Here to Slay: Warriors & Druids Expansion

Welcome to the team, Warriors and Druids!

This Here to Slay expansion was long waited in our household. It certainly didn’t fail to brighten up our day with the adorable new heroes. This expansion, although small, adds some powerful new cards to change up the gameplay. We found this really helped to vary the game each time we played.

The Warriors and Druids expansion (unsurprisingly) brings you two new classes of heroes. Warrior foxes come with some powerful effects (Critical Fang gives you +4 when attacking a monster, for example). Druid Deer protect your army, such as ‘Maegisty’ and ‘Doe Fallow’ … took me too long to figure that one out.

How To Play

I’m assuming that you’ve already played Here to Slay, the base game, but if you haven’t- stop right here! Go and check out the base game first. Play a few games first, meet Napping Nibbles and the squad, then come back and let me introduce you to the new gang.

This expansion doesn’t alter the basic game mechanics hugely, but it does make it harder to win. Great if you want a more balanced and challenging game. The base game requires you to collect either 3 monster cards, or one hero of every class (6 in total). The expansion recommends that you now collect 8 classes of hero, which makes it a more balanced game in our experience. Those who choose to battle their monsters now actually have a chance to win.

Expansion Effect

The expansion also gives you 4 more modifier cards, 7 awesome new items (finally!), 2 new magic cards, 2 Warrior/Druid Challenge cards, and 2 new monsters. Although it doesn’t seem like much, it really does improve the ratio of heroes to non-hero cards in the deck.

I often play Here to Slay as a two-player game with my husband – we used to remove hero cards from the deck to make it more suitable for a 2-player game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great game as it is, but there just weren’t enough challenge cards to prevent your opponent’s army growing before it was too late. But with the Warrior and Druid expansion cards, trying to collect 8 heroes was a much better challenge and enabled a fairer contest.

Two New Classes Of Heroes: Warriors & Druids

A big welcome to our 16 new friends! The new heroes are just as cute and amusing as their original predecessors and add great new powers to your army.

What took me by surprise was that the Druid powers are activated by rolling a number less than the number stated on the card. If you’re like me, and apparently incapable of rolling anything greater than a 7, you’d be delighted to know that these cards are for you.

Some warrior cards also have the ability to hold two item cards, so you can protect your loved ones with a decoy doll, as well as adding +2 to your roll.

If you’re lucky enough to have these two new classes in your army, you are able to unleash the ‘Druid/Warrior Challenge’ cards. These are more powerful challenges as they give +3 to your roll. When playing in a smaller group, we always found challenges to be in desperately short supply, so were delighted to have an extra couple to unleash on our opponents.

Additional Players To The Party

Here to Slay is a great addition to any household, due to being a great two-player game, but also a fantastic game for a larger group. The base game provides 6 Party leaders, but with an additional 2 Party Leaders provided in this expansion, this raises the maximum to 8 players in a game. I can’t say I’ve attempted an 8-player game- but I can imagine the inevitable, hilarious carnage.

As a side note, if you’re looking for a larger group game, the second expansion (Berserker and Necromancer) would allow a whopping 10 players. There definitely aren’t as many games that include so many players successfully, so hats off to Unstable Unicorns. Time for a Here to Slay board game night!

Conclusion

In our opinion, Here To Slay: Warriors & Druids is a definite must-have. Each battle is a fairer and a more exciting contest- each little army is full of more exciting characters- and it’s a better two-player AND large group game. I’d definitely recommend buying both expansion packs. Combine Warriors and Druids with Berserker and Necromancer to fully immerse yourself in a cut-throat, adorable game. We’re still perhaps a little short of challenge cards, and magic cards are still quite nonconsequential, but it’s a much more balanced game. Enjoy!