Defenders of the Realm Simu-Post

Linky to the original post : Another Game Z You Are Going to Want

Disclaimers:
I am friends with the designer and helped play test the game.
I have been paid a bazillion dollars and will receive all the free merchandise I desire from FRED games for this preview.
I am not qualified to critique, review or even comment on any game. I’ve not played since last summer and am rusty on the specifics.
I own stock in both FRED games and King Richard Games.
Larry Elmore is my father

Defenders of the Realm
Defenders of the Realm is a game about a group of heroes valiantly fighting against an onslaught of creatures besieging the land.  It is a cooperative game with the person who completes the most quests being the overall winner.

The players start in Monarch City (the center space) with their hero. Four generals (Orc, Demon, Dragonkin, and Undead) begin at the four corners  of the board with their troops  already running rampant through the land. The players must slay the generals before they reach Monarch City and before they overrun or taint the land.

Every hero has several special powers. The Wizard can teleport and cast fireballs, the thief can pass through enemy units and gains extra cards, the elf can attack from adjacent spaces and gains a bonus in woods, ect.  Players also start with a quest and a hand of five cards.
The quests are tasks that may be attempted during the course of play and are universally helpful. When one quest is completed another is drawn immediately.

The cards are used to augment movement, clean the land of taint and most importantly –fight generals. Each card has a suit representing one of four generals, one or two dice icons, a location and a symbol representing different types of movement. There are also a few special cards with specific effects in the mix.

Each Hero has 5-6 action points with which they move, fight, or perform actions like building a gates or delving for rumors. 

Heroes move one space per action unless they have a movement power. However they can discard a card with a movement icon for extra movement or to jump to another space listed on the card. Cards with icons of Horses move two, Rocs move four, and gates let you jump.

You may create a permanent gate If you have a location card with a gate icon on it and are at that location by spending an action point. Once created, players may move between permanent gates for one action point. Creating a gate or two is usually critical to winning the game.

The monsters quickly flood the map and players will be busy scourging them from the land. For an action point you can attack every monster in a space. You roll a die for each monster. Orcs are killed on a 3-6, Demons and undead on a 4-6, and dragonkin on a 5-6. The dice are color coded to match the monsters and you can keep attacking as long as you have actions. However if you end you move on a space with monsters they will injure you. Wounds cause you to lose action points until they are healed back.

Each army has its own challenges. Orcs spawn ridiculously fast, Undead cause two damage per unit instead of one, Demons taint the land faster, and the Dragonkin are just plain hard to kill. As they cluster up they begin to overrun the land. Whenever three monsters inhabit an area and more are called for, they spill into all the adjacent areas. Four monsters in an area (three if they are demons) cause the area to be tainted. If too much of the land becomes tainted, players lose the game. If monsters are called to populate an area and there are none left to draw, players lose the game.

Did I mention what happens if there are ever five monsters or a general in Monarch City?

Oh yeah, players lose the game.

However killing the four generals before that stuff happens wins the game!

To kill a general, the units in their space must be eliminated. Then a player discards cards of the general’s suit and rolls a die for die icon listed on the cards. The generals have the same target number as the troops but each general has a special power that makes the fights challenging.  Slaying the general singlehandedly grants the slayer title making those troops much easier to kill. However, often players must team up to take down a general to contribute enough cards to create a larger dice pool.

The game speeds up as generals are slain and toward the end it is a headlong rush to take out the last general as he hurdles toward Monarch City and the taint and monster population shoots through the roof.  I like the game quite a bit and am really looking forward to its release.  If only they had named the Barbarian Steve...

Steve"the Barbarian"Avery