Game: World of Warcraft: The Boardgame - Shadow of War

Thread: Re: "Bonus Item" Stacking Limit

Kartigan — 2008-06-10T16:03:58+00:00

Alright, thanks for the input. It must be only the items with the star that count toward the 7 limit with everything else counting toward the normal 3. Except of course the items that say right on them "Does not count toward your bag limit".

Thread: I remember that...

Woytach — 2008-06-10T08:50:55+00:00

A food in other decks doesn't count to your bag limit (it is written on these cards), and with expansion, you have new limit for new deck.

So you can have up to 3 normal cards in bag, up to 7 "new bonus" cards and any number of "bag item" which is from base pack of game.

p.s. i didn't have an original rules here only my translate so if i haven't got right, please, do not beat me

Thread: Re: "Bonus Item" Stacking Limit

Zimeon — 2008-06-10T08:28:53+00:00

I believe it's only the items with the star on the back. That's how I interpreted it, at least.

Thread: "Bonus Item" Stacking Limit

Kartigan — 2008-06-10T02:50:11+00:00

The expansion's rules state that the bonus items in the bonus item deck are small trinkets and therefore have their own special bag limit of 7 that does not count toward your normal 3. Does this include all items that have "Trinket" or "Food" in there trait line? Or are the only items that count toward the limit of 7 the ones that come out of the deck with the star on it?

The expansion added alot of trinket and food items to the other decks and I was wondering if they now counted toward your bag limit of 3 or the one of 7.

Any clarification is helpful, thanks.

Thread: Re: "participating enemy character"

MrSkeletor — 2008-06-08T05:58:32+00:00

Yes.

Thread: "participating enemy character"

Tozzi — 2008-06-07T14:35:23+00:00

Does this mean PvP only?

Thread: Re: Mage Arcane Concentration

Throknor — 2008-04-03T21:14:47+00:00

The Mage Arcane Concentration states:

If you did not lose any Health tokens during the previous combat round, you may use Fire Blast or Frostbolt without paying its Energy cost.

My question is if the Energy cost must be paid on the first combat round (as there was no previous combat round, no health tokens where lost).

Thanks,
PMD

Think of it this way: you have to start casting it, but if no one hits you to interrupt you you essentially just keep going. If someone hits you you need to re-cast.

Thread: Re: Druid's Gift of Nature

pmduque — 2008-04-01T23:37:13+00:00

This is the official answer from Fantasy Flight:
Characters can lose health before combat resolution due to special
abilities like the Murloc, Naga, Infernal, Doom Guard, and Shivan.

Thread: Re: Druid's Gift of Nature

pmduque — 2008-04-01T23:34:23+00:00

I believe that all armor tokens should be removed in the end of damage step (it's not an hit token!)...

Thread: Re: Mage Arcane Concentration

Octavian — 2008-03-31T21:10:00+00:00

There was no previous combat round, so the prerequisites of the card were not met. Therefore you must pay the energy cost.

-MMM

Thread: Re: Druid's Gift of Nature

Octavian — 2008-03-31T21:01:14+00:00

pmduque wrote:
I have a question about the usage of "Gift of Nature", a Shadow of War new talent card. This card states:
When you use Rejuvenation, Healing Touch, or Tranquility, place 1 armor token in the defense box.

My question is about timming. Rejuvenation can only be used "After a friendly participating character loses a Health", but this happen in the damage step of combat resolution, after account for damage and in the end of this phase the armor tokens are remove. What's the effect of adding 1 armor token at that stage?

It will still be there in the second round. You can also lose health from creature special abilities (and sometimes your own), so those armor tokens would be used in the current round.

-MMM

Thread: Mage Arcane Concentration

pmduque — 2008-03-31T19:18:05+00:00

Thread: Druid's Gift of Nature

pmduque — 2008-03-31T14:19:08+00:00

I have a question about the usage of "Gift of Nature", a Shadow of War new talent card. This card states:
When you use Rejuvenation, Healing Touch, or Tranquility, place 1 armor token in the defense box.

My question is about timming. Rejuvenation can only be used "After a friendly participating character loses a Health", but this happen in the damage step of combat resolution, after account for damage and in the end of this phase the armor tokens are remove. What's the effect of adding 1 armor token at that stage?

