Endless is the game I never knew I always wanted. I have been playing it for a while now. My 8 year old and my wife love it and they have never played any of the video games it plays homage to. It is simply a wonderful game. For those of you who are fans of games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Shining Force, it is truly a thrill to play. It’s simple, it’s flexible, and using all those minis laying around from other games, it’s cheap to play. I show it to all my friends from my 90s childhood when they visit and they are always impressed with it too. Games take around one hour. The rules are concrete and clearly defined. The game and its permutations are stimulating and thoughtful to experience. At first I thought the system was too simple but now that I have lots of experience playing it I think it’s perfect. I wish a leveling/experience system would be fully developed and some unofficial crossovers to games like Shining Force. The system is simple flexible enough that I might just take that on myself.

Endless is the type of game I have wanted for a long time. After regular RPG play I yearn for a little competitive gaming, and EFT fits the bill nicely. It is the first "miniatures wargame" that my wife has enjoyed playing. I can easily teach it to friends in an evening, and they will remember most of the rules the next week. Overall the game simple enough that I can convince casual gamers to play it, yet detailed enough that I don't get bored with it. It bridges the gap between board game and traditional war game.

Key game details:

-Classic Fantasy Archetypes - Thief, Knight, Cleric, Sorcerer, Skeletal (Risen) Warrior, etc. Additionally the game includes classics from Japanese RPG video games like the Lancer, and Brawler (Pugilist.)

-No factions - Any classes/monsters you like can be combined to create a party.

-Grid based play surface - No tape measures. Anything from vinyl roll out mats to dungeon tiles work for play. RPG gamers should be good to go. The board is only limited to your imagination.

-Small Skirmish scale - Normal battles will be 4-10 models per side, 5 or 6 models being the most common.

-Unit Customization - Non-character models get to choose 2-4 abilities from a list of 5-10 on their card. This means you could field multiple archers (or whatever) and give each a different set of powers. Many models also get points with which to spend on items.

-Unique Initiative Mechanics - Players take turns activating models, but you have to set an activation order at the beginning of the game and can only move one model up or down the initiative order each turn. This puts more strategy into choosing the order of play.

• D6 Dice Pools, Opposed Rolls - Most rolls are opposed checks with both opponents rolling their dice and adding up successes. Damage is based on margin of success.

-Campaign rules/Co-op rules/Character progression - Though I play mostly standard VS. battles, there are rules for campaigns, and more play options like cooperative rules (with monster AI cards) in the soon to be released Miasma Wars supplement.