In previous posts, I've talked at length about how I "outgrew" the board gaming hobby in the late 80's / early 90's, thereby missing out on some amazing fantasy-themed titles like DungeonQuest, HeroQuest, and Wiz-War. But how in Bahamut's name did the original Dark Tower pass me by?
I think it just comes down to timing. I was only 11 years old when the game was released in 1981, and Star Wars was still the alpha and omega of my imagination. In fact, if you were to show me the following two-page spread in a catalog back then, the only thing I would have noticed is the stuff on the left hand side.
Image source: http://jimsmash.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-catalogs-1981-1982.html
It would be another two or three years before the Mentzer D&D Basic Set would detonate a second forty-megaton nuclear warhead in my imagination and lure me into the realm of fantasy for the first time.
Ergo, by the time I was predisposed to something like Dark Tower, it was likely already out of production and / or I was spending every cent I had on AD&D hardbacks.
Enter Restoration Games, who've built an entire business model on delivering organic, farm-to-gaming-table 'Memberberries. They gave us a re-vamped Star Wars: Epic Duels in the form of Unmatched and roped in a massive group of nostalgic gamers via their faithful reprint of Fireball Island.
But sequel-cum-remake to Dark Tower, logical titled Return to Dark Tower, represents their most ambitious project to date.
Here's the elevator pitch for this one:
Long ago, the sorcerer-king Azkol built a Tower at the crossroads of the Four Kingdoms. Behind its ebon walls, he practiced dark sorcery in his search for power.
As Azkol’s madness grew, his apprentice, the sorceress Nimet, plotted against him. She stole his wondrous treasures and fled the Tower, then recruited heroes from the Four Kingdoms to stop him. One hero prevailed. Azkol was defeated, and the Tower lay vacant.
But now a new adversary has taken up residence. It grows in power, spreading corruption and calling forth wicked creatures from afar. This foe cannot be defeated alone. The heroes of the Four Kingdoms must unite and return to the Tower.
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Return to Dark Tower is a cooperative game where heroes of the Four Kingdoms join forces, with the aid of a helpful companion, to defeat the adversary in the Tower. You all win or lose together.
Your companion will guide you in your quest to breach the Tower and engage the adversary in battle. But beware! The Tower’s influence is ever working to corrupt the heroes.
You have six months before the Four Kingdoms fall and the adversary’s reign is absolute. Can you repel the gathering darkness?
Still questing to breach the bleak walls of ignorance? Then click on the following magical link to glean all of the eldritch secrets in the form of yon rulebook.
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Recover Azkol’s Treasures and Defeat Ashstrider
Solo Play-through as the Relic Hunter
Month 1
Turn 1
Start of Turn: I use my Banner Action to gain a "Golden Sun" Potion.
Middle of Turn: I Move 2 spaces to Dayside and take a Heroic Action to Cleanse the Bazaar there and remove 2 Skulls. I then Reinforce, paying only 1 Spirit (thanks to my "Prepared" Virtue) to buy the "Golden Mace of Azkol." My Spirit count started at 1 then + 2 for the Heroic Action = 3 but then - 1 to buy the Treasure, so I'm currently at 2.
When the Skull is dropped, the Tower tells me to add a River of Fire to the board, so I place it between the East and South borders!
MONTH 2
Turn 2
New quests added to the board! Companion Quest: Miras appears in The Emerald Expanse. Adversary Quest: venture to the Upper Ice Fangs to prevent more rivers from catching aflame!
Start of Turn: I use my Banner ability to gain a Potion and spend the "Golden Sun" elixir to gain a Spirit, bringing me back up to 3.
Middle of Turn: I travel to the Upper Ice Fangs, remove 3 Spirit (reducing me to 0) and successfully Quest there to prevent any more fiery rivers from being placed. This Heroic Action gets me 2 Spirit back. I then take a free Sanctuary Reinforce Action to get a single Spirit, so now I'm back up to 3.
In the subsequent Skull drop, it rolls out into the South Kingdom and I place it on the Citadel there. A Seal is removed on the Tower’s West side, revealing an anti-Quest Glyph there. Zaida’s ability kicks in, letting me draw a random card from the Treasure Deck. I get the "Axe of Soul Rending" and add it to my tableau. Then all of the Treasure Cards are put at the bottom of the deck and 3 new options are revealed.
Turn 3
Start of Turn: I use my Banner ability to pick up a "Golden Sun" Potion, which I immediately drink to get back up to 4 Spirit.
Middle of Turn: I Move 3 spaces to get to the Plains of Plovo and do a Cleanse Action there to remove the Skulls and gain 2 Spirit. I'm now back up to 6! I then spend 1 Spirit to Reinforce the Bazaar and gain the "Crown of Azkol"!
