Skillfully lead your Wolfpack on successful hunts to become The Alpha in this light, family friendly strategy game from Bicycle!
How do you play?
Over the course of the game, players will send their wolves on various hunts to track down different prey. Rival packs from other players are on the hunt as well, so you’ll have to outnumber them to become the dominant pack in the area.
Each round, players send their wolves out, one at a time, to one of the various hunting locations.
Larger prey will require more wolves to take them down, but a bigger prize means more competition.
Once the wolves have all been placed, the chase begins. Players roll a dice to determine the success of the hunt. If the hunt is unsuccessful, everyone leaves empty handed, if it is successful then the hunt must be resolved.
The dominant wolf pack in the area claims all the food from the hunt. However, if there is a tie for dominance, players must decide whether to fight or share the food. If you both fight, both dominant packs miss out on food as they become injured, each placing a wolf in the injured section on the board which will be unavailable the next round. If both wolves share, the food is divided up evenly, with any leftover portions going to any scavenger (non-dominant) packs in the area.
However, if one person chooses to fight while the others share, then the fighter gets ALL of the food while the others leave empty handed.
Any food earned during this phase advances your wolf on the food track. The wolf farthest on the food track at the end of 5 rounds is the Alpha and wins.
What do we think?
Overall we have mixed thoughts on The Alpha.
First let’s talk about what we like.
The theme is really well incorporated. I like the light worker placement/area control mechanic of sending out your wolves to various hunting sites. This requires players to think about the risks and challenges they may face trying to get bigger and more valuable prey. Not only will they be undoubtably competing with more wolves, but you are also more likely to have an unsuccessful hunt. Larger prey is harder to take down and thus the dice have more Xs on them to signify unsuccessful hunts.
However, larger prey means that even if you aren’t successful in taking the animal down the first round, you may wound it. This “Carrion” roll means that you’ll take half the prey now, and then flip the animal card over to reveal the carrion side which will be available the following round. So while the prey can get away, you still have a decent shot at a good haul.
Predictably, this means that more players are fighting over these bigger animal spots. So while you’re choosing where to send you wolves, you might decide that you’ll have more success tracking down the smaller, easier to catch prey and do just as well.
While The Alpha is a light game, these are all interesting decisions to make that families can enjoy together without worrying about increased difficulty. The box states that it’s for 10 and up, our daughter (8) was able to play it without any problems.
We also really enjoyed the prisoner’s dilemmas that came from tying for dominance in a region. At first blush a lot of us thought that fighting was the way to go because if you can’t have it then at least they can’t either. However, having a wolf injured was a huge blow in the next round, so sharing begins to look more enticing. But then, creeping in the back of your mind comes the thought, “But if they share, and I fight….I get it all!” This all brings a fun tension to the game without it ever becoming unfriendly and cruel.
Some of the things we didn’t like
The Alpha is highly luck based.
While above I just mentioned that we felt the theme is really well incorporated, (and it is!) it can be very frustrating to send your wolves out on targeted hunts only to come out empty handed and have wasted an entire round. Once a player gets out ahead, it can be impossible to catch them if the dice just don’t roll your way.
When it comes to strategy games, I like the luck element to be a bit smaller than it feels in The Alpha.
Also, for the amount of luck involved, the game seems to drag on a bit too long. For me, games with a high amount of luck tend to overstay their welcome at about the 20 minute mark. Anything beyond that I want to know that my decisions are what’s having the most impact on my standing in the game.
That’s not to say that the game is unenjoyable, but more that it just feels a bit long.
Finally, The Alpha’s requires 3 players minimum to play and even then, there’s still not really enough players to create a good amount of conflict and jockeying for dominance.
But with higher player counts, the game takes a bit longer as everyone is determining where they want to go which can change from wolf to wolf.
Summary
For us, The Alpha is one that we recommend trying before purchasing.
Playing the game is enjoyable and there are fun moments that come from the prisoner’s dilemma situations, but overall, while there isn’t anything that is glaringly bad about the game, there isn’t anything that is glowingly spectacular either.
If you have a larger game collection, you probably won’t get this to the table often enough to justify it, and if you have a smaller game collection there are better family games out there that flow a bit smoother with less luck and without the need to have 3+ players.
Highs:
- Theme is well incorporated
- Easy to learn with light strategy
- Prisoner’s dilemmas create tension
- Components are well made
Lows:
- A lot of luck
- Need 3 to play, with higher player counts being better
- A little bit too long.
A special thank you to the folks at Bicycle for sending us a copy of The Alpha for review. As always, our thoughts and opinions are our own.
Game Info:
Title: The Alpha
3-6 players Ages 10+
Designer: Ralph Rosario
Artist: Andrew Hutchinson
Publisher: Games by Bicycle
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like:
Exchange Review
Antiquity Quest Review
Great Board Games for Fathers (as chosen by my own!)
And don’t forget, you can easily find our favorite board games on our Amazon Storefront!
Leave a Comment