New D&D Onslaught Starter Set: Tendrils of the Lichen Lich (First Look)
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The last few years has seen Dungeons & Dragons appear in multiple different formats, with everything from new video games to big screen Hollywood films. We’ve also a new era of D&D board games that seek to capture the essence of the legendary tabletop RPG.
One of the most popular recent board games has been WizKids’ 2023 skirmish title D&D Onslaught, which combines many of the game mechanics that will be familiar to D&D fifth edition players, while also offering up a fast-paced style of play designed to appeal to more traditional war gamers.
Since its release, WizKids has launched a variety of Onslaught expansions that include new scenarios, miniatures and factions. Now they’ve also announced the new Onslaught Starter Set: Tendrils of the Lichen Lich. So just what can new and returning players expect to find in this upcoming release? Below we break out all the details.
What is D&D Onslaught?
Dungeons & Dragons Onslaught is a two-player competitive skirmish game developed by WizKids. In the game, each player controls an adventuring party aligned with Forgotten Realms factions such as the Harpers, Red Wizards of Thay and the Zhentarim. Players are presented with a number of specific pre-made scenarios that involve exploring dungeons, battling monsters and taking on the other players’ adventuring parties. The goal is to collect treasure and earn experience points in order to level up characters as each scenario is completed.
The core gameplay resolves actions and combat using a system of dice rolls, upgrade cards and a figure base dial that’s similar to the popular HeroClix miniatures combat game, which is also developed by WizKids.
What’s included in the new Tendrils of the Lichen Lich Starter Set?
As a starter set for D&D Onslaught, Tendrils of the Lichen Lich is designed to offer everything that’s needed for first-time players to learn the game, with all of the miniatures, dice and game components needed for a two-player set up. Existing Onslaught players, however, may also be interested in picking up the starter set as it also introduce two new factions: the Emerald Enclave and Lord’s Alliance (both of which will be familiar to fans of the Forgotten Realms).
The set includes:
- 8 Fully-Painted Miniatures
- 4 Map Tiles
- 4 Twenty-Sided Dice
- 6 Character Cards
- 3 Dial Tracker Cards
- 2 Tarot Cards
- 26 Standard Cards
- 27 Mini Cards
- 95 Tokens
- 1 Token Bag
- 17 Terrain Elements
- 1 Rulebook
Notably the miniautres, map tiles and scenarios are all completely new, so may also be of interest to existing Onslaught fans.
How much is Onslaught: Tendrils of the Lichen Lich?
The Onslaught Starter set will retail for $99 USD, which is actually a fair bit cheaper than the standard Onslaught Box set, which retails for $139.99 USD (although you may be able to get it a bit cheaper on Amazon or other retailers).
The reduced price point of the starter is clearly designed to attract new users to the game, since some of the criticism of the game is that it can be expensive to get going.
When is the New Onslaught Starter Set Coming Out?
The Tendrils of the Lichen Lich starter set will be available in June 2024 and is currently available for pre-order now.
Final Thoughts
It’s great to see WizKids continuing to promote Onslaught with new products, and the game has clearly picked up traction with both D&D fans and board gamers alike. The starter set is a logical next step, offering new factions while also including a lower price point that will be attractive to both new and existing players.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on the new starter set in the days ahead and will update this page with more information (and a review) once it’s available.
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Paige Stuart is a Staff Writer who lives in Chicago, Illinois where she majored in English Literature at Northwestern University. She’s relatively new to Dungeons & Dragons having started playing 5th edition several years ago. Her favorite D&D campaign setting so far is the Forgotten Realms and her favorite character to play is a Wizard named Felician who hurls both bad puns and fireballs with equal ease.
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