Our first taste of the series dates back to the 2015 release of Tiny Epic Galaxies, a space exploration and colonization game which arrived in a very small box which might suggest a rather lite game that wouldn’t hold a great deal of interest.
But Almes managed to pack a lot of game experience into the little box – more than one might have anticipated.
Tiny Epic Galaxies turned out to be merely the start of things for our gaming group.
One of our Guild has made it his mission to buy each Tiny Epic game, and the list has become a long one.
Almes is nothing if not prolific as a game designer.
And, surprisingly, the designer has created games covering a rather wide range of themes in the process.
In some case Almes seems to borrow from other games. For example, Tiny Epic Zombies released in 2018 has the ‘feel’ of Zombicide released in 2012, However, Almes packs much of the tension of the large-scale Zombicide into his now familiar tiny little box. Sure the game isn’t as expansive as big box offerings, but it is lower cost, quicker to set up and to play, which are all characteristics with merits of their own.
Of course we have both, so our bases are pretty much covered.
But back to the diversity that is a strength with Almes.
There are games which will be near and dear to the heart of anyone who is a Dragon and Dungeons player.
Our most recent gaming outing took us into Tiny Epic Tactics, and again what was contained in box was pretty amazing.
We weren’t particularly excited by the cloth board, but considering how difficult it was to get all the pieces back in the box it was pretty clear cardboard boards would have over-stuffed the box, and Almes has stayed true to the tiny box. The 10-12 on the shelf in the game room are all peas-in-a-pod in terms of size.
Tactics has a definite D&D ‘feel’ with each player in charge of a group of four adventurers, wizard, fighter, thief etc., trying to get to, and hold some key locations, and along the way knock off some opponent characters.
We played with three, and typically confrontational games have two players realizing one is sneaking ahead and sort of teaming up to thwart that effort.
That element existed with Tactics – the game does allow one-on-one, up to four players, and team mode though – but interestingly there was some ebb and flow here, who was winning seemed to change as we played through.
For a little game, there were tough choices too, with limited actions, and four characters. Which do you move? Who fights? Do you go after an opponent or try to secure a scoring point? It played ‘bigger’ than expected.
Tiny Epic Quest and Tiny Epic Defenders also have a sort of D&D heart.
In 2016 Almes turned to the old west with Tiny Epic Western, which was hugely different from Tactics, Galaxies, or Zombies, which is to the credit of the designer.
The variety includes Tiny Epic Dinosaurs released in 2020 where you are dino ranchers, the 2019 released Tiny Epic Mechs where you head to the arena to battle huge – ok tiny – mechs and Tiny Epic Pirates released in 2021 which is one still on our ‘to-play’ pile.
Overall, this is a series that rates highly based on big play in a small box, and for diversity within the series. Tiny Epic is one of the best long-running game series currently being produced – well worth picking a favoured theme and giving it a try.
