It’s not that I don’t like board games, but that I just don’t have as much time to play them – my Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Tivo, and D20 Modern tabletop role-playing games all compete for time on my calendar. But then Wizards of the Coast offered me a chance to playtest Conquest of Nerath and I just couldn’t say no.

Conquest of Nerath is a Risk-like tabletop strategy game that involves moving armies across territories. Reminiscent of the Might & Magic games, Conquest of Nerath has two scales: army and hero scale. Armies, which range from creatures to castles, soldiers to ships, can only play across the terrain. Heroes, which include fighters and wizards, are an asset to an army and can also go dungeon crawling – which, let’s face it, is the whole point of playing a D&D-themed version of Risk.

I’ve been railing against the decoupling of Dungeons & Dragons from toy stores for over a decade now, and it’s refreshing to see Wizards of the Coast finally get it. Conquest of Nerath is not just D&D in name alone. It has a format and layout similar to 4thEdition Dungeons & Dragons, the terrain pieces are littered with familiar places like the Temple of Elemental Evil and the Tomb of Horrors, and the four different dragons actually look like their tabletop role-playing game counterparts. Conquest of Nerath is proud of its roots and it harkens back to the original Dungeons & Dragons set in utilizing heroes on the battlefield.

There are also several stylistic flourishes that appeals to veteran role-players. Gaming grognards will recognize the aforementioned staples of dungeon crawling but also have a weakness for dice (guilty!). The number of dice determines a monster’s hits, and you inflict one hit by rolling above a 6 on various dice. Dragons, in case you’re wondering, roll a d20. Conquest of Nerath comes with a lot of dice, but be warned – you will not have enough. But then again, if you’re anything like me, you have plenty of dice within each reach, if not stuck in your couch somewhere. If you like dice, you’re going to love Conquest of Nerath.

As a matter of necessity, the four armies of plastic pieces that come with the set are not 25mm scale. They’re probably more appropriate to a 15mm scale, although some are not necessarily scale-specific. Ogres could easily pass as goblins, treants could easily pass as…smaller treants. For those looking for repaints, this set won’t provide much fodder unless you plan to use the smaller scale, in which case $80 buys you four armies.

There are also event cards that mix up the game as well as treasure cards earned from dungeon crawling. If the game’s gorgeous design falls somewhat flat, it’s on the cards, which lack pictures. If I win a vorpal sword after battling a medusa, I want to see it!

Speaking of medusa, wizards and certain monsters have a first strike ability. Normally all damage is inflicted simultaneously, which ensures mutual destruction. But wizards have the ability to attack first before the opponent inflicts damage. They also can dungeon crawl. Although the damage they inflict is smaller, first strike is a very powerful ability and I ended up hording wizards as quickly as I could.

If Conquest of Nerath has a flaw it’s the fiddly bits: pieces for the dungeons, which could just as easily have been cards; treasury tokens that could easily be handled by counters; and victory points that could also have been handled by counters. I prefer less pieces, but then again I may be biased by my mobile one-year-old’s propensity to eat anything she can catch.

Conquest of Nerath is a long overdue game that bridges the gap between tabletop dungeon crawls and board games. It’s about time D&D got a decent shot at the mainstream game audience. Now all we need are conversion rules to integrate the Conquest of Nerath into mass combat rules for tabletop play!

You can view a slide show of the pieces at my RPG Examiner column.