Review #39 – For All Your Board Game News and Reviews Visit 2D6.org!

Dungeon Command: Sting of Lolth By Chris Dupuis, Peter Lee, Kevin Tatroe, and Rodney Thompson – Art By Kerem Beyit, Daarken, Jason Engle, Dan Scott, and Ben Wootten – Published By Wizards of the Coast

Aliszandra stared down her nose at the pathetic male standing before her, barely paying attention to his rambling about the ‘possible dangers in the cave ahead’. She was a chosen high priestess of Lolth she cared little for a few insignificant surface dwelling humans spotted heading for the same cavernous complex. The visions from her goddess were telling her untold riches would be found in the ancient abandoned Duergar city and if some filthy humans would happen to get in her way, so be it… they would make tantalizing sacrifices to Lolth. Aliszandra’s delicate hand moved faster than the naked eye could see backhanding the drow male and sending him sprawling to the ground where he lay stunned from the unexpected blow. “SILENCE!” she hissed between clenched teeth her patience obviously worn thin. “Take your miserable hide, the drider, and a few spiders and bring me those humans!” Her voice then turned soft as she added “Alive I might add, I could use a few… play things to entertain the rest of us this evening”.

Valnar held his hand up to his compatriots as he signaled for silence. Caverns were always treacherous and sound had an odd way to travel but unless his ears deceived him that last muffled sound was a grunt of pain. Rhynseera had warned him this abandoned dark dwarven city was bound to be guarded by ‘something’ she just couldn’t scry exactly what that ‘something’ was. No treasure was worth losing his life or the life of his loyal guards over. Valnar quietly motions for the War Wizard and the Dwarven Cleric to take point while the Dragon Knight and Human Ranger cautiously advance deeper into the complex…  

* * * * * * *

Dungeon Command is a small scale fantasy based skirmish level tactical miniatures game for 2-4 players that uses pre-built or custom war bands. The game is played on double sided interlocking battlefield tiles representing a “Dungeon” or an “Outdoor scene” that is placed before the game starts to form the battlefield. The Battlefield Tiles come in 2 sizes, 4×8 and 8×8 square grids used for determining movement and range. Each team has a “Morale Level” based on the Commander chosen to lead the war band (usually in the low to mid teens), Morale can be raised by finding the treasures placed on the board before the game starts or playing order cards and Morale can be lost by losing units or having units “Cower”. When a player loses all their Morale or ends their turn without a unit on the battlefield the game is over and a winner is declared.

In a unique twist, the game does not use dice, instead opting for one time use “Command Cards” that grant your units additional abilities such as extra attacks, dodges, ripostes, and the ability to move across the board. Don’t panic though while it sounds weird at first Dungeon Command has done an amazing job mixing a little bit of Magic: The Gathering with Dungeon Twister to create a memorable game play experience.

What’s In The Box

Dungeon Command comes in an 11.5”x9”x3” clamshell design box that includes a fantastic molded insert that holds all the games components in a nice clean manner.

The first thing about the game box that will grab your attention (besides the more unique clamshell design) is the decision to use thin cardstock for the box itself. While at first the collector in me frowned upon this, my more environmental side realized that the molded insert was more than durable enough to hold the box shape even when stacked on the game shelf so I am actually happy about the less wasteful decision.

The molded box insert does a fantastic job of holding all the miniatures in place and there are compartments for the tokens and cards (with the card compartment large enough to snuggly hold the cards even after sleeving them).

Components:

12 prepainted plastic miniatures

1 Full Color Rulebook

1 Molded Storage tray

2 large double-sided battlefield tiles

2 small double-sided battlefield tiles

2 Commander Cards

60 cards:

- 12 Creature cards (one for each miniature)

- 36 Order cards

- 12 D&D Adventure System Board Game Cards

68 Die-Cut Pieces:

- 30 Damage tokens

- 6 Treasure Chest markers

- 12 Treasure tokens

- 4 Morale and Leadership markers

- 8 Creature identification tokens

- 8 Miniature identification tokens

All of this gaming goodness can be yours for $39.99 but of course some astute crystal ball scrying could save you a few Menzoberranzan gems.

