GKR Heavy Hitters review - box feature

GKR Heavy Hitters Review: Killer!

Play Time: 60-120 Min / Players: 1-4 / Complexity: Medium / Age: 12+ / Publisher: Weta Workshops & Cryptozoic Entertainment / Designer: Matt Hyra

GKR Heavy Hitters Ratings and Summary

BoardgamingParent.com

Teen Rating
Parent Rating

Summary

Teen rating from our son (14).

Teen view: “Don’t think I will ever get bored of this game, hard to master but so much fun.”
Parent view: “Exceptional tactical skirmish game that looks amazing.”

4.8

Pros

  • Components are exceptional quality and look amazing
  • Lots of variety in the heavy hitter decks and each heavy hitter is unique. Leads to great replay value
  • Lots of action and combat
  • Interesting combat system
  • Great tactical decisions on offer.

Cons

  • The direct conflict may be a bit much at first for more sensitive or younger players
  • Set up can take a while and means it may not get to the table as often as it could.

What You Will Find in Our GKR Heavy Hitters Review


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Weta Workshops is an exceptionally talented New Zealand based special effects and design company. They can take the credit for some ground-breaking work in movies like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Avatar, Blade Runner 2049, Mortal Engines and Dune to name just a few. So, what does that have to do with board games? Well turns out they fancy themselves as board game designers as well. Designed by Matt Hyra, GKR Heavy Hitters is a light tactical skirmish game published by Weta Workshops and Cryptozoic Entertainment.

The first time I played GKR Heavy Hitters was at our local board game convention with my son. We were immediately struck by how amazing the game looked on the table. My son begged me to buy it and as I mulled over what amounted to quite an expensive purchase on the ride home, we found out he actually won a copy from the convention prize draw! He was ecstatic. As you would expect the visuals are gorgeous here as they should be, but was there enough game in that box to justify the price point? Read on to find out.

Overview: Pilot your GKR Heavy Hitter to glory by knocking out your opponents or demolishing buildings

In the distant future abandoned cities have become giant arenas where mega corporations compete to gain lucrative salvage rights and advertising dominance. As a mech pilot you will have to use all your tactical skill to pilot your Giant Killer Robot to victory, gaining loyal fans along the way. Naturally your fans are also valuable consumers so tagging your corporation’s logo all over the arena will make your sponsors very happy.

GKR Heavy Hitters is a tactical skirmish game that combines deck building, area control, hand management and an interesting combat mechanism. There’s quite a bit to it, but as far as tactical skirmish games go, it is simpler than most. 

How do you play GKR Heavy Hitters?

Objective

There are two ways to win GKR Heavy Hitters, you can win by destroying your opponent’s Heavy Hitter or demolishing four buildings. You demolish buildings by tagging them with your corporations’ logo four times.

Set Up 

GKR Heavy Hitters requires you to set up various buildings on the board according to one of the handy battlefield maps contained in the rule book. You have four beautifully crafted mechs to choose from, each with their own unique deck of faction cards. Part of the fun is putting together your deck which determines the weapons your mech carries as well as movement, deployment and reaction cards.

But what’s a killer robot without a pilot, right? You have a range of pilots to choose from each with an ability that provides a subtle advantage. Nothing game breaking but useful none the less.

There’s also a dashboard for each player that tracks your energy use and helps to organise your cards into draw, discard, and damage piles. Aside from these items you will also need to shuffle a pile of sponsor cards that represent rewards for tagging buildings and place the upgrade track somewhere handy.

Be aware set up can take a while.

Turns

GKR Heavy Hitters review - board and robots
There’s a lot to consider in GKR Heavy Hitters, range, line of sight, weapon selection are all factors during combat.

Turns have five phases, each player will get a chance to complete a phase before the next one is triggered which minimises down time. The phases allow players to deploy drones, move units, engage in combat, tag buildings, and reset, in that order. There are numerous interesting and challenging choices to make during the game and you will find that you get progressively more invested in the wellbeing of your gorgeously crafted killer robot.

