Legend of Drizzt Board Game Review

Legend of Drizzt - DND Adventure System
by Wizards of the Coast

For 1 to 5 players

Play time 1.5 hrs

Setup time 15 mins

Teaching time 15 mins

Disclaimer - I have not played any of the other DND Adventure System board games (Castle Ravenloft & Wrath of Ashardalon)

Legend of Drizzt is a board game themed around "The Icewind Dale" Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore which is based around the dungeons and dragons world. The board game is a cooperative game where up to 5 heroes team up together to go dungeon crawling in order to come out victorious in their quest. The game features characters, villains and quests from the R. A. Salvatore's novels. You and your friends may choose to play the legendary king dwarf Bruenor Battlehammer or the quick witted halfling, Regis, or the courageous barbarian, Wulfgar, or the beautiful, Cattie-brie. Of course Drizzt is also a hero you can choose to play who in my opinion is super powered in this game.

Players will delve into the caverns to fulfill their quests. They start on a start tile and reveal additional cavern tiles when exploring. Monsters appear in the caverns and attack the heroes. Traps and encounters happen. Treasures are found. All these happen until either the heroes complete their quest or one hero gets knocked out with no healing surge available at the start of his/her next turn.

Gameplay 7/10

At the start of the game, a quest is chosen and read aloud to set the dungeon crawling mood. Players choose a hero to play, takes their respective hero board and figure, chooses their hero's active and passive skill cards to use during the quest, and takes their hero stance tokens, and hit point (HP) tokens.The hero figurines are placed on the start tile unless specified otherwise in the specific quest.
According to the quest book, instructions are given on which cavern tiles to shuffle together for the particular quests and whatever else that needs to be prepared. Then the game can begin.

Each turn follows a pretty strict flow - hero moves and/or attacks, exploration happens or does not happen, encounters happen, monsters activate and attack. Player cards are provided for each player to remember which actions to perform. After a turn or two, everyone will be familiar with the flow.

Just like a DND dungeon crawling game, each hero will have movement points showing how many squares they are allowed to move, what's their armor class for defense and their hit-point value. Each hero in this game also has a special ability, something only that particular hero can do, which may be special attacks, special effects or special actions they can perform during the game.

Players use their hero's movement points to move their hero around in the cavern which grows bigger every time someone decides to explore.

Attacks happen via a D20 (20-sided die) die roll. The player decides which At-Will power or Daily power to use before the die roll. Bonuses and effects if any are added to the die roll based on the cards. Then the armor class of the target is subtracted from this value. If the value is still a positive number (including 0), then the target is damaged. Damage is given based on the attack power card used (usually 1 or 2 damages).



When the monsters activate, they follow the pre-programmed instructions given on their respective monster cards. The monsters move and attack as stated on the cards. Sometimes their attacks may also poison or immobilize the heroes.

Rinse and repeat, the heroes continue exploring, fighting and defeating monsters until they reach the goal tile, which reveals the boss monster or any other objective that the quest book has provided. Once the heroes complete the quest, they win! If either hero gets knocked out and at the start of their turn, has no healing surge to stand up again, then the heroes lose the quest.

Experience 8/10

It is a great idea to have a co-op with monsters acting on their own instead of having a player play the dungeon master and controlling all the monsters. This way, every one gets to play together as a team, all against the game system. I love how the cavern tiles reveal themselves during exploration rather than having the whole map already there at the start. It gives a realistic sense of  actually crawling in the dungeon.



Because they made a game system to go against you, you can actually play solo, which IMO is more fun than a multiplayer game (you get to control everything). It is not so difficult to control 2 or more heroes solo. I can finish a game solo in half the time it takes for any number of players to play.

Playing this with other players, if there is an Alpha gamer (most often the owner of the game), the one who knows all the powers that every hero has, this one person may take control of the whole game and every one else will just be following. Games like this get really boring when really the only decision you can make is, well, none... You get to roll the die and watch the cavern unfold and cool looking monster figurines get placed on the tiles, some towering over your heroes.



Saying all this, we do enjoy this game from time to time. Kids love it because it looks cool. We love it because we get to do some real dungeon crawling, not knowing what will turn up at the next corner. If you're just looking to have a fantasy session, becoming imaginative heroes, looking to have a few laughs over drinks, then get this. If you're looking for medium to heavy strategy, then get the Castle Ravenloft DND Adventure board game. It is the same thing as this but ups the difficulty significantly.

Replayability 7/10

The quest book is filled with 13 quests with different ways of getting to your objective. Some will pit players against each other, some will divide you into teams, and one which will insert a hidden traitor that no one, even the traitor himself, would know until the end of the game.

So far we have not gotten the chance to try out these other quests yet, so I'd say the replayability is still there. However, most of the people in my gaming group would go with Descent if they wish for a dungeon crawling board game experience. Which means that this game stays on my shelf until I manage to find another opportunity to bring it down again.

Components 7/10

The figurines look good, color coded, some bigger than others. The boss figurine is a cool looking demon. Not expensive if you consider how many figures they are giving you for the price you pay.



