Stats:
No. of players: 1-6
Amount of time to play: 90-120 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 10-15 min

Defenders of the Realm Dragon Expansion Description:

The Dragon Expansion for Defenders of the Realm adds some tougher generals, a few variants and a lot more replayability to the base game.

If you haven’t read my review for Defenders of the Realm it is located here. I am just going to go over the additions and changes from the Dragon Expansion.

First like the expansion title says there are more dragons. In the base game there is only Sapphire. Well welcome Brimstone, Hemlock and Onyx to the realm. There is even an upgraded Sapphire for use with the other dragons. The dragons are represented by new large painted minis too.

The dragons may also be used as agents of the Dark Lord. When used this way they don’t invade Monarch City, but still cause your heroes trouble.

The new generals are tough and each has minions with unique abilities. Fire elementals set locations on fire, imps steal your Hero Cards and zealots do damage if you don’t kill them in a combat round.

New Quests and Special Hero Cards have been added these work the same as those in the base game, but they pertain to the new generals. There are also 10 Global Effects, 5 good and 5 bad. These cards close the inns, lock magic gates, allow travel by ship, and help you heal the land for example.

There are also some variants in the Dragon Expansion. If you are using less than 4 heroes then the Royal Blessing will help make the game easier. It introduces blessing tokens that let you re-roll attack dice, discard a Darkness Spreads Card or discard Tainted Crystals from a location.

Other variants include rules for 5 or even 6 players. There is a variant for calculating the King’s Champion and granting your outstanding heroes fame.

You also get scenarios and suggested combinations of generals and agents. Ways to make the game easier or harder and even a FAQ for the base game and Dragon Expansion are included too.

A Quick Review of the Dragon Expansion:

The Dragon Expansion for Defenders of the Realm adds some difficulty to the base game and some new mechanics too. The components are high quality and continue in the same vein as the original game.

And though I wish I got a new painted Sapphire miniature, I really do like the new painted dragons. Hemlock (the green dragon) looks especially impressive.

The global effects add some new ways to handle taint but also can hurt you when they beef up the generals stats. Both these mechanics add to the replayability that this expansion adds.

Set up will take a bit longer to add global effects and Special Hero and the correct Darkness Spreads Cards. But once you get used to doing it, it goes quickly.

The rules for more players are a welcome addition and the royal blessing variant really helps if you play solo or with fewer than four. And the FAQ section is just icing on the cake.

So if you have Defenders of the Realm and feel it is getting stale or too easy, I recommend adding the Dragon Expansion. It adds a lot of things and doesn’t require a lot of new rules-learning.

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