Settlement 2, Lantern Years 6-8

So, I hunt Screaming Antelope.

First I find a Vomit Pile that Bewh scavenges. Finds nothing. Then he encounters Consuming Grass and archives Cloth.

Then I avoid Stampede, because I want Voici to remain insane.

d100 is 13. Bewh receives a +1 accuracy token.

And then showdown starts.

Antelope just runs around randomly. Materna finds Scrap Sword from debris.

All in all fight was relatively easy - it was my own idiocy that caused most of the bad stuff to happen, anyway. I didn't bother to check AI cards once. And Lone Rampage it was, when I had just a moment been thinking how large the Zone of Death in that particular card had been... and all of my survivors were within four spaces of the beast.

A couple of heavy injury knockdowns happened, as well as one Brain Trauma on Bewh, who doesn't like Stinky gear from now on.

Last card to remain on the AI deck was - once more - the Lone Rampage. This time, however, I was a little better prepared for it. I scavenged the board or, well, what was left of it. Mostly just a couple of Acanthus plants and Bug Patch.

Despite a certain easiness of this fight, it was far more interesting than level 1 white lion at this point.

Rewards:
Fresh Acanthus
2x Monster Organ
2x Monster Bone, Monster Hide

Pelt, Beast Steak, Shank Bone, Muscly Gums

Accunaicus receives +1 permanent strength from Age.

Settlement event is Silk Storm. Nuhuu and Fahert endeavor there - Nuhuu endeavoring twice. Both find a Crab Spider, and Nuhuu can depart with a full grid. I couldn't believe my sensory organs when I noticed Crab Spiders were hides. Oh my.

Armored Strangers make Voici Stark Raving Mad, which is a major boon. She's the one I plan to have Butcher's Axe mastery.

I build Stone Circle, along with Screaming Coat and a new Dried Acanthus. Because of the Crab Spiders I decide to build one extra pair of of Rawhide Gloves.

And then we get last Lantern Year for a little while.

I hunt level 1 antelope again.

First event is Teething, and I find two Large Flat Teeth.

d100 is 29, Dark Blacksmith. Only Materna has 3+ Courage. She gives her Cloth away, but it doesn't turn into a Steel Shield. Bummer.

Next, Antelope is Skittish. d100 result of 61. Bewh is struck by a Frozen Lightning, and Ancient Lantern (the cola bottle lantern) is archived. Well, now every memory of having played a challenge scenario has been removed from this settlement. Time for a new one, I guess?

Last space before Showdown has some Dead Weed growing in it. Too bad I didn't have any Severe injuries.

Then it's showdown time, and Screaming Antelope gores forward and receives five wounds in retaliation. I get the feeling I was way too scared when I chose my quarry...

Chow Down tries to mitigate this, but it heals only one wound. Accunaicus critically injures the palate and causes an injury to strange eye. Bewh found skull and some insanity from survivor corpse.

Outrageous damage dealing backfired a little, when Voici wounds the restless shank, which gives her three injuries to arms location, and one from collision to a stone column to legs. And then - again. AGAIN. Lone Rampage. Why does this particular attack haunt me so? I don't think there's more than one of them in the whole deck, and in all of my encounters against Screaming Antelope it has caused me many and much a grief.

Soon enough fight was over, and I decided to not bother with level 1 quarries again. Well, White Lion and Screaming Antelope quarries, that is.

Rewards:
Fresh Acanthus
Pelt, Screaming Brain, Bladder, Beast Steak, 2x Large Flat Tooth
Skull, 2x Monster Hide, Monster Bone, Love Juice.

Settlement Event is Skull Eater. Voici is the Skull Eater. Makes sense - she's been killing all over the place and everywhere with a sentient axe she stole from Butcher.

She gets +1 strength and courage, but next year Materna is going to die, no way to prevent that. I'm not happy. Materna gets +1 permanent Strength from Age and Bewh gets Unconscious Fighter secret fighting art.

Phoenix Feather rolls 2 for Nuhuu. Nuhuu and Voici consume Love Juice, I roll 7 and 9. I take two newborns.

Settlement innovates Sculpture (boo!) and since Voici might find herself dead rather sooner than later, I spend the three remaining endeavors in her trying to pull up the lantern halberd that acts as guidepost. She succeeds on second attempt. (She has 3 permanent strength.)

With efforts such as this, I can't bear too big of a grudge against her for going to murder Materna.

Settlement builds Screaming Leg Warmers and Blood Paint. Last endeavor is used in building Weapon Crafter.

I'm definitely going to hunt a level 2 beast next. And I haven't had a real, distressing challenge for a few years, so a level 2 Screaming Antelope it is.

So, first hunt event is Skittish and 66 is the d100, forbidden word. +1 understanding and brain event damage. Voici gets Coprolalia and Materna gets Delicious. There's some theme in here somewhere, I think. Bewh gets Enfeebled, which doesn't couple that badly at all with his newly gained Unconscious Fighter. It now takes six bleed tokens to kill him.

