The Lost Dragon Ball Z Board Game Saga

Hey BroZ,

The years end had us digging through our cameras, and there was one thing we forgot to cover after this year’s Gen Con : the Dragon Ball Z Board Game Saga. We got a hands on experience at Gen Con thanks to Lynnvander Studios, however we haven’t heard much about it since then. The Lynnvander website lists it as a 2017 Q4 release, while publisher Jasco Games just lists it as “coming soon” in an article from September.

In November, IDW Games announced that they would be publishing a series of board games based on Dragon Ball Z (and we all know what happens when a new company picks up the DBZ license), so the future of this game seems a little shaky. It was a fun game to play though, with an hours long mode built in to let you play a single character from the Saiyan Saga all the way though Buu Saga.

At Gen Con, we only had access to five characters: Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien and Yamcha. Each has a unique card power, and you can also see at the bottom of each card a series of dots that tells you what sagas that character can be used in (Goku, Piccolo and Krillin can be used in all sagas, while Yamcha sits out of the Frieza and Buu Sagas for being dead/useless).

Please keep in mind that these images and the rules we played with are from a demo/mock-up and will change in the final version.

You can train and build each character by leveling up and making them more powerful with Techniques (these are special cards that give you huge bonuses such as more attack power or drawing cards) and you can start replacing basic cards in your deck with stronger versions. In Retro DBZ this would be like having to start with a Physical Attack but able to replace it with a Physical Attack +3 or Physical Attack, Gain an Anger (your choice based on how your character is shaping up).

You move around the board between several locations either battling villains, finding Dragon Balls or recuperating/training. The Dragon Balls are necessary to bring killed players back into the game, and it can actually be a GOOD thing to be killed as your training is accelerated in the afterlife (just make sure someone stays alive to wish you back).

Villains are introduced with lower-tier guys first and leading into to big bad of the saga (Vegeta, Frieza, Cell and Majin Buu). In the Saiyan Saga, Raditz and Nappa appear first and can flood the board with Saibamen. Clearing them out paves the way for Vegeta, who upon taking down will bring the saga to a close.

We were very excited about the game, and we hope that it will be released soon. Our friends at Random Number Gaming also got some video and an interview with one of the developers at Gen Con. Give it a watch if you’re interested in the game.