Now that the first expansion for Quarriors has been out for almost two months and the locals and myself have a good number of games (and a tournament!) under our belts I figured I'd do a review of the expansion, touch on some of the new concepts and top it off with a look at my top 5 list of game changing creatures that we have right now.

But enough intro, let's get right to it!

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The first thing you have to understand is that there are a couple of new concepts that I'll just touch on (but they are covered really well in the rules insert that comes with the expansion).

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New Concepts

1) Triple Burst
Right now it's just another 'refer to card' ability, and only on the corrupted basic quid die right now, but there are hints that there might be more done with this in future expansions.

2) 0 Quiddity
Yup, that's right. You can now roll 0 quiddity on a die.

3) Losing Glory
There are now ways that you can make your opponents actually lose glory. You can't go below 0. There are 2 creatures that use this ability and we'll be taking a look at both of them in part 2.

4) Immunity to Damage
While this is technically new to the base game, players who were able to get a hold of the Promo 'Quaxos' creatures will be familiar with the concept. Under specific conditions some of your creatures will be immune to being destroyed. While that is great as is, you can also defend with them first when you are attacked to help your other creatures survive.

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Next up we take a look at the new Basic card/dice that are introduced with this expansion.

Corrupted Quiddity

10 of the new 20 dice included in this expansion are the Corrupted Quiddity and are also a new Basic card (which means like the Assistant, the Portal and the Basic Quiddity they will be in the Wilds for every game).

These dice are actually very different than most of the other dice in the game in that you can't just buy them......but truth be told you probably wouldn't want to buy them even if you could (well maybe there might be an exception or two.....).

The only way to get them out of the wilds (initially as once they are out they have the potential to multiply in your opponents dice pools when they roll their *** burst) and into your opponents dice collections are through the new Corrupted versions of the creatures and some of the new corruption spells. The methods are varied such as retribution from destroying opposing creatures, scoring with the right creature, or even a balancing element for using a potentially overly powered spell.

So far they have been a big hit with the locals as we love the idea of tampering with other players dice pools.

So they are fun and most of the corrupted additions to the spells and creatures are going to key off these dice....so if you don't get at least some of them out they are not going to really get a chance to affect the game that they can.

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Which brings us to the next part,

Set Up: How much Corruption do you want?

Before looking at the expansion and actually seeing the
cards we were just going to shuffle them, the corrupted spells and creatures as normal (which the rules refer to this as '....with a hint of Corruption') which would typically have you finding 1-3 corrupted cards
in the wilds.

But after looking at them and trying out a few (or a lot!) times we've settled in to playing with 4-5 corrupted cards (which the rules refer to as '....with a side of Corruption) as our standard right now.

The reason we're fond of this style is that with 4-5 corrupted cards there should be, more often then not, enough corrupted cards to key off of each other without taking over the game from the base game creatures and spells. It's a good mix for us right now...............maybe when Quarmageddon hits we'll re-evaluate but until then this is the way our local scene is being run until then.

I've seen quite a few people mention that they are worried because they feel this expansion relies to highly on it's own elements and with the extra creatures and spells we'll be seeing in Quarmageddon will make this expansion suffer.

I had similar thoughts as well until I really looked at the expansion as a whole.

Of the 20 cards in this expansion only 4 cards actually require other 'corruption based' game effects to be used fully. The four cards being the corruped versions of the Goblin, the Defender of the Pale and the Ghostly Spirit and only 1 of the new spells, the Corrupted Charm. A fifth card, the Corrupted Ooze, looks like it would fit into this group as well but, arguably, it actually will work better when it is working with less cards taking corrupted quiddity from the Wilds. So really it's only 20% that will even notice the difference. But you'll see all of that for yourself as we go through them.

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Got all that? Good, because now we're jumping in to one of the stars of Rise of the Demons.....

The Demonic Overlord!

The only new creature type introduced in this expansion is kind of a big deal. Just looking at the dice we have the typical 3 creature sides and 3 quiddity sides (1 for 1, 2 for 2). Not unexpected. What is unexpected is that the highest level of the Demonic Overlord is a Lv 4 creature. That is the only Lv 4 in the game right now and there is no Lv 3 side. This is important because you won't be able to rotate him up (or down as this expansion will make possible) to his top-level. It also means that he is the most expensive creature to summon right now. So he better be worth it, right?

At his highest Lv he has a 10(!) attack. That is huge and here is why......the next highest attack of any creature is 8 from the Quake
Dragon and after that there is a big drop all the way to 4 attack. There is only 1 creature in the game that can stand up to that much attack 1 on 1 (not including immunities and other such hijinks) and that is the Mighty Witching Hag and only on it's Lv 2 side(as it reduces attack values of over 3 to 3.....and it has a 5 defence). So not just the highest attack in the game......far and away in attack and only the Dragon is even in his class.

On the defensive side of things he tops out at a max of 7, which is pretty high as it is just short of the highest printed defensive value in the game of 8 that the Questing Wizard and the Defender of the Pale are able to have (though both the Questing Wizard and Quake Dragon can use their burst abilities to get up to a modified 9). So while not the highest defence in the game it's at the upper level. That sounds like a lot of trouble and many of the complaints some had with the Quake dragon in the base game.................but here is the difference. If you can get a high enough attack you can attack him (shakes fist at Strong Quake Dragon). He's very strong but can be dealt with if you know that you will need a bit more attack than usual.

