Oh my. The players are going to love this when they read it.
Anyway. First time ever I got to play a 4-player Kingdom Death.
Prologue lion killed my character and bit the eye off another, but otherwise prologue went surprisingly well. Settlement was named Boneyard, and we had nine survivors after returning survivors.
Three endeavors innovated Ammonia for us, and Skinnery and Bonesmith.
Year 1 hunt goes amazingly well. White Lion ambushes survivors on the second space on hunt board. Thanks to some Ground Fighting abuse we managed to kill the great cat without too much hassle. All the survivors were on the verge of dying, but I don't think anyone actually got permanent injuries. In fact it was the settlement event Rivalry that made my character take gaping chest wound.
Settlement builds Organ Grinder and innovates Paint. Two auguries don't give even slightest moment of intimacy for anyone.
Year 2 hunt is already Screaming Antelope, and I'm genuinely baffled on how easily that beast went down, too. First card was Chowdown, so survivors scavenged what they could while Antelope grazed from plant to plant. Nearing the end of the showdown, things went absurd. One of the players wanted to train fist & tooth proficiency, and was running besides Screaming Antelope, punching it as it wandered aimlessly. It had no cards in AI deck and since there were no knocked down survivors, it just trod with equal speed with survivors, thanks to one -1 Movement token.
Settlement event is Heatwave. Rivalry loses it's impetus.
Settlement builds Weapon Crafter and innovates Hovel. There was at least one attempt at augury. I don't quite remember what the last one was - possibly even more augury.
Year 3 hunt is The Butcher.
That's right. Year. Three.
So, I dare our dear players to lynch me next time we meet, for we fought Butcher one year earlier than we were supposed to. Prologue still messes up my mind when it comes to Lantern Year progress. Also, Screaming Antelope was a surprising quarry for lantern year 2, so I thought intuitively that next was the horrifying Butcher fight.
Random terrain cards were the Lonely Tree and the Nightmare Tree. Boneyard is on the edge of a forest, I believe.
The fight itself. Oh, we could have done it. We had a player wounding Butcher on 4's, but he failed far over half of his wound rolls. We dashed and danced all around Butcher in a most professional manner, and with only a little bit of luck here and there could have been victorious.
Maybe it could have been enough if my character wouldn't have died to the very first Severe Injury roll she had to make. All the other survivors died to bleed tokens, most resulting from Dreaded Trophies.
So, it was a full wipe at Butcher. But let's sigh from relief. I mean, it's the worst that can happen, it's all for the better from now on, right? Wrong.
Settlement event is Murder, so I suppose Butcher's lunacy truly was contagious even outside of the actual showdown.
Then.
Let's talk about Burk for a second. Earlier he had poked a gaping chest wound to my character during their rivalry, which is understandable. Accidents happen. But.
It didn't stop there, no. In fact, the hunger grew and now he murdered the most experienced survivor settlement had. Didn't get caught, though. Now HE was the most experienced survivor - no doubt his ultimate goal. To be the leader.
But then it was time to have population bloom. Eight endeavors prompted quite a few auguries, and Burk decided to become the progenitor of new fierce warriors.
Well, his only contact with other survivors had left a permanent mark on him. Mostly just violence and death. Mother (Igorina, was it?) and the child both perished. Burk figured out he had done a grave mistake somewhere along the road, but couldn't quite gather, where. Ashamed he received Performance Anxiety (cannot be nominated for Intimacy).
Population: One male, one female and one Burk.
All the rest attempts at Augury yield absolutely nothing. So actual year 4 begins with three survivors. But since we now have one surprise year worth of hunt out of nowhere with relatively good gear, this settlement is definitely salvageable as long as we have a breeding pair without performance anxieties (which, I must admit, developed out of a very good reason.)
But since the session ended, I realized we still have two endeavors left - one gained from Murder and one from the botched intimacy attempt.
I'm going to suggest we spend one of them for Candice & Ancient Lantern challenge scenario to have a decent chance to save the settlement.
