Dungeon Command: Curse of Undeath Review

So, the latest Dungeon Command set that I received in the mail is Curse of Undeath. Or, if you prefer, it's Dungeon Command: "The One with Zombies!" And, since I've already reviewed both Dungeon Command and the Dungeon Command: Tyranny of Goblins set, I'm going to assume you are familiar with the game. If not, I'd recommend that you read my Dungeon Command review, as this review will only focus on the Undead faction.

My basic impression of the Undead faction is that I think that they might be the strongest faction thus far, but they are also the hardest to play.  With all of the previously released factions, there is generally a single characteristic that almost all of the units have.  However, this is not the case with the Undead.  With the Undead, there is a fairly even breakdown of order cards between Constitution (13 cards), Charisma (11 cards), and Intelligence (9 cards).  (There are also 3 "Any" cards.)  And, to go along with these orders, the Undead are the most diversified when it comes to unit attributes; though most of the higher level units have multiple attributes (to make the Orders slightly easier to use).  So, though the Undead have a lot of strong cards, the chances of you drawing cards that you can't play is also much higher.

By far, the most awesome minis in the set

With that said, what all can the Undead do?  Well, they seem to have a few themes among their cards - surround the enemy (or get surrounded), get a benefit when damaging units, and breaking the rules about summoning.  Let's start with the swarming aspect of their cards.  One of the new units is the "Skeletal Tomb Guardian."  This Guardian makes a basic melee attack of 20, which isn't terribly impressive.  But, whenever he makes a melee attack, he also does 20 damage to each other enemy creature he is adjacent to.  Very nice!  There are also at least three orders that get bonuses from having giant battles.  "Death Grip" allows you to make a melee attack and add 10 damage for each other Undead creature that is surrounding your target.  "Necrotic Howl" simply deals 10 damage to every enemy adjacent to the targeted creature (and is a Minor, so it doesn't even cost you an action).  Finally, "Corrosive Blood" is a defensive card that allows you to prevent 10 damage and then deal 10 damage to each tapped creature adjacent to you.

The next focus of the Undead is about getting a benefit when damaging units (after all, they do have vampires).  First, of course, they have a vampiric unit - the "Vampire Stalker."  And (I'm sure you're not surprised by this), the vampire is able to heal when he successfully inflicts damage.  But, in addition to the vampire unit, there are also a couple of "Vampiric Touch" order cards that give a very similar effect - but they allow you to deal 30 damage and heal for 30 damage, instead of only healing for 10 (like the vampire).  The last card that gets a bonus from dealing damage is the "Hulking Attack."  This attack does a basic melee attack (with a 10 point bonus) but, if it is successful, it allows you to regain a morale, which is nice. 

Lich Necromancer and Call to Battle is an amazing combo

The third "focus" of the Undead is really just a combination of one of the units and order cards - the "Lich Necromancer" with the "Call to Battle."  The Lich Necromancer allows you to deploy Undead units adjacent to him when deploying.  And, the Call to Battle attaches to a creature and allows you to deploy one creature during the action phase.  Thus, this combination allows you to bring units into the fight directly from your hand, and just in time to attack.  This is an incredibly powerful combination.

The other two things that are powerful enough in the Undead faction that they warrant a mention are the giant undead bone dragon ("Dracolich") and the "Terrifying Revelation" (which, conveniently can be played by the Dracolich, since he is a level six unit with Charisma).  The Dracolich has an ability that allows him to make three ranged attacks (of range 5 and 20 damage), as long as he is attacking a different target each time.  And, the Terrifying Revelation simply forces a target opponent to lose three morale (which might be the most powerful order card that I've seen). 

Overall, I give Dungeon Command: Curse of Undeath an 8.5/10 (just like all of the other Dungeon Command sets).  I think that it does a good job of expanding the game and adding new elements, and some of the order cards are worth using even if you don't want to use the Undead as your primary faction.

If you like the Dungeon Command series, you might also check out Legend of Drizzt (since all of the minis are compatible with it), Mage Wars, and Nightfall.

I would like to thank Wizards of the Coast for providing me with a review copy of Dungeon Command: Curse of Undeath.

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