Dragonwood Card Game Review

Overview
Dragonwood is a card game developed and produced by Gamewright, which honestly, in my opinion, has a track record of making awful games. Dragonwood is the only game they made that I have played and deemed worthy of reviewing. The game is for ages eight and up, takes twenty minutes to complete a game, and is for two to four players. The game centers around capturing monsters from a "Landscape', which is five cards laid down where all the players can see. Each card represents a monster along with the requirements needed to defeat it. Enhancements can also be found in the landscape, providing powerful boosts and extra abilities. To capture monsters, you have to collect and group cards of the same number, color, or order. The more cards you have grouped, the more dice you can roll in your capture attempts. The dice have numbers one through four, preventing lucky rolls.

Positive
The art on all of the cards is actually very good. Whimsically pictured goblins, snakes, ogres, dragons, bears, and boars are all drawn in a way that is sure to appeal to younger players, which the game is targetted at. Also, multiple ways to capture monsters, along with the enhancements and event cards spice up the play, making each game a unique journey.

Negatives
This game falls into the trap that a lot of games fall into, mindless dice rolling. The majority of the game is simply rolling dice, which gets boring, and as I said is mindless. There is no strategy of craftiness found here. Roll big and draw lucky cards to win, roll low and draw unlucky cards to lose. I would have appreciated some more strategy mixed in, perhaps ways to get better cards, improve your chance at getting lucky ones.

Conclusion
The game is great for younger kids, but for those older seeking a more strategic experience should find something else.