Battlefield Tiles: Dungeon Command is played on a game board made up of interlocking tiles. Each tile is double sided with one side representing a dungeon complex and the other representing an outdoor area. The tiles are thick, full color, and actually contain extra graphical flourishes such as cave entrances, magical circles, skeletons, walls of brambles and more. The tiles loosely interlock with each other and are also cut to match the Dungeons and Dragons Adventure System Board Game tiles allowing them to be fully interchangeable. If only more companies had this kind of forward thinking. The tiles are designed to be placed in various different layouts creating different game boards each time you play. The tiles from my copy of Sting of Lolth are still pristine after numerous plays, without any sign of warping.

Die-Cut Pieces: The cardboard tokens are made out of thick durable cardboard. The art is a nice touch and the numbers on the tokens are very large and easily legible. There are also some nice extra touches for example the 50 points of damage and the 10 points of damage tokens are different sizes easily making them distinguishable at a glance. The chest markers and treasure tokens use a different font again aiding in easy identification. Nice touches all around and good design decisions.

Cards: The cards are very nice. Anyone who complained about the more reserved use of art in the Adventure System games will be more than happy with these cards. Each card has full color artwork that I believe is actually original artwork. All of the artwork is very thematic and matches their respective faction very well; Drow cards show spiders/spider webs and a general darkness matching that evil race while Heart of Cormyr cards depict more “heroic” surface dwelling action. The cards are separated into 2 different decks with each deck having a different back which again assists in easy clean up at the end of a game. The cards themselves use a nice easy to read font on top of a nicely contrasting background and occasionally include some nice thematic text and even quotes from the “Commanders” the players will be playing. One additional very nice touch is a small image of the miniature that goes with the creature card in the lower right hand corner making it very easy to learn which card goes with which miniature during the first couple early learning games. The cardstock on the cards appears to be in the middle range, not the thickest I have ever seen in a game, but definitely not as paper thin as some games I own. I would put them at just ever so slightly thinner than your average current market Collectible Card Game. Since these cards are not shuffled often (generally only once per game) you really don’t need to sleeve these cards unless it is just something you are inclined to do. After a dozen plays the cards are still holding up very well without any signs of wear or tear. As a final note, the cards are numbered and have a set symbol on them should you choose to customize your war bands yet occasionally want to play with the original prepackaged war band. There is one error though, card 6/36 “Faerie Fire” does have a misprint incorrectly listing it is a level 1 Command Card. Errata has indeed confirmed it is actually a level 2 card.

Commander Cards: Each faction pack comes with 2 unique Commander Cards with different statistics and special abilities. These cards are made of the same card stock as the game box, have full color artwork depicting the commander, easily legible game play information, and they each include minor game mechanic reminders on them reducing reliance on repeatedly returning to the rule book when trying to learn the game.

Miniatures: Each Dungeon Command faction pack comes with 12 pre-painted soft plastic miniatures. The sculpts are fairly well made with some embellishments like insignias, armor details, and the units name on the bottom of the base. As stated the plastic used is the softer malleable plastic which adds to the longevity of the miniatures where you will have little fear of spider legs or swords breaking. The downside to the softer plastic though is that while the sculpts are nice they do not hold the finer details that the harder plastics and metals can.

The paint jobs range from simplistic (a Drow humanoid doesn’t require much paint variety beyond black and… less black) to pretty decent about on par with a “Dip Method” paint job. A hobby painter could (and easily can if so inclined) paint better but honestly the paint jobs are a nice touch and sometimes it is nice to just open up a game, toss the components onto the table, and just start playing without miniatures nagging me to whip out my paint brushes (cough)Super Dungeon Explore (cough). I am more than happy with the included paint jobs because I know I can easily pull out my paints and spruce them up quite easily; I most likely will eventually do so when I start building war bands to keep units from the same faction controlled by different players more distinct. The miniatures are the same scale as used in the Dungeons and Dragons Role playing game and the Adventure System games making them 100% interchangeable.

