Stephen Avery
United States
Suwanee
Georgia
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I got to play through a few rounds of Conquest of Nerath. The game looks like so much fun with all the cool minis and elaborate board- it screams "PLAY ME!" Then you do and you realize that you've played the game before, only back then it was called Risk (really more like Risk 2210.)
The game is so basic that it would easily be palatable for non gamers to play- and maybe that was the purpose.
The game play is:
Move your dudes: (most units move 2, dragons 3, and soldiers and catapults move 1)
Fight: Roll a 6 or better. Units have different dice and some have special powers (Wizards get 1st strike, catapults roll two D8 when attacking...ect)
Reinforce: After combat movement
Buy: Score your total territories and buy new units.
Two units (the wizard and the warrior) may also explore the numerous dungeons on the board. Exploring consists of flipping over the door and fighting the monsters on the back. OH NO!! A mind flayer! He's rolling two d12's!
Successfully completing a dungeon provides gold and magic items which greatly help in your conquest. That is right, you can be toting around that Keogtom’s Ointment ( and save two of your units each turn from extinction.) or the mac daddy vorpal sword.
Now I've been poking fun at how unsophisticated the game is, but in truth I'd play it in a heartbeat. It is a total dice fest with nods to classic D&D. And it is friggin gorgeous. Each sculpt for the four separate factions is different (something like 10 different units per player so maybe 40 sculpts.) I like the rich colors and graphic design. The board is laid out similarly to Quest for the Dragonlords with a central island and the four factions spilling out of the four corners to take up every bit of space.
I'm looking forward to playing a full game to see how it plays. I suspect there is great carnage early on as many of the units that clutter the board are killed off. Then there will be borders that are traded off while each player tries to hold multiple fronts. Lastly there will be the ol' take down the leader while still trying to cover yourself from opportunistic allies.
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Mark Chaplin
United Kingdom
Nottingham
Ice-choked tower, Mondavia, Nanglangka.
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Conquest of Nerath just made its Save vs. Crapness.
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Freelance Police
United States
Palo Alto
California
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What scale are the mini's? I'm guessing they're not 25mm.
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Stephen Avery
United States
Suwanee
Georgia
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no - closer to 15mm. The peices have a decnet amount of detail for the size. I would put a dark wash over them to be able to see it more clearly.
Steve"Game Pimper"Avery
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Your preview sounds very promising. Easy gameplay, plastic soldiers, different dice, great! Thanks for putting this up. CoN is on my radar now.
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Warrick Williams
Australia
Melbourne
Victoria
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Quest for the dragonlords ( 2nd edition anyway ) has a much richer board from what I can see and perhaps a greater depth of gameplay going on - suffice to say we have yet to see the rules on this one.
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Is there a description included about the different factions which are battling against each other? Does anybody know this? Thanks for info.
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Chris L
United States
Macomb
Michigan
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I'm interested enough in this game to play a tourney at GenCon (I'm a tourney addict) so hopefully that won't turn out to be a mistake.
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Steve, do you remember if the factions are symmetrical in terms of abilities and units (just with different sculpts) or are there any real differences in the factions?
Thanks for the preview!
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Scott
United States
Wisconsin
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Sounds cool. Less is often times more, and I think that's great for this game. More opportunities to play it, and easier for other players to get into. Win!
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Stephen Avery
United States
Suwanee
Georgia
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Raolin wrote: Steve, do you remember if the factions are symmetrical in terms of abilities and units (just with different sculpts) or are there any real differences in the factions?
Thanks for the preview!
The factions are identicle but it is deceptive because all the sculpts are differents and the edges of the provinces are irregular. Once you start to look at it though you realize all the boarders are the same distance away.
I can't remember the factions but ther are two good and two bad factions so in a three player game one player would control two factions.
Steve"no short term memory"Avery
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one of the more interesting facts is that this game has a core information about the current D&D world which never appeared before in any other publication. Its the map and the different factions are absolutely new too. (except the Nerath Empire which has some coverage in other D&D books)
So as a D&D roleplayer I would really love to know if there are further infos about those new factions (Karkoth, Valian etc.) in the game included.
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Ignazio Corrao
Malzeville
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StephenAvery wrote: Each sculpt for the four separate factions is different (something like 10 different units per player so maybe 40 sculpts.)