Monday, March 5, 2018
Friday, February 16, 2018
Master Necrotech Mortenebra vs Butcher Unleashed
This 75 point game was played a few days ago. I forgot to bring camera with me. I tried to take some pictures with my phone, but the photo quality is terrible beyond extreme so I won't litter this blog entry with those. Because of this it's probably difficult to make any sense out of these writings. Oh well.
[Theme] Infernal Machines
Master Necrotech Mortenebra
- Corruptor
- Defiler
- Desecrator
- Inflictor
- Nightwretch
Machine Wraith
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Bile Thralls (max)
Mechanithralls (max)
- Brute Thrall (2)
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
[Theme] Legion of Steel
Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed
- Devastator
- 2x Kodiak
- War Dog [3]
Iron Fang Kovnik
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Battle Mechaniks (min)
2x Iron Fang Pikemen (max) +Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard
Iron Fang Uhlans (min)
Scenario was Recon II and Cryx started.
A single Desecrator made good job at stalling the Ironfang Pikemen flank. Nightwretch and Corruptor were also whittling that huge swathe of infantry, but there were over twenty models there. I was surprised that I actually managed to destroy one of the units.
Pistol Wraith failed to freeze an Iron Fang Uhlan that were in triangular formation in base contact. Shame. I would have stopped the entire unit in it's tracks. Since the Wraith failed, I had to bring the Mechanithrall unit from ambush to Uhlan flank. So that the cavalry would have something to do, instead of free reign over left side of the board.
But these were kind of inconsequential matters. What mattered was Devastator and Kodiak and Butcher3 in the middle. Inflictor tried to wreck Kodiak, and succeeded to take out both arm systems. Still, far from dead it was.
And then Devastator head-butted Inflictor, and Butcher charged the heavy warjack dead. Khadoran warcaster used feat to get some focus for mitigating damage. The other Iron Fang unit moved in, and along with the warjacks and warcasters and war dogs and war arguses made for quite an impenetrable fortress.
I couldn't figure any other course of action than to kill Butcher. My plan was to use Mortenebra's feat, cast Spectral Steel on Desecrator and move the warjack with Overrun. Then Bile Thralls and Deryliss and possibly even Necrosurgeon would wreck Kodiak that was standing in Desecrator's way. After Kodiak was removed, Pistol Wraith would shoot Butcher stationary, and Desecrator would go and get four automatically hitting P+S 17 attacks with re-rolls against Butcher, that had taken a few points of damage from Doom Spiral and Bile Thrall Purge attacks.
Pistol Wraith was the first one to fail. Bile Thralls made good job at destroying Kodiak, but even with re-rolls Pistol Wraith wasn't able to hit Butcher twice.
Desecrator was easily within walking distance of opposing warcaster, but instead of automatic hits, Butcher was Def 16 thanks to war dog.
Even if Butcher had been stationary, assassination wouldn't have been a certain one. Now I needed such numbers on all of the dice that even Mortenebra's feat wasn't able to swing averages that far up.
Then I had my warcaster with no focus and no intervening friendly models between Mortenebra and Devastator plus Butcher. Game over.
[Theme] Infernal Machines
Master Necrotech Mortenebra
- Corruptor
- Defiler
- Desecrator
- Inflictor
- Nightwretch
Machine Wraith
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Bile Thralls (max)
Mechanithralls (max)
- Brute Thrall (2)
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
[Theme] Legion of Steel
Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed
- Devastator
- 2x Kodiak
- War Dog [3]
Iron Fang Kovnik
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Battle Mechaniks (min)
2x Iron Fang Pikemen (max) +Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard
Iron Fang Uhlans (min)
Scenario was Recon II and Cryx started.
A single Desecrator made good job at stalling the Ironfang Pikemen flank. Nightwretch and Corruptor were also whittling that huge swathe of infantry, but there were over twenty models there. I was surprised that I actually managed to destroy one of the units.
Pistol Wraith failed to freeze an Iron Fang Uhlan that were in triangular formation in base contact. Shame. I would have stopped the entire unit in it's tracks. Since the Wraith failed, I had to bring the Mechanithrall unit from ambush to Uhlan flank. So that the cavalry would have something to do, instead of free reign over left side of the board.
