Blind Executor and Her Company

"Ancient prophetic vision had held true and saved the Kin... for the time being.

Ages had passed when their kind had disappeared from the surface of Greensway Isles, digging until they found cavern complex that was habitable enough.

Whatever the threat had been back then was forgotten now. And, really... who in their sane mind would found a city under an island, in the middle of sea? The Kin would have needed another prophetic vision fit for this day and age. Unfortunately they had no such thing, and when entire city was crushed by enormous bodies of water, only a few escaped.

One of them being Executrix Nirha and Quartermaster Poosk, and a handful of other survivors. None had ever been above ground. This world was so very much unlike their own. They arrived at night, which felt adequate illumination. But once the dawn arrived, survivors underwent a peculiar form of pain they had never experienced before. With few supplies they had each survivor put together crude shades. Even tattered cloths or hides with tiny slits were better than nothing.

Executrix Nirha, once a member of their former domain's guard, named their ragtag bunch the Blind Company.

Next they'd have to secure more supplies from surrounding landscape. Perhaps there even might be some other survivors somewhere?

So. I take part in Kings of War: Vanguard campaign that's being held here in my home town.

My company is Twilight Kin roster. Since it's been a long, long time since I've played actual fantasy miniature games (well, except for the group of demented circus folk that seemed out of place in Mantica) I had to face the fact that I don't have any proper miniatures.

But what I do have is a huge swathe of unbuilt survivor miniatures from Kingdom Death. Why not use them for something, since I'll never need all of them for the actual board game.

Faction choice was not a meaningful one. Twilight Kin seemed like it would have a rather low body count, so I picked them.

So far I've played one game of the campaign.

It was against Varangur warband.

I took Quartermaster Poosk the Shadow, Summoner Crone Catrul and Reaper Guard Nista. And an unnamed citizen levy. Catrul had switched Lightning Bolt for Summon the Reaper spell.

Scenario was Supply Grab. I picked the side where there was one supply container closer to me, and with a forest in between Varangur and Twilight Kin. I thought securing it would be a piece of cake...

But the Varangurs just pressed on. Mind Storm (awesome spell, by the way, with Range Booster) gave a random point of damage to their magus. But their warriors...

Just one hit and my summoned Reaper was down. One hit and my Citizen Levy was down (honestly, though, that one isn't such an amazing feat.) One hit and my Reaper Guard was down. All the while I can't do even a single point of damage, no matter how much I stack dice. At least Reaper Guard was doing fine with his nerve checks.

I decided to run to middle supply container and summon another reaper to contest the objective Varangur had taken from me with such disrespect. Also, Quartermaster Poosk managed to shoot down enemy Magus, so at least there was that.

But game ended because there was no sixth round, and I lost. Not that it would have been a guaranteed victory anyway had the game continued. But at least there were no permanent casualties, and I found quite a bit of loot.

Blind Company acquires another Lucky Charm, a Large Shield and a Wicked Dagger for 5 campaign gold, and Catrul fills vacancy of a healer slot in retinue.

That's all for now.

Burkstad 6-7

We got a couple of extra players, so Burkstad continues with four players.

Tarantinho the blue savior proved to be a true savior as survivors proceeded to hunt Flower Knight.

First step he ever takes outside of settlement has him break down in emotional overload.

This gives him a disorder, which hilariously enough is Unlucky. So. We got a savior specializing in critical strikes that cannot critically wound.

Then the cyclopean knight severs our savior's ear and gives steel shield and sword for survivors. Bloody Eyes start showdown immediately.

Fight went fine enough. It took many rounds and all of the survivors had started to accumulate light and heavy injury levels, and almost all survival had been expended when Flower Knight disappeared, leaving survivors to pick up flowers. Showdown might have turned serious if it dragged on for a few rounds more. But it didn't.

Clinging Mist has Gwennyth douse herself in urine and running through the settlement, scaring away the mist.

Bob used his sterling matchmaking skills to cause the death of Gheb. Yes, with Protect the Young.

Clarita on the other hand managed to convince Trevor to try once more, and Burkstad got an extra survivors to replace the fallen, maintaining status quo.

Settlement had innovated Family and built Weapon Crafter.

Then survivors begin to hunt for a Gorm.

One of the first hunt results is Acid Rain, which was terrible news against Gorm. Survivors had very little armor points. Bob and Gwennyth were all but depleted from their armor points, and Clarita and Untavi were crippled. Heavy injury level to head was especially worrying.

Showdown starts, and first Gorm charges. I had to double check that card. Speed 4 attack, accuracy 2+ with two damage? And extra effects? Well, at least Gwennyth was able to dash away from range.

Survivors deal two damage or so to Gorm. Turn 2 begins.

Infrasonic roar.

It's turn two of combat, and two survivors suffer head explosion.

