Big challenges, small size: the world of Tiny Epic games

The Tiny Epic series is a collection of compact board games designed by Scott Almes and published by Gamelyn Games. Each game in this series features a small package that hides a surprisingly deep and rich gaming experience. The games combine various mechanics, such as resource management, area control, competitive or cooperative modes, and unique player abilities, ensuring variety and high replayability. Thanks to detailed components and beautifully illustrated cards, the Tiny Epic series is not only fun but also visually appealing.

One of the biggest benefits of the Tiny Epic series is its accessibility and versatility. Despite their small size, the games offer complex strategic challenges that appeal to both casual players and experienced strategists. Another advantage is that every game is completely different. The rules are usually easy to grasp, allowing for a quick start, while the diverse game mechanics and thematic variations keep players engaged and excited. Just be prepared for the fact that once set up, the game takes up as much table space as much larger board games.

The original series already contains fifteen titles along with several expansions. In Czech, RexHry has so far released the five most interesting pieces, which I would like to introduce to you in the following lines.

Tiny Epic Kingdoms

Tiny Epic Kingdoms is a compact 4X strategy board game. It is the first Czech version from RexHry on the list and offers a deep strategic experience for 2-5 players who strive to expand their territories, manage resources, and build civilizations. Great meeples and beautifully illustrated cards contribute to the visual appeal and the overall gaming experience. Players choose from various factions, each with unique abilities, as well as their home map. The combination of these factions ensures variety and replayability.

The gameplay is divided into several phases. Each player chooses one of the available actions, such as patrol, quest, trade, build, or war, which allows them to gain new territories where they can harvest resources, build a castle, or fight other players. Resource management is key, as players must strategically use food, mana, and ore to achieve their goals. Careful planning and tactical decision-making are essential for success.

In Czech, the Heroes' Call expansion has also been released, which adds heroes, new mechanics, new ways to win, silver as a universal resource, new maps and factions, and overall pushes the game to a more complex level.

Tiny Epic Galaxies

Tiny Epic Galaxies brings players a space challenge full of adventure and discovery. Players take on the role of galactic leaders and compete for control over various planets and resources. The game combines resource management, action usage, and strategic moves, again offering an engaging and diverse gaming experience.

The game takes place in several phases. At the beginning of each round, every player rolls dice that determine which actions they can use in that turn. Players use actions to move their spaceship between planets, acquire new planets, collect resources, or play powerful colony abilities. The winner is the one who gains the most points, which can be achieved both by occupying planets and by effectively managing and developing an empire.

The Beyond the Black expansion has also been released in Czech, adding new mechanics, the ability to hire pilots for your ships to give them unique abilities, or to explore deep space. Thanks to this, the game becomes more complex and forces players to think even more.

Tiny Epic Quest

Tiny Epic Quest combines elements of adventure, resource management, and strategic planning. Players embark on epic quests to explore the map, defeat goblins, complete tasks, and collect powerful artifacts. The game is visually attractive thanks to detailed components, including special cards and ITEMeeples, to which various artifacts and weapons can be attached.

The game is played over five rounds, each with two main phases: day and night. In the day phase, players travel across the game board, complete quests, and collect resources. Each player has the opportunity to perform up to five different types of movement and place their heroes as needed. In the night phase, players face dangers and can use their collected resources to complete quests, explore shrines, learn new spells, and defeat goblins. Energy management and action planning are key to success in the game. For experienced heroes, a challenge in the form of the Magic Mist mode is prepared.

Tiny Epic Zombies

Tiny Epic Zombies brings a thrilling survival experience in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Players find themselves in a shopping mall where they must complete various tasks, fight hordes of zombies, and try to survive. The game components are again high-quality, with detailed ITEMeeples, weapons, and beautifully illustrated cards, which adds to the overall gaming experience.

The game offers several modes, including cooperative, competitive, and solo play, or a game of all players against one who controls the zombies. Players choose from actions such as moving, searching for weapons, completing tasks, or fighting zombies. Each action is crucial for survival, as players must constantly balance between attack and defense. In addition, they must deal with the ever-growing threat of zombies appearing in various places in the mall. Proper planning and cooperation are essential for success in the game. Once players complete three drawn tasks in time, the game ends with their victory. Otherwise, they perish, mercilessly torn apart by endless hordes of zombies.

Tiny Epic Dungeons

Tiny Epic Dungeons is the latest Tiny Epic game released in Czech so far. It takes place in dark dungeons full of danger and treasure, where players act as heroes exploring the dungeon, fighting enemies, and completing various objectives. This fully cooperative game combines elements of adventure, strategy, and resource collection, making it an engaging choice for fantasy RPG fans. Also because it contains great components, this time resin figures and beautifully painted enemy meeples. And it just looks good on the table.

The game is divided into two acts. In the first, players move around the game board, uncover new rooms, and fight enemies using a simple dice-rolling system, trying to find the Dungeon Boss's lair. Each room brings new challenges and opportunities to gain treasure and strengthen your character through equipment and spells. Once the Boss's lair is discovered and its minions are defeated, the second act begins, in which they face the Dungeon Boss itself. It should be noted that the game is difficult and definitely won't give you anything for free. Behind every success or gain is sweat and hard work, which is why it is necessary to cooperate very closely so that you don't run out of precious time during the game.

The Stories expansion has also been released in Czech, which adds quest cards to the game, or multi-level dungeons containing several Bosses, as well as new enemies and dungeon rooms.

You can also find a mega-review of Tiny Epic Dungeons on our blog.

Conclusion

I really like the Tiny Epic series because it allows me to throw the game in my pocket and pull it out anywhere at a pub or a visit without needing a huge bag or backpack. Plus, these games can always be set up and packed away relatively quickly, and they bring fun comparable to a classic box. If I were to rate or rank the games released in Czech so far according to my own conscience, it would be like this:

1. Tiny Epic Dungeons - the latest Czech addition surprised me, and even though I've played relatively few games, it is extremely fun and is replacing Galaxies in first place for me.

2. Tiny Epic Galaxies - probably the biggest icon that stays at the top everywhere in the world and perhaps the most balanced Tiny Epic game ever. With the expansion, the game is even better.

3. Tiny Epic Quest - A great game with a great experience, where the final scoring can be a bit frustrating.

4. Tiny Epic Kingdoms - The base version of the game is very simple, and the expansion is a necessity here. With it, the game is very fun.

5. Tiny Epic Zombies - The game is very good, but in my opinion only in one of the five offered modes - the cooperative game against a human opponent. In my opinion, the AI zombies don't work very well here.

author Honza Kohoutek