“Mass market title” only better” used to be a common cliche to describe eurogames.
But for real, this is Stratego, only better.
The joy and curse of becoming a connoisseur is realizing the inadequacy of your previous life.
However the pursuit of refinement has limits. After a few plays, I realized that the basic game is superior to the advanced version. The raw simplicity of this game is the race to opposite sides of the board with minimal interference.
I suspect the “legendary animals” variant (which is as clunky as it is themed) was thrown into the package because the publisher could not justify such a simple game in a big box.
However, I refrain from calling this game “over-produced” because this game only works because of this level of physical production. I don’t see how you can do a mini-version, even if the basic game is about as complex as Nine Men’s Morris.
This is a little filler that needs to be done up big.
Let the advanced gamers who desire unnecessary complication enjoy their legendary variant. The version that gets us to the real competition is most certainly the true game.