Game over, man. Game over.

But still the survivors push on till the bitter end. Bob and Gwennyth actually do impressive damage from then on, but finally Gwennyth draws trap. By now Gwennyth also had heavy head injury. Injury roll comes out as 9, meaning crushed jaw.

Gorm starts hiccuping and walloping, not doing anything too menacing. And survivors poured in wounds. Were Gwennyth and Bob really going to beat that elephant-sized monster together?

We had two Tall Grass terrain cards, which helped remaining survivors quite a bit. They even survived extra Charge attacks that were bound to come.

It was a thrilling situation. Survivors managed to bring Gorm down to no cards remaining in AI deck, and Gwennyth had either light or heavy injury level in all of her hit locations, and Bob had no survival any more.

With Bone Dagger in front, Gwennyth lunges forward and scores two hits. No traps. First hit location fails to wound.

Last chance.

And it's a wound. Hooray!

Settlement even is Slender Blight, and survivors have to switch insanity and survival values after departing.

It's seven endeavors, though.

And settlement innovates Bloodletting.

Three attempts later Tarantinho is freed from his unluckiness. Bob's matchmaking gives twins for settlement, and an augury gives a moment of intimacy on the first attempt. Population is now 9.

Next Burkstad's Burkguard prepares to hunt for a screaming antelope. But that's for later.



Burkstad

Population: 9

Principles:
Protect the Young
Graves

Innovations:
Language
Hovel
Ammonia
Bed
Nigredo
Symposium
Paint
Family
Bloodletting

Locations:
Lantern Hoard
Bone Smith
Skinnery
Organ Grinder
Catarium
Gormchymist
Gormery
Weapon Crafter

Gear:
3x Cloth
3x Stone Noses
Full Rawhide Set
1x Rawhide Gloves
Gorment Boots
Skull Helm
Rib Blade
Greater Gaxe
Cat Eye Circlet
2x Monster Grease
Lucky Charm
Monster Tooth Necklace
Bandages
Catgut Bow + Claw Head Arrow
White Lion Coat
Bone Dagger
Sleeping Virus Bob
Flower Knight Badge



Resources:
Phoenix Small Feather

Fate Crossed Crossed

Exactly a week ago I played this 50 point game of Warmachine.

My list:

Lord Arbiter Hexeris [+27]
- Agonizer [6]
- Aradus Soldier [16]
- Archidon [10]
- Rhinodon [12]
Maximus [4]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]
Paingiver Task Master [3]
Wrong Eye [17]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]

Opponent had:

Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood [+27]
- Dire Troll Bomber [19]
- Dire Troll Mauler [15]
Janissa Stonetide [4]
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19]
Thumper Crew [5]
Trollkin Fennblades (max) [15]


Scenario was Throw Down from main rulebook. Curiously enough both armies had Star Crossed at their disposal, so futile never-ending miss streak for both parties was expected.

It was confusing to be outnumbered this badly against trollbloods. So I tried to be extra protective with my warbeasts. Though I was worried about scenario play.

Fennblades started flanking me, and eventually I found them from my side of the table. Ultimate pincer move. I had made good enough progress in killing Nyss Hunters from zone on right, and put some hurt on the troll heavies, I was scared of the fennblades. Once the two troll heavies hurled themselves at me, I lost Wrong Eye & Snapjaw. I probably could have tried to 'play the long game' and try to remove one dire troll at a time. That might even have been the best, if I'd have dared to give some scenario points for trollbloods from left.

But the flanking fennblades were too scary. Hexeris would have probably been safe with Cloak of Ash, but still almost a full unit of charging P+S 12 models against your warlock had me trying to go in for assassination

.

My plan was to either kill or cripple Dire Troll Mauler's mind with Maximus to free last remaining Beast Handler to go and buff Archidon. Calandra didn't have Star Crossed on, but still I ought to re-name Maximus to Maximiss. Beast Handler had to take a free strike, and died. This is where I should have aborted assassination, but without better judgement I pressed on.

Rhinodon ran close enough to function as a channeler against Calandra.

Hexeris cast Black Spot on Calandra, but missed. This triggered Bullet Dodger, and suddenly Calandra was two additional inches away from Archidon. This is where I really, really should have aborted the plan and hope that Archidon would kill Mauler. And yet I pressed on.

Archidon was able to charge, but with only P+S 15 and the charge took it out of...

Oh.

This is the "not Essence Blasting Void Spirit" all over again. I thought charge took Archidon away from Hexeris' control area, but the beast has Long Leash.

So I could have boosted the charge attack. Bummer. Though it's quite unlikely that would have changed anything. One P+S 15 charge attack doesn't have very good chances of taking out even an ARM 14 warlock with single hit. I would have needed that Beast Handler for +2 str and free charge.