Forbidden Word triggers Insight for Voici, who gets to re-roll a hunt event during this hunt phase.

Next space is 25, Titans in the Dark. Nope. Voici re-rolls it right away into 21, Drawings. Both Voici and Materna try to decipher the pictures. Voici rolls 9, Materna 10. I don't know why I wasted such good rolls on this event, because none of the results would have done any good for me. And I don't know why suddenly Voici and Materna are such good buddies and pals. Voici must have been planning this murder for quite a long time already, studying her target very closely indeed.

Third space is Stampede with a roll of 9. Thank goodness. But, before Showdown this triggers Bold for Voici and Bewh. Voici rolls 9 and Bewh 8. I won't say no to +1 permanent strength. Voici is such a shining star right now with +4 permanent strength. Please, Murder event. Spare her from judgement. Settlement will not endure loss of both Materna and Voici.

Random terrain cards are Giant Stone Face and Tall Grass.

First turn dealt a respectable five wounds to Screaming Antelope, who had diabolically trampled nearby.

It drew Infested card. During a flow I decided to move Voici to relative safety of Tall Grass. Next AI card is Great Kick. I pick Accunaicus as the target and dash her to Tall Grass. Next is Great Kick, and every damn attack hit Accunaicus. No Severe Injury rolls were caused by these five attacks, but her armor is now devastated, and Dried Acanthus is gone. I praised dice gods when trample from Diabolical resulted in targeting Bewh.

Materna takes a step back and encourages Bewh up. Next she strikes Screaming Antelope, causing a wound. This makes Antelope to jump one space away from the attacker... Bewh went down again.

Dedicated damage dealer, Voici, activates next and goes pick some flowers. Well, she does find Fresh Acanthus. Then she encourages Bewh up once more... who then moves away, encourages Accunaicus up and checks location deck, because I'm starting to fear the trap. There was no trap, but Ferocious Spasms was rather a critical card to navigate. Accunaicus charges in with Lantern Halberd and hits once. Well at least she got away the spasms.

Antelope has received seven points of damage at the start of turn three.

AI card is Back Kick, and the beast targets Accunaicus, whom I Dash to Tall Grass. Both Back Kick attacks miss, and then Diabolical trample goes to Materna's Body.

Then it's survivor turn to act. Voici huddles closer, but couldn't reach Antelope. At least she checks next AI cards, Kick and Gore. She also encourages Materna up. Accunaicus goes and inflicts two wounds on Antelope and backs to Tall Grass. Somehow I just feel next AI is going to be the Lone Rampage...

But first Bewh moves closer to Bug Patch and uses Cat Eye Circlet. Strange Eye coming up, so need to be careful.

Materna scores two hits with Catgut Bow, and first time in this showdown a damage roll fails - because of Infested trait. Oh well. Ten points of damage in at the start of turn 4.

Screaming Antelope reveals the last "blind" AI card. And it's Stomp & Snort. Antelope targets Materna, who dashes away from Zone of Death of Diabolical. This turn I will have no tramples coming in that cause damage. Yay... Anyway, Materna takes two brain damage and some knockback, but thanks to Stalwart she is not knocked down.

I flush out Restless Eye with the only non-insane survivor, Accunaicus. She scores two wounds (the blind location wasn't trap) and she gets back to Tall Grass with lantern halberd special ability.

Bewh checks hit locations, and still no trap, but a certain chest wound is coming up that would make everyone very sad if a wound is caused. But Voici would have chances on killing the Antelope right now... unless she scores four hits, and last location is a trap. She's Stark Raving, though. All in! She scores only two hits, but wounds with both. Antelope no longer has cards in AI deck. And there are no knocked down survivors, which means it will start grazing, which will mean it starts healing...

Materna Dashes and Slams closer to Antelope and attacks with King Spear. No. Hits.

So, Antelope gets to an Acanthus plant and heals one wound. Then there's Accunaicus in Diabolical lane. She's picked as a target, but she Dashes away so that Antelope did not reach her. It was last Survival of Accunaicus, though. Bewh encourages Voici up, and checks hit locations. Great. Trap is coming now. But the beast needs to be wounded only twice.

I activate Voici and she walks to blind spot. She activates Butcher's Cleaver. And scores only one hit. That wounds, sure.

Well, Materna Dashes to blind spot and aims with Catgut Bow. She still needs 4+ to hit. She hits, exactly with a 4. Now she needs a 4+ to inflict a wound. And she rolls exactly 4.

Oh dear. My first encounter with level 2 Screaming Antelope was not all that bad. It was a good battle and I felt like I made the right choices. I didn't have to roll any severe injury rolls or brain traumas, but every survivor had many hit locations that were at heavy injury levels. Curiously I didn't roll even a single critical damage.

