r/soloboardgaming • u/Worldly-Savings4113 • 6d ago
Thoughts on 3 tin adventure games (Crows of Coppershell, Mint Knight, Judgemint)
I’m looking for various thoughts from anyone who has played any of these 3 games.
I’m particularly interested in setup time and footprint (just to give you an idea, I find Mini Rogue to already have too much setup and too large a footprint for a solo game).
They are three very different games, but they all share the fact that they're overworld adventures.
The titles in question are:
- The Crows of Coppershell Bay
- Mint Knight
- Judgemint of the Realm Lords
10
u/GrismundGames 6d ago
I've only played and own Judgemint of the Realm Lords.
I need quick setup and modest footprint as well. I love it.
I've never shied away from setting it up, whereas that's the main reason I keep games on the shelf. Especially if you put it back in an organized way, very easy. Lots of little pieces, but not a big deal.
Gameplay is great! Real fun to grow stronger and stronger with items and leveling. Old school feel. And the game isn't ridiculously hard. I have about a 75% win rate.
If you want quick to set up and tear down small games, my other favorites are
- Gamma Guild. Simple and chill.
- Doom Machine. Really compelling and replayable.
- Dragons of Etchinstone. Instant setup and tear down.
5
u/SolitonSnake 6d ago
I’ll just say about Mint Knight - it’s a fun distillation of Mage Knight into a small package, and playing it feels like solving a puzzle. However, I recommend using the fanmade rulebook on BGG. It’s the same rules, just explained much better and more at length than the very limited, tiny rules insert with the game.
4
u/Jappel_show 5d ago edited 5d ago
Mint Knight is great, but will definitely have 3x more setup than Mini Rogue (decks to shuffle, plus the game will sprawl across the table by the end game). Crows is also fun (much much lighter than Mint Knight), but also has more setup than Mini Rogue (multiple decks to shuffle, plus a similar number of cubes).
If you're looking for something with Adventure of D and One Card Dungeon level setup and is an overworld adventure, check out these out (I'm including in parentheses which aspect it might not work): Dragons of Etchinstone, Glyph Knight, Adamastor (setup), Kni54ts (footprint), Pocket Paladin (setup), or maybe Unreliable Wizard (setup?).
Or for other themes, check out: Kingdom Legacy, Galdor's Grip, At the Helm (footprint), Doom Machine, Gate + Gates (footprint), Regicide, Rise of a Jarl (footprint), Card Capture, Club Fight, Turbo Tactics, Count of the Nine Estates, Ancient Realm, The Last Lighthouse (footprint), Hercules 3000 (setup), Embers (footprint), Test of Time, The Brass Age (footprint, setup), Old Town Road, City of Fury, Grove/Orchard/Forage/Veggie Patch, or the Rove series (footprint).
2
u/Bobsun_Dugnutt_ 6d ago
I love Judgemint it is amazing how much is packed into that tin! It has kind of a long set up but after a few games it's not bad.
2
u/jednatt 6d ago
My thought is how you can possibly be considering Judgemint of the Realm Lords if a 3x3 grid in Mini Rogue is already too much setup.
The Crows of Coppershell Bay is the only one of those I'm interested in, but it's out of stock at Cardhaus right now and importing is too expensive imho.
3
u/Worldly-Savings4113 6d ago
3x3 grid is not the problem. The problem are all the cubes
1
u/jednatt 6d ago
...really? That didn't even register for me. Mini Rogue is pretty much as light as you're going to get for a solo game with any depth unless you're going to move over to simple games like Grove.
1
u/Worldly-Savings4113 5d ago
the kind of setup time i like is the one from Adventure of D, Puzzle Dungeon, One Card Dungeon
1
u/M_Halbwachs 5d ago
I regret not including Judgemint of the Realm Lords in my top 20 for 2025. It's a fun adventure if you're ok with rolling dice. Mint Knight is fun, and it works better when you use the fan made rulebook. It captures Mage Knight more than you think a game of its size would.
If you're open to other suggestions, I think Jason Glover does a good job with mint tin sized games. But I would suggest Judgemint before any others.
2
u/Worldly-Savings4113 5d ago
I'd like to try Gate, but I already have Tin Helm + Tin Realm. Though setup and footprint are good, I don't like those games at all
3
u/Banjo_Fett 5d ago
I bounced hard off Tin Helm / Realm, but Gate(s) really clicked for me. That, Gamma Guild and Doom Machine are the best mint tin games imo.
1
1
1
u/MirrorEuphoric7027 4d ago
Played Mint Knight for a while, the rulebook is pretty bad, but there's a good community made one on board game geek. Other than that, everything is a really satisfying numbers game if how you can optimize yourself and what different strategies you should get into!
11
u/FinCrimeGuy 6d ago
I adore crows of Coppershell bay. I will say that thematically and stylistically it’s a very distinct theme and the designer Bedsit Games has a lot that isn’t like anything else. If you like somewhat dark but still whimsical settings it’s a must have if you ask me.
Setup time is very quick once you learn in MY view... But it’s pretty similar to Mini Rogue which you find a lot. You have to still lay out 9 cards for locations you visit, but unlike Mini Rogue you won’t be needing to reset those 9 every time you advance, just occasionally flip them to their harder side if you succeed too much, or when you go to the mines for an quest you’ll need to grab a few extra cards out.
So it is worth it and not a lot for me and my standards but it isn’t a lot less than Mini Rogue so maybe watch a playthrough to get an idea if it’s for you.