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DIE LEGENDEN VON ANDOR
- DER STERNENSCHILD -


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Author:
Michael Menzel

Publisher:
KOSMOS 2013

No. of Players:
2 - 4

EVALUATION

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Die Legenden von Andor offers a good degree of variation, a quite surprising fact for a game which is basically split into five missions (two of which are tutorials for learning the game). This variation is reached by the use of several variants for crucial mission cards, and it gives the players a good replay value even if all missions have been played through.

However, the most avid fans of the game will have reached a point where all the included variant cards have been played through, and now they will long for new missions because they would like to get even deeper into the world of Andor. This is the point where the new expansion Die Legenden von Andor - Der Sternenschild comes onto the stage, and in this expansion hard-bitten Andor-fans once again should find enough new playing materials for long hours of play.

With Die Legenden von Andor winning some prestigious prizes, there have been some hopes that a big expansion for the game would be released, including a new double-sided gameboard with new settings for even more thrilling adventures. These hopes have not been fulfilled, and so Der Sternenschild comes in a rather small box which includes just a deck of mission cards and some punchboards. However, the expansion is sold for approximately 12 Euro, and Andor-fans will get real great value in return for this comparatively low price.

Quite astonishingly, the whole expansion includes just one single new mission, but as the comic-like rulebook suggests this mission can be played in a lot of different ways. For the creation of the expansion Michael Menzel has focused on the strength of the basic game - variation of missions by including variant cards, and for the new Sternenschild-mission the amount of these variant cards has been greatly increased. In fact, mission assembly requires the players to add a variant card at three positions, and for each of these positions exists a choice of four or five variant cards so that these variants should allow for many different ways to play Der Sternenschild.

Without giving a spoiler here, a bit of the new mission elements can be gathered from an overview of the materials from the new punchboards. So, the expansion includes a dark temple, a catapult and a siege tower as major 3-dimensional elements, and in addition a lot of other parts can be found. New non-player characters of a Thief and a Cartographer can be found alongside with new monsters like a Fire Ghost or a horrible Kraken, and in addition other tokens for fire, light, tree trunks, mushrooms and a key hint at the various situations which may be found on the new mission cards. A few new items for the heroes are includes as well, but it's hard to guess for which reasons a flute, an hourglass or a torch may be used.

Lurking prominent on the box cover, the players also will find a wolf included in the expansion. Actually, it's not just one wolf but a pack of three, and concerning these wolves some hints can be found that they are not just a new type of enemies, but the players also have a chance to befriend the leader of the pack, making him a valuable ally to their cause…

One thing is certain, and this is the fact that Die Legenden von Andor - Der Sternenschild is packed up to its brink with exciting new ideas which will bring interesting new challenges to senior Andor players. Judging by the great implementation of the various elements of the basic game, Michael Menzel seemed to have cared the same way about the creation of an harmonious expansion, and so there is no doubt that players will quickly grab their adventuring gear and return to the world of Andor!


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