The Fury Of Dracula

Contents
Box Contents
How to Play
Scores
My review
Expansions
Photos


Box Contents
Board with map of Europe and cities.
Hunter stats sheets: showing the mettle of the hunter
Hunter figures: for wandering about with
Dracula figure: only pops up when is found
Dracula location cards: Dracula’s definitely somewhere…
Item cards: for the hunters
Event cards: for somebody…
D6 dice: white for the hunters, black for Dracula red for the train.
Dracula reference sheet and map: for being discrete.
Hunter tactics cards: I’m sure these are supposed to do something…
Dracula tactics cards: Not nice
Agent tactics cards: As if it’s not already hard enough for the hunters…
Dracula power cards: Says it all really…
Reference cards: For referencing, obviously
A plethora of markers and tokens: for both sides (mostly Dracula). These deal with health, encounters, actioned actions and other stuff.

How to play
The object of the Fury of Dracula is to win.
Winning is dependent on the role you play.
If you’re Dracula, you win if you get your Vampire Counter up to 6. +2 every time a new Vampire matures (goes unfound and undefeated for 7 rounds. +1 every new day (every 7 rounds). +2 Every time a hunter is defeated.
If you’re a hunter, you win if you or another hunter kills Dracula by dropping his Blood Counter to 0.
1 player is chosen to be Dracula and the others each become one of the hunters.
Each hunter places their figure somewhere on the map. Dracula chooses a location card and places it face down.
Each turn, players can travel along the provided routes: road or train (which requires a die roll to see if it’s running and how far it’ll take you) or even boat. Each town and city gives the opportunity for the hunters to pick the bottom event card and giving it to Dracula if it’s one of his. Citys also allow the acquisition of an item card (hand limit of 4). Hunters bumble about the map, while Dracula places his location cards on the track along with any encounter tokens he wishes to play.
On the off-chance a hunter stumbles across one of these locations, it is reveal and any encounter happens. If a hunter is defeated, they end up in the hospital for a turn or two.
Dracula will gradually accumulate a bunch of powerful cards, some of which require him to lose one of his blood points to activate.
Once the hunters finally track down the fanged fiend, battle commences. Battle generally resolves around both combatants playing a card and rolling a die. The highest roller wins and metes out whatever punishment the cards state.
The game concludes either when Dracula gets his vampire score to 6, or the hunters are able to lower Dracula’s blood score to 0.
Scores

Number of players
End game conditions	Dracula loses all blood points or gains 6 vampire points.
Victory condition	As above
Replayability	Charity shop	With so many options, this should have tremendous replay value…
Reading Requirements	Oh yeah! I forgot it did that!	The small hand limit does have the advantage of not having too many cards to remember what they do. .
Rules Comprehension	Ah! Now I get it	Play is straightforward. However, the large variety of encounters and events can mean some repeated looks to the rulebook.
Game-Breakability	I win, I just got this card	The game does seem to be massively in favour of Dracula winning. However, blind luck and being in the right place at the right time with the right stuff can also turn the tables.
Durability	Use as directed	Cards. Don’t get ‘em wet. Also the plastic figures are study enough.
Box Size	Under arm	Useful square, not to hard to store.
Play Area	Dining Room Table	The board’s a reasonable size, but it’s the character sheets, and other played cards that need that extra room.
Component Stability	Indoors or no wind	Just don’t sneeze. Plastic figures are able to stand fine.
Storage Layout	Organised	To be honest, I didn’t pay that much attention. I assume there was some kind of insert.
Aesthetics	Unassuming	Went for the obvious Gothic horror, sepia tone, dark thematic look. I found it all a bit drab.
Turn Time/Involvement	That’s my turn done, I’ll go and put the kettle on	Particularly bad during battles you’re not involved with.
Game Length	Of an evening	Does depend on how long it takes to find Dracula.
Setup Time	Minutes	Just a few deck shuffles. Most of the tokens and stuff don’t feature until later, if at all

My Review
Disclaimer: You may want to take into account my predisposition against cooperative games when you read this one.
Having already played Scotland Yard, there was definitely a feeling of familiarity with this game. Okay, it’s got vampires in it, but even so…
Starting with the hide-and-seek mechanic, there is this thing called the thrill of the hunt which this game cleverly avoids completely. Starting out with nothing useful, hunters don’t want to find Dracula or have any encounters at all until they’ve stocked up on some handy stuff, like garlic, pistols and a change of underwear. So pity the poor sap who blunders into Dracula’s path too early.
When a hunter does feel ready and somehow knows where Dracula’s tail lies, with only a 4 card hand limit, you’re expected to enter an encounter fully prepared to deal with whatever. Invariably, you need whatever you’ve not got. With the Dracula player rolling the die on the outcome, a hunter feels pretty powerless to have any impact on the game at all.
If a hunter is correctly prepared and a bit of a punch-up ensues, the non-combatants, sit twiddling their thumbs or reading a handy TableTop magazine – also the impact of being defeated and sitting it out for a bit in the hospital.
When the game thankfully comes to a conclusion, I was so relieved that the outcome was irrelevant.
Final Verdict:
Truly awful! I haven’t been more bored playing a game and I’ve played Battlestar Galactica.

Expansions
None, thank goodness, though I hear that there’s now a third edition, which apparently improves some things, but makes other aspects less good.

Photos