Just came back from playing the last scenario of Undercity board game.
It was a big boss fight against Ambrose the Alchemist, who had been turning himself into a Cephalyx Monstrosity (people do that willingly?)
I bet it's pretty safe to say that our experience of the last scenario was unusual and unlikely.
The first event card that was drawn was Impending Doom (well, actually second event card that took effect was Impending Doom. Yup, two in a row after Canice put the other one last to the event deck), and that doom removed six health counters from one of the processors, placing them on Ambrose.
This in turn redirected the whole party to get to the second processor. Gadrek rushed forward for three spaces, so next turn he'd be within walking distance of the processor.
Next turn, after a particularly lucky re-roll from a feat card, Gadrek rolled 17 for the strength check, removing the processor completely. After it had pumped only one extra health for Ambrose.
Ambrose took his time emerging from his machinery. He had thirteen health combined. He had to fight the whole hero party alone, with a Cephalyx throwing some mind bolts in to the fray. Clearly the bosses had been caught by surprise, as Cephalyx with aimed ACC 7 shots wasn't able to land solid hit on Gadrek, and Ambrose missing his charge attack against the trollkin.
Quite a few villain spawns were to spaces one and six that were farthest away from action.
Rather soon Ambrose went down, with the Cephalyx following rapidly. Low armour values made it quite easy to make solid, two wound hits to the monstrosity.
Now, to be honest, Milo Boggs the alchemist took heavy damage and ended the scenario with only one hit point remaining. Gadrek, the trollkin hadn't been dodging every and all attacks by the bosses, and he was down to three hit points (from his original nine.)
Luck or no, the campaign conclusion felt a little anticlimatic. The building up of health for the main boss was building tension well enough, though we didn't experience it properly. Once Ambrose got loose, he mainly was just hitting hard. That was a pity, as the boss could have easily been made more interesting without adding crazy amounts of difficulty with the addition of some simple extra rule like Critical Pitch or something. That would've made the end fight less static also.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: mechanics of The Undercity are quite solid and entertaining. However, thanks to how the game (campaign) plays, scenario design should have been extra polished to make Undercity a truly great game. Now it hangs somewhere there in-between. At worst the scenarios have felt uninspired and repetitive, though at their best they have shown some nifty shenanigans that made them feel special.
Hopefully in the future the game gets the support it needs and deserves. Time will tell.
Showing posts with label undercity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label undercity. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Undercity scenario 6
Should have written this right away.
But last Thursday I played scenario six from the Undercity campaign.
It was this scenario where two alchemists were being shanghai'd to exit space, and once either has been freed, a Cephalyx would appear.
We were a greedy with both Side Quest spaces since they were kind of easily reached. I had great trust in the alchemist wiping out both villain parties that had an alchemist in them. Well, the other group went down just fine... but then things started to happen.
The trollkin tank had been beating the Cephalyx for a few turns once the last group of alchemist transporters arrived right next to the very same space. My alchemist is there and lobs Cinder bomb on the group, but rolls damage poorly. Not that even a successful attack would have killed the trollkin scout in one go anyway. Now, I hadn't been listening the rules for such interactions too well... the attack caused the group to activate, so the trollkin scout threw an axe at the alchemist, killing him before he had time to make the rest of his attacks. This was bad, as gun mage had been incapacitated already, and Doorstop was almost demolished.
Hero trollkin (was his name Gadrek? Well, he's Gadrek now, to differentiate from scout villain) has something like three hit boxes remaining. Doorstop gets wrecked, so heroes are down to Pog and nearly dead Gadrek.
Gadrek takes free strikes from Cephalyx and a Drudge to attack trollkin scout, and thankfully kills him and frees the alchemist, before tons of surrounding villains enter the space.
There is this brief moment, when all of the heroes are in the same space, with dozen or so enemies nearby. Milo Boggs and gun mage had been crawling there. Kind of a cinematic occasion. Should've brought camera to take a picture.
Two villains enter the space, but they do something like one damage to Gadrek. But now he's at two remaining, so he dies if he fails two hazard rolls when he charged back to deal with the Cephalyx...
He passed both. And he killed the Drudge Thrall in one hit, so Cephalyx didn't have any sacrificial pawn targets. And with a last possible attack he killed the Cephalyx, winning scenario for Blackwater Irregulars.
This was, by far, the closest game. It could have easily been a loss. Well, even if Gadrek would have died against the Cephalyx, Pog might have still been able to win the game if he'd have survived against charges made by enemies before he'd activate. That would have been quite epic indeed. But victory took just about every resource we had at our disposal. Well, perhaps we didn't make the best choices all of the time and a cinder bomb manoeuvre backfiring didn't exactly help either.
The Side Quests had rather bad rewards this time around (some extra experience and a poisoned blade that Pog wasn't able to lift from the ground), so maybe they were a bit of an unnecessary risk. But hey. Risks. Uncertain rewards. What could be better?
