TLDR: Awesome game with a great presentation, but the die-roll can screw you over bad, but can easily be explained and played with new board gamers.
Siege of Runedar is big box grand title from the good doctor.
It's been a while I played anything this big from Knizia. So naturally I was super excited.
I really love this game's setting and presentation but oh man! couple of things just bothered me after playing the game thrice 2 player.
I really don't mind randomness in the Good Dr's games, in fact I enjoy it a lot, but here its just a downer. In our 2nd game, I had 5 dice and I wanted to perform a close-combat, 4 out of 5 dice were crossbow 😣
And situation just kept happening time and again, where none of our actions were adding to anything - very demoralizing. In a 4P game, there are 2 other players who can potentially take care of the situation, but in 2P its extremely punishing to a point it becomes the opposite of fun.
I have a forum post at boardgamegeek with the same subject title, if you want to check it out and see some suggestions from other players.
Even though I am into looking for theme infusion in my games, this one from Knizia is surprisingly thematic (which is rare). So that mind be a plus point for someone coming into the game.
Also, game's rules are simple enough for people new to board gaming to pick up fairly quickly.
With all the dice randomness I'd still recommend the game, because of how the design works, yes the dice can be incredibly frustrating but if you can somehow manage your play around it then there is an awesome co-op with a beautiful presentation, check it out.
