Sword and Sorcery: Vastarios Lair Review

 Flames are raging around. Under what seems to be solid ground, voracious lava awaits its time. When I was warned about the danger of the island, I did not believe them. If only I had known how hot it was in the dragon's lair, I would never have come here in my life. Even for mysterious treasures. But now I'm in a cave, and there's nowhere to run.

 In this expansion to the Blade and Sorcery board game, the heroes enter the lair of the dragon Vastarios. The app is named after him: Vastaryous Lair. The authors are Simone Romano and Nunzio Surace. The game is published by Ares Games.

 Blade and Sorcery is a game with a campaign, and the story is given a lot of attention here. Therefore, the layout depends on the scenario. Players collect a field of tiles representing a dragon's lair, place various tokens and story event cards on it.

 Each player controls one hero (with their own personal tablet and equipment). They act together in an effort to accomplish the mission's goal. Each turn, new monsters can appear, and each turn, monsters already on the field are activated according to the card drawn from the deck. When they find themselves in the same location as the heroes, the heroes have to fight. Dice are used in combat, the results of rolls are modified by equipment. For defeating monsters, heroes receive gold and soul points, which can be used to level up. This continues until the heroes (if they are lucky) meet the victory condition and move on to the next mission.

 Blade and Sorcery is a great co-op game even in the base. And expansions were expected to take advantage of Blade's strengths and develop a shared storyline, as the job of any expansion is to improve and develop the game.

 At first glance, it appears that many of the cards in the Vastary Lair box are only needed to expand the respective decks. Players shuffle into a deck if they lay out an add-on campaign; they are marked with addition icons.

 Unfortunately, this dope is sorely lacking in enemy variety: only one new species. Mostly, enemies from the base box are used, which does not improve the experience of the game at all and makes the games not too different from the base.

 As for one of Blade and Sorcery's strengths — unexpected surprises in the middle of a mission — they're here. Unlike, say, Bleak Harbor, you have no idea what's around the next corner because you can't read a storybook beforehand; only when the story event card takes you to the corresponding paragraph. Thanks to this mechanic, real surprises are presented to players on a regular basis.

 One of the disadvantages of the base is complex, excessively complicated rules. Fortunately, all the innovations of the add-on are listed on one sheet, and on the other the game follows the basic rules. Another drawback in the form of a long layout process remains; in this regard, Vastarious Lair is even worse than the base. Especially if you remember the need to mix and then remove cards from the respective decks.

 As for the duration of the parties, it is kept within reasonable limits... until Vastarios himself takes the stage. After his release, the final mission can be very tight. It is also worth noting the high difficulty (since the application is intended for experienced players). On the one hand, there is a great risk of losing; on the other hand, it can be an incentive to complete the campaign several times for revenge.

 The box itself is excessively large. Most of the internal space is occupied by a plastic liner and air. However, taking into account the presence of a hefty dragon miniature, the dimensions are justified: how else can you fit a 10 cm tall figurine into the box? However, there is still a lot of free space around the dragon.

 "Blade and Sorcery: Lair of Vastarios" attracts the attention of a potential buyer with a miniature dragon, but the dragon is the only plus of the addition compared to the base. Otherwise, the campaign is quite mediocre and full of disappointments. The final mission is too long and the gameplay in general is too similar to the base. Therefore, we cannot recommend this add-on. Maybe you should wait for the release of Ancient Chronicles.

CONCLUSIONS

 Blade and Sorcery: Lair of Vastarios is an add-on to a great co-op game with a new campaign of 4 scenarios. They are not as tightly connected as the base, but players may be interested in further leveling up the heroes and going through a new plot branch. However, at the same time, they will have the feeling that they are going through the base again, because almost all the enemies here are basic. When the golem enters the scene, everything becomes very exciting, but the battle with him takes a very long time. So, unfortunately, Vastarious Lair is a mediocre addition overall.