Next game will be the final scenario of The Undercity Campaign.
But last Thursday I played scenario six from the Undercity campaign.
It was this scenario where two alchemists were being shanghai'd to exit space, and once either has been freed, a Cephalyx would appear.
We were a greedy with both Side Quest spaces since they were kind of easily reached. I had great trust in the alchemist wiping out both villain parties that had an alchemist in them. Well, the other group went down just fine... but then things started to happen.
The trollkin tank had been beating the Cephalyx for a few turns once the last group of alchemist transporters arrived right next to the very same space. My alchemist is there and lobs Cinder bomb on the group, but rolls damage poorly. Not that even a successful attack would have killed the trollkin scout in one go anyway. Now, I hadn't been listening the rules for such interactions too well... the attack caused the group to activate, so the trollkin scout threw an axe at the alchemist, killing him before he had time to make the rest of his attacks. This was bad, as gun mage had been incapacitated already, and Doorstop was almost demolished.
Hero trollkin (was his name Gadrek? Well, he's Gadrek now, to differentiate from scout villain) has something like three hit boxes remaining. Doorstop gets wrecked, so heroes are down to Pog and nearly dead Gadrek.
Gadrek takes free strikes from Cephalyx and a Drudge to attack trollkin scout, and thankfully kills him and frees the alchemist, before tons of surrounding villains enter the space.
There is this brief moment, when all of the heroes are in the same space, with dozen or so enemies nearby. Milo Boggs and gun mage had been crawling there. Kind of a cinematic occasion. Should've brought camera to take a picture.
Two villains enter the space, but they do something like one damage to Gadrek. But now he's at two remaining, so he dies if he fails two hazard rolls when he charged back to deal with the Cephalyx...
He passed both. And he killed the Drudge Thrall in one hit, so Cephalyx didn't have any sacrificial pawn targets. And with a last possible attack he killed the Cephalyx, winning scenario for Blackwater Irregulars.
This was, by far, the closest game. It could have easily been a loss. Well, even if Gadrek would have died against the Cephalyx, Pog might have still been able to win the game if he'd have survived against charges made by enemies before he'd activate. That would have been quite epic indeed. But victory took just about every resource we had at our disposal. Well, perhaps we didn't make the best choices all of the time and a cinder bomb manoeuvre backfiring didn't exactly help either.
The Side Quests had rather bad rewards this time around (some extra experience and a poisoned blade that Pog wasn't able to lift from the ground), so maybe they were a bit of an unnecessary risk. But hey. Risks. Uncertain rewards. What could be better?
Next game will be the final scenario of The Undercity Campaign.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Drudge sightings (Undercity 5)
So, two scenarios left in the Undercity campaign booklet. After this game, that is, which was played yesterday.
Thanks to experience boost in 4.5 we did indeed take every possible villain as an epic version in this scenario.
Very first event was some Ambushers, which spawned extra villains. Milo Boggs, the alchemist (I'm slowly starting to remember the names!) had an amazing turn with AoE acid bombs, the cinder bomb and throwing knife. They fell six enemies, and he could even spare a smoke bomb somewhere.
Removing villains didn't seem to be much of a problem, and Pog and Doorstop closed one entryway on turn two already. One unlucky villain spawn closed the gate that acted as a shortcut for the VIP the heroes needed to escort. I was worried that this would turn out to be another easy scenario for heroes. Thankfully I was wrong. Scenario design was good, as it required the heroes to be everywhere at once. Or if it didn't exactly require that, it greatly encouraged such a course of action with two side quests on the opposite sides of the board, yet not too far.
Anyway. Pog and Doorstop started to move themselves to the door of VIP's laboratory, while Candice the Gun Mage moved attempted to enter control room and re-open the gate. Trollkin went to the second side quest and close the entryway almost next to it. Milo Boggs stayed middle field, clearing entryways from villains as soon as they spawned.
Suddenly a lot of villains spawned from the entryway near the control room. Candice risked her life for the gate handle, taking volley after volley of aimed crossbowfire. Trollkin, then, well, he kind of unleashed a rampaging warjack on the board, which attacked Milo Boggs right away, knocking him down.
Both entryways had been closed and VIP alchemist had spawned to Pog and Doorstop.
Suddenly there was challenge.
Pog sent Doorstop for rendezvous with Milo Boggs, who had escaped certain death quite a few times already. Concussion grenades were amazing at buying a little extra time for Doorstop to arrive.
Trollkin wanted to come and help, too, but Milo had been luring the warjack away from him. Candice was overwhelmed by continuous villain spawns from entryway 3-4 and started to retreat. Milo had been slowly dissolving the rampaging jack with acid bombs, and Doorstop had landed a couple of solid hits on it. When trollkin finally entered the combat, warjack had only three wounds remaining. Charge attack dealt two damage in, and trollkin used Beat Back card to backtrack a little. Axe attack dealt last required damage, and trollkin used Overtake to backtrack even more.
