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Tamashii: Chronicle of Ascend
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Rules assistance for The Great Wall: Iron Dragon
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 1–4 players
- 120–180 min
- 13+
- Complexity 3.7/5
Rules assistant for The Great Wall: Iron Dragon
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Great Wall: Iron Dragon is an expansion for The Great Wall released in 2021 for 1–4 players, 120–180 minutes per game, and ages 13 and up. It was designed by Kamil 'Sanex' Cieśla, Łukasz Włodarczyk, and Robert Plesowicz and its main mechanics are Income, Secret Unit Deployment, and Worker Placement.
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About the game
This special addon consists of 1 big miniature, 1 mini board and deck of 5 cards. The Dragon is the weapon of last resort, to use if you see that you won’t be able to hold a Wall. Using it carries great danger, but usually positive effects will overshadow the negatives. If you want to use Iron Dragon you will have to assign Clerk to it. First player will have to spend resources to cast the cannon, but will get to choose on which Wall Section it will be deployed. It is obvious, that Emperor will bestow great Honor on the one, who created such a great weapon. Then, all players can send their Clerk to shoot from the Iron Dragon. When player shoots, they draw 1 card from mini-deck, showing what effect the shot had. Effects vary from blowing huge hole in the Horde card, through just scaring them off for a turn, to cannon exploding and destroying current level of the wall. If you do not like the random effect you can play that you can choose the effect - even exploding it sometimes, so other player cannot use it or you can build it (and earn Honor for doing so) yourself. —description from the publisher
Mechanics
Publishers
- Maldito Games
- Awaken Realms
Questions and answers
The Great Wall: Iron Dragon supports 1–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for The Great Wall: Iron Dragon is 120–180 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists The Great Wall: Iron Dragon for ages 13 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
The Great Wall: Iron Dragon has a complexity rating of 3.7 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-weight game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The Great Wall: Iron Dragon belongs to these categories: Economic, Territory Building, and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Income, Secret Unit Deployment, and Worker Placement. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Great Wall: Iron Dragon are: Kamil 'Sanex' Cieśla, Łukasz Włodarczyk, and Robert Plesowicz. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Great Wall: Iron Dragon as an expansion for The Great Wall. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need The Great Wall to use it. Check that your edition of The Great Wall is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.