Rewards: (includes resource coming from Materna...)
Screaming Brain, Bladder, 2x Shank Bone, 2x Beast Steak, Pelt

2x Monster Bone, Skull, 2x Broken Lantern, Monster Hide, Monster Organ

Fresh Acanthus


Now survivors return, and Voici murders Materna after receiving Axe proficiency. Of course she rolls 8+ from the event, and a new Murder is added to timeline thankfully at least five years from now. Hey, now. Voici received her from me nominating her to became the voice of reason during endless screams. This does not sound very reasonable at all. Unless might is the only thing that is right, and who is going to dispute that when Voici has +5 permanent strength?

The actual event is Acid Storm which rolls one additional scrap.

I give Burning Ambition from Promise Under the Sun to Bewh.

I endeavor to innovate, but have to choose from Pottery (which I might lose right next to King's Man...) of Face Painting. I make a Love Juice from Pottery anyway. Two Dried Acanthuses, Bone Axe, Scrap Dagger, Claw Head Arrow, Blood Paint, Screaming Bracers and Counterweighted Axe enter the settlement, as well as Lucky Charm.

Fahert goes to Bloodletting and rolls 1. Nice enough I suppose, but I really wanted Insanity for him. This triggers Insight. He rolls 10, gaining a permanent strength.

Next I use Love Juice to spawn a Savior, and I get excited when I roll 10. Only to remember I haven't innovated Hovel... Oh well, people are bound to die next year anyway.

Resource-wise the settlement is broke once more, and I don't even know if my A-team will be there after next fight. Sure, I'd have enough population to throw at King's Man just to die, but I've felt I've been damn lucky in this campaign. Even if I'm not perfectly geared to fight King's Man, I'd like to take chances.




Resources:
2x Broken Lantern




Storage:
2x Cloth
2x Bone Darts
2x Rawhide Headband, Vest, Boots, Gloves, Pants
Rawhide Gloves
Cat Eye Circlet
King Spear
Whisker Harp
2x Monster Grease
Catgut Bow
Claw Head Arrow-
2x Skull Helm
Bone Axe
Bone Blade
Bone Dagger
Bandages
3x Dried Acanthus
Butcher Cleaver
Monster Tooth Necklace
Lion Headdress
Scrap Dagger-
Scrap Sword
Screaming Coat
Screaming Leg Warmers + Bracers
Lantern Halberd
2x Blood Paint
Counterweighted Axe
Lucky Charm

Population: 9

Innovations & Principles:
Language, Ammonia, Bloodletting, Paint, Lantern Oven, Sculpture, Pottery
Cannibalize & Protect the Young

Locations:
Lantern Hoard
Organ Grinder
Skinnery
Bone Smith
Stone Circle
Weapon Crafter

Hellbringer vs Bane Witch

A 75 point game of Warmachine.

Asphyxious the Hellbringer

- Desecrator
- Malice
- Ripjaw
- 2x Stalker
Bane Warriors (min) + Bane Warrior Officer & Standard
Bile Thralls (min)
Bane Lord Tartarus
Darragh Wrathe
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Machine Wraith
Necrotech

Opponent had:

Bane Witch Agathia
- 2x Nightwretch
- Reaper
- 2x Slayer
Bane Warriors (max) + Bane Warrior Officer & Standard

Mechanithralls (max) + Skarlock Commander
The Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Satyxis Raider Captain
Warwitch Siren

This was a kind of a practice game for an upcoming tournament.

First picture is probably taken from a turn where Asphyxious used his feat, after me failing many times to remember enemy had Stealth from Agathia's feat.

Asphyxious' feat was good, it yielded him at least the 9 souls you can see in the d12. But most important factor was most likely that Malice survived.

Next my forces mop up most of the enemy warjacks. I do make a critical mistake here - Asphyxious is standing there, easily within charge lane of enemy Satyxis Raider Captain. Captain missed charge attack with Lacerator. I think she hit with her horns, but there was not enough damage coming up in Asphyxious' direction, as Withershadow Combine had already activated. Possibly Nightwretch, too. Anyway, Agathia scores a couple of damage points with Hellfire, but this was not enough to bring Hellbringer to hell.

Next Malice yanks Agathia right into middle of Asphyxious' army. Game over.

A quick note

Yesterday I played three rounds of Magic: The Gathering. EDH with a loaned deck. I had some kind of elemental beast as my commander for all three games.

Settlement 2, Lantern Years 3-5

On lantern year 3 I'm checking out the first one of these special challenge scenarios. This one is the Candy & Cola scenario, though I've renamed this survivor to Candice. I loathe quite a bit such light-hearted humor that Candy with her Cola lantern is supposed to give. I even renamed the lantern.

Anyway, three survivors I choose for this scenario are Rudaghet and Materna, plus a completely fresh face straight from the settlement, Voici.

