Journey through the Enchanted Forest of Dragonwood and build your strength to see if you can defeat a dragon
Designer(s): Darren Kisgen
Artist(s): Chris Beatrice
Publisher: Gamewright
It’s been a while since I wrote out a game review, and I have a ton of board photos… I decided to start again with Dragonwood because this is one of the more “short and sweet” games that I have. As my list of games grows lower, I have realized that only the very complex ones will remain in the end. But that’s a problem for future me.
Let’s get back to the game. Dragonwood is a game that balances cards and dice. The cards give you strength, while the dice are your main “weapon” against the challenges of the forest. I would say enemies, but some feel more… sapient than others. Dragonwood is a game that can handle two to four players, but I have only ever played it at two.
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Gameplay Overview
This is a general overview to provide context for the review, not an in-depth how-to play. Some rules may be glossed over or missing.
Game Flow
There is a standard game flow to Dragonwood in which a player will take their turn, and then it will continue in a clockwise direction. Due to the game’s end condition, which I’ll get into later, players can have an uneven number of turns. On the positive side, the turns are decently quick. There is not too much downtime between turns, which I find to be a major positive.
Setup
There are two decks of cards within the game: the Dragonwood deck and the Adventurer deck. The Dragonwood deck is the deck with green backs. These cards will make up the center tableau that is shared among the players. Before revealing any cards, the two dragons are shuffled into the last X number of cards, where X is based on the player count.
Once the smaller number of cards is shuffled and put at the bottom of the deck, the center can be made. This happens by revealing 5 cards. There are three types of cards within the Dragonwood deck: creatures, enhancements, and events. They are identified by their border color. Events have a yellow border, so they must be put back into the deck (but be careful not to shuffle the bottom X cards again)
Lastly, each player is given 5 adventurer cards (the red deck) at random. The red cards are very similar to a standard card deck, having a range of numbers within multiple suits.
Player Turns
During a turn, players can take one of two actions. One action is “Reload,” which allows players to draw cards from the adventurer deck. Players can only have nine cards in hand, so if a player draws a tenth card, then they will have to discard one. And yes, it can be the one that was just drawn.
The other action would be to capture one of the cards in the center row (one of the five face-up cards from the Dragonwood deck). There are three different ways to capture a creature: strike, stomp, or scream. And this is where I realized that the game a trick taker in disguise. To be able to do any of the capture actions, you have to play a set of cards. And those set types are very similar to classic tricks.
Strike can be used by playing cards in a row (i.e., 7, 8, 9). Stomp is playing cards that all have the same number (i.e., 6, 6, 6). Scream is playing cards of the same color (i.e., all orange). Although I used three cards in the example, the number of cards played can vary from one to nine. Each card in the trick will give you one die to roll.
Then it’s time to roll the dice. The number that needs to be at or exceed the threshold of the corresponding trick. Some creatures are easier to stomp, while others are easier to strike. Or scream. I do appreciate the idea of screaming at a creature to subdue it. When a creature is captured, another card from the Dragonwood deck automatically fills its slot.
End Game
There are two ways to end the game. The first is when both dragons are captured, and the other is when the adventure deck is played through twice. The winner will be the player with the most victory points. And where are the points? The bottom left of the captured cards shows a value on a plaque. This is how many points they will be worth at the end of the game. One important note is that not all Dragonwood cards have victory points.
Concept: events and enchantments
Event (orange) cards are ones that act quite differently from the rest. When drawing, the event cards are read immediately, and the effect is then in place. These events will typically (if not always) affect all players. Sometimes it can help you by drawing cards, removing types of cards from the face-up market.
Enhancements are captured like creature cards, but they do not offer victory points. Instead, they will grant a player its effect. These powers can be really strong. The harder it is to get, the more it is worth. Getting enhancements can be very good, but points are equally needed.
Who Will Like it?
This game is for people who like card games but want to add more randomness than the luck of the draw. Having to pass multiple tests with what you are given means that taking advantage of the central market is critical.
What I Think
What did I like?
I really love the idea behind this game. Going to a magical land? Yes please. The trick-taking aspect of the game is quite interesting as it’s something to enhance yourself rather than using the cards to one-up your opponent. The randomness of it all does allow players to catch up as easily as it allows players to race ahead. But the controlled randomness can help offset falling behind in the first place.
What didn’t I like?
Not all cards are equal. Some enhancements are clearly stronger than others, but have a similar difficulty threshold. The fact that you have to rely on the luck of the draw and the luck of the dice is a bit of a letdown for me. Can you keep yourself covered? Yes. Is it worth it? That is the question. Besides enhancements, there is no way to really “get stronger” over the course of the game. And the deck does not range from easy to difficult. Besides setting up positions for the dragons, everything else ends up being random. The other issue I have is that it is a dynamic market. But I just have issues with dynamic markets in general. Revealing a card and then potentially not having access to it is always a pet peeve of mine.
My Take
This game is definitely a cute game for the shelf, especially for those into a medieval fantasy theme. The rules are relatively simple and the approach can but fun for any age. Especially among those who like dice or card games. I find that it has a little too much randomness for my liking. Having a good hand or a good game is really dependent on the cards, the dice, and the market. And having all three things be variable can be difficult.
Breakdown
Rulebook/Learning the Game
The rulebook does a good job of explaining the game in a relatively concise manner. I am curious why they went with a tri-fold approach, because that did cause me some confusion. There is a good mixture of picture examples and verbal explanations.
Rating
4/10
This rating might seem a little low, but I just don’t click with the game as much as I would like to. That being said, I feel Dragonwood does have some fun elements it brings to the table. With the right players, this game can be a very positive experience. I’m just not always on board with randomness and dynamic markets.
*See my rating scale Here.
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