The legends of Andor

The legends of Andor
Game data
author	Michael Menzel
graphic	Michael Menzel
publishing company	Kosmos , Devir, Giochiuniti, Iello, Albi, 999 Games
Publishing year	2012
Art	Board game
Teammates	2 to 4 (with extension to 6)
Duration	60 to 90 minutes
Age	from 10 years on
Awards
	Kennerspiel des Jahres 2013; German Games Prize 2013: 5th place; As d'Or 2013; Juego del Año (Spain) 2013; Play Hit with Friends 2013; Count Ludo 2013; Nederlandse Spellenprijs 2014 Experts;

The Legends of Andor is the first board game by Michael Menzel , who also did the illustrations. It was published by Kosmos- Verlag in 2012 and was voted Kennerspiel des Jahres 2013. The board game is one of the cooperative games . The aim is to play through the eponymous legends in which the players have to complete tasks together. So the players win or lose together. In the following years several expansions were released, which also added a legend that can only be won by a single player. In addition, in 2015, at the suggestion of Michael Menzel, and illustrated by him, the two-person card game “The Legends of Andor - Chada & Thorn” developed by Gerhard Hecht and the mini-expansion “Stinner - The Sea Warrior” appeared.

Also in 2015 the Kosmos-Verlag published the novel “The Legends of Andor - The King's Song”, written by Stefanie Schmitt and illustrated by Michael Menzel, which tells the story of the game.

Theme and equipment

The players slip into the role of heroes who protect the land of Andor from the invasion of evil creatures and have to complete various tasks. The heroes usually only work 7 hours a day, extra work is only possible with a special effort of will. In both parts of the introductory game, the players get to know the essential elements of the game based on the instructions for the first legend. Which tasks the players have to fulfill, they only find out in the course of the various legends. Five legends are played in the basic game, a sixth legend can be created by the players themselves. Michael Menzel offers a “Developer Guide” on the game's website for this purpose.

In addition to the game instructions and a lottery guide for the first legend, the game contains a lot of game material with which the various legends can be played:

A double-sided game board - the fictional land of Andor is on the front and is used for the first three legends, the back shows the entrance to the mine and is used in the fourth legend.
71 legend cards that describe each legend and are read by the narrator
a checklist card
an equipment board, on the back is the combat board
four hero panels
a narrator character
eight hero figures, one female and one male:
- Archer Pasco / Archer Chada from the Watchful Forest (green)
- Krieger Thorn / Kriegerin Mairen from the Rietland (blue)
- Magician Liphardus / Sorceress Eara from the north (purple)
- Zwerg Kram / Zwergin Bait from the deep mines (yellow)
28 creature figures
- 16 gors
- 5 skrals
- 5 trolls
- 2 wardraks
5 more figures
- dark magician
- witch
- Prince Thorald
- Shield dwarfs
- Dragon
a tower
20 dice, of which 4 are blue, 5 are green, 3 are yellow, 3 are red, 1 is purple and 4 are large black
9 wooden discs, two of which are blue, green, yellow and violet and one red
5 wooden stones, one each of blue, green, yellow, purple and red
4 fountain tiles
15 fog tokens
8 asterisks
3 red crosses to indicate blocked paths
1 N plate
7 blue text tiles for the first legend
15 creature tokens
four farmer tiles with a shield on the back
66 event and fate cards
26 gold tiles with the values 1, 2 and 5
6 parchments
a poison tile and 3 medicinal herb tiles
6 rune stones
11 gemstones
8 rubble tiles
24 pieces of equipment: 4 shields, 3 bows, 2 falcons, 3 helmets, 5 drinking tubes, 2 telescopes and 5 witch potions

Gameplay

The gameplay of The Legends of Andor is kept simple despite the complex background story: the heroes can either run as many spaces as they want across the board or fight against their opponents, and they can also carry out special actions on certain spaces. You have a certain number of game rounds available for your task, which are determined by the progress of the legends. To complete the tasks, the heroes have various tools at their disposal that can be found in Andor or purchased from traders and the witch. A legend ends when either the players have completed their task and kept enough creatures away from the castle to win, or when a certain number of creatures have reached the castle or the narrator reaches the end of the legend track (the letter N). In the last two cases, the players lost.

Extensions

Extensions (official)

The Legends of Andor - The Star Shield , due fall 2013
The Legends of Andor - New Heroes , expansion for 5 to 6 players, release date spring 2014
The Legends of Andor: Part 2 - "The Journey to the North" , due fall 2014
The Legends of Andor: Part 3 - "The Last Hope" (Standalone Game) Release date Fall 2016
The Legends of Andor - "Dark Heroes" , due spring 2017
The Legends of Andor - The Bonus Box, due fall 2017
The legends of Andor - The lost legends "Old Spirits", publication date autumn 2018
The Legends of Andor - The Lost Legends "Dark Times" , due fall 2020

Mini extensions (official)

Hero boards:

Wolf Warrior Orfen / Marfa (replace the dwarf Kram and the dwarf Bait)
The Stranger (template for creating your own heroes)
The Unknown Warrior (template for creating your own heroes)
Naraven (template for creating your own heroes)
Juna (template for creating your own heroes)
The Dark Eara / Der Dunkle Liphardus (replacing Sorceress Eara and Sorcerer Liphardus)

Game variants:

The reputation of the Skrale - card with which the difficulty level of Legends 2 to 5 can be increased.
The last campfire - card with which the difficulty level of Legends 2 to 5 can be reduced.
The wishing well - card with which wishes are granted through the sacrifice of wells.
Solo variant for legend 3
The tavern of Andor, mini expansion for legends 2, 3, 5 and the era of the star shield (supplement to the 2015 novel)
Koram, the Gor Chief (mini expansion for Legends 2 to 5 and the Era of the Star Shield)
The Chaos (mini expansion for legends 12 to 16)
Garz, the trade dwarf (mini expansion for legends 12 to 17)
The light of the 5th hour (mini expansion for all legends)
Moody forest spirits (mini expansion for the lost legends "old spirits")

Bonus legends:

The liberation of the mine
The King's Escort
The battle for Cavern
The hunt
The return of the Black Cog
The return
The fourth statue (Lost Legends "Old Spirits")

Fan legends

There are now over 200 fan legends in the official forum supported by the author.

Digital implementations

The app "The Legends of Andor - The King's Secret" was released in January 2019 for iOS and Android. The single player game consists of twelve additional legends that are set in Andor's past.