Defenders of the Realm Expansions

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hentzau
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Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

RW and I have been having a few conversations about DotR via PM, and he asked me my thoughts on the expansions, so I thought I would throw out some info here so everyone can benefit from my opinions. :) I'll start off with the Dragon Expansion.

If you are looking to up the difficulty level of your DotR games, this will certainly do it. The expansion comes with three new dragons, plus a re-tooled Sapphire that is even tougher than the original Sapphire. In addition to the new generals, you get a complete replacement Darkness Spreads deck for the new generals, as well as some new special hero cards and new global effect cards, plus a scoring system for keeping track of who is going to be the "King's Champion" of the game if you happen to survive. If you are King's Champion, you get a special bonus item the next time you play with that character. Plus some new quests tied into the dragon theme as well. Also, rules to use the Dragons as "agents" of the existing generals, and you also have new rules for the minions, and rules for King's Blessings (kind of a get out of jail free card.)

Sapphire is now a stone cold bitch to defeat. The more dragons there are on the board, the more hit points she has. Combine that with her 5+ to hit, and she is damn tough.

Brimstone is a royal pain in the ass. He doesn't advance along a path to Monarch City along a path, he just flies all over the board, and wherever he lands, he sets that space on fire. Once 8 (I think) regions are on fire, the next time he moves he moves directly to Monarch city. A region that is on fire costs 2 action points to move into, and minions taint there when you get 3 or more in a space. Oh, and if you get 3 or more of his fire elementals into a region, they also set it on fire. So this is giving you another thing that you have to constantly be battling, putting out fires.

I don't remember much about Hemlock and Onyx, but I do remember their minions. Onyx' (the black dragon) minions are berserkers...if there are any of them remaining after you combat them, the deliver one wound to you. After each combat round. So if you don't get them all in one attack, you're getting wounded. No more swooping in, swinging a couple of times, and moving back out without taking any damage.

And then you have Hemlock's Imps. Oh, how I hate you, Imps. Whenever you draw an imp card, you only ever place a single imp in the location indicated. And then, place a single imp in EVERY OTHER ADJACENT LOCATION! This is SUCH a pain in the ass. It causes overruns all over the place, plus you spend a ton of time worrying about running out of green minions. If you end a turn in a space with them, they don't hurt you...they steal a random card from your hand. Imps suck.

The global effect cards are another way that the game can screw you over big time. You take all of the "All is quiet" cards out of the Darkness Spreads deck, and then shuffle in five random darkness spreads cards... 2 bad cards and 3 good cards. When these effect cards are drawn, it remains until the next global effect card is drawn and replaces it. A bad turn of this card can really screw you. The one that sticks out for me is the Mana Drain card...when this one is drawn, you can't use any power or ability that relies on magic. Talk about neutering your sorceress! Other ones like Inns Closed, where you can't access inns for healing or cards.

We've only played with the dragons one time, and we played the Dragon Rampage scenario with it, and TOTALLY got our asses handed to us. We had only managed to defeat one of the dragons before Brimstone landed in Monarch City and set the place ablaze. We were so busy dealing with fires and imps and taint that we couldn't get any quests done, so we had no augmentation to help us. it was a lot of fun, but pretty frustrating too. We could all tell by about the second turn that we were really in trouble.

Now, this is a pretty pricey expansion. You get 3 painted dragons, and a couple of decks of cards plus the cards for the generals and the chits for anywhere from $35-40 online. But it does add a ton of customization, with the idea of you using the base set and the dragons and adding in whatever features you want to the game. I think it's worth the price, but YMMV.

Next up, some thoughts on the Hero Packs.
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Remus West
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by Remus West »

bought it. :oops:
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by Chaosraven »

Remus West wrote:bought it. :oops:
noooooooooooooooo!
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Remus West
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by Remus West »

Chaosraven wrote:
Remus West wrote:bought it. :oops:
noooooooooooooooo!
Why? It looks really cool.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken
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hentzau
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

Hero Packs:

Eagle Games has just released 3 separate hero packs for DotR. The packs contain 4 new hero cards, new minis for the heroes, some event cards, and sometimes some extra tokens, depending on the characters. The event cards are used just like the event cards in the Dragon Expansion.

