Super Dungeon Explore: Forgotten King

[Nefaro]

Disclaimer: I put this here because it's essentially a miniature skirmish game, not an Adventure/RPG or Card Game the other sections relate to, so Purists please don't have a wargame coronary.   :P 

Wanted to ask those who know - the new Co-Op mode seems to be welcomed but still getting some complaints about the rules or how fidgety the system is.  I know Arctic Blast has it but don't know if anyone's tried this "Arcade Mode" yet, here.  When you do let me know.

Will probably pre-order the retail version and the conversion kit.  I do enjoy painting the minis, moreso than I expected, and the varied player powers is always good, so it's not like I'm on the fence.

[Arctic Blast]

I'll be getting the standard mode played tonight, and I'm planning on busting it out solo with the Arcade (co-op) mode tomorrow. I'll post up some thoughts once I've had the chance to try it out. From reading through the rules, it sounds like a bit of a light tactical type game with movement and positioning being extremely important.

[Arctic Blast]

Okay, had a chance to play both the Classic mode and Arcade mode this weekend. For Arcade mode, everything works the same as with Classic mode with the obvious exception of the monsters now being controlled by a deck of AI cards. Within each spawn point's worth of monsters (warbands), there are some monsters who are elites and others who are minions. Certain types of minions 'lock' with certain types of elites, though some elites operate independently. Minions do not ever attack on their own, and serve as a support for those elites whom they lock with. An unlocked elite can still attack and act as normal, but they're more effective if in lockstep with their specific minion type. To lock with an elite, minions need to be within two spaces of them...that's it. Unlocked minions have a set movement of moving towards the elite type which they lock with, or running like Hell from heroes.

The arcade deck controls what the various creatures do. Each card can have anywhere from 2-5 or 6 (can't remember what the top end is) orders on it. You perform each in order, operating Bosses first, then Creeps, then Minibosses, then Elites and finally the Minions. Once every type of enemy has gone through an order, move to the next. Any tile with heroes on it, or with heroes adjacent to it, is eligible for monster/spawn point activation. Creature spawns are also triggered by the cards, and they work exactly as they do in Classic mode. Each spawn point produces whatever monsters it can up to it's maximum, then takes a point of damage. Mini-bosses appear each time that a spawn point is destroyed, and the final Boss comes in once the final spawn point is wrecked.

It makes for a different style of game, since spacing and location become much more important than they do in the all vs. one gamestyle. I liked it, but solo can be a bit taxing, even with the reduction in the number of status effects to keep track of. You have to run at least 3 heroes regardless of number of players.

[Nefaro]

Thanks for the insight AB.  I pre-ordered FK and the upgrade deck.   O0

The AI card activation sounds much like a user-created solo variant for Descent.  Probably pretty straightforward once you're past the initial familiarization of the cards.  The Boss support "locking" by the cannon fodder certainly makes sense for SDR and that was one of the big concerns I had - whether the minions just swarmed willy nilly or whether it had rules to make them group up.

I need to resume painting the original set's heroes while I wait.  Still quite happy with how my first run at painting the eyes went and it's nice to be painting these larger scale models after doing some of the notably smaller ones from Descent. 

[Cyrano]

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[Barthheart]

LOL! 

[Nefaro]

 


Shamefur Dispray!

;)

[Nefaro]

My retail pre-order should be arriving today.

I'll probably feel the need to paint everything before playing.      Between this and the original sets, I should be finished in approximately twenty years.