I recently received a copy of Heropath: Dragon Roar and its two expansions from Unique Board Games LTD (UBG)*. This adventure boardgame for up to six players with both expansions was a great option for the King's Game Night weekly group to try. We played two consecutive weeks to get a good feel for the game. I'll give a review of Heropath and pass along thoughts from myself and the group. King's GameNight Ratings and Review I normally give brief overviews and thoughts on games I've played. In this case, I have created a more thorough ratings and review process which includes others in my weekly gaming group. Here I will give an overview on components, artwork and gameplay. At the end of the article I'll share the group's average ratings and comments. An Overview of Components and Artwork Heropath: Dragon Roar is at its core an American-style game. It sports miniatures on a map, dice rolling, adventuring and combat. The game board is essentially a map divided into numerous spaces/regions marked by either white or black outlines. Players have character boards with spaces for equipment, companions, magic, abilities and wearable armor & items. Player cards also include counters for a number of character attributes. Enemies (monsters) are depicted by tokens initially placed face-down on the board. Locations called "Place-Sites" are indicated by an illustration on the board. When the location is revealed the place-site triangular standee is placed on the board. Components also include plastic miniatures of each of the player/characters and of the primary foe, the dragon. The transparent dice are printed with custom emblems representing the number of "hits" on each side. Clear plastic markers are provided for marking the different levels for each character's attributes. Gold and food are represented by wooden pieces. All of the components are fairly standard to above average in quality. There are plenty of bits and pieces to manage, however none of it seemed to be too much. You are given the components needed to successfully manage the game. The rules seemed to be a bit lengthy and I found that the translation to English had some inconsistencies and awkwardness. For the most part, the rules explained the game and its general gameplay just fine. The game designers also included multiple variants for gameplay. Options for playing cooperatively, in teams, solo, as well as with varying levels of difficulty. It seems that the designer/publisher wanted to give players the options to modify the game to best suit everyone's favorite way to play. In my opinion, the artwork and illustrations in the game are average. Keeping in mind that taste in artwork is subjective, I feel the art meets the needs however isn't as appealing to me as that in other games. The graphic design is generally well done and type is for the most part legible, though the cards have relatively small text and can be a little difficult to read. Many player aids in the form of reference boards and tables in the rule book are provided. I wish more publishers would include similar reference cards. Two expansions are available. With both some additional content is added as well as the ability to play with up to six different characters. The components and quality of the expansions matches that of the base game. All work well together. Gameplay Overview In the standard game, players place their character figures in the starting location on the board. Players each receive four actions per turn in which they can move, battle, visit (place-sites), encounter (other players) or rest. The gameplay is fairly open. players move around the map trying to "power up" by increasing attributes, fighting enemies and encountering other players. The primary goal is to make your character powerful enough to face the dragon. The player who is able to defeat the dragon wins the game. During the game players use their character boards to keep track of everything. This is where much attention is focused. Players decide in which areas they need to improve or add strength. Using the reference cards and viewing the state of the game board the player decides where to go next. It is very much an adventure game. You can choose how you want to improve your character. Luck comes in the form of available of current cards, dice rolls and other circumstances (ex. weather event) that may influence gameplay. The characters all start with slightly different attribute, food & gold. That is essentially the only difference. Abilities, magic, companions, equipment etc... can be used by everyone, however the starting attributes might give certain characters a head start in being able to use certain cards. Many cards have minimum attribute requirements. Players without enough power points in a specific attribute can't use the associated card(s). They can gain those points by visiting specific place-sites and performing actions. Taking turns, the players continue to adventure around the game board (map) revealing new place-sites when stopping in locations with the site illustration. A random location is drawn out of a bag to bring out a place-site marker onto the board. As the game goes on, more and more place-sites are populated. Enemies (monsters) are occasionally added to the game as well. Players may choose to battle the enemies to gain a fortune and experience. Fortune cards give the player an item, magic, or some other ability that can be used immediately, saved in your supply area or equipped for use. When a number of enemies surpassing the number of players has been defeated the scale of evil is moved up. This gradually increases the enemies' power. Each time the scale moves up it also activates the dragon. The dragon is awakened and flies around the map damaging those characters on specified areas on the board (die roll). The active player then selects which of three mountain tops (dragon rocks) for which the dragon will land. Whichever location is chosen activates the corresponding flare spaces around the dragon and causing additional damage to those who land in the flare locations. This provides additional protection making it a little more difficult to get near and defeat the dragon. The dragon starts with a base power of 15. To increase the game's difficulty, players may choose a higher difficulty level before starting the game. This adds additional power points for the dragon. The game is won by one of the players defeating the mighty dragon. Ratings, Review and Comments In order to provide a thorough review of Heropath: Dragon Roar I enlisted the help of the entire weekly game night crew. I have created a checklist for game reviews that includes five categories and an overall rating with final thoughts. Nikki, Jeff, Jennie, Dave and Chris all submitted their ratings and some comments. I have compiled the information creating an average rating from 1 to 10 in each category as well as some comments from the group. Ratings and comments are based two games played and using the standard rules. Theme Rating – 9 Comments
Artwork & Graphic Design Rating – 7 Comments
Components (quality) Rating – 8 Comments
Gameplay Rating – 7 Comments
Rules/Rulebook Rating – 5.5 Comments
Overall & Final Thoughts Rating – 7.25 Comments
Heropath: Dragon Roar provides an adventure-style game with dice rolling, character building and light battle. My weekly game night group enjoyed learning it, playing it and contributing to the ratings and review. I hope you like the expanded overview, review and ratings format. Please post your comments and thoughts.
If you'd like to learn more about Heropath: Dragon Roar you can click here for a link to the Unique Board Games site. If you want to see what the board-gaming community is saying about Heropath, click here for the page on Board Game Geek. To purchase Heropath: Dragon Roar on Amazon.com click here. *A free copy of the game was provided to King's GameNight for review. Game on!
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