Rulebook: The rulebook has 15 full color pages including game play examples, a table of contents, and even a turn summary on the back page. The rulebook does a fantastic job of breaking down the components including a full page allotted just to describing the cards themselves (not that they are difficult to understand mind you). The rulebook is made out of standard paper though so expect it to tear easily if you are not careful. Aside from the use of standard paper though the rulebook is very nice and lays out the game rules very well in a logical easy to follow manner. The final page of the rule book includes directions for 3 or 4 player free for alls or team based games and rules for building your own war bands from scratch.

Components and Presentation Verdict: 9.0/10 – Overall the components are nicely done in Dungeon Command. The figures are painted, the cards have nice artwork, and even the Battlefield Tiles are nice to look at with additional artistic flourishes. Aside from the fact that the Battlefield Tiles interlock very loosely and a single erroneous card I cannot find anything about the components to complain about.

How Does It Play?

Dungeon Command is a small scale skirmish level war game where each player takes control of a small fantasy war band that will slowly grow in power as the game rounds pass. Players will gain treasures and fight the opponent but the eventual goal is to either remove all your opponents units from the board or drop their Morale to zero or lower forcing them to retreat from the battlefield. Morale is gained by finding treasures but lost by having your units defeated. On a players turn they will Move all their units and usually perform only one action but Order Cards let players occasionally do other things such as attack multiple times, move units on the board, heal allies, and even prevent damage. After moving, players will have the opportunity to add more allies to the battlefield if their Commander has enough Leadership to control the additional forces. Players must use resources wisely though for each Order Card can only be used once and Creatures removed from the battlefield do not come back.

Can you lead your War Band to victory or will they suffer crushing and humiliating defeat at the hands of your enemies!

Component Breakdown

Before I break down the game components there are a few mechanics that need to be explained:

The most important thing is that used Creature and Order Cards are NOT shuffled back into a draw deck, when all your cards are gone, they are gone.

Tapping: If you have played Magic: The Gathering this mechanic should be very familiar to you. Many games actually use the mechanic but refer to it as “Exhausting”, “Rotating”, or even “Bowing” cards. Tapping is a simple mechanic used to signify when an action has been performed and is represented by turning the activating card sideways 90 degrees. Many actions require a creature to be “Un-Tapped” to perform and in turn “Tap” the creature after the action is performed. All creatures controlled by the active player are Untapped at the beginning and again at the end of the active players turn.

Standard, Minor, and Immediate Actions

Every single Order Card is classified as a Standard, Minor, or Immediate Action.

Standard: Most actions are standard, often an attack of some sort. A creature you control can take a standard action only during your Activate phase and only during that creature’s activation. Taking a standard action taps the acting creature. Each Creatures basic melee and/or ranged attack is also classified as a Standard Action.

Minor: These represent quick actions, such as drawing a hidden blade, drinking a potion, or setting up for an attack. A creature you control can take minor actions at any time during its activation, whether it’s untapped or tapped. There’s no limit to the number of minor actions a creature can take during its activation.

Immediate: Immediate actions are usually responses to other actions. They can be played on any player’s turn. Taking an immediate action taps the acting creature.

