I had originally posted about Legends of Andor in October of last year. Shortly after that I received a copy of the base set and its two expansions, New Heroes and Star Shield, in the mail to take a look into. It took a while to get this one to the table, but I’m glad I finally was able to sit down and play.

Legends of Andor is a cooperative fantasy adventure game with a built-in narrator. The game has you jumping in right away with a short introductory adventure that lays out the basics to you, then has you jumping into a full adventures. There’s a Legend Deck that lets you know how to setup for each adventure, and has cards that are activated from a timeline that progress the story and game conditions. It’s a great mechanic that makes you feel like you’re playing a fantasy narrative.

Each character in the game has its own strengths and weaknesses, and players will have to constantly weigh their options and figure out who is going to tackle what tasks in any given adventure. The adventures build in scale, but each never really takes more than an hour of time to play through.

My kids and I ate it up. The game has a strong RPG feel with all the convinces of a board game. The New Heroes expansion gives players more flexibility with character choice, but also opens the game up to more players. Sadly, we haven’t gotten to the Star Shield adventure yet.

Legends of Andor is a structured way to get an epic RPG adventure in much less time than you’d think. The Legend Deck is a great mechanic for moving the story along, whether the players are prepared to do so or not. I can’t wait to see what else KOSMOS has in store, and I’m hoping we’ll see more small box expansions, and maybe a large one or two.

Legends of Andor and its expansions, New Heroes and Star Shield, were provided free for review by KOSMOS.

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KOSMOS and Thames are releasing Legends of Andor in November, a cooperative board game for 2-4 players. The game has the players protecting Castle Andor, and even pursuing other quests once that’s been completed. There will even be add-ons for sale to expand the hero roster and add more quests. All this in a 30-60 minute play time.

Color me interested.

The base game will retail for $59.95, while the New Heroes (which expands the game for up to 6 players) and The Star Shield add-ons will be $19.95.

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The International Games Festival runs this weekend, Friday-Sunday, in Cannes. The event features organized and casual game play, as well as a couple of hundred exhibitors. There will be tournaments for a whole range of skill levels and game types, including Chess, Bridge, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Warhammer, Mahjong, Seasons, and more. (See, that is a pretty wide range, isn’t it?)

Special introductory 1 hour roleplaying sessions are being offered for beginners. While for the experienced, there will be a triathlon roleplaying tournament.

A commemorative Monopoly Cannes will also be offered at the festival.

At a gathering Thursday night on the eve of the festival, the Golden Ace, French Game of the Year, was awarded to Legends of Andor, published in France by Iello.

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