Thanks to Cloak of Ash it took some effort for opponent to kill DEF 17 Hexeris that had a couple transfers. But if I remember correctly, Hexeris had already taken some damage earlier when Wrong Eye landed on him, knocking warlock down. Anyway, it was a loss for Skorne.

Arkham's Super-Waitress

I visited a friend last weekend, and we played a couple of games of Arkham Horror card game.

First one was The Gathering introductory scenario with Roland Banks and Wendy Adams.

Neither of us had played game before and rulebook had not been from start to finish and back. So some things went wrong. Also we had no idea what to expect or what course of action would be the best.

But heroically Roland and Wendy pushed on till the very last act and agenda.

We almost did win the Ghoul Priest. Wendy managed to persuade this extra ally to join the fight, and this gave us a little hope. Roland and his Guard Dog dealt about seven or eight wounds to the Priest. But after Roland went down the investigators lost their game. Investigators lost to Doom Track. Not that Wendy had any chances in dealing the last few injuries...


Second game was the intro scenario again, but Skisa O'Toole and Agnes Baker, the Waitress were investigators.

Though we had some experience now, investigators were plagued by terrible luck. Attic got the encounter that raised +2 shroud value, and Skids O'Toole needed to waste turn after turn to eradicate rats and ghouls. Skids had flashlight, but he was missing one or two actions to use it effectively.

Agnes, on the other hand, received some really good spells and items and was somewhat of a ghoul exterminator.

But once those precious clues were collected, final act began. Skids O'Toole was attacked by Ghoul Priest when he had no useful gear to survive the fight.

In two turns Skids would die, but at least he managed to deal two wounds to Ghoul Priest. First came from throwing it (not shooting) with Derringer pistol. Next he dealt another wound by throwing a Guard Dog at it. Then he died.

But Agnes did manage to deal a total of eight wounds to it in two turns. She had this spell that caused +1 damage, and a knife. Plus the ability to get receive horror points from herself.

One more turn and investigators would have lost to Doom Track again. But Agnes survived. And received brain trauma from watching her home burn down.

Results were written down to campaign journal, and while I doubt I'll ever get to continue this particular campaign, it's nice to know Skids and Agnes may some day, somewhere, continue their adventures.

I don't often enjoy pure card games all that much, I admit that they can have really good mechanics. And Arkham Horror: the Card Game seems to have well written and thought out rules.

Heinrich Have You Been Drinking Again?

Touch of Evil campaign continues with the aid of Tabletop Simulator.

This time Heinrich the Cartwright and Katarina the Outlaw are solving a strange mystery of having the church gargoyle along with smaller grotesques killing people in plain sight and jumping up and down on Heinrich Cartwright, mocking him crudely.

From early on it looked like Katarina would be the real - and only - star in this game. Heinrich had one of the unluckiest games for a hero character I have witnessed. He moved more often during mystery phase than on his own turn - and that was to run away from a fight at Town Hall. He had no investigation to heal, or stats to fight grotesques. When he actually got to play his own turn, he usually had at least two wounds from the escape fight.

When he astonishingly had some investigation to patch himself up at Doctor's Office, that was when he rolled the "1" for lingering. Nope, Heinrich. In this game your destiny is to only heal through suffering. But what do the villagers think, seeing you lying on the ground all the time with bloodshot eyes and splitting head ache?

The only turn when he got to Abandoned Keep to draw actual location cards, well, he drew Dark Keep. And failed the test. So Shadow Track fell by two. Looked like safest play for heroes would be to keep Heinrich permanently knocked out.

At least Katarina was doing better. That was until she got stuck in Olde Woods for six turns thanks to Shifting Woods. She had Skilled Hand and the chalice to remove mystery cards, so that eased our game for a while. It was lost on some useless Mystery Card that would spawn minions. But situation was grim - Katarina was locked in woods and Heinrich was not able to do anything to minions on board.

But then, after the long wait Katarina was able to come back from the woods, and all hell broke loose. She could spend 22 investigation points at Blacksmith at her leisure, and still have a safety belt against knock-outs with 6+ investigation.

And she did get knocked down. Once. During whole game. Compared to 10+ times of Heinrich.

But even Heinrich started to fare a little better once Katarina was out of the woods. That's probably due to whole board not being that populated with minions. He also found crossbow pistol from abandoned keep that helped him at least on a couple of occasions against Grotesques that were being hit only on 6+.

Katarina also found memory of forever, which gave her three more fight dice against the villain.

Heinrich, well, Heinrich was constantly arguing over everything. Probably first time during my history of playing Touch of Evil one hero had all three "I think not!" cards simultaneously. Shadow track was on the last space before last red stage when we started showdown. Mostly we did it because we drew mystery card that lowered shadow track by two each time hero was KO'd, and finally Widow Jessica transformed into werewolf elder. That wasn't a good combination, especially as we had one sorry drifter in our team.

