Got a chance to play Defenders of the Realm, and not sure if I like it. It definitely apes a bit from Pandemic, with the 3 or outbreak mechanic and the slowly rising tide from the darkness deck, but it also changes a lot to make it more fantasy like, including dice rolling and boss fights, as well as individual character classes. But the game seems to do too much, and not in a predicable way. The colors on the map are strewn haphazardly, and the ways in which monsters can spawn is anything but obvious. Also, there are way too many cards in the hero deck, with wildly different abilities. Plus, the graphic design is not the most subtle.We thought we were going to do okay, being told that the game is quite easy, but we got hit hard in one region that soon catapulted out of control, and a few unlucky rolls and the inability to properly return cards to the top of the deck after we took a look at them (they were all really bad for us, any one of them would have lost us the game the way they were), did us in. It just seems pretty random. At least in Pandemic you can gauge what to expect.
Also played a round of Thunderstone with the new expansion with a couple of new players, one of which wasn’t at all enthusiastic, but did pretty well, catching on quickly. I condensed the game quickly, and was surprised that everyone caught on as well as they did. There was a bit of confusion about rank and light, but it was sorted easily. I won by bagging a monster whose point value was a bit inflated, in my opinion, especially since he forced everyone else to trash monsters when he is fought. Also, creatures that are magic attack only are damn annoying, especially with no wizards. We had to depend on Goodberries.
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