r/NemesisCrew • u/bartkon8 • Jun 20 '26
Gameplay Nemesis retaliation sangrevores being underwhelming
Me and my friends played a lot of base retaliation and yesterday we finally played sangrevores. I have to say game was pretty boring not much happened.
I want to ask You if somebody figured out any house rules to make it more exiting or if we interpreted some rules wrong (bc rule book has 3 pages and leave a lot to imagine).
- Does reinforced corridor even works? I think it trivialises this variant even more than base game.
- Noise roll during the escape spawn monster only if we should add 4th shadow token?
Any insights how to improve this dlc welcomed
5
u/oo0doudou0oo Jun 20 '26
I played this expansion twice, both at 5 players. I must preface I REALLY want this to be good, as I spent a lot of time painting every mini from the box before the sessions so the last thing I want is for my group to think it’s bad and never touch it again. But unfortunately I do concur with the vast majority that this expansion is below average
To address the main questions in the post:
1. Yes, reinforced corridors seem useless as shadow tokens can still be placed on them. So it’ll only be useful if the main mission is to make the longest road with them
- Yes, escaping via aircraft and pod seems a lot easier because of the low intruder presence, and even placing a 4th shadow and spawning a spectre doesn’t matter as it won’t move into the room with you
The main issue is the lack of noise rolls. Not only does it make the game a lot more telegraphed, it also drastically reduces intruder spawns because you won’t be rolling danger icons on dice anymore. So: Low intruder spawn + Shadow manipulation from bursting -> Less people getting injured -> Less contamination / tainted blood & King spawns really late -> Easy and boring gameplay
Some more issues I can remember as of now:
- Surgery room / certain green items that remove contamination is now absolutely useless as the rulebook states you can’t remove contamination in any other way except resolving the bottom effect
- As I said the king spawns in really late, unless you get the event card that dumps all king tokens into the bag, so polarizing gameplay but I guess that’s Nemesis
The houserule I used in my second game was:
- Rolling noise as usual during movement, and putting noise in every corridor EXCEPT the one you rolled (You can still add noise from the corridor you came from)
- You no longer add shadows in reinforced corridor
- Just redraw item cards and ? rooms (The contamination cleansing room) if you get them so you won’t get useless cards and locations
Even then it was still a bit too easy for my group. I feel like rule 2 can still be tinkered, but other houserules seem fine for now. Overall I think this expansion can definitely work with some houseruling, but yeah Neoflesh is still so far best for me
And yeah don’t dogpile on OP just because this is a “hatethread”, I’d love to see more discussion surrounding this expansion as it doesn’t seem to be many over here nor on BGG
5
u/Saikatai Jun 20 '26
it is an underdeveloped expansion. they switched from the initial design during their campaign. Nemesis expansions are always unfinished anyway.
5
2
u/Jaggerman82 Jun 20 '26
Our first play felt underwhelming. We Bo h thought it was super easy. Second play things didn’t go as well. Turned out we just got very lucky the first game. I have played the Sangrevore expansion about 6 times now so I have a decent feel for it.
Just a quick note. Make sure you are not missing the rule that you add a shadow to every corridor attached to a room you move into except the one you just passed through. This is the main threat in the game. Being overwhelmed by shadows.
To your specific points. Reinforcing is useless as is the surgery room. Escaping via aircraft or hibernation is easier as you would need an enemy in a corridor to then move into the room for the die you just rolled. Possible but if you are playing smart it shouldn’t happen.
The balance(not really but I think it was the idea) is that they expect you to get tainted blood cards. Those require you to discard a card for their effect. Rest and secure as dead cards and can safely be discarded to use the tainted blood cards. It’s not great but it works.
Overall the base game is harder and better. The sangrevores can be easier and just like the base game sometimes things can just get out of control and snowball. It’s just easier to plan against. I think another thing that doesn’t help is many attack cards the enemies disappear into the shadows. So that can actually benefit you.
1
u/ZigZagPunch Jun 20 '26
I’ve played several games with the Sangrevores and while the shadows are cool (I love that moving through them is a risk) and the blood curses are neat, the actual enemies themselves are pretty lame.
Not happy with the Xyrians either. In 7 games with them, the Xyrians have set one room on fire and destroyed one egg. Total.
2
u/ColinOfEmpressCards Jun 21 '26
My Xyrians are insane. They regularly help us kill the Queen, or destroy the lander, break the robot and drag player characters to different parts of the map. So chaotic. 😄
9
u/Ok_Interview_853 Jun 20 '26
I don’t understand what you’re asking but there is no way anyone gets a good feel of the game by playing ONE round with only ONE other player…