Random terrains were Toppled Pillar and Acanthus plants.

Because the Young Lion already had Ground Fighting in play, I proceeded to collect both Acanthus Plants all the while Young Lion was waggling it's tail and bottom.

Voici found Fresh Acanthus and Materna found something delicious.

I manipulated Lion deck to get a critical wound at Soft Belly, getting an extra Eye of Cat and Organ Trail persistent injury.

Rudaghet and Materna deal one wound to Lion and Voici checks next hit locations.

Cat attacks Voici with Power Swat, which she dodges.

Next turn Candice gives accuracy, causing Rudaghet to hit twice. She wounds only once, though, and gains two Insanity.

Just as things start to look too easy, the Young Lion starts to lick it's wounds.

Candice gives accuracy to survivors and Rudaghet attempts to charge in. She manages to enter Young Lion's front arc with her King Spear. She hits once and scores a wound. Farewell, Lick Wounds. If Rudaghet had failed, I would have needed to use my second last Founding Stone.

Materna injures Young Lion once more, and then Sizes Up on Candice. She has no Insanity, so she is knocked down and takes a Brain Trauma. She frenzies, though.

Voici checks hit location deck and encourages Candice up. Candice gives accuracy and encourages Rudaghet up. Materna tries to lob a Bone Dart at the Lion from Blind Spot, but misses.

Lion Sizes Up again, this time on Rudaghet who has more insanity than every other survivor on board counted together. Well, Lion doesn't even roll a 4+ for this one. This showdown starts to feel like an overkill. I do mess up with one hit location, though, which causes another Grab attack on Rudaghet. But Materna encourages her right up.

Rudaghet causes one wound, and Voici checks hit locations. Now I know the trap is coming up, so I need to be careful.

Last card remaining in the Lion's AI deck is Size Up, though. And damn this Lion is good at picking the targets who have no insanity protecting their brain - it's Voici's turn now to take a Brain Trauma. New Perspective doesn't hurt that much, though.

Rudaghet causes one wound, so it's just basic actions from now on.

Next turn showdown ends with a critical hit on the Fleshy Gut. Rudaghet finds a Skull basic resource, and I'm getting quite worried about the insanity levels of this shining star of a survivor. She won't be hunting all that many Antelopes, I guess.

Rewards were, all critical hits and pick-ups from the board included:
Basic: Skull, 2x Monster Bone, ??? and Broken Lantern
Lion: Eye of Cat, Golden Whiskers, Sinew, Lion Claw, White Fur
Rare: Fresh Acanthus

Settlement Event is Elder Council. Result is 15, which is annoying because I had plans for Endeavors this year. Well, I shouldn't complain, since in last campaign every single settlement event had already been killing survivors.

Anyway, I innovate Bloodletting. I could have chosen Hovel, but that would have added quite a few cards to innovation deck and I would like to get Symposium or Inner Lantern.

I build Catgut Bow, Skull Helm, Bone Blade and Bandages.

I'm not happy with production this turn. Maybe I shouldn't have innovated. Well, Fahert attempts and Augury and receives +1 Understanding. And next I will need to figure what the heck can I do to Butcher. I decide to actually try to fight him. I don't have all that many survivors to just throw at him to die.

Year 4:

Random terrain was Lion Statue, which I placed so that it might offer me a little LoS block if the stars align right. So, let's start this sorry affair.

Candice gives accuracy and Accuniecus checks AI hit locations. Rudaghet lobs a bone dart at Butcher's Mask. Materna misses.

Then I'm already doomed. First Butcher misses Rudaghet with Hack, but second AI is Lantern Frenzy and target randomizes to Rudaghet herself. Candice has Golden Harp, though. Candice tries to strum the harp, but fails.

Materna scores a perfect hit with Catgut Bow, so Mighty Strike triggers on Furious Bellow. Wounding on 3+, she rolls 2 and is Knocked Down.

Well, at least Accuniecus gives a wound to Furious Gauntlet.

Butcher starts screaming. Rudaghet survives Hack City and gains Legendary Lungs secret fighting art, but suffers Broken Back. Candice finally manages to get rid of Lantern Frenzy and a couple of extra wounds are scored by Rudaghet and Materna.

This turn everyone frenzies thanks to Screaming.

Rudaghet takes in a Backhand and yet another Hack City. She takes six hits this time. This time Butcher doesn't even get through armor, thanks to the blistering plasma fruit ability.

Since everyone has frenzied, there is no-one to encourage Candice up. Turn causes only one wound to the Butcher, but his next turn ain't that grand either. Well, Rudaghet has been mauled beyond recognition - she's deaf and blinded from one eye, as well as having broken back and four bleeding tokens.

Materna has to patch Rudaghet up a little with bandages, making survivors lose precious attacks.

I remember I have two Analyzers and check the upcoming AI card. It's Lantern Frenzy. Ouch. And Rudaghet causes no wounds whatsoever so Candice has to fling her Founding Stone at Butcher.