But these were kind of inconsequential matters. What mattered was Devastator and Kodiak and Butcher3 in the middle. Inflictor tried to wreck Kodiak, and succeeded to take out both arm systems. Still, far from dead it was.
And then Devastator head-butted Inflictor, and Butcher charged the heavy warjack dead. Khadoran warcaster used feat to get some focus for mitigating damage. The other Iron Fang unit moved in, and along with the warjacks and warcasters and war dogs and war arguses made for quite an impenetrable fortress.
I couldn't figure any other course of action than to kill Butcher. My plan was to use Mortenebra's feat, cast Spectral Steel on Desecrator and move the warjack with Overrun. Then Bile Thralls and Deryliss and possibly even Necrosurgeon would wreck Kodiak that was standing in Desecrator's way. After Kodiak was removed, Pistol Wraith would shoot Butcher stationary, and Desecrator would go and get four automatically hitting P+S 17 attacks with re-rolls against Butcher, that had taken a few points of damage from Doom Spiral and Bile Thrall Purge attacks.
Pistol Wraith was the first one to fail. Bile Thralls made good job at destroying Kodiak, but even with re-rolls Pistol Wraith wasn't able to hit Butcher twice.
Desecrator was easily within walking distance of opposing warcaster, but instead of automatic hits, Butcher was Def 16 thanks to war dog.
Even if Butcher had been stationary, assassination wouldn't have been a certain one. Now I needed such numbers on all of the dice that even Mortenebra's feat wasn't able to swing averages that far up.
Then I had my warcaster with no focus and no intervening friendly models between Mortenebra and Devastator plus Butcher. Game over.
Monday, February 5, 2018
Envisillan, years 20-25
When things appear to be going too well, you're not looking close enough.
That's what happened. As I was skimming through rule book glossary, I noticed this teeny weeny detail: Secret fighting arts count towards the maximum of three fighting arts. And I've played as if they didn't. This assumption was based on the fact that Sculpture innovation describes Secret Fighting Arts as not being Fighting Arts.
Oh well.
This misplay has had a major impact in current settlement, as Mursonus should have been far less useful. He's existence is an abomination now, unreal, performing dream-like feats of killing monsters as well as enduring their attacks.
It's far too late to revert effects of this misplay, but to make at least some kind of amends with my conscience, Mursonus ceases to exist right now, right here. He was a secret savior all along.
I also noticed I've been playing hunt phase wrong - as a solo player I don't get to pick who's the event revealer. This has probably given me quite an edge, perhaps saved from a few deaths, even.
But at least I've also been playing brain damage wrong to my disadvantage - I didn't know the actual brain symbol there is one damage level. I've been rolling for brain trauma immediately as first point of damage has soaked in through insanity. Also I did not know that you actually retain your weapon mastery even if you switch to another weapon.
But let's get 2018 Kingdom Death started.
I want a new Sleeping Virus Flower, so I'm going after Flower Knight level 3.
Departing survivors are getting +2 Survival, +4 Insanity, +1 armor.
Team consists of: Fabenta, Anhemio, Niamur and Sacronicus, which is also the turn order for being event revealer.
First we get 69, Time Lapse. As settlement has fought the Phoenix, everyone gets a little understanding, but feel a strange change in their personality.
Looks like team consists now of:
Lyaschura, who is Traumatized.
Undulantele, who has Performance Anxiety.
Draemolo, who is Unrelenting and has Anxiety. This is troublesome, as he has no stinky gear and next to no armor either, as he was supposed to be mostly for support.
Valherdence, with Coprolalia. Her re-roll is also re-set.
Next Undulantele picks 43, fresh kill. Not surprising that the prizes go to Undulantele.
Draemolo reveals 09, but the golden light is soothing for him. Perhaps it reminded him of the place where his personality should exist right now.
Valherdence reveals Dead Warrior and decides to investigate right away, gaining the Black Guard Style which does nothing for her.
Lyaschura rolls 82, Consuming Grass. Both Lyaschura and Undulantele become stragglers and have to archive a gear.
Party arrives at the forest gate. Roll of 4 means everyone gets a bleeding token, thus starting showdown with two of those.