After I slam-dunk a Skull in the Tower, rumors begin to swirl that a gout of flame from the Tower will soon rain down on a Citadel! Then the Brigands on the board lash out! Normally, I’d lose an Item, but since no Brigands are near me I dodge this theft! Finally, a Frost Troll appears in the Big Sister space to the East!
Turn 4
Start of Turn: my Banner ability lets me draws a "Siren's Song" Potion for free.
Middle of Turn: I spend 1 Spirit to move up to 6 spaces, putting my Spirit count down to 4. Upon arrival, I perform a Quest Action, using Zaida's special ability to spend the "Axe of Soul Rending" to generate 3 Wild Advantages. I then use these Wilds in place of the 3 Stealth required to complete the Quest and gain another companion: Miras! This Heroic Action gives me 2 Spirit, so I'm back up to 6. Finally, I spend 1 Spirit, taking me down to 5, and buy the "Lamp of Hope" via a Reinforce Action at the Bazaar there.
Skull drop...a Seal is removed on the South side of the Tower, revealing an empty space.
Turn 5
Start of Turn: I gain a free "Purifying Breath" Potion as part of my Banner Action.
Middle of Turn: I use my "Siren's Song" Potion to move a Troll to the Hissing Groves and then spend a Spirit to boost my Movement to travel onto that space. I still have 2 moves left and 4 Spirit. I Battle the Frost Troll there with 2 Humanoid and 1 Wild Advantage. Fortunately, I defeat the Troll without using the Wild. After collecting 2 Spirit for this Heroic Action, I then spends 5 at the Citadel to unlock the “Crafty” virtue. I then use my remaining 2 Moves to enter Tower Scar Desert!
Skull drop: Miras misleads the Trolls, luring the remaining one from the Big Sister 2 spaces into the Decaying Wilds!
Turn 6
Start of Turn: I gain, and then immediately spend, a "Purifying Breath" Potion, which lets me remotely remove 3 Skulls (+2 due to "Crafty"!) from the village in Anza!
Middle of Turn: I then journey 3 spaces into the Decaying Wilds Grasslands region and Battle the Troll there. Going into this I have +2 Humanoid Advantages, +2 Wild Advantages in the Grasslands (thanks to Miras!) as well as a "Fortunes Favor" Potion. The fight is pretty brutal and I'm forced to spend all of these Advantages, including the Potion, which is doubled to 2 Wilds thanks to me being "Crafty"! I then recruit 6 Warriors for ending my turn on a Grasslands space, again courtesy of Miras!
I can't Reinforce 'cuz I'm not on a Building space, so I just drop a Skull. With a mighty roar, the Tower signals that a Troll appears in the Irontops to the South.
Turn 7
Start of Turn: I draw a "Thousand Strides" Potion with my Banner Action and then spend it to move to the Three Rivers
Middle of Turn: I then perform a Cleanse, using the "Lamp of Hope" to remove 3 Skullerydoos from Duwani Village. After gaining 2 Spirit, I spend 1 to gain "Kameria’s Carpet" and then use my remaining move to get to Duwani Village.
Skull drop! It rolls out into the North, so I place it on Egan’s End Village. Two Skulls also pop out in the South, which I place on the Sanctuary in the Sands of Madness. Then a giant fireball strikes the Citadel in my current Kingdom, I.E the Inner Kinghills. The Brigands also increase in power, unlocking "Savage" mode! Yikes!
Turn 8
Start of Turn: I gain another "Thousand Strides" Potion and spend it to generate up to 6 movement since it's doubled by "Crafty"! I then move 4 to get to Egan's End.
Middle of Turn: I perform a Cleanse Action to remove the 3 Skulls from there. This gets me 2 Spirit, one of which I spend to recruit 12 Warriors!
On the subsequent Skull drop, nothing happens and the Month ends!
New quests: Smuggler’s Coin in the Three Rivers and Arsonists threaten the Emerald Expanse down South!
MONTH 3
Turn 9
Start of Turn: I draw a free "Fortune’s Favor" Potion.
Middle of Turn: I spend 1 Spirit to gain 12 more Warriors! I then play my "Thousand Strides" Potion to move up to 6, which is exactly what I need to reach the Three Rivers. I then spend 18 Warriors to complete this Quest, gaining 2 Spirit for this Heroic Action. Then I move 3 spaces to the Southern Wastes!
Skull drop: 1 rolls out into the East, which I place in the Three Rivers Bazaar.
Turn 10
Start of Turn: I draw a random "Golden Sun" Potion.
