Every week Chaos and Confetti will alternate between clashing for board game dominance and coming together in table top harmony. This week it’s time for another round of…
The Clash of Chaos and Confetti!!!
The Premise:
Every other week Chaos and Confetti will face off in a best of three series, playing a different board game from their collection. The winner will claim the moniker of C&C Clash Champion. The loser will have to bury their hurt deep down inside. The lesser player will also get to choose the game for the next Clash.
We will maintain a record of wins and losses throughout the year to see who finishes 2023 as the ultimate board game champ in our household.
Pre-Clash Current Standings:
Our current C&C Champion is Confetti after winning last week’s Splendor Duel… duel.
- Weekly Winner: 0 Chaos – 2 Confetti
- Individual game wins: 2 Chaos – 4 Confetti
After losing last week, Chaos has chosen Shovel Knight: Dungeon Duels
The Game – Shovel Knight: Dungeon Duels
Shovel Knight: Dungeon Duels looks to recreate the 2D side scrolling adventures that players know from the Shovel Knight games, but in board game form with lots of dice rolling.
Players have the choice of playing as Shovel Knight or any of the Order of No Quarter. Every character comes with stats for their starting health, attack, defense, and jump. Health is simply the number of damage points a character can take before KOing. The other three stats determine how many dice get to be rolled when those skills are needed.
The game comes with twelve dice that depict shovels (attack), armor (defense), and arrows (jump). Players will use those symbols to achieve specific tasks. Attack is used to fight enemies and break their defense. Defense protects against attacks on players. Jump is used to hop hazards such as spike pits.
The experience of Shovel Knight: Dungeon Duels is broken into two segments. First players will adventure across a side scrolling landscape. They will collect treasure piles while fighting enemies and avoiding hazards. Ever enemy slain gains a player coins, but death with result in a player needing to respawn to the left-most side of the board and leaving half their coins on the board for anyone to potentially pick up.
After all players have had a chance to act, the monsters will move and attack. Players will need to roll well to block what is thrown their way. Then, the leftmost tile on the board drops off and a new tile is added to the right side of the board. Anyone on the exiting tile dies. This recreates the side scrolling nature of the original video game.
Eventually, the new tiles will run out and players will have the option of moving off the rightside of the board to move into the boss fight. Only after every players has exited the board will the boss fight start. Until then, players may continue collecting loot, fighting monsters, and buying equipment from Chester if he’s available.
The second section of the game is the boss fight. Between each player turn, the boss will flip over a card from their deck. This will show where the boss has moved and which areas they attack. The boss may also have other effects such as creating hazardous terrain. After each player has had a turn, the boss will enact their special ability.
Gameplay will continue until either the boss has been defeated or they have gone through their deck three times. Once either scenario is triggered, the game is over and players count up the amount of money they have. Whoever has the highest total wins the game. In case of a tie, players roll three dice each to see who gets the most shovels.
There are a few other rules such as what to do when a player takes damage and player-vs-player combat, but they are best saved for those playing themselves to review in the rule book.
For now, it’s a battle of shovels and steel. It’s a side scrolling, die rolling adventure. Who will come out on top, and who should start digging their own grave?
Chaos’ Pre-Clash Thoughts:
It’s been a rough start to the year for me when it comes to these Clashes. I’m still a little salty with myself for throwing away the win last time because I wanted a cooler victory. This week, I’m in it to win it! No more games!… you know what I mean.
Confetti’s Pre-Clash Thoughts:
Woo hoo, excited to be Clash Champion to start the year. Let’s see if I can hang on to it. I haven’t played Shovel Night: Dungeon Duels before, but Chaos has. Definitely coming in at a bit of a disadvantage already.
Game 1 –
For the first game, Chaos and Confetti both played as Shovel Knight. Chaos played the blue version while Confetti opted for yellow. Their boss battle would be against King Knight.
The initial trek across the board worked as expected. Some monsters were slain, but there were also a few player deaths too. Quick visits made to Chester’s shop allowed Chaos to get some extra move while Confetti benefited from a higher base health.