Now Pog and Doorstop with their escort peeked out of the gate, but things were heating up on the exit side of the board, where Candice was finally shot down. Her sacrifice would not go unremembered.
Well, except that trollkin forgot right away that he was supposed to go and revive her.
Tons of drudges finally started to show up, but the horde wasn't enough to stop heroes from escaping with the escort still alive. Candice had fallen again to one health remaining (or two, don't remember any more), Doorstop had also been suffering heavily throughout the game. Milo Boggs would start next game with one health less than usual.
I think the escape was made in the second last turn. So there was a lot more twist in this scenario. Though of course greediness added it's own challenge here, as the rampaging warjack would have been completely avoidable.
Pog and Doorstop found the mechanika goggles from their own side quest, which he generously gave for trollkin.
Heroes got an amazing amount of 18 experience points from this scenario. Well, at least three of them came from killing the rampager.
Hero statistics:
Trollkin: has misplaced message and mechanika goggles
No experience in bank
Upgrades: Extra Hardy, Walk it off, Vendetta, Legendary Hero, Guardian, Great Strengths: Rapid Strike, Rusher
Milo Boggs: has Cinder Bomb
1 xp in bank, starts next scenario with one less health
Upgrades: Mad Bomber, Grenadier's Bandolier, Skulk, Concussion Grenades, All in the wrist, anatomical precision
Thanks to experience boost in 4.5 we did indeed take every possible villain as an epic version in this scenario.
Very first event was some Ambushers, which spawned extra villains. Milo Boggs, the alchemist (I'm slowly starting to remember the names!) had an amazing turn with AoE acid bombs, the cinder bomb and throwing knife. They fell six enemies, and he could even spare a smoke bomb somewhere.
Removing villains didn't seem to be much of a problem, and Pog and Doorstop closed one entryway on turn two already. One unlucky villain spawn closed the gate that acted as a shortcut for the VIP the heroes needed to escort. I was worried that this would turn out to be another easy scenario for heroes. Thankfully I was wrong. Scenario design was good, as it required the heroes to be everywhere at once. Or if it didn't exactly require that, it greatly encouraged such a course of action with two side quests on the opposite sides of the board, yet not too far.
Anyway. Pog and Doorstop started to move themselves to the door of VIP's laboratory, while Candice the Gun Mage moved attempted to enter control room and re-open the gate. Trollkin went to the second side quest and close the entryway almost next to it. Milo Boggs stayed middle field, clearing entryways from villains as soon as they spawned.
Suddenly a lot of villains spawned from the entryway near the control room. Candice risked her life for the gate handle, taking volley after volley of aimed crossbowfire. Trollkin, then, well, he kind of unleashed a rampaging warjack on the board, which attacked Milo Boggs right away, knocking him down.
Both entryways had been closed and VIP alchemist had spawned to Pog and Doorstop.
Suddenly there was challenge.
Pog sent Doorstop for rendezvous with Milo Boggs, who had escaped certain death quite a few times already. Concussion grenades were amazing at buying a little extra time for Doorstop to arrive.
Trollkin wanted to come and help, too, but Milo had been luring the warjack away from him. Candice was overwhelmed by continuous villain spawns from entryway 3-4 and started to retreat. Milo had been slowly dissolving the rampaging jack with acid bombs, and Doorstop had landed a couple of solid hits on it. When trollkin finally entered the combat, warjack had only three wounds remaining. Charge attack dealt two damage in, and trollkin used Beat Back card to backtrack a little. Axe attack dealt last required damage, and trollkin used Overtake to backtrack even more.
Now Pog and Doorstop with their escort peeked out of the gate, but things were heating up on the exit side of the board, where Candice was finally shot down. Her sacrifice would not go unremembered.
Well, except that trollkin forgot right away that he was supposed to go and revive her.
Tons of drudges finally started to show up, but the horde wasn't enough to stop heroes from escaping with the escort still alive. Candice had fallen again to one health remaining (or two, don't remember any more), Doorstop had also been suffering heavily throughout the game. Milo Boggs would start next game with one health less than usual.
I think the escape was made in the second last turn. So there was a lot more twist in this scenario. Though of course greediness added it's own challenge here, as the rampaging warjack would have been completely avoidable.
Pog and Doorstop found the mechanika goggles from their own side quest, which he generously gave for trollkin.
Heroes got an amazing amount of 18 experience points from this scenario. Well, at least three of them came from killing the rampager.
