3838 Lava Dragon
Price: $14.99
Pieces: 131
Price Per Piece: $.11/p
Microfigures: 4 (and they are adorable, let me tell you)
LEGO Description:
Here is the second of my LEGO board games reviews. This time I've upped the ante a little bit and gone to the $15 set. The box is a little bit bigger and there are more pieces but it's all the same LEGO fun.Lava Dragon from LEGO Games: A new way to play!
Introducing LEGO Games, the world's first collection of games that you build, play and change. With the unique buildable LEGO Dice and changeable rules, LEGO Games is a great way of having fun together with family and friends. Prove you are the bravest knight of all by being the first one to summon the dragon from the top of the volcano. Avoid the lava and block your opponents as you climb to victory. With the LEGO Dice no two games of Lava Dragon are ever the same. For 2 to 4 players. Game play approximately 15-25 minutes. 1 buildable LEGO Dice 1 rule booklet 1 building instruction booklet 4 LEGO microfigures
Every piece comes in the high quality box that was sealed with plastic wrap. The box is thicker cardboard than other sets because the game is supposed to fit in the box for easy storage.
The back of the box shows a half completed dice, as well as the fact that it can be stored/played in the box. Hooray for printing.
Now onto what you really care about, the LEGO bricks.
Say hello to your new friends! Microfigures are like minifigures, minus the arms, moveable legs and detachable head. They're also about half the size overall. They're the perfect size for games like this. There's no back printing but the printing in the front is pretty detailed and impressive over all. Very nice quality plastic as well.
This is the beginning of a 2 player Lava Dragon game. The board is constructed of dark gray and brown levels. The goal of the game is to get to the top, tame the dragon and then rain down destruction upon your foolish enemies who tried to question your power.
See this guy? He's your dragon. He's pretty nifty and he's your goal.
In order to get to the top, you do what you do in pretty much every board game, you roll the dice. Here is the dice in question. This is what the dice looks like at the beginning of the game. Do not adjust your screen; there are only two pieces on the dice when the game begins: two flat 1x2 orange tiles. As you roll the dice you add more pieces to the dice.
Specifically you will be adding these pieces to the dice. You will be adding to the dice whichever color you are. For example, if you are the yellow knight and you roll a side with empty studs, you will add one yellow tile and then move one space. This continues for the entire game. If you roll the same side again you will add another yellow tile and now move two spaces. This means that it is possible to get a side all to yourself and move four spaces every time you roll that side. However, this also means that you can roll a side of the dice where you don't move at all because your opponents have all of their colored tiles on that side. Each side can have more than one color tile.
It's a long way to the top but after rolling a few times your piece will begin to move up the side of the mountain.
It's important to note that you cannot move diagonally. It's either straight or to the sides.
Remember that orange tile? You probably thought I forgot about it but I didn't. I was just saving the explanation for a better time. Well you probably noticed all of the little orange translucent cones. That's lava. Bona fide, ultra hot, molten lava. Ever tried walking through lava? It hurts. It's usually fatal. That's exactly why your knight can NOT pass through lava. It blocks them. When you roll orange you may move a lava cone and place it to block your enemies or open up a path for you.
After a long and arduous exhausting journey you will finally reach the top. This is where the orange tile factors in again. Once you reach the top of the mountain you have to 'do battle' with the dragon in only a way a board game can, by rolling the dice. Once you roll an orange tile you have defeated the dragon and you get to ride away and smite your enemies.
Featured above: imminent justice.
You place your knight on top of the dragon and fly off into the sunset/night/clouds/space for all I care.
Like all the other LEGO board games this one comes with some alternate game rules. I highly recommend these rules. They make the game more fun and much more interesting. This game comes with two separate ideas for your consideration.
The first is to add another function to the orange tile on the dice. When you roll orange, you may either place a lava cone to block another player OR you may poke a player off the side of the mountain. You probably noticed a whole bunch of Technic bricks with holes in the middle of the bricks right? Well that's where the poking stick comes in handy.
Like some divine intervention throwing a gigantic lance through the mountain, this poking stick will pop your opponent off the mountain if they are in the correct spot and send them careening to the bottom. This one can really just * you off after a while like it did when I played with my girlfriend because we were both constantly popping each other off of the mountain. It still is super funny though.
A cautious word though: if you pop the knight off with too much force he will go flying.
The second suggested alternative rule is to add this brown tile to the dice. When a player rolls the brown tile they may skip up one side of the mountain. This means that if your knight is located at the bottom of the mountain, he may skip an entire level of the mountain to the third layer, skipping the second layer. The brown is supposed to be the 'rope' that your knight climbs up. This is effective for bypassing any lava cones that may be blocking your path.
So here's the rundown.
Is the game fun? Yes. The game is fun, it lasts at least 10 minutes, more if you play by the alternative rules.
How are the pieces? While this game doesn't come with any sort of special piece that is hard to find, it does come with the Microfigures, as well as a pair of old fashioned dragon wings and a few translucent bricks. Mostly though it just comes with dark gray and brown bricks of assorted sizes. This is definitely NOT the most worthwhile game for the pieces to get.
Would you recommend the game? I would have to say yes to this. I had fun with it, I liked popping the microfigures off the mountain and it was definitely a step up from Magikus in the strategy department. I also like that you can add onto the dice as the game progresses. The price is decent for it too and the alternative rules make for a much more fun game.
Go out and get Lava Dragon if you'd like! I'd say you should. Sorry for any spelling mistakes.