When we first announced Thunderstone Advance in January, people weren’t sure about this new game… they liked Thunderstone already. Weren’t we just messing with a good thing?

After unanimously positive reviews and a successful Level Up pre-release week, a majority of fans agreed, yes we were messing with a good thing. And we made it better!

Thunderstone Advance has been called a “superior play experience” and “streamlined, easier to learn, [with] lots of cool upgrades.”

Now, find out for yourself how good Thunderstone has become. Whether you’ve been playing since the first set, or just want to know what all the excitement is about, Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin is on sale! Buy it from your local game retailer today!

Then, starting next week, March 19, the Avatar mini-expansion goes on sale.

Avatars are cards that represent you, the Champion. You bring your own strengths and skills to the game, depending on your class and level. Wired Magazine’s Geekdad says this mini-expansion, “adds another layer of role-playing and strategy to the game, and they can even be used with the original series of games and expansions, too.”

We gave Avatars away with purchase during Level Up week. But if you couldn’t make it to a pre-release event, you can still buy them in our online store. Look for them in the Alderac store next week! Until then, here’s a taste of the cards, the thief avatar:

The full rulebook for Thunderstone Advance is now available for download in PDF format! You can read up on all the rules changes and new features of Thunderstone Advance in time for Level Up Weekend!

Thunderstone Advance Rulebook - 6.6 Mb PDF

Thunderstone Advance also includes a 4-page quick-start Learn to Play guide that you can also download that will help you start your adventure in Tala.

Thunderstone Advance Learn to Play Booklet – 2.5 Mb PDF

Ready to Level Up?

You might have already seen some of the great reviews we’re getting around the Web for Thunderstone Advance. Tom Vasel of Dice Tower reviews said, “I cant say enough good things about it.” The official release is scheduled for Monday, March 12. But you can get your copy early!

Game stores around the world are hosting a pre-release Level Up Event from March 2 until March 8. This week will your first chance to get your hands on the smash deckbuilder, with a bonus.

Participating Level Up retailers will receive Thunderstone Advance for sale before anyone else. In addition, they’ll receive an Avatars mini-expansion from distributors. Avatars will be FREE to customers who purchase the game during Level Up week. After that, they’ll be on sale for $9.99, so talk to your store owner about how to get them free during the store’s event.

Talk to your retailer now to reserve a copy and make sure you get your free Avatars! Tell retailers to contact customerservice@alderac.com for more information!

Welcome back to the Guardian! Curt Crane here to release our next group of spoilers.  Unfortunately, this group of cards is out to spoil your chances at winning.  Curses!  It’s … curses!

So, what are curses?  Curses are the new implementation of diseases–negative cards which clog your deck and ruin your chance at an effective turn.

Now, everybody hates diseases (or perhaps I should say “hates” diseases).  We recognize them as a necessary evil which helps open up card design possibilities.  Diseases are quite difficult to deal with–especially in multiples.  I still remember fondly … *grits teeth* … yes, fondly, my first introduction to a card called Creeping Death.

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Read part 2.

The Warrior was bored. He’d been back from the northern edge of Caledron for ten days. He’d spent nearly a month up there, including time recuperating from extreme frostbite. On the way back, he flew part of the way on a giant eagle—that was very exciting. Since then however, he had spent ten days listening to the dwarf historian, Ailig Holtt, explain historical and cultural elements of Dun Ordha. The last four of them just involved wandering the castle, Capitoline Mount, half-paying attention as Ailig sang ballads about Sorcha Edgewalker, the ancient adventures of the dwarven Sternn clan, and their modern remnants.

Yesterday, he realized he wasn’t just bored. Something was bothering him. He had been on Tala almost two months, traveled to the top of the world and back, and hadn’t seen anything like the “Dark Fire from the north.” No one around the village of Snowfall had heard of it either. The only mention of it had come from the druid he met when he first arrived.

The Warrior had been too stunned by the gate trip to Tala to get that druid’s name. Afterward, no one he asked seemed to know anything about him. Even Ailig, who seemed to know everybody, denied knowledge.

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