What's in Your Dragon's Hoard? A Set Collection Game

Play as a fearsome dragon, collecting sheep to fill your hoard with valuable treasures and beat out all those other noisome dragons competing against you.

A set collection game with an amusing theme, Dragon’s Hoard wants to know: do you have what it takes to be a dragon?

Gameplay

The game is made up of a deck of cards. Each card is double-sided. The back shows a sheep of one of five colors. The other side shows either a treasure, a lair, a wild sheep (which can be played as any colored sheep) or an action card.

Each player is dealt four cards at the start of the game. Four cards are then laid out in the middle of the table, sheep side up, to create the field, and the remaining cards are set beside it. On your turn you draw two to three cards (depending on the number of players). You may draw either from the field or the draw deck. If you take a card from the field, it is immediately replaced by the top card of the draw deck before you take your next card.

After you draw you may take up to two actions, but you cannot repeat the same action twice. You may play an action card and you may play a treasure or lair from your hand. Some examples of action cards include the thief that will steal two cards from an opponent, or the angry mob that will force another player to discard half of their hand. If an action card is played against you, you can use a dragon card to prevent it, unless the original action card was played alongside a wizard card, which makes it unstoppable.

Treasure cards come in different values and in order to play them you must play a certain number of sheep, with the number depending on the treasure card. Some of these sheep must also be a matching color to the treasure. So, during the game you will be playing cards both for the sheep side as well as the treasure/action side of the card.

Lairs also come in colors. You may only have one lair of each color and only a certain number of lairs depending on player count. You may put treasure into a lair of a matching color, and at the end of the game you earn bonus points for the number of treasure cards in each of your lairs.

Once a player has collected a certain number of treasure cards the game ends and the player with the most points wins, adding together the value of their played treasure cards as well as any bonus points from their lairs.

Review

Dragon’s Hoard is a very easy game to learn and teach. The gameplay is simple but some interesting choices are hidden within, and the double-sided nature of the cards leads to some fun dilemmas as you must choose when to save a card for what’s on the front or when to spend it as a sheep. Including action cards in the gameplay poses a nice, extra layer to player turns as well, and there are a nice range of abilities.

The components are gorgeous with lovely artwork and nice, oversized cards. The game has an enjoyable thematic flavor, with treasures coming in a fun range of types, and the idea of spending sheep to collect thrones or royalty is definitely amusing.

Dragon’s Hoard is unlikely to wow you or become your new favorite game, but it makes for a pleasing thirty minutes and you’re unlikely to come away unhappy with it.

The designers have clearly put thought into balancing the game for two to four players, as the rules are tweaked slightly for each number you play with. This level of thought is appreciated and keeps the game from either running too long or becoming unbalanced. If you enjoy set collection or a looking for a pleasant, light card game, Dragon’s Hoard fits the bill nicely.

Pros: Good components, sheep and treasure being on the same card pose some interesting choices

Cons: Does not offer much that is new

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.