Conquest of Nerath

So I've been pondering Conquest of Nerath quite a bit lately. I'm a really big fan of DoaM games and this one seems like fantasy Nexus Ops/ Axis n Allies. It looks to be swimming in the simpler/shallow end of the pool and I'm totally fine with that. My questions is how has it held up? Anyone still playing it?

The game SLOWLY seems to be going OOP and I'm thinking I want to snatch up a copy before it becomes impossible to find. Should I pull the trigger?

Only if you need a rethemed AXis and Allies/Risk on your shelf. I didn't think it did anything special in the DOAM category myself.

I would counsel you that surely there is a better use of your gaming dollar.

Why do I even write??
superflycircus.com/2011/06/conquest-of-n...n-a-schedule-or-not/

I totally disagree with my dear friend Mr. MacDirk. I think the questing system is really something pretty slick in a DOAM, but not totally novel. It's a good game, not a great one, and it's worth playing.

The HUGE downside is that it's really a 2 player OR 4 player game, and the 2 player game kind of sucks unless you can view it as the same as War of the Ring where you control the "overarching forces of evil/good" and are OK with two factions being played. Downtime is a bit of a bitch. I love that it scales to your timeframe, which IS kind of novel - you can play for an hour or five, more or less.

Still, good game. If I had to choose a game in DOAM category, though, and I wanted something more than CyclaKem, something deeper and longer, I would choose Ikusa. It is, IMO, the best "long" DOAM game ever made. I sold/gave away Nerath some time ago, can't remember which. Probably gave it away since it was a review copy and I gave those away for the most part. I have considered re-buying it several times and kind of "miss" it, but I've never pulled the trigger because I have other games in different "settings" (like Ikusa) that are substantially better, objectively speaking. I still miss it, though.

Yeah, I think McDirk is wrong here too...this game does a few things differently than the standard A&A/Risk-style DoaM- although it is very clearly in that MB Gamemaster lineage. That said, there are some mod cons- like a customizable playtime, objectives other than "take over all the land" and that questing system. And it is a D&D DoaM, if that brand counts for something with you. I still have mine solely because it is a D&D DoaM. We haven't played it in years, if we do this kind of game it's usually Cyclades, Kemet or Hyperborea. But it's part of that product line, so I'm keeping it.

With that said, I would recommend buying Hyperborea over this if you don't have it yet. Scales for all player numbers, plays in a quick but full amount of time, offers a good fantasy setting.

Sounds like you know what you're getting yourself into, but I might say it is more fantasy nexus ops/dungeon! That sounds cool, but the game play is rather clunky, and the strategic decisions too few to hold anybody's interest for very long.

That being said, it is an easy game to recommend buying. It will go OOP for the aforementioned reasons, but it will only go up in value because it is part of a successful product line, and a D&D doam. So there is very little to lose by giving it a chance.

I bought it a few years ago based on Superfly's review. I got a good 4 or 5 plays out of it and I find it enjoyable enough. I would definitely echo that you need 4 players for it to be worth it and I don't think I'd play the long game. I do like sending the heroes into the dungeons for the chance at defeating D&D monsters for loot. I think that adds a lot to the game.

That being said, I think this is a game I'm only going to play once a year from here on out, if that. Still worth it though IMO.

airmarkus wrote: I don't think I'd play the long game.

I'd go further and say that after playing the medium game once, I'd really only personally recommend the short game. In our one case, the medium game merely confirmed a conclusion that would've been clear by the end of the short game.

That said, I think CoN is a pretty good and slightly innovative reskin of A&A. It's also curiously like Runewars in the way it blends a questing component with a DoaM component.

Totally agree on the short game. It gives enough of a development arc to satisfy but it doesn't drag on. Long game, no way. I can't imagine most modern gamers would find it fun for that long apart from old timers that never got the memo that a game like this doesn't have to take all day and night to play.

I actually like it better than Runewars, but that's an unpopular opinion. It's more direct, more meat and potatoes. But less than Hyperborea.

Ha! I love it that everyone disagrees with me and then talks about how they have rarely played it of late or traded it away.

Yes. You need this game consuming valuable shelf space is the consensus (though you probably won't feel the itch to play it too much when there are likely better options in your collection)

If Mr. Shen had said, "I'm thinking of buying this AGAIN" it would've been a different story. But, as a first-timer to this game, I say "then" what I say "now". It's a well-designed, fun game that is novel in a few ways and a rehash in others. It's worth owning to play 10 times or so, then it will become a bit of a shelf toad, not because it's not a good, fun game, but because 99.99% of people aren't going to play an old-school DoaM game more than 4-5 times in their life, so make it the best.