(cross posted on FFG Message Boards)

Thread: Re: Rogue Poisons question

Octavian — 2008-03-22T20:45:55+00:00

Tubarush wrote:
The SoW expansion adds two new possible poisons that a rogue can put on their mace or sword.

My question is:
Can you put more than one poison on your weapon? There is no "function trait" or "normal trait" listed under the picture - so I'm thinking that this is legal. Am I correct?

Thanks.
-TR

You are correct.

-MMM

Thread: Rogue Poisons question

Tubarush — 2008-03-22T16:03:52+00:00

The SoW expansion adds two new possible poisons that a rogue can put on their mace or sword.

My question is:
Can you put more than one poison on your weapon? There is no "function trait" or "normal trait" listed under the picture - so I'm thinking that this is legal. Am I correct?

Thanks.
-TR

Thread: Re: Challenging Shout

GVogel — 2008-01-26T16:10:40+00:00

bluebehir wrote:
Sounds to me like you have a choice. Either one, or both.
This answer based purely on your wording given above.

That's how we played it - basing it on reading it literally.

Thread: Re: Challenging Shout

bluebehir — 2007-12-22T09:30:54+00:00

Sounds to me like you have a choice. Either one, or both.
This answer based purely on your wording given above.

Thread: Challenging Shout

Black Sea — 2007-12-19T18:47:02+00:00

The card says:

Start of your action:
Move either one adjacent independent creature or one group of independent creatures into your region.

If the warrior is in a region adjacent to, say 2 blue murlocs, can he/she choose to only move one of the murlocs into his/her region, or is moving both mandatory with this power?

I've been unable to find anything regarding this in the rules and the official FAQ at FFG.

Thread: Re: Review of what the Expansion Adds.

bluebehir — 2007-10-27T09:42:03+00:00

I think this review could be expanded upon, and gives a semi-truth for people who are going to play it a few times only, and one for players who will play it a lot.

Firstly, I agree with the comments on class powers and talents - they add a lot to the game. So do the items, over time. Immediately, you'll see a few adjustments only. Immediately you have less chance of getting that item that sets off your character well. Over the long term you have more viability in a range of options, as you get rarer items that can work for your character.

The Blue Quest cards are great, in theory. The inclusion is great, but takes a small amount of extra table space for the (three to four) extra cards on display, a discard pile and a draw pile.
Further, I find that the independant creatures on the table and the cards rarely match. The cards offer great rewards for independant Doom Guards and Infenals though, and you'll always have one of those cards on the table, it seems.

However, the inclusion of these cards increases your options, and for that I applaud them. I just rarely use them. If I am forced to fight an independant, I am happy when there is reward mind you. Yet, it has almost never caused me to target an independant.

Destiny cards - this is the biggest impact of the entire expansion pack, and what I consider the expansion pack to be all about. If you like the destiny cards, get the expansion, otherwise consider letting it pass.
Destiny cards are short term game-impacting events that help, hinder or influence both teams at the same time. Sometimes they introduce a boss monster that might disappear in four game turns. Sometimes they increae or decrease the abilities of independant monsters, or create rewards for them all. There are a small amount of these destiny cards sorted into three decks to help flavour the individual boss monsters. They take the abilities and flavour of the boss monsters and shuffle into the standard destiny deck to create a variance. For example, there is one destiny card which doubles the movement of Nefarian for a brief time. (One event card if I recall correctly).

The inclusion of these cards increase the dynamics within the game to a new level, but they also include one more aspect to keep track of.
The people that love the depth of the game will love the added depth. The people that don't love the complexity of the game won't like the added complexity.

One thing not mentioned in the above report was that within the items offered is actually a completely new item TYPE, called "trinket". Along with your three items and your infinite potions and scrolls, you can carry seven trinkets in your pack.
These are often one-time use items, like potions or scrolls, and as often as not need to be worn as a necklace to work. Also, some of these are the above mentioned experience rewards.

Independant Quest rewards are usually a trinket, and trinkets are often awarded in destiny card rewards. I think it would have been nice if the game began with four trinkets in the town store, also; but that didn't happen.

I have not been able to obtain the Burning Crusade expansion at this time, but I have permanantly included this one in the game.

Thread: Re: Interesting or bizarre card inclusions (or combos)

bluebehir — 2007-10-27T03:07:10+00:00

guyincorporated wrote:
Grand total: 19 attrition, 6 melee hits, rogue solos kazzak and/or kel'thuzad round 1.

