Stats:
No. of players: 2-6
Amount of time to play: 60-150 minutes (depending on game mode)
Age requirements: 10+
Set-up time: 10-15 minutes

Caverns of Roxor is the first expansion for Super Dungeon Explore. It adds a few new heroes, two new spawn points (with two new monster types), and a new boss and mini-boss.

Caverns of Roxor Description:

Super Dungeon Explore is a board game that mimics an old school video game. Caverns of Roxor adds more characters and a couple new mechanics to expand your options.

If you have yet to play Super Dungeon Explore, read my review. It explains the rules and mechanics. This post is going to be about the things added in the Caverns of Roxor.

The Deeproot Scout, Princess Ruby and Star Guild Sapper are the new heroes. The Deeproot Scout is reminiscent of Link from the Zelda series. He has a boomerang that can grab nearby chests, a bow and an acorn grenade. Potions grant him an extra action. Princess Ruby seems like Princess Peach from the Mario series. She adds lots of support to your party by augmenting nearby allies’ attack and will. She can heal and potions let you redraw loot or relic cards. The Star Guild Sapper reminds me of a certain famous plumber. This Mario replica has reach and can do massive damage. He can make himself immune to status effects and potions allow him to make a hero’s non-special attacks gain range and fire.

The Rocktop Gang are a bunch of turtles with four different types of units. All but one unit have the turtle ability. This ability allows them to go into their shell to gain one armor point but they cannot move or attack. There are even shell miniatures to identify when they are in this state. Then on their turn they emerge from their shell to act. They have ranged unit, typical melee fighter and a better hitting and defending brawler. The Roller can push other units that have turtled as an attack.

The Fire Denizens are fire-based villans that are immune to fire attacks. They have three main units one fast moving hound unit, a large ranged gel unit that spilts into smaller fire gels when destroyed and a large beetle that has backlash.

The 16-bit mini-boss is called a Rock Gut. It can heal every round and heal even more with a hit on one of its special attacks. It has a lance attack at range six too. Its attacks set things on fire and he is immune to fire.

Roxor is the new boss he packs a significant punch is pretty much immune to status effects and and can switch forms. His rock form adds one green die to armor an his fire form adds one green die to attack. He can burrow, may turn on backlash and is immune to fire too.

Quick Review of Caverns of Roxor:

Caverns of Roxor adds more options for heroes and the consul. There are no new rules to learn and only a couple new mechanics (like turtle) to deal with. There is no big departure from the base game.

The components are of the same quality as those in Super Dungeon Explore. I am not a huge fan of putting miniatures together and I am happy you don’t need to for this expansion. I have seen some complaints about the minis being assembled sloppily but I think mine are put together fine. I still think you should sleeve the cards as they are a bit flimsy. As a side note you should know there are no rules in this expansion. It is not a big deal though as none are needed.

The new heroes and minons are fun and offer some cool options. I am not sure adding a fire attack with the Sapper is overly helpful when over half of the new minons are fire-resistant. This also weakens the already weak Ember Mage from the base set. The Rockrtop Gang are fun and the Roller interacts with his team in a fun and innovative manner.

Rock Gut and Roxor are both decent additions for the consul that are tough to take down. Roxor is a bit tougher than the dragon boss from the first set and will require more coordination to eliminate.

All in all Caverns of Roxor is a good expansion that adds more difficulty for the heroes to overcome. It blends well with the base set too. If you have played a lot of Super Dungeon Explore and are looking for more options you should add this to your collection. You might want to wait if you have just begun playing the game. I think most everyone who has played Super Dungeon Explore should try this expansion if given the chance.

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