Hi Everyone,

This is a quick review of the first boxed Battlelore expansion: Call to Arms. The purpose of this review is to give you an idea of what to expect after purchasing this expansion. I am not going to explain the rules in detail as the Days of Wonder website has a downloadable rule booklet for the game.

Okay, what should you expect with this expansion? The cost. You can pick it up online for around $15, or at a FLGS for $20. Not too bad. What’s in the box?

Components
In the box you get a set of deployment cards for each camp, summary cards, specialist cards, extra banners, feudal levy tokens, 2 extra terrain types, archer stakes, ramparts, a land bridge, and of course a rulebook with some extra adventure setup options using the terrain in Call to Arms. All are of the same high quality, size, and shape as the base game. DOW really does a great job with quality.

Only thing about packaging that I can gripe about: The finger groves for the card tray only extend halfway. You will be turning the whole thing over to dump out the rest of the cards. What was the point of really having them?

Gameplay Additions
You have a number of new elements to the game. Let’s take a look and see what they do:

The deployment cards are used to field different random variations of your starting army. As some have stated on BGG: This is not a completely customizable army building expansion. This is true, but the different variations on each card lend itself to be different each time for those that are getting bored with the setups included in the base game. A good way to mix up the starting armies

Specialist cards are used in the organized mode of play and really add some cool features. You can upgrade your bow, add 1 or 2 extra figures to a unit, or even clone a unit. All this takes place before the battle. Very cool.

A couple of new terrain features are also included. Archer stakes allow a ranged unit to ignore one bonus strike symbol and makes them bold; the land bridge is really just an aesthetic difference. The marshes basically have the same movement and restrictions as a river ford, while the cliff tile does not allow melee battles on one side and is elevated.

The feudal levy tokens are used as place holders when you run out of figures during deployment. 2 of each color. That’s really it. I was a little disappointed that these tokens aren’t really used for anything else. Hopefully in future expansions. If you happen to own 2 sets of the base game, then you won’t be using the tokens at all.

Conclusion
Many people including myself were hotly anticipating this expansion to one of the best games released last year. Is it worth it? My opinion is…Yes. The deployment cards offer a great deal of variety to the initial setup. The expansion does add about 5 minutes or so onto the setup time, but is worth it. I think the main selling point is the specialist cards and the system that it introduces as well as the varied setup configurations. I can see how this can open up a good deal of future options.

There are really two things that are disappointing to the game for me. The feudal levy tokens seem pointless at this point of the Battlelore age. I was hoping for something gameplay related. That and the halfway finger holes. Oh well, the base game is a darn good/near perfect game in my opinion and it would be hard to duplicate the success of Battlelore with every expansion. I recommend buying Call to Arms. It adds variety to the setup and the specialist elements are very fun. I rate this expansion an enthusiastic 8.

Edit: Typos