Actually, kel'thuzad has an ability that you can only place as many attrition as you can spot 6+

If Garotte allows you to directly place the tokens in the attrition box, that's fine, but if it only adds to your attrition value, it's not useful.

Thread: Re: Interesting or bizarre card inclusions (or combos)

Octavian — 2007-10-26T05:59:37+00:00

Mark T wrote:
Octavian wrote:
bluebehir wrote:
If a cleric uses Fade - a level 1 power - against an independant creature, it remains in the same region but escapes combat.
Must the cleric still combat the independant creature again in his next action?

I don't see why it wouldn't have to unless rules for independent creatures have changed. Clearly Fade is intended to be used primariliy against quest challenges.

-MMM

Maybe you could use Fade to survive until someone else gets there to help you, or maybe until a warrior could come by and use his challenging shout to pull the Blue Creature out of your region.

Certainly, but I wouldn't consider that the primary function. Fade is primarily to get out of a combat that doesn't go well in the first round.

-MMM

Thread: Re: Interesting or bizarre card inclusions (or combos)

Mark T — 2007-10-26T05:14:23+00:00

Octavian wrote:
bluebehir wrote:
If a cleric uses Fade - a level 1 power - against an independant creature, it remains in the same region but escapes combat.
Must the cleric still combat the independant creature again in his next action?

I don't see why it wouldn't have to unless rules for independent creatures have changed. Clearly Fade is intended to be used primariliy against quest challenges.

-MMM

Maybe you could use Fade to survive until someone else gets there to help you, or maybe until a warrior could come by and use his challenging shout to pull the Blue Creature out of your region.

Thread: Re: Review of what the Expansion Adds.

keethrax — 2007-10-13T22:12:31+00:00

Kalidor wrote:

Also, for people on the proverbial fence about an add-on (like me with this one...), this could be just the thing they need to knock 'em over one side or the other!

I would consider this add-on close to a must buy if you like the base game at all.

I'm not sold on the Burning Crusade one for a few reasons (table space being high up on that list). But Shadow of War is a great addition to the game. Doesn't add any real negatives to the game, adds more variety, and "fixes" blue creatures (which I didn't have any issues with, but did seem to be a common complaint).

Thread: Re: Review of what the Expansion Adds.

Kalidor — 2007-10-13T13:20:09+00:00

This is a fantastic overview of what the expansion adds and if it would be worth it for someone. With this info they can better make that decision...
Also, for people on the proverbial fence about an add-on (like me with this one...), this could be just the thing they need to knock 'em over one side or the other!
I wish every expansion page had this type of review in its forum; great job!

Thread: Review of what the Expansion Adds.

GeneSteeler — 2007-10-13T01:35:27+00:00

Introduction:

I have only played one game of World of Warcraft: The Boardgame with this expansion (and subsequently I have played one game without. So this review should be read from that perspective. But, seeing that World of Warcraft: The Boardgame - Shadow of War has not yet been reviewed, I thought it would still be of worth to the BGG community to get a players perspective of what World of Warcraft: The Boardgame - Shadow of War adds to the game.

This is consequently, not a review of the game per se, but rather of the EXPANSION and what it adds to the play experience, and should assist the reader in deciding whether or not to purchase World of Warcraft: The Boardgame - Shadow of War

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The reader should be directed to http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/89200 for a review of the base game.

I humbly accept your comments below.

What You Get:

468 cards. That’s it. Oh yeah, you also get a rulebook.

Incidently, this is as many cards as are in the base game. But what are these cards?

1. Ten new talents and ten new powers for all nine classes. (180 cards)

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This doubles the available powers and talents of the classes. After playing the expansion, the base game powers/talents felt incredibly limiting. The base game ‘progression’ feels almost linear, with very few different character builds available. Consequently, these new powers and talents expand the replayability of WoW by offering new builds and combos. These talents and powers alone make World of Warcraft: The Boardgame - Shadow of War an essential purchase for WoW fans who intend on playing more than a handful of games.

2. Blue Quests. (25 cards)

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One of the problems with the base game is those irritating blue creatures. Harder to defeat than their green brethren, these blue (independent) creatures gave no benefit to fighting and simply ‘wasted time’ (unless a rare event offered a reward). The new blue quests give rewards for defeating these creatures. Now, if you only need 1 XP to level up, hunting down a blue is a viable option. This deck fixes an often griped about ‘problem’ with the base game.

