HABA 302808 Rhino Hero – Super Battle

Product Information

Then you roll the movement die and move your hero up or down the amount of floors shown on the die (-1 to 3). If you reach a level that already has another player, you battle by rolling opposing dice. The loser goes down a floor.

To set up the game, players place three large tiles in a row on the table, to act as the base of the tower. Each player chooses a hero and receives a hand of three floor cards. s Rhino Hero is one of, if not my #1, favorite game from family game publisher HABA Games. It garnered a 5 Star review here on BGQ and makes it’s way to our gaming table early and often (with and without kids present). So when I heard they were releasing a sequel, I was all in. I just hoped that they didn’t screw up a brilliant game by bogging it down with too many unnecessary rules. Let’s find out if they did. Super Battle emulates the perfect crescendo; a smooth and circumspect event but as the skyscraper grows, the tension begins to build until the grand finale of everything toppling over and exploding like a firework of urban landscape.If you’re looking for a game that is made well, with illustrations that will make you smile and a premise that is easy-to-learn and easy-to-teach then this is a great starting point. It’s difficult to find a game that keeps all the family engaged these days – there’s so many distractions with social media and technology on demand that sitting kids down for anything longer than half an hour is a task, but with Rhino Hero you can set-up, play and declare a winner in well-under 15 minutes. Each player starts the game with five cards, unless there are only two of you in which case you start with seven. Your hand is made up of roof cards only, with each one having a different action on it that, once played, affect the game in some way. The wall tiles remain in a draw pile to the side which should be taken from at the beginning of each players turn.

The game can be made more difficult by having the game board show less than 10 build points. At the start of the game arrange the three base pieces however you want. If only the red starting points are shown then there are only 5 points and you have chosen the most difficult starting setup... and/or by only allowing only one hand to be used for building. And it's even more difficult if players are only allowed to use their less dominant hand! Draw a new floor card from the pile or take one of the three face-up floor cards. If you choose the latter, you must fill up the free space with another card from the draw pile. Victory! If the active player’s hero is now higher on the tower than anyone else’s, they claim the superhero medal token. This token will change hands throughout the game as players grapple to be king of the hill. Then, to conclude their turn, the active player draws a new floor card. Then, if the floor card shows a spider-monkey icon, the player takes a spider-monkey token and hangs it off the floor they just placed. The first player consideration is likely to lead to interesting discussions….the player who is the best climber can start! They make their move which consists of six action points:Rhino Hero is joined by three other action heroes and hanging spider monkeys. Includes 2 dice for hero battles when they land on the same floor. And then there are those stupid spider monkeys. The four included have to be dangled from a placed floor when required. You wouldn’t think that something so small and light could cause the tower to fall, but I’ve seen it happen. As you get higher up, things start balancing very precariously. And then that jerk monkey will swoop in and upset your perfect balance, causing a collapse… and I love it. This tiny little addition adds not only some great challenge to the game, but another area for strategy. I’ll sometimes place the monkeys right in tight areas, hoping my opponents will be the one that has to figure out how to get it out. Build a spectacular 3D cardboard skyscraper. Two different height walls create wobbly excitement. Players can even start from multiple foundations and join the towers together with bridges. You’ll likely want to have some early mulligan/do overs to extend games a bit, especially for younger players with shakier hands. The game is at its best when your tower is 4+ levels high and you’ve got an impressive-looking tower going Super Battle then makes everything bigger and more varied. Different cards, different heroes, and a system that incentivises the building of ever more intricate and interrelated structures. More important than this though, Super Battle adds a narrative arc to the game that manages to effectively elasticise the game experience. Rhino Hero could be very exciting to play as the game went on, and that excitement continued to mount until the thrilling finale. Super Battle gives you a more nuanced way to approach the ebb and flow of tension in play. It lets you bend and stretch the electricity of the fun without losing any of its charge.

The game is more varied if you combine it with the original game "Rhino Hero"(item #: 4789). The walls from this game can be used as short walls. And if you use the additional Rhino Hero figure you can play with 5 players!Anyway. Super Battle is the ONLY dexterity game I own and pops out whenever we have friends, family or muggles round and the reaction has always been the same. The house fills with laughter and cheer which no other game in my personal collection manages to achieve. Final Thoughts on Rhino Hero: Super Battle But as had become the norm with games from HABA, I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong (see Dragon Tower). Yes, Rhino Hero: Super Battle adds some new rules, but they do not hamper or slow down the game in the slightest. Everything still flows smoothly and I actually love a lot of new things in this version. Is it going to enthrall those of us who are more tactically minded and want to feel like we’ve worked a bit harder for our victory? Probably not, nor is it going to be a game that you revisit for its own replay-ability and depth. The quirk of this game is in its humour-inducing ability, not in its own greatness. It is one-dimensional and is better played with a few of you. It also requires a level surface with no surplus movement – a fan the other end of the room or an un-even table will cause you problems – which makes it limited in where and when you can play it.