Middle of Turn: I spend a Spirit to gain 12 Warriors in the Southern Wastes Village and I also have a supply of 6 Spirit. I then Move 2 spaces to reach the Emerald Expanse. The resulting Quest Heroic Action gains me 2 Spirit back!
A Skull tumbles out into the South, which I add to the Howling Desert Citadel. The Tower rotates, the power of the Frost Trolls increases and Brigands also appear up in Greenbridge!
Turn 11
Start of Turn: After drawing a free Potion for my Banner Action, I use a "Purifying Breath" to remove up to 2 Skulls from any Building, which is doubled by "Crafty." I choose to return the 3 Skulls tainting the Three Rivers.
Middle of Turn: I decide to Battle the Brigand in the Emerald Expanse. I go in armed with 2 Humanoid Advantages, an additional + 2 Wild Advantages (thanks to Miras's Grasslands connection) and a Wild via a Potion, so 5 in total. I manage to defeat them, at the expense of 2 Warriors and the Potion as well! This scrap earns me 2 Spirit! After getting a free Longsword from my Reinforce Action in the Bazaar, I use the "Smugglers Coin" to flush the market and,by some miracle, turn up both "Azkol’s Idol" and also the "Horn of Azkol"!!! I then spend 1 Spirit to take a red-eye Air Carpet flight to the Dayside Bazaar.
Skull drop: it pops out in the West and I place it on the Hissing Grounds Citadel. A Banner Glyph is revealed in the East and rumors start to swirl about a fireball from the Tower headed for a Bazaar! To make matters worse, a Titan rises out of the Weeping Waters!
Start of Turn: I pick up a random "Dragon Teeth" Potion!
Middle of Turn: After spending 1 Spirit to Reinforce in the Bazaar, I gain "Azkol’s Horn." Then, after paying another Spirit to Carpet off to the Titan’s space, I spend 4 Spirit to remove the dirty big bastid from the game by smoking it right in the noggin' with my "Golden Mace." I then Move 3 to the Howling Desert, where I perform a Cleanse action to remove the 2 Skulls there. This gives me 2 Spirit back and now I'm back up to 4.
I drop a Skull but it mercifully produces no Events!
Turn 13
Start of Turn: I Gain another "Dragonteeth" Potion and spend both of them for 12 Warriors!
Middle of Turn: I invest 5 Spirit at the Citadel to Unlock my “Inventive” Virtue via a Reinforce Action. I then use 1 Spirit to fly to Greenbridge and take on the Brigands there, armed with 4 possible Advantages. After defeating them and gaining 2 Spirit for this Heroic Action, I Move to the Dayside Bazaar.
Skull drop: 2 Skulls pop out in the East, which I add to the Village and the Bazaar. Another one is dropped in the Southern Citadel and a Seal on the Tower’s North side is removed! Miras goads 1 Brigand into Greenbride and the other into the Forest of Shades. Then the Brigands strike and I'm forced to lose 1 item, so I turf the "Smuggler’s Coin" since all of the Treasures I need are already in the Market!
Turn 14
Start of Turn: My Banner Action gives me a free "Siren’s Song" Potion.
Middle of Turn: I spend 1 Spirit to Reinforce in the Bazaar and gain "Azkol’s Doll."
I now have all of the Treasures and Virtues I need, so I Move 2 spaces to the Radiant Mountains to complete the "Azkol’s Treasures" Quest! Ashstrider then emerges from the Tower, appearing in the Weeping Waters, and I collect 2 Spirit for this Heroic Action.
Turn 15
Start of Turn: I gain a free "Purifying Breath" Potion and blow it immediately to remove 2 Skulls from the Emerald Expanse.
Middle of Turn: I also spend a "Dragonteeth" Potion to gather up 6 more Warriors and a "Golden Sun" Potion for another Spirit. I then drop 1 Spirit to double-Move 5 spaces to Anza Village, where I spend 1 more Spirit to recruit 12 Warriors via a Reinforce Action. I then use my very last move to wade into the Weeping Waters and confront Ashstrider!
The resulting skirmish is intense. The first combat card forces me to lose 18 warriors per adjacent Skull...but I've been doing a good job tamping them down so there's only 1 nearby! I decide to spend my Crown to generate 3 Wild Advantages (thanks to Zaida's special ability) and then spend 1 to reduce my cost to 12 Warriors per Skull, which I pay! The next card is lose 12 Warriors per Skull, so I pay the cost again! But the next card is a real doozy: lose 30 Warriors (!), 1 Gear and 1 Treasure. I spend an Advantage to Reduce this to 20 and 1 Gear, so I lose my remaining Warriors as well as the Sword and then take a Corruption. The next card requires me to lose 25 Warriors and 3 Spirit, so I spend my remaining Advantages and reduce it to a loss of just 5 Warriors, but since I don't have that, I take another Corruption and then Retreat! Bloodied but unbowed, Ashstrider moves off to the Broken Lands!
