by mouselim
This review is given in 3 parts.(1) Components
(2) Gameplay
(3) Thoughts
Components
Box - a little filmsy. The cover easily comes off. Requires a binder (e.g. rubber band) around to ensure all items stay in the box if transporting it.
Gameboard - sturdy. Well use of space around the board to hold the cards (quest and intrigue and the respective discard pile), score tracker runs around the board, tavern at the top portion of the board, waterdeep port at the bottom portion of the board and the different areas in-between. The new building spaces are on the left and right side of the board.
Each designated spaces are well labelled and easy to navigate and comprehend.
Wordings are visible and eligible (though they are far and few). Most of the notations are depicted in graphics (cubes) and intuitive in its meaning.
Cards - they're well conceived and thematic especially the quest cards. For example, to destroy the vampire coven, a adventuring band of 2 clerics, 2 warriors and a rogue is needed. For those veteran RPG players, it reminiscene of you being one of the hired adventurer taking up the quest
Although the wordings on some cards are a bit lengthy and requires some reading.
Flavor text also add to the feel of the D&D theme.
Tokens - these will be the coinage (1 gold and 5 gold tokens), victory point markers, faction representations, agents and adventurers. Well thought and made. No complain on it (except that the adventurers are represented as cubes of different colors. On some occasions, players asking for 2 rogues and 2 warrriors will instead refer them as 2 black and 2 orange cubes - loss some thematic feel)
Storage - superb! Each components has it's place. Everything fits snugly in place.
Manual - straight-forward, well worded and definitely easily to follow. For quick reference, the last page of the manual will suffice. No complain about it.
Gameplay
Game is divided into 8 rounds of a number of turns. The highest victory points after 8 rounds will be the winner.
Each turn involves placement of an agent.
Gameplay can be summed as agent placement that will trigger the following (depending on area and play):
- acquiring adventurers
- acquiring gold
- acquiring quest (most often in the tavern)
- acquiring intrigue
- playing intrigue (only if agent is played on the waterdeep port)
- acquiring victory points
- setup building (only if agent is played in builder's guild)
- completing quest
Simple? Definitely. Easy to pick up for beginners. Depth? Immerse (but can be improved - see thoughts below).
Fun? Typical euro game with a D&D flair and theme.
Thoughts
This game is well-pace and fun. Interaction is good as there is indeed some sabotage/skullduggery and surprises. Re-playability is very good. Very Euro-style game whereby the resources are gold, adventurers and agents. Thereafer buildings can be a strategic component to achieving objectives too.
However, I felt that more interaction is still possible. The intrigue cards provide some sort of sabotage (e.g. mandatory quest) but not enough. As examples, I felt that quest can be stolen or achieved before the owner completes it. Adventurers can be lured away to join another faction, money stolen and buildings destroyed.
On top of that, the quests are also a tab linear. Currently, it's like "get the required resources and you can complete the quest". How about quests that requires other quests as pre-requisites? Hidden plot/agenda (besides the lord's) will also add another dimension to the game. These plots/agendas once revealed (possibly through particular intrigue cards or quest completion) will void any benefits/rewards that the plots/agendas will reap to the owner and also reduce player's victory points.
Special characters (e.g. Drizzt) will also help to broaden the gameplay.
Anyway, as it is now, it's still a superb game. Definitely a contender for top ten games of 2012 (at least within my chart of great games)
My ratings for it:
Components = 9/10
Gameplay = 8.5/10
Replayability = 9/10
Overall rating = 9/10