Stats:
No. of players: 2-4
Amount of time to play: 60-90 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 5-10 minutes

Invasion of Sul is the first campaign expansion for Warmachine High Command. Not only does this expansion add new units and warcasters for the four factions, it includes new location and Winds of War cards.

Invasion of Sul Description:

If you have not played High Command before, you can read my basic overview of the rules and my review here. I am going to concentrate on the new additions in the Invasion of Sul expansion for the rest of this post.

What sets this expansion apart from the previous ones are the new location and Winds of War cards. The new Early Winds of War cards give you a discount on purchasing cards and help you look through your reinforcement deck. The Mid Winds of War cards let you draw a card when one of your units is destroyed and let you deploy 2 cost cards for free. The Late Winds of War cards let you return a unit to your hand to draw two cards and one gives all units +2 Health for the turn.

The new locations are based on the Invasion of Sul and some are repeated. This introduces a new rule. At the start of your turn if there is a duplicate location in play that is not occupied, you may put it on the bottom of the locations deck and replace it with a card from the top of the deck. The new locations are worth more VPs than those in the base set and most bolster units that are placed there.

Cygnar adds Captain Jeremiah Kraye. This warcaster lets you rush warjacks for their purchase cost this turn. The Hammersmith warjack has 2 Power, 6 Health and can follow any card that leaves its location. Sword Knight Platoon warriors gain 3 Power if present with another unit possessing Battle Brothers (which they do).

The new Menoth warcaster introduces a green/blue detachment combination to the faction. She also moves a friendly card to her location when rushed. When deployed their Temple Flameguard Champions have a base 5 Health until the start of your next turn. The Sanctifier warjack starts with 1 Power but gains one for every three cards in your occupying forces pile.

Kommander Strakhov joins the Khador forces with either a yellow or green detachment. He lets you move friendly warjack cards to his location. The Iron Fang Pikemen Kompany has 2 Power, 3 Health and gain a Health if present with another warrior card. The Mad Dog warjack is a 2/4 unit that gains one Power if there are any enemy warrior cards at its location.

The Witch Coven of Garlghast is the new Cryx warcaster. They reduce enemy cards at their location to 0 Power. The Ripjaw warjack reduces the Health of an enemy card with 4 or more Health by 2 at its location. Satyxis Raiding Party warrior cards let you refresh a card in the reserves of an opponent with a card at their location.

Quick Review of the Invasion of Sul Expansion:

The Invasion of Sul campaign expansion adds some fun new cards to Warmachine High Command. The new locations and Winds of War cards are especially nice to have. Before now these cards were set and the new ones add more replay value to the series.

The components for this expansion are on par with the high quality in the other sets. The only complaint I have is the size of the box. The new deck of cards is just a bit bigger than the previous expansion, but the box for Invasion of Sul is much bigger. If they included dividers for the factions so I could easily pack some faction decks and the location and Winds of War cards, it wouldn’t be so bad. My box complaint is a bit picky but I feel an opportunity was missed.

I like the way the new locations change the game. Since they are worth more VPs it forces you to fight for them. I am not sure someone could ignore the land battle and just buy cards worth VPs to win. And I think that is more in the spirit of this game.

The new warcasters all offer new detachment combinations. While not groundbreaking it is nice to see more options being exposed and explored,

If you have been enjoying Warmachine High Command you should buy this expansion. It adds replay value to your game no matter how many other expansions you have. It lets you mix up locations and Winds of War cards and gives you more fun options when building your detachments.

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