Tomb of Ice

By Luftwaffe Flak, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Anyone got anything good or bad to say about it? Im loving the looks of the new Monsters and Heroes! Top quality as always on that end! What new items does this expansion add to the Descent series?

Feats (treachery for heroes), Ice terrrain, a stomach tile, stealth and stealth die, lots O' new monsters and heroes.

I've only read the rules and some of the stuff people have posted on the forum. The big things really seem to be the Feat cards and the Stealth/Ghost ability. I personally think AoD had better Hero additions, but that is also from only reading the stat lines on the ones from ToI.

We just played a run of TOI-Descent this weekend. Now admittedly, I have the problem that everytime I want to setup and play, I either have 1 person willing to play or have 8 that want to play.....talk about feast or famine.

I ran with 6 players, adjusted the game by adding 1 heart per extra person and 1armor for every 2 people. The extra armor helped, they had a hard time killing some of the monsters, but my monsters couldn't do enough damage to kill them fast enough. I think next time I will add a theoretical DOOM card when I have more than 4 heros. Theoretical so I can still play the actual DOOM card. I threatened to use silver power dice instead, but that wasnot well recieved.

We were running the Dragon's Castle level, but stopped right before they got to the first Frost Wyrm. Extra players seems to drastically increase the time required.

The stealth mechanic is nice, I have never seen my players more upset than when they encountered a rom with 2 Medusae and a Wendigo, and they attack full out and miss due to the stealth die or bad rolls for 2 full turns. Having the power card that allows you to spend 2 threat to allow any creature to dodge is so evil, specifically when you focus on making the heroes reroll the stealth die! demonio.gif It was all fun until my players ran back to town and bought some invisibility potions........ Overlord hates stealth die!!! Overlord SMASH!!

The new monsters are really well done. They may not look like what many have always assumed the named creatures look like (Medusa a being made of snakes rather than a female with snakes for hair, or a Wendigo having a body looking wolfish or feline and a huge mouth of huge teeth rather than being a hulking bigfoot looking creature.) The creatures are original looking, and well designed.

I like the new map pieces, some of which are not the standard cookie-cutter style, and the ice patches add a nice change in terrain. The HUGE 10x10 tile is very nice, particularly since it has an outdoor area on the back. Also included are several smaller corners, T-sections and 4-ways (2 four-ways that are just the 4 central squares!)

The only negative I can see for this release are things that are not included, but could or should have. Such as new skills or magic items (specifically dealing work-arounds on the stealth issue), or RTL items such as new Avatars, Lts, or badly needed new plots (such as a new Ice-based Avatar, with a new Shade or Medusa LT, and the desperately needed plot cards).

Overall, I have to again say WELL DONE to FFG!! The addons continueto provide a lot of material for the value.

Now, if they would only put out a downloadable dungeon editor/creator.....

The models are pretty cool overall but I'm a bit disappointed in a few of them. The monsters are showing their seams badly. I don't have that problem with any other monster. Also the hero figure for Laughin Buldar is just awful. His axes are flimsy and his left knee appears broken and sideways. They should have looked at Nanok's figure when creating Laughin's.

Beyond that I really like the new rules. The feat cards brought hero power levels back in line with the Overlord's power after treachery was introduced. We played three dungeons. The first one was a breeze, much like the first dungeon in JitD (I was a hero). The second one was pretty tough - the heroes lost (I was Overlording). Then I let the other guy Overlord the third dungeon and we (heroes) won, but not by much.

Overall it feels lot more balanced, power-wise.

The new heroes are okay. Karnon is a blast to play. It's almost required that every turn you yell, "Beatstick!" as your declared action. Arvel I felt was a complete waste - her abilities combine two feat decks that are mutually exclusive. She would be much better if she were combat / knowledge or stealth / knowledge but not combat / stealth. Laughin is fun to play just because he can buy the new hammer to start out and use it one-handed. Shiver is just awesome. The wolf-boy was just silly - he could run across the dungeon and back again while we cleared the room.

