Stats:
No. of players: 1-4
Amount of time to play: 90-120 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 10 min

Defenders of the Realm Rules Description:

Defenders of the Realm is a fantasy-themed cooperative game. You and the other players must stop evil Generals from taking over Monarch City and the surrounding land.

This game is like Pandemic with some dice rolling and a bit more complexity. You have one way to win. Kill all four of the Generals.

Meanwhile there are four ways to lose. If any General reaches Monarch City, if you cannot place a minion on the board because they are all out, if all twelve Tainted Crystals are on the board or if 5 minions are in Monarch City…you lose.

To start you take a Hero. Each Hero is different and has special skills and abilities they can perform. The game comes with a Cleric, Dwarf, Eagle Rider, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorceress and Wizard.

On your turn you can take as many actions as your character has health. If you are wounded while fighting you will have less actions to take on your turn.

Actions include: attacking the Generals or minions, moving, building magic gates, listening to rumors or healing yourself or the land.

The game begins with the four Generals and some of their minions on the board. Each round you will draw a Darkness Spreads card. These cards tell you where to add minions and if any of the Generals move closer to Monarch City.

If there are three minions on a location instead of adding a fourth you add a Tainted Crystal. Also each location adjacent to the tainted land gets a minion added to it. To remove Tainted Crystals heroes must possess the card of the location the want to heal and roll a 5+ (on a d6).

Managing the minions requires attacking them. Using an action to attack allows you attack all minions in one location. Based on the minion’s color you can tell which General they serve. Killing minions requires rolling 3+, 4+ or 5+ depending on who they serve.

Building magic gates allows you to travel from one gate to the next for just one action. You must discard a hero card with the location on it and magic gate on the top to build a magic gate.

Listening for Rumors can only happen in an inn. This allows you to turn up to 2 actions into hero cards of a specified color. The hero cards are used to travel faster, build magic gates and attack the Generals. When you attack a General you may roll as many dice as you have on the bottom of your hero cards of their color.

Losing to the Generals can have dire results such as losing hero cards, health and even dying. Beating a General gets you hero cards, but also ups the number of Darkness Spreads cards each player draws.

As the game goes on there are more minions to manage and the remaining Generals might move even quicker.

A Quick Review of Defenders of the Realm:

Defenders of the Realm reminds me of Pandemic in several ways. The Tainted Crystals are like outbreaks. The War Status is similar to the infection rate. Running out of one color of minion ends the game just like running out of a disease will end Pandemic. Needing to collect colored cards to defeat the Generals is like curing diseases.

That said there are things about Defenders of the Realm that are different. First you must roll dice to make things happen. Some people will hate this but I think it adds to the excitement of the game.

The heroes have such varied, yet fun and relevant skills. I like how health and actions are linked. Get beat up and you do less.

The theme, art and just the feel of playing Defenders of the Realm really make it a different experience than Pandemic. One that I really enjoy.

Don’t get me wrong I do like Pandemic, but after playing Defenders of the Realm, it seems a little dry.

This game also shines in solo play. You can play with just one hero or control up to four and the challenge is there all the same.

The rules are pretty good. There were definitely a few things I had to reread or google, but nothing was overly hard to understand in them. Some things just needed fleshed out.

I highly recommend Defenders of the Realm if you enjoy fantasy-themed games or cooperative ones. It is fun, engrossing and challenging.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 3 out of 6
Luck 5 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 5 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 5 out of 6
Overall 5 out of 6