I've been working conventions and demoing games for many years (mainly card games though) and have always been fascinated by Descent when I've seen it (had a big love affair with Warhammer Quest and have been hoping for something alive that could replace it). So, finally I put my money where my desire was and bought Descent 2nd ed.

First impression is FFG quality, lots of nice components (Have some Runebound stuff since before), but is the game 'smaller' than 1st ed? (I remember seeing loads of figures over huge maps).

After playing a few of the introductory games with various heroes solo to learn the rules I'm starting to think that I'm doing something wrong, or is the OL really this weak? (ONCE I've knocked out a hero and the best I've ever managed before boss dies is 2 goblins of the board. I would love some hints and ideas how to play the OL side better so I can challenge my friends when they come to try it.

One thing I wonder is about the necromancers pet, can it do the same actions as the heroes or just move and attack (can I send it to search treasures while I fight for example), can it do 2 attack actions per round like a hero or one like a monster? Also for activation, does it count as a "monster group" with it's summoner and have to be activated with it, or does it count as a separate entity with it's own place in the activation order?

When I do multiple move actions, do I get one pool of MPs the total of the actions or do I get several pools of MP, one per action? (This can affect how I move if I'm moving through figures or obstacles as I might have to stop early and restart moving with multiple pools but with one big pole might use the points better).

Welcome over here.

First Blood heavily favours the heroes. You should try other quests than the introductory one.

The Reanimate can only move and attack (one time each). Familiars usually only can move (see what the rulebook says about Familiars), but the Reanimate's card allows it to attack too. No other action is allowed.

You can pool up the movement points of two movement actions.

First impression is FFG quality, lots of nice components (Have some Runebound stuff since before), but is the game 'smaller' than 1st ed? (I remember seeing loads of figures over huge maps).

Yes, 2E is "smaller" than 1E was. One of the biggest complaints FFG fielded about 1E was playing time (the shortest quests were known to take around four hours, even for experienced players,) so with 2E they focused on streamlining the rules and lowering the play time of an individual quest. By and large, that has translated into smaller maps, because really the biggest time sink was needing to move all the way across those huge 1E maps, cutting down monsters as you went.

There are some bigger quests in the expansions, but nothing on the scale of 1E dungeons.

One thing I wonder is about the necromancers pet, can it do the same actions as the heroes or just move and attack (can I send it to search treasures while I fight for example), can it do 2 attack actions per round like a hero or one like a monster? Also for activation, does it count as a "monster group" with it's summoner and have to be activated with it, or does it count as a separate entity with it's own place in the activation order?

The Reanimate can only move and attack, once each, per activation. It must activate either before or after the Necromancer each turn. It may activate on the turn it is summoned, but only after the Necromancer (obviously.)

When I do multiple move actions, do I get one pool of MPs the total of the actions or do I get several pools of MP, one per action? (This can affect how I move if I'm moving through figures or obstacles as I might have to stop early and restart moving with multiple pools but with one big pole might use the points better).

Per RAW, you can make it work either way. You can declare one Move Action, use up all those points, then declare a second Move Action. Or, you can declare one Move Action and then "interrupt" to declare a second Move Action, which would give you all the MP from both at once, and then spend them as you see fit.

Thank you, clear answers and no doubt.