Thursday 20 October 2011

So finally I got Descent: Journeys in the Dark...

Does it not look magnificent?

... Just before it gets its second edition. Typical, some might say, but hey at least I'll be in a pretty good position to compare the two edition and let you know how it is. In the meantime I might finally get some super awesome dungeon crawling in between now and then. The first thing that hits you is the the size of the box. It's a big bugger! No two ways about it, this version of the game is literally packed with a veritable shed load of stuff. The box has a hefty feel to it, and there's no getting away from the fact that it weighs a lot for a game. Now, I know everyone who loves the game always prattle on about how much you get in the box, thing is, they're right. You do get a hell of a lot in the box, as you're about to see with my long series of unboxing shots..


With the lid off stuff explodes out of the box. Rulebooks on top.

Next up we have a hell of a lot of card components

With those card spru's out of the way we get a clear view of
the character cards and a huge pile of game cards

Huzzah! With the white card divider out of the way we get at the mini's

Dinah 'ver impreseive syze bocx'

Poppy 'T'is ver tu bige fur da poppy munster. Iz not happy'

There are 12 card spru's jammed full of stuff

The stuff removed from spru's (might not actually be all of it)
What? Oh come on! I got bored.

There are 20 character cards and about 150 playing cards

The bad guys. 60 pieces in total.

The good guys with dice. 20 little grey plastic figures in total

So there you have it, my unboxing of Descent: Journeys in the Dark. It's an impressive amount of stuff in the box and make no mistake. I was surprised to see how much there was in the box, and when I see the cost of £70, and then look at other peoples product at the same price I do scratch my head a little bit. However, it's all about the game baby and if it plays like a pup it's £70's worth of pup. I'm going to have to say though, looking at the adventurer miniatures they do look utterly dire. In my full review I'll try and do some close up shots of the detail, or should that be lack of detail? Either way, I've got to finish up my review of Dust Tactics first edition, Dwarf Kings Hold: Green Menace, Blood Bowl Team Manager and Elder Sign first, so this could be as far away as being a month off being properly reviewed. Although to be fair with Dust and DKH:GM I've just got to finish the reviews off and put the pretty pictures in. Peace out!

10 comments:

  1. waiting patiently for those reviews......;)

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  2. Wow, I knew it was a big game, but didn't realise how much stuff was in the box!

    Didn't I read somewhere you can "upgrade" this box to the new edition without forking out the full price?

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  3. I recently picked up Descent (a little before the second edition was announced) and promptly fell in love with it.

    The models are not bad for a board game, but as a wargamer first, they are poor at best. Some of the newer minis from the expansions are a little better.

    A tip though: the player scaling is absolutely dire. The best solution is to set-up as if you were playing with 4 or 5 players regardless of the actual number and just divide the heroes between the hero player(s).

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  4. @Darth Tater, you and about 50 other's who keep PM'img and emailing me nagging me about it all!!! I'm working on them I promise.

    @Vladd309, honestly it did surprise me with how much stuff there is actually in the box. It's quite impressive really.

    @AC, I'll be playing it as the rules intend because that's what I have to review it on. I'll take your advice under consideration though, and to be fair it wouldn't be the first game in the world to get the scalingwrong now would it? Glad to hear you're enjoying it. I think though I'm not going to be as kind on those miniatures as you are, they're not a patch on the Gears of War or Mansions of Madness miniatures.

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  5. Good for you! I think Descent will provide that dungeon crawl experience you've been looking for. It's a competetive game though, you need to go all out both as the DM and the heroes! :)

    And yes, there will be an "upgrade kit" that will have 2nd edition rules for all the monsters and rooms and everything basically from the first edition. So if the new version is a big improvement you'll simply have more stuff to play with!

    Looking forward to all the reviews and stuff. Just take your time. Hehe!

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  6. ah, good ol' Descent. Played a lot of this back in grad school.

    When everything falls into place, it's a hell of a good time. Unfortunately, the game is broken as fuck. The chances of actually having a good time are about 50/50 in my expereince. My group gave up playing after 3 consecutive games of no one having any fun.


    Hopefully, you're experience will be different.

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  7. @Frontline Gamer - that didn't actually occur to me when I commented. Probably not much point in reviewing a game with house rules in play!

    As for the models, maybe I have different expectations of board games to wargames or maybe I'm just ignorant on the subject. It wouldn't hurt for either of those two to be revised.

    I haven't seen the Gears of War or Mansions of Madness minis up close yet (although I am now taking a peak on BGG), but I definitely won't be sad if Descent's don't even compare (which my inital foray onto BGG seems to be suggesting!).

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  8. Is there... is there a reason why your cats are Jägermonstern?

    I've heard some terrible things about this and some good ones. It looks like a lot of stuff for a board game...

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  9. @Martin, I'm hoping to get another adventures with girls article up and running with this one, and to see what Geology Girl and Dr Brainiac think of this compared to the D&D Adventure Games. I'm hoping it's a little bit more in-depth than those games truth be told.

    @Lauby, I'm told it's what we in Britain refer to as a Marmite game. All the guys who I get along with gaming wise seem to rave about it, and the guys who like the same things as me on BGG seem to have total nergasms over this, so I'm expecting big things. If it doesn't deliver I'll rip it a new one.

    @AC no problem. If I reviewed every game and stuffed it full of house rules everything would be super awesome because I think I'm great ;) ... well actually I don't think I'm great but it wouldn't be much use as a review for other people. I too have slightly differing expectations of board game pieces. However I'm a wargamer first and foremost so I do come at the subject from a different angle. I like to be able to paint my pieces and stuff. The Descent Minis aren't the best to be honest, but then again they don't really need to be. If you're afer some close up shots of the Gears mini's I've got quite a few on my Gears articles on this blog here:

    http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.com/2011/09/review-gears-of-war-board-game.html

    and here:

    http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.com/2011/09/look-what-just-came-through-my.html

    :)

    @Von, my cats are HUGE. They're a special breed of cat from North America called Maine Coons, and they are big buggers. The two in this article are the small ones. Its the ginger one Macca who is the really big bugger. He scares dogs!!! He's knocked me over a few times round the house by running into me, leaves a bloody big bruise. If you could imagine something decent dog sized still being as agile and as quick, if not quicker than your average moggy you can begin to understand the damage Macca can do. Powerful little bugger he is as well.

    As for Descent, I too have heard mixed things about it. But those gamer I seem to share quite common tastes with all rave about it. As always I'll be as honest as I can be, and I'll always try to be as objective as I can be, while acknowledging that as a review it's my opinion and therefore subjective! :)

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  10. I also love descent, it's another board game that I took the effort to paint up.

    It is more fun with painted models :)

    http://vom-krieg.blogspot.com/2011/10/descent-its-big-box-of-monsters.html

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