Butcher bites another ear off of Rudaghet and devours her lantern, so from now on she'll be just a punching bag for Butcher. I won't even try to attack him. She sees Hack City is coming up next. I decide to keep Hack City in the deck, so I switch it to Backhand with Rawhide Headband. Candice gives accuracy. Materna scores just one wound, which knocks Butcher down and gives courage. This triggers Bold for Rudaghet.

Next is Hack City, then, and Rudaghet receives ten hits. She dies to bleeding tokens. Next attack he devours Materna's lantern.

Candice gives accuracy and Accuniecus rolls an additional point of accuracy again. I did shuffle the hit location deck, though.

So, Butcher is knocked down. I haven't checked the hit locations, and Butcher has Hack City and Devour Lantern in his deck. This is so close, and one trap might spell my doom. Materna makes three fist attacks, and all score a hit. Hardy har har, when hit locations are 2x cleaver and Lantern Explosion.

Butcher devours Accuniecus' lantern and knocks her down. Next turn he kills Candice, so now I got two survivors with -3 accuracy tokens fighting a Butcher who only has one hit point remaining.

Accuniecus removes Hack City, and now I need to injure Butcher only once. Just once. Please...!

Materna aims with Catgut Bow, but scores no hits. Then Butcher attacks her, knocking her down but not inflicting severe injuries. She gets four bleeding tokens, though.

Next turn Accuniecus is the only hope. Only hope who succeeds. I kill Butcher. Can this really be real?

I received Skull and Monster Bone from Rudaghet and Candice and one Broken Lantern and Butcher's Cleaver from Butcher.

Settlement Event is Rivalry, and Accuniecus receives a gaping chest wound. I decide to use the offered endeavor in the event which results Accuniecus dying off and Materna to receive +1 permanent strength. I got a Monster Hide from Accuniecus.

I make Bone Dagger and Rawhide Vest. Oh, and Dried Acanthus since I noticed it's Organ Grinder item, not Barber Surgeon.

White Lion starts to feel boring, but since I don't have Surge or Dash, hunting Screaming Antelope feels too risky. A level 2 lion would just devastate everything.

Year 5:

So, the hunt begins. First event is Lion in Heat. Next card is White Lion Cub, and once more I slaughter the little pup. Father Lion starts the showdown immediately. Random terrains are Debris and Toppled Pillar.

Lion started game with Ground Fighting, so I tried to position everything as favorably for me as possible. And when I finally started mauling the beast, it inflicted two wounds in one turn. Second turn got two more, as well as critically injuring Beast's Femur. That's -1 movement token and an extra white lion resource.

Voici scored a critical hit against Strange Hand and savored the moment for +1 permanent strength. I had been steadily giving two injuries per turn, and White Lion had not really succeeded to deal any real damage. Best attempt was when it revenged against Voici and isolated her.

It was a boring fight. White Lion level 1 never again. Though let's see how events kill people this time.

Rewards:
2x Monster Hide, 2x Monster Bone, Monster Organ, ???, Love Juice, Broken Lantern
Curious Hand, Lion Claw, Shimmering Mane, Eye of Cat, Sinew

Voici got +1 permanent strength from Age, and Fahert gained +1 permanent accuracy from Age.

Settlement Event is Lights in the Sky. Sadly, though, none of the endeavors there are available to me.

I nominate Bewh for Hands of Heat and roll 6.

Bewh and Voici consume Love Juice. I roll 4, which is far better than the 2 I rolled with my other die.

I use one endeavor to innovate Paint. Hooray for Dash. This triggers Hooded Knight, though, and I roll 6. Since I got so many Broken Lanterns I decide to give Mighty Strike for Accunaicus. She's the other one who gained +1 permanent accuracy some time ago.

I build Lion Headdress and Rawhide Boots + Pants, Monster Grease and Monster Tooth Necklace.

I put Materna to Bloodletting... twice. First attempt was useless and removed all of her survival. Second one was a success and removed Vestiphobia from her.

I even attempt to get a little insanity for Voici, but roll 1 again. Well, she got understanding, ain't that nice... Waste of resources, all of this.

But, until next time.

Flammable Season (Touch of Evil)

As I was on my biannual visit to Kuhmo, I played some board games a little bit for the first time in this... year.

This visit saw a continuation of a Touch of Evil campaign game.

First game was against Delion Dryad.

Using the campaign rules we used one stashed investigation point and randomly picked two heroes and chose one of them. We got Heinrich Cartwright, the Drifter and Captain Hawkings.

These villains that have limited amount minion tokens with some guaranteed ways to spawn them are nasty when used with all three expansion boards. Good thing we had Captain Hawkings, who was able to send militias to chop some woods... some of them never came back from their assignment.

I don't think Shadow Track fell even once because we didn't have tokens to place Living Trees.