Hero statistics:
Trollkin: has misplaced message and mechanika goggles
No experience in bank
Upgrades: Extra Hardy, Walk it off, Vendetta, Legendary Hero, Guardian, Great Strengths: Rapid Strike, Rusher
Milo Boggs: has Cinder Bomb
1 xp in bank, starts next scenario with one less health
Upgrades: Mad Bomber, Grenadier's Bandolier, Skulk, Concussion Grenades, All in the wrist, anatomical precision
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Undercity Web Extra 4.5
Yesterday Undercity campaign was being continued.
Scenario was a web extra from Privateer Press' home page.
It was difficult to judge it's difficulty. Board layout was long. LONG. There was next to no chance for diagonal movement. Four boss models. Vitality 4 regular monsters. Yet farrows and stock villains were fighting against each other as well as the heroes.
First event also activated bosses, so farrow warlord was blocking trivially easy access to first control room.
Pog, Doorstop and the trollkin charged warlord after gun mage and alchemist had softened it up. Troll had used Mighty ability and Mighty Blow feat card. Vitality 6 boss died like a filthy pig. Uh. That 'pun' was so bad... I'm dreadfully sorry. I truly am.
Well, since trollkin killed farrow warlord, it spawned back at the start of next round. Of course it spawned almost exactly where the first one had fallen...
Pog & Doorstop were dedicated to open up the first control room, and everybody else took running to first bottleneck gate space. Farrow Slaughterhousers and Razor Boars tore the heavy warjack into pieces, and it spawned at the worst possible space yet again - the entryway 1. Trollkin had been blocking attacks against gun mage in the space right next to entryway 1. And as luck would have it, the warjack activated and charged trollkin, knocking him down.
This worried me a little bit, since I felt we had been advancing rather sluggishly by then. Oh well, thanks to the Great Strength ability that gave knockdown immunity this setback would delay me only for one turn.
The fresh farrow warlord was following Pog and Doorstop as they were trying to re-join the main adventuring party.
Next all of the heroes speed through the first gate and succeed in setting up farrow warlord and heavy warjack against each other.
Trollkin opened up the second control room. By now the bone grinder boss had been killed and re-appeared on the first half of the board. Jack marshal lieutenant also died to farrow villains, and got into a more threatening position, to the entryway 3, which was right next to side quest.
Gun mage had rushed to check the side quest, and managed to dislodge a cinder bomb. But she was under heavy fire by the lieutenant and crossbow thugs and whatnot.
Alchemist speeds up to finish the scenario, and trollkin plus Pog and Doorstop make the lieutenant go splat.
If I remember right, the gun mage had only one health remaining when the scenario ended in the victory of heroes. Other than that, well... there had been no true casualties or loss of resources.
Somehow feels like the scenario had not been play tested through. Scenario gave tons of experience, yet the challenge wasn't all that great. Extra experience for each battle ready hero was completely unnecessary for this scenario, and there was way too much time for heroes to walk through streets. We didn't really hurry, and still had at least three turns to spare once game ended. Side Quest wasn't an option to consider - it fell right in the greedy hands of heroes along the way. Only the gun mage took enough damage not to start next game fully healed.
Oh well. I guess we'll be using only epic villains and bosses from now on.
My hero statistics:
Trollkin
No xp in bank
Vendetta, Guardian, Legendary Hero, Great Strengths: Rusher, Rapid Strike
Misplaced Message
Alchemist
6xp in bank
Skulk, Concussion grenades, Mad Bomber, Grenadier's Bandolier
Cinder Bomb
Scenario was a web extra from Privateer Press' home page.
It was difficult to judge it's difficulty. Board layout was long. LONG. There was next to no chance for diagonal movement. Four boss models. Vitality 4 regular monsters. Yet farrows and stock villains were fighting against each other as well as the heroes.
First event also activated bosses, so farrow warlord was blocking trivially easy access to first control room.
Pog, Doorstop and the trollkin charged warlord after gun mage and alchemist had softened it up. Troll had used Mighty ability and Mighty Blow feat card. Vitality 6 boss died like a filthy pig. Uh. That 'pun' was so bad... I'm dreadfully sorry. I truly am.
Well, since trollkin killed farrow warlord, it spawned back at the start of next round. Of course it spawned almost exactly where the first one had fallen...
Pog & Doorstop were dedicated to open up the first control room, and everybody else took running to first bottleneck gate space. Farrow Slaughterhousers and Razor Boars tore the heavy warjack into pieces, and it spawned at the worst possible space yet again - the entryway 1. Trollkin had been blocking attacks against gun mage in the space right next to entryway 1. And as luck would have it, the warjack activated and charged trollkin, knocking him down.
This worried me a little bit, since I felt we had been advancing rather sluggishly by then. Oh well, thanks to the Great Strength ability that gave knockdown immunity this setback would delay me only for one turn.
The fresh farrow warlord was following Pog and Doorstop as they were trying to re-join the main adventuring party.
Next all of the heroes speed through the first gate and succeed in setting up farrow warlord and heavy warjack against each other.
