First Impression

I was intimidated by the amount of reading in the rule book, but was pleasantly surprised how easy Squirmish is to learn. There's a lot of information to absorb and a ton of reading on the cards, so this isn't a game to play at the end of the night if your brains are fried. BUT, it is a lot of fun, especially if you're into competition and battle royale-style fighting (and as much as we love our friends, we're definitely no-holds-barred when it comes to wanting to win... Flash backs of Avalon nights).

Thoughts

Squirmish is an intensely interactive card game where you have to be on the defensive and offensive at all times. Every card is a different character within different colour-coded families, and each card has special abilities or traits that can be used on its initial fight or on any subsequent fight, depending on the card. On each turn, players decide whether to attack another player's card and with which card of their own. 

If they attack, the attacker announces the card they're using and what card it's attacking then roll the dice to see if the fight is successful. Choose carefully, though! All cards have different attack and defense abilities, sometimes hyped up depending on what other cards are in play. Googly eyes are placed on the injured card, or the card is removed from play if it's defeated and placed in front of the successful player. The player then can choose another card from their hand of five to place into the squirmish. Cards must be placed adjacent to another card and those special abilities make it important to read the cards you have and the cards you want to fight.

Players are all working against each other to be the first to defeat three cards which isn't quite as easy as it seems. Even if you're successful in fighting against another player, you've weakened another card which makes it easier for the next player to defeat them. Squirmish is simultaneously easy and difficult, and like most games, it takes one play to get over the learning hump and get a good handle on it. Strategy and tactics are important, but so is your attention to detail. Throw in a little luck with some dice rolling, some obnoxious voices, and you have a challenging and fun game. 

Conclusion

Don't worry too much about the reading. Play it once and you'll understand it. Play it twice and you'll have a lot of fun. Squirmish is Gamewright's first foray into this mechanic. While there is a lot of reading and there are a lot of details, it's a neat battle game where players are constantly engaged. We found we were never bored because we were either watching battles and screaming at the dice for specific rolls, or we were fighting against other players (and screaming at the dice for specific rolls). There's continual movement and moving in Squirmish, and we loved how interactive it is. If you haven't played Squirmish yet, you'll want to give this a try with your group. Let us know what you think of it and what cards you like best!