Living Trees also weren't particularly apt in rolling sixes - I believe they didn't cause any hero Knock Out's. Other kinds of Wolves and Deep Ones and ambushes in the night did that surely enough, but the dangerous spiral of being Knocked Out all the time, every time did not happen. Only a couple of turns were missed because of getting knocked out during Mystery Phase.

Corner Locations were merciful - only two or three cards that were drawn were strictly bad things or attacks or whatnot.

However, despite all of this it wasn't an easy game. Other causes made Shadow Track speed down towards Darkness. Heroes were quite tanky and had some equipment and both had Spirit + Cunning of eight or more, but beginning Showdown looked like risky business because there were zero "ignore all wounds" event cards in store for us, and neither hero was able to deal absurd amounts of damage.

Also, later in the game both heroes were badly injured most of the time, so we were waiting for the turn when both of us would be fully healed to start the showdown. That turn never came and we had no other option than to begin Showdown when Shadow Track was at "2".

Both flinged their torches at the Dryad during first round. Second round not much damage was dealt by either party. Third turn Captain Hawkings fell, and Heinrich Cartwright along with Widow Jessica the village elder were survivors of this alluring encounter. Maybe they started life together or something.

Game 2:

Next game was against The Scarecrow, which gave nice theme for this summer's touches of evil. Burn them all. With matchsticks and gasoline.

We picked random heroes, who were Valeria, the Eternal and Katarina, the Outlaw. Not too bad at all.

In this game we had to struggle against Shadow Track, as we picked up such Remains in Play cards as The Horror and later in the game Something Wicked. Also almost every single turn there was a murder. Crows started appearing all over the place. Pretty lousy Scarecrow if you ask me.

Throughout the game heroes were undergeared against difficulties they had to face, and there were next to no pick ups from corner locations. Well, actually heroes even couldn't visit corner locations all that much thanks to Order's Influences that made militias go mad, as well as a roadblock at Smuggler's Cove.

Katarina bought Sacred Chalice and got rid of The Horror and Order's Influence, and then Sacred Chalice expired.

Heroes had to start Showdown a little bit too early. Katarina had, what, five Fight dice and Valeria had four. Of course they were absurdly multiplied by ditching keyword Fire. Scarecrow had 14 fight dice at it's height.

But thanks to Katarina getting some 12 Fight Dice with a re-roll from event, damage was more than enough to burn the abomination that had set up it's lair at Icy Waters. "Nobody will suspect I hide in Icy Waters" thought the Scarecrow, I suppose, but a local fisherman was bewildered about a scarecrow that somebody had set up on an iceberg.

Widow Jessica and Lady Hanbrook both died during showdown, and as last act of defiance Scarecrow killed Katarina - just before dying.

Two victories. But still the campaign will take quite a while if we take a year and a half breaks in between the games...

Campaign statistics:

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow
Villains still to be defeated: 12

Heroes dead: Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 20

Stashed investigation: 6

Second Settlement, years 1-2

With King's Man painted, I gave myself permission to start a new settlement for Kingdom Death.

Intro mission went far worse than last time around.

Two survivors perished, one of them being the one who got permanent strength from critically wounding the lion.

An additional Shimmering Mane came from a critical wound against Glorious Mane. On top of that, I got Lion Testes, Lion Claw, Golden Whiskers and Great Cat Bones. Basic resources were Love Juice, Broken Lantern and 2x Monster Hide.

Once more I roll minimum number of starting survivors, meaning I got now Population 8.

Just to see how things work out, I chose Cannibalize as my death principle. I got a fourth Founding Stone and +3 insanity for departing survivors.

Fahert utters the first words and I build Skinnery and Bone Smith.

Settlement produces Bone Darts, Rawhide Headband, Boots, Gloves and Vest. (Shimmering Mane was archived for extra hides)

I nominate two random survivors for Love Juice and I roll 7. I take Protect the Young life principle. Parents get survival and permanent evasion.

Storage:
4x Cloth
4x Founding Stone
Bone Darts
Rawhide Headband, Vest, Boots, Gloves

Innovations & Principles:
Language
Cannibalize & Protect the Young

Resources:
Lion Testes, Golden Whiskers, Great Cat Bones, Broken Lantern

It might take some time before I get to play next time, so this write-up only has prologue.

Second year I chose White Lion (like there's any choice...) for Quarry, and first hunt even was Aromatic Breeze with 09 from d100. Rudaghet enters the bright light and rolls 7. Brain damage. Second hunt event is Marked Territory, which is a bummer since no survivor has 3+ Understanding at this point. Roll is 71 from the d100 - and Nos founds the relic by rolling 10. Looks like I might get Ammonia after all... if I beat the lion with weapons as poor as these.

Since Aromatic Breeze brought lion a little bit forward, Showdown starts right next.

Random terrain cards are two Acanthus Plants and...