What Descent really needs is a level editor. They have so many bits and pieces that are so rarely used (altars, crushing walls, boulders, outdoor/indoor transitions). It would be a rennaissance of Descent if they released an editor that included all the parts from all the expansions for the players to create content.

the expansion features some new outdoor tiles and (although limited) support of 'road to legend'. the new monster minis are kick ass gui%C3%B1o.gif

Thanks everyone! I'll have to see what my Secret Santa sends me! LOL

Well I FINALLY got my copy of Tomb and all I can say is HOLY CRAP! Some nice new bits and cards to really add something new and exciting to the already awesome expansions. I saw the photos on BGG of the minis and they looked good but I knew that the pics didn't do them justice and I was right. The minis are gorgeous and I cannot wait to get them all painted and hopefully post some pics for folks to see.

The Wedigo model is probably my favourite and cannot wait to get the paint on these! I think the feat cards for the heroes will give them a nice counter attack/defense against the Overlord (who I play). There is not a lot of RTL bits which is too bad but what is there will be an added bonus for sure. I hyped it up to my usual Descent players and they are keen to get another campaign underway sometime next week so I have some painting to do this weekend. I also love the stomach tile and think the Ice Wyrm's will be deadly but fun at the same time.

Nice work FFG!

Brilliance. My gaming group got this expansion yesterday and mixed it into our current campaign. I am the overlord and can say without a doubt that the new monsters are excellent in every aspect. Their skills are well balanced and very deadly. The figures themselves are well designed and just plain cool looking. I have already switched my favorite from the hell hound to the wendigo. The heros enjoyed the feat cards, invisibility potions, and new items. These combined definitely made my job more complicated. The heros complained about the new ice spaces, having to roll each time they step on one with chance of ending their movement. I just played the world's smallest violin for them and proceeded to hit their frozen hero cluster with a gold level blast from a lava beetle. demonio.gif

This expansion is a brilliant and exciting addition to an already brilliant and exciting game. I highly recommend it for any descent fan wanting to add another level of complexity to his/her gaming experience. 10 out of 10 from Houston Texas. Thanx FFG

Earth Wyrm Jim said:

Brilliance. My gaming group got this expansion yesterday and mixed it into our current campaign. I am the overlord and can say without a doubt that the new monsters are excellent in every aspect. Their skills are well balanced and very deadly. The figures themselves are well designed and just plain cool looking. I have already switched my favorite from the hell hound to the wendigo. The heros enjoyed the feat cards, invisibility potions, and new items. These combined definitely made my job more complicated.

So are Feat cards and Invisibility potions specifically available for campaign play or did you guys just decide to add them anyways?

Columbob said:

Earth Wyrm Jim said:

Brilliance. My gaming group got this expansion yesterday and mixed it into our current campaign. I am the overlord and can say without a doubt that the new monsters are excellent in every aspect. Their skills are well balanced and very deadly. The figures themselves are well designed and just plain cool looking. I have already switched my favorite from the hell hound to the wendigo. The heros enjoyed the feat cards, invisibility potions, and new items. These combined definitely made my job more complicated.

So are Feat cards and Invisibility potions specifically available for campaign play or did you guys just decide to add them anyways?

The rules allow both the potion and feats to be used in RTL.

Granor is correct. All of the new stuff is easily incorporated into all of RTL. The new dungeon cards and encounter cards were shuffled into their respective decks. My overlord deck grew by a few cards when I added the new non-treachery spawn cards for the new monsters. Invisibility potions(overlord's worst nightmare) and feat cards(overlord's worster nightmare sad.gif ) became available immediately to the heros. The campaign became more challenging for both sides, but our group's unanimous opinion is: more challenging = more fun.

I like the new dugeon tiles. I really hope FF puts out a set of new dungeons both stand alone and for RtL that incorporate these pieces and combining them with items and monsters from all the expansions. I know they don't want to put out expansions that require all the expansions but it would be nice to see for those of us who have them all.

What happened to the Rules for Tomb of ice.

Can't seem to find them anywere on FFG.

Anybody that can help?