Trollkin opened up the second control room. By now the bone grinder boss had been killed and re-appeared on the first half of the board. Jack marshal lieutenant also died to farrow villains, and got into a more threatening position, to the entryway 3, which was right next to side quest.
Gun mage had rushed to check the side quest, and managed to dislodge a cinder bomb. But she was under heavy fire by the lieutenant and crossbow thugs and whatnot.
Alchemist speeds up to finish the scenario, and trollkin plus Pog and Doorstop make the lieutenant go splat.
If I remember right, the gun mage had only one health remaining when the scenario ended in the victory of heroes. Other than that, well... there had been no true casualties or loss of resources.
Somehow feels like the scenario had not been play tested through. Scenario gave tons of experience, yet the challenge wasn't all that great. Extra experience for each battle ready hero was completely unnecessary for this scenario, and there was way too much time for heroes to walk through streets. We didn't really hurry, and still had at least three turns to spare once game ended. Side Quest wasn't an option to consider - it fell right in the greedy hands of heroes along the way. Only the gun mage took enough damage not to start next game fully healed.
Oh well. I guess we'll be using only epic villains and bosses from now on.
My hero statistics:
Trollkin
No xp in bank
Vendetta, Guardian, Legendary Hero, Great Strengths: Rusher, Rapid Strike
Misplaced Message
Alchemist
6xp in bank
Skulk, Concussion grenades, Mad Bomber, Grenadier's Bandolier
Cinder Bomb
Friday, April 29, 2016
Never mind the hook
I really should have written these yesterday when I still remembered things.
Oh well. We continued Undercity with scenarios three and four.
In the third scenario we used epic crossbow thugs instead of regular ones.
Scenario had a weird start when the boss villains took just one step forward. Alchemist was able to throw a virtuoso AoE acid bomb on them, which killed the gobber boss outright.
Villains that were guarding the gate were easily dispatched, and the gobber guy was able to make INT check with some additional die skill and a boost. Gate opened easily, and the trollkin boss would be surrounded.
Situation looked so secure that the trollkin hero started long trek to get to side quest near entrance five. He found Misplaced Message or something like that there, which began a chain of some sort in the future scenarios.
Trollkin boss died in the dark alley before getting even to the gate opening. Alchemist snatched the package, which stopped patrols from building up. We still had plenty of time, and the board side that had the first Side Quest was almost cleared of any villains. We tried to get the first Side Quest also. It prolonged the game to very last possible turn, and last Even card would be an event that spawned villains. Alchemist gave the packet to Doorstop, and gobber tinker checked Side Quest. Of course it was some Drudge Thralls. Well, serves us well for abusing the scenario design.
We had some luck in the scenario when gobber opened the gate without alerting villains and Alchemist taking down one of the bosses on turn one. Perhaps that skews my opinion, but I don't think the scenario was completely thought through. After packet was picked up, additional villains appeared only sporadically, which in turn made it all too easy just to grind for experience points without much threat from possible consequences. My advice is to make every villain the most epic version available.
The patrol spawning system in this scenario was nice, though.
For the fourth scenario trollkin hero took Rusher (great strength option to walk two squares or charge three) and alchemist got concussion grenades (knock down all models in a square). We used epic sword thugs in this scenario in addition to epic crossbow thugs.
Rusher was amazing choice for this particular scenario. The crane hook that villain was controlling dealt massive damage, so heroes were in a hurry to get to the boss. If nothing would interfere, trollkin would be there in two turns.
But the all the plans fly off the window when you contact the enemy. Gun mage Canice got a feat card that gave +2 def for her, and she went to lure the hook to her top open up a pretty free lane for trollkin to run through. That she did, but somehow the villain boss managed to activate twice before the trollkin had time to activate. There was trollkin and Doorstep in the square where hook landed second time. Doorstop was knocked down, but trollkin was left standing because of some great strength option that gave him knock down immunity.
Trollkin started to rush forward to boss, and villains even made it easier for him to reach there. Counter charge feat card gave him an additional square of movement. He needed that, though. Because Rusher is a Great Strength ability option, he wouldn't be immune to knock down any more.
He did reach boss on turn three. I tried to be fancy with him and kill a crossbow thug in the square next to boss and enter boss square with Overtake feat card - but he missed both attacks.
Things looked pretty fine, and alchemist was greedily reaching for the side quest. Then I'm not sure what happened. Once trollkin started fight with boss the first heavy warjack appeared. And next one almost right after thanks to Impending Doom event, which rolled six extra points for the timer. Both warjacks started from the farthest corner of the board, so that was kind of a good thing. Though they would be activating just about always when you had to activate villains far from any hero.
Doorstop was taking heavy damage and gobber had to use most of his feat cards to repair the light jack.
