Thursday, October 13, 2011

The Labyrinth: The Coming Of Drizzt!

Oh ... my... gods!
*begins praying to goodly, unaligned, and the evil gods of the forgotten realms*
Salvatore Fans Unite!!

For those of you who know or care about Salvatore and who he is and the work that he does then you'll understand alllll of the glorious 'geeking out' I'm about to do.
If you don't then follow along as best you can ^_^

While his new books have all been coming out in rapid succession to keep us eager readers happy there is now...a board game dedicated to some of the most iconic fights of Drizzt and his bad of friends.
*Faints*
When I first heard about the line of D&D board games my overall response was somewhere above Meh! and not quite as bad as Arrrggh!
But with the newest upcoming game box being a set all about Salvatore's most famous character Drizzit Do'urden AND his arch nemesis Artemis Entreri my heart rate definitely quickened.



If you go online to any of the many sources that tells you the general run down of the game it will say-

A cooperative game for 1–5 players based on the New York Times best-selling adventures of Drizzt Do’Urden.

The adventures of Drizzt Do’Urden, as told in the New York Times best-selling Forgotten Realms novels by R.A. Salvatore, come to life in this thrilling board game. Take on the role of the legendary drow ranger or one of his famous adventuring companions, battle fearsome foes, and win treasure and glory.

Designed for 1–5 players, this board game features multiple scenarios, challenging quests, and cooperative game play. The contents of this game can also be combined with other D&D Adventure System Cooperative Play board games, including Castle Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon, to create an even more exciting experience.




This game includes the following components:
  • 42 plastic heroes and monsters
  • 13 sheets of interlocking cardstock dungeon tiles
  • 200 encounter cards and treasure cards
  • Rulebook
  • Scenario book
  • 20-sided die


So while all that SOUNDS good on paper a bunch of you might be saying.. "what does that actually mean though about how the game played?"
For those of you that play 4th ed D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) this game should be VERY straight forward to pick up and learn.
You will be playing with your allies each playing one of the famous characters from the novels.
Just like in 4e you'll get a move a standard and a minor action.
You will use minis and tiles to set the scenario that you are playing out and there is an interesting fog of war effect that means that tiles only get flipped when players end on an adjacent unexplored edge. Enemies and terrain features are revealed like this tile by tile adding a great deal of suspense about what lays ahead.
Players have hp (hitpoints) for their characters and whenever they are struck in combat they lose appropriate hp equal to the damage done by monsters. Players hava certain amount of healing surge tokens that they start with based off which character they are playing and to restore hp they must



In short I've toyed around with the game as a single player and i think any gamer will enjoy the fantasy themes running through this d&d based game BUT if you're a Salvatore fan you'll be tickled pink. It's also worth mentioning that if you are a model hobbiest and enjoy painting minis you can spend many hours/day painting up the full sec of plastic figurines that come inside the box. Overall I'm giving the Drizzt D&D ADventure board game asolid 8/10 but I'll also openly admit I'm horribly bias. This drow has forever caught and earned a place in my imagination and heart. Here's hoping the new books continue to be as awesome as the last!

This has been the Labyrinth, and I'm Henry McCulloch. Game on!