Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
For years the humans, elves, and dwarves have been slowly encroaching on your territories and slaying your kind in the name of progress. They've built their citadels, keeps, and villages as they push you further into the darkness.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Open Drafting
Select cards or items from a shared face-up display.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Worker Placement
Commit limited workers to action spaces before opponents occupy them.
Die Icon Resolution
Interpret rolled icons to determine which actions or effects occur.
Read the full game description
For years the humans, elves, and dwarves have been slowly encroaching on your territories and slaying your kind in the name of progress. They've built their citadels, keeps, and villages as they push you further into the darkness. Now is the time to rally your troops and lay waste to their kind and bring forth the reign of the Shadow Kingdoms! You are a Warden hungry for the destruction of Valeria. You must outwit the other Wardens to earn the right to command an army for the Shadow Kingdoms. Visit dark Shrines to gain minions, magic, gems, and gold to fuel your war machine. Command monsters into battle to conquer the lands and earn Victory Points. The player with the most Victory Points at the end of the game will be declared the winner. On your turn, you must move your Warden from its current location to a new location. When your Warden enters one of the 5 Shrines, you first take any available die from the Shrine and place it on your player board, then perform the Shrine action associated with the Shrine. There are 5 troop types (die colors) in the game: Goblin (green), Orc (red), Skeleton (white), Gargoyle (purple), and Gnoll (brown). Send your Warden to the Camp on your player board to use your minion dice to resolve battle plans and place Victory tokens on your Campaign board. —description from the publisher