MonToons: Guardians of the Coral Isles, an Action Packed Print and Play Game Preview
- Bert
- May 5
- 5 min read
"The MonToons of the Coral Isles, accustomed to conflict, now face an unprecedented event, one which promises to fulfill an ancient prophecy: The Tidalmark. As the Waystones of the island’s territories become supercharged, the most powerful MonToon warriors from all factions will traverse sand, sea, rock and reef to claim unimaginable power and etch their names into its vast history." We will be taking a deep look into MonToons from MNSTR Games and seeing what all the hype is about.
Setup
First thing to do is print out the game board and the characters you will be using. I am in front of my computer for most of my day with the day job and working on this site so I like to disconnect and print out the pages. If you have some tablets you could play this on them. In this case I do think it works better in printed form and as an added bonus go ahead and laminate those sheets so that you can play MonToons: Guardians of the Coral Isles over and over again because you will.
There is a common battle map that the players will navigate during the game and each player has their own player board. In addition to that each player will need a writing utensil, a token or mini (it can be one of those unpainted ones you have, no judgement) for their MonToon, and 5 six sided dice. Finally players will need a marker for the Waystone on the battle map. Once the players have printed up the game and collected all the bits and bobs, players will be ready to battle it out on the Coral Isles.
Game Play
There are two paths to victory in MonToons: Clash of the Coral Isles. First players can defeat all the other players and be the last one standing on the battle map. The second and more interesting way to win is to claim the Waystone. Claiming the Waystone is done by navigating the puzzle on the players player sheet and/or using a players ultimate attack to deal damage, and unlock 4 of the Waystone bonuses.
The planning phase is a very exciting part of this game with all the players rolling, placing and then finally revealing their well or maybe not so well laid plans to the other players.
MonToons: Clash of the Coral Isles has two phases to each turn. The first is the planning phase where players will roll their dice pool. Then players will decide where to place their dice on their player sheets. Placing the dice will activate things like movement, attacks, and marking progress on the Waystone chart. Additional each planning phase players have to use one of their dice on the speed value spot. The speed value will determine play order for the turn. The planning phase is a very exciting part of this game all the players rolling, placing and then finally revealing their well or maybe not so well laid plans to the other players. Its a flurry of excitement.
On a players sheet there are sections each associated with the different actions they will take. In each section there are places for players to play their dice during the planning phase. There are sections like movement that allow players to move their MonToon around the board. A player may only make one move per turn. There are several attack sections one for basic, special and the ultimate attack. Basic actions work like the movement where a player will play a dice that meets the conditions of the space they wish to activate. For example a space may have "1-3" on it indicating that only a die with the numbers 1,2, or 3 may be played there.
A player may make only one special attack per turn and only two of each special attack per game. They are exhausting to the MonToons.
Special attacks and the Ultimate attacks have more of a variable condition for placing the die. For example you might be placing the second die on the special attack for Hoku and you can only place a die that is higher than the first. In order to use the special attack a player needs all the spots in the row filled in with numbers. This makes the special attack available to use. A player may make only one special attack per turn and only two of each special attack per game. They are exhausting to the MonToons.
On the player sheet there are a few other bonuses and trackers/ Players will track various statuses, health, and bonuses. This adds a few extra sections to fill out the player sheet. The player sheet is full of stuff but in the best way possible. They have squeezed so much on the player sheet but designed it in an elegant way that makes game play very intuitive and easy to learn.
Finally to the Guardians expansion... The Guardians add a ton of variability to the game. Players are dealt three random Guardians; a Bonus, a Utility, and a special Guardian. As the names implies a bonus Guardian will supply a player more bonus spots to use. A special Guardian will give players a small minigame to solve for more bonuses and abilities. Finally the utility guardians will give the player some passive abilities and other movements or base attacks to use. Its really interesting the combinations that players can come up with using the new Guardians.
To use a Guardian you must awaken the Guardian's bond. To do this you must complete the requirements on the Guardian. This gives these new abilities a bit of a cost that is totally worth going after. The expansion adds a lot of flavor and awesome new abilities.
Thoughts
This is my first foray in to MonToons and I loved the base game. The Guardians add a lot of variability to the player setup and add a lot of replay value to the game. The bonuses and unlocking all the new attacks and abilities that the Guardians add. The base game alone has a lot of charterers to choose from adding in 3 random Guardians from the expansion give the game so much more. Its a lot fun to unlock the Guardians as you are trying to deal damage to the other players.With 4 players the game is crowded but this makes it feel like a royal rumble there's no where to hide and the strategy is exciting.
You can't beat MonToons: Guardians of the Coral Isles Guardians for the price. The print and play aspect of the game gets you a new game without shipping or tariff costs. The game plays with only a few sheets of paper and some dice making it ultra portable to the office for lunch break, on a picnic, or even to your local brewery. If your out and your playing MonToons be prepared for people to come look at all the cool artwork on the game.
Players: 2-4
Year Published: 2025
Recommended Ages: 10+
Time to Play: 45-60 minutes
Bert's Tabletop games was provided a review copy of MonToons: Clash of the Coral Isles. The game depicted here is a prototype copy of the game and the final copy may vary from what is depicted in this review.
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