The rest of the components are sturdy and card stock is thick. However, the art looks a bit dull and bland. There are many tokens and the box has compartments to place them. You will just have to figure out which works best for you.

Overall 7/10

I had the hots for this game for over a year before I got my hands on it. Everything from the mechanics to the tile laying to the dungeon crawling and to the characters, all of it drew me to this game. This would be a good gateway game for those players who are thinking of getting into tabletop RPG but are not sure they would like to spend the time and effort to sustain one.



Good for casual gamers who like dungeon crawling. You can finish a session in an hour and a half.

Pros:
Nice figures
Good mechanics of tile laying and monster activation
Kids can learn how to add and subtract

Cons:
Art bland
Difficulty - easy
Light, new gamers will find it a chore to understand how to use their powers/weapons


Variants
There are many other self-created quests online that you can print out and use. Many ways of using the game system to meet your gaming group needs.

You can actually use the components in this game for a your very own Tabletop RPG dungeon crawling. It is a very good system that is set up.

You can also get the rest of the DND Adventure Systems to combine and create your own dungeon.

Legend of Drizzt - After a few playthroughs (Pictoral)

Legend of Drizzt Board Game -

a pictoral summary after a few playthroughs

Finally got my copy of Dungeon and Dragons - The Legend of Drizzt board game. After playing it with a friend, I could not wait to get my hands on my copy. Unfortunately, my circumstances meant that for the next 3 months, I will be away with my wife to a foreign land. Which meant no board game nights for 3 months! 

For the last 3 weeks, I have been playing this game solo until yesterday night when Wifey agreed to join me on a dungeon crawling session. Wifey is more into casual games like Dixit, Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne. So dungeon crawling would be a significant step up for her. We did not do so well together in our first game though with more plays, we might improve our strategies. 

Here, I will post some photos and summarize on a few sessions. Unfortunately, I cannot remember all the details to every session. But all the pics I took would go to waste if not posted. So just for my entertainment and yours, I will do a quick summary of some of the games that I managed to get some pictures from.

What a finished board looks like. After winning this game, I decided to lay out all the monsters I encountered during this session on the board and take a pic. Looks like Catti-brie is in trouble. Let's hope Wulfgar gets there in time...

Catti-brie stumped to find a Feral troll after failing to defeat the monsters she had stumbled upon. IMO, kiting is child's play to Catti-brie. With her ability to move an extra 2 spaces after exploring, the whole board can be filled with monsters and she will still survive after exploring again.

The Feral Troll, the most formidable monster in the whole game, not counting villains. Look at it towering over our hero. If its swipe hits, your hero goes flying out the window (if there were windows in caverns)

A close up shot of the Feral Troll's nasty grin. Looks like our hero is getting an arrow to launch at it.

In this session, Wulfgar and Athrogate team up to find and defeat Shimmergloom, the dark dragon. Our first explore brought the drow wizard who teleports to a tile with the most heroes and attacks all the heroes. Then a Feral Troll pops up to join the fight. "Tempus!", shouts Wulfgar to the God of Battle.

Athrogate quickly summons Snort, his pet boar, after being surrounded by spider swarms.

Snort goes down after an encounter with a water elemental. Snort goes in for the attack, deals one damage and dies beside the water elemental. His sacrifice will not be in vain!

The battle with Shimmergloom. A close call. Athrogate is knocked out while Wulfgar uses the last healing surge to get up and deal the killing blow to the fiery dragon! That was a lucky session, yes it was...

Bruenor goes after Yvonnel Baenre with Dinin, the drow-spider mutation of Drizzt's brother, by her side. A secret tunnel lies nearby for Bruenor to escape. "Juz 'n case me shield is not enough for protectin".

Wulfgar toweing ove a Goblin Champion. Goes who wins, Thor's hammer or big axe...

This was a memorable one yet. The dice were killing us with lousy rolls. And how lucky for us to land on two Feral Trolls at opposite ends of the hallway. Run, heroes, run!

Wulfgar standing up against another Feral Troll after defeating his first Feral Troll.

And that's all folks...

Tune in for more session reports from time-to-time.

Descent 2nd Edition Review

Descent 2nd Edition - Journeys in the Dark

2-5 players

Play time 2.5 hrs avg

Setup time 20 mins

Teaching time 20 mins

"Descent: journeys in the dark second edition is a narrative board game in which one player takes on the role of the treacherous overlord, and up to four other players take on the roles of courageous heroes. Featuring double-sided modular board pieces, countless hero and skill combinations, and an immersive story-driven campaign, descent: journeys in the dark second edition transports heroes to a vibrant fantasy realm where they must stand together against an ancient evil.this updated version of the classic board game of dungeon-delving adventure features a host of enhancements, including new heroes and monsters, streamlined rules, a class-based hero system, campaign play, and much more"

I had the privilege to play this with an introductory board game group (A group that introduces new board games). Two sets of Descent were opened and two overlords ran two games simultaneously. We played Fat Goblin Encounters 1 and 2. It was an awesome experience altogether. I played a hero necromancer who reanimated a skeleton over and over again. It might be just me but I felt like the overlord was being lenient on us. The first game went by without the overlord using any of his overlord cards. He lost and we, the heroes, won. The second game, the overlord wanted to win so he used advanced monsters to up the challenge but we tied that game. The dice wasn't on his side that day but I did feel that the overlord could have won that game if he made the right choices. 
Okay okay too much blab, on to the review...