I also said that I've considered rebuying it on several occasions and that I "miss it" (I am that 0.01%) but just never did because I already own other DoaMs that do things better in substantial ways.

Not sure that you're characterizing what I said, at least, correctly.

Alastair MacDirk wrote: Ha! I love it that everyone disagrees with me and then talks about how they have rarely played it of late or traded it away.

Yes. You need this game consuming valuable shelf space is the consensus (though you probably won't feel the itch to play it too much when there are likely better options in your collection)

They ought to put that on the box. I figure if I can still make room for Nexus's Battles of Napoleon, I can make room for Nerath.

I actually kind of agree with Barnes on Nerath versus Runewars on a fun-factor level, even though there are some really fancy things about Runewars (in particular, the resource collection aspect) and even though my last medium-game experience, which dragged Nerath on for an hour past its already obvious short-game conclusion, has soured me just a tad on Nerath. I think Nerath's questing/hero experience actually works better than Runewars's, and while I appreciate the control that card-based combat has on normalization of results, I'd still rather chuck a handful of dice.

The last thing I'd say about Nerath is that it's a game of nice touches. The insert is great, with a place for everything and a generally nice design (the faction symbols are impressed on the plastic for each plastic-piece bin, for example). The bases of the figures match the die type (e.g., d6) that you're supposed to use in combat. The color choice for the figures is unusual and/but very cool, and the sculpts are all nice. The map is very well done. There's some nice asymmetry without being determinative or obnoxious. In the short-game version, it doesn't overstay its welcome (I've played a short game with brand-new players in probably 2.5 hours, with a bit of instruction in advance). Even people who haven't played A&A basically "get" the rules almost immediately because there are decent player aids (although sometimes inconveniently located), relatively few rules, and rules that work like you'd expect for the most part. There's some nice differentiation among the units without getting too much detail; basically, each piece has a "thing" that it is or does and no more than that (infantry's cheap, e.g.).

Is it a world-beater? No. Is it much more than a well-implemented A&A reskin? Not really. It's a little ephemeral, but so are lots of good-but-not-great games. I'd rather play this than A&A, and A&A does fill a niche. WotC does continue to have this game on their website, but I assume, especially because it's logo'd for fourth edition D&D, that it is unlikely to be kept in print.

But Runewars has plastic mountains!

(Well, at least the 1st edition).

Runewars is my favourite DoaM without question. Especially once you've added oou7im89u0ioi790i78i9iy7ui0u89i9weuswi8u9ghjjkjh\u0u8u8iuijyhhgygfgyfghgytruyjkjgiyoyitktijuhyhymhkgnithjmjnhioh;buiyg (my son is making me leave this in here, deal with it, I tried to say it out loud and he cried he was laughing so hard) the expansion in to the mix. The extra abilities (available actions) for the heroes makes the questing and hero movement much more interesting and the pseudo tech tree of add ons really helps with the already awesome asymmetry of the players. In fact I can't even really compare it with Nerath which seem to me to be competing with games like Kemet more than Runewars. Other than the questing they don't really have much in common. Runewars offers a lot of game in the time it takes to play and I just love how easy it is to recruit and move troops, it encourages lots of combat.

As for the lack of dice... bah, I use card combat in Cosmic or Cutthroat Caverns and no one seems to complain about that. I use dice in tons of other games and people don't list it as a plus generally speaking. I think people make a big deal out the fate deck for no real reason. It works fine and combat is resolved quickly..

One last thing, Runewars... more than any new DoaM I've played in years, had the courage to take it's time and get better with age. Kemet, City of Remnants, Nerath, every other DoaM is done in two hours or less and they don't age as well. Follow the posts of a big fan of Kemet or Nerath and you'll see that they seem to sour on the game as time goes by. There was just a big thread on Kemet here not long ago where people complained about the endgame. Now follow the posts of a Runewars fan and you'll see how the game gains momentum and depth as time goes on. New strategies emerge. It's an incredibly robust game and you can easily tailor it to your specific tastes, that's another big plus...

Goddammit I realize I may be outnumbered (or just plain wrong) but I fucking love Runewars. For me it's a forever shelf title regardless of how much play it gets.

And yes, the plastic mountains are awesome.

Don't worry. There is Runewars love around here.

I played Runewars once, a few months back. It was overly complex, but I could see liking it if I had more chances to play it.