At the beginning of the year, a a competitive skirmish game called Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught was released. In this game, each player takes control of one of the two factions included in the game. It was even awarded our GeekDad Approved designation. The core game includes the Harpers and the Zhentarim factions. Then two more factions were released a couple months ago: the Red Wizards and the Many Arrows. Now you can hire mercenaries to add to any faction with the new Sellswords 1 Expansion Pack.
What Is the Sellswords 1 Expansion?
The Sellswords 1 Expansion Pack is an expansion for Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught and the core game is required for play. The expansion comes with four fully painted miniatures, four combat dial character cards, 8 level-up cards, and tokens. The Sellswords 1 Expansion Pack is currently available from your FLGS or from Amazon for a suggested retail price of $39.99. Amazon currently has a 20% discount. Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught was designed by Nicholas Yu and Travis Severance and published by WizKids, with graphic design by Richard Dadisman and art by Gong Studios. Now let’s take a look at these new characters.
Dralm
Dralm is a hybrid fighter who likes to get in close for melee attacks with his spiked gauntlet. His grapple attack can cause the target to be rooted if it hits, which then lets Dralm as a Tavern Brawler inflict an extra point of damage at the end of his activation. Dralm also has two runes, each of which can be used once during a game. The Hill Rune causes Dralm to suffer half damage for a short amount of time while he can react to being attacked with the Cloud Rune. This redirects the attack at an adjacent non-attacking enemy. If you need someone to rush in and engage the enemy, consider hiring Dralm.
Hangaku
Hangaku is a monk who assumes the role of melee fighter for any faction who hires her. Using a katana, she can inflict two damage with a +7 chance to hit. Or she can throw her kunai for a short ranged attack with less damage. Her Deft Strike ability allows her to make a melee attack as a bonus action, thus giving her a chance to attack twice during an activation. She also has the Kensei’s Shot ability for a powerful ranged attack. When attacked, Hangaku can react with an Agile Parry to gain additional defense against that attack. If all these features were not enough, Hangaku also has the One with the Blade passive effect which lets her ignore all damage reduction when she is making a melee attack.
Kithra Coldforge
Kithra is a paladin whose role focuses on ranged damage. While she wields a warhammer for melee attacks, Kithra is known for her throwing hammers which are a more powerful ranged attack. When she gets in close, she can use her Inflict Wounds ability to cause 4 damage to a target. She can also respond to an attack with Hellish Rebuke which deals an equal amount of damage back to the attacker. Finally, her Crown of Madness ability can target an enemy and cause them to make either a ranged or melee attack against a target of your choice.
Molly Farhill
Last but not least, Molly Farhill is a cleric who takes on the role of tactician of a faction. She has a mace for melee attacks and can use her Sacred Flame magic for ranged attacks. As bonus actions she can cast Oghma’s Blessing to either inflict 1 extra damage or gain 3 extra defense temporarily or she can cast Dispel Magic to remove a condition token from a mini. Her reaction of Read Thoughts lets her choose two enemy initiative cards, look at them, and then may choose to exchange them. This can really mess with an opponent’s plans.
Why You Should Get the Sellswords 1 Expansion
When playing with the Sellswords 1 Expansion Pack, you can add one of these characters to your faction for a game. The mercenary takes the spot of one of the five characters you can send into battle. Since each Sellsword has a different role, you can use one to improve a capacity of your faction and allow you to try something different. For example, add Hangaku as an additional melee fighter or Kithra Coldforge if you need more ranged attacks. Deciding which characters to take into a skirmish is part of the fun. Plus the system makes it easy. No counting points. Just pick five characters from the same faction–or add a Sellsword to your party as one of the five–and you are ready to play.
I have enjoyed playing Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught. I like that it comes with pre-painted miniatures that look great, pre-created characters that have unique abilities and stats, and combat dials to easily keep track of everything. Each of the four currently available factions are interesting and focus on different play styles. Now with the ability to hire a mercenary to add to your faction, players have new options for tactics and strategy. There are plans to release a Sellswords 2 Expansion Pack in the future with four new characters. With both Sellswords packs, players will be able to field a faction of only Sellswords which will be quite interesting since these characters seem to be more like individuals than the characters within the factions. I have already highly recommended Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught. Now I can also highly recommend the Sellswords 1 Expansion Pack
For more information, visit the Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught page!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
