Chris,

Here's a brief summary of my feelings for the Duel of Ages:

Set 2: More platters, more characters, more labyrinth challenges. Very worthwhile (unlike many others, I am not enthralled with the team bases, though)
Set 3: More platters. IMHO, there are enough in the first 2 sets. If you play a lot, this may be worth it. I didn't bother.
Set 4-7: I bought them all in my initial excitement for the game, but honestly I don't think I would do it again. At a certain point, the new stuff stops mattering. I would recommend playing with sets 1-2 for a good while before getting these ones. If you only get one, choose Royal Tournament, as the new adventure Key it provides works nicely with the base sets. Second would be Mercenary camp. The last two present vastly diminishing returns (field of honour doesn't "feel" right, and Lith Strategica is too difficult to ever get attempted).
Set 8: This is a bug fix primarily. There is new stuff, but it's reason for being is to distribute a new rulebook and tweaked versions of existing characters. The rulebook is very useful, but you can download it from their website, so I don't recommend this set unless you've played the base sets a lot and want the fixed characters because the "broken" ones bother you. Personnaly, I haven't bought it.

Enjoy the game! It's one of my favorites.

Very helpful Miguel - thanks! That confirms my suspicion that set 2 is probably my best bet for now.

I know.. Forget DOA and just buy an ASL expansion! LOL

Steadman? Who's that nut?!? Must be some crazy Grognard! ;)

Hmmm...Chris, you seem to be a few weeks or so ahead of me with your game selection and your boys. I've been getting more interested in this lately as well. Have you played the new edition of Runebound and how do they compare? At the very least, I'll get a chance to play DoA at our upcoming loooong weekend of gaming with my group. A couple of the guys coming this year have complete DoA sets and will be teaching anyone interested.

We haven't played the second edition of Runebound yet (though we picked it up at GenCon). There are definite similarities between the two games, but Duel of Ages definitely has more player interaction and conflict. The boys also like the team aspect to DoA. Both will continue to get played in our house.