Board game review: The Legend of Drizzt board game

Year of release: 2011
Publisher: Wizard of the Coast
Number of player: 1-5
Suitable for: Age 8+ to adults

Wizard of the Coast released "The Legend of Drizzt" board game in 2011. The game is based on New York Times Best Seller, R.A Salvatore's Drizzt novels.

I am a fan of Salvatore's Drizzt novels. They are good stories full of adventures, fun and excitements. If you have never read Drizzt novels, I highly recommend that you pick them up and give it a go. Today I am not here to talk about Drizzt novels, I am here to talk about a board game based on Drizzt novels.

Description:

This is a fantasy themed, dungeon crawl, co-operative adventure board game, where up to 5 players can control characters from Drizzt novels, and play as a team to beat adventure scenarios. This game is very thematic, and is set in the fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons. Personally, I have never played any Dungeons and Dragons game before, but this game is not really a Dungeons and Dragons RPG. Legend of Drizzt, is an adventure board game using streamlined rules from Dungeons and Dragons franchise. For example, in The Legend of Drizzt, rules are modified so you don't need the dungeon master, and all players can in play co-operative mode as a team. This also means this game can be played by 1 player (solo adventure). In other words, Legend of Drizzt, is a Dungeon and Dragon board game designed for "everyone" and the game length is not very long unlike a traditional Dungeons and Dragons game.

Game components:

The Legend of Drizzt board game comes in a big and sturdy box. The box is packed full with components!  In terms of miniatures, there are 9 hero miniatures, 5 villain miniatures, and 26 monster miniatures. There are 40 cards for heroes and monsters, 200 encounter cards and treasure cards, 32 sheets of dungeon tiles, 22 sheets of edge cavern tiles, a lot of tokens, a rule book, a scenario book, and finally, the famous D20 die.

The quality of the plastic miniatures is pretty good. The miniatures are made of flexible plastics, so they won't break easily. 

There are 8 heroes to choose from. All these heroes are from Drizzt novels, and each character has his/her unique abilities. Some characters are more powerful than others, but the skills of these characters complement each other, and players have to work as a team to achieve victory.

Each hero has unique a skill set and abilities, and their presentations in this game are very faithful to Drizzt novels. This means everytime you use a different character to play the game, your entire tactic will also have to change according to the character you are using. One really feels like he/she is playing the game as one of the Icewind Dale heroes from Salvatore's novels.

The game board is modular, it has 33 sheets of tiles and 22 sheets of cavern edge tiles. Depending on the size of the scenario you are playing, the size of the dungeon may vary accordingly.





In every turn, the player will likely draw a new tile and connect to the existing tile. From the gameplay point of view, this means the layout of a dungeon will always be different every time you play, adding replayability to this board game.

Each hero has unique powers, and his/her respective weapons. These are dictated by hero cards. Some of these powers can only be used once, while some powers have unlimited use. As a player adventures, he/she will also collect treasure cards when he/she defeats monsters.

 
The scenario booklet contains 13 scenarios. Most scenarios are events from Drizzt novels, so if you are a Drizzt fan, you will definitely love these scenarios because they will allow you to play through some of your favorite events from Drizzt novels. Such as the battle against the dragon Shimmergloom, or the epic battle from Siege of Darkness.

Gameplay:

After players have chosen a scenario and picked the hero he/she want to use, the game starts. The core game mechanics of this game is very simple and easy to learn. During the player's turn, he/she will perform 3 steps before passing the turn to the next player:

1) The Exploration phase:

During this phase, the player can move his/her hero, or attack monsters. When the player moves his/her hero to the edge of the tile, a new tile is drawn and connected to the existing tile. After the tile is put down, a new monster card is drawn, and a new monster appears on the new tile.

Combat is played out by rolling the dice. When the player targets a monster, he/she can choose which weapon (or power) to attack the monster with. Then by adding the attacking rating shown on the weapon card to the number rolled on the dice. The player then compares this number to the monster's armor class rating. If the attack rating exceeds (or equal to) the monster's armor class rating, then it is considered a successful hit. For example, a player using Drizzt can attack a hunting drake (armor class 14) using his weapon, Icingdeath, which has attack rating of 6. If the player rolls 9 on the dice, than the total attack rating is 6+9 =15, which is greater than the hunting drake's armor class rating. The player successfully hit the hunting drake and killed it.