In the resulting Skull drop, three Skulls pour out into the East, a Titan appears in Azkol’s Bane in the South and an Ice Troll emerges in the Radiant Mountains.
Turn 16
Start of Turn: I draw a "Fortune’s Favor" Potion.
Middle of Turn: I Move 1 space to the Hissing Groves Citadel to remove a single Skull with a Cleanse and gain 2 Spirit. I then get a free "Golden Sun" Potion via my Reinforce Action there. Finally, I use the rest of my Move to travel 2 more spaces to the Akartus Citadel.
A Skull rolls out in the South, which I add to the Emerald Expanse. The Month ends and new quests appear, namely Vasa in the Ash Hills and the Smuggler’s Den Dungeon in Dayside.
Turn 17
Start of Turn: I pick up a new "Golden Sun" Potion.
Middle of Turn: I spends 5 Spirit to remove my two Corruptions. Then, after spending the "Golden Sun" Potions to gain 2 Spirit, I Move 3 spaces to tackle Ashstrider again!
The first combat card requires me to lose 12 Warriors per adjacent Skull...but there are none! The next card requires me to lose 20 Warriors and 1 Gear., leading to my first Corruption of the battle! The next one is even worse, requiring the loss of 25 Warriors and 3 Spirit. After taking the Spirit hit, I have to accept another Corruption! The next card is clearly one that I reduced in the previous skirmish: Lose 5 Warriors. So, I spend a Beast Advantage to reduce it and incur no losses! The last card is a scary Critical Hit...requiring me to place a Skull in every Building in my current Kingdom. But since there are none, I can clear this card with zero issues!
Victory!!!
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REVIEW
PROS
- The strategy starts even before the game begins, since you can choose you foes based on the collective Advantages of your Character group.
- Turns are clearly delineated and they fly by very quickly. Execute your Banner Action, then do Moves, Heroic Actions (Battle, Cleanse or Quest) and perform Building-specific Reinforce Actions in any order. I also like how you can split up your Movement to make for a very productive turn.
- Throwing Skulls into the Tower to end your turn is insanely gratifying.
- Between the app and the unpredictable antics of the Tower, the game experience is really immersive.
- This is truly a co-operative game. Juggling priorities RE: foes on the board, end game goals and various Quests is critically important. You can't all dogpile the main Adversary as soon as it appears because ignoring other elements on the board might case them to spiral out of control really fast.
- The Character "classes" are all pretty distinct from one another.
- As evidenced by the photos, this is clearly one of the best productions in the history of the hobby. The Tower, cards, Character sheets and the board are all top notch, but the "Dark Hordes" expansion really ramps up the game's curb appeal by adding the amazing foe minis seen pictured here.
- I'm going to be playing this game a lot. Even though there's no shortage of options in the core game RE: Characters, Foes, Adversaries, "gritty" difficulty settings and competitive mode, the "Alliances" expansion adds even more content. This is "desert island" game territory, folks.
- It's challenging. I won this solo run after two prior failures, the first being a 3-player game and the second being a 4-player game. I won this time out because I picked the optimal Character and tried not to waste a single action. I.E. I won because I learned from the mistakes of the two previous matches. Having said that, I imagine more players = greater difficulty.
- The app and the Tower might be great for ambiance and moving the game along, but I think there's definitely a learning curve when it comes to integrating all of these unusual assets together. Only after this third game did I have a real handle on how it all worked properly in tandem.
- The Tower takes 3 AA batteries, so you might find yourself running out of juice mid-game. The app will certainly pause while you swap out your batteries, but the first time I had to deal with it, it was a giant pain in the knutz with Skulls popping out everywhere. I really wish there was an onboard battery and you could just charge the damn thing by just plugging it in. Of course, that might have driven up the cost even more, limited the life expectancy of the Tower and eventually turned it into a very odd-looking accent piece for your coffee table.
- Because this game is so unusual, and the rule book is criminally brief, rules minutia questions abound. Normally this would piss me off, but the experience of playing the game is so friggin' immersive that I'm willing to put in the ground work. In light of this, check out my handy-dandy bonus FAQ / Rules Clarification summary at the end of this post.
- I was lucky, 'cuz I got this sucker on a deep discount...and at the Kickstarter price. As for anyone else, I highly suggest that you have a mitt-full of nitroglycerin pills handy before you even so much as glance at the price tag.
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