Dragonlance Game - A Classic Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Board Game from TSR | Retro Game Review

[@jamesc.7988]

I bought this game from my local gaming store (Boardwalk & Park Place) back in 1988 or 89. I eagerly opened the box, read over the rules and begged people to play it with me but they were more interested in Monopoly, Sorry and Clue. It was by far, the most expensive board game I had ever purchased (at least until Adeptus Titanicus) and as all of my excitement, and a piece of myself, died, it got shoved under my bed and forgotten, at least for a while. Then when I did get back to it, I discovered that the cat had gotten to it first. The entire box top and all of that beautiful cover art had been shredded by vicious claw attacks and nothing was left of it except for some bare cardboard shreds with some specks of color around the outer edges. I can't remember if I was more upset or more angry at that point but the box was quickly shoved into a closet where the loathesome beast could no longer wreak havoc upon it. Some years later, I took it out again, looked at the components and listed it on Ebay. I think this was my giving up on ever playing it and I just wanted to get rid of it. I sold it, took a loss and received negative feedback for the condition. All in all, it was a pretty sad experience overall but it was good seeing the game again. It reminded me why I bought it in the first place. Was this a recent acquisition for you? if so, where did you find it?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

That's a sad story! I have had my copy for years now - well over a decade. I picked it up off eBay for an absolute song. Even now (in the UK) you can get copies for less than £30. It doesn't seem particularly popular.

[@AlexanderKrebs]

The Image in the beginning of the video. The red dragon of Krynn with Lord Verminard. I still own the OG lead miniature from Ral Partha … wow. Memories.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

That is a lovely miniature. You're very lucky to have one!

[@Tasslehofff]

It's been awhile but I think I'm going to pull it off the shelf this evening. One of the games I will never get rid of as it was a gift from a friend the year it came out. Sits right alongside Shogun that started my collection and love of board gaming back in 86. Thanks for the memories and keep the videos coming.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks for watching. It's not a game I play often, but it's well worth dusting off every now and again. It's not something I would ever get rid of either.

[@Timoles713]

Easley being one of my favorite fantasy artists,had you not mentioned it,I would never have thought the board a work of his. Great video,thanks for a peek at this oldie.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I was surprised when I saw in the the rules that he was credited as the artist for the board. It must have been the design spec, but it's a disappointment from such an awesome artist.

[@Timoles713]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I agree with you that he must've been given design parameters. Cheers to you and your family.

[@Malcadon]

Great review! Great game! This game needs more love! I got this game second-hand around 1990 or 1991. It was only missing a single Silver Dragon Stand (replaced by a wad of aluminum foil), a few Altitude Disks, and all the Styrofoam Trays. I had a lot of fun with this game with my sister and friends. Due to how my sister really loved how Kitiara Uth Matar looked (and for me, Verminaard of Nidus has that badass Warduke look about him) we played the Leader Characters rules right away. One rule we came up with, to get the action going, and not be subject to how 'floaty' the normal die roll is, is that we give each Dragon 2 Movement Points per turn to get them going -- like sharks and jets, they must keep moving! Mind you, we still rolled a d10 for MP, but that was seen as a commander issuing orders. We did play with the optional rules and came up with our own house rules, but I cant remember them all. Fun times!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

If there is anything you can afford to be short a few of in this game, it's the altitude discs! The rules do reference what to do if you should run out, but I've never seen it happen.

[@Malcadon]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Oh yeah. I forgot to say: I do use the Altitude Disks for other games like Battletech for VTOLs, jump-troops and other flying units. They can be flimsy, but I find them really handy, more so after marking them with lines (for easy counting) after trimming and smoothing out the edges.

[@MikChaos]

Bought this game back in the day as a fellow Dragonlance fan, still have it gathering dust stop the cupboard.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Get a group together and dust it off!

[@HivisoftheScale]

Pretty sweet. Sounds like the epic conclusion to an elaborate D&D campaign! I still haven't looked too deeply into the new Dragonlance board game that I bought, thinking I would need it to run the Dragonlance 5E adventure...

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Is that the Warriors of Krynn game? I've heard it's pretty interesting.

[@HivisoftheScale]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I think that's what's it called. It has a lot of components, but I was disappointed by the lack of figures 😥

[@martinsharkey7536]

I got this when young thinking it would follow the stories in the books and so was disappointed but you have motivated me to go and dig it out of the garage. Thanks for the review;

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Yeah, the game doesn't really lean on the Dragonlance theme all that much. It doesn't delve into who the characters are why they are fighting. Still, it's a good, fun skirmish game and well worth giving a whirl occasionally.

[@johnmiddleton4291]

I would bet that some components for this were produced by Milton Bradley for TSR. The tri-fold board style and the Styrofoam storage trays are very similar to stuff they did for the Gamemaster series like Axis and Allies, Shogun, etc. Dragonlance was the end of the free-wheeling days of TSR and almost everything published afterwards put story first, often if a very railroaded style. Lots of retro gamers despise it for the changes it ushered into D&D.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It has that MB toy quality to it. Funny thing is, the board game doesn't really make much of the theme at all. It doesn't really explain who the characters are or go into any real detail regarding why they want the dragonlance. It's all just set dressing for "capture the flag."

