The Wizard's Tower

We decided to do Board Game Night last night so we pulled out an old favorite, Castle Panic, which I have described before. This time, we added the Wizard's Tower expansion (a recent addition to our inventory thanks to a Christmas gift card).

Box cover for Wizard's Tower

Wizard's Tower adds a slew of new and more powerful monsters (including a dragon) that replace the weaker goblins and orcs. The Dark Lord is really gunning for your castle this time! Of course, if you've got a dragon you also have to have flames, and the expansion includes tokens and rules for fires. How are you able to survive this onslaught? Never worry, you now have a wizard's tower!

Our castle taking a beating. A few walls are gone and a tower is in flames.
Note the wizard's tower (the tall one) on the far side of the castle.

 The wizard's tower grants you access to powerful magic (in the form of new cards) that can help stem the monster army's advance. Be careful, however, for if the wizard's tower is destroyed you can no longer use magic! You do get some new, amped-up castle cards to help as well.

The game plays similarly to the original Castle Panic. Hordes of monsters advance on your castle, intent on tearing down your towers (and presumably annihilating the inhabitants). The game is cooperative; you work together to stop the invasion. Nevertheless, there is a competitive component as each player tries to be the master slayer (by killing the most points of monsters).

Last night turned out to be a success. It looked dicey earlier, especially when we lost the wizard's tower. By then, however, we had managed to wipe out most of the really powerful monsters and just had to clean up a few stragglers. Ultimately, Elizabeth killed the last two monsters in one round, and we survived with three towers intact.

Our castle in the background with our trophies in front (Elizabeth, me, and Jimmy).
Can you guess who was the master slayer?

All in all, it's an interesting twist. It makes the game more challenging, although it seemed to take a bit longer to play (probably because the new monsters have special rules so I had to keep checking the rule book).