Herb Gathering gives fresh acanthus and some survival. Everyone is now at maximum survival. Though the bushwhacking came with a price: everyone took a point of head damage from Sudden Life flower knight hunt event.
Choking Heat gives +1 Movement token for a couple of survivors, and Whispering Leaves left Valherdence without insanity to protect from brain damage.
Fight in itself went surprisingly well. I got accuracy penalty for Flower Knight, and danced with the bird with high evasion survivors. Fight might have been on the easy side, but again it seemed like I drew the trap every other round.
In the end every survivor had their defenses devastated thanks to the Perfect Aim card or what it was. But nobody died. Let's go home from a hunt well done!
Year 21
Event is Cracks in the Ground, which yields a founding stone.
Settlement finally innovates Drums.
Sense Memory gives two Vespertine Arrows and Otherworldy luck for Valherdence.
I plant a new survivor from Warbling Bloom who eats Lantern Bud right away. This means a total of eight Endeavors.
I notice I have what it takes to cook a dish for the first time ever. And what a dish! +1 permanent evasion for Paraske. I will probably cry or something if he dies to some randomness after he will be resurrected via Sleeping Virus Flower.
Valherdence and Flont (the new flower face) use a little face painting techniques and drink two Love Juices right away. Valherdence forms a deep bond with Flont. How am I to convince Flont to eat Lonely Fruit, now? I'd be a monster to do that. Flont did lose his re-roll in this baby-making process.
Valherdence also found the time to pray at the shrine. Departing survivors are getting +1 armor to all locations.
Biliouli cures some leather and makes an extra love juice, which is put to use immediately. Finally the result I have been craving: Birth of a Special Child.
Settlement develops Bone Pickaxe, Almanac and Hunter Whip
With last endeavor Paraske attempts to learn Abyssal Sadist from statue, and succeeds in doing so.
I decide to hunt level 2 Sunstalker, as the level 3 fight with Flower Knight was so promising. But, yeah. Sunstalker is no joke. I don't know how you should fight it effectively. So much of the damage ignores high defenses altogether.
Paraske, Valherdence, Lebugdé and Pelastra is the revealing order.
Paraske draws Baby and the Sword, but as Paraske has no re-roll I dare not to risk it. After all there was this sailor-mouthed Valherdence within party. Got 82 instead. Consuming grass again. Luckily there's a whip in party now. Lebugdé lost rawhide gloves, and one point of evasion because of that.
Valherdence draws Perfect Meadow and everyone feels a little sleepy-headed. First roll is 66, Forbidden Word. Understanding the word gives Paraske some Insight, and Indecision disorder for Valherdence. Next roll is 16, Night Terrors. There is indeed a savior in the party right now. She gets Purpose from age story event, as well as her savior abilities unlocked.
Next Lebugdé rolls 100. I'm worried that I have to start showdown with next to no insanity now, but I suppose I should not complain when the cyclopean knight gifted the survivors with Steel Sword and Steel Shield. At the cost of draining Lebugdé's re-roll.
Crippling Misery breaks Pelastra's foot.
Paraske rolls a Nightmare, so he gets -1 evasion and some (8) insanity.
Overwhelming Darkness gives +1 population from Paraske's path of the brave. Then we got some events that dissolves both Almanac and a Monster Grease.
Fight is a disaster.
Very early in the game Paraske dies to some unlucky rolls from Sun Dial damage shenanigans. He was supposed to be my main damage dealer.
This has me panicking, so Pelastra uses her savior criticals, giving her a lot of hunt XP in not-so-good context.
For a little while fight goes a little better, but then Valherdence dies, too, and I'm left with two most inexperienced and undergeared survivors I had. With Pelastra even carrying the Steel Shield, slowing her down massively.
But there is only a couple of cards in the deck. Some of them nicely bubble moods. Soon situation is that there is one card left in AI deck, two on sun dial and two moods in play.
AI card is one of these that rotate sun dial and deal damage twice to survivors in light. Both survivors are reeling, so I assume I have only one chance to win this - surge an attack that hits and kills when the last AI card is resolving.
So Lebugdé raises his Steel Sword and strikes. And it's a miss. Quite a sinking feeling.
