Reply To: Recommend me a good dungeon crawler ;)

[odinsgrandsonParticipant 4288xp 3]

I’ve played a few that I can recommend:

– Stuffed Fables has some excellent minis that paint up really well.  If you’re not playing with kids, you probably want to use the “Seasoned Stuffies” official variants (ways to increase the difficulty).

– Journey has some excellent minis.  I haven’t gotten to play it all that much, but I did not find it to be clunky.

– Dark Souls has some pretty good minis- and I’ve heard that it plays well if you use the “Classic Dungeon Crawl” official variant (it gets the play time down to about an hour).  Don’t bother playing it without the variant- the core combat rules for the game are really good, but the game as published needed the fix.

– Shadows of Brimstone.  The rules are fairly simple, but there is some clunkiness in tracking XP and gold.  The core minis aren’t fantastic, but the quality improves with the later releases.  I suspect that the Japanese version will improve on it a little further.

– The new Warhammer Quest probably deserves a shout out.  The minis are quite good, and the rules are quite simple.   I think it is really strange that Hammerhall is GM v Players while Silver Tower is full Co-op.  Personally, I’m hoping that Blackstone Fortress is 100% compatible with the Silver Tower, but knowing GW, they’ll probably do something to screw that up.

– Super Dungeon Explore is a good game, and there are several rules sets available.  The best way to play it is to pick up the Forgotten King box, but get the new rules online (they make the game play much faster and more tense).  The Kickstarter is extremely late (many backers have given up hope) but the game itself is fun.  The miniatures are chibi- some people love to paint chibi minis, some people really don’t.

– Descent plays well, but I don’t feel like those minis want to be painted all that much (they’re just not that interesting).  Oh, and don’t bother playing it without the APP- the GM’d version is total crap.

– Imperial Assault is good- and works decently well with both the APP and with a GM.  So if you like the Star Wars minis, you should check it out.

– Mansions of Madness is a terrific game with “meh” minis.

– The Others is good, but you need a GM.

– Zombicide is good, and I honestly think it plays better without the Kickstarter Exclusives (the extra heroes get redundant really quick).  Remember that the fantasy and contemporary settings aren’t compatible (well, you could probably fudge it a little).

– I haven’t played Massive Darkness- I’ve heard good and bad things about it, and I’m sure the minis are good.

– Widower’s Wood and Undercity- this one might be clunky for you.  The rules are written more like wargame rules (you have to learn the rules from the book, then play the game.  That frontloading of rules makes the game seem more complex).  The minis are quite nice (especially the WW minis) and I recommend getting the Black River Irregulars expansion as well (since each core set only comes with 4 heroes).

– Folklore the Affliction is a hilarious game- absolutely awful, clunky and unclear rules, and the mechanics are bonkers.  but somehow a lot of fun (maybe laughing at as much as with).  Really, I don’t think I’ve ever played a board game before that was so bad that it came back around to being good.

– Smog Riders: Dimensions of Madness isn’t well known.  It has a steampunk setting, and has “Mission Impossible” type gameplay (the heroes are mostly fighting the rooms, with only a few enemies showing up).  Requires a GM.

– Kingdom Death: Monster has the best minis and is a terrific rules set.  The rules presentation is very smooth- it actually keeps the game from feeling clunky.  Unfortunately, it is not reasonably priced.

– I haven’t had a chance to play Darklight: Memento Mori yet, but that one looks promising.”

– Gloomhaven is a lot of fun, but it uses standees for most enemies, and the minis for the heroes aren’t great.

– I haven’t tried out Sword and Sorcery yet.  Some people really love it.  The complaint I’ve heard about it is that it is kind of generic.

 

There are some upcoming dungeon crawlers that look like they’ll be awesome.  Middara has made some big promises, and should be delivering pretty soon.