Two especially bloodthirsty gobber villains slashed and sliced Canice. Only model that was relatively healthy was the alchemist, but he was stuck on the side quest and a couple of villains who had started chasing him. Side quest was, by the way, Cinder bomb that alchemist was not strong enough to carry.
Trollkin had to beat the scenario boss all alone and drag the hook to the gate all alone. If it wasn't for a couple of Backswing feat cards I don't know if he could have done it. But it was a victory for heroes anyway.
This was by far the most interesting scenario yet. Appearance ratio of villains vastly exceeds the killing potential of heroes - especially when one hero cannot reliably contribute to the removal of the spawns. Had the heavy warjacks spawned somewhere else, there could have been far more casualties than one empty revival potion.
Next time we're probably going to play the 4.5 scenario that's available for download on the Privateer Press website.
My hero statistics:
Trollkin
17xp in bank
Vendetta, Guardian, Rusher
Alchemist
1xp in bank
Skulk, Concussion grenades, Mad Bomber
Oh well. We continued Undercity with scenarios three and four.
In the third scenario we used epic crossbow thugs instead of regular ones.
Scenario had a weird start when the boss villains took just one step forward. Alchemist was able to throw a virtuoso AoE acid bomb on them, which killed the gobber boss outright.
Villains that were guarding the gate were easily dispatched, and the gobber guy was able to make INT check with some additional die skill and a boost. Gate opened easily, and the trollkin boss would be surrounded.
Situation looked so secure that the trollkin hero started long trek to get to side quest near entrance five. He found Misplaced Message or something like that there, which began a chain of some sort in the future scenarios.
Trollkin boss died in the dark alley before getting even to the gate opening. Alchemist snatched the package, which stopped patrols from building up. We still had plenty of time, and the board side that had the first Side Quest was almost cleared of any villains. We tried to get the first Side Quest also. It prolonged the game to very last possible turn, and last Even card would be an event that spawned villains. Alchemist gave the packet to Doorstop, and gobber tinker checked Side Quest. Of course it was some Drudge Thralls. Well, serves us well for abusing the scenario design.
We had some luck in the scenario when gobber opened the gate without alerting villains and Alchemist taking down one of the bosses on turn one. Perhaps that skews my opinion, but I don't think the scenario was completely thought through. After packet was picked up, additional villains appeared only sporadically, which in turn made it all too easy just to grind for experience points without much threat from possible consequences. My advice is to make every villain the most epic version available.
The patrol spawning system in this scenario was nice, though.
For the fourth scenario trollkin hero took Rusher (great strength option to walk two squares or charge three) and alchemist got concussion grenades (knock down all models in a square). We used epic sword thugs in this scenario in addition to epic crossbow thugs.
Rusher was amazing choice for this particular scenario. The crane hook that villain was controlling dealt massive damage, so heroes were in a hurry to get to the boss. If nothing would interfere, trollkin would be there in two turns.
But the all the plans fly off the window when you contact the enemy. Gun mage Canice got a feat card that gave +2 def for her, and she went to lure the hook to her top open up a pretty free lane for trollkin to run through. That she did, but somehow the villain boss managed to activate twice before the trollkin had time to activate. There was trollkin and Doorstep in the square where hook landed second time. Doorstop was knocked down, but trollkin was left standing because of some great strength option that gave him knock down immunity.
Trollkin started to rush forward to boss, and villains even made it easier for him to reach there. Counter charge feat card gave him an additional square of movement. He needed that, though. Because Rusher is a Great Strength ability option, he wouldn't be immune to knock down any more.
He did reach boss on turn three. I tried to be fancy with him and kill a crossbow thug in the square next to boss and enter boss square with Overtake feat card - but he missed both attacks.
Things looked pretty fine, and alchemist was greedily reaching for the side quest. Then I'm not sure what happened. Once trollkin started fight with boss the first heavy warjack appeared. And next one almost right after thanks to Impending Doom event, which rolled six extra points for the timer. Both warjacks started from the farthest corner of the board, so that was kind of a good thing. Though they would be activating just about always when you had to activate villains far from any hero.
Doorstop was taking heavy damage and gobber had to use most of his feat cards to repair the light jack.
Two especially bloodthirsty gobber villains slashed and sliced Canice. Only model that was relatively healthy was the alchemist, but he was stuck on the side quest and a couple of villains who had started chasing him. Side quest was, by the way, Cinder bomb that alchemist was not strong enough to carry.
Trollkin had to beat the scenario boss all alone and drag the hook to the gate all alone. If it wasn't for a couple of Backswing feat cards I don't know if he could have done it. But it was a victory for heroes anyway.
This was by far the most interesting scenario yet. Appearance ratio of villains vastly exceeds the killing potential of heroes - especially when one hero cannot reliably contribute to the removal of the spawns. Had the heavy warjacks spawned somewhere else, there could have been far more casualties than one empty revival potion.
Next time we're probably going to play the 4.5 scenario that's available for download on the Privateer Press website.
