Monster Hunter World Iceborne: The Board Game – no internet connection required (pic: Metro.co.uk)

GameCentral gets to play the board game version of Monster Hunter: World expansion Iceborne and its new four-player co-op mechanics.

There’s still a chill in the air in Manchester, even though we’re well into spring, and that’s not just because I was lucky enough to attend the preview event last week, for the upcoming board game version of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. The event was at Chill Factore, the UK’s longest indoor ski slope, which boasts £31 million worth of real snow – more than enough to make even the Ice dragon Velkhana feel at home.

I was in Manchester visiting Steamforged Games, the publisher behind the highly successful Resident Evil board game series and the Elden Ring board game on Kickstarter (you can still make a late pledge here). They are keen to follow up on the overwhelmingly positive reviews for the 2021 Monster Hunter: World board game, which raised around £3.5 million and is dropping on backers’ doorsteps as we speak.

At the Iceborne event, press were invited to play though a prototype of the game; it’s not due for release until 2025, so it might go through some changes before it hits the shops and backers’ doorsteps. That might be beneficial considering my table were all wiped out after the fourth turn, by an area of effect attack from a creature called a Barioth, and didn’t even get to encounter the more powerful Rajang waiting in the wings.

Iceborne’s board game version will be a standalone experience, based on the same card deck game mechanics as its predecessor. It’s designed for one to four players, complete with its own icy tundra maps, a new assortment of weapons to craft from their scraps, and, most importantly, fresh monsters to hunt.

Just like the video game, you join a team of hunters who trek out into the wilderness (of your tabletop) to track the beasts to their lairs. On the way you might attract the attention of other roaming monsters and have to battle them as well, for a prize of a pile of leftover teeth and claws.

These resources can be crafted into weapons and armour, which will be invaluable as the game introduces progressively more powerful monsters. But you’ll have to manage your health and stamina carefully, as you use cards to move or pull off attack combos. Potions are limited, so never dismiss the thought that it might be time to disengage and dodge.

Velkhana should paint up nicely (pic: Steamforged Games)

‘One of the first questions I ask whenever I’m looking at a potential IP for us to translate from a video game onto the tabletop spaces is why would you play this? And not that? So why would you spend your time, because at the end of the day we’re all quite time poor,’ Steamforged co-founder and creative director Mat Hart told me.

‘I take quite a lot of responsibility, for if I’m trying to get someone to spend time on a product that we’re making… it needs to deliver value for that time. So we look at games like Monster Hunter and most of the time there is a singular experience. Even though you team up with other hunters, they’re generally other people like you sitting in their living rooms with a headset on and you’re battling this monster together.’

Steamforged Games has introduced the iconic clutch claw to the board game, allowing players to quickly close the distance to their prey. It’s a staple of the video game and while playing I saw it in action, as a fellow player swooped in and latched onto the Barioth’s flank, to make a swift attack and inflict an impressive amount of damage – although ultimately even that couldn’t save us from defeat.

In the Iceborne video game the Turf Wars mechanic caused a stir when introduced, forcing players to change up their strategy as stray monsters were prone to jump in and join a fight at any time. The board game sees Turf Wars as an opportunity to keep things exciting and players off their phones as behemoths do battle.

Monster Hunter World Iceborne: The Board Game – all the cards are new (pic: Metro.co.uk)

‘The clutch claw gives you a huge amount of manoeuvrability and opens up a lot more opportunities for different attack vectors. There’s new behaviours for the creatures but the most exciting one, the biggest cinematic is Turf Wars – when another monster invades and now you’ve got double the trouble,’ reveals Hart.

‘You have two monsters hiding in a tight space and you’re dancing around the edges trying to continue on your mission and not get crushed by either of them.’

Iceborne creates an immersive experience with its stunning artwork, which was scaled up to poster size for the event, so we could appreciate the fur on each Palico’s coat. We even got to grips with the impressively weighty miniatures, which sport admirable attention to detail, and will look as good painted up in a glass cabinet as they do on the tabletop.

During our brief time with the game, we only got a glimpse of what the longer campaign might have to offer but we found the real-life co-operation on the tabletop just as satisfying and immersive.

Rajang are tough enough without being dragons (pic: Steamforged Games)

‘This game is a cooperative event, one of the most brilliant things about board games is that you almost always do them with people actually near you in real terms. So you have a human-to-human experience. But for me, I like getting together with mates. We have a few beers, we play some games, we take the mickey out of each other, we roll some dice, and we have a brilliant time,’ said Hart.

‘So if you’re if you’re aware of Monster Hunter and you like the idea of hunting big monsters, as part of a team, each with their own cool abilities, now you’re doing it with friends around the table and having a great social, real-world experience.’

Iceborne’s Kickstarter campaign goes live latter this month, and while you might have to steel yourself for a long wait, before you can start air brushing these minis, from our brief playthrough it promises to be an exciting addition to the Monster Hunter franchise and worth the investment if you’re a fan or just looking forward to a scuffle in the snow with a Pukei Pukei, come Christmas 2025.

‘Our goal with this game was to capture that sense of working with other hunters to take down terrifying large monsters,’ says Hart. ‘It captures the cinematic nature of it, creating a memorable experience and moments that will stay with you after you finish playing the board game.’

The Monster Hunter World Iceborne: The Board Game Kickstarter begins on May 18.

And you thought video games took a long time to make (pic: Steamforged Games)

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GameCentral gets to play the board game version of Monster Hunter: World expansion Iceborne and its new four-player co-op mechanics.