3. Destiny Cards/ Event Cards (39 cards / 26 cards).

The destiny cards add more variability and often make the end boss more powerful. Both these and the event cards increase replayability. Although my personal experience with them is limited.

4. More Items! (198 cards)

Included in this is a whole new item deck of rewards for quest blue creatures. Included in this deck are also ‘one off’ rewards such as XP gain.

Summary

While not required to play World of Warcraft: The Boardgame, World of Warcraft: The Boardgame - Shadow of War is a fantastic expansion which greatly increases the variety (and hence, replayability) of the game and fixes the problem of blue creatures. Although it would have been nice if this expansion included some new quests of the grey/green/yellow/red variety.

Consequently, this expansion is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys World of Warcraft: The Boardgame and wants to enhance their play experience or who is getting too familiar with the events and class builds of the base game.

As an expansion, I am giving World of Warcraft: The Boardgame - Shadow of War an 8/10.

Thread: Re: Interesting or bizarre card inclusions (or combos)

MrSkeletor — 2007-10-09T10:48:09+00:00

leonatos wrote:
You can only use 1 poison on a weapon card, I dont have the rulebook by hand to refer to the right page, but only 1 upgrade-item of a single type can be applied at the same time, this counts for shields and helmets, but also for poisons.

There is no "poison" type tho, so you can stack multiple poisons.

Thread: Re: Interesting or bizarre card inclusions (or combos)

leonatos — 2007-10-09T09:49:39+00:00

You can only use 1 poison on a weapon card, I dont have the rulebook by hand to refer to the right page, but only 1 upgrade-item of a single type can be applied at the same time, this counts for shields and helmets, but also for poisons.

Thread: Re: At last! A 6-player game.

ced1106 — 2007-10-09T06:46:54+00:00

Any chance of a review of this supplement and how it changes gameplay? Thanks!

aka. Washu! ^O^

Thread: Re: At last! A 6-player game.

Octavian — 2007-10-09T05:43:37+00:00

Nice session!

And you illustrate why it is folly to shoot for 5th level. I've never seen it attained because the bosses are beatable with a party of 4s (or even two 4s and a 3!). Your Alliance opponents should have tried to beat you to the punch and while they are now enjoying their elusive fifth level talents, they are doing so in a Horde dominated Azeroth.

Can't wait for the Burning Crusade expansion so I can finally put level 5 (and even level 6!) to use!

-MMM

Thread: At last! A 6-player game.

MerricB — 2007-10-09T02:44:55+00:00

I bought Shadow of War when it came out last year. In that time, I've never actually managed to get a game of it. Oh, my copy has been used, yes. On my birthday last year, we had a game of it. Unfortunately, I wasn't playing!

Due to the nature of WoW, it's tricky for our group to actually get a game of it. It's long, it really wants 6 people to play it, and you've got to have the right six people as well. It's become an ongoing joke that at some time during our game nights, someone (usually Rich) will suggest World of Warcraft, which we'll dismiss.

However, as we examined who we had at the game night, and decided upon which game would entertain us, we realised that this was the perfect group for World of Warcraft. Fantastic! So, we got it out, we set it up. We managed to cram everything needed onto the table... and we were away.

That makes the setting-up process sound like it was pretty quick. It wasn't, mainly because I was the only one who knew the game well. It took more like 30 minutes. You really need a larger table than I have, but most of it fit. The monsters sat in their plastic ziplock bags in the box, and I was the one to get them each time a new quest came up.

We randomly determined the order that people would choose their characters, and then Randy made executive decisions as to who'd play on each side. At the end of it all, we had our teams.

Horde
Merric - Mage
Randy - Warlock
Rob - Rogue

Alliance
Josh - Warrior
Craig - Hunter
Rich - Paladin

There was something a bit lopsided about the teams, and it really became noticable as the game went on: the Horde was all about spellcasters (and low Health), and the Alliance was all the warrior types (and high Health).

Hmm.

If you've played 4-player WoW and never played 6-player, there's a big difference between the two games. Primarily it's the extra independent (blue) monsters everywhere, although there is also a greater emphasis on PvP combats. This game we basically avoided PvP, mainly because of the independent creatures keeping us apart! Also, there weren't many PvP-enabling cards drawn: just a single Bounty, and it late in the game.

