Full Sets - Possible / Advisable ?

By Crusaderlord, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

It is definitely possible to "complete" this game, but I don't advise it. I have everything except the lieutenant packs. In my opinion, the lieutenant packs add so little to the gameplay that they're not worth it- however, I happen to be one of those people who couldn't care less if I'm using a token or a miniature to represent a lieutenant.

I will dare not agree with big Z :) . plot decks when wisely chosen and timely played add some deathly possibilities to the Overlord, The point is to not overflow your heroes with tokens. At the beginning i didn't see any interest to buy them but now i wouldn t be able to by pass them.

Certainly, they do. My point is that the number of plot decks far outweighs your ability to use them. Consider that if you started a full campaign once every month and selected and purchased your ideal plot deck just before beginning each campaign, after two years you still wouldn't have all the packs (even if your ideal choice was different every time .)

To be fair though, as much as I agree with that point, I'm starting to get the same feeling for the Overlord decks. Only last game, when trying to determine what I'm going to go for for my Shadow of Nerekhall/Manor of Ravens campaign, I realized that there's no way I'll ever use all of these classes or even all of the cards in one class.

But at least I can mix-and-match a bit.

I buy lieutenants for the models and where i want a good boss character to design a dungeon crawl with. Otherwise i would use tokens in the campaign. Certain models make me want to paint them - here is my latest just finished today. I also have Bolgoreth and the Spider Queen - both amazing models which i will see if i can picture as well.

Ardus and his skeleton army will work so well

Ariad spider and all the various spider creatures available

Bolgoreth and the swamp creatures

I will get Splig on this next re-print for the Goblin dungeons set

Next i like the look of Zarihell which i will probably buy alongside Mists of Bilehall

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Edited by Crusaderlord

...I'm starting to get the same feeling for the Overlord decks....I realized that there's no way I'll ever use all of these classes or even all of the cards in one class, so unlike plot decks, you CAN mix and match.

But at least I can mix-and-match a bit.

Edited by Zaltyre

Re: All in and priorities.

Road to Legend changed everything here; it has been exactly what we wanted all along for the type of play and engagement we were looking for. The Side Quest yesterday (Smash and Grab) was again epic and highly, highly, entertaining. The whole family is now at the table as well.

Before Road to Legend was announced we had the Base Set, Manor of Ravens (unplayed), and the very well played Forgotten Souls Co-op.

Getting excited for the release of the App awhile back we obtained the Base Set Lieutenants and two H&M sets.

The Lieutenants were a completest thing, feeling they would be all gone by release (like Splig was); somewhat an 'anticipation purchase' and just wanting to see figures rather than use the tokens.

One or two H&M's were certainly always an intention but I saw Descent admittedly hitting the table less and less before RtL was announced so we had held off. With the App coming the H&M's came back to the fore with a vengeance, as simple there were a lot of 'classic' monsters we wanted to see on the table and fight. Immediately came Visions of Dawn (Ogres!) and Oath of the Outcast (Giant Spiders and winged things!).

(We even bought Heirs of Blood, RtL had the effect of also bringing our interest back to playing the box campaigns just as they were intended.)

Then we got to play RtL. Then my wife loved it. Then we hooked it up to the big screen and added a wireless mouse to the table. RtL has become the main 'summer topic of discussion' for the boys.

...

Crown of Destiny H&M.

Labyrinth of Ruin.

Trollfens.

Shadows of Nerenkhal.

Queen Ariad Lt.

Bol'Goreth Lt.

(Edit: And an extra set of dice!)

Annnd we will be continuing to obtain the remaining Boxed Expansions after two more H&M's we really want to see; Bonds and Guardians (this app does indeed, as others have said, do a great job at bringing the creatures you have onto the table).

As an aside, a few Plano boxes were very welcome and beyond helpful for playing even more than organization and storage alone. And we love the idea mentioned here of replacing the search tokens with chests figures, and other 'prop' based inclusions. That is just brilliant.

So I do believe we will eventually be All In soon enough, I think every released campaign will spur some new growth.

