Stats:
No. of players: 2 (up to four with variant rules)
Amount of time to play: 90 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 5 – 10 minutes

Curse of Undeath is an expansion pack for Dungeon Command. This set includes skeletons, zombies and other undead creatures.

Curse of Undeath Description:

Since this is an expansion review I am not going to go over every detail of the Dungeon Command system. If you have not ever played this game you can read my overview and review of the series here.

Curse of Undeath contains 10 new units to the Dungeon Command series. This faction has two units that can target more than one creature. The fearsome dracolich and skeletal tomb guardian both hit multiple opponents. The skeletal lancer takes a page from the goblin wolf rider and is replaced by a skeleton unit when destroyed. And though the zombie units are slow they can come back into play from your graveyard for 1 Morale. The vampire stalker heals when he hits his target and the hypnotic spirit can tap to avoid all damage from one source.

A few of the new order cards allow you to gain Morale or force your opponent to lose Morale. Previously you could only gain Morale from treasure and lose Morale from losing creatures. Magic Short Sword is an attachment that makes a creature’s melee attacks unavoidable. And Gout of Fire allows you to make a ranged attack with +20 damage. These are just a couple examples of order cards in this set that can work well with the previously released sets.

More order cards and creatures mean even more options for customized warbands. Included as usual are Monster cards for the Dungeons and Dragons Adventure System games. Some of the new monsters move Heroes closer to their tile instead of advancing toward them.

The two new commanders are Delthirn Everet and Morgana Valistova. Delthrin adds one to your Leadership for each creature you destroy. Morgana allows undead creatures to tap and avoid 20 damage from one source for 1 Morale.

Quick Review of Curse of Undeath:

Curse of the Undeath adds to the already great Dungeon Command series. The components are again top-notch. The miniatures look excellent and the cards and map have great artwork. There are a few new wrinkles with Morale and creatures coming back from the graveyard.

One of the things I really like about this series is that you can get into this game one whatever level you want. You can buy multiple copies of sets and build customized warbands or simply buy the sets and play them as is. As far as power balance versus the previous sets I do think Curse of the Undeath suffers from a bit of power creep. The new wrinkles add some neat mechanics, but if you play the sets straight out of the box this set is definitely a bit more powerful than the others.

You should pick up Curse of Undeath if you have a set or two from the Dungeon Command series. If you are interested in getting into Dungeon Command this set makes a fun and interesting first set. If you are thinking of getting into the series you should definitely give this set a try.

As a side a note I got to try a game with four players. We each used a different faction set and played with two teams. It was the goblins and drow versus the undead and Cormyr factions. The game was a bit long but fun, even though I lost.

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