Creature Card: The creature cards (and hence the creatures themselves) are the heart of Dungeon Command. Each miniature you control will have a matching Creature Card (even if you have multiple similar miniatures they each need a matching card in your creature deck).  Each Creature Card is broken down as follows – The upper left hand corner will list the Creatures Level which denotes what Order Cards that Creature Can use. For instance a Level 5 Creature like this Umber Hulk can use any Order Card of level 5 or under (but miniatures can assist each other to temporarily raise their current level to use higher level Order Cards). Underneath the Creatures level will be one (or more) statistics which will be very familiar to anyone who has played Dungeons and Dragons. They are Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), Intelligence (INT), Constitution (CON), Wisdom (WIS), and Charisma (CHA). As with level, Order cards have a matching statistic for example the Umber Hulk has the statistics of STR and DEX, so an Umber Hulk can use any Order Card level 5 or under that uses Strength or Dexterity. So while the Umber Hulk could use Deep Wound (level 1 DEX) it could not use Faerie Fire (Level 2 INT). Next under the Creatures Statistics is a Sword in a circle (melee attack) and possibly a Bow and arrow in a circle (ranged attack). Next to each symbol is how much damage that creature does every time it attacks and is not blocked by an order card (range is next to the listed damage for ranged attacks). Creatures always do the exact same damage and always hit for that listed damage unless modified by Order Cards played by the attacker and/or defender. The upper right hand corner lists how many Hit Points the Creature has (all damage and hence Hit Points in Dungeon Command so far is listed in multiples of 10). The very bottom of the Creature lists the Creatures Speed (how many squares the creature can move on its turn). The rest of the card is dedicated to any possible special abilities the creature might have and under its name will be some keywords that interact with Order Cards. There are also colored symbols on the bottom left of the card that are used if you plan to play a 2 player game using only 1 faction box.

Damage Tokens: Damage tokens are placed on Creature Cards to represent damage taken and come in 10 and 50 point values (there are more than enough included with the game).

Order Cards: If Creature Cards are the heart of Dungeon Command then the Order Cards are the soul of the game! Order Cards come in 3 varieties each with their type listed under the cards name. Those varieties are Minor, Standard, and Immediate matching the 3 Action Types. The upper left hand corner matches Creature Cards listing the level of the Order Card and the matching Statistic (STR, DEX, INT, etc). Below the artwork is listed what effect the card has when played and any possible requirements for playing the Order Card. Like Creature cards the lower left hand corner has a colored symbol used when playing 2 player game using only 1 faction deck.

Treasure Chest Markers: Each faction pack comes with 6 Treasure Chest Markers and 12 Treasure Chest Tokens. The Treasure Chest Markers are numbered 1-3 on one side and are randomly placed face down on the Battlefield, when a Miniature lands on a Treasure Chest it is flipped over and replaced with a number of Treasure Chest Tokens. As a Standard Action a Creature can claim one of the Tokens if they are on that space, doing so raises that teams Morale by one point.

Commander Card: The Commanders are the leaders of the war bands and are not represented by a miniature on the Battlefield. Each Commander has a unique special ability, a Creature Hand Value (how many Creature Cards they keep in hand), Starting Order Hand (how many Order Cards they draw at the beginning of the game), Morale (lose all your Morale and you lose the game), and finally Leadership (how many Total Levels of Creatures they can control on the Battlefield at once). Of all the statistics on a Commander Card, Leadership is one that deserves special mention. Your leadership determines how many units you can have on the Battlefield at any time. The total Level (found on the upper left hand corner of every Creature Card) of all Creatures you control on the Battlefield cannot surpass your Leadership Score. For example if you have a Leadership of 7 you could have a level 6 and a level 1 Creature out or 3 level 2 Creatures and a level 1 Creature. Your Leadership Score raises 1 point on every one of your turns though so you will slowly be adding more (or more powerful) creatures to the Battlefield (dead Creatures DO NOT count towards your Leadership, only living Creatures do).

Setup is pretty quick and easy:

Set up the Battlefield.

Randomly place Treasure Chest markers in their respective spots on the board.

Choose your Commander.

Shuffle Your Order and Creature Card Decks separately.

Place the markers at the starting point of the Morale and Leadership Tracks on your Commander Card.

Draw your starting Order Hand.

Draw your Creature Hand and deploy Creatures onto the Battlefield whose total levels are equal to or less than your Leadership Score.

Draw Creature Cards to refill your Creature Hand.

You are now ready to begin playing!

Rulebook Turn Summary.

A turn is divided into four phases, which must be taken in the following order.

1. Refresh: Resolve start-of-turn effects, un-tap your creatures to ready them for action, and draw 1 Order card.

2. Activate: Activate your creatures, one at a time, in any order you choose.

3. Deploy: Increase Leadership by 1 and place new creatures on the battlefield.

4. Cleanup: Resolve end-of-turn effects, draw back up to your Creature hand size, and un-tap your creatures to allow them to respond to enemy actions.

