Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower in Review

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Great review, Nate.

Though skeptical at first, I've fallen in love with this game. But beyond the game, the setting has excited and inspired me more than anything since I got into Dreadball. Like you, I hope to see more fully realized co-op settings and have (so far) passed on Hammerhal. I put my thoughts on that here:
fortressat.com/forum/10-ameritrash/19900...ower?start=60#246739

I've also been peppering that 'Let's Talk' thread with characters if interested. Oh, this Friday's White Dwarf will have four Kharadron Overlord heroes in it.

Anyway, this title is what turned me onto the AoS and has even inspired my son to start painting.

It's a classic.

I'm fond of Silver Tower, though I opted to buy a cheap stripped copy, and replaced the missing miniatures with tokens. I have played through the first adventure with three different groups now, and have enjoyed each game. However, most tactical situations are pretty simple, and the game only feels hard when there is a bad run of dice rolls resulting in multiple sets of extra monsters. I wish there was a little more variety in the monsters, and I am no longer enjoying the life cycle of the pink/blue/flame horrors. However, I have enjoyed Silver Tower enough that I bought a second stripped copy and the bonus character pack. Had some fun running a homebrew PvP scenario and want to try that again soon.

Excellent review. One thing that has me curious---does anyone have an AI overlord type dungeon crawler that does tactical gameplay well? I can't think of anything besides Gears of War style AI cards, but that has its weaknesses. The lack of it in Silver Tower doesn't seem very unusual.

Shellhead wrote: I'm fond of Silver Tower, though I opted to buy a cheap stripped copy, and replaced the missing miniatures with tokens. I have played through the first adventure with three different groups now, and have enjoyed each game. However, most tactical situations are pretty simple, and the game only feels hard when there is a bad run of dice rolls resulting in multiple sets of extra monsters. I wish there was a little more variety in the monsters, and I am no longer enjoying the life cycle of the pink/blue/flame horrors. However, I have enjoyed Silver Tower enough that I bought a second stripped copy and the bonus character pack. Had some fun running a homebrew PvP scenario and want to try that again soon.

If you're tired of the horrors, why not simply replace them on the charts with one of the exotic adversaries?
Seems a simple fix that'll also make the game a little more challenging.

And if you're using tokens and not minis...the entire range of warhammer creatures is available to you as adversaries.

Gary Sax wrote: Excellent review. One thing that has me curious---does anyone have an AI overlord type dungeon crawler that does tactical gameplay well? I can't think of anything besides Gears of War style AI cards, but that has its weaknesses. The lack of it in Silver Tower doesn't seem very unusual.

Honestly, Gloomhaven. It's not quite as substantial as Gears of War (in terms of AI robustness), but each type of creature has its own deck and behavior.

On the far end of the extreme is Kingdom Death: Monster, where each boss has a unique AI deck with some random cards removed/added in so you can't be sure what behavior you're going to get. It's kind of Dark Souls-ish where you you want to learn their behavior and know how to operate around the creature.

Mr. White wrote: [If you're tired of the horrors, why not simply replace them on the charts with one of the exotic adversaries?
Seems a simple fix that'll also make the game a little more challenging.

And if you're using tokens and not minis...the entire range of warhammer creatures is available to you as adversaries.

I did make tokens for the exotic adversaries in Silver Tower, and the charts and adventure book allow for subbing in the exotics in certain places. Last time we played, the Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch showed up during an already challenging fight. I have been thinking about adding in more warhammer creatures, and would not be surprised to find both official and unofficial additions online already.

Oh yeah! Forgot about Kingdom Death. You're absolutely right.

Im looking into this for the kids. I understand the economics and politics of why but on the other hand dont understand why they dont release "consumer" versions of these kinds of games with cheap pre painted less detailed minis. I think I would have bought it directly if it came with Heroscape style minis, I wonder how well it would work to proxy those minis in and sell off the unpainted minis they package with these games.

That's very easy to do. In fact, the way GW produces their games...actually works in your favor. The value for GW games in these titles are in the minis. For every one of these GW board games, there's a large market of folks just wanting the minis, so sellers will parse those out.

Check it...you can get all of the Silver Tower contents, minus the minis, shipped for a little over $20.
(for some reason i can't get ebay links to appear in this forum, so copy and paste this search: "Warhammer Quest Age of Sigmar Silver Tower Rulebook Rules Tiles Dice (No Models)" )

If GW produced a 'budget box' version of these big board games... I highly doubt it would be $20. You're still looking at an at least $50 game.

So, again, with your gaming value running counter to most collectors, the GW games as is work in your favor.

And using Heroscape minis....simple. There are editors out there, so I'd suggest just taking the tested Silver Tower card stats and abilities and reskin as heroscape characters. I didn't finish this card, but here's Finn the Viking Champion on his way to being built from the Questor Knight.



Yeah, you can get into Silver Tower on the cheap...and use your existing Heroscape minis no big deal.

that actually sounds awesome, I do now remember you could do the same buying the newest Space Hulk sans minis

I know that GW's Blackstone Fortress is all the craze right now, and Silver Tower is old news, but, because of this, I recently picked up Silver Tower for $60 shipped and assembled. Now's the time to bargain hunt for it if you're in the market. It even included the Silver tower hardback novel. Anyone know what it is worth, if anything?

Stoic, I also picked up Silver Tower recently for a similar price. Definitely a good time to buy it... some great models in it. Also looking forward to getting it on the table. No book in mine though.

Silver Tower is still great! It really adds a lot if you can get a hold of Hammerhal- brings in Blight Kings, more Arcanites, and so forth.