So I played two games of
Dungeon Command with my 13 yr old son yesterday. I lost the first game ( too much cowering on my part) and won the second.
The game was hugely enjoyable and a VAST improvement upon past D&D miniatures games. Rodney Thompson and his crew identified what they wanted to achieve with the gameplay in
Dungeon Command and have executed upon their plan very well. Indeed, this product has exceeded all expectations I ever had for it. I'll go farther: I am inclined to think this is better that virtually
anybody ever reasonably expected of this game -- and not just by a little.
In the recent
podcast discussion with the designers (the
Dungeon Command segment starts about one-third of the way in to the podcast) it is clear that they really did see their mission as coming up with a game to justify the sale of a non-random box of themed minis. I am blown away that with such a clear and obvious commercial goal that they managed to achieve what they have in
Dungeon Command.
Where WotC goes with this from here is not immediately clear. Yes, there will be two more faction boxes in
September and
November, which promises a Goblin themed faction box and an Undead themed faction, respectively. Adding new factions and expanding the then existing factions options seems the obvious step. However, in terms of the game itself, the greatest need is not for more minis but for more cards and tiles. Thisi is a card driven game and the "secret sauce" of the game is in the cards and the different challenges posed by the map setup. The secret is not in the minis.
I honestly think a booster approach for
Dungeon Command with three or four minis a pack, plus cards and some new counters would work very well. Tiles should probably be dealt with in terms of the faction boxes themeselves or with a Dungeon Tiles approach to a new map board as those require larger packaging that a booster would not.
I think you could sell clear boxes of minis containing known minis for
Dungeon Command and it would still work. The real random stuff would not be in the minis but in the cards. Mind you, when it comes to packaging and selling random cards, WotC does not need anybody's advice!
Whatever the case, I am a big fan of this game. People who play this game are going to be blown away by how good it actually is. Well done gentlemen.