World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King introduces quests, mounts and miniatures to the Pandemic spin-off
Releasing this autumn.
Pandemic’s upcoming World of Warcraft spin-off Wrath of the Lich King will add new gameplay mechanics, including the ability to complete quests, to the co-op board game based on the MMO.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - A Pandemic System Board Game, to call it by its incredibly unwieldy full name, was first teased earlier this month as a crossover between publisher Z-Man Games’ hit co-op title about curing diseases and developer Blizzard’s hugely popular online multiplayer RPG set in the fantasy world of Azeroth.
Specifically, Wrath of the Lich King draws from the expansion to the PC game that shares its name, as players take control of World of Warcraft heroes including Thrall, Varian Wrynn and Sylvanas Windrunner - each represented by plastic miniatures - and battle with the Scourge before facing off against the corrupted Prince Arthas Menethil, better known as the Lich King. Like Pandemic’s player roles, each character has a unique power, from extra armour to the ability to teleport or attack adjacent spaces.
Gameplay is built on Pandemic’s familiar basics, with players moving between locations across Azeroth’s chilly continent of Northrend and spending actions to remove the Scourge, which take the place of the original game’s disease cubes. Scourge ghouls and the tougher abominations can deal damage to the players, with players able to roll dice and spend attack cards to defeat enemies, or block and heal using other actions and cards.
Instead of needing to cure four diseases, players must complete three quests, a new addition to Wrath of the Lich King inspired by the dungeons and instances of World of Warcraft. There are nine possible quests in the game, with three appearing in each playthrough. Once they reach the quest’s location, players can roll dice to progress along a track of matching symbols, with each player on the space able to spend a card from their hand to advance additional spaces.
Completing quests provides reward cards, including the chance to gain mounts, equipment, items and event cards to help them in their fight against the Lich King in the Icecrown Citadel, with a number of familiar World of Warcraft icons making an appearance.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will be released this autumn, priced at $59.99 in the US.