Lords of Waterdeep: A D&D based Board Game

Not that long ago I had the chance to attend a board game night and sample a bunch of really cool new games.  Today I had the opportunity to revisit the game that I was actually most impressed with.  That game was Lords of Waterdeep.
Set in the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Lords of Waterdeep  dispenses with  all of the role playing elements of D&D in favour of a very slick, multi-turn based round centric play system.  You don't need to know anything about D&D to pick up and enjoy this game, but if you are a fan, you will appreciate a few of the finer points.
Sidebar: I played alot of D&D in Elementary and High School.  Make that that ALOT.  It was actually Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition, and all most exclusively set in The Realms, and while I preferred to play, I DM'd most of the campaigns that I was involved with.  I haven't played in over 12 years, mainly because I can't find a group of people with the same interests and availability.  So now that we have established that I was (am) a huge nerd, with legit nerd street cred, back to Lords of Waterdeep.

The game mechanics work like this:  Each player controls a faction of a secret society within Waterdeep, which faction you choose has no impact on game play, other than deciding the colour of your DnDeeple.  Each player also randomly selects one Lord Card that grants bonus's at the end of the game for completing specific Quest types. At the beginning of the game you have 2 agents that you can use to generate resources and complete quests.  In order to complete quests, you must first generate a supply of resources to add to your pool.  These resources include Gold, and hirelings.  Specifically you are trying to recruit followers of the 4 basic character classes: Warriors, Wizards, Clerics, and Rogues.  Each class of hireling is designated by a different coloured cube.  Resources are earned by assigning an agent to a specific location on the game board.  After an agent has been assigned and the resources collected, you have the option of completing a quest, assuming that you have the required resources.  There are different categories of quest cards, including Piety, Commerce, Warfare, Arcana, Skulldugery, and each Quest requires different resources to complete and offers different rewards.
Agents can also be assigned to build new buildings which add new and interesting elements to the game play.
There are also Intrique cards which shake things up a little bit, adding a fun and often surprising dynamic to the game play.

The artwork of the box, game board, and various cards are done by the same folks who design game supplements for the current edition of D&D, so it all feels right.  As someone who has been very immersed in Realms Lore over the years, I appreciated the short blurbs on all of the quest cards, many of which tie into well known plot points from the various Realms supplements that have been published over the years.  Of course, a player who was new to the genre wouldn't really be missing anything, as none of this affects the actual game play.
The game continues for 8 turns, and the winner is decided by a combination of total points acquired, bonus points awarded by the players secret lord, and the amount of minions, and gold remaining at the end of the game.  Today we played with 5 players,  2 of whom were new to the genre.  Everyone picked up the game play mechanics very quickly, and I think we all had a lot of fun.  Each time I have played this game I have found myself taking a very different strategy, and I enjoy the fact that, much like D&D, the game changes dramatically based on the actions of the people you are playing with.
This is a wicked board game that I will be adding to my personal collection very soon!  Especially since a little interweb research tells me that they have just published a 6 person expansion.