But then I realize that I got Pelastra left - and she does have a strength 6 weapon with only one attack (two hits would have brought trap) and I dash & surge her.
Such relief when Sunstalker dies, slapped dead with a shield!
Home, finally home, victorious!
Year 22
Event is Nickname. Lebugdé, also known as Foolish Sneak of Darkness, has thus became rather useless survivor. Savior got a nickname too, which I didn't bother to roll, because of next story event.
Which is Murder. Biliouli murders our heroic savior who dealt the killing blow to level 2 Sunstalker. Was she envious? Anyway, she received +3 hunt xp, Quixotic and Otherworldly Luck. Though it may not be a very wise choice, as seems like giving Otherworldly Luck to someone is a death sentence. Oh well.
So all that was left from the glorified hunting party is the Foolish Sneak of Darkness (-1 accuracy and speed) that has intracranial hemorrhage. Of course one of them is coming back rather soon, but still an aggravating situation.
Then Hooded Knight pays a visit and gives +1 weapon proficiency for Undulantele.
And lastly, as Paraske died during showdown, the settlement is visited by a Guest.
Departing survivors will gain +1 to all armor levels, +5 insanity and a random fighting art.
And then I'm left wondering what to do with eight endeavors.
Yearly innovation is Forbidden Dance. Shrine ritual is a success, thanks to Biliouli.
Settlement develops Dried Acanthus, Almanac, Monster Grease, Rawhide Drum, Cycloid Scale Shoes and Skirt, Sky Harpoon and Sun Lure & Hook.
A whopping 4 endeavors is spent at shared experience to make Paraske and Vadramanten ready for a Phoenix fight. Because that's what I plan to do. Level 2 Phoenix.
I was not taking notes during the hunt phase nor writing here, so details have been lost. But it was a good thing I gave two points of hunt experience for two new survivors - that particular hunt event ended showing up that would have erased them from existence otherwise.
Extra annoyance came from recurring nightmare, that made hunting party having to face Overwhelming Darkness twice. This results in having two survivors with Post-Traumatic Stress, and quite a few negative attribute tokens that Vadramenten spent whole fight removing with First Aid Kit.
I wasn't very happy when first card drawn was Gouge & Feast. This caused arm and body severe damage rolls for Vadramanten, who thankfully survived despite getting -3 on the rolls because of Top of the Food Chain. Would have been quite depressing to lose a survivor to first drawn card in a showdown.
Paraske managed to cause a critical wound the bird's liver, which helped immensely and made fight go relatively smooth.
Getting Phoenix down to last card remaining wasn't all that painful, but that's where table-flip inducing rage started to build up. Last card was Excrete, so it was a very safe card indeed. There was also Death Blow location coming next. So I attempted to wait until Phoenix was preparing for a poop and then have Paraske surge a lethal shot. He was hitting on 2+ and wounding on 2+, with re-rolls on missed attacks.
Hitting was no problem, but wounding was obviously the "1", that I even tried to re-roll with Paraske's once-in-a-lifetime. Bad choice, because re-roll was also "1".
And three next rounds it stayed the same. Paraske even received destroyed genitals injury during this terrible streak of nothing but 1's on wounds.
I suppose the story here is: "never interrupt a Phoenix on it's poop."
But Phoenix went down without other casualties than some permanent injuries.
Two Post-Traumatic stresses caused me to have only three endeavors.
Year 23:
Settlement event is Elder Council which further reduced available endeavors.
After innovating Momento Mori, I'm left with just one endeavor. Innovation choices were absolutely terrible, but this will at least give me mask maker if I'll actually win Butcher level 3.
Butcher fight is coming next, and Paraske had to receive Post Traumatic Stress.
This gives an evil plan, though.
Some Lonely Fruit for the flower-head ought to give me one endeavor from losing survivors during settlement phase. And if there were survivors who perish against the tree, I'd gain even more endeavors. Maybe I might even get to cure Paraske with those.
Except now when I'm searching for some details over skipping next hunt, I notice that I've been playing even that wrong. I won't be able to get Paraske to fight Lonely Tree, but he will be available if I go fight the tree. It just feels so very much more difficult without a bow master.
