Hello fellow adventurers,

I took the time to read all of the private messages sent to me and went back over multiple forum topics on FFG and other sites. At this time it is essential to go over the many common mistakes players seem to make when playing this game for the first few times. The “how to” articles will follow in the coming weeks.

As with almost any game whether it is a video game or board game, you should take the time to sit back and look over all of the options available to you. Figuring out the strengths of each opponent and how exploit their weaknesses is the first step to winning any game. Try to think outside the box. A pro will sacrifice many wins and stay up countless hours diagnosing a game. I notice when answering questions pertaining to this game, that many players do not realize the power of the discovery tokens. That is why I have decided to go over discovery tokens for my first article.

At first my gaming group made the mistake of ignoring “place discovery” spaces, but then one day one of the players decided not to go for any other resources. They would only go after the “place discovery” resource. As a result, that was actually the closest game we had against Grumbaz Crowsblood, who up to that game was winning the majority of the matches.

You see, Grumbaz is straight forward and is actually the most risky to play. All of the players know exactly how the warrior plans on winning. If everything were to go correctly for him, then he would win in a dozen turns relying only on his berserk stance. This is when discovery tokens really shine. It can be hard to notice the few “place discovery” spaces at first glance, because of the overwhelming number of health potions on the board. Do not let the health potions and scrolls fool you.

Discovery tokens serve for multiple purposes, but the most helpful purpose is to prevent an opponent from getting to choose a resource that turn. Placing a discovery token on a health potion space right in front of a level-up or Overlord encounter, not only prevents a character from being healed before the big fight, but it also can severely cripple them. In a race game like the World of Warcraft: Adventure Game, losing one turn can be the difference between a win and a loss. Other uses for the tokens are to scare opponents away from certain spaces. Placing a pile of discovery tokens on a level-up or Overlord encounter will cause any player to think twice about attempting it.

Now I will go over the many uses for the red discovery tokens, since the green ones are pretty easy to figure out.

Bomb (Base game)
Placing a Bomb token on a level-up or Overlord encounter that uses ranged attacks or deals two or more damage is a great way to slow a character down, because they will either have to heal the turns before the encounter, or even better, possibly be defeated while trying to still take on the level-up or Overlord encounter.

Ambush (Base game)
Ambush is another great token that should be placed on level-up and Overlord encounters. It will boost their attack and also make them ranged, so ranged attackers are still threatened. You could also place the Ambush token in a space adjacent to your current space. Your opponents will most likely think you are placing a green item for you to pick up next turn, so they won’t be thinking about it being an Ambush and will attack you. Now you get +1 attack and your attack is considered a ranged attack. Even if they do not attack you, they will still be facing an encounter with +1 attack that is ranged.

False Map (Base game)
The false map has a very important use. With all of the discovery tokens on level-up or Overlord encounters, now the close combat characters will try to get to the health potion resource closest to the encounter in order to heal, just in case there is a Bomb or Ambush token. Go ahead and place that False Map on that potion resource. When they decide to move to that space the player to their right will instead move them two spaces. Not only stopping them from getting that potion for another turn but also forcing them to fight another encounter and possibly taking even more damage!

Power Drain (Base game)
Power Drain is useful when players are using characters that rely on weapon replacement abilities to win challenges. It can also be devastating early in the game, when cards are vital to overcoming the initial challenges. Always helpful is the bluff, if there are no desirable targets.

Disease (Base game)
Disease becomes useful in multiple situations. It is the equivalent of having a permanent damage token on a character. It is only removed with certain ability cards, a large health potion, or death. Disease forces a player to rethink their strategy.

Dimensional Ripper (Shaman set)
My personal favorite is the Dimensional Ripper token from the shaman box. I have seen many players in the lead suffer a major setback with this token. If you do not have the shaman box, I highly recommend picking it up for this token. Dimensional Ripper forces the revealer to move to a city of their choice. Placing this token on one of the spaces that the opponent needs in order to complete a quest or to level up is the best momentum changer. Also the Dimensional Ripper is one of the two red tokens that work to help the person placing it. It can be used to get those pesky escort quests done quicker.

Lockbox (Paladin set)
Lockbox from the paladin box is another nasty token. Lockbox forces the person that reveals it to skip the reward step after a combat. Placing this on a level-up or Overlord encounter is just cruel. First, the combatant will most likely not want to waste their good abilities until the fight that actually matters, so there is a good chance they will take damage. Second, they will have just wasted a turn without receiving anything in return.

Bottomless Bag (Rogue set)
By laying the Bottomless Bag discovery token from the rogue box on Booty Bay, players trying to get that cheap VP point will know that something is up and that they may be required to discard one of those potions they need for the VP. Of course even if you don’t draw the Bottomless Bag token you could always place the false token on that space as a bluff.

Hex (Druid set)
Hex from the druid box forces the revealer to flip their character to the other side until the end of the turn. This is THE most evil token in the game. It doesn’t matter where it is placed because this token is deadly to almost everyone; Brandon is only character only slightly hindered by it. If given the opportunity to place Hex just do not forget where you placed it. How evil is this token? Well for starters it kills Samson the bear, freezes Sofeea, can force Grumbaz into an unwanted berserk stance. Do not forget where you placed it, because like Dimensional Ripper, it can also be very helpful to the characters that do not have the luxury of flipping for free. You can place Hex either on a space the opponents need to get to or a space in which you plan on heading to without wanting to pay flip cost.

So ends the first look. Next time we look at a different aspect and new ways of utilizing it.

Sincerely,
David Hanold