So far, I have only played with the Heroes in Hero Pack 1. In the game we played with the Dragon Expansion, we played with the Adventurer, the Assassin, and the Chaos Wizard. The Chaos Wizard was great fun, being able to draw upon the taint in the land to be able to add on to his chance of success, but there's a good chance he might injure himself as well. The Adventurer mostly got extra cards throughout her adventures, could hold up to 14 cards at a time, and had bonuses to solving quests. With the Assassin, when you attack for the first time, you automatically discard 1 minion prior to rolling the attack, can land a deathblow on generals (gives her an extra attack if the general has 1 wound left at the end of combat), and she can shadow walk, where you spend an action at the end of your turn and disappear from the board, to reappear within 3 spaces of where you left at the beginning of your next turn.

Overall, these heroes didn't knock my socks off. The chaos wizard was fun, but we didn't see a whole lotta use out of the Assassin and the Adventurer.

I have the other three packs, but since I haven't had a chance to play them, I can't really comment on them. But there is a nice variety of character tropes showing up, like druids and thieves and felines and shamans and monks.

Now, about the Event Cards...there's a big giant kerfuffle around the event cards because, for some reason I really can't fathom, Eagle games RANDOMIZED the cards in the hero expansion packs. So even though you may have bought the Dragon Expansion and all three hero packs, there's no guarantee that you will get a complete set of the 28 cards. When word got out about this, there was a mighty uprising against the practice. Eagle Games says their intention was never to create a "collectible" element for the game, they just threw the extra cards in as a bonus. Plus, they are selling a pack of the Event cards on BGG here, and these cards too are randomized. Richard has said he was going to work with Eagle games to get it fixed for everyone, but so far there has been no word as to how they are going to do that.

I do like the Hero Packs. They add a ton of extra variety to the game, but are a bit pricey (like everything about this game.) But I gladly forked over my money for them, and bought them directly from Eagle Games because they threw in the pre-painted minis for the game for free (and I just checked their site and they are still doing that.)

Also, check out the Eagle Games site for the Barbarian character. It was a promo that has been made generally available, and is quite a nice character...when she defeats more than one minion in a single attack, you get to remove one minion from every adjacent space as they fear her wrath. :)

Also also, there was apparently an Errant Paladin promo they were giving away at Gen Con. I wasn't able to lay my hands on one, but it apparently has the same exact stats as the paladin, with a Broadsword of Might...roll doubles on any of your dice and you eliminate all of the minions in that space.
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

And it looks like I might have something published in an upcoming DotR expansion! Woo-hoo!

They're publishing a "Quests of The Realm" expansion, where they are replacing the existing quest cards with full-sized cards (thank god!) plus publishing 40-50 new quests, and adding "Fellowship Cards" which really sound intriguing. Richard already had a ton of new quests, but he put out a request for additional quests. I sent in a couple, and one of mine was chosen, so, barring play testing, I'll have a quest in the game (plus get a free set of the cards.)

Linky...
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by Remus West »

Nice. BTW, I'm hoping to get a game in with you at Octocon just to be certain I'm doing everything right.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

Remus West wrote:Nice. BTW, I'm hoping to get a game in with you at Octocon just to be certain I'm doing everything right.
Always happy to play a game of DotR!
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

Alert! Errant Paladin card available for purchase on the Eagle Games website!

Link

And it's a hell of a bargain!!!
List Price: $95.88
Our Price: $1.99
Sale Price: $47.88
You save $93.89!
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by Isgrimnur »

They've corrected the numbers.
List Price: $9.99
Our Price: $7.99
Sale Price: $1.99
You save $8.00!
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by MythicalMino »

I love this game, but I REALLY hate that they randomized all the Global Effect cards in the Hero Expansions and the Global Effect packs (through BGG). I bought the expansions, plus one pack from BGG, and I have 9 (NINE!!) duplicates. Give me a break.

I read that eagle games was trying to figure out a way to fix that problem...but I have yet to see anything beyone, "Eage Games is trying to come up with something to fix that problem".

