Hi All,
Apologies for the delay in reviewing this expansion! Nightwars is an expansion for the Cursed City Warhammer Quest board game. Intended to be played after the main Cursed City game is completed. In an effort to ratchet up the difficulty they have added some additional challenges but also filled out some character options and choices.
Story:
Needless to say:
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So after you “defeat” Radakur in the main game he is still around and in a rampaging beast form. The situation doesn’t improve much in the city as the undead are now out of control and Rad’s sub-lieutenants are now vying for control. The survivors have gathered in shelters called Havens which you need to defend while weeding out the new foes.
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Mechanics:
This game is very clearly intended to be played after you have finished the main game. It is almost always night time meaning the baddies are empowered, the villains can show up more frequently and an empowered Rad is also a possible foe. In addition there are three new mission types but these are linked to the three villains you have to beat.You do have a lot of control as to the order in which you face the big three but watch out! As you defeat one the others will become more powerful. The mission events themselves have also become more tricky and new mechanics make it harder to know what enemies you will face on each mission. To offset this, you have additional actions between rounds getting the chance to visit safe sites within the Havens and pick up buffs. Furthermore the game introduces “Elite Classes” which further empowers your heroes.
Materials:
This release was quite controversial for who it didn’t include the villain models it added to the game. One the one hand many players already had these minis and so didn’t need to buy them twice. I am also curious, if the expansion did have all the models it would have been a lot. The retail value of the individual models is over $200 alone and the thought of getting the expansion for $150 (even with the models included) is a bit rich.
Models aside the expansion adds in some new tiles, a lot of tokens and many new rewards and gear. All are of a similar high-quality as the main game.
Thoughts:
I feel like this expansion was developed at the same time as the main game and thus suffers from the same weakness. The issue with Cursed City is that it is a very basic, grindy, game. The missions are repetitive and limited, the enemies are a little monotone and killing them is less of a challenge and more of a slog (this is reinforced as you get to be higher in level). While the Fell Bats are a refreshing step in terms of having a quirky ability, it’s not sufficient to breathe new life into the game. As I don’t like to just criticize without offering other ideas I would have structured the expansion as being fought beneath the city where Radukar has less control. Thus it is an option to take a break from the main game if you get bored. You would have to figure out the doom and control mechanics but it’s workable.
Another minor gripe I have is with the story. Without going into spoilers the story’s ending is exceedingly lackluster and annoying. It is obviously setting up for a sequel (the final expansion) which is poor storytelling (IMHO). I think this game teases players too much without providing enough catharsis or sense of progress.
In closing I would recommend this game if you want to work on having the complete set of expansions and/or having materials to work with to home-brew or add third-party rules more easily. If you are on the fence about whether to buy the game or not this expansion won’t move the needle either way.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