Your faction cards play a dual role in this game, they enable deployment, and combat but they also function as your health. For every point of damage received you must sacrifice a faction card. Choosing which one to go without often leaves you a bit sour as you place it in the damaged systems space on your dashboard.

Each player can deploy one of three unique support units (combat, repair, or recon) to the battlefield. The clever thing about these is that each plays a different role in the battle. For example, recon units can fly over structures and improve your line of sight to assist in targeting weapons. Having a repair unit handy can take care of any bumps and bruises to your precious heavy hitter which is also incredibly useful. Managing support units effectively is critical to success in this game.

Movement requires precious energy, which is scarce, we often agonise over how much energy to spend on positioning our Heavy Hitters. Any energy spent on movement leaves you less available for combat cards. The balancing act here leads to some very interesting trade-offs. Sometimes energy management can be a deciding factor during a turn.

Once your units are positioned you must decide whether to attack, with which weapons and who you will target. Buildings obstruct targets so you must ensure you have adequate line of sight for most weapons. All your decisions in the combat phase are constrained by the cards in your hand and how much energy you have remaining to use them. Aside from energy costs, range, and line of sight, weapon speed comes into play as well. The higher the number on the weapon card the sooner it gets to fire, this could make a big difference in battle.

Once combat is over you can tag buildings next to your units with your sponsors logo. This is one of the ways to win the game, if you tag a building four times it is demolished, which by the way means you lose your cover as well. As we mentioned, demolish four buildings and you win. Each building tagged also gives you sponsor cards which you can play in future rounds for some benefit.

What I haven’t mentioned yet is the achievements board. You can move up the achievements board if you have achieved certain conditions, it could be that you demolished a building or achieved a tricky alley shot maybe. There are three possible upgrades you can gain that can impact attack (for support and heavy hitter targets) and defence attributes.

Gameplay:  Expect agonising choices, lots of action and some great replay value

GKR Heavy Hitters review - cards
Faction cards are not just about providing you the weapons you need to attack, they also act as your health. As you take damage cards will be removed and are considered ‘off-line’. Once one player loses all their faction cards the game ends.

The price tag on GKR Heavy Hitters may put some people off, it is relatively expensive as far as board games go. However, if you compare it to other tactical skirmish games there is a lot of value in the box for what you are paying. For starters all the minis come ready to go, no painting or assembly required, the rule set is simpler than other games in this category and there is plenty of replay value in the core box without the need to add more minis or expansion content.

GKR Heavy Hitters is far more than a game with great table presence, there is some solid gameplay here. There are meaningful decisions to be made even before you step into the pilot seat of your Heavy Hitter and they continue throughout the game. Initially you will decide on your faction, they all have unique strengths. You will likely agonise over how to pull together your faction deck, this part can be a lot of fun in of itself. My son loves to lay out all the primary and secondary weapons and run through numerous combinations before he sits back satisfied and announces he is ready to go with a deck that will bury me!

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You are regularly thrown impossible choices and they all feel important. Do I spend my frugal allocation of energy to position my Heavy Hitter in a better spot for an alley shot or save it to use better weapons during my attack? Do I deploy the repair unit so that I am less vulnerable or the recon unit to make me a more lethal threat? Terrain, energy management, deck building, hand management, tactical awareness all require your attention, if you’re going to successfully pilot your Heavy Hitter to victory.

Then just when you think you have thought of it all there is the occasional spanner thrown in the works. You may plan the perfect attack only to have your opponent play a sponsor card that hacks your weapon and sends it directly to the damage pile before you get a chance to use it.

The way combat is resolved is clever and forces you to think carefully about your weapon choices. I like the fact that weapon speed is a consideration here, it’s quite satisfying revealing a card and watching your opponents face as they realise, they may have just lost a support unit before it had a chance to fire.

The varied factions, weapons cards, pilots, and battle maps all add up to a lot of replay value out of the box. If all that wasn’t enough to justify the price for this giant box of goodness there is also a solo mode, team mode and an advanced rule set to keep things interesting. Weta Workshop may have made its name in the movie business, but I really hope they keep producing board games, it turns out they are great at it.