Lies and Deceit that had been rolled many times had revealed three evil elders. Heinrich tried to redeem one of them, but obviously failed, as he had done the whole game.

Gargoyle's lair was in the church, which was somehow fitting even if it was a modest village church instead of a grand cathedral.

Showdown wasn't very exciting. Villain's bad luck on fight dice was amazing once again. But then on the other hand, Katarina mostly had to be able to defeat villain by herself. Well, Heinrich was able to kill two evil elders and inflict five wounds on the villain, so that was far more than anyone expected.

Katarina, by comparison, dealt fourteen wounds and killed one evil elder.




Campaign statistics:

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle
Villains still to be defeated: 9, +1 investigation vs Werewolf and Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 12

Stashed investigation: 9

Void Walker Mordikaar

A couple of days ago I played this 75 point game of Warmachine.

My list was:


Winds of Death
Void Seer Mordikaar
- Archidon [10]
- Basilisk Drake [8]
- Basilisk Drake [8]
- Basilisk Krea [7]
- Cyclops Savage [7]
- Rhinodon [12]
Maximus [4]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [0]
Venator Dakar [4]
Void Spirit [0(4)]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew [2]
Venator Flayer Cannon Crew [5]
Venator Reivers (max) [15]
- Venator Reiver Officer & Standard [4]
Venator Slingers (max) [13]


Opponent had:

Call of the Wild
Kromac the Ravenous [+26]
- Feral Warpwolf [16]
- Ghetorix [19]
- Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
- Shadowhorn Satyr [12]
- Shadowhorn Satyr [12]
- Warpwolf Stalker [17]
- Wild Argus [7]
- Druid Wilder [0(4)]
Blackclad Wayfarer [0(4)]
Lord of the Feast [0(6)]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]
Shifting Stones [0(3)]


And scenario was Recon II.

Skorne started game.

I was kind of terrified of this match up. Slingers were next to useless models, and Reivers were not exactly top tier Warpwolf killers either. Or Basilisks. Or Archidons. Or Rhinodons. Or Mordikaar.

So my battle plan was panicky to say at least. I rushed stuff forward, keeping infantry mostly out of range from Lord of the Feast, feated on turn 2 and hoped for the best.

And it wasn't too bad. Ghetorix hit only one attack against Archidon and was pushed away with Poltergeist. A Shadowhorn Satyr did destroy objective, but otherwise I survived rather well. Of course opponent was able to set-up a nightmare for me next turn, but hey. I survived.

It was a tormenting turn to play. With a high volume of low-powered attacks against heavies is a pretty good combination for analysis paralysis, and that's what I got. I considered the possibility of assassination.

First, though, Void Spirit charged Blackclad Wayfarer and killed it, did the void walk thing and also killed Druid Wilder, and then hit Kromac.

I spent many a minute in figuring out how I'd be able to kill the Void Spirit. Drake slammed Ghetorix down and Krea ran within Essence Blast range. Which hit neither Void Spirit nor Kromac. A well used light warbeast, I must say.

Then I lose my focus completely and forget I was activating Mordikaar. He just stood there, five fury points remaining.

Reiver cannon shoots enemy objective down and three attacks to Ghetorix. Enraged Rhinodon does the rest. Archidon tries to critically pitch Shadowhorn Satyr off from zone so that I might take gain some leverage in scenario play, but crit it is not.

Reivers use minifeat as I believe most would be dead next turn. They do negligible damage to Warpwolf Stalker.

Maximus misses Pureblood Warpwolf.

Now, had I removed Void Spirit, the Reivers would have been taking their shots at Kromac. Able to re-roll two-man combined ranged attack misses (that had equal to RAT 8) would have had probably softened ARM 16 Kromac with their POW 13 attacks. Then P+S 17 (had I remembered to enrage) charge attack from Archidon, had I remembered t heal it up a little. With any luck it could have gotten one extra attack with body still functional. With no luck it would have done so with body system broken.

...

And here is where I take a closer look at Essence Blast. Nothing would have prevented me from casting it from Void Spirit. Hah. Hah. Ha.

I would've had my shot at paralyzing Kromac, not to mention still having a warbeast.

Well, opponent destroys all but one Basilisk Drake from Mordikaar's battlegroup. Maximus and a number of Slingers die, too.

Mordikaar has 15 Fury points. He spends them all to destroy a Shadowhorn Satyr that had strayed too close, but really. Mordikaar even was within 13" of Kromac.

Game was over there even if I tried to scrape in some lucky damage rolls against beasts. There was none, by the way.

So these were the odds where my luck with Skorne does not extend. A Basilisk Drake for transfers (that had one hit box remaining) and enemy still having four heavies left, with an assortment of supporting models.

Mordikaar started Void Walking himself.