Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn [Review]
By: Mithrandiel
When the package from Wizards arrived, I was really curious why it was so heavy - I was expecting a sourcebook or two, but the deluxe edition of Shadow of the Dragon Queen was a real surprise. As you may have seen in my video review, it also included the board game called Warriors of Krynn. I wasn’t aware that it was being released alongside the new book, and after perusing the rulebook and components, I knew I had to wrangle my friends to help me give it a spin!
GAMEPLAY
Warriors of Krynn is a cooperative game for 3-5 players, in which you assume the role of an Alliance hero working to overcome the invading dragon army forces. There is a book of scenarios that you and your allies play through, which indicates how to set up the battle and map tiles, which commanders are in play, as well as key objectives and conditions for a Win, Hold or Loss within that scenario.
Players choose from a handful of classes, each having its own mastered “abilities” relative to the 6 core stats in Dungeons & Dragons: Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Strength and Wisdom. They also have assigned “ability cards” that represent their starting hand, as each of the 6 main stats have their own assigned decks that feature free actions/response cards and alternative actions a player can take on their turn.
While the class options are limited at first for the “recruit” level, more classes are added in the “Veteran” and “Legendary” levels, which allow for further strategy and more complex maneuvers and actions. It’s a well-executed method of helping the players appreciate as they “level up” through the scenario book.
Core gameplay is broken into two main categories: a player’s turn, and the battle phase. During a player’s turn, they begin by revealing an event card. The event card may trigger “key events” (which are critical in progressing the scenario), result in environmental changes (fire breaking out, obstacles blocking roads etc), or it may relate to the broader battlefield. For example, commanders may have their abilities activated, units may be “shaken” (more on that in a moment), or reinforcements may arrive on either side. The event card also indicates whether the battle phase will be a “skirmish” [one battle line fights another] or an “all out battle” [each battle line activates] After the event card is revealed, the active player has 4 “actions” they can use to travel around the battlefield, initiate conflicts (fight against enemies on the board), initiate encounters (trigger environmental challenges for rewards or collect necessary items), or perform other specific actions as the scenario dictates.
Warriors of Krynn game in action - including map setup and active battle lines
Roads facilitate easier travel, while additional map tiles that may be a bit more “roughshod”, or battle areas that have fallen under dragon army control, will require additional actions to be spent to traverse. After a player has completed their turn, the battle phase begins.
Each main map tile has 6 rows meant to accommodate battle units from both the Alliance and Dragon Armies. These tokens are broken into three categories: foot units, missile units and mounted units. The number of units on the board is outlined in the scenario book, though event cards and player abilities, as well as commander abilities, may affect this.
If the event card revealed at the beginning of the player’s turn indicated a “skirmish”, there is a specific die that is rolled. This will determine which battle line will fight. There are also options that indicate if the given line will have their commander’s ability activate as well, further diversifying the outcomes of the battle phase.
The number of units in a battle line determine it’s “power”, and the line with the higher power is the “attacking line”. A card is revealed from the relevant unit’s deck, and a number of “hits” are issued to the opposing line, either a fixed number or a number rolled via the battle dice.
Warriors of Krynn “battle dice” options (starting from the top and going clockwise): Woe, double hit, miss, single hit
When hits are issued, any active units in the line are first “shaken”, which is indicated by turning the affected piece over. If all units on the line are already shaken, any additional hits will remove units from the board entirely. Once all opposing units have been removed from the board, control is gained and units can be moved to an adjacent battle map tile to carry on the battle.
If the battle is an “all out battle”, you perform this process for all three battle lines.
Once the battle phase has concluded, control is passed to the next player in clockwise order and it begins again until the scenario ends. Scenarios can end a number of ways, but most often when a character takes stress beyond their limit and are unable to discard any cards to make up for the difference, or when all battle map tiles are overtaken by Dragon Army forces. Once the scenario ends, you review the scenario book to determine whether it ended in a Win, Hold or Loss, dependent on key conditions. Then, you can either pack up the game and bookmark the next scenario for a future session, or forge ahead into the next encounter!
Review
First things first: my friends and I had a blast with this game! There was a lot to unpack at first rules-wise, but once we got into the swing of things we began to appreciate what Warriors of Krynn was all about.
The game was designed by Rob Daviau and Stephen Baker, which certainly explains the smoothness of the scenario system, as Daviau is credited for creating the concept of “legacy gaming”: a board game experience that evolves with the players over multiple sessions, with further rules and systems being unlocked over time. A fitting match for a D&D inspired board game!
With notable creators behind the wheel of this project, it’s no surprise that the components are all of decent quality. From the minis to the battle unit tokens, ability cards and more, it’s a well-constructed game to be sure.
The scenario structure is great, and an awesome way to dive into some more structure D&D adventuring with warfare mixed in. The “skill checks” and “conflicts” on the board serve as very simplified versions of ability checks and combat in a proper D&D game, so if you have friends who have been curious about tabletop role playing games without the commitment of a proper campaign, Warriors of Krynn is a great way to introduce them.
In terms of difficulty, going through the rulebook and the opening scenario “Training Ground”, really helps you understand the flow of the game. My friends and I were a bit frustrated at first at the difficulty, but after losing control of one of the battle maps we realized that this was done on purpose to demonstrate how the mechanic works. In this way, the tutorial of Warriors of Krynn is well structured, and a seemingly complicated title becomes much more accessible.
As we reached the halfway point in the scenario, the strategy really started to come into play. As I mentioned earlier, there are elements to the battle phase including units that can be shaken to effectively make them easier to pick off during battle. In addition, heroes who are on the active battle map tile can also tap into their response actions to bolster the alliance army, restore a shaken commander, or force re-rolls of dice to reduce or eliminate hits to allied units. When the game began we all scattered to the four winds to pursue objectives, not realizing our value in the battlefield. With a better understanding of our strategic contributions to the battle phase, it made selecting what to do with our 4 actions more engaging and fun.
As I also mentioned in our review of Shadow of the Dragon Queen, what makes the sourcebook and this game particularly unique is the fact that you can use them in conjunction with one another. There are segments of the sourcebook that direct you to run through specific scenarios, and dependent upon its outcome, it can affect the storyline in the module as well. This is not a required element, and neither of them requires the other to be fully enjoyed, but this extra layer of interaction is really cool to consider.
Overall, this is a great game for strategy game enthusiasts, D&D fans and Dragonlance fans, all at the same time. I will say it can be daunting for folks who aren’t used to games like this, so make sure you’ve done a bit of poking around in the rulebook and scenario book to have a good grasp on the flow of the game before immersing folks who may not be used to this sort of game.
That being said, Warriors of Krynn is a ton of fun, and a fantastic component of the deluxe edition for Shadow of the Dragon Queen. I hope you get a chance to check it out!