Instead, this game was all about the independent creatures. Shadow of War adds the Blue Quests to the fray, which give you rewards for defeating certain blue creatures, so we could take advantage of that. We needed to - most of our encounters had been spammed by independents from our other encounters! I think the Alliance only had one nearby quest they could do at the beginning - all the others had these little roadblocks in the way.

The Horde got off to the quicker start, with my Mage taking out a lone Gnoll, and Randy and Rob finishing another quest by themselves. All three of the Alliance went after their quest in the southern isle (Murlocs!) and the game was away.

As the game proceeded, the quests began to be farther and farther away from home base. They often had a few independent creatures in the way, and we often weren't quite tough enough to take them on our own. However, a lot of bosses were being drawn, so the Horde spent more time doing those, whilst the Alliance concentrated on quests which were nearer to them. (We had a few independents on our Flight Paths, and none of use were really up to taking blue Wraiths).

The encounter of the game, however, turned out to be a group of 2 Blue Murlocs. First of all, Craig the Alliance Hunter died to them. Then I gave them a try... and was defeated. Then Rob as well... stupid things!

Randy was the one doing really well in our faction, and he had a bunch of gold and extra stuff, some gained from blue encounters. I couldn't even afford Polymorph! By the time I could, we were moving towards the endgame, so I never bothered, instead concentrating on getting things to help us against the Overlord.

Despite the PvP element having gone missing from this game, player interaction remained high - at least within the teams. Randy, Rob and I had to decide whether to adventure together, what to do, and how we'd tackle the Overlord. It's a deceptively involved game.

The Alliance managed to really improve their standing, and caught up to us and exceeded our XP - now they were all 4th level whilst Rob and I were still sitting on 3rd. However, Rob and I teamed up to defeat another boss that had appeared and reached 4th. Randy reached 5th level (wow!) and a couple of the alliance characters looked like they were about to reach that hefty level themselves.

However, we knew something the Alliance didn't - we knew where the Overlord was. Lord Kazzak was actually pretty close to our HQ, and was being guarded by an independent monster. So, we sent in Rob to defeat it - he did, and Randy and I trained and came up to aid Rob in the final battle.

Meanwhile, the Alliance won a war, bringing both Josh and Rich up to 5th level! We really needed to defeat Lord Kazzak on our first try, because otherwise we were going to be in a *lot* of trouble.

We almost didn't. We did a fair deal of damage to him, but most of our attacks were of the ranged variety. (Funnily enough, I was rolling a lot of Defense dice). When we examined our low health scores, and the amount of damage coming our way... uh oh! Potions were drunk, pets gutted, but we survived. Just. With about 5 health between us, and the Overlord wasn't dead yet!

In the second round, we had to do it with ranged damage. Randy was able to burn energy just to do such damage to the Overlord, but Rob and I had more trouble. Even worse was just a single roll of a 1 or 2 would spell doom for our characters. However, Rob managed to get through without losing any more life... but the Overlord still needed three damage dealt to him.

My frosty attacks were enough. With a combination of talents and powers, I was able to turn three of my blue dice into 8s, which was enough to blast the Overlord into the Netherworld, and give the victory to our team, the Horde!

The game had gone for 33 turns, and 4-1/2 hours! It was now way past midnight, and Rob was definitely feeling the worse for it. Despite the playtime - partly due to new players, and partly due to not having an extra set of dice around - I'd found it really enjoyable, and I hope we can play it again soon.

Josh then showed what his 5th level Warrior could do by beating up a Green Infernal singlehandedly... eep!

Thread: Re: This can't be right!!

Octavian — 2007-09-09T04:44:09+00:00

Hankroyd wrote:
Just don't mention the possibility to use a house rule to say that Creature polymorphed are not vainquished and so give no XP for a blue quest and a destiny card like this.

Otherwise, let's say that the party with the wizard always win ...

This situation came up in the game I played today. The party with the wizard won - however two third level characters nearly took Kel-Thuzad out the turn before. Still...the huge boost was not cool. I think I may introduce that house rule.

-MMM

Thread: Re: Stunning staff overpowered?

Octavian — 2007-08-22T18:19:29+00:00

MikeyMike79 wrote:
Agreed. But in regards to PVP combat, I would have to also say that the staff is definitely overpowered.