Settlement develops Brain Mint, Hollowpoint Arrow, 2x Dried Acanthus, Phoenix Helm, Arc Bow and Monster Grease.
And then I try to fight the Lonely Tree level 3.
Vernark, Anhednia, Undulantele and Vadramenten try to crack the shell of the tree.
First round is amazing. Survivors deal seven points of damage to the tree - along with a less useful critical effect (iron bark loses super dense.)
Clawhead Arrow hits and damages, and then Arc Bow does the same.
Axe master deals two points of damage, and twilight sword deals three. Of course this required quite a bit of surging.
Tree draws Dreamer's Fruit, which in itself does not cause direct attacks.
Second round is far more meager, with only two points of damage to the tree, one of which came from Sky Harpoon's special ability. Two survivors were dragged to farthest Tall Grass, and Vernark takes Broken Hip.
Next the tree draws Absorbing Roots. Again not an attack.
Undulantele and Vadramenten take their time to trek back to the tree. During this time tree grows quite few moods that Vadramenten tries to play off with Whisker Harp. I start to feel rather secure - being extra careful seems to be the "thing" with Lonely Tree. Slowly move and stalk the tree. Do not let it notice you're there. (Of course it knows you're there...)
Many turns pass when Lonely Tree has only five life points remaining. And I had slowly grinded with the aid of Cat Eye Circlet the trap card to be the only card left in the hit location deck.
I wasn't worried at all about any regular attack tree was making. Diversion Tactics, Evasion +4 and one block and one hit ignored from Phoenix Plackart and survival for dodge and Dried Acanthus made me feel invulnerable with Undulantele. Four dice for attacks from the tree hitting on 7+ seemed like a joke. But then I had to pop the trap.
Suddenly it would be around ten attacks from Basic Action or whatever AI cards would do. Many of the hit locations makes attacker suffer Basic Action. Generally I managed to get one location that didn't trigger attack, and that wound was done with Arc Bow.
Soon the tree was at one life point remaining. (I figured it would still require two wounds to actually kill it, since you can wound the monster "normally" after all life points have been drained.)
Next AI cards were Blood Lure and Handed Roots, with Lure being completely out of question, and Handed Roots denying possibility to hug the tree and gain benefits of diversion tactics.
So the axe master Vadramenten takes a swing, with +1 speed token, and every attack hits.
Still, Vadramenten was only scoring wounds on 8+. Which would also be critical hits. Anyway, Vadramenten scored a critical wound and gained a point of strength. Next wound roll is abysmal, which I re-roll with Axe Proficiency. It's a second 9.
I did not expect the tree to fall this "easily", though the fight did not feel easy. Well, I spent around four hours at it.
Undulantele, who started the fight with insanity 18 had only nine points left after the showdown - most of the brain damage coming from Phoenix Plackart. It took that long both in-game and outside of it.
One Fresh Acanthus was found during play and Scavenger kit gives ??? and that's about it. There were no fruits on the ground during aftermath.
But the guaranteed rewards, oh my. Highly coveted Drifting Dream Fruit and Porous Flesh Fruit. And Super-Hair ability for the whole group.
Paraske and Lyaschura have now recovered from their Post Traumatic Stress disorder. Paraske eats Porous Flesh fruit.
Settlement develops another Hollowpoint Arrow, makes some leather to construct Phoenix Greaves, and then special innovate Scrap Smelting.
I plan on cheesing Butcher3 with -2 movement and hope that he doesn't draw this +3 movement card any time soon.
So. Might as well. Die.
Random terrain is Egg Sacs, which isn't very helpful.
Flower Knight Badge gives Diversion Tactics. I randomize the tactic card by placing all of them in a row, then rolling a d3 to see which one is what I get. And I believe I have had this tactic at least in 50% of showdowns when I've brought the badge. Or perhaps even more.
... and it was a full wipe. Kind of. Terrible loss, at least.
After so much carefulness and preparations.
For many turns I humiliated Butcher, who couldn't do much, running around with his movement of 3. Now and then he landed an attack, but generally they didn't have me scared. Then Butcher sped up with Lantern Frenzy. He picked Paraske as his target, which could have made me giggle a little. Paraske had movement 8. Butcher had only 5, even with all the tokens from Lantern Frenzy.
