Game Objective

In Darkest Dungeon: The Board Game – The Crimson Court, players explore the Crimson Court, an expansion location that adds a new scenario filled with rooms, curiosities, monsters, and exclusive bosses. The goal is to explore this location, face its dangers, and recover treasures and valuable objects that are decaying in the swamp's humidity to bring them back.

Preparation (Setup)

To add the Crimson Court to your campaign, follow these setup steps:

• Rooms and Areas: Find the Room Pieces and Room Cards for the location. Shuffle the pieces and place them in an easily accessible location, stacking the room pieces nearby.
• Missions: Add the Mission Cards for the Location. When choosing a mission, select two Mission Cards from the appropriate level (they can be from the same location or different locations).
• Monsters: Create the Monster Deck by shuffling the Monster Cards from the Location at the appropriate level with the Common Monster Cards of the same level. Add the Monster Cards and Miniatures for the Location.
• Curiosities: Create the Curiosity Deck by shuffling the exclusive Curiosity Cards from the Crimson Court with the Common Curiosity Cards.
• Bosses: At the start of the campaign, shuffle all available Boss Cards (based on the chosen locations) by level to create the Boss Deck. Add the Boss Cards and Miniatures for the Location.

Game Flow

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Actions and How to Play

The game involves exploring rooms and battling monsters and bosses. Below are the specific rules for encounters with the bosses of the Crimson Court:

Boss Encounters

• Countess:
  1. Place the Countess Room Card and Room Piece in play.
  2. Position the Countess Combat Card in the Aggressive Monster Posture and the miniature in the corresponding area.
  3. Shuffle four Hero Initiative Cards and three Monster Initiative Cards in the Initiative Deck.
• Viscount:
  1. Place the Viscount Room Card and Room Piece in play.
  2. Position the Viscount Combat Card in the Aggressive Monster Posture and the miniature in the corresponding area.
  3. Place the Bloated Body card in the Defensive Monster Posture, the Body card in the Attack Monster Posture, and the Wasted Body card in the Support Monster Posture, with their respective miniatures.
  4. Shuffle four Hero Initiative Cards and three Monster Initiative Cards in the Initiative Deck.
  5. Special Effect: When the Viscount is defeated, remove all Bodies from play.
• Garden Guardian:
  1. Place the Garden Guardian Room Card and Room Piece in play.
  2. Position the Garden Guardian Combat Card in the Aggressive Monster Posture and the miniature in the corresponding area.
  3. Place the Blood Source card in the Ranged Monster Posture and the Stone Shield card in the Support Monster Posture, with their respective miniatures.
  4. Shuffle four Hero Initiative Cards and four Monster Initiative Cards in the Initiative Deck.
  5. Special Effect: When the Garden Guardian is defeated, remove the Blood Source and Stone Shield from play.
• Baron:
  1. Place the Baron Room Card and Room Piece in play.
  2. Position the Baron Combat Card in the Aggressive Monster Posture and the miniature in the corresponding area.
  3. Place three Pulsating Eggs (one in each area marked with the Egg Icon).
  4. Shuffle four Hero Initiative Cards and four Monster Initiative Cards in the Initiative Deck.
  5. Special Effect: When the Baron is defeated, remove all Eggs and Monsters from play.

Specific Mechanics

• Baron's Actions: The number of actions the Baron takes per round is calculated as: 4 minus the number of other Monsters in play. If he is alone, he acts 4 times; if there is an invoked monster, he acts 3 times, and so on. Pulsating Eggs do not count as monsters for this calculation.
• Impassable Walls: Black rectangles on some room pieces are called Impassable Walls, a term used for effects activated by the Garden Guardian.
• Movement: Heroes and Monsters can pass through certain areas but cannot end their turn in them.

End of Game and Scoring

The manual mentions that the first Loot Chest in each Objective Room contains a valuable item instead of the normal reward. The reward for returning a Valuable item is 1 XP. For details on the final victory, defeat, and total point count conditions, refer to the manual.

Tips for Winning

• Monster Management against the Baron: Since the Baron's actions decrease as the number of other monsters in play increases, controlling the number of active enemies can limit how often the boss acts.
• Focus on Objectives: Prioritize exploring Objective Rooms to ensure the acquisition of Valuable items, which grant XP when returned.