The Druids of Edora Board Game Review
I fully recognize that every game isn’t for me, and generally if I play something I don’t enjoy, I’ll have others play and review it instead. The Druids of Edora has everything I should love in a board game – lots of fantastic pieces, lots of abilities, etc. – with too much of what I don’t like in games, area control. I’ve been enjoying area control games more and more over the years, and so I thought The Druids of Edora would click – so far, it hasn’t.
That said, it’s actually still in my office and ready to be played again. Why? Because I think there is a game here I’m really going to enjoy, just at this moment it’s not clicking for me. And that’s not a fault of the game or how it works – it’s just a me problem. So as you read, don’t associate my dislike for elements as reasons to not play the game; if you enjoy area control, this will be something you’ll love I think!
The Druids of Edora has a lot of moving pieces, and getting everything setup can take a bit of time. But once you get into the turn-to-turn moments of the game, you quickly realize there isn’t a whole lot to consider. You’ll be using a preset pool of dice to begin exploring a forest, placing down dice to control areas, placing down stones to earn even more points, and ultimately trying to have the most value in a clearing to score maximum points when the game ends.
That on its own sounds like a pretty good game, but The Druids of Edora takes it a step further. As you place out dice you’ll get bonuses, and these bonuses might grand further bonuses, better multipliers for your end game points, and more. And with limited and fixed turns, and specific dice values, you’ll need to maximize what you have and what bonuses you get if you want to be really successful.
And ultimately that will be another deterrent for a lot of players. There is no wondering when the game will end; there are a fixed number of dice that each player gets to place, and the game is over. That limits the amount of flexibility you have, and forces you to be sure that each turn is as beneficial as it can be. While some people love this type of experience, others don’t. And further, this makes The Druids of Edora a very unfriendly game to new players, especially if others at the table are more seasoned. So many games can stand on their own as a one-off experience; not this one. The Druids of Edora becomes better and better the more you play it, and when playing with a mixture of experienced and novice players, it will show in final scores.
This is a game full of choices, and once again, making the wrong choice could negatively impact your game, especially if you struggle with pivoting strategies. Take the medicinal herbs, for example. As you move your sickle down the track, you unlock pairs of herbs: one herb can be placed bonus side up, providing you an ongoing ability, while the other is placed facedown. Two options, once choice. Which is going to be best for your strategy.
There are plenty of other choices as well. Is it more valuable to take key areas on the board, or connected the colour tokens along the outside of the board with your dice creating a path, and collecting them? What shrines do you want to control, and which do you not care about. Do you stop someone from doing something, or focus on your own game? So many options, so many choices, and it all really matters.
For many, that’s going to be fine. Afterall, not everyone wants to play a game where mistake after mistake can be rectified in future turns. Many people love the idea of tight turns and really important decisions. That said, this can lead to analysis paralysis, where turns take MUCH longer than they should. The Druids of Edora sometimes feels like it takes just as much time to setup as it does to play, but with the wrong group, this game can definitely drag.
At this point, I think I’d still recommend The Druids of Edora, even if it is not a game I’m loving at the moment. I did find the rulebook a bit confusing, so I would take advantage of the How to Play guides on YouTube – Meeple University has one that I think is really strong! Sometimes I recommend a game for all kinds of people, but I think The Druids of Edora has a very specific group of people in mind – you need to love a bit of are control; you need to love tight turns; and you need to love the idea of excelling with great decisions, and really getting hammered with bad ones. If that sounds like you, this will be your kind of game.
Article By Adam
