Tanto Cuore: Winter Romance
Japanime Games
Players: 2-4
Play Time: 45-60 Minutes
There is something about winter that makes you feel all warm inside. Maybe it’s because there are finally butlers here to wrap their arms around you. Tanto Cuore: Winter Romance is the fourth expansion in the Tanto Cuore franchise. Japanime Games is celebrating the franchise’s 10 year anniversary, so let’s see what the butlers bring to the table.
Tanto Cuore is a competitive deck-building game for 2-4 players. Players will take turns filling their house with their favorite maids as they race to earn the most victory points at the end. I won’t spend much time talking about the rules of the base game since I covered them in my review of the original Tanto Cuore, but I will go over the new mechanics that Winter Romance brings to the table.
Compared to the other Tanto Cuore expansions, Winter Romance is huge. The first thing that everyone will notice in this set is the presence of butlers. Yes, after tons of requests by fans, Butlers are finally in this game to bring the heat. There are 17 new unique general maids and butlers in this set. These can be used for a standalone experience or added to previous Tanto Cuore expansions. In addition to the new general maids and butlers, there are new chiefs, events, and buildings. Somehow, the addition of butlers isn’t the biggest addition to this game. In Winter Romance, there is a new dating mechanic where players can have their maids and butlers fall in love and bring in more victory points.
The dating mechanic is simple but brings a lot of charm and life to the already thematic card game. After acquiring the “Meetup Spot” building card, layers can pick a maid from their hand and choose to make an approach with a maid from their opponent’s hand. The approaching player wants their maid to have a higher cost value than the highest cost maid in their opponent’s hand. If they do, the approaching player gets to take the maid, and the two maids will sit in the private quarters with the meetup spot card. The meetup spot is worth a certain amount of victory points at the end of the game.
The new dating mechanic is a wonderful addition not just because of the enhancement of the theme, but also the added interactivity. While players have always been able to negatively interact with each other via event cards, this time it feels much more personal since maids are being stolen from the hand. Of course, there are event cards that can disrupt the relationships as well, specifically the “Trial” card. During a trial, the receiving player needs to reveal a 3-Love card, or their couple will be broken up. Players can protect their couples with the Chapel building card, but even this can be damaged with the Blizzard event.
The new general maids bring quite a bit of diversity to the game, with many of them making the game feel brand new. Previous expansions only slightly tweaked previous maids with a couple of new ones that interacted with new mechanics. In Winter Vacation, just about every maid brings something fresh to Tanto Cuore. One butler, in particular, interacts with Drama cards, which sit in their own deck and bring random events into the game. I’m not too fond of the Drama cards, but they can spice things up every now and again.
Winter Romance has my favorite art in the franchise by far. The winter theme is full of charm and is perfect for the game’s dating mechanics. The characters all look warm and there is very little fanservice in the set, which will be a relief for some fans. The linework from the various artists is superb as well. Most of the characters have unique designs and are full of lively expressions. This is a gorgeous set that truly stands out from the rest.
Tanto Cuore Winter Romance is a must-buy for Tanto Cuore fans, and certainly one to consider for fans of the deck-building genre. It’s full of life, has tons of content, and works great as a standalone game or expansion. The butlers are here and our homes are better because of it.
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Tanto Cuore Winter Romance
Tanto Cuore Winter Romance is a must-buy for Tanto Cuore fans, and certainly one to consider for fans of the deck-building genre. It's full of life, has tons of content, and works great as a standalone game or expansion. The butlers are here and our homes are better because of it.
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