The most important thing to remember is that your Creatures Un-tap at the beginning AND end of your turn so they can play Immediate Order Cards on other players turns. It is important to remember especially in a 3 or 4 player game they only Un-tap on their controllers turn NOT every players turn.

Each Miniature can move its speed on its turn even if it is Tapped and moving does not Tap a miniature.

The game also includes rules for Multiple Order Cards (last in first out), terrain (those pretty graphics on the battlefield can actually occasionally impede and/or hurt creatures), Special movement (flying, burrowing, shifting, etc), adjacent enemy miniatures impeding movement, assisting (to use Order Cards on lower level Creatures), Line of Sight and Cover/Dodging, and even Cowering (a mechanic where instead of taking damage a Commander can sacrifice Morale to save a Creature… the catch is if you lose all your Morale you lose the game making it something to use very sparingly).

The game ends immediately when any player’s Morale reaches 0 or below. Also, if any player ends his or her turn with no creatures on the battlefield, the game ends at that point. The player with the highest Morale is the winner. (However, you cannot win if you caused the game to end because you had no creatures on the battlefield.) If several players are tied for Morale, then the winner is the player with the most total Levels of creatures on the battlefield. If there is still a tie, the game ends in a draw.

A sample game might look something like this:

It is a few turns into a 2 player gaming using only 1 faction pack. It is Aliszandra’s turn and she currently controls a Drider, Drow House Guard, and a Drow Assassin totaling 10 levels (out of her current 10 Leadership leaving 0 points unspent).  Kalteros controls an Umber Hulk, Shadow Mastiff, and Drow House Guard which are all quickly closing in on Aliszandra’s forces. Aliszandra un-Taps all her Creatures and draws an Order Card getting “Near Miss” – Prevent 20 damage and un-Tap this Creature. The Drow Assassin currently has the card “Vial of Poison” – add +30 damage with next melee attack equipped. Aliszandra notices her House Guard is 9 squares away from the Umber Hulk so she moves her House Guard 6 spaces, plays “Stalk” to shift behind the Umber Hulk, plays the minor action “Faerie Fire”- Anytime target creature takes damage add +10, and then taps to play “Piercing Strike”- Melee attack for +10 damage cannot be prevented. The Umber Hulk gives out a grunt as it loses 40 hit points leaving it with 60 hit points.

Next Aliszandra charges 11 spaces with the Drider, Taps, and plays “Deep Wound”- Melee +10 damage and target bleeds. Kalteros isn’t about to let his Umber Hulk die without a fight and plays “Near Miss”- Prevent 20 damage and un-Tap this creature. The Umber Hulk still takes 10+10 damage from Faerie Fire, for a total of 60 damage so far this turn, and is now bleeding (loses 10 hit points at the start of each turn) but un-Tapped.

Aliszandra is out for blood and finally moves her Drow Assassin 5 spaces and then plays Shadowy Ambush in an effort to end the Umber Hulks life (what’s a little overkill between Drow, right?). Aliszandra is hoping Kalteros doesn’t have any defensive cards as she announces a total of 60 points of damage. Kalteros frowns as he watches his Umber Hulk slump to the cold stone floor and Aliszandra grins because her Assassin still has “Vial of Poison”. Kalteros is now down 5 Morale for losing a level 5 creature.

Aliszandra’s Deploy Phase begins and she raises her Leadership 1 point but doesn’t have enough Leadership to add any Creatures to the Battlefield. Finally Aliszandra performs her Cleanup Phase, making sure to un-Tap all her Creatures, and then ends her turn.
It’s now time for Kalteros to even the score some with a little card called “Sneak attack” and “Stalk”.

