Game Trade Magazine - GTM #202

GTM #202 - Legends of Andor

Reviewed by Jane Trudeau-Smith & Philip Smith

All we can say is “Wow!” Ok, we do have more to say, but we liked Legends of Andor so much that it's the first thing that came out of our mouths. Usually, we play a game once and then write the review. In this case, we played, we lost, we played again, we won, and then we played the next level… it’s addictive! We wanted to keep going, but our day jobs got in the way (darn!)

Was this Game Easy to Learn?

The box is heavy – there are a lot of pieces to punch out (but, isn’t that the fun part?). We thought it would take hours to figure out how to play, but there’s a Quick-Start Guide that worked extremely well. We set up and began playing within 10-minutes.

How is it Played?

In this collaborative game, the heroes (players) are trying to protect the land of Andor from evil creatures like gors, skrals, trolls, wardraks, witches, and more! There are five legends to play, and as mentioned, we played the first legend, then the second (and lost!). We are looking forward to continuing…

Legends of Andor comes with a two-sided game board, showing the land of Andor divided into numbered areas. We used one side for the first two legends, and the other side will be used for future legends. The first time you play use the Quick Start Guide, which literally walks you through setting up the game to playing the first legend.

Each player chooses a hero and receives a hero board, game figure, and – matching their hero’s color – two wooden disks, a cube, and dice to use during battles.

In the first game, the rules have you start your hero figure on a certain numbered space on the board. You also place one of your disks in the “sunrise” box, and the other disk on your player board to track your willpower. You can earn or lose willpower throughout the game, which affects how many dice you can use during a fight! The smaller cube is used on the player board to mark your strength. The player board is also used to store your gold, equipment, and other items you may use during the game.

Now, the fun part! The game comes with five sets of legend cards. Each set represents tasks you and your team must accomplish before the game ends. Legend 1 is a learning set, which literally walks you through your first game. On the game board there are two other “tracks.” One tracks hours in a day (seven allotted, with up to three extra if you want to spend willpower). The other tracks the narrator, who guides you through the game (spaces A through N, starting the game on A). The legend cards are labeled with the narrator letters (A1, A2, B, etc.).

We chose not to reveal the goals of the first legend, because it would take some of the fun out the first time you play the game… You really should be surprised like we were!

Game play is simple, but, of course, you should collaborate on what to do. Here is how typical game might go:

The narrator reads the legend card(s) based on the space he is in; for example, if he’s in space “A” the A legend cards are read.
The legend cards have you set things up in the game, give you tasks you must complete, may cause bad events to happen, etc. They’re your guide throughout the game.
Once read, each player takes their turn. Basically, a hero can either move or fight bad guys. Each numbered space you move takes one “hour” – so the hero moves his disk from the “sunrise” box to the number of hours per spaces moved. There are many things that can be done while moving. For example, gain gold, equipment, earn more willpower, or pick up something you need. If you move to a space with an evil creature, you can fight on your next turn. Each round of the fight also takes an hour on the time track. If you choose to fight, you roll your dice and add your current strength to the highest die roll. You must beat the strength of the creature’s roll.
If you succeed in killing an evil creature, it is banished to a specific space on the board, and you gain gold or more willpower (how much depends on the creature you killed). However, a kill automatically moves the narrator to the next letter on the narrator track.
Sometimes that space has a new legend card to read, sometimes not – if it does, you read the card and act on it immediately. For example, it may tell you to put more creatures on the board… Yikes!
Players take turns until they’ve exhausted seven hours for the day, or pay for up to three more hours – then they both move back to the sunrise box – first one in goes first the “next day”
When a new day begins:
1. You draw one card from an event deck (separate from the legend deck) and do whatever it reads – some event cards are good, and some aren’t – like more evil creatures appearing!
2. All creatures move one space on the board
3. Any wells on the board are re-filled (wells can give you more willpower)
4. The narrator moves up the track and any new legend cards are read

Play continues until you complete your tasks, or the narrator gets to space N – where you read the last legend card to find out how well (or poorly) you did.

If you master the first legend, move on to the second. So much fun!

Timing of the Game

The first time we played it took a little over an hour, while we were also learning. The second time took under an hour.

We are very excited to play more legends – and replay them until we win! There are also expansions! Wow!

Fast Facts:

MSRP: $55
# of Players – 2-4
Age Range – 10+
Time to Play – 60-90 minutes

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