In the spring of 2006, roughly a year after my emergence into the gaming hobby, my game group and I were on the lookout for a new and preferably unique gaming experience. After a few months of searching for such a game, I stumbled across Fantasy Flight’s newly released remake of “The Fury of Dracula”. After discussing the game with my group, we were intrigued with the game’s premise and mechanics. We had played games in which players were cooperatively teamed against one another before, but this was nothing like those dungeon crawlers. Two years and countless sessions later, Fury of Dracula has solidified itself into the cult classic of our game nights.

OVERVIEW

In Fury of Dracula, 2-5 players continue the story of Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, a few years after the book’s conclusion. The game occurs over the whole of Europe in the late 19th century, a time in which Count Dracula is discovered to have survived the events of the novel and is now running amok in attempt to raise hordes of vampires to do his bidding.

One player plays as the blood-sucking Count, moving secretly around Europe and laying traps for any Hunters (i.e. non-Dracula players) trying to find him.

The other two to five players control the four protagonists of the gothic tale: Lord Godalming, Dr. Seward, Van Helsing, and Mina Harker. The task these “hunters” are charged with is to kill Count Dracula before he raises his army of darkness.

The Dracula player wins if he receives six victory points. The Hunters win as soon as Dracula is killed.

COMPONENTS

The overall quality of the game’s components is very good, but considering the fact that this is a Fantasy Flight product that does not surprise me in the least.

The game board is relatively small (at least compared to many of the other FFG games in circulation) and looks spectacular. The antique look of the map of Europe doesn’t leave much room for the imagination to have to fill in any gaps. The board is also easy to read, has a key of all symbols and icons, and features enough space for all required components. If anything contributes the most to the gothic theme of the game, it is the board.

The chits and counters included in the game look good as well and they clearly match the overall dark theme. They’ve all also been finished with a protective coating for the purpose of durability of many plays, a manufacturing tendency found in FFG’s other games that leads to a greater product.

Hunter characters are represented on the game board by miniatures and these have all been sculpted very well. Each mini looks fairly pleasing to the eye and it’s easy to differentiate between the hunter characters on the board. Given the fact that there are only five miniatures, I think it would’ve been nice if FFG had had them pre-painted, but it’s really not a big deal and the minis look fine without paint.

Each player receives reference cards and character sheets for the different characters they control. The reference cards come in handy and feature every action the players may take on their turn and the character sheets look pleasing and function well simultaneously. The Dracula player also receives a mini-map of the game board so that he/she can reference his/her current location without tipping off Hunter’s unknowingly. The character sheets and the mini-map have been finished with a protective laminate as well.

The game also features various decks of cards for Dracula and the Hunters. These include event cards, item cards, Dracula combat cards, minion combat cards, and location cards. Once again, the artwork present on these pieces looks stunning and furthers the game’s theme and story and none of the cards feel overburdened with information or symbols that need to be referenced in the rulebook. I do have a complaint with the cards though, in respect to their durability. My game group has played roughly 25 or so game’s of Fury of Dracula, but by game eight or nine, the event and item cards started to fray. Maybe we just have exceptionally sweaty hands, but a protective coating (like that seen on the cards in Warrior Knights) would have been nice. I just really don’t want to have to put the cards in sleeves.

Finally, the game comes with two white dice, one black die, and a red “train” die.


RULEBOOK

The Fury of Dracula rulebook is presented fairly well. Its layout and progression through the rules is logical and there aren’t very many typos or incomprehensible sections of text. The book features illustrated examples of most rules and also covers most unique game situations. The only problem I have with the rulebook is its size/shape. The thing could’ve been printed in a more traditional rectangle and the typeface could be a little bit smaller so as to not make it so unwieldy when holding it. Once again: minor complaint.

GAMEPLAY

The flow of play in Fury of Dracula occurs in Dracula turns and Hunter Turns.

During Dracula’s turn, the Dracula player MUST move to a city/sea area that is connected to the player’s current location by road. The player does this in secret by placing a location card facedown on the section of the board titled “Dracula’s Trail”. As the game progresses, the Hunter players attempt to stumble across Dracula’s trail of locations in order to assault Dracula in his current locale. The Dracula player also places an encounter token on each of his trail locations. These encounters (such as minions, fog, rats, assassins, etc.) must be resolved by Hunter players if they land on these locations. Dracula also has a host of “Power” cards that serve to aid the Dracula player in their travels.

Hunter turns consist of the Hunter players moving around Europe by roads, trains, or the sea to find Dracula’s trail through deductive reasoning. Hunter players receive aid in their efforts through item cards, event cards, and Hunter Resolve points. All of these things serve to counter the treacherous ways of Dracula and his powers, encounters, and events. It should be noted that event cards are drawn from the bottom of the deck by Hunter players and that some of them are Dracula events, meaning not all event cards benefit Hunter players.

At the start of each Dracula turn, the Dracula player must move the sun marker on the game board. This serves to keep track of the time of day. During day time (three turns for all players), Dracula is weaker and has less powers and combat abilities open to him. During the night (three turns for all players), Dracula is far more dangerous and the Hunters must play things far more cautiously.

The Dracula player wins through acquiring six victory points. The player receives one VP for the start of every new day (meaning once the sun track marker cycles back to dawn), two VPs for killing a hunter player in combat, and two VPs for maturing a vampire. Maturing a vampire occurs when the “New Vampire” encounter token is placed on Dracula’s trail and then falls off of the trail unharmed by the Hunters when there is no room left on the trail for the location card.

Hunter players win when Dracula is dead, which occurs once Dracula loses all 15 of his blood tokens.

COMBAT

Combat occurs when Dracula moves into a city that a Hunter Player occupies or vice versa. During combat, involved players select a combat card/item card they wish to use against the opposing player. The cards are revealed and each player rolls a die. The player with the higher d6 roll wins and consults his/her combat/item card to see the result of the combat. If combat does not end, the cards that were just used are un-useable for one combat round, and combat continues until one player escapes, one player is dead, a “continue” result is achieved three times in a row, or an “end” result is achieved. Various event cards can be played during combat to modify die rolls. If players tie on rolls, they consult the “initiative” ratings of the combat cards they chose to use and the higher number wins.

CONCLUSION

I’ll be honest. As time has gone by and new games have come and gone, I’ve come to like Fury of Dracula less and less. This is not because it’s a bad game. I do enjoy Fury of Dracula and I do think that with the right amount of players and the right attitude, this game can be very worthy of one’s time. But when Fury of Dracula goes wrong, it goes very wrong.

Do not play Fury of Dracula with five players. It turns into a game in which Dracula has a good time and one or two of the Hunter’s have a good time, but the other Hunters are bored to death. I’ve played many five player games in which two Hunter’s are fighting Dracula on one side of Europe while the other two Hunter’s get up and leave the table because they’re simply not involved in the game. Because of the fact that each player in this circumstance is only controlling one Hunter a piece, uninvolved players have nothing to do and end up praying for the game to end.

Another thing that irks me about Fury of Dracula is combat/event cards. All too often I have played games in which the Dracula player was playing an extremely smart, well thought out game that was obliterated because the Hunter’s got lucky die rolls or drew all the right event cards. This, again, works both ways.

These reasons are why I call Fury of Dracula my groups “cult classic”. Just like Lucio Fulci films, the game has its flaws. If you take it too seriously you’ll end up with a few players that had a great time and a few that end the night pissed off and discouraged. But, like Fulci films, if you play the game with the right amount of players (3-4) and you all have the right mindset, Fury of Dracula can be a great time for all. As long as these conditions are met, I recommend this game wholeheartedly.