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The Dwarves box art
2012 Ranked #3,046

The Dwarves

Cooperative fantasy defense game where dwarves use distinct strengths to keep evil from flooding Girdlegard. Enemies breach one of several gates before turns, so every fight, craft, and movement must shore up the realm before it is overrun.

Thematic Games Fantasy Novel-based Cooperative Game Dice Rolling

Players

2-5

Play time

60-90 min

Age

10+

Complexity

2.53/5

Rating

6.87

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.7/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.0/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.7/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

Based on the first novel of the Die Zwerge tetralogy [Eng. The Dwarves] by author Markus Heitz, the goal of the cooperative game Die Zwerge is to keep evil from flooding Girdlegard.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

Based on the first novel of the Die Zwerge tetralogy [Eng. The Dwarves] by author Markus Heitz, the goal of the cooperative game Die Zwerge is to keep evil from flooding Girdlegard. During set-up, players choose one of the dwarves from the novel, each of which is equipped with a unique special ability and different stats for fighting, crafting, and movement. Before each player's turn, the forces of evil usually break through one of the four big gates – which are guarded by different dwarven tribes – and further the spread of the Perished Land. On his turn a player spends two action points to use two of five actions. He can: Fight against the advancing enemies (orcs, trolls, and älfar [Ger. albae], i.e. dark elves). Travel to other locations. Lobby the dwarven council to give advantages to all players – and without the favor of the dwarven council, everyone suffers disadvantages. Solve a minor quest for rewards. Take on the current major quest, revealing the next major quest if successful. Completing these quests is the only way to win the game. For most of these actions, a player must succeed in a dice-driven challenge. If the players cannot control the flood of evil while simultaneously solving the major quests in time, they will lose. Collector's edition: additional: New box cover 5 hand painted dwarf miniatures 10 cards Albae expansion 60 page artbook 5 art prints of the dwarfs A3 poster "The smiting of Keenfire" stein with motive "Krasnolud" coaster "DIE ZWERGE" numbered COLLECTOR’S EDITION certificate.

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Editions

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Player resources

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Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
2–5
Best with
1–5
Play time
60–90 min
Age
10+
Complexity
2.5/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

2
Michael Palm Lukas Zach

Artists

1
Jarek Noco?

Publishers

1
Pegasus Spiele

Linked items

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