Stats:
No. of players: 1-5
Amount of time to play: 45-60 minutes
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 10 minutes

Thornwood Siege Expansion Description:

Thornwood Siege is an expansion for Thunderstone and while it does not introduce any major new elements, it is a great set for its synergy and some spite.

This review of Thornwood Siege assumes you know the basic game play of Thunderstone. If you have yet to play Thunderstone, read my review.

As I said Thornwood Siege doesn’t offer any major new elements or changes to the Thunderstone system. In fact there are just two new rules, Raid and Stalk. Both of these keywords are on monsters and harm the player or village.

When a monster is revealed in the Dungeon Hall with the Raid keyword it will destroy cards in the village. While a monster revealed with the Stalk keyword will cause the active player to lose cards or gold, gain a disease or go to the dungeon on their next turn.

While these are the only new rules added to Thornwood Siege there are plenty of new cards. New cards include: 7 new heroes, 5 new monster types, one new guardian and of course several new cards for the village.

The new monsters seem meaner than their predecessors. Siege units have Global and Breach effects that destroy cards. Centaurs all have the Stalk keyword and Humanoid Raiders all possess Raid. The Verminfolk hand out diseases. While the Malformed Abyssal monsters destroy your items, food or monsters and give out diseases.

A Quick Review of Thornwood Siege:

Thornwood Siege might be the best self-contained expansion for Thunderstone to date. It adds to your Thunderstone experience without adding new game elements. Also everything plays well together within the set.

Thornwood Siege has great combos and if you play with just cards from this expansion you’ll discover many combinations you’ll like. The synergy of the cards seems stronger in Thornwood Siege than in other sets. The great thing about this is that it is done without having to learn new concepts. AEG has not added new things, but have improved Thunderstone.

New heroes team up well with the items in Thornwood Siege and there are even some cards that are great for any Thunderstone game. In particular the Elite Militia is welcome in most any village set. Even your regular Militia are more useful due to several cards in this set.

There is also a bit more player interaction as some spells and heroes allow you use other players’ cards, force them to enter the dungeon or switch cards in their decks. This increased interaction and added ability to trip up your opponents adds to the play experience.

If you own Thunderstone I highly recommend picking up Thornwood Siege. If you like the base game you’ll enjoy this expansion.

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