Simplicity Of The Rules: 8.75/10 – I must admit that I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons in its various incarnations since the mid 1980’s and up through 4^th addition so the rules really did click for me (they do after all pay homage to the 4^th Edition Rules). Movement, shifting, assisting, even the statistics seemed like old hat to me. Having said that I can see some of the concepts taking a game or 2 to get all of them down without forgetting some minor details for example stopping movement any time you are adjacent to an enemy unless you have a card or power (shifting) that states otherwise. Speaking of cards they might cause the greatest confusion due to one rule “Any rule on a card trumps the rules in the rulebook”. Overall though after a game or 2 the rules are really easy to remember and play.

Daddy Why’s This Guy Got A Sword In His Belly?

A s a father of 2 future board gamers, a large concern of mine is how secure am I in letting my eldest son play and or rummage through a game box. Granted, BGG and board games themselves very clearly tell you a minimum age, they don’t tell you exactly why that minimum age was chosen. My hope is to arbitrarily tell you why I think this age range was chosen for this game and then hopefully give a few ideas I might have for a game to make it easier on the young ones. Finally I will close with what seems to be the “sweet spot” for number of players and if the game has solo rules I’ll comment on those too.

Dungeon Command lists as a card based miniatures game for 2-4 players (as long as you have enough faction packs) ages 12+. It requires hand management, Action Point allowance, and strategy to play well. The artwork is very high fantasy including Dark Elves (Drow), mythical beasts (Umber Hulk), and an arachnophobes worst nightmare (lots of spiders). Some of the images are on the slightly violent side (but less so than Heart of Cormyr) such as the “Sacrifice” card depicting an unclothed subject having liquid poured over their body by a Drow Priestess. Overall the artwork isn’t blatantly gory or anything along those lines but it does depict a few images of humanoids getting the business end of a blade and Umber Hulks are not about to win any beauty pageants any time soon. The full color artwork is detailed and the image usually covers about 2/5ths of the card so it will be very hard to hide it from younger eyes. The game itself can be on the slightly more complex side requiring proper timing, minor mathematics, and future turn planning and strategizing to get the greatest advantage you can from played cards.

All this is just to say you will probably want to keep the game in the 10+ crowd and keep it away from younger board game geeks. Again the game isn’t overly intentionally being dark or gory it is just high fantasy and it comes with those typical clichés.

Family Friendliness Verdict: 7.0/10 – The game can make a great family game for families with kids approaching the teen years especially with its scalable player count and customization of war bands increasing replay value. This isn’t Heroquest though and there really isn’t a way to sanitize it for younger eyes without gutting the core system. If you are looking for a game to play with the 7 year olds stick with the Adventure System games for now.

Game length:

For all the potential complexity of the game it actually plays pretty quickly with your average 2 player game (after set up, etc.) clocking in at about 30-45 minutes tops. Even a 4 player game (using only 2 faction packs, sorry I don’t have a 4^th faction pack yet to test with each player using a full faction pack) can end in 60 minutes or less (45 minutes still being more common to be honest). The game also does a fantastic job of scaling well with 2, 3, or even 4 players and while 3 player games would occasionally lead to preying on the weak (if you are leading in Morale it is best to kill whichever player has the least Morale to bring the game to an end and gain victory). A 4 player game mitigates this slightly though making this game best with 2 or 4 players depending on your group’s bloodthirstiness, yet I would not turn down a 3 player game if one was offered.

Pros

* Great looking game components including pre-painted miniatures

* Great potential for expandability especially with future faction packs and customizable war bands

* Fairly quick playing skirmish level game

* Fairly logical rules that are easy to grasp after a game or two

* Cowering mechanics (while I didn’t cover them in great detail they add a certain level of strategy to the game)

* Powerful card combo’s but I have yet to find an unbeatable strategy

* 14 plays and it still feels balanced

* 2 sided Battlefield board offering game variety (and I like the environmental hazards on the Battlefield board)

* Morale mechanics making the game more strategic versus just blowing up all your opponents miniatures

* Does a fantastic job of doing away with dice

* The 2 current Factions play quite differently

Cons

* The longevity of the game system will hinge on how balanced future faction packs are

* First time players might want to make a printout listing all available actions so players don’t forget game mechanics (Dodge seems to be a common culprit)

* Some card combos are deadly if you do not have a counter for them allowing instant kills (admittedly only a con if you are new and are not expecting it)

* Diceless playing might turn some players off

* The randomness of your starting forces might be a negative for some

But Is It Fun?

