Fantasy Fantasy Baseball (CSE Games)

The first game of the World Series was last night. Thankfully, the Yankees aren't in it, but I'm realizing that a lot of people hate the Dodgers as well. Maybe, you're like me though and don't care about the World Series because your team didn't make it...again. (Thanks, Atlanta!) So what are you going to do when the season ends and you can't play fantasy baseball anymore? How about a little Fantasy Fantasy Baseball? Fantasy Fantasy Baseball is a game for 1 to 5 players, ages 10+. It takes between 20 and 50  minutes to play and retails for approximately $30.

Setup
1. Place the Stat Track Board and Infield Board in the middle of the playing area.
2. Give each Manager (player) a Team Card and the corresponding color of Pegs, Turn/Waive Order tokens, and Wizard miniature.
3. Randomly select a first Manager (starting player), placing that Manager's token on Waiver Order 1. Going clockwise around the table, place the other Managers in the next Waiver Order spots.
4. Shuffle the Win Cards and place them face down on the pitcher's mound on the Infield Board.
5. Separate the Character Cards into five tiers and deal each player - 3 Rookies, 1 Pro, 1 Specialist, 1 All-Star, and 1 Hall of Fame to make a hand of seven cards.
6. Each Manager then drafts their team by simultaneously picking a card from their hand and passing their hand left. Continue doing this until each Manager has seven cards.
7. Shuffle the remaining Character Cards and place them face-down to the left of the Stat Track Board.
8. Lastly, have each Manager discard one Character Card from their hand to form a discard pile to the right of the Stat Track Board.

Game Play - A game is played over three months (rounds). Follow these five steps each month:
1. Prepare - Deal out four Win Cards face up around the four bases.
2. Free Agency (skipped in the first month) - Flip Character Cards from the Character Deck equal to the number of Managers + 2. This is the Free Agency Pool. Then, going in Waiver Order, each Manager has the option with claiming a Character Card from the Free Agency Pool. If they do so, they must discard a Character Card from their hand. After all managers have had this option, discard all Character Cards in the Free Agency Pool.
3. Set Rosters - Each Manager places four Character Cards (face down) around their Team Card forming a diamond. Where you place the card next to your Team Card corresponds to the base on the Infield Board. Your remaining two Character Cards are left on the bench for their magic ability.
4. Play Ball! - All Managers reveal the 1st Base Character Card simultaneously. Then, going in reverse Waiver Order, Managers have a chance to activate a Character Card on the bench. Compare the stats of all Character Cards and highest one corresponding to the Win Card claims it. If you don't claim the Win Card, you may advance on the Stat Track Board. Repeat this step for all four bases.
5. Cleanup - Update the Waiver Order by making the Manager with the fewest Wins first in Waiver Order. Return Character Cards to the Manager and repeat these five steps if it is the end of Round One or Two. If the end of Round Three, the top two players have a best of seven series using this same format.

Review
The artwork and the components in this game are top notch. The graphics and illustration is playful, but competitive with many varied fantasy creatures to play with. If you are a fan of baseball at all, you will recognize some references to actual baseball players. For example, former Chicago Cubs second baseman Ryne "Ryno" Sandberg has been immortalized in bear format as Ryno Berg. As for the game play itself, it is a fairly simply and straightforward draft and hand management game. What makes the game most interesting to me is deciding which cards to play, where to play them, and when to play your bench guys. Each of these decisions is important and can result in you claiming a win or getting a loss. I also like the variable game play you can create with the event deck. This adds more replay value to the game and creates a new level of depth with the game. What I don't like about the game is the elimination of people. After three rounds, your player count drops to two players for the championship game. Everyone else playing either has to wait for the game to finish and play again or find a different game to play. That's no fun! Overall, this is a fun and inviting game and is perfect for the game and sports lover in your life. Check out future Fantasy Fantasy titles including Football and maybe Hockey soon?

This game was provided to me for free by CSE Games in exchange for an honest review.