Cartographers Heroes

• Designer: John Brieger and Jordy Adan
• Publisher: Thunderworks Games
• Players: 1-100
• Age: 10+
• Time: 30-45 minutes
• Amazon affiliate link: https://link.amazon/B07jaOVRP
• Played with review copy provided by publisher

The expedition to the Western Lands is the kind of honor that comes once in a lifetime for a royal cartographer. But these are dangerous times. War ravages the land, and you are sure to encounter Dragul forces determined to thwart Queen Gimnax’s plans for western expansion. Fortunately, brave heroes have risen to the defense of Nalos. Chart their deeds alongside the queen’s edicts and secure your place in history.

Cartographers Heroes is the sequel to the critically acclaimed map-drawing game Cartographers. It includes all-new map sheets, scoring cards, explore cards, and ambush cards with unique abilities. Cartographers Heroes can be played on its own or mixed with components from the original game for a greater variety of gameplay possibilities.

Though this game is a bit old, I was introduced to it now as a precursor for an upcoming campaign version of the game – Cartographers Adventures – you can learn more about it at: https://thunderworksgames.com/products/cartographers-adventures

To set up, each player gets a map sheet and players should agree on which side to play on.  The Edict cards are laid out in a row and one scoring card from each of the four types is placed under each.  The Explore deck is constructed using all the Explore cards and one random ambush and one random hero card.

The game is played over four seasons – with scoring happening at the end of each.  There is a season deck to help you navigate the game.  In each turn of the game, there are three phases: Explore, Draw, Check.

Explore – Reveal the top card of the Explore deck, placing it in a column on the table with all the previous Explore cards.

Draw – if a normal card is drawn, each player chooses one of the available shapes and terrain types on the card and then fills it in on their map.  The shape can be rotated/flipped, must fit on the grid, must not cover previously filled spaces, etc.  The shape can be placed anywhere on the map.  If you cannot legally draw the designated shape, you must draw a 1×1 square with any terrain.  You can gain coins by either drawing a shape with a coin on it OR surrounding a mountain on your map.  If an ambush card is drawn, each player passes their sheet to an opponent who then draws the depicted monster somewhere on that map.  Be sure to leave the ambush card on the table so all players can reference its ongoing effect.   If a hero card is drawn, players draw a 1×1 square for the hero and then it can attack based on the pattern shown on the card, thus destroying monsters.  The attack pattern also protects spaces from monsters being placed their later.

Check – Each season has a time threshold, seen in the corner of the current season card.  Add up the time values of all the Explore cards played so far, and if it meets or exceeds this threshold, the season ends.   At this time, score the Edicts which are shown on the season card (i.e. score the cards under A and B at the end of Spring).  Players also score 1 VP for each filled in coin symbol and lose 1VP for each empty space adjacent to a non-destroyed monster on their map.  Finally, check to see if any Ambush cards from the season have effects that now trigger.

To start the next season, reveal the next season card.  Take the current explore deck, add one more random hero and monster card, shuffle everything and begin the next round.

At the end of the fourth season, the game ends.  The player with the most points wins, ties broken in favor of the player who lost the fewest points in the empty spaces next to a monster category over the course of the game.

A finished sheet by @bkunes at BGG – you can see how nice it looks when you have artistic skills and colored pencils

My thoughts on the game

OK, so yeah, it’s not often that I review a game that is 5 years old, but this one was new to me at Gen Con 2026, and I was happy to give it a try.  Though I’ll admit that the whole XXX-and-write genre has not been my favorite as of late (everything has started to feel same-y), I do remember liking the original Cartographers, and I wanted to see if this brought back good memories and hopefully something new to the gaming table.

There is a lot to like about Cartographers Heroes.  First, the scoring objectives are all interesting, and the cycling nature of the game presents the player with some interesting options.  You will want to focus on different things for each objective, and you know the order in which they will be scored.  This does allow you to plan ahead a bit – say that you have to draw something that doesn’t particularly help you now; well, you can at least try to put it into a place that will score later.  Additionally, as it loops around, I do like the way that you’ll want to meet the first criteria in both the first and last rounds.

Second, unlike most XXX-and-write games, this game is not simultaneous solitaire. You’ll likely have at least one Ambush each round, and when this happens, you’re at the mercy of your opponent who will then draw said Monster on your board.  Not only will this eat up some of your real estate that you were going to use for drawing other things, there are also ongoing effects that you’ll have to deal with until you’re able to destroy every space of that monster.

The combination of these two elements helps this game stand out for me amongst the crowd of XXX-and-writes.  I have played it mostly 2 player, and I think it works very well at that number – especially because the whole Monster placement thing becomes a duel between the two players.    Though the game is a bit old, it’s new to me, and it’s gotten a fair amount of playtime this year.  I look forward to adding it to my small shelf of XXX-and-writes that remain in the game collection.

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Mark Jackson: An incredibly pleasant flip’n’write game that works like a charm as a solo game… and also works well as a “over Facetime/Zoom” game if you use the solo rules for monster attacks. The Skills mini-expansion adds another level of decision-making that works well. Adding a set of colored pencils makes my maps look even better!

I’ll also throw in kind words for the Heroes stand-alone expansion & the six new map packs… they add some variety to the game without overly complicating the system. (The only hassle is how to store the game and the pile of maps in the two small boxes.)

BTW, the implementation on BGA is very good. 

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Mark Jackson
• I like it. Dale Y
• Neutral.
• Not for me…

Amazon affiliate link: https://link.amazon/B07jaOVRP

Soon to come Crowdfunding link for Cartographers Adventures: https://thunderworksgames.com/products/cartographers-adventures