Maybe, but that doesn't make it overpowered in total. If something is strong, but only situationally, then over the scope of the game it is reasonable. I would much rather have a weapon with the same dice and a power that could be used in every combat.

-MMM

Thread: Re: Stunning staff overpowered?

MikeyMike79 — 2007-08-22T16:44:30+00:00

Agreed. But in regards to PVP combat, I would have to also say that the staff is definitely overpowered.

Thread: Re: Stunning staff overpowered?

Octavian — 2007-08-22T16:21:51+00:00

I never play with the endgame PvP - I prefer the option of resetting the timer and play until the OL is defeated. So the stunning staff becomes even less useful, really only decent for events that encourage PvP.

-MMM

Thread: Re: Stunning staff overpowered?

RageBot — 2007-08-22T10:43:28+00:00

But stun is only good against other characters, not monsters and overlords.

So if you end up in a final PvP, that might be harmful.
But if you play with six characters, then the effects of it are weakend, since there are more dice on each side.

And I think that there are some powers that cure of stun, i'm not sure though.

Thread: Re: Initial Impressions - Expansion

Demise — 2007-07-04T11:17:46+00:00

guyincorporated wrote:

Mage polymorph just got a huge bump in power with the inclusion of blue quests. One of our games just saw a mage running around EPL poofing infernals and doomguards and drakes for epics and xp and other rewards.

According to this post on the FFG forum that shouldn't be a problem. Polymorph simply removes the blue from the game, but doesn't defeat the monster. So no gain for the mage.

Image

Oxxo — 2007-06-11T03:43:03+00:00

4-Player WoW with the Shadows of War expansion.

Thread: Re: This can't be right!!

Hankroyd — 2007-05-21T23:48:10+00:00

Just don't mention the possibility to use a house rule to say that Creature polymorphed are not vainquished and so give no XP for a blue quest and a destiny card like this.

Otherwise, let's say that the party with the wizard always win ...

Thread: Re: Interesting or bizarre card inclusions (or combos)

nyhotep — 2007-05-14T15:51:01+00:00

Personally , I wouldn't let poison stack. That cuts it down a bit.

Thread: Re: This can't be right!!

nyhotep — 2007-05-14T15:48:59+00:00

Just don't mention polymorph...

Thread: Re: This can't be right!!

bluebehir — 2007-05-09T02:06:48+00:00

The card itself does spawn the blue inferno and doom guard. Also, it places them near Kelthuzad, and if there are none left to spawn, they are relocated for this purpose.

I have wondered about the way you place tokens here also, coming to a similar conclusion.

Not to forget there almost always is a blue-quest showing one of those two and there is a decent reward for that also.

However, if you are playing a different overlord, to travel that far is very inconvenient...
Also, playing four player is less value (although still nice.)

Thread: Re: This can't be right!!

Tubarush — 2007-05-08T20:02:55+00:00

Actually, that card spawns a DG and an Infernal in spots that completely block off access to Stratholme --- and I'm in the middle of a game where Kelthuzad is the Overlord!!

Thread: Re: This can't be right!!

serdudds — 2007-05-08T19:14:17+00:00

Not to mention getting a blue infernal or doomguard out is rough. There are not many quests that bring them into play. If I recall correctly.

Thread: Re: This can't be right!!

Octavian — 2007-05-08T19:09:48+00:00

From what you've written it sounds that way. Of course, that one blue creature is the most difficult blue creature in the game, which means you should be close to taking on the Overlord anyways, and the blue creature may not be in a spot convenient for you to get to in time.

The reward is definitely nice, but I'd need a pretty hefty incentive to want to target a blue doomguard or infernal.

-MMM

Thread: This can't be right!!

Tubarush — 2007-05-08T12:01:56+00:00

Destiny Card - "We Guard The Way"

"While this card is in play, place one of your character tokens on this card if you defeat a blue Infernal or blue Doom Guard. When this card expires, any character with at least one of their character tokens on this card receives the following reward:

10 G, 9 XP, 3 items"

Am I reading this correctly? Could a 3-player team up to defeat a blue Infernal or DG and receive 27 XP??!! For killing 1 blue creature??!!

Thanks for your replies.

-TR

Image

Oxxo — 2007-02-27T09:07:23+00:00

Playing WoW: Shadow of War expansion.

