'Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruins'

Thunderstone is the first deck building game for the board game club, although it uses a system established by Dominion. I love the concept of going preparing my characters with spells, weapons and equipments, and heading off into the dungeon to kill the monsters that have been terrorizing the villagers. During the next few months, we stopped playing it and have not looked back ever since. Maybe it's because the game takes too long, or maybe because we got burned out by playing too much in too short of a time. I did not get the last 3 expansions as they seem too samey as the original one.

Recently, I got wind of Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruins awhile back and was wondering what new things could have been added. I knew the artwork has changed, and some stuff are tweaked. But there weren't any in-depth info on it. Today, I watched the DiceTower review of the game and somehow, it revived the long lost excitement that I first had when playing Thunderstone. The DiceTower released 2 reviews, one for new players and the other for Thunderstone veterans. As much as I am excited over the new changes that I believe will make Thunderstone a more strategic and better game (the preparation phase, obtaining familiars, etc.), it was the board that made me smile. I had longed for a board like that for my Thunderstone game sessions. Having it adds a layer of immersion that is just lacking with the original one. I will surely be picking this up for the board game club when it's released.