Fury of Dracula

It's only appropriate- my 13th post in October is on Halloween and reviewing the 2015 release, Fury of Dracula (third edition).  For 2-5 players, it takes 2-3 hours.

Overview
Dracula is loose in Europe, intent on dominating the continent (which, here, means gaining 13 influence).  Four vampire hunters- Lord Godalming, Mina Harker, Van Helsing, and Doctor Seward- are determined to stop him.  Who will prevail?

Fury of Dracula is played over a series of days and weeks.  One player is Dracula; the others are the four hunters.  There are always four hunters [regardless of player number- some players may have additional hunters to control].  This is a one vs. many hidden movement game- Dracula's location is hidden, indicated by location cards placed face-down on a 'trail' on the side of the board.  Hunters move around the map of Europe searching for the vampire, and on each of Dracula's turns, he'll move by placing a new location facedown on the trail after sliding the existing ones down one space.  If any hunter lands on a location present on the track, Dracula must reveal it.  If a player lands on Dracula's location, a fight ensues.

the game board; image from here

The game starts on Monday, during the day [note the 'wheel of time' in the above map]. The hunters go first, each taking one action during the day (actions are described below).  The game proceeds to Monday night, where the hunters again each take an action.  Then, before Tuesday morning, Dracula gets a turn.  He chooses a new location to move to, slides his cards down the trail, and seeds an encounter card on it.  Then it's Tuesday morning, and the hunters go again.  Turns proceed in like fashion- hunters (day action), hunters (night action), Dracula- through days and weeks until Dracula wins or is killed.

Hunter actions are varied.  They can:
- move by road, rail or boat (all during the day only- no moving at night),
- supply (drawing item and event cards- only if in a large city),
- take a train ticket (to move by rail on a later action),
- rest (heal),
- trade (items with another player in the same city),
- search (if at a revealed Dracula hideaway with encounter card), or
- do a special action (each hunter has special abilities; event cards can grant special actions too)

Dracula gets points primarily through encounter cards.  If a location on the trail 'matures' by sliding off the board (the track has six spaces), and that location has an unrevealed encounter card on it, Dracula can reveal it and potentially gain influence points.  In addition, he gets points through 'biting' opponents during combat or defeating them.

a game in progress; image from here

Combat is interesting.  When it happens, a player takes three 'standard' fight cards, combines it with any item cards they've collected, and secretly chooses one.  Dracula has his own deck of cards and does the same.  Both combatants reveal their chosen card at the same time, and one or both is resolved depending on the icons present on each (it's similar to rock-paper-scissors).  Players keep choosing and revealing cards until combat ends (after six rounds, or one person dies, or one person escapes).


Review
This game is a mixed bag.  Pros: the map is beautiful, some mechanics are interesting, they capture the elusiveness of the vampire well, and it's suspenseful.  Cons: some rules are hazy or oddly presented, there are lots of things to remember, Dracula can't go back to a location until it slides off the hideaway track, and the game is looooong.  I like it in a 'once a year on a spooky night' kind of way.

Rating: B