One last thing to look at before we look at the individual version of the Demonic Overlord is to note that he is a high-end creature. He is either going to cost 8 or 9 to capture(and he has 2 versions at each cost) but also he is going to score you the highest printed glory in the game, 2 versions at 4 Glory(the old benchmark in the base game) and 2 version at 5 glory(a new high in the game).

Like I said, kind of a big deal.

Looking at the normal version of the Demonic Overlord (8 cost/5 glory)we see two abilities, one a burst and one a standard power. The standard ability is a double-edged sword, when he scores, all creatures in Ready Areas (yes, yours too) are destroyed. Loosing your other creatures isn't great but taking out all opponents creatures is really nice.......so nice in fact that you're only going to get to do it once with this creature. When this Demonic Overlord scores you also remove him from the game. So be careful when you capture him from the wilds, he is very powerful but his time on your team might be shorter than you think/want......still for destroying every creature in play and getting you 5 glory in the proccess, he's probably still a good way to go more often then not. His burst ability can take a bit of the sting out of that because any of your creatures that were destroyed through the Demonic Overlords ability are added to your active pool (so they will be added to your next starting hand).

The next version we will be taking a look at is the Lesser Demonic Overlord(8 cost/ 4 glory). The only 'lesser' version of any creature in the game........no doubt in my mind because a 'corrupted' version of the Demonic Overlord would be redundant. So this version of the Demonic Overlord also has a standard ability and a burst power (actually all 4 versions do). The ability occurs, this time, when he is summoned and lets you give one die from your used pile to your opponent with the most Glory.....the burst ability lets you add a second die to the 'gift' you're sending that opponent and you will be able to capture 1 additional die this turn. Which sounds great but you've already spent 4 on summoning this creature so this is probably not going to be that big of a deal but if you are rolling a lot of quid it could come up. Better to have the option and not use it that not have it and want it I suppose.

The third version is the Strong Demonic Overlord (9 cost/4 glory). Now I've seen some confusion on how these two abilities work but it's really not all that confusing. His standard ability, activated when scoring this time, lets you rotate all other creatures down 1 Lv, if possible. Lv 1 creatures aren't affected as they can't be brought any lower than they already are, but speaking ill of a beloved family member (sisters and mothers are popular choices) can make sure they stay there*. Additionally the Demonic Overlord on his 4th Lv can't rotate down as it has no 3rd Lv to rotate down to. The burst ability is active while you have this creature in your ready area and waiting for your opponents turns to go by so you can score him and makes your opponents creatures score glory by their Lv instead of their listed glory. Out of all of the creatures currently in the game only 2 get a 1 glory bump out of that (both are versions of the Defender of the Pale, and only on their Lv versions) but most will be scoring less. Now a better question is 'why does your opponent have any creatures left after your massive attack last turn?' and the answer is usually going to be treachary......or possibly corrupted treachery.

But all that aside this is a very solid version of the Demonic Overlord.

So far we've seen some very interesting and powerful versions of the Demonic Overlord but they all seem like they will play well with the rest of the creatures we have in the base game..............the final version, the Mighty Demonic Overlord (cost 9/glory 5) takes all of that and cackles blatantly in your face.

Like all versions of the Demonic Overlord he has two abilities, the difference here is that both of them are devastating. His standard ability, activated when he scores, allows you to select 1 die from each of your opponents used piles and remove them from the game. That's right, just take them from the game. That is one of the most powerful abilities in the game and actually makes me think that there is a shift in game style as a result of it. In the base game a very popular strategy was to get the highest defence creatures possible (Questing Wizard and defender of the Pale) and let your opponents score as they can and only concentrate on your own dice. Well all of those 'Defenders or the Pale/I don't want to attack you/camping is a legitimate strategy' people are going to have to alter your thinking with things like this Demonic Overlord hanging around. There are going to be times where you simply can't let your opponents creatures score.....the consequences are starting to add up.

Vicious right? But wait, you haven't even heard about his burst ability yet, again when he scores, each of your opponents also lose 1 glory. That's right. When he scores, and the burst is showing, not only is he going to remove your (probably) most powerful die from your used pile you are also going to lose 1 glory. Well what did you expect? He's Evil.

All that said, you can still attack him. You just have to make sure your dice pool has a bit of attack when you need it. But does this make him the most game changing creature in the game? Check back later for part 4 when I reveal my list of the top game changing creatures in the game right now..........spoiler alert......



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So that's all for this first part, check back soon for Part 2 when we take a look at the new corruption spell type and the first few corruption versions of some of the base game creatures.

Like always, thanks for reading and commenting if you do.


*Traitorarmor does not advocate such things.

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Part 2 is now up............Dealing with the Demons (part 2)

Part 3 is also up.........Dealing with the Demons (part 3)

and it is now finished with..........Dealing with the Demons (part 4) Top creature list

Nope you enjoyed reading and I'll get started on the Quarmageddon ones soon!

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to apologize for not getting the rest of the articles up.

I typed all of them up at the same time to help avoid this exact type of thing but I had to get a friend to look at my computer when it desided that it didn't want to funtion anymore..........and they are in that PC.

I should be getting it back soon. :fingerscrossed:

Great thread. Keep up the good work.

Thanks, Hatut Zeraze. Glad you liked it.

As Quarmageddon is almost upon us, and I still can't get to the original articles I wrote, I've tracked down my notes and started re-writing parts 2-4. and they should be up in the next few days................but talk is cheap, here is part 2..............



Dealing with the Demons (part 2)

.............so sorry for the delay. Hopefully it will be worth the wait.


And here is part 3...........

Dealing with the Demons (part 3)

.....and .....

Dealing with the Demons (part 4) Top creature list