My hero statistics:
Trollkin
17xp in bank
Vendetta, Guardian, Rusher
Alchemist
1xp in bank
Skulk, Concussion grenades, Mad Bomber
Thursday, April 14, 2016
First impressions of the Undercity
Today I had a two player session of Undercity.
We played first two scenarios and it took a little bit over three hours to do that. Not too bad at all, considering I had only read the basic rules once and the second player had one solo game behind him.
I played with the trollkin bodyguard and the alchemist.
As I love the archetype behind a maniacal alchemist throwing explosive cocktails around, I played true to that archetype in the opening moves of the first scenario. Alchemist took Hoof it -move to throw the acid bomb on the group of villains who were hanging around the corpse players were supposed to investigate. Because acid bomb on clues and leads and evidence - why not? Well, I hadn't read my character sheet too carefully, as I was oblivious of being able to get three dice on all of the damage rolls...
Well, some experimental bombs are bound to be dud, I suppose.
I was playing quite carelessly throughout the mission, as I didn't really feel the heroes were in much of a danger. Four free strike hazards on the trollkin, for example... who cares?
Also, I wanted to end the game with style instead of playing it safe - the troll charged Rhulic boss with extra damage die from Great strength buff table and Mighty Blow feat card. That meant if I rolled high enough with four dice, my hero would one-hit boss. And he did. Yay.
Doorstop lived up to its name for the whole game, and gun mage went and snatched an orgoth artifact from side quest.
Each hero got five experience points, and I chose the Shield Guard advance for trollkin.
In second scenario I think I wasn't that reckless... at least until the very last turn.
Alchemist made good use out of acid bombs in this scenario. Trollkin made good use out of... well, nothing in this scenario. Even though gun mage knocked down the troll boss, my melee tank character was not able to cause even a single wound to the enemy - even with additional damage die and charge bonuses. Gun mage had shot a wound or two in to the troll, and my alchemist had to come and show my troll champ how melee weapons are to be used in the Undercity.
And my trollkin learned that, I guess... He did score a boss kill in that game. Against a knocked down Armour 11 gobber boss.
Doorstop lived up to its name for the whole game.
I tried to run to a side quest card when game was nearing end with my alchemist, but this resulted in a lucky crossbow shot incapacitating him.
Heroes got eight experience points from this scenario.
Alchemist got Skulk (stealth) and left three experience points in bank. He starts next game with only three health.
Trollkin had the shield guard card from last scenario and bought Vendetta from this scenario. He also left three experience points in bank.
So.
The game definitely has it's pros and cons. I was left with a bit mixed feelings about the game.
For example, the experience progress feels a little underwhelming and streamlined. When experience pool is shared by all characters, it feels like the heroes don't develop as individuals. Their accomplishes and failures on board don't really affect themselves. I admit I'm a sucker for rules that make heroes develop distinct personalities. However, I understand why the experience isn't tracked individually. It cuts down book-keeping tremendously, and it's far easier to balance experience gain that way. I mean, for example, if most of the experience in a game is gained from killing things, it sucks to be a support character.
Second "problem" comes from the cooperative nature of the game. And the game truly is fully cooperative - a little too much. There is no incentive to be even a little bit selfish. That's not necessarily a bad thing in itself, so I'm not going to judge the game just yet from this viewpoint. But when a game has no competition between the players at all in any way, the difficulty has to be right. Odds need to feel overwhelming, there needs to be a sense of desperation so great that it makes up for the lack of competition between the players. First two scenarios did not have a satisfactory difficulty level, but a little bird told me that latter part of campaign is going to see a jump in difficulty.
Game mechanics, on the other hand, are quite good. Steady inflow of new villains in a good system here, and should lend itself well to that sense of desperation I was talking about earlier. The system how villains activate is well thought. It would be plain hell to keep track which villains have activated and which have not, so thankfully that is not required at all. Also, players can't plan around the activation order either as far as the villains go - as witnessed by the stray crossbow bolt that downed my alchemist in second scenario...
Lastly, I'm a little bit worried about the re-playability of the game. It's the same seven scenarios with the same four heroes with very little variation. Some additional heroes would work miracles in that regard. Maybe Widower's Wood and the upcoming expansion for Undercity will help there? Randomising the assets players have to beat the game is a really good way of adding re-play value to any cooperative game. In Arkham Horror and Touch of Evil you never know if you're going to be able to beat this particular ultimate evil with the current party composition - but those are the tools you have to work with.
Of course those games are somewhat different from The Undercity. Undercity has a span of seven linked missions, where Arkham Horror and Touch of Evil are just one-off games. Time investment for a completed "story arc", so to speak, is way different. You probably want to have more choice over your character and the progress of that character if you have to use him/her during multiple sessions.
