(Crowdfund Quest) The Monolith

I’d been tracking The Monolith since I first saw a picture of it, as the eye-catching tower that dominates and looms over the board immediately drew me in wanting to know more. Discovering that the campaign is by Plaid Hat Games, who are responsible for Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game (one of my favourites), Ashes: Reborn, Summoner Wars, and Mice and Mystics, to name just a few, was just an extra enticement.

Human explorers landed upon an alien world, eager to study, only to discover a horrifying intelligence awaited them. A monolith of unknown origin and design has seized hold of their minds and reduced the humans to violent psychopaths who now battle fot the stone’s secret unknown purposes.

To the unfortunate humans, the Monolith is a thing of divinity, and its vile, psychic whispers demand absolute devotion. the Monolith is an exciting game of brutal combat. In it, players are represented by shamans, warrior-priests who believe they and they alone can interpret the true will of the Monolith. The shamans lead bands of warriors in battle against ecah other, claiming their peers are vile apostates who falsely claim to be the true mouthpieces of the stone.

The Monolith is a war game between 3 or 4 players. Each player has their own shaman, each with their own unique abilities. The game takes place over 4 rounds, after which the player who earned the most favour with the Monolith wins the game. What earns favour?

• Killing your enemies. The Monolith wants blood, and if you can’t do it, your opponenets surely will.

• Complete objectives. Special opportunities will arise during the game, giving you the chance to show you’re hot stuff.

• Control temples. The Monolith craves devotion.

• Boasting. What good is being great if you aren’t running it in everyone’s faces?

Each round, players take turns taking actions, spending hearts in their available pool. You can spend hearts to:

• March your warriors to new locations.

• Activate your shaman, moving them, using powers at their disposal, and cremating your dead.

• Recruit new warriors. There is no end to the need for more flesh.

• Bid on divination cards. These owerful new abilities are gifts from the Monolith to its most devout, But be careful! Your opponents will have the hance to outbid you.

Once a player geels they’ve ompleted enough actions for the round, they can Commit, feeding the remainder of their hearts to the Monolith!

Once all players have committed, the Monolith is lifted and the shape of the combat to come is revealed!

Combat is fast and brutal, with hearts being sorted into three different actions:

• Slay. Kill an enemy warrior in a location where you’re present.

• Maneuver. Move a warrior to another space, either to bolster combat or escape it!

• Boast. Brag of your exploits at a location you contest. Just make sure your warriors don’t die after,or the Monolith will be unimpressed.

And of course the randomness of the hearts can be mitigated by those who prepared!

The Monolith is currently funding on Kickstarter and runs until Thursday 17th September 2026.