Image

Subhuman — 2007-02-16T01:02:30+00:00

Examples of Blue Quests

Thread: Re: 4 player session report

ltbaxter — 2007-02-12T15:24:25+00:00

Thanks for putting up a session report. I was the Druid and had some general comments on how this expansion game felt vs the original...

- Destiny cards were certainly an interesting addition to the mix. However the initial impression is that the implementation was rough. There was no 'scaling', as the initial cards drawn had 0% chance of being attained (lvl 1's vs a nasty boss). The destiny event killing the Warlock right at the end was decisively brutal. Basically, I felt smacked around the head by destiny rather than given the sense I had any chance to influence it.

- It was nice to have more choices for spells and powers. Too bad the game-shortening destiny card prevented the Druid from learning any new lvl 5 spells.

- The trinkets that I saw were utterly useless except to sell. There was no way I was going to use up a character slot to equip a minor item that would be discarded after one use. Now if you could put it on TOP of an equipped item so when it was used you weren't empty in the slot, they would get used a lot more.

- Too bad no new monster types, perhaps that will be an expansion all by itself.

- I hope other fans can comment on the Stun-2 staff. That really seemed incredibly powerful. The cumulative nature was what did it. Now if it were non-cumulative, but stun 2 every round (-4 dice) that would be an 'appropriate' bonus for a weapon, in the same way a +4 dice on a great weapon is nice but not ridiculous.

- The expansion adds to rather than solves the two main issues I have with the game: i) game length (two days to finish one game? I know it's our first time with the expansion, but wow), ii) a sense of 'randomness' as to who will reach the overlord first and snatch the win. Some folks like the race nature of this, which is fine, but I'm more of an optimizer (get the character as buff as possible in the end) vs a racer.

For next game I would be prone to decide the teams and characters in advance so I could really study up and plan on the specific spells/powers I would be using (to soothe my inner optimizer child ).

I enjoyed it, and would definitely choose to play the next game with the expansion, and I would expect to have fun doing so. Yet the time and luck factors will limit how often this fine game hits the table. (How fast can experienced players play this game anyway?)

Larry

Thread: Re: 4 player session report

happycamper — 2007-02-11T22:48:56+00:00

Damage is resolved simultaneously, however the PvP combat clearly lays out that one player does their rolling steps (3 phases), then one from the opposing team, then one from the first team again.

What is simultaneous, is how the damage counters are resolved at the end.... since the stun counters are placed during one of the player rolling phases (they spot a red 8 to do so) then it seems as if it isn't simultaneous.

Unless there is a special rule stating that stuns and curses in player vs player combat do not take effect until the following round.

Thread: Re: 4 player session report

Tubarush — 2007-02-11T18:04:49+00:00

Interesting -- I'm in the middle of a game (on a break) with the same character setup!! (minus expansion)

I think I see a rules error above. I may be wrong, or it may be because of something from the expansion.

It is my understanding that PvP combat is considered to be simultaneous. Therefore the stuns would not have taken effect until the following round. So first round, Alliance should have rolled all their dice. 2nd round - they lose 6 dice (not 12). And so on.

Thread: Stunning staff overpowered?

happycamper — 2007-02-11T02:30:37+00:00

OK, I just finished a game where I was pasted a good one by the new staff in the expansion... I forget the name but here is the stats:

"Blue Square" Item card

Level 3 Staff - adds 3 red dice. Spot 1 red 8 to put TWO stun tokens on an opposing character
I don't recall the cost (7gold? seems like it would have been more)

So, its a nice lvl 3 staff (3 red dice), but the special power was absolute murder in the PvP endgame we played. We had an event or two in our four player game that moved the event track right along so that we had just made level 4 and didn't have time to regroup to fight the final boss - setting us up for a final PvP fight. Even though my partner managed to get to lvl 5, and we fought 2 lvl 4's they still handed us our backsides on a plate by using this staff.

The Horde shaman had a talent that made some dice become red 8s without spending energy. He then could use the staff and spot an 8 (again without any energy cost) and slap 2 STUN tokens on us every PvP combat round. Losing 4 more dice from your pool every round was easily enough to take us out of contension.

All this from a level 3 staff?

Is the main balancing thing with the staff that staff-weilders aren't supposed to be able to be rolling a lot of red 8's and we just got unlucky because a shaman got it?

Seems a shame if one weapon is nearly game-winning if it is won by the wrong person...