Wizards of the Coast has done an admirable job creating a skirmish level game that is strategic, customizable, and plays well with 2-4 players. The components are well made using thick cardstock, painted miniatures, fantastic artwork on the cards/double sided Battlefield, and even the insert is made extremely well and holds all the games components. There is some great potential for expandability and customization in this game. Faction packs can be mixed and matched to create war bands, there are at least 5 faction packs we know of and I am sure there will be a 6^th announced within the next few months. The 2 faction packs so far play differently but feel balanced; Cormyr relies on slow moving, heavy hitting, damage absorbing, turtling forces and Sting of Lolth brings fast moving (the Drider can move up to 12 spaces with the right Commander), hit and run, hard to hit (Uncanny dodge can stop any one hit no matter how much damage it does – Yes even Killing blow), Creatures and Order cards.  I have yet to see a blowout victory between the 2 faction packs and that really says a lot about the games balance so far. It will be interesting to see how future customized war bands keep the balance though, while I don’t foresee anything obnoxiously unbalancing yet I am leery of some combinations (Shadowy Ambush and Giant Spiders seems interesting…). Time will tell if customized factions will continue to be balanced and if they fail to be I am sure house rules or just pre-built factions will still provide balance and entertainment.

The game plays quickly for what it is, my original concern was that it would be a 2 hour game (much like Dungeon Twister). I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed games taking 30 minutes on average to complete. I also like the interaction of the Order Cards and the bluffing they can create. Do I risk hitting a creature with Shadowy Ambush when I see my opponent has a couple Order Cards in hand? Do I hit them with a small attack and hope they Tap so then I can lay into them with a heavy hitter later? There is definitely planning that goes into every action.

I really like the inclusion of the Cowering rules they add a bit of a gamble to your strategies that you really appreciate after a few plays. Do I Cower and hope I can get a few treasures to make up for the lost Morale? Do I let my Creature die knowing that my Creature reserves are finite and will run out eventually? I think the Morale rules do a great job of preventing the game from becoming a long boring slog, knowing I can lose not because I am out of creatures but because a few of my really powerful monsters were destroyed really makes me consider my moves and the possible ramifications of sacrificing a Creature. The Order cards do a great job of adding variety and strategy to the game. I really do not miss rolling dice in this game the cards make the game feel less random and more strategic. Also the Order Cards provided with the 2 factions really counteract each other well, a Dragon Knight using Killing Strike on the surface may seem powerful, yet Uncanny Dodge stops it dead in its tracks. I actually love the “Bluffing” that can be created from the order cards. If your opponent has cards in their hand then they have the potential to mess up your plans… or do they? You just don’t know what cards they have in their hand. You really need to be strategic with your use of Order Cards, even when on the defensive, and tossing out cards without rhyme or reason will lead to a quick defeat.

As a faction “Sting of Lolth” is designed as a fast moving war band that specializes in deceptive hit and run tactics. As of now Sting of Lolth has the highest potential movement with the Drider able to move 12 full spaces if you have the correct Commander leading the war band. Even the more middle range units such as the Giant Spider are able to move 9 spaces and use quick hard hitting cards like “Shadowy Ambush” for 50 points of damage. Sting of Lolth also has cards that do damage over time such as “Faerie Fire” which causes the target to take + 10 damage any time they are hit until dispelled and “Deep Wound” which continues to damage the target each round. Also worth mentioning is “Piercing Strike” a level one card that makes the next attack add +10 damage and become unblockable, combine this with “Faerie Fire” and “Vial of Poison” for some truly devastating lightning strikes. Range with the Drow faction can also be deceptive with Order Cards that let Creatures move before and after attacks makes it difficult for your opponents to ever know if you are in range to attack. The Drow currently have the most powerful defensive card in the game “Uncanny Dodge” prevent all damage from 1 attack. Add to all this Order Cards like “Scheme” which can be discarded to draw 2 more Order Cards and Sting of Lolth becomes a very devious faction that should never be underestimated. Any time I use this faction I make sure my opponent knows I have 2 Order Cards in my hand the bluffing of that alone can unnerve opponents. It helps if I grin deviously at the same time…

