Descent 2nd Edition Conversion Kit review

We’re still hooked on Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition.

And while we may not be playing it as regularly as we did in January after we first got the game and posted a video review on it, it’s still set up on a table in our basement – just begging us to play. In fact, Caleb really does beg to play it regularly, “when can we  finish our campaign?”

The trouble is, since Trevor, Jaden, and Caleb are playing the heroes and I’m playing the overlord in our current Descent campaign, we all need to be around to play. (Actually we did play proxy for Jaden one time when we couldn’t wait any longer.)

But with a teenager that has a job, boys in rehearsals and doing school plays, homework and school schedules, scout camps, and dad out of town on work here and there (also getting up to speed on a new job), it’s a tough proposition to all be around to sit down and play.

Of course, that also means we can get other games to the table (as opposed to January where it was practically ALL Descent) since other games don’t require the same 4 players to play.

However, before our Descent campaign play slowed a bit, we did buy a copy of the Descent: Journeys in the Dark Conversion Kit. And we’re so glad we did!

What’s the Draw of the Descent: Journeys in the Dark Conversion Kit?

Simple – More heroes and more monsters!!
48 Heroes and 25 Monsters to be exact!

Well, to be really exact, the Descent 2nd Edition Conversion Kit doesn’t come with any figures/miniatures, but rather just the cards for the heroes and monsters. But that’s fine by us.

What the Conversion Kit does is take all of the heroes and monsters from all the 1st edition Descent games and makes them playable with the new Descent 2nd Edition game. And since we don’t have any of the original Descent games or expansions, we say SWEET!

As you can see in our original review and video, Descent: Journeys in the Dark 2nd Edition comes with 8 Heroes and 9 Monster types. So adding 48 new Heroes and 25 new Monster types is a huge addition!

It’s a great way for us to expand our game play with new characters without having to have bought all the previous Descent games.

 

Stand-in Figures needed

The only drawback is that we need to use stand-in figures. But we’re okay with that. We found a list showing the size of the monsters from all the 1st edition games and can use the figures we have in Descent 2nd Edition to represent those monsters.

For example, the Crypt Dragon is the same dimension as the Shadow Dragon (2nd edition), so we just use the Shadow Dragon figure on the board and the new card for Crypt Dragon to know it’s stats and special powers.

Sure there are some monsters that don’t have a closely represented figure, so we lose some of the visual pleasure there, but we enjoy it nonetheless.

On the hero side, we only have 8 figures to choose from when selecting from the huge stack of hero sheets. But the boys don’t mind that much. If their figure has a sword, then they’re good to go. They’ll battle on.

Of course, we could seek out original Descent 1st edition miniatures. Or we could buy a bunch of other miniatures that may be similar. But why spend hundreds of dollars on miniatures when stand-in representatives will do just fine for us.

 

Too much to choose from?

With so many heroes, making a choice of what hero to select is a little overwhelming. But the boys were undaunted. They pour over the new characters, compare stats and abilities, and find ones that they think will work well together to head off into another campaign.

And I must say that they’ve chosen very wisely. I think they picked the best of the best. Watching them work together and string their movement and actions off of each other looks like a very well oiled machine. And I as the overlord have been pummeled.

I’ve been having a lot of fun trying different monster combinations just to see what they can do. But sometimes I don’t get to experiment much before these powerful heroes wipe me off the board.

Lots of fun!

However, we’ve decided that for our next campaign we’re going to put some randomization in their hero selection so they won’t just keep choosing the same super-powered heroes. For example, we might have each hero player choose a class, then randomly pick 3 or 4 hero cards that fit that class and then they have to choose one of those to play. This way, there’s still come choice, but from a limited selection.

 

Fitting it in the box

On the plus side, not having additional figures means that we can still fit everything in the game box. All the components that come in Descent 2nd Edition fill up the game box pretty well on their own.

We found a good way to keep all the components organized nicely in the game box and thought we’d share some photos.

The insert that came in the game is a good one to help with some division of the components, but the way it was set up meant that most of the items would need to be placed under sides of the insert. What we’ve done is turn the insert upside-down to hold the components in a more visible manner.

First we put all the tiles in the bottom of the box.

Then we add the insert upside-down. We put all the monsters on one side and the cards on the other. You’ll notice that we also found a template for creating tuckboxes to hold the cards. It’s a great way to store the cards that looks pretty cool too. In a number of the tuckboxes there is plenty of extra space, but they stack nicely in the box without the cards sliding around.

We place all the little cardboard tokens and all the hero sheets in baggies and place them under the middle section of the insert (that we’ve cut so we can fold it back to peer inside).

Sure the insert needs to come out to get to the tiles, but it’s easy to lift out with most of the items in it and set it to the side.

Of course, since the game is constantly set up in some fashion on the table, the game components haven’t spent a lot of time in the game box anyway. But they’ve got their places when we need to clear off the table.

 

Final thoughts

The Descent 2nd Edition Conversion Kit is a simple addition to the game that adds a ton of characters and we love it!

 

Summary of Added Components

• 48 Hero sheets
• 50 Monster cards (25 Act I, 25 Act II)
• 3 Familiar cards
• No Figures/Miniatures