Got to play this at Dice Tower Con where it was released and even ended up picking up a copy. Great game, lots of fun. The only complaint I might have would be some rules could use some clarification and there are a few wording mistakes, but the designers are very active on BoardGameGeek with answering questions players may have.
I own all of DotR, the new Dragon expansion, all the heroes and general upgrades, and I still Kickstarted this. I'm glad it lives up to it's predecessor and will consider this a "spin-off" game when I want to scratch that itch. Thanks for the review guys!
This might be odd to ask but does this game play a little like eldritch horror? I know these games are commonly compared to pandemic, but this seems to have many story elements added into it. Gameplay wise, it feels like it could fit in between pandemic and EH which sounds super cool! Really considering this!
I mean, Richard Lanius (one of the designers of this game) was one of the people that made Arkham Horror (the game that Eldritch Horror was based on), so it might not be coincidence that you see similar aspects.
When a game has to rely on using that many different decks of cards i feel that it is covering up for poor mechanisms or just padding it out to make a simple game feel heavier. I guess that is why I am coming to prefer euro games to thematic. I just played Mombasa last weekend and it is a deep, heavy game that only uses one deck of cards (and does so in an innovative and interesting way).
There's a lot of decks, but each is for something useful. You have a deck for spawning and moving gangs and leaders, you have Defender cards to get some action and to fight the leader. Which make you choose between using for action or keeping to use against Leaders. Then you have mutations, artifacts, specials, missions, and adventure. Each deck has a purpose linked with the theme...if you like pandemic you should look at this because the core is spreading and overrun, but if you don't like dices, then keep your cubes. It's not because a game has a lot of stuff that it has poor mechanism, i's if you say, if there is too many kind of cubes, it's poor mechanism, here you have minis instead of cubes, you have cards instead of cubes, and you have dices to keep things unsecured...that's all.
Could you provide a frame of reference on the miniature? For example, how do they compare with Bioshock, Last Night on Earth, Mice & Mystics, or the D&D Dungeon Crawlers?
This game looks pretty good. Got the Pandemic outbreak mechanism and the Eldritch Horror expedition mechanism which is interesting. I'd definitely play it and give it a try. Looks kinda pricy though. 110 dollars MSRP?
Ha! Ha ! got the last and only copy in Europe just now ! I'm someone who dreams of Mad Max Thunder Road getting a re-print. I bought Route 666 Devils Highway as a sort of compensatory measure...
DotR is an excellent and awesome game. But Searching for each city sucks, It should have a mini map on each card with an indication of where the city is located. The art is very very ugly indeed, though it is very clear in use and functional. The second ed. of the Dragon expansion is a step forward though. With all due respect to Larry Elmore, wouldn't it be nice if Michael Menzel would paint the board, Adrian Smith do the creatures and on a clean card design like Ashes... Ah well... Too bad they haven't learned the lesson that well since this Last Stand box just doesn't pop. Missed opportunity, I'll stay with my DotR.
What is the difference between miami dice and the regular reviews? I thought that MD was for big releases but scythe and cry havoc were not reviewed as such.
To be even more specific, Miami Dice is generally Tom & Sam (with Zee, occasionally). Regular reviews are generally just Tom, and Everything is Awesome reviews are Tom & Jason. I don't think there's a hard rule on which type of games show up in each series, but you can make some assumptions based on who is paired with Tom.
Problems with DotR: Longer than Pandemic, but not more fun, Losing was random where you just draw 3 cards and boss happens to move all 3 times and so he went from 'he only moved once this whole game' to 'he got to capital city and now we lost'. Things I liked about DotR: Love coops and fighting monsters that keep coming, enjoyed rolling a bunch of dice, love different powers and enemies are different. Would I like this game? I ended up selling Defenders of the Realm mostly cause I never brought it to the table (also hated the board, it was very difficult to find the right place and there was no reason to know that 'evergreen mountains' was on the bottom left or middle right of the board'. What say you commenters?
I bought Defenders of the Realm because I love fantasy games but was a bit disappointed. I just didn't care for the game play. My son liked it, even loved it. I would play it but never request it, so I sold my copy. Theme won't change my mind on this. The Apocalyptic theme is my favorite genre and very few games exist with it. Fantasy is my 2nd, and tongue in cheek is ok I guess, but may not help get my post apocalyptic itch scratched well enough.But again, the game play would wreck it for me.Would I play it, sure, just like I would play Defenders of the Realm, and would play this a bit more faster and easily, at least the 1st time. But gonna pass on buying this game.Thanks for the review!
+Doma Agape yes thank you for your reply, I picked up the game, and have to agree that it is very thematic. I really like the flavor of each different factions. Enjoy!
Got to play this at Dice Tower Con where it was released and even ended up picking up a copy. Great game, lots of fun. The only complaint I might have would be some rules could use some clarification and there are a few wording mistakes, but the designers are very active on BoardGameGeek with answering questions players may have.
Miami Dice #200 coming soon! Congrats!
I own all of DotR, the new Dragon expansion, all the heroes and general upgrades, and I still Kickstarted this. I'm glad it lives up to it's predecessor and will consider this a "spin-off" game when I want to scratch that itch. Thanks for the review guys!
