~Rob Fenimore
Dice Drop Games
Here’s a little midweek shoutout to a few games that I love, but don’t get the love I feel they deserve. If you haven’t played them, you should definitely check them out.
1) Dragon Run, 2-5 Players, Blue Orange.
There have been a couple of press your luck style dungeon crawlers that have come out over the last year or so. I have reviewed two of them for Geek Girl – Welcome To The Dungeon and Dungeon Roll. Well, this one caught my eye recently, and it is at least as good as the others. In Dragon Run you flip cards representing rooms in the dungeon, trying to avoid being the one to draw the dragon card. But if you want to get enough treasure to win the game, you’ll have to use both luck and the opportunistic shafting of your fellow adventurers to get it done. Dragon Run is quick and fun and should make it to the table at many a pub or party.
2) Dragonwood, 2-4 Players, Gamewright.
An unfortunate title, maybe, but this card game does a great job of combining dice rolling and poker card play with the “hack and slash” goodness of a dungeon crawl (or is it a wood crawl?). Players use card sets (straight, flush, and of-a-kind) to acquire the dice used to roll against the monsters. The gameplay is engaging and turns move quickly. The more dice you acquire, the better your chances in combat. But if you wait too long another player might get the monster instead. The artwork on the cards is impressive and the dice are cool looking as well. If you are looking to scratch your D&D itch without all the accouterment, check out Dragonwood.
3) New Dawn, 2-4 Players, Artipia Games.
I plan on doing a more extensive review of this one, but I needed to share how much fun New Dawn is, because while everyone who plays it seems to like it, I have seen very little buzz for it. New Dawn is a 4X (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) game set in the same galaxy as Among The Stars, which is a great game as well. I’ve played it twice and can’t WAIT to play it again. (That sentence is spoken with a Rob Lowe level of excitement in my mind. LIT-trally). Players explore derelict space facilities to establish bases and acquire resources to earn victory points. Problem is, the board is not big enough for everyone and combat is a necessary (though not prolific) factor in gameplay. But the combat is easy to understand and quick, and as tight as I have found in a game this size. If you haven’t checked out New Dawn (or Among The Stars) you are surely missing out on what I think is one of the most underrated games out there.
With so many great games out there, it stands to reason that some really good ones could fly under the radar. Let’s correct that by getting our underrated faves to the table more. There is no try!
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