Judging from the first pictures not all the sculpts are different for each faction.
Ships, Elementals, Fortresses, Siege Engines, and Dragons are shared between all the factions.
Monsters, Cavalry, and Infantry appear to be unique to their race/faction.
It's still a very nice effort to differentiate them to this extent.
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Stephen Avery
United States
Suwanee
Georgia
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the dragons are definately different. I picked up two and examined them. Since the scale is small you have to look carefully. For instance I thought the warriors were the same too then I realized mine was riding a bear and my opponents was riding a boar. Without a wash to bring out the details though you really have to look carefully.
Steve"going to need glasses soon"Avery
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Alex Beldan
Canada
Winnipeg
Manitoba
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Any sense of how it compares to Quest for the Dragonlords? I rather like Quest for the Dragonlords (in a guilty-pleasure kind of way), and your preview has me thinking that Conquest of Nerath is sufficiently similar I'll have no need for it.
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Stephen Avery
United States
Suwanee
Georgia
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I haven't played a full game but I think they might play similiarly. I like QftDL's questing part better but the special powers for the units of CoN will make for a more interesting wargame. Also there is a hard stop on CoN. As soon as you get to 13 points (shortgame) you win. In QftDL the writing is on the wall once some one gets a dragonlord but you still have to play it out to the bitter end.
So I'm going to go with: "slightly different with a lot of overlap."
Steve"Hedging"Avery
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Tom B
United States
Naperville
ILLINOIS
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I simply like the idea that this is not another deck building game...what a relief. I know, does the world need another Axis and Allies or Risk game? Probably not but it looks like it could be a fun beer and pretzels game.
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Stig Beite Løken
Norway
Stavanger
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I think I'm gonna pass on this one. I'd rather play Runewars.
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-=] Deroan [=-
United States
Cameron
Montana
Check out the Cardboard Carnage Blog right here on BGG!
Check out the Cardboard Carnage Blog right here on BGG!
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Yugblad wrote: Conquest of Nerath just made its Save vs. Crapness.
I just got my good 'out loud' laugh for the day! 
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Simon Gingras
Canada
Sorel-Tracy
Québec
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New official article with a section on the game: http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dragon/201105a....
We get a closer look at the playing pieces.
Regards.
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Michael Mifsud
Hong-Kong
Caribbean Coast, Tung Chung
Lantau Island, N.T.
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Opinion on how appropriate it is for kids under 10? If its Risk complexity sounds like it would be playable for a kid who can play Risk easily?
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Pink Rose
United States
Oregon
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There is a Monster Manual that comes out next month that has backgrounds on each of the factions.
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Jeff Khoury
United States
Coulters
Pennsylvania
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OregonPinkRose wrote: There is a Monster Manual that comes out next month that has backgrounds on each of the factions.
What, Monster Manual 8, the Ocher Jelly?
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Barry Kendall
United States
Lebanon
Pennsylvania
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Stephen, thanks for the breezy review. Thumbs-up for a fun read, for a useful comparison to "Risk 2210", for noting the different sculpts for different factions, and for a positive "it's fun!" conclusion.
Agree with the eloquent post about "CoN" passing its whatever-it-was test (at my age memory does not last the full length of a thread page). Will be on my list for sure.
I have to say that this is one of the most graphically pleasing fantasy boards I've seen since "Runewars." Very pretty indeed.
I surmise, from the general appearance in the site close-up, that the pieces are "hard" plastic (as in "LOTR Risk") rather than the "soft" variety.
Is this correct? If so, I see not just a wash but a full paint job in the future . . . .
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Wow, it seems very interesting ! Thanks for the infos.
Victory points, different units, treasures. I feel that a good playability for 2 players might be there, as in Nexus Ops.
A few questions:
- do treasures act like some kind of event cards ? (like the energize cards in Nexus Ops) ?
- do the units attack in a certain order ? Or is it only the Wizard that strike first, and than all the others units at the same time ?
- the goal is to gain a certain amount of Victory points. How do you earn them ? Is there several ways to get them ?
- Are there different types of terrain ? Only land and water ? Do some terrains offer more reinforcements than others ?
Sorry for all those questions, but I must admit I'm quite excited by that game.
Thanks again for the preview !
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