One thing to watch out for is that skirmish games tend to be a little complicated to learn. GKR is simpler than most but as I have mentioned above there’s still a lot to wrap your head around. My son was 13 when he first started playing GKR Heavy Hitters and it took him a while to get competitive. Initially he was quite frustrated with his results and would get a little confused by the rules. If they can be patient though, after a few games it will make a lot more sense and become more enjoyable. 

Players at the younger end of the age range may find the direct conflict a bit punishing. It’s very rare for players to get knocked out early in a game, but for more sensitive players they may find the constant attack and defence a little much if they are not doing too well. It may be best to start off playing in teams for these players.

If I have one more gripe about GKR Heavy Hitters, it would be that set up time can take a while. I think it would hit the table more for us if it were a little quicker to set up. On the other hand, part of the enjoyment is in pulling together your deck so it’s just right and admiring the amazing minis as you set up the game.

Components: Weta Workshop clearly had high standards for GKR Heavy Hitters

GKR Heavy Hitters review - close up robots
The detail and quality of the minis is amazing in GKR Heavy Hitters.

This section is probably a bit redundant by now, but….I am going to write it anyway. The box for this game is HUGE, we don’t have anything in the house that comes close to it. Weta Workshop really has no respect for your shelf space, but that’s ok because what’s in the box will be worth it.

Publishers now days seem to be in a competition to out produce each other with flashy minis and components, there are a lot of games out there with stellar components as a result. However, I don’t think anything else really compares to GKR Heavy Hitters in terms of detail and quality.

Theme: Interesting, unique, and well executed

I really like the unique back story here, it’s quite interesting. You start to get attached to your Heavy Hitter as you upgrade it, deploy support units, and carefully stalk your prey. The whole package really comes together quite nicely through the components and gameplay. I think the look of the Heavy Hitters is a big part of this, they all are very unique and look striking.

Final Thoughts: GKR Heavy Hitters is a gorgeous skirmish game with exceptional gameplay to match 

By now its clear that we think this is an exceptional game. There is enough depth and variation here to keep this game interesting for a long time. I don’t think many games would come close to its table presence. If you are looking for a great introduction to skirmish games GKR Heavy Hitters is the total package.

Is GKR Heavy Hitters easy to learn?  Easier than most tactical skirmish games but still takes a bit to get your head around. There are a fair number of rules here, especially for combat and line of sight. It will take a couple of games before you start to feel confident.

What will GKR Heavy Hitters teach my teen? There is a lot to consider in this game and your teen will practice tactical awareness as well as learning how to optimise their approach for the strengths of their heavy hitter.

What age is appropriate for GKR Heavy Hitters? We think the suggested age of 12+ is about right. We have tried playing this game with our 7- and 10-year-olds, they loved it but needed a lot of help from adults. There are just too many rules for kids to get their heads around at that age.

Does GKR Heavy Hitters have good replay value? Great replay value due to varied factions, weapon cards, pilots, and different play modes. The base box should keep you going for a long while.

We hope you enjoyed our GKR Heavy Hitters review. If you have any more questions or just want to share your thoughts on this game please leave a comment below, or get in touch through our contact page.

About the Authors

We are parents who love board gaming. We have three children and have been enjoying board games as a family ever since we had our first child. We share our real unbiased experiences and opinions on board games so you can decide if they are right for your family. We also write guides and articles to help you get the most out of your family game time. If you enjoy our content and want to support us you can do that through our Ko-fi page by clicking on the button below.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can you play GKR Heavy Hitters Solo?

Yes, there are special rules included for a solo game.

Do you need expansions to enjoy GKR Heavy Hitters?

There is so much value in the box we don’t think you will need expansions for a long while. There are two currently available as at the time of writing though if you do want more:

  • Urban Wasteland includes ‘big little buddy’ mech, sentry guns, and some extra bling like plastic city buildings with rubble
  • Sweet & Salty Factions expansion adds two new factions.

What is the best player count for GKR Heavy Hitters?

GKR Heavy Hitters works great at 2 or 4 players. At 3 players there is a risk that two players duke it out and the third is left alone.

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