Review: Deckbuilding & Surviving In Arctic Scavengers

Recently in an aim to find a game to get set up and play quickly, my group and I looked through our collection and found a game which I hadn't played since 2016. Arctic Scavengers from Rio Grande Games was a game that I picked up after watching a Shut Up & Sit Down review and it really does play with the deckbuilding format in an interesting way.

After giving the game another go I seriously need to include it in the mix more often. I also thought I'd give some thoughts on this older game which I reckon you should take a look at if you want a more confrontational deckbuilder into the mix.

A Cold Twist On A Classic

Arctic Scavengers is a classic deckbuilder in essence. You will start off with a hand of cards which form the basis of your group of survivors. You will then spend their skills and resources in order to buy cards from a supply in the middle of the game space and add them to your deck.

One of the many twists that the game puts forward however here is tied directly into the way you win the game. The game's victory points are tied into the number of survivors you have as part of your clan/tribe/faction. So, you have to balance the number of skilled individuals you bring into your group alongside the need to go out and bring more survivors and families into the fold too.

Strength In Numbers

This leads me to another fascinating thing about the use of families and refugees in the game who come to you for support. They are great for adding to your victory point score for the end of the game but more often than not, they are terrible at fending for themselves. They can't hunt or scavenge and very rarely can they offer their abilities in a fight. So, they more often than not can find themselves being dead cards in your hand for most of the game...or so it would seem.

Another element of the deckbuilding formula which comes into play here during this buying phase of the game is the junkyard. The junkyard is a bit of a lucky dip and as your crew starts to delve down into it they can find medical kits, drugs, weapons and more which can be useful to you later in the game.

Obviously, there is also junk in there (who would have thought it?) and over time that will start to become the items you find as other people bury the rest of their offerings. You, therefore, have to work out just how many resources you want to allocate to this as the game continues. You can also decide to lose refugee cards in the junk on your turn which obviously lowers the number of victory points you have in hand but can make your deck thinner and more optimal.

Lock & Load

The next step which elevates this game is the Skirmish Phase. During your turn you'll decide who is going to be doing the traditional steps, picking up resources and new members for your crew. You'll also then decide who is going to be staying behind to fight for the Contested Resources which work as both rewards and the game's timer.

Some of the cards you buy, be they weapons or survivors like the Brute or the Scout will allow you to fight over the Contested Resources. You simply add up the values on your cards and the person with the highest number wins. Contested Resources are very, very important as they are usually exceedingly good at fighting and hunting as well as offering large numbers of extra survivors, families and refugees who will come and join your cause.

Adding another element of risk and reward into the mix here you've also got a few more rules. From turn three onwards the Skirmish Phase is in effect and the first player will get to peek at what is on the top of the Contested Resources deck. So, when it comes to players adding survivors into the mix, did they put in loads in order to win big, or is it something middling which they've simply bluffed you into fighting for?

The bluffing continues when it comes to who has been added into the Skirmish. All of your cards are played face down so whilst one player might have added four or five into the mix, they might just all be refugees who can't fight. Maybe if you'd simply just thrown that Brute in with a shovel he would have been able to fight them all off and secure the goods!

These non-combatants can also help if there is a tie. If you and another player are tied in terms of strength then the number of people there at the fight can swing things for you. It's a delicate balancing act between how exactly you want to play.

Things get even cooler when you bring in some of the more deadly mercenaries and survivors. Sniper Teams will take out key members of your opponents force and Saboteurs will blow up their gear, making them less effective. There are many, many routes to victory and this is just from within the core game!

Expansion Content

Included in the newer versions of the game you've also got some really fun expansions. The first of these is called HQ which allows you to hire Engineers who then enable the building of structures which will give you permanent buffs. This means you're not having to rely on the Junkyard all the time in order to find the resources you need.

Recon is the second of the expansions which include new Leader characters. Lots of new kit, survivors, mercenaries and more are included alongside the base game here and they offer more nuance to an already fascinating deckbuilding experience. I haven't yet played with these expansions (I only just got it back out after 2016!) but I am really looking forward to it, diving in and seeing how the game changes with these options in the mix.

As it stands, Arctic Scavengers is a fascinating game well worth diving into, even after all these years. It sets itself apart from a lot of other deckbuilders simply by virtue of having that extra element of confrontation in the mix. Even if you do get your ass handed to you and left out in the snow, games take very little time to play and you can quickly reset and go again if you fancy it!