I was overconfident, I admit. Right next Butcher began to spam his teleportation attack. There weren't that many AI cards left in his deck, so it turned up quite often. Paraske, last one of the starting four and stat-wise and amazing survivor. He gave us the language we speak. His arrows would strike true even if he were blindfolded. And then this Butcher teleport from over half the board away and does the thing that gave him his name.
Then the fight started to fall to pieces.
Caramanca, the red savior, was the only one who managed to run off with Pictographs. Everyone else - my A-team - dead.
Year 24
Settlement event is Phantom. Departing survivors will lose one point of armor randomly, and +2 to storytelling endeavors.
Hands of Heat becomes a tradition... right before Watcher fight on year 25. Not that I would have needed resources.
Nine endeavors, though. Better make them count, except with no resources it's going to be difficult.
And I realized I actually cannot nominate Biliouli for Intimacy, thanks to this regal plate covering her waist.
But I need new survivors. First Biliouli scavenges a broken lantern, and then starts doing Augury. It takes three attempts, but in the meantime this triggers Insight, which gave an extra endeavor. Oh well.
Undulantele and Lyaschura make a baby, and they don't even have to waste any re-rolls.
Biliouli prays armor ritual.
The new baby, Merdency, visits Momento Mori and gains instant Bold and Insight. This does mainly nothing, extra card when innovating and +1 endeavor, again.
So there are five endeavors left.
It takes three attempts for Merdency to learn Abyssal Sadist.
Lebugdé manages to cure his Anxiety, but intracranial hemorrhage is there to stay.
If I would have fared a little better against Butcher (meaning: I would have won at least Paraske and Vadramente still alive), I would have tried to hunt Lion God.
Now? I don't know. Maybe I'll try it anyway if I try some weird Vespertine Arrow + Death Mask shenanigans with +9 to luck.
Trailblazer makes the first hunt event a Lion God event. It's Geodes, which yields a little insanity for survivors and three (3) Iron. Only three venture to Worm Tunnels, though. And as sort of an achievement, Twinkare even descends to Crystal Lake and could have gone to Lantern City. He chose not to.
Next Lyaschura rolls 72, Something to pass the time. She doesn't have as good games as Livia had, so no-one is on the mood for one.
Undulantele receives Stark Raving from Lion God event White Pillar, but he had the almanac to protect him.
Merdency picks up a fresh acanthus from Herb Gathering, and then Jowls bites his nose off during Sky Fishing.
Then Twinkare gets 58, Scent on the Wind. And rolls 10. Skip next space. I take it that I still have to roll for Overwhelming Darkness, but ambush the monster.
Twinkare takes a -1 evasion token.
Undulantele is scared sane, but I could not take it. Had to re-roll, and gained a crab spider instead. (Undulantele has Twilight Sword. Being sane would have had quite serious repercussions - he would not have been able to attack at all, if he was sane!)
Same happened with Lyaschura, but I let it go. She has no sentient weapons.
Merdency gets insanity and courage.
And here we are. At the dawn of fight with Lion God. Ambush is going to help me immensely - the set-up in book looks suicidal. And I can get the bow-user on top of giant face and what else, oh my.
Honestly I did not expect Twinkare to survive, though I gave him Dried Acanthus. But against the odds - he did it. This also triggered Age for him. I rolled +3 permanent strength for him. Getting Post-Traumatic Stress and losing two levels of proficiency didn't feel that terrible any longer.
Then I proceed to rewards, and excited I read The Knowledge Worm story event. Roll 4.
If you want to call it intuition, then it was right. Twinkare did not survive. There went my Death Mask. But maybe I shouldn't feel bad because of it, as the showdown went exceedingly well. Monster giveth and monster taketh, I guess... when we take look at how Butcher fight went.
Fight itself was interesting. Ambush made it sure I had cover where survivors needed it. I tried to fish for some nice critical effects from hit locations before committing Twinkare. And I got the hematosis effect and -1 toughness token for Lion God.
Lyaschura gets frenzy from some brain trauma, which makes me hide her for most of the game. Merdency had his hands full at manipulating both AI and hit location deck, so most damage came from Undulantele and Twinkare.
