Most of the time I read about Descent here on BGG usually it's with groups of 3 to 5 people, well I mostly play Descent 1 on 1 (2 heroes for 1 player and an Overlord).

I was given the heroes and my girlfriend was the Overlord (which she just loves to be).

Given I only have the game for about a month I'll play it with 4 to 5 people a couple more times in the future.

Maybe you think that in a sort of cooperative game playing alone against the Overlord is boring but if you've played a lot of eRPGs you're kind used to making all the decisions for your party alone.

This session was the first time me and my girlfriend played with a good knowing of the rules, the previous times we played we were always doing something wrong which unbalanced the game on the Overlord's favor. One of the gravest mistakes was that we didn't grab all the money and all the chest cards we were supposed to.

This time, we knew the rules. And yes, maybe the game is a little unbalanced and the Overlord sometimes is just watching the game with little hope to win.

However, I think it's fine that way. Despite being a game, meaning someone has to win and someone has to lose, even the Overlord wants to see the party advance and go on all the quests successfully. I see the Overlord not as an enemy but as a peer, someone who makes it hard for you and if you make lots of mistakes punishes you.

The game lasted about 8 hours (not including about 45 minutes of setup which we have to hasten up). I got to choose my heroes instead of picking them randomly. I picked up Trenloe and Battlemage Jaes, which allowed for a balanced 2 man party with the downside that if I lost any I lost 4 Conquest tokens. I did lose Trenloe 2 times (because he was turned into a monkey and poisoned those two times) and ended up defeating Narthak with only 5 conquest tokens left (plus the 4 you receive from Narthak).

Killing the big guy wasn't that hard, I practically incinerated the Manticores and the rest of the room with a blast attack, and the big guy doesn't stand a great chance when he's all alone with some random spawns here and there (the fact that I had Boggs to help me with line of sight was pretty cool too).

And that's about it, a very nice game though a little bit too long for the time I had available (Road to Legend please save me), with lot's of m&m's sacrificed for a greater good and a good bit of back pain because we don't really have a table where we can play the game.

But hey, if adventurers had all the gear they needed for their quest right from the start it wouldn't be that great of a quest would it?

great write up, I like the idea of 2 person Descent, but 8 hours is way to long, most reports are aboutg 4 hours.

Thanks for sharing

Well, we only played about 4 games and we take our time thinking. But, yes, we do have to improve on the playing time

Also, with only 2 character players, you face a lot more time in each room, as there are not enough people to deal with all the spawns every round. This can lead to the dungoen getting cluttered and slowing down the game. I know as the Overlord, I have placed a mass of skeleton archers in a narrow corridor as cannon fodder just to prevent the heroes from getting into the next room.

Also, with only 2 character players, you face a lot more time in each room, as there are not enough people to deal with all the spawns every round. This can lead to the dungoen getting cluttered and slowing down the game. I know as the Overlord, I have placed a mass of skeleton archers in a narrow corridor as cannon fodder just to prevent the heroes from getting into the next room.

I usually run Descent with only 2 adventurers ... so I usually let each adventurer have (in addition to their normal skills) one of Boggs, Mata & Kata, or Sharr. I find this helps.

I did have Boggs luckily, that helped a lot, but not as an extra though.

Most of the time we play 1vs 1 and i find that the game is very balanced. If both sides play well it likely tha the heroes will win but whith less than 3 Conquest tokens. If the players are inexperienced they will surelly lose and if the overlord is inexperienced he better not try to be an overlord or he will not at all enjoy the game.
By the way, Tiago, 8 hours is way too much, but experience will fix the game duration. Most games last about 3 - 5 hours.
The best for me is that all players must have some experience so they all enjoy the game as well, or the player with the most xp plays OL or they all learn the game together.

I've just played through the second dungeon (and lost right at the end of it). Still no time improvement. I have to focus more on the quest and not beating up all the monsters ^^;

I was using the same party: Trenloe and Jaes bit I'll likely change my party to other guys, Trenloe makes the heroes go too slow and I don't really have a use for melee on Jaes once the big runes start showing up.

When I play as hero ( 1vs1 ) I always take One Fist ( which allows 2-3 attacks per round) and another missile or magic hero.
Most of the time I choose advanced action and the rest, i guard but i ALWAYS!
use the extra attack. Also i move usinng fatigue then drinking fatigue potion and making 3 attacks before or after moving again. I also try to save some fatigue for the next round. This way i sweep out the monsters really quick and i advance to the next area. An optional rule that might help those poor heroes out there is that the OL does not reveal all the area when the heroes get in but only what they can actually see ( for example the monsters block line of site and monsters that are behind cannot be seen ) this way the heroes don't get overnumbered by the monsters.
Other advice to win is to use movement and fatigue really smart so you kill and advance without delay.
Try to have great armor so the only damage you get is from traps or really strong enemies.
That's all for now.

Thanks for your tips.

They're really useful

Hi all,

Earlier today I played a game of 1v1 Descent: Journey ...

I was the Overlord and won easily. So easily we thought something must be broken and we must be missing some rule somewhere.

We reset the dungeon just to try the first room again now that the Hero player and I both understood the dynamics of the game a bit better.

I killed one hero on the first turn. I killed the same hero again the next turn and nearly the second hero as well. We reset. I killed a hero on the first turn again. We reset. I did it again.

If I drew a summon card on the first turn, I discarded the other two cards for enough threat so I could use it. If the Heros were lined up so I couldn't summon this turn (because they had line of sight to most of the first area), I moved all my monsters away from them, making the Hero player take more time to get to me and getting me more cards and threat. If they didn't split up to cover all the lines of sight, I summoned and killed on Hero in one turn. Hit and Run tactics from the monsters are devastating, especially with the Master Beastman giving +1 damage to everyone within 3 distance.

Also, the ready action seems worthless. You're guarding? Ok, I send my weakest guy at you -- you gonna waste your guard to take a shot? If yes, great, now my better guys attack. If no, I roll. If I hit, you lose guard. One monster action should not be able to cancel a hero action.

The 2 player version of this game simply feels broken. Worse, it feels un-tested.

Are we missing something?

Thanks.