Old Chestnut Reviews: Button Shy Games Last Lighthouse

I have done one review before of a Button Shy Games classic called Skulls of Sedlec. I was dubious at first of Button Shy "wallet" games, namely because the ones I had attempted were Print 'n Play games that I had tried to print myself. Not having either the advanced home printer or the patience for the fiddly nature of printing game cards at home, my experience with small wallet sized PnP games was pretty bad. But, I rolled the dice and tried Skulls of Sedlec directly from the Button Shy website. I had such a good experience, I decided to try another one (or two...)  

I ordered a few more different Button Shy games, but I remained skeptical that they could do so many different games with only about 18 cards in a wallet and keep variety. So far from the ones I have tried, that has not been the case. So, I will likely do more Button Shy reviews in the future. 

Today, I will discuss a little gem I almost did not order until the last minute. I was ordering some other bigger name Button Shy games like Rove (more on that one later) and threw in Last Lighthouse as an afterthought. As of this writing, the base Last Lighthouse is available for purchase from Button Shy, but the expansion is sold out currently. Both can currently also be found on second hand places like eBay. 

I am glad I threw it in because, frankly, this might be my favorite Button Shy game to date. At this point, I enjoy it more that Skulls of Sedlec to be honest. 

The premise is pretty simple, really. Have you heard of Tower Defense games? Well, this is about as to the point tower defense as you can get. You are literally defending a lighthouse from monsters (they are called Nightmares). (I do love tower defense games, so factor that into my personal bias. So, if you don't like tower defense strategy, this isn't for you.)  

The rules are pretty straight forward. You start with a lighthouse with 6 health. Each time a monster attacks the lighthouse, you lose one health. If you run out of health before you have killed all the monsters, you lose. It's really that simple, but don't be deceived. There are multiple ways the game can play out.   

 Each card has your potential power move and defense on the top in the yellow, but you flip the card around, and it becomes a monster. You are trying to use your cards to defend and kill the monsters. Then the monsters get a turn to attack your lighthouse if they can reach it. If not, they can take out one of your cards. Basically, the turn order is thus: 

That is basically it. Seems simple, buy each of your powers/cards, you have to do a different action. Each card has difference defense powers, so sometimes its a level 1 or a level 3. It's a good balance of random chance in what card is drawn from the deck when but also enough strategy to make the game winnable or losable depending on your strategy. 

 There is also difficulty levels at the start. You deal four cards to start, with the easy mode being only one Nightmare and 3 power cards or with the hardest difficulty turned up so that you start with 3 Nightmares and only 1 power play card can either. 

It's a remarkably addictive tower defense game. I really enjoyed it. The replay value is extremely high, especially if you throw in one of the four expansion twists in the Expansion pack: Strange Shores (gives you three different lighthouses with different strengths and weaknesses to chose from), Long Nights (gives you extra Nightmares to shuffle in), Fearsome Fog You have to eliminate fog as well as the usual Nightmares to win), and Terrible Tides (throws in 6 tides cards which add a randomness element to the game and makes it harder to beat, if you need more challenge). It's worth getting the Expansion Wallet, if you can find it. 

In conclusion, if you like tower defense games in a portable package with games that last in the 10 to 20 minute range usually, this game is for you. Rules are really simple, but the strategy is much more complex than you might first imagine just looking at the rules. Replay value is extremely high. This is my favorite Button Shy game at present. 

Give it a whirl and tell the Nightmares that the Old Chestnut sent ya! 


  

  

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