Board Game: The Legend of Drizzt

About a year ago I posted about D&D's Wrath of Ashardalon board game.  It's one of a series of D&D board games, based on a very simplified version of 4e's rules.  The series also includes Castle Ravenloft, and most recently, The Legend of Drizzt.

I'm not exactly sure what made me buy the Drizzt game.  I really liked that time I played Ashardalon, and I've read most of the Drizzt books (though I'm definitely not a Drizzt fanboy), and I felt this would be fun to play with certain friends who don't have time to commit to a full campaign.  This series of games is fairly expensive, though to be fair they include a lot of little pieces.  Each game sells for around $65 when they're first released, but if you look hard enough (or wait long enough), you can find them for around $35-$40.  I was leery about spending the money, but I'm not disappointed by my purchase.

I haven't played enough of the other two to really compare them, but from what I've read, there's a bit of "power creep" in this one.  The player characters are a bit more powerful, especially Drizzt himself.  The PC selection has all the major characters from the series: Drizzt, Bruenor, Regis, Catti-Brie, Wulfgar, Artemis Entreri, Jarlaxle, and Athrogate.  Jarlaxle and Artemis can be used as heroes or villains, depending on the scenario.  

I do have one issue with the playable characters: the class selection doesn't feel varied enough.  They spent so much time staying true to the books, that they didn't fill out the standard "Fighter/Cleric/Rogue/Wizard" combo you see in more generic games.  On the other hand, these games are meant to be somewhat interchangeable, so they might be assuming I already own the other two.


If you enjoyed the Drizzt books, you'll probably have fun playing through the included scenarios, most of which are based on actual events from the series.  We have Drizzt escaping from the Underdark, Bruenor searching for Mithril Hall while Artemis Entreri hunts Regis, fighting the dragon Shimmergloom, Drow from Drizzt's past trying to hunt him down, freeing Wulfgar from the demon Errtu, and so on.  Most of the scenarios follow the same format; you keep drawing tiles/monsters until that adventure's boss appears, and you defeat him to win.  But some of them simply have you trying to escape, or even have you competing against the other players to kill the most monsters.

Some Pix:

Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle

Athrogate

Yochlol, Matron Mother Yvonnel Baenre, and Methil El-Viddenvelp the Mind Flayer

Regis, Bruenor, Drizzt, Catti-Brie, and Wulfgar

Drider and Drow

The Demon Errtu

Shimmergloom the Dragon

Trolls and Goblins