Stats:
No. of players: 2-5
Amount of time to play: 45 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 5-10 min

Nightfall Dark Rages Description:

Nightfall Dark Rages is the fourth expansion for Nightfall. It is not a stand-alone expansion and requires the base game, Coldest War or Martial Law to play.

This section is going to cover the new elements introduced by the Dark Rages expansion. If you are unfamiliar with the basics of the game, you can read my Nightfall review here.

To start there are the usual new things like 24 new minions and actions. Each of the six colors gets two new minions and two new actions.

One new mechanic is that some minions can cause damage when they block. If this damage kills the attacker, the attack is negated.

The big new mechanic is avatars. These avatars represent you. You are even encouraged to play one that best fits your personality. There are twelve different avatars. You draft two to six of them, depending on the number of players, and once all archives are drafted you choose one to use. Each avatar tends to favor one or two of the factions while being less helpful with the others. You can also choose not to have an avatar and gain no advantages or restrictions.

Quick Review of Nightfall Dark Rages:

Dark Rages is an expansion that will easily fit into your existing Nightfall collection. The cards are balanced and there are not a lot of new things to learn. That said the new elements are worth getting.

The avatars are fun and add some nice new flavor to the game. Now you can hone your strategy based on your avatar or your opponent’s avatar. Deciding who you’ll use will be influenced by the archives and your play style. It is also nice that avatars are optional. You can decide whether you want to add them or not. Either way the cards in this set play well. I like that this expansion is not dependent on playing with the avatars.

There is one minor complaint I have with Dark Rages. There are just a few too many attachment cards. Since most minions don’t last longer than one round investing in them can be risky. And having so many slots that use them seems overkill. Maybe is it just my play style.

As always the cards and components are top-notch. I also appreciate the small box. It stores easily or can bring everything you need to play in a compact format.

If you own the base game and one or two other expansions then Nightfall Dark Rages will add some interesting new strategies with the avatars. If you are just getting into the game you’ll want to try at least one other expansion before Dark Rages. The avatars are only useful once you have a couple sets. If you like Nightfall you should definitely try this expansion.

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