Continuing on the heels of the previous expansion, Mists of Bilehall, the heroes find themselves cursed, and each of them has become one of the undead. The goal of this one-act campaign is to find a cure and be released from the walking dead. This expansion can be used as a continuing story from the one-act campaign introduced in Mists of Bilehall.
Depending on the new details introduced in expansions for games, some are considered must haves, while others are easy to pass up. The Chains that Rust is a small box expansion that contains must have content.
Most significant in this expansion is the introduction of hybrid classes for heroes. This allows a hero of one archetype to use the class deck of a different archetype. That means a character could become a battlemage using both magic and weapons to fight the enemy. This aspect alone is worth the whole expansion. Wait, there's more.
Three new monster groups have been added to the Descent game experience. There are the marrow priests, the dispossessed and the shambling colossi. There is also a chance to use the lieutenant figures for Kybdrithul, Ardus Ix'Erebus and Zarihell.
New taint cards have been added in this expansion similar to those introduced in Mists of Bilehall. These cards are like a disease or curse heroes receive that can alter their stats and abilities in interesting ways. These taint cards represent the power and influence of the Mistlands.
Four new terrain effects are present in this expansion. Sludge causes characters to spend extra movement to traverse. Elevated terrain blocks movement but not line of sight and also gives a bonus to defense for those fighting across evelation lines. Old walls and crumbling terrain round out the new effects.
Monsters become more powerful with new monster relics. Usually restricted to lieutenants or heroes, relics can now be used by monster groups. These monster and universal relics cannot be used by lieutenants. However universal relics, once acquired, are available to an overlord player for the rest of the campaign.
There are nine new encounters in this campaign, which build upon one another. Similar to other Descent campaigns, players will not be able to play all the encounters, so there is a fair amount of replay value in the box. Also, the concluding encounter, "Profane Nexus" unfolds in three parts. There is a lot of adventure for the dollars here.
"Seeking sanctuary" is my favorite encounter because it introduces the realm of the lieutenant Zarihell (if one likes Zarihell, one is going to love this expansion). To beat it, there are more things to do than just fight monsters.
As a sum of its parts, Descent: The Chains that Rust is a must have expansion. It includes a number of new rules that are important and innovative to the game. The addition of hybrid classes is fantastic and a game changer.
For collectors of Descent, this expansion is a no-brainer. Go out and get it. There are a number of expansions for the game already, and this resides in the upper tier of quality. The new monster miniature sculpts are fantastic. There are also new tile, cards and tokens. All in all, it is a great expansion. Find out more at fantasyflightgames.com.