We are having a really great time. ;)

Edited by Cotgrave

I am also OCD when it comes to being "complete" for games that I enjoy. I was originally not going to buy any of the hero and monster packs because I have a complete Descent first edition set, but when I saw that they came with extra quests and rewards...not to mention some minor tweaks to the heroes and monsters as well I needed to bite the bullet and get them all.

I also have both of the game kits that were released a few years ago and the obsolete conversion kit.

Four extra dice sets and the hardcover campaign book.

I am currently missing the two latest Hero and Monster packs because my local game store didn't get them in yet, and 3 of the lieutenants because they were awaiting reprints and I refused to pay more for something that was going to be available again.

I keep everything in 4 of the Dewalt Tstak cases and all my cards are sleeved - including the co-op tarot cards.

I also have a complete descent collection, for both 1st and 2nd edition.

About the first edition I still own everything except road to legend, all lieutenants and the campaign book. I also have the conversion kit.

Got everything except for the coop adventure... Don't think I'll ever buy those since we loved too much the interaction between Overlord and Heroes.

It is definitely possible to "complete" this game, but I don't advise it. I have everything except the lieutenant packs. In my opinion, the lieutenant packs add so little to the gameplay that they're not worth it- however, I happen to be one of those people who couldn't care less if I'm using a token or a miniature to represent a lieutenant.

I will dare not agree with big Z :) . plot decks when wisely chosen and timely played add some deathly possibilities to the Overlord, The point is to not overflow your heroes with tokens. At the beginning i didn't see any interest to buy them but now i wouldn t be able to by pass them.

Certainly, they do. My point is that the number of plot decks far outweighs your ability to use them. Consider that if you started a full campaign once every month and selected and purchased your ideal plot deck just before beginning each campaign, after two years you still wouldn't have all the packs (even if your ideal choice was different every time .)

Yeap indeed, but our wise FFG thought about that, and fortunately there are some out there that are just unplayable :)

That's why I prefer the IA approach, 3 cards per lieutenant and then you mix and match to create your deck. I actually get to use what I buy.

Just downloaded the app and I know how you feel about wanting everything. I still need to buy 2 expansions, 3 heroes and monster packs and 12 lieutenants to have the complete collection, but who's counting...I figure I will slowly finish my collection over the next few months so it doesn't feel so expensive. I find the models work great for D&D as well so they are multi purpose!

I also have a complete set, I even bought 3 italian and 1 german lieutenant and have english replacements pre-ordered. I bought my first component, base set, in March 2016. I'm also paying to have my minis painted professionally.

Thankfully I have a brother who loves painting model's and I love having free painted models! Win win situation if I ever heard of one.

Certainly, they do. My point is that the number of plot decks far outweighs your ability to use them. Consider that if you started a full campaign once every month and selected and purchased your ideal plot deck just before beginning each campaign, after two years you still wouldn't have all the packs (even if your ideal choice was different every time .)

I really don't like the restriction that you need to stick to one deck for the whole campaign.

I´ve been wanting to re-design the whole thing (house rule), unfortunately it only seems to increase the power of the Overlord, and breaking balance is not something I would take lightly, and none of my hero players would accept it anyway.

But yeah, the idea was to make each plot deck a skill tree, with each card sitting at one of the branchs of that tree. Threat cost however would not be related to the level of the card. Then I would have ramifications between branches of two trees/decks to allow an Overlord to branch out and diversify his/her purchases. Such ramifications would be based on thematics. I can think of Eliza's plot deck connecting to Merick's, for instance. Obviously you wouldn't be able to branch out to just ANY other deck, but you´d have many more possibilities on the table giving you abilities covering several areas of the game. So not only healing or draining for Eliza, but also some interaction with OL cards with the use of Merick, Or defense granted by Alric's if that's what you want. I think it would be a way more exciting way of using Plot decks.