... the lonely tree.

Hiding in Tall Grass makes lion's first attack miss. Paterna checks upcoming AI cards and places Alert on top of the deck, and then Materna flings Founding Stone at the beast, critically wounding throat. Lion gets knocked down.

Since hitting is not that big of an issue this turn, I decide I'll try to get some extra critical hits against White Lion from using bare hands. Nos gets +3 insanity and ??? resource from Fuzzy Groin.

Next Lion attacks Paterna with Vicious Claw. Only one attack hits, which is promptly dodged away. Materna lobs a bone dart at Lion, hits but doesn't cause a wound, which in turn makes the lion grab Paterna six spaces forwards... closer to the Lonely Tree. Materna encourages Paterna right up. He gets to Lion'a blind spot, but doesn't score any hits.

I didn't want a turn in which I wouldn't score even one injury on the beast, so Rudaghet throws Founding Stone at the lion - and injures Strange Hand. Nice - it might be possible to try and glitch the Lion now, since I definitely know there's Vicious Claw in the AI deck.

Lion Sizes up, but that doesn't scare anyone.

I decide to use this turn mostly to regroup. Materna tries to attack with the bone dart, but doesn't hit. Rudaghet finds and eats an Acanthus plant and so does Nos.

Paterna attacks but doesn't score hits, and then he retreats back to the relative safety of Tall Grass.

I should have checked the AI card though - it was Combo Claw, which would have given Paterna understanding. Oh well. At least the Lion didn't attack anyone.

Paterna checks upcoming AI's - Revenge and Grasp. I decide to pick Grasp next since it only has Speed 1, which is easy to dodge. But I did not have to - Lion missed. Materna missed Bone Darts, but Paterna scores a critical hit to White Lion's knee, getting a -1 movement token for it. Nobody else scores any wounds.

White Lion attacks with Maul, but since there are no knocked down survivors or Grab targets from last round, it just sniffs... while being completely surrounded by survivors.

Relative easiness of this fight so far makes me feel almost bad. Almost. Paterna critically wounds Fuzzy Groin and gets Lion Testes. Priority Target token and +1 damage might yet become my downfall in this fight. There's five more cards in the AI deck. Next card is Combo Claw, which yields understanding to all but Paterna, who tried to hide a little further in the Tall Grass.

Turn for survivors is extraordinary. One critical wound (+3 insanity to all non-deaf survivors) and at least two other wounds were inflicted.

White Lion attacks with Maul, and even if there are no targets for this attack once more, the priority target is on Paterna. Both attacks hit. With the damage token hits caused four damage. Paterna dodged one that went to Body, and rolled 1 for arm injury. I knew this was going way too well! That's what you get from ripping these so called "ding-dongs" from lions, I suppose.

Nos pulls the Trap hit location and is decapitated.

No... no... NO! Everything was going so perfectly...! And now this thing escalated into to deaths in less than a full round. Oh well.

And here is where I realize the only cards left in AI deck are Maul and Combo-Claw. Eh. This game really has no steady course. I spent quite a while checking the internets (all of them) for an answer if this is a premium example of making my remaining survivors into super-understanders. Rudaghet gets +1 permanent movement and Materna ignores next severe injury this showdown.

White Secret lunacy gives Vestiphobia for Materna and Anxiety for Rudaghet. Materna rolls Story of the Survivor and Rudsghet gains Ageless.


I get rid of Maul just fine, but somehow I had shuffled Clever Play rather badly, and it caused Materna to get knocked down and lose all Body & Arms injury levels. But eventually I grind the last two remaining damage points in, and the two-hour long Showdown ends in style with a critical hit to Fleshy Gut.

I get Blistering Plasma Fruit from Lonely Tree.

Rewards: (includes critical hits and the benefits of Cannibalize)
3x Monster Hide, ???, 2x Monster Bone, 2x Broken Lantern
Lion Testes, Eye of Cat, White Fur, Lion Claw, Lion Tail

I guess I don't get the innovation from Found Relic since the event revealer died.

Settlement event was Dark Dentist, so it wasn't even a time to rage-quit at this point. Rudaghet gained +1 permanent strength from Age event.

I nominate Voici to stand as voice of reason during Endless Screams.

With endeavors I innovate Ammonia and build Organ Grinder. Rudaghet eats the Blistering Plasma Fruit.

Cat-Eye Circlet and Rawhide Pants are must haves. I also built King Spear and Whisker Harp
Second Rawhide Vest and gloves, plus extra Bone Darts and Monster Grease. Resource-wise settlement is broke now, but I dare to feel hopeful. And after all - Butcher is soon coming to town and losing to him destroys all resources. This time, though, I have read the rules a little bit better so I will not lose a gridfull of equipment if Butcher becomes fascinated with some particular survivor and distracts himself to the wilderness.

However, next year I will try to do this special showdown with Cand...ice.