The seas of enemies felt a little overwhelming at two players, but both players endured and eventually made it across the side scrolling expanse.
King Knight is the suggested opponent for first time players, so he isn’t a terribly difficult fight. However, like many aspects of this game, it all comes down to the rolls. Chaos’ extra movement granted him more swings at King Knight but he kept rolling all misses. Even his bigger attacks granted by items kept falling short. His defense rolls kept finding the opposite faces and doing little to protect him from attacks.
Confetti’s pace was a bit more slow and steady, but she found consistent hits and defense rolls that tended to work out. More importantly, that one extra health point kept her alive a bit more which allowed her to grab up the money that Chaos dropped.
In the end, Chaos finally got the killing blow on King Knight, but he fell short of Confetti’s total income.
Game 1 Winner: Confetti
Game 1 Scores: Chaos 21 – Confetti 36
Game 2 –
Feeling good about her first game, Confetti decided to stick with yellow Shovel Knight. Chaos went for one of his favorites from the video game and took on the role of Plague Knight. He would have lower defense, but he hoped ranged attacks would come in handy. The boss fight would be against Polar Knight.
This time the trek across the sidescrolling went a little better, with both players gaining some more coins. However, the rush of monsters also meant that it was harder for Chaos to keep any distance. His range became a moot point, but his lower defense felt like a huge negative. Thankfully, the extra jump did help a bit.
When the players arrived at Polar Knight’s fight, they were surprised by his ice and spike summoning abilities. This definitely made getting set up to hit him was a lot more difficult. Confetti had the larger struggle getting into place, while Chaos’ range and improved jump started to pay off.
Polar Knight put up a good fight and lasted a while, but in the end, Chaos was able to put in the most damage. It also helped that he was able to pick up a few dropped coins from Confetti. He set himself up for a potential comeback in the final game.
Game 2 Winner: Chaos
Game 2 Scores: 56 Chaos – 43 Confetti
Game 3 –
Game three would be against the dastardly Propeller Knight. Never one to pass up on the chance for a little variability, Chaos decided to try out Specter Knight. Confetti, a fan of consistency, stayed true to yellow Shovel Knight.
Off they went and their initial adventures turned out very different. Chaos charged into battle and quickly did his best to rack up kills and coins. Confetti struggled with staying alive a bit more but she was able to use the money she did have to build up some good equipment stats, added range and attack. She also began grabbing loot cards upon regeneration and saving those for when the final fight would commence.
Propeller knight was a bit more exacting with his attacks but he also seemed to enjoy some forced movement. Since his special ability had him targeting Chaos the entire time, Confetti started to mount a comeback. At this point, both players were expert at taking on bosses and were able to hit Propeller knight pretty well. They also worked to grab dropped coins when able.
As the dust finally settled, Chaos and Confetti found themselves with equal money. In the event of a tie, the game would be decided by a roll-off. Both players would roll three dice, and whichever player had the most shovels would win. The dice seemed to hate Chaos all night, so he resigned himself to losing. Confetti wasn’t as confident that the result was set, but she had to admit that she consistently rolled better than Chaos all night.
The result of the first roll ended up being another tie, three shovels each. However, the second time saw a roll of three shovels and one of two. The game was decided. Somehow, Chaos eked out a win using dice.
Game 3 Winner: Chaos
Game 3 Scores: 45 Chaos – 45 Confetti (tie broken by roll-off)
Your Winner and NEW C&C Clash Champion: Chaos!
Chaos’ Post-Clash Thoughts:
Sometimes I forget how much dice hate me, and how much they love Confetti at times. I guess it all worked out in the end, but that was too close for comfort. I’ve made it on the board though and now I just need to keep the momentum going!
Confetti’s Post-Clash Thoughts:
Wish my luck with dice had held up for the final dice roll, but you can’t win them all! I thought I played well and am happy with my performance. I’ll get the win next time.
New Standings:
Post-Clash Standings:
- Weekly Winner: 1 Chaos – 2 Confetti
- Individual game wins: 4 Chaos – 5 Confetti
Next Clash: Dog Park
Chaos & Confetti 