There are a few caveats to the game system though. The game is playable with 2 players with only a single faction pack but it really doesn’t do the game justice. It is almost akin to playing Dominion with the same basic 10 cards every time you play, fun at first but eventually you will long for the full potential you know the game possesses.

You will want 2 faction packs to create more varied and larger Battlefield layouts using more Creatures per side and more Order Cards. Granted the game is a good value at $40 per faction pack it will be an $80 minimum investment to really get the most out of the game. Eventually you will want to customize your factions but as of now that requires the purchase of a 2^nd or even a 3^rd copy of a faction pack even if you own a chest full of miniatures. Order Cards are not sold separately and I hope Wizards of the Coast corrects this oversight. Your average player will need 2 faction packs for the Battlefields but beyond that they would really only need a pack of Order and Creature cards to really get into customization.

The overall longevity of Dungeon Command will hinge on future faction packs. Wizards of the Coast will have to work hard to avoid the perils of faction bloat, where each new faction is more powerful than the last (I don’t see it happening but it would be detrimental to the overall game experience). So far the balance is there, if they can keep the factions interchangeable and balanced they will definitely have a winner on their hands.

There is some randomness to the game, from random starting order cards to random starting creatures, occasionally you might get a starting hand that is not optimal for the strategy you want to play. Strategy plays more of a role in the game than luck of the draw though and luck of the draw has yet to cause any landslide losses. To be honest I like games that offer a little randomness and would have enjoyed Dungeon Command less if it used the same starting Creature and Order cards every time you play.

The game does have quite a few rules that could have used a few summary cards for those first early learning games. Granted after a couple games this isn’t as much of an issue and the rules become easy enough to remember. Finally there is no getting around the diceless gameplay I personally like it and think the Order Cards are a fantastic alternative to the randomness dice create but I can appreciate that some people just crave the randomness of dice in their games. I would say give the game a try before you make a final opinion about the diceless game play, the game just might surprise you.

Overall Final Game Verdict: 8.75/10 – Dungeon Command is a fun skirmish level game with customizability, strategic decisions, and a great fantasy theme. Wizards of the Coast is really continuing to surprise me with some fantastic game designs lately and Dungeon Command is no different. I do hope they eventually release the Creature and Order cards for separate purchase, between Heroscape and the Adventure System Games; I have more than enough plastic to field customized war bands but not enough cards. I am looking forward to future faction packs and would like to humbly put in my vote now for an elemental faction.

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Cross promotions are a wonderful thing and Dungeon Command definitely stepped up to the plate here. Ignoring the fact that the miniatures are fully compatible with the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game Wizards of the Coast also added cards to make all these miniatures fully compatible with the Adventure System Board Games. Sting of Lolth comes with cards to add more monsters to oppose your adventuring party…

Heart of Cormyr brought you allies and Sting of Lolth brings you… pain. With 12 new Monster Cards to add to your Adventure System games, while they don’t add anything that hasn’t been seen before they do add variety and a reason to use painted figures with your Adventure System games.

These Monster Cards are compatible with all 3 Adventure System games and add variety to the random encounters

The dungeon side of the tiles from Dungeon Command are about 95% compatible with the Adventure System tiles allowing you to either create a larger Battlefield for Dungeon Command or alternately the Dungeon Command tiles can be used as a “Final Battle Room” for the Adventure System games. The only minor issue I had is that the double sized tiles from the Adventure System “Legend of Drizzt” do not line up perfectly with the large Battlefield tiles from Dungeon Command. The single sized tiles all connected quite easily though (as you can see from the included photo).

 

/q