Conquest of Nerath

Conquest of Nerath is a board game based on 4e D&D. When it was first released, many years ago, I didn't feel that I could justify the expense. This year, however, as I was looking for cool board game ideas for Nathaniel for Christmas, I got to thinking about Nerath again and figured it would be very much to his liking, as it's a D&D product but also heavily influenced by Axis & Allies, which is probably his all-time favorite board game. I managed to get a copy of Nerath on eBay for a reasonable price, and today we got set up for our first game.

Axis & Allies in a D&D setting really is the best way to describe this game. Oh, and freakin' awesome is probably another way. I mean, just look at that map and all those delightful units! In addition to typical military units like infantry, ships, and siege engines, there are skeletons, elementals, golems, and, of course, dragons! We haven't rolled a single die yet, but we had tons of fun setting up our empires this afternoon. Nathaniel will be playing as the human and dwarven alliance of Nerath (gray pieces in the upper-left) and will be teamed with Matthew as the Vailin alliance of elves and humans (yellow pieces in the lower-right). I'll be controlling the two evil factions, the undead Karkoth (black pieces in the upper-right) and the monstrous Iron Circle (red pieces in the lower-left). 

In addition to the large-scale battles between opposing armies, the game has a dungeon-exploring component, too, as certain types of units can delve into famous dungeons of D&D's history (Temple of Elemental Evil, Tomb of Horrors, etc.) and claim powerful treasures to aid their faction. It will be interesting to weigh the risks and benefits of dungeon exploration, as the heroes who venture out in search of treasure are, naturally, unavailable to help out on the battlefield. 

Can't wait go get started!