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

Thunderstone Wrath of the Elements Expansion Description:

Wrath of the Elements is an expansion for Thunderstone that adds a few new things to the dungeon and has more of the same good things from the base game. That means new heroes, monsters and equipment. It also means traps and guardian monsters.

This article assumes you have played the base game for Thunderstone or at least have an understanding of how to play the game. You can read my review of Thunderstone here.

Wrath of the Elements brings a couple of new elements (haha) to Thunderstone. Traps can now be added to the dungeon deck. Traps come in two varieties dire and death. Just like you’d expect neither of these is great for your heroes but both add some curve balls to the game. Dire traps tend to hurt your heroes but not kill them while death traps are exactly that…death.

Guardians are uber-powerful monsters that emerge from the dungeon and must be destroyed to claim the Thunderstone. They have breach effects that are detrimental to all players.

Another group of monsters that offers a new mechanic is the Horde. The Horde gets stronger the more you attack it. In game terms this means the cards in the dungeon deck are placeholders. Near the dungeon deck you’ll place the stack of Horde cards starting with the weakest and ending with the strongest. If you draw one of the placeholders form the dungeon deck you swap it out for the top card on the Horde deck.

The Horde is also scored differently. At the end of the game each Horde card is worth one VP for each Horde card you have (up to a maximum of five VP). So having three Horde cards will get you nine VP at the end of the game.

Whether or not you’ll face traps or the guardian is done during the dungeon set up as each has a randomizer card. Either way you still must draw at least three monsters to form the dungeon deck. So it is possible to have the guardian, death traps, dire traps and three monster types to in the dungeon deck.

Another new thing is a second Thunderstone. This one is only worth one VP and can be used as a light source. This might seem odd (since the game ends once you possess the Thunderstone) but there are Campaign Scenarios included in the rules that let you keep cards between plays. There are also other scenarios included that help add variety to the gameplay. The rule book also includes the solo rules that you can download from AEG’s site.

One last note the box for this game is awesome. AEG has given you enough room to store the base game and a couple expansions in this one box. Not only that they have enclosed nicely labeled dividers for both the base game and this expansion. This makes carrying the game and finding the cards you want really easy.

A Quick Review of Thunderstone Wrath of the Elements Expansion:

Thunderstone: Wrath of the Elements continues the great theme and beautiful artwork from the base game. And while adding some new things it creates some nice synergy between the cards. It definitely builds nicely off the base set; more heroes, more monsters…more fun.

It also brings a couple pitfalls from the base game. The worse being the way the dungeon can become clogged if you get really tough monsters early. Our first play had a Thunder Wrath and Earth Wrath in ranks one and two. Every once and a while someone could take out the monster in rank three but the village was pretty cleared out before someone just attacked the tough monsters to get them out of the way.

We tried the recommended starting configuration and it was not that great. Looking at it you can see the synergy, but we found it tough to defeat some of the monsters. We swapped out a few cards on our second play and it went much better.

I usually don’t get too excited about packing and boxes, but the storage system you get with Wrath of the Elements is just plain awesome. I love the fact I can take everything in one box and how easy it is to find the different cards. Dominion could definitely learn something here.

I highly recommend Thunderstone Wrath of the elements to anyone who owns the base set. It is totally worth the price.

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 4 out of 6