New to my collection is the Legend of Drizzt: Dungeons and Dragons Board Game, designed by Peter Lee (D&D Miniatures, Heroscape) and published by Wizards of the Coast. What originally caught my eye is that this is a game for one to five players. Yes, you can play it solo! Also, if you’ve been into role-playing for awhile you’ve probably heard of Drizzt Do’Urden, the dark elf with a conscience, and his friends, who are central to this game. I’ve got a fair collection of D&D miniatures including Drizzt, Wulfgar, Bruenor and others and this rounded out my collection with Regis and Cattie-brie along with a good bunch of themed miniatures. So the question that was on my mind when I opened the box was: “how does this game actually play?” Well, let’s find out.

Setup is quick and clean. You don’t need to pull everything from the box or the card sheets. I pretty much played my first game from the box. I went with the first mission using Drizzt and the recommended power cards. Most of what you’re putting out will look somewhat familiar to Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition players.

Turn 1
My first monster draw was a surprise: no monster. I felt relieved and like I’m actually in a real dungeon, there aren’t monsters around every corner.

Turn 2
My next monster draw is also eerily quiet. I shuffle the monster cards just to make sure. Lolth must have something up her eight sleeves.

Turn 3
My first monster is a Hypnotic Spirit, but I’m not afraid, despite the fact that the Spirit materializes next to a drow symbol.

 

Turn 4
A Water Elemental joins the dungeon. Freaky magic is going on, but I dispatch the Hypnotic Spirit easily.

Turn 5
I deliver one damage to the water elemental and continued moving, finding a goblin cutter in a narrow corridor. Now I’m outnumbered. My stance helps me against the water elemental attack and the goblin cutter misses me with a 14. Things are getting interesting.

Turn 6
I cut down the goblin then dodge around the water elemental and into a drow duellist. To make it worse Lolth curses me. It feels like Lolth really does hate me with that double whammy. Twinkle is coming in handy and I use my cloud of darkness against the drow to give me time.

Turn 7
I defeat the water elemental and find my second volcanic vent. Are the vents some kind of trap set by Lolth or her loyalists to bring me to my end? It must be, because Dinin Do’Urden rocks up, looking to run me through!
To add insult to injury I pull a Spellweb and then get hit for a combined 3 damage before the Spellweb fizzles.

 

Turn 8
 A stunning blow and three magical items allows me to kill both Dinin and the duellist, as well as healing up two points. Furthermore, I have enough to level twice and so I’m just waiting for the opportunity (I need to roll a nat 20 or draw a lucky treasure card).
I draw another volcanic vent with a goblin champion. If these vents explode I’ll be in real trouble. The event card tells me I’m lost. At least one more round before I get out of here. The goblin champion misses but I still take damage.

Turn 9
I easily dispatch the goblin with a roll of 19. Then I reveal another black arrow, meaning I get a monster and an encounter card. Looking at the map the entire first section was white and this second section is all black, so now I’ve been drawing plenty of encounters in a row. I’m facing my second water elemental and another Spellweb. Both hit me, so I’m anticipating a slam if I can’t end the elemental.

Turn 10
A 20 on my attack roll. I kill the elemental and level up! As treasure I get a wand, which should help when I find the exit.
With no exploring to do I pick up my second mark of Lolth and take 1 damage. With that the webs fade.

Turn 11
The river! And beyond it, the way to the surface! But I have to get through a goblin cutter, a spider swarm and a goblin archer. Time for my cloud of darkness, which had been reset. The goblin archer manages to wound me, otherwise I come out unscathed except that my escape route is blocked.

 

Turn 12
I use my wand of lightning bolts to clear out the cutter and swarm, then move to close with the archer. I draw a third mark of Lolth card. Do I now take two damage since I have three of them?
The archer hits me and I’m on 4 HP.

Turn 13
Now for freedom. I play Lone Drow, my daily power, which gets me to the end tile and I get to auto kill the gobbo! That brings me to the end of my Hero phase and nets me my first Legend of Drizzt win!

Loot The Dead

The game played easily, especially having played Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition and Dungeons and Dragons Miniatures. I didn’t feel like I was learning loads of funny rules and I thought the game abstracted things nicely. The game has plenty of mechanics that I’m familiar with to make it intuitive. There was plenty of tension, even for the first adventure, and I enjoyed winning through to the exit. The game doesn’t take up too much space either, and was easy to play out of the box.

Looking forward, there is a load more adventure in store, since I probably used around 25% or less of the box’s contents. A follow up game with my wife had even more tension and saw both of us using a healing surge before we killed Artemis Entreri in mission 2.

You can find out more about the game on Board Game Geek or purchase it off Amazon.com.