entire steamer trunk.) After seeing a walkthrough of play, I was sold on the game. It's amazing how much this game can do with so little space (and with quite a bit of replayability as well!)

In the initial photo at the top of this review, you can see the starting layout of the map when my hero first set out into the wilderness to save the realm. The instruction manual is quite comprehensive for its size, with minimal crunch, allowing me to get into the zone after only about 30 minutes of play.

I took this photo (above) at what I figured was the halfway point of the game. I'd found my groove, using magic to plow through my foes and I was gathering up exp as quick as I could. Even on normal difficulty, the doom track can move fast! Right after this, I started getting cocky and tried to take on my first realm lord, but he whipped me good. Tier 1 enemies were mostly just pushovers at this point, but the occasional roll of snake eyes when the enemy had the advantage still kept me a little humble.

As you can see, I also started using an old D12 to track my character level. That was the only thing this set seemed to be missing (a level tracker) and the files section on Board Game Geek seems to indicate that this is the only thing others thought was missing as well. 

Now we have a photo of the map and play area at the end of the game. Luck and a good selection of items (which function like individual abilities you must choose between) led to me being able to stand up to the Death Lord himself. I didn't expect to pull him as the second Realm Lord I faced, and I didn't expect to beat him, but sticking with my magic (which was bombastic) and my armor (which countered his automatic 1 damage at the end of every round) I emerged from the battle exhausted but without a scratch. Facing the Death Lord is intimidating for sure, as it is always a battle to the death. Usually, if you lose a battle against any other enemy, you just lose half your gold and restart with full health and energy in the nearest town. With the Death Lord, if you win, you win the game. If you lose, you lose the game completely. It's the final epic battle that decides the fate of the whole world and it can come at any time you feel brave enough to take on one of those enemies represented by a red cube.

All in all, I played for just short of two hours, but I think the next session will go quicker. I only got to level 6 this time around and there are still quite a few epic items I haven't even seen yet, as well as heroes I'm excited to try out. The design is sleek and the art is very reminiscent of older RPG adjacent games like Talisman and Heroquest, which I really like as well. 

It's just a really sleek and well put together game. I'm honestly impressed!