I mean, the issue is that so many of these decks are stone unplayable anyway, because there's like 1-2 cards that are worth looking at. Hence you never play these decks. By doing it the way I suggested, you could just ignore and ditch the c..r..a..p.. and focus on cards that are interesting.

The issue with balance is that the Overlord is getting more flexible and get uncounterable tools that no longer cover one niche area of the game but several. It may have some relevance when resolving a campaign.

Edited by Indalecio

I own the base game and all the boxed expansions so far and I'm thinking of one or two H&M packs.

I do not plan on buying all the Lieutenant packs though. They don't seem essential and some are even pretty bad. However, I really like the miniatures since I like painting them as well. Valyndra for example looks awesome. If a Lieutenant-Miniature pack would exist, where you get all the minis but not the plot-decks, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. Right now, I don't feel like buying 20 (!) packs just for the minis. I see no way to use all the plot decks. Not gonna happen.

I wonder If such a pack would make sense for FFG economically. It would have to be much cheaper than all the packs (some 35$?) but I guess they would sell these much easier.

There´s also more stuff you can add to the game besides the standard components. Plastic treasure chests for the search tokens, minatures for the villagers, familiars.

What I´m currently looking for, is a way to mark figures with conditions. I don't really like the token solution to keep track of conditions, and even damage on monsters/doors is hard to represent. I mean, it's not hard, but it can get unpractical.

For the conditions I was thinking about something to put underneath the figure, like a flat base with a thin vertical metallic wire attached to it and then hanging something 3D there. Like, something floating above the figure. Something I could paint. Kickstarter sees the release of a few things like condition dices, and sometimes 3D models picturing conditions, but I have yet to find something that would look appealing to me.

I give heroes the condition cards as they're dealt conditions. As for damage to doors and other objects, make a card and put the tokens on there.

I own the base game and all the boxed expansions so far and I'm thinking of one or two H&M packs.

I do not plan on buying all the Lieutenant packs though. They don't seem essential and some are even pretty bad. However, I really like the miniatures since I like painting them as well. Valyndra for example looks awesome. If a Lieutenant-Miniature pack would exist, where you get all the minis but not the plot-decks, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. Right now, I don't feel like buying 20 (!) packs just for the minis. I see no way to use all the plot decks. Not gonna happen.

I wonder If such a pack would make sense for FFG economically. It would have to be much cheaper than all the packs (some 35$?) but I guess they would sell these much easier.

Valyndra's plot deck can be played giving heroes next to zero fortune tokens. Think of the plot decks as another layer of strategy against the heroes.

I am investing a bit more in Descent at the moment. I like collecting and painting it. I made a decision to finally trade out Mage Knight and buy some more Descent and Runebound 3rd edition. This was mainly to focus content on my favourite games, rather than have more games. I get a lot of enjoyment just looking through Descent, painting it and dreaming up new scenarios which i don't do with Mage Knight. Runebound 3rd i am looking forward to getting a bit more content now - and soon will be able to.

Edited by Crusaderlord

I have the entire collection bar the newest addition. Including all L-Packs and M&H collections

I have all boxed expansions, H+M collections, coop expansions, extra dice (such a blessing), campaign book, and am missing only 8 lieutenant packs. I've used a little bit of everything for the most part, and really enjoy it all.

I think buying everything would cost best part of £1000. There's no way I could justify that for a board game!

I own the base game and all the boxed expansions so far and I'm thinking of one or two H&M packs.

I do not plan on buying all the Lieutenant packs though. They don't seem essential and some are even pretty bad. However, I really like the miniatures since I like painting them as well. Valyndra for example looks awesome. If a Lieutenant-Miniature pack would exist, where you get all the minis but not the plot-decks, I wouldn't hesitate to buy it. Right now, I don't feel like buying 20 (!) packs just for the minis. I see no way to use all the plot decks. Not gonna happen.

I wonder If such a pack would make sense for FFG economically. It would have to be much cheaper than all the packs (some 35$?) but I guess they would sell these much easier.

Same here. All expansion boxes and only thinking of shards of everdark H&M collection. I even have same opinion on LT packs.