It’s time for a new campaign game on Malts and Meeples. I have a lot to choose from, but Chronicles of Drunagor has come in recently and that one is the game to hit the table. This is a massive fantasy campaign game. One with some darker themes or at least more darkness than others. How did the first game go, and what are my first impressions?

The Game – Chronicles of Drunagor

Initial impressions are favorable but also leave me questioning how long I’ll stream it. The reason for those questions is the size of the game. There are so many components on the table at all times that it’s hard to manage all of it.

Ease To Solo

Plus, one of the cool features, the doors that hide the information, don’t make for the best during the stream. I dislike needing to get up, block lights, be moving around and setting too much up while I am trying to stream.

Now, that’s often a negative of a lot of campaign games, not while streaming. There is a lot to keep track of and a lot to set-up. Some of them, Gloomhaven, Stars of Akarios, Aeon’s End Legacy, all of those balance pretty well for solo play and keeping the game play simple enough. I think that Chronicles of Drunagor just because of a few things probably makes better for multiplayer, even if it’s two.

This isn’t to say that the solo mode and what the monsters did didn’t make sense. I think that those instructions were easy enough to follow. But just from what you need to set-up a new room it’d be nice to have someone else helping with that.

Game Play

I do, however, really like the game play loop. It’s not a difficult loop once you are into it. You go in initiative order and really need to remember, two cube actions and one free move. That part is not hard to do. And while I clearly leaned into certain combat skills, I do think that the play is pretty clever with it.

The cube system works well. I blocked off ranged attacks that I wouldn’t do when I rested and that’s okay. The first scenario in a big campaign, I want to learn from. And they do a solid job of teaching you. I wish that there had been a bit more story in the “learn to play” section but overall easy enough to go to the book.

And I really like the status effects. Playing a controller, I thought about defense, is interesting. The Monk, my character, can hit pretty well, but could easily be overwhelmed. Especially with higher damage enemies. I don’t have much armor. But if I can survive that first turn, well, then I can start to control or lock down the battlefield. The knockdown and stun work really well to keep things in check depending on enemy types.

Initial Impressions

Overall, game play is good, I like what it is doing. And I like the story that you have as well in the game. My only concern will be the amount of work to play it solo and I think that’s more of a consideration because I’m streaming it. I don’t want downtime as I’m trying to find things. It reminds me of Gloomhaven, though, in the amount you need to set-up. Sometimes with Chronicles of Drunagor, though, it happens more mid session.

Upcoming Streams

Next this up is next Monday when I’m going to be streaming my 30 through 21. You can click the notification bell here and know when I go live. I hope that you can join and say “hi” in the chat. It’s always fun to see what games are catching people’s eyes.

And next Wednesday, more Chronicles of Drunagor. Join me in this next dungeon or map and let’s see how far we can get. I made it through one scenario this time, but my guess is some chapters will be split into more parts. Plus, let me know what you think of the game play. It makes me really want another camera as I’m filming it now.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here