Gameplay 9/10

I did research this game a bit before I played it which made me want to buy it. Now that I have played the game, I really want to buy it!

Mechanics are very simple to teach and the details can be taught as the game plays out. It takes some time to setup the maps and choose the heroes and monsters. It is pretty straight forward - Refer to the quest guide (mostly one page per quest), fix up the puzzle maps together as shown on the quest, read out the objective and special rules, heroes are chosen by the players playing heroes, overlord choosing his/her open monsters. As soon as the objectives of the quest is understood and the players know how to read their hero cards, the game can begin.

Everything here makes sense - the movement of heroes, the straightforward objectives (the overlord has objectives as well), the attacking using dice, etc. It is a dungeon crawl encounter that makes sense, definitely up my alley. Every turn, a hero gets to perform two actions, whether to move and attack, attack and attack, move and move, stand up (after getting knocked out), or rest (to heal fatigue). You can also move, attack and then continue with your leftover movement for two actions.

For monsters, they also have movement and attack dice, almost exactly like the heroes. The lieutenants that the overlord controls (boss monsters) are exactly like the heroes with stats and everything. However in Descent, you will not see any adding up of points and stats like you see in DnD games. They streamlined this to make it accessible to everyone. Which doesn't take away much from the game at all.

There is a really creative, strategic mechanic that is added called "Fatigue". You use fatigue to do extra moves, but your fatigue is limited so you'll have to strategize when best to use it. It adds to your decisions which gives seasoned gamers good strategies to incorporate.

The dice really add to the game. They have creatively created different colored dice to represent the intensity of one's attack or defense. On some of the faces, each die has a lightning bolt symbol as well which represents surges. These you use to activate different skills and spells your hero/monster may have. Range is also embedded in the dice for range attacks. All these add both luck and strategy to the game.

There are 20 quests in the scenario book. You can either play them as individual encounters or link 16 of them in campaign mode. Campaign mode offers so much more as you get XP to increase the skills of your heroes or overlord cards for the overlord and the heroes also get gold to spend in between Quests to get better equipment. I love games that allow leveling up. It just allows one to be the character instead of just playing it.

Some players would like this - no one dies in this game. They just get knocked out and lose a turn to come back around the next time, or another player can use one of his/her actions to revive a hero adjacent to him/her.

The Experience 8/10

The experience is good. There are some balancing issues where the first few quests are easier for the heroes. I guess that just makes the challenge more worth the win for the overlord. I have not played the later quests yet, so I cannot say much here.

Replayability 9/10

I see this getting many plays especially in campaign mode. Whether we will get tired of this, I'm doubting. With 16 Encounters to complete, this is definitely replayable. The number of cards you can get also attracts you to play more. The monsters, however, remain the same few so you'll be seeing a lot of them being reused in various quests as you play.

The fact that this is only semi-coop would mean that it is definitely replayable to see who can be the best overlord. The number of heroes that a player can pick can also be factored in.

There are so many big and small expansions available for Descent 2.0 that it looks like the game is endless. As an adult who has a day job to keep, my time in board gaming may be only twice a month. So this game would probably last me way more than a year if I consistently play this.

Components 9/10

Oh gosh how do I begin. The map tiles are beautifully printed and sturdy. They will last a lot of games. They fix together to form a stable map (not easily broken if the table is knocked). 
The cards are durable and beautifully designed. Hero cards are big but skills and equipment are small - probably to reduce the play area. 

The miniatures, and oh so many of them, are sweet... Monsters in red and white, heroes in grey. the heroes are pretty small. Would prefer bigger ones but it does not hinder the gameplay. The lieutenants (evil bosses), however, are in token form (like what?). Yea, they didn't have enough cash to make these into miniatures so now they sell the miniatures separately and each one cost a bomb, well to me at least. It would be nice to have them with the base set, but oh well.

There are many tokens for conditions, health markers, fatigue, etc. The tokens are thick and coin sized, which I appreciate over pea size ones. I hate losing my pea size tokens.

Overall, really good components. Opening this will be just like opening a toy box.

Overall 9/10

I might give this a 10 once I own it and have played a few more quests. Every moment I'll be thinking about the game. But currently, it is sold out at my favorite board game store. 
A dungeon crawl that is a must have for any board gamer into dungeon crawling/delving and leveling up. One of the best productions of Fantasy Flight Games. Go get it!

Pros:
Gorgeous components
High replayability
Engaging gameplay
Rules make sense
Character enhancement

Cons:
Needs the right group to play with (Some over-competitive people take an hour to make one decision)
Balancing issues between the Overlord and the Heroes


How did you find this game? Let me know if there are some things i might have missed out that you wish to hear...



























Awesome components
Awesome gameplay
Awesome experiences

Lieutenant tokens? Are you kidding me?
May be a bit complicated for the light gamer