Iron Helm

 'Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn...'

...at the going down of the sun and in the morning,

we will remember them.

(From 'For the Fallen', by Laurence Binyon)

I've been playing a lot of Iron Helm in the morning before work.

A quick set up, tough dungeon-delving solo game, it is well worth a look if you like a simple-to-play system that involves some interesting resource management decisions. I really like the premise of being an older adventurer who is on the verge of retirement and just needs to pull off one more delve to get the gold to retire (In computer games I'll often design my character as older.)

Iron Helm is (to date) the only 'print-and-play' game I have (a quick Google search will point you to sites where you can buy a print-on-demand version, or pay and download the files.) It was quite an adventure in itself to make it  but I'm glad that I did! There is a quite a sense of achievement in seeing a game you have 'made' yourself - even when the game kicks you between the legs and then stomps on your head when you hit the dirt. Despite that, every game feels like a memorable adventure with highs and lows and some thinking as you learn the cards and hone your techniques. It makes me sad when my adventurer meets their doom!

Moliclan rolls a perfect parry to fend off the terrifying wraith!

I won't talk about how to play here, except to say that for a simple game I come across a lot more rule-checking than I thought I would, mainly to do with timing and specific cards (I'm looking at you mimic...) The rulebook covers the basics, but you soon realize that there is stuff that should be covered but isn't. This is included in a supplementary book/ PDF, and many other questions are answered in online forums and a fan-made FAQ.

Fan-made tracking cards for your stats
'Comprehensive resource tracking cards' by Karsha

However, what Jason Glover has achieved here with just a deck of 16 dungeon cards to choose from is really impressive. Every time I turn over a card I feel tense, and the line art is very evocative and gorgeous.

Highly recommended.

I found the 'Cinderblade'! Now we're cooking!