I’ve always been a fan of dungeon crawls and dungeon bashes, but I’ve
tended to play them on the computer for the most part, there’s something about
having the machine do all the working out for you that made it seem
counter-intuitive to want to do it any other way.
Of course, the problem with the computer doing everything is that
eventually you figure out how to beat the machine and then the rest is plain
sailing, doesn’t matter how hard the game is, there’ll come a point when you
figure out the tactic, and then you’re through.
So the idea of running a dungeon bash where the opponent may well have
the same level of experience or more than you, and won’t be caught using the
same tactics again and again is quite appealing...
This is Super Dungeon Explore – Forgotten King Edition...
Having not played Super Dungeon
Explore the first time around, we came to the game as complete newbies, and so
some things which would have been completely obvious to those who’d played the
previous expansions did pass us by somewhat.
The first of these things was some of the terminology, the rules book
assumes that you’re already aware of what spawning points are, and considers
that you’ll probably have one of the previous editions, so some of the wording
does take a second read through, and some of it does require that you read
through the cards as well, which isn’t a terminal issue, but it slows you down
on the first game.
That said, once you’re through the initial read, set up is very easy,
even easier if you’ve already separated the counters into different bags and
the decks into the relevant piles (and lets be fair, we’re boardgamers, that’s
what we do...), and then it’s to the game.
The size of the dungeon being played in is dependent on the number of
heroes being put into the dungeon, which also decides the size of the force
being played against them. Once the
Spawn points and initial creatures have been put on the board, the heroes
arrive.
Play sequence is simple, a hero takes a turn, the monsters take a turn,
then a second hero, and so on till all the heroes have had turns, then it goes
back around and play continues till all the heroes are done in or the dungeon
has been looted completely. A turn for
the heroes consists of choosing a hero, moving and using their special
abilities. A turn for the monsters
involves either activating and using monsters to harass the heroes, or using a
spawning point to generate more monsters.
Spawning points only have a finite number of uses before they expire,
and it is possible for the consul to destroy their spawning points through
overuse.
On the first game, I took the part of the Consul (Monsters), with Sue
and John playing the parts of the heroes.
It did look somewhat like they were going to tear through the first
board with reasonable ease until it came to taking out the spawning point...
The heroes taking out a spawning point causes the release of a
Mini-Boss, and as all those familiar with Dungeon Bashes know, Mini-Bosses are
nearly the equivalent of Heroes by themselves.
So it certainly proved in this one.
A computer may have been distracted or tried to go after the strongest
of the heroes or the one doing the damage, not so this one, I went straight for
the weakest of them with the support abilities, mowing them down within two
rounds with nothing the heroes could do.
This put the game into a new dimension, having a monster that played
intelligent tactics rather than aiming at the nearest target put the offensive
on the back foot till they could corner it and let the knight hold it off while
the others shot it down.
 |
| Literally Seeing Stars... |
But this was not to be the only problem they faced...
We didn’t get through the whole game the first time, time constraints
stopped us around the second tile, but by then another spawning point had been
destroyed and the mini boss came out again to account for another hero.
The balance on the game is good, the smaller monsters don’t have much
armour and don’t hit hard, but you can activate a good number of them every
turn. The larger monsters hit hard and
take a number of hits before they fall, but you’re only likely to be able to
activate one of them in a turn. The heroes have the odds against them, but
unlike the monsters, can gain back wound points and gain potions for use
(Memories of Gauntlet here...), and a party that blunders into everything will
soon be overrun, whereas a party that works together to defeat the consul has
at least an even chance of success...
The copy shown here was provided for review purposes, price point for
the full game is around £65 (Amazon), which was agreed by our group to be a
little on the high side. That said, you get a number of excellent miniatures,
six reversible boards, a solid box with plastic inserts for the counters and
cards, high quality rule sets for Arcade and Classic modes, and high quality
cards and counters. Production values are excellent and there’s strong replay
value, particularly if the Consul or Hero took a crushing defeat in a previous
game (I’m not likely to live down the Mini Boss beatdown for some time), and if
combined with the other sets, makes for a good and varied game.