I loved Primal: The Awakening, which I recently reviewed here. It is an amazing card-driven, cooperative boss battler with great monsters and a unique combat system.
Primal was created through a crowdfunding campaign. It has big minis. It is overproduced. So, would you be shocked to know that it also launched with FIVE expansions?
I am going to cover what each box adds, my opinion on whether it is worth it, and, finally, a priority list for acquiring them if you do not want to purchase all five.
Integrating the new content is VERY easy. While this may annoy some consumers, the core game was printed with the expansions in mind. The quest board includes nine locations, six for the element types in the core, and three for the new elements. New quest cards are added to the existing quest deck, with each new campaign book covering the quests related to their respective monsters. New keywords are covered in each rulebook as well.
Expansion Overviews
Mount Havoc Expansion
This is the most unique expansion of the five, as it adds no new monsters. More importantly, it includes two new hunters, their dashboards, and their cards. One hunter wields dual blades and the other utilizes a heavy gun. These hunters have their own playstyle and are completely different from each other, as well as the four from the core box. It also includes one additional copy of every helm, armor, item, and potion, from both the core set and all other expansions. Why? So you can play FIVE players. Note: DO NOT play five players.
It also includes all the weapon cards for all forges for both hunters, as well as twenty-seven new forges. Why twenty-seven? These new forges update the available crafting options to include dual blades and heavy guns.
Finally, this expansion includes an alternative, shortened campaign called “Mount Havoc,” and consists of three battles. It is more involved than a one-shot expedition, allows for you to experience player progression, but is much shorter than the base game campaign.
I highly recommend Mount Havoc. Adding two new hunters, for me, was the addition the base game needed most. Six hunters are significantly better than four, especially for those crazy people who like to play four players. Now you can leave the two hunters that no one wants behind! Plus, while I liked the bullet and reload system of the heavy gun, I LOVED the gameplay of the dual blades. Low to no cost actions, the ability to extend my Sequence beyond five cards, and a new ability, Overrun, which allows you to move to the opposite side of the board, doing damage along the way with the right cards.
Nightmare Expansion
Of all the expansions, this one adds the most new monsters (four in total). It includes three new miniatures, but four new opponents. How is that possible? One miniature includes two completely different sets of monster stances, behavior, objective, and peril cards. Nightmare does not add any new forges or weapons. armor, helms, items, or potions because their elements are covered by either the base game or the Feather expansion.
The new monsters can all be added to the main campaign, adding more quest alternatives. It adds one additional fire element beast and one lightning monster, albeit with two personalities. The expansion also includes the titular “Nightmare” variant, adding new stances and behaviors for ten of the behemoths. The content for this variant is for one opponent of each element type; six from the base game, and one each from the four expansions that include new monsters. These new, more difficult monsters can be used in both the campaign and expedition mode.
This is a difficult expansion to recommend. It is clearly meant as the cherry on top of the other expansions because it includes material that is tied to the other new content. If you are going to get the other four, then Nightmare is another no brainer; however, if you are looking to only pick up one or two, this would be the expansion I recommend least.
Feather, Ice, and Venom Expansions
The other three expansions are all very similar. They add two new beasts for each of the three new elements (Feather, Ice, and Venom), as well as the associated forge and twelve new weapons (three levels for all four base game hunters – remember that the Mount Havoc includes weapons for all expansion forges already). They also include armor, helm, item, and reward cards. Finally, they expand the campaign and expedition variety because all the monsters can easily be added.
My Recommendation
Assuming you will NOT be buying all the new content, or are looking for the order in which I would recommend you acquire them, this is my recommendation for the best to worst expansion to purchase:
1. Mount Havoc – no brainer. The two hunters are phenomenal, it allows more options for higher player count games, they are easy to integrate into the core game, and it offers a shorter campaign with progression.
2. Feather – this is my favorite of the three new element expansions, mostly because I love both the monsters and their sculptures.
At this point, my recommendation will split into two paths, a. or b.:
3.
a. Nightmare – if you buy Mount Havoc and Feather, and you do not care about utilizing all the monsters modified by the Nightmare Variant, this would be my next recommendation. All four of the included monsters will have their associated forges and loot cards.
b. Ice – if you do not want Nightmare, this would be my next recommendation. Why Ice? I hate poison debuffs in pretty much every game I play.
4.
a. Ice – As stated above, I prefer Ice to Poison because of the poison debuffs.
b. Venom – the two monsters are interesting, especially Reikal, the snake-like monster, which also happens to be one of my favorite sculpts. I just really dislike poison debuffs.
5.
a. Venom – see 4b.
b. Nightmare – at this point, you would have all of the monsters impacted by the Nightmare variant, so if you bought the other four, you might as well buy this one as well.
Final Thoughts:
I am required by board game review law to state the Expansion Review Mantra – “If you did not like the Primal base game, these expansions will not change your mind about Primal.”
Ok, with that out of the way, I highly recommend getting at least one or two expansions if you really enjoyed Primal. The base game is great; however, the new content injects more variety into the game. I loved the Dual Blade Hunter, and I really liked the additional monsters to spice up the campaign and provide more quest options. You have up to three new elements and their respective forges (and loot). *Follow my recommendations above if you don’t want to purchase all five*
Hits:
• Two new Hunters
• New monsters
• More campaign variety
Misses:
• Expensive to purchase all five expansions