At any rate...anyone on here have duplicates that they are willing to maybe trade?

Chris
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by Remus West »

MythicalMino wrote:I love this game, but I REALLY hate that they randomized all the Global Effect cards in the Hero Expansions and the Global Effect packs (through BGG). I bought the expansions, plus one pack from BGG, and I have 9 (NINE!!) duplicates. Give me a break.

I read that eagle games was trying to figure out a way to fix that problem...but I have yet to see anything beyone, "Eage Games is trying to come up with something to fix that problem".

At any rate...anyone on here have duplicates that they are willing to maybe trade?

Chris
I think I have some doubles that came in the Dragons expansion. I just figured they were supposed to be that way. Were there supposed to be unique global effects? In any event I will double check that but assuming I do have some dupes I'd happily trade for different ones.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

Check your cards again in the Dragon expansion, RW. You shouldn't have gotten any dupes in that set, that set was supposed to be a standardized set.

And I too have a ton of duplicates, from the BGG pack as well as all of the Hero Pack expansions. I need to give it another look through, but I should have a list soon of any that I have for trade. I'll post it here.

And also if I should happen to talk to Keith from Eagle Games any time soon, I'll ask him about their plans for "fixing" this.
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by MythicalMino »

I hate to say it, but I feel that this is a black mark on this awesome game. This is probably one of my favorite games to play. Easily one of the easiest to get other people to come over to the house to play, and very easy to run solo. Just this decision to randomize those cards makes no sense...especially the price point for the hero expansions.

Oh well...
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by Remus West »

MythicalMino wrote:especially the price point for the hero expansions.
This made it so that I currently have no intention of buying any of the hero expansions. Maybe if I see one on sale.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by MythicalMino »

I don't mind that the price of the Hero Expansions were what they were, but to put the Global Event cards in randomly at that price is where they lose me.

I really like all the new Heroes, to be very honest. They add lots to the game, in my opinion. None are overpowered, and their abilities are useful at certain times. I just really dislike the Global Event cards being randomly placed.
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

Remus West wrote:
MythicalMino wrote:especially the price point for the hero expansions.
This made it so that I currently have no intention of buying any of the hero expansions. Maybe if I see one on sale.
I'll have all of my hero expansions at Octocon, so you can look through them and see what you get. :)
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by malichai11 »

Can this be played with more than 4 players?
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

malichai11 wrote:Can this be played with more than 4 players?
There's an optional rule (from the game's creator) where you can play with 5 or 6 people. For each person you add, you reduce your maximum hand size by 1, and you also get rid of an "All Is Quiet" card from the Darkness Spreads deck.
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

Oooh...
Eagle Games on Twitter wrote:Eagle Games is in the process of developing a new stand-alone Defenders of the Realm game by Richard Launius. Details forthcoming...
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Re: Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by Remus West »

hentzau wrote:Oooh...
Eagle Games on Twitter wrote:Eagle Games is in the process of developing a new stand-alone Defenders of the Realm game by Richard Launius. Details forthcoming...
Interesting. Very interesting, Mr 'zau.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken
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Defenders of the Realm Expansions

Post by hentzau »

hentzau wrote:And it looks like I might have something published in an upcoming DotR expansion! Woo-hoo!

They're publishing a "Quests of The Realm" expansion, where they are replacing the existing quest cards with full-sized cards (thank god!) plus publishing 40-50 new quests, and adding "Fellowship Cards" which really sound intriguing. Richard already had a ton of new quests, but he put out a request for additional quests. I sent in a couple, and one of mine was chosen, so, barring play testing, I'll have a quest in the game (plus get a free set of the cards.)

Linky...
Well. Three years later, and I finally got my free quest deck! I'm still waiting on all of the rest of the Defenders of the Realm Minions expansion I kickstarted, but I got my cards!

Enlarge Image
“We can never allow Murania to become desecrated by the presence of surface people. Our lives are serene, our minds are superior, our accomplishments greater. Gene Autry must be captured!!!” - Queen Tika, The Phantom Empire
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