War of the Dragon – Hero Mode

War of the Dragon: The Wheel of Time^® is coming to Kickstarter next Wednesday, 5/27! (Sign up early to get two of the campaign-exclusive bonus promo cards for free!) With two ways to play, Hero Mode and Epic Mode, the game scales from “you facing impossible odds” all the way up to “world-shaking conflicts that reshape kingdoms.” Today we’re taking a first-look at Hero Mode and what’s in store for fledgling adventurers going up against the forces of The Dark One.

If you’re a fan of The Wheel of Time^® or simply love a tense, asymmetric two-player strategy game that feels epic without requiring a weekend to learn, Hero Mode is your entry point. Designed as the complete yet approachable version of War of the Dragon: The Wheel of Time, Hero Mode lets you jump straight into the drama of Rand al’Thor and his allies racing to unite the fractured Westlands while the Forsaken scheme to tear it all down. One player commands the Light; the other the Shadow. Both sides share the same five actions, but they use them in very different ways to prepare for Tarmon Gai’don — The Last Battle.

The Object of the Game: Preparing for The Last Battle

The entire game plays out over three Chapters. In each Chapter, you’ll draw a hand of cards (4, 5, and 6 respectively), and take turns playing one card and choosing one of five actions, until both players have played their whole hand.

Throughout each chapter, you’ll watch the map, your leaders, and your personal tableau evolve, and when the third Chapter ends, both players tally victory points across five categories. The highest total wins, but the Shadow wins ties — after all, The Dark One only needs the Light to fail.

The goal of the game, then, is to come out on top by tactically balancing your priorities. Each category of scoring represents a metric that gauges a player’s influence over the Westlands and their preparedness for the Last Battle:

• Banner Tracks: Each player has scoring tracks that increase based on how much of the map they control — the more of the Westlands under your banner, the better.

• Wheel Tracks: Important missions throughout the game advance your Wheel Track. Gain endgame VPs based on your final position.

• Patterns: Points are awarded to players who have accumulated the most icons of each of five skills. Enlisting the help of Allies will improve your reach here.

• Leaders: At the end of the game, both players’ leaders will face off against each other, with points granted for each winning matchup. Invest in your heroes to see them grow stronger throughout the game.

How a Chapter Flows

At the start of each Chapter, you reveal two missions (adding unique objectives to each round), refresh the ally row, and draw your hand. Then you alternate turns, selecting an action and playing one card each turn until both players’ hands are empty. Each mission has designated spaces on the map, and controlling those spaces gives you more sway when the missions are scored.

When the Chapter ends, both sides recover (Routed characters move to Ready, and Ready characters return to the map, missions are resolved, and points are scored for map control). After Chapter 3, it’s time for Final Scoring!

The Westlands Map: Marching Your Characters to Victory

The beautiful main board shows the Westlands divided into seven colored regions. The Light starts with Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Lan setting out from points like the Two Rivers and the Stone of Tear. The Shadow begins with the Forsaken such as Sammael, Rahvin, and Graendal in the lairs they’ve established. Scattered across the map are seven regions, filled with cities and areas to control.

Your primary means of exerting influence is through your characters. Leaders (such as Rand, Mat, and Perrin) are powerful and can grow stronger throughout the game, while other characters can provide support. When you control spaces — by having characters or control markers there — you can claim entire regions. Controlling a region allows you to claim it with your region badge and advances your Banner tracker. The more regions you hold, the more banner progress you make.

The Shadow has an additional tool at its disposal: Corruption. By placing corruption markers in friendly cities, the Shadow gains extra strength in those spaces and advances on their Corruption tracker at the end of every Chapter. The Light wants to sweep across the map and claim territory; the Shadow wants to spread rot from within while contesting key locations.

Both players also have a personal player board to track their leaders’ strength and manage their Wheel tracker. Advancing it grants rewards and positions you for big points at the end of the game.

Cards, Skills, and the Five Actions

Every turn you do two things: play a card from your hand face-up, then move your action pawn to one of the five shared actions on the action board. These five actions are the engine of the game. You’ll use them every turn, but the order and combination in which both players use them will make or break their game.

Importantly, both players share the same action board — and you can take an action that is already occupied, but it’ll come at an extra cost. Additionally, each action grants a powerful bonus effect if you have three or more icons of the matching skill from your cards and Allies.

Ally

Recruit allies to your cause by choosing one of three face-up Allies, or drawing a random one from the deck. Allies grant an immediate favor (a one-time bonus), and add more skill icons to your tableau. The more icons you have, the better — not only for gaining access to more powerful actions, but also for endgame scoring!

Mobilize

The Mobilize action is your main method of moving characters across the map. You can move groups of characters together, split them up, or move the same character[s] multiple times. Mobilizing is how you claim regions, contest mission spaces, and fight. Moving into an enemy-controlled space requires strength. You have to exceed your opponent’s strength level to move into their space, and if you do, you will rout their characters and claim control!

Reinforce

The Reinforce action allows you to recover and empower your characters. It increases a leader’s strength, and reinvigorates fallen characters. Routed characters advance to the “Ready” spot on your player board, and “Ready” characters return back to the map. Making your heroes as strong as possible is critical — it makes it easier to gain territory in the Westlands, and it will matter at the end of the game, where each player’s heroes face off against each other in a final clash for endgame scoring.

Consolidate

Consolidate is the action you want to take to boost your economy. It grants you 3 crowns, which is the main currency of the game: used to pay for occupied actions, leaving control markers when your characters exit spaces, or boosting strength when moving into enemy territory. This action also provides unique benefits based on which side you’re playing — +1 strength to a leader for the Light, and a corruption marker in a friendly city for the Shadow.

Weave

The Wheel turns and the One Power pours into the stories across the land. The Weave action allows you to advance your Wheel tracker, providing powerful benefits the further you advance, and also allows you to add control markers to one of the open Missions. Missions are the narrative heart of each chapter, and winning them grants valuable rewards.

The Wheel of Time Turns

Between the map, your leaders, your growing tableau of Allies, the shared actions, and the constant tension between expanding on the board, every decision in War of the Dragon has a ripple effect: do you Mobilize aggressively to grab a region and claim a mission space, or do you Consolidate to keep your crown supply healthy so you can have more action economy later? Do you Weave to gain influence in a pivotal mission, or Reinforce to grow Rand’s strength for the end-game showdown?

Whether you’re new to board games or a veteran looking for something fresh that two players can finish in 60-90 minutes, Hero Mode delivers an experience that is approachable enough to learn in one evening, yet deep enough that every choice matters. The map, your tableau, your leaders, and your tracks are where the game is won and lost — and where the fate of the world is decided.

The Last Battle is coming… which side will you choose?

Your next grand board game adventure is about to begin as War of the Dragon: The Wheel of Time launches on Kickstarter on Wednesday, May 27th!