Finally, I've found the time to write this new topic. Last weekend I attended the Realms of Terrinoth Event down in the Cities. I was able to get through a good portion of the game before we had to go, so here are my thoughts. First off I just want to say that I was up and down about this game from when I first heard about it last summer. I'm a huge fan of the first edition, but I welcomed the idea of a second edition.

After reading all of the previews while waiting I kinda got scared a little bit about how small everything got (enemy unit size, weapons, characters, and board size). If you have read anything I wrote before you might have picked up that I love big box games like the first edition of Descent. I also wasn't happy about how some of the familiars and lieutenants didn't transfer over. Then when the rules were posted my group read them from cover to cover combing over all of the details. I started to doubt the game, and started thinking of how to make a mixture between the two (which I might still kinda do to transfer the other lieutenants over to the second edition).

Then I went down to the Realms of Terrinoth Event, and found myself talking with a lot of the staff behind the many aspects of the game (which by the way they are all pretty nice guys). After playing the first couple of rounds I found myself falling in love with it. The things that I thought I might hate didn't seem to matter anymore. I know that my group really dreaded the changes on how big monsters move, but in the end it really didn't matter all that much to how we played the game. Granted I still think that it is funny that a large six space monster can shrink down to move through small pathways.

I should mention that I played on the side of heroes as the scout class Jain Fairwood. You will find her to be one of the best heroes in the game if you know how to use her correctly. The heroes and their classes all bring something different to the table, so heroes beware to work as a team for this game. No longer can you have those lone heroes act as a one person wrecking crew. Teamwork was suppose to be the theme for the first one, but this time around it is a must do for the heroes.

The only thing to watch out for is the OL player. Make sure that whoever you have as the OL is a military genius. This time around the OL player can't rely on huge numbers to overwhelm the heroes, but instead has to rely on strategy. Our experienced OL player had a real hard time with this change in the game. The one FFG staff member Jaffer had to rearrange the board a couple of times to place the monsters in more strategic locations for starting off.

Well, I said my piece. Now I can't wait for the game to get out, because I want to see how the first edition monsters play with the new rules. Along with that I can't wait to see what else they have up their sleeves for future expansions.

I hope that this might help some of you first edition holdouts give the second edition a try to see how good it really is. I know that some of you will still cling to the first one, so please don't hate us who are now turning to the second edition.

IronRavenstorm said:

Good review. Glad to hear that actually playing 2e can win over even those who weren't sure they liked what they were reading =)

I agree that the new way of moving large models is a little bit silly, but having seen all the different ways they tried ruling large monster movement in various FAQ editions over the life of 1e, I think it's safe to say this is the only way to make the mechanics unambiguous for the majority of rules purposes.

Thanks for your review.

We were at a preview event yesterday and it was quite nice. I also was a bit sceptical but the game was fun. By changing some of the old game mechanics, as removing the "/" from the dice or removing the skull tokens for the OL, it can be played faster which is good.

But at least in our game the quality of the dices was rather poor. Visible air bubbles and fissures after a few rolls. Did you see something similar?

-Ghrik

IronRavenstorm said:

Are these NOT covered in the conversion kit then?

On the subject of large monster movement, I VASTLY prefer the new mechanic. It's easy to imagine a dragon folding it's wings and squeezing through a space, and I hated that a large creature could be rendered useless by a previously placed rubble pile or something.

Sausageman said:

No, the LTs are NOT in the conversion kit. The Farrow siblings are re-introduced in the 2e base box, along with the 3 new LTs, but that's all.

Sausageman said:

Well, FWIW, I never thought a dragon's large size was attributed solely to his wingspan. =P

Steve-O said:

We ended up making a house rule which allowed large monsters to break through rubble markers and would take one point of damage.