Lion God completely wrecked two or three terrain pieces, one of which revealed the sinkhole.
Lyaschura had the time to study Lion Statues and eventually went to take the dive, when Undulantele was standing next to sinkhole in the blind spot of Lion God. I was quite afraid there as I didn't know how much there were knockback effects in the AI deck. But Lyaschura found Old Blue Box and the Urn thanks to some good rolls. Lion God had been slowly reduced to one AI card remaining, which was a heft effect. It was easy to navigate around as long as Undulantele had survival.
Eventually Lion God killed itself by hefting too many times.
Year 25
Settlement event is Haunted. Roll of 4 is annoying, losing insanity and an endeavor hurts.
Them there is some lantern branding. Hands of Heat continues to be a tradition, but next time settlement sees it on year 34. Loss of resources was troublesome, even if survivors received probably my all time high resources.
Settlement innovates Bed, which is kind of hilarious. Just before they encounter the ultimate predator, everyone goes to bed. It was just a bad dream all along.
I realized that I got zero re-rolls available, which makes Intimacy quite risky. But it's the Watcher fight. I need a bigger settlement.
Anhednia and Identula paint the founder's eye, and drink Love Juice. It's a healthy pair of twins. But since I had a matchmaker in returning survivors, I spent endeavor for Anhednia and Identula to have another moment of intimacy. This time only one extra population, and not even with +1 bonus strength from bed. But hey, +3 population.
Then I got only one endeavor left.
Biliouli opens Old Blue Box and receives Ancient Lion Claws and Lantern Mehndi.
She also tries to pray at the shrine, but this time departing survivors are only getting a little extra insanity.
It's a terrible thing to notice that all of your shining stars have dimmed as you wake up the Watcher. I have any hope at all in Undulantele and Caramanca, and I suppose a little in Biliouli. What does it matter if I lose my only King's Stepper on this fight, because there won't be another King's Man encounter if I lose?
So, next comes The Watcher. I just don't know when.
Settlement storage:
3x Iron
2x Monster Hide
Equipment:
2x Lion Beast Katar, 2x Bandages
Ancient Lantern, Dormant Twilight Cloak
Catgut Bow, Clawhead Arrow, 2x Hollowpoint Arrow
Arc Bow
2x Skull Helm
Bone Darts, Bone Dagger, Bone Blade, Bone Club
Scrap Dagger, Scrap Sword
Skullcap Hammer
Hunter Whip
Counterweight Axe
2x Full Rawhide Set, Rawhide Boots
Cycloid Scale Set
Sky Harpoon + Lure & Hook
Leather Armor Set + Leather Boots, 2x Shield
Phoenix Plackart, Helm, Faulds + Feather Shield
Sickle, Pickaxe
2x Monster Grease, 1x Lucky Charm and Fecal Salve.
Monster Tooth Necklace
Flower Knight Badge
Regal Helm, Plackart, Boots and Skirt (on Biliouli)
Steel Shield, Steel Sword
Butcher Axe
Twilight Sword (on Undulantele)
Necromancer's Eye, Cat's Eye Circlet
Lantern Mehndi, Ancient Lion Claw
3x Dried Acanthus
Almanac
Brain Mint
Satchel, Scavenger Kit, First Aid Kit
Vespertine Cello, Whisker Harp, Rawhide Drum
1x Vespertine Arrow
1x founding stone
Locations:
Organ Grinder, Skinnery, Bone Smith, Leather Worker, Weapon Crafter, Barber Surgeon, Skyreef Sanctuary, Plumery
Sculpture: Abyssal Sadist
Innovations:
Language, Paint, Symposium, Lantern Oven, Inner Lantern, Face Painting, Ammonia, Sculpture, Pottery, Cooking, Shrine, Hovel, Family, Sacrifice, Clan of Death, Pictographs, Bloodletting, Storytelling, Ultimate Weapon, Drums, Forbidden Dance, Momento Mori, Scrap Smelting, Bed, The Knowledge Worm
Mastery: Fist & Tooth, Katar, Bow
Principles:
Life: Survival of the Fittest
Death