[@squange]

I have a copy in my vault. i may have to dig it out and give it a go, but I think I'll houserule that movement is done with a 2d6 roll instead of a d10. This will mitigate that flat movement odds issue a bit. You just have to change magic card acquisition to rolls of 2 or 3, which is only slightly more often than the standard rule. You will also occasionally have more movement points than the standard game intended, but I don't think the rare extra one or two points will negatively impact the game too much. On the contrary, I think it will slightly speed up play and make the game feel a little peppier.

[@casmith84]

Still have my copy, love this game.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It holds up as a fun game. I don't play it very often though.

[@MatthewCaunsfield]

Conceptually, a very interesting game it seems!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

It's got some really fun ideas in it.

[@danielwilliamson6180]

Good review.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks.

[@jameswhitehouse5706]

I was teenager when I picked up the first Dragonlance book and I immediately became obsessed. Aah Kitiara. It’s always the bad girls that are more interesting 😂 One other quick thing - I read an interview once with Steve Baker that said his original Heroquest design featured a three panel board that had to go due to budget. I think this Dragonlance board size shows what could have been achieved.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I read a couple of them back when I was a kid but I honestly couldn't recall which ones or what happened in them.

[@jameswhitehouse5706]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoringyeah it hit me at the right time around 14 and I just got so wrapped up in those books and then Forgotten Realms too.

[@EricssonRotaryBiscuit]

I recently got given a free copy of this that my mom found in my stepdad's loft. Just a few weeks earlier I was also given a free copy of original Heroquest that used to belong to my fiancé's brother.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Those are great gifts. I hope you have a lot of fun with them.

[@bradp6452]

I seem to vaguely remember this game. We definitely did not play it much and I cannot remember if we owned it or a friend did.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

If you were young you may have found it too fiddly. There is quite a lot going on with the rules, but just messing around with the discs I imagine would be tiresome for younger players.

[@aleopardstail]

seen other games with similar altitude markers, there is a very obvious upgrade here - colour code the things. white is "1", maybe blue is "5" or whatever. does actually look quite fun though

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

While that would help with the discs toppling, it's still a fiddly business to keep swapping out the discs under the dragons. The board can get cramped, and constantly reaching into groups of dragons to lift out one dragon to swap the disc is still a bit of a nuisance - in fact, it can be more of a nuisance as all the dragons are going to be the same height. Additionally, you lose the ability to instantly read the board at a glance and understand where each dragon is positioned, which is a big part of the appeal, and the game loses some of its unique table presence.

[@jesscarver9882]

I've still got mine, bought in 88!!

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Glad to hear it's still part of your collection.

[@jesscarver9882]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring You're 100% correct, those damn altitude markers are the main reason it doesn't get played much. I found the components fragile, lots are broken. Some dragon's posts are broken off, the gates break, etc

[@HoraceAndTheSpider]

Ok… but wild you posted this when I’ve recently been reading DragonLance Tales and Chronicles, and today thought “I wonder if ABNB has posted anything recently” 👀

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Clearly I know what my audience wants!

[@prestigepea1235]

Is there no way to reduce the maximum height to 5 anð half/double the altitude to stop them being so wobbly?

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Not easily, I would say, especially once you add in the advanced rules. The game plays a lot with height, and climbing or descending is often more significant than horizontal movement. You really need the small unit increments to allow for a variety of different heights for trees, mountains, flying citadels, gates, and the tower, plus special moves like dive bombs, and the way in which height is used in place of wounds. It's all part of the grand scale of the aerial combat.

[@theinstantnoodle9628]

It looks like the box components came in great condition. I hope the game brings joy to you and your family for many years, even with the horrid and fiddly height disc.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Thanks. It is a good, fun game, if you can get to grips with those discs.

[@DLSaga]

This is a fun game. I ported it to Roll20 so it can be played online.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Cool. I don't personally play games online, but at least that way you don't have to mess around with those discs!

[@DLSaga]

@@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring Those are a nightmare!

[@natevaughn2307]

I'd probably be swearing at the elevation disk.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I have been known to from time to time.

[@1000jjwalker]

airanotica is definitely a crisper version of this .

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

Aeronautica suffered for the way Games Workshop handled it, unfortunately. I eventually sold my copy.

[@1000jjwalker]

@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring I'm not saying it's a home run.. but I was taken by the concept. Jesus I could blabber about warhammer dreadfleet

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

I really enjoy Dreadfleet. I still have my copy. Aeronautica was a very good game, just handled badly. Too many "side purchases" and new products going out of stock too quickly, so if you didn't get it straight away you didn't get it at all. I was never even able to get the official play mat!

[@justanerd1138]

We played the heck out of Talisman 2nd ed, Axis and Allies, Car Wars, Hero Quest, Shogun (MB version), Buck Rogers, Crossbows and Catapults and this one. It really was just meh. Our friend group played this a fair bit and realy did give it a chance yet it did not stand up to our other options.. In the end the game ended up in my possession and I have not tried it again since my adolescence... maybe it is worth a try but somehow the propect does not feel exciting. Think I would rather finally try Battle Masters first and that is still on the sprues. 😂

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

There is an advert for Buck Rogers inside the box for Dragonlance. That was a game I did have and we played it a lot. I used to like slingshotting around the planets.

[@EriktheRed2023]

Instructions unclear. Played game on expired bicycle tyre.

[@AlwaysBoardNeverBoring]

You just need a big stack of Polo mints.