Descent 2nd edition unboxing & first impressions

[Anatoli]

I caved in and bought Descent, when I saw they had released a 2nd edition that was a bit more reasonably priced. And the box was also "smaller", more like Battles of Westeros sized (about an inch deeper than Arkham Horror) than that huge coffin.  In any case, what made me purchase this game to begin with was a review video that spoke about character development and adventure aspects that I think aren't present in Dungeons & Dragons : Wrath of Ashardalon. And while you can run a campaign in D&D:WoA it's not really conveying that special RPG feeling that I got from playing games like Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale on the PC when I was younger.

You can check out pictures of the content and the rest of my initial impressions of the game over at my blog. I will post a full review of the rules and gameplay in a couple of days.

http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.se/2012/09/descent-2nd-edition-unboxing-first.html

[Doomsdave]

Thanks for the review.  I have the older version of Descent and was considering buying the conversion kit for 2nd edition. 

Do those tiles fit together with the old Descent tiles?  They look like they might.

[Jonas]

Looks nice

[Cherno]

Looks great, although I won't buy it, I was disappointed with Descent's gameplay. I hope someday some company will release a true cooperative Dungeon Crawler with the production Values of Descent 2nd edition. I bought Gears of War The Board Gaem a while back and I gotta say, the quality of the miniatures is amazing! Much better than the older Descent 1st and Doom TBG onees.

[Major_Gilbear]

Thanks for the review.  I have the older version of Descent and was considering buying the conversion kit for 2nd edition.  

If you do this, be aware that the conversion kit literally is just that - a kit with new cards so that you can use the older stuff with the new edition.

To actually use the 1st edition stuff in 2nd edition, you still need the main rules, dice, etc - and that means you still need the 2nd edition base set as well.

[Anatoli]

First part of the real review is coming up tomorrow. We had a blast down at the club playing this, and I even managed to play t he game with my sister prior to playing with my boardgaming group. I love how this game flows and plays. From what I heard 2nd edition is quite different from 1st in many ways.

One of the guys commented on the tiles in 2nd Ed. being smaller than in 1st edition so I don't think you can mix box content or use old expansions.

[Croaker343]

Thanks for write part 1.  I am looking forward to the next two parts.  The dice issue is minor I assume.  The Lieutenants being only tokens and not minis like the rest of the pieces I see opportunity for customizing the game a bit.  What scale are the minis?

[Anatoli]

Hard to tell, FFG states they are "28mm" (or will be when they release the metal Lieutenants) but if you buy a 28mm miniature from Reaper they are gigantic compared to the plastic miniatures you get in the box of Descent

[Croaker343]

Oh, so they will be releasing the Lieutenants in minis later.  I must have missed that.  But still, if they are not up to par and I can find a better mini, I most likely that route.

[Cherno]

The Descent miniatures are slightly smaller than 28mm, and most importantly have rather realistic proportions, so they won't scale easily with normal 28mms.

[Croaker343]

Cherno,

Would you say that 25mm would be a better fit?

[Cherno]

I'd say Ral Partha "true" 25mm would be too small 

[Nedo]

Sorry for resume this topic, but....
someone of you have some comparison pictures between Descent Miniatures and GW/Citadel or D&D prepainted miniatures?

Thank you and sorry for necroposting...

[sundayhero]

I'd also be interested...Comparing to ral partha and metal magic minis.

Wich are, I believe, "true 28mm" instead of "true 25mm".

I mean :

true 28mm = "figure of 28mm tall from feet to top of the head" (consequently being  25mm from feet to eyes).

true 25mm = "figure of 25mm tall from feet to top of the head".

Heroic 28mm ="figure of 28mm tall from feet to eyes" (so more or less 32mm total height)

Am I right ?

[Nedo]

I haven't been able to resist.
I bought Descent 2nd edition just yesterday ... all doubts removed.
Some human is adaptable to the firsts set of D&D miniatures prepainted...but all the rest are more little than normal 28mm human miniatures.
Goblins are so small, but Barghest, Giant Spider and the big monsters are very adaptable to the Heroic Scale...

As soon as I can, I'll post a photo comparative .... on another topic .

Bye!