Thread: Re: Sessions, reviews, anything?

happycamper — 2007-02-11T02:21:56+00:00

The expansion greatly improves the presence of the blue creatures with the missions, and several new event type things that make killing blue creatures _almost_ (but not quite) worthwhile. At least they aren't as ultimately as annoying as before.

The expansion also introduces a lot of items, powers, and abilties geared towards PvP play. Some of the destiny and event deck cards also add to the difficulty of sucessfully overcoming the overlord bosses. (Thus making the final PvP combat occur a little more often...)

Most of the changes I think add something to the game, such that the game with the expansion is definately improved over the game without it... (and not just the "more is better" side of things...)

Thread: 4 player session report

happycamper — 2007-02-10T22:58:14+00:00

Just finished a nice 4 player game with the expansion. Shaman + Warrior took on a Warlock + Druid. At the start the alliance side had a good draw on quests while the horde were held back by some unfortunate blue creatures. (We accidentally had 4 grey and 1 green quest to start the game, so had more quests than we should have for the game...) Both groups stayed together until early level 3 and then some began to solo a little bit. We had on unfortunate destiny card boss that moved the event track two extra spaces, which was just enough to move the game forward quick enough to preclude anyone attempting the Overlord boss.

The Horde managed to kill a destiny boss, which instantly defeated me (warlock) on the second to last turn in the game, making my last two turns mostly ineffective. The druid, using catform to walk through blue creatures, had two chances for extra experience points and the second one finally got him to level 5 (the first defeated him solo).

So, the stage was set for a 2 vs 2 PvP combat.

Final setup...

Alliance: (Major blue dice, some red, weak green)
As a lvl 4 Warlock I went with improved shadowbolt + soul link. I had a succubus, shadowbolt, bought a wand, curse of agony, and purchased drain mana when I knew we were going to a PvP combat finish - to try to take away opponents mana/energy as fast as possible. The alliance encountered NO cloth armor during the whole game (and the horde never sold any to merchant) so I still had my default armor (no green dice) at the final PvP battle.
The level 5 druid had some healing (2x use heal talent) and mostly cat form offense. He took the lvl 5 talent to make all his instant powers 1 energy cheaper.

HORDE: (Major red dice, good green dice, weak blue, LOTS of attrition, PLUS 3 stuns per round)
Lvl 4 Warrior had some solid green dice (great for PvP fight), two energy recovery a round, and also the power that was going to stun us once a round.
Lvl 4 Shaman had various totems, ending with good atrition, and chain lightnig for some blue. However, the Horde had found a staff (level 3) that was 3 red dice PLUS spotting a red 8 would put TWO stun tokens on an opposing player. He obviously took the talent that let him create a red 8 for free each round. This was a major deciding factor for the game.

The final PvP battle was close for two rounds, as the warlock (me) kept draining energy, but as the Horde had more Experience they went first in combat, causing us to lose 6 dice per round before we could even fight. (Yes we took turns but the 2-stun player always chose to go first, and the second horde player could then just stun the alliance player that didn't go yet.) The warlock kept draining energy to take out the power of the opposing shaman and even the fighter to a lesser extent, but it wasn't enough to counter-act the loss of dice due to stunning. (-6 first round, -12 dice second round).

The third round of PvP combat, I was rolling a total of 4 dice, and the druid rolled none. We survived the combat at 1 health each, but weren't going to be able to roll any dice in future, so we called it a day.

The found staff (found it on a quest, not a named one) that provided 2 stuns a round with no energy cost was just too much (and combined with the 1 stun a round from the warrior) when added to the Horde's going first in PvP (they had more combined exp). The alliance held on a bit longer than expected due to our lucky maneuver to level 5 (meaning we had a threat of 7), but it wasn't nearly enough to take the game.

We used the standard PvP fight rules, but it wasn't a big deal since things only lasted for 3 rounds.

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jellospike — 2006-12-09T11:27:45+00:00

All the cards in the base game and the expansion fit in this box!

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jellospike — 2006-12-09T11:05:07+00:00

The expansion next to the base game (it's a little smaller!)

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Jason McMaster — 2006-11-03T23:42:10+00:00

Open box contents

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Jason McMaster — 2006-11-03T23:26:03+00:00

Cards laid out in stacks

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bryanb — 2006-11-01T23:08:41+00:00

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LeFonz — 2006-10-25T07:36:16+00:00

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kzman13 — 2006-08-15T01:58:53+00:00