When the player defeats a monster, he/she can take the monster card and accumulate the experience, which can be used to level up the hero, or to be used to discard the encounter card. Simultaneously, when the player defeats a monster, he/she can also draw a treasure card, often provides aid to player in his/her adventure.

2) Encounter phase:

If, during the exploration phase, the player draws a tile with a black arrow, or if the player did not draw a new tile, then the player has to draw an encounter card. Most of the time, bad things happen when an encounter card is drawn. These encounter cards make this a very difficult game to play, I've had many experiences when my entire party is heavily damaged because I've drawn some bad encounter cards. For new beginners to this game, the encounter cards can be a bit overwhelming and might put off new players.

3) The Villain phase:

In the villain phase, monsters (or boss) on the board activates, moves and attacks a hero. Monster attack is the same as hero attack. The player rolls the dice (for the monster), and add the number shown on the dice to the monster's attack rating. If the total rating exceeds (or equal to) the armor class of the hero, then the hero looses health point. When a hero's health point reaches 0, the hero is knocked out and can only be restored by a healing surge token.

After a player performs these 3 phases, the next player's turn starts.

Condition for loss:
Depending on the scenario, the condition for loss varies. Most of the time, the players loose the game if one of the hero in the team is knocked out but the team has no healing surge tokens left. When this happens, all players loose the game collectively.

Condition for victory:
Depending on the scenario, the condition for victory varies. Most of the time, the victory condition requires players to defeat the final boss appearing in the scenario in play. The boss battle is usually very challenging but fun.

What I think about the game:

Learning curve: (8/10) - The Legend of Drizzt board game is very easy to learn. This is because the core mechanic is quite simple. Essentially, each player performs 3 phases during his/her turn. The rules are not complex, and the rule book provides very good explanations on how to play the game. I was able to master the rules after only 2 play sessions.

Components/Production quality: (8.5/10) - The quality of components in this game is very good. The miniatures are highly detailed, and made of flexible material. The modular tiles/game board is also made of very thick cardboards, this is especially good since you will likely to be connecting/disconnecting the tiles very often every time you play the game. My only complain, is that hero sheets and hero cards could benefit from more color schemes.

Gameplay: (8/10) - The game play flows smoothly, and rules are highly intuitive  Being a co-operative game also means this game can be played by 1 player only. I really like the way the game brings out the theme from Drizzt novels.  As a fan of Drizzt novels, I absolutely enjoy the game, I enjoy playing as Icewind Dale heroes in many of key moments from Drizzt novels. I wish to congratulate the game developer for making a board game that is fun to play, thematic, and very faithful to the original material. The only thing I don't like about the gameplay, is that encounter cards seem to make game difficulty a bit overwhelming at times. If you happen to be unlucky and drew bad encounter cards consecutively, chances are you are likely to take some heavy damages without even battling against hordes of monsters. The encounter cards could possibly intimate new comers to this game, and put them off.

Replayability: (7.5/10) -  The modular game board increases the replayability, because everytime you play, the dungeon you are in is always going to be different. On top of these 13 scenarios provided in the scenario booklet, there are also additional scenarios, free to download from the internet, opening windows of opportunity to explore new missions. However, the replayability of this game is also dictated by the number of scenarios available, so not every game you play is not always going to be an unique experience (especially if you play this game a lot).

There is another thing worth knowing about this game. This game can be joined with other D&D board games as such Castle of Ravenloft, and Wrath of Ashardolon, making it an even more expansive experience.

Thematic factor: (8.5/10) - This game is quite thematic. The hero abilities and powers, as well as the game play really brings the flavor of Drizzt saga alive.

Overall: (8.3/10) - The legend of Drizzt board game, is a fun game. Its theme is very truthful to Drizzt novels, the gameplay is very smooth, rules are simple and easy to learn. The difficulty might be a bit high, but the challenge seems to add to replayability. I think even if you are not a fan of Drizzt, you will still like the game. However, if you are a fan of Drizzt, then you will definitely enjoy this game a lot. The Legend of Drizzt board game, is highly recommended for those who like fantasy themed, co-operative, adventure/dungeon crawl styled board game.