I saw the game at CMoN Expo 2016. The game might be great but it is certainly missing any kind of visual appeal.
I'm surprised Zee didn't give this a shot, since it's pandemic with a theme he likes.
From the review it sounded like he played this and liked it more than Defenders of the Realm.
This might be odd to ask but does this game play a little like eldritch horror? I know these games are commonly compared to pandemic, but this seems to have many story elements added into it. Gameplay wise, it feels like it could fit in between pandemic and EH which sounds super cool! Really considering this!
I mean, Richard Lanius (one of the designers of this game) was one of the people that made Arkham Horror (the game that Eldritch Horror was based on), so it might not be coincidence that you see similar aspects.
Bartertown? "We don't need another heee-ro!"
Listen, all I wanna know is if there's a guy on a gyro.
Great idea for a game, by the way.
When a game has to rely on using that many different decks of cards i feel that it is covering up for poor mechanisms or just padding it out to make a simple game feel heavier. I guess that is why I am coming to prefer euro games to thematic. I just played Mombasa last weekend and it is a deep, heavy game that only uses one deck of cards (and does so in an innovative and interesting way).
There's a lot of decks, but each is for something useful. You have a deck for spawning and moving gangs and leaders, you have Defender cards to get some action and to fight the leader. Which make you choose between using for action or keeping to use against Leaders. Then you have mutations, artifacts, specials, missions, and adventure. Each deck has a purpose linked with the theme...if you like pandemic you should look at this because the core is spreading and overrun, but if you don't like dices, then keep your cubes. It's not because a game has a lot of stuff that it has poor mechanism, i's if you say, if there is too many kind of cubes, it's poor mechanism, here you have minis instead of cubes, you have cards instead of cubes, and you have dices to keep things unsecured...that's all.
Could you provide a frame of reference on the miniature? For example, how do they compare with Bioshock, Last Night on Earth, Mice & Mystics, or the D&D Dungeon Crawlers?
This game looks pretty good. Got the Pandemic outbreak mechanism and the Eldritch Horror expedition mechanism which is interesting. I'd definitely play it and give it a try. Looks kinda pricy though. 110 dollars MSRP?
Ha! Ha ! got the last and only copy in Europe just now ! I'm someone who dreams of Mad Max Thunder Road getting a re-print. I bought Route 666 Devils Highway as a sort of compensatory measure...
How does this game compare to Eldrich Horror, by the same designer?
This video reminds me of Castle Panic & Pandemic.
I would like to see a Defenders of the Realms 2.0 after these... that game can use ALOT of improvements... specially on the board
DotR is an excellent and awesome game. But Searching for each city sucks, It should have a mini map on each card with an indication of where the city is located. The art is very very ugly indeed, though it is very clear in use and functional. The second ed. of the Dragon expansion is a step forward though.
With all due respect to Larry Elmore, wouldn't it be nice if Michael Menzel would paint the board, Adrian Smith do the creatures and on a clean card design like Ashes... Ah well... Too bad they haven't learned the lesson that well since this Last Stand box just doesn't pop. Missed opportunity, I'll stay with my DotR.
Mad man villa and Barter Town, a tribute to Mad Max
Cool review!
What is the difference between miami dice and the regular reviews? I thought that MD was for big releases but scythe and cry havoc were not reviewed as such.
the regular is a one person, miami dice is 2 or 3 person review. besides that nothing, size and hype does not matter.
To be even more specific, Miami Dice is generally Tom & Sam (with Zee, occasionally). Regular reviews are generally just Tom, and Everything is Awesome reviews are Tom & Jason. I don't think there's a hard rule on which type of games show up in each series, but you can make some assumptions based on who is paired with Tom.
Problems with DotR: Longer than Pandemic, but not more fun, Losing was random where you just draw 3 cards and boss happens to move all 3 times and so he went from 'he only moved once this whole game' to 'he got to capital city and now we lost'.
Things I liked about DotR: Love coops and fighting monsters that keep coming, enjoyed rolling a bunch of dice, love different powers and enemies are different.
Would I like this game? I ended up selling Defenders of the Realm mostly cause I never brought it to the table (also hated the board, it was very difficult to find the right place and there was no reason to know that 'evergreen mountains' was on the bottom left or middle right of the board'.
What say you commenters?
How long is this game?
I bought Defenders of the Realm because I love fantasy games but was a bit disappointed. I just didn't care for the game play. My son liked it, even loved it. I would play it but never request it, so I sold my copy. Theme won't change my mind on this. The Apocalyptic theme is my favorite genre and very few games exist with it. Fantasy is my 2nd, and tongue in cheek is ok I guess, but may not help get my post apocalyptic itch scratched well enough.But again, the game play would wreck it for me.Would I play it, sure, just like I would play Defenders of the Realm, and would play this a bit more faster and easily, at least the 1st time. But gonna pass on buying this game.Thanks for the review!
How thematically engrossing is this game?
Sounded like to me, Sam said it was very thematic.
+Doma Agape yes thank you for your reply, I picked up the game, and have to agree that it is very thematic. I really like the flavor of each different factions. Enjoy!
Thanks
This game is so good!
Why didn't they make the troll expansion for dotr instead?????? If you own dotr, why would you pay big money for this too?
Different publishers. But seems like there is little reason to own both.