A more refined version of Castle Ravenloft, which was the first in the groundbreaking series of the D&D boardgames from Wizards of the Coast.

You select a scenario (or download or make one up yourself) and set up the dungeon tile decks based upon that adventure. It’s pretty much a build the dungeon as you go along type of game. The tiles deal with it various encounters and monsters. The game can be played both solo or with a group of friends. The trick to this game system is that the monster cards provide a certain behavioural pattern and this allows them to have their own sort of A.I. The card artwork is pretty plain, but the tiles have a nice feel to them reminiscent of old GW Dungeon Floor Plans series.

Mostly an enjoyable set of figures to paint. Great detail to them. A great tip for those with crooked figures is to dunk the figure in some boiling hot water. This will reset the plastic. The horned devils I had in this box were so bent over that they were almost leaning onto the tabletop. I put them in a jar of hot water and watched them reset to an upright position. I then rinsed the figures in cold water. I have to admit that I did find the multiple of the same figures a bit of a chore towards the end (3 snakes, 3 kobolds, 3 cultists,…)

Overall, a good tweak to Ravenloft in terms of better treasures to help you out and somehow the monsters don’t feel like they are endlessly generating and swarming you. After punching out all the tokens, I found that I couldn’t fit things back in the box again. I purchased a deck pack to keep the cards in and to free up some space in the box for the minis. Another good tip is to get hold of those smaller sized ziplock bags. They come in really handy for keeping the tokens in. Some have gone an extra step and gone for the Plano boxes with separated compartments.

Easy game to get into and the reference card holds your hand along the way when you start your first few games. Longetivity could be thrown into question once you have exhausted all the scenarios in the pack. Some of the smaller adventures can be played in around an hour. The specialised rooms help break up the usual explore, encounter monsters, fight monsters routine. I can only imagine Legend of Drizzt will further enhance the variety.

Buy Wrath of Ashardalon here