Sunday, May 14, 2017

Monolith Conan Expansions

Over a year ago two Kickstarter  campaigns featured the artwork, and in one case, the music of Age of Conan.  They were Monolith's Conan board game and the other was Modiphius' Robert E. Howard's Conan RPG.



I've received the rewards from the Monolith game and it's a fantastic table top game full of action and tension as you play Conan and friends against an Overlord player.  The art on the boards is gorgeous and the plastic miniatures look fantastic.  However, one thing that developers everywhere like to do is reuse assets.  Players of video games see that all the time where multiple items share the same model/design.  Board games are no different where the same model may be utilized to represent several different units.

Since the expansions just came out to backers (Nordhiem is or soon will be available for purchase from Asmodee), I thought I'd list the models that are re-used with their new names, if any, as well as other core box models used and some general thoughts on each expansion.

Nordheim

Heroes used: Conan, Shevatas, Belit, Nirod (new)

Core box model: Hyenas
Used as: Wolves
Alternate: Kickstarter Exclusive Wolves

Core box model: Skulthus
Used as: Yazdigerd

Core box model: Pict Hunters
Used as: Vanir Primitives

Other models used but not included: Dark Demon

What's to like in this expansion?
  • Exciting scenarios for 2, 3, 4, and 5 players.  One of them pits Conan alone against Atali and is a race around the map.  Another is Conan and Nirod (the new hero) battling the two frost giants.  This is a little limiting if you're playing with a set game group but the variety in player count is a good thing overall.
  • The giant minis are getting the press but the Aesir and crow miniatures also look great!  I'm not a huge fan of T and A in my board games, but if you like that, Atali is, as described in the original story, practically naked except for a silk shawl that has fallen from her hips.
  • Providing two tokens for the identical twin giants so you can have a token on each base to help you remember who is who.  For a company that forgot to provide tokens for their add-ons, this was a good catch.
What's not to like in this expansion?
  • The boards, while still very well done, look very drab and monochrome.  This, thematically, makes sense, but they don't have the pop and energy of the core set maps.  The unpainted miniatures vanish into the board.  Painted miniatures may make this go away.
  • Not including the wolves seemed like a poor choice.  As those models go, the wolves look like big domesticated dogs, but the art and miniature not matching is irksome.  
  • Picts models for Vanir primitives.  Vanir and Aesir models as undead versions of the same.  This set re-uses a lot of things but it won't always look right (why are some Vanir humanoids and the others mongoloid?  I may sub in mummies and skeletons from my King pledge and make new river tiles if this annoys me too much.
  • Not sure why they renamed Skulthus.  Considering canon was broken with these scenarios, just reuse the mini.

Stygia

Heroes used: Conan, Shevatas, Hadrathus, Belit, and Ikhmet (new)

The giant scorpion models are the same as the single stretch goal scorpion.

Other models used  but not included: Bossonian Archers, Bossonian Guards, Giant Snake

What's to like in this expansion?
  • Poison and trapped chests mechanics.
  • The maps here are awesome.  One is a two level tomb and the other is a Stygian port.  Reusing half of the ships map to make a larger map with ramp tokens between the harbor and the ship is awesome.
  • Battle Thot-Amon who has different spells in the two scenarios he's in.
  • The Eternal Guard miniatures are great as is the scorpion broodmother
What's not to like in this expansion?
  • You crawl through a tomb and there's no undead.  Now, the mummies and skeletons were stretch goals and King pledge exclusives.  To me, especially considering the core game box art, this seems like a poor choice.  Maybe include a few less scorpions and include a few mummies and skeletons.
  • Half of the scenarios don't include Conan.  This could go in either column, to be honest, but it felt weird in a Conan game to not have the name sake except in flavor text.
  • Balance - In two of the scenarios Hadrathus has a dagger and the spell Pass through Wall.  In one of those, you need to gather map fragments.  Guess who's wearing a robe and is on searching bodies duty?  That guy!  The other one, you need to kill the scorpion broodmother (3 armor and 5 health) with two rogues.  Good luck!
  • Thot-Amon is a little disappointing and the assassins and Ikhmet (both very AoC-ish which is very cool) are similar at passing glance. 
  • Scenarios play either four (all) or five (two) players.
  • We're in Stygia and there's no optional rule to put the camel on the map?  Bad show Monolith!

Khitai

Heroes used: Conan, Shevatas, Hadrathus, Shentu (new)

Core box model: Dark Demon
Used as: Evil Hound


Other models used but not included: Outer Dark Demon

 What's to like in this expansion?
  • Escaping a burning building adds a new flavor to the missions which are often "Kill [Something]"
  • Maps are amazing.  The village and tower are both excellent maps and may be the best of the three expansions.
  • More ranged units to wreak havoc on the players
What's not to like in this expansions?
  • Foo dogs look weird
  •  Why does Hadrathus have Set's Bite and Set's Halo as spells?  These can easily be swapped for Bori's Rage and Mitra's Halo.  You lose a little on offense (moving a gem from the Overlord's reserve to fatigue) but gain 1 armor for the halo spell.  Is it a wash?  Does it break the game?  
  • All four scenarios use four players.

 Conclusion

Should you consider buying these expansions? If you're an avid fan of Conan or this game - it's an easy yes especially if there are no reprints currently planned.  If you're on the fence for the game anyway - it's tougher to say.  If you like skirmish or thematic games, this is a fun one (even with the rules everyone complains about).  If you're more of a puzzle-solving Euro-game fan - this may not scratch the right itch.  The energy mechanic is "Euro-esque" but it may not be enough to be satisfying.

The core box that's available at retail has 8 scenarios.  Each of these boxes gives you 4 more.  If you break it down on a per scenario basis, this game costs about $12/scenario be it core game or expansions, which is cheaper entertainment than a movie.

At this time, I don't think I could rank these expansions from best to worst.  I'm just glad I have them.  Both for the content delivered and to have the flexibility when fans create new scenarios.

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