But I'm not sure what I'm even talking about any more. Somewhere along the way this turned into writing random thoughts, based on two scenarios played.
To sum it up: the game has merits, but something keeps me a little cautious and needs additional play to make up my mind.
We played first two scenarios and it took a little bit over three hours to do that. Not too bad at all, considering I had only read the basic rules once and the second player had one solo game behind him.
I played with the trollkin bodyguard and the alchemist.
As I love the archetype behind a maniacal alchemist throwing explosive cocktails around, I played true to that archetype in the opening moves of the first scenario. Alchemist took Hoof it -move to throw the acid bomb on the group of villains who were hanging around the corpse players were supposed to investigate. Because acid bomb on clues and leads and evidence - why not? Well, I hadn't read my character sheet too carefully, as I was oblivious of being able to get three dice on all of the damage rolls...
Well, some experimental bombs are bound to be dud, I suppose.
I was playing quite carelessly throughout the mission, as I didn't really feel the heroes were in much of a danger. Four free strike hazards on the trollkin, for example... who cares?
Also, I wanted to end the game with style instead of playing it safe - the troll charged Rhulic boss with extra damage die from Great strength buff table and Mighty Blow feat card. That meant if I rolled high enough with four dice, my hero would one-hit boss. And he did. Yay.
Doorstop lived up to its name for the whole game, and gun mage went and snatched an orgoth artifact from side quest.
Each hero got five experience points, and I chose the Shield Guard advance for trollkin.
In second scenario I think I wasn't that reckless... at least until the very last turn.
Alchemist made good use out of acid bombs in this scenario. Trollkin made good use out of... well, nothing in this scenario. Even though gun mage knocked down the troll boss, my melee tank character was not able to cause even a single wound to the enemy - even with additional damage die and charge bonuses. Gun mage had shot a wound or two in to the troll, and my alchemist had to come and show my troll champ how melee weapons are to be used in the Undercity.
And my trollkin learned that, I guess... He did score a boss kill in that game. Against a knocked down Armour 11 gobber boss.
Doorstop lived up to its name for the whole game.
I tried to run to a side quest card when game was nearing end with my alchemist, but this resulted in a lucky crossbow shot incapacitating him.
Heroes got eight experience points from this scenario.
Alchemist got Skulk (stealth) and left three experience points in bank. He starts next game with only three health.
Trollkin had the shield guard card from last scenario and bought Vendetta from this scenario. He also left three experience points in bank.
So.
The game definitely has it's pros and cons. I was left with a bit mixed feelings about the game.
For example, the experience progress feels a little underwhelming and streamlined. When experience pool is shared by all characters, it feels like the heroes don't develop as individuals. Their accomplishes and failures on board don't really affect themselves. I admit I'm a sucker for rules that make heroes develop distinct personalities. However, I understand why the experience isn't tracked individually. It cuts down book-keeping tremendously, and it's far easier to balance experience gain that way. I mean, for example, if most of the experience in a game is gained from killing things, it sucks to be a support character.
Second "problem" comes from the cooperative nature of the game. And the game truly is fully cooperative - a little too much. There is no incentive to be even a little bit selfish. That's not necessarily a bad thing in itself, so I'm not going to judge the game just yet from this viewpoint. But when a game has no competition between the players at all in any way, the difficulty has to be right. Odds need to feel overwhelming, there needs to be a sense of desperation so great that it makes up for the lack of competition between the players. First two scenarios did not have a satisfactory difficulty level, but a little bird told me that latter part of campaign is going to see a jump in difficulty.
Game mechanics, on the other hand, are quite good. Steady inflow of new villains in a good system here, and should lend itself well to that sense of desperation I was talking about earlier. The system how villains activate is well thought. It would be plain hell to keep track which villains have activated and which have not, so thankfully that is not required at all. Also, players can't plan around the activation order either as far as the villains go - as witnessed by the stray crossbow bolt that downed my alchemist in second scenario...
Lastly, I'm a little bit worried about the re-playability of the game. It's the same seven scenarios with the same four heroes with very little variation. Some additional heroes would work miracles in that regard. Maybe Widower's Wood and the upcoming expansion for Undercity will help there? Randomising the assets players have to beat the game is a really good way of adding re-play value to any cooperative game. In Arkham Horror and Touch of Evil you never know if you're going to be able to beat this particular ultimate evil with the current party composition - but those are the tools you have to work with.
Of course those games are somewhat different from The Undercity. Undercity has a span of seven linked missions, where Arkham Horror and Touch of Evil are just one-off games. Time investment for a completed "story arc", so to speak, is way different. You probably want to have more choice over your character and the progress of that character if you have to use him/her during multiple sessions.
But I'm not sure what I'm even talking about any more. Somewhere along the way this turned into writing random thoughts, based on two scenarios played.
To sum it up: the game has merits, but something keeps me a little cautious and needs additional play to make up my mind.
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