Resources:
3x Broken Lantern


Storage:
4x Cloth
2x Founding Stone
2x Bone Darts
Rawhide Headband, Vest, Boots, Gloves, Pants
Rawhide Headband + Gloves
Cat Eye Circlet
King Spear
Whisker Harp
Monster Grease


Innovations & Principles:
Language, Ammonia
Cannibalize & Protect the Young

Expansions, House Rules and such

Last time I didn't make a very detailed note what expansions and house rules and such I was using in my first campaign. I have already started a second settlement. I'll post the first few Lantern Years in the near future.

So, the kit that settlement2 tag is going to have is as follows:

I use random cards from quite a few expansions even if I haven't been able to get all the contents. Additionally I use all the 1.4 modifications I've been able to find. I tweaked a couple of the events from Spidicules and Slenderman to fit to use without the rest of content.

However, fully and operating expansion are:

Sunstalker
Lion God
Lonely Tree

Additionally I will be using the challenge scenarios from the Kingdom Death website. However, I will restrict all of them to one try per campaign regardless of the outcome. I find it somehow abusive if you can repeat a scenario until you succeed.

I've also tried to do some research on my expansions, and general consensus seems to be that Lion God is too hard for what it potentially gives. This house rule is not going to alleviate that much, but since it is Lion God after all, I think it's proper that it gives one less basic resource than usually, and 1 + monster level White Lion resource.

My encounter with Butcher on my first run was devastating, and many seem to think that there is not much to gain or even lose from Nemesis Encounters if you send four useless survivors to perish in them. However I will not tinker around the Nemesis encounters in my second campaign other than add a chance to innovate Crimson Candy from Butcher and King's Man, since I don't have actual means to innovate it.

Circle Farewells

When I gave my Circle miniatures away yesterday, we played one 10 point game.

I used

Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Deryliss
- Slayer
- 3x Helldiver

Scrap Thralls
Warwitch Siren

Opponent had:

Tanith, the Feral Song
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Gorax
Druid Wilder

Opponent was very new to Circle Orboros - I think he mentioned that none of the miniatures he used in this game are familiar to him. He was a little hesitant to engage. I, on the other hand, was way too eager to engage. Practically I traded Slayer for Druid Wilder. Helldivers were offensively useless (understand that however you wish...) but Field Marshal made them difficult to completely remove from the board.

It was pretty much Asphyxious himself who tore through enemy heavies. Though twelve focus were not enough to remove one Warpwolf Stalker - I spent even the last focus point on Asphyxious in order to try and trigger Blood Boon. Never happened. Vociferon came and showed Asphyxious how warbeasts are destroyed.

Valiantly Tanith tried to assassinate Asphyxious, but her personal damage output isn't that amazing after all. Asphyxious personally shackled her soul to a cage.

Mordikaar vs Vayl2

A 75 point game of Warmachine/Hordes from about a week and a half ago.

My list was:
Void Seer Mordikaar
- Agonizer
- Archidon
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hound
- Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Cetrati (max)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
Praetorian Swordsmen (max) + Officer & Standard

Venator Flayer Cannon Crew
Extoller Soulward
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit


Opponent had:

Oracles of Annihilation
Vayl, Consul of Everblight
- Angelius
- Carnivean
- Naga Nightlurker
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower
- Ravagore
- Seraph

Blackfrost Shard
2x Blighted Nyss Shepherd
2x Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion
The Forsaken
Succubus

This will most likely be the briefest (ohh... brie-fest...) write-up on Warmachine game in my whole blogging history. Notable mentions were how I got an amazing feat turn thanks to opponent not being able to land 9+ with boosts. Next I managed to grab four control points in one go, and even had a relatively good chance at winning with scenario when I started the turn with 0 control points. However, Void Spirit rolled damage something close to 1,1,2.

Then I was - once more - way too overconfident with my four control points. Sure opponent needed to do quite a few shenanigans in order to succeed, but Legion was able to pull off an assassination. Why I never learn...

Another Era Comes to Pass

Somehow I think this is worthy of a post of it's own.

Seems like I don't quite have the time any more to keep three full factions in a steady rotation. Sure, launch of Mk3 probably exaggerated this, since I had to start my statistics from scratch. Now I only have fifteen warcasters and warlocks that I need to play kind of equally. No, probably not. I need to further cut down their number, perhaps by leaving Asphyxious1, Deneghra1 & 2 and Venethrax statistically frozen.

So it is time to let the beasts run free and sell all of my Circle of Orboros models. Almost all - I still do have a Blackclad Wayfarer I once converted for a league, and the old metal Gorax. Let's not talk about the old metal Gorax. For possible demo purposes I retained Kaya the Wildborne, Wild Argus and Feral Warpwolf - some of the ugliest models in my collection, but hey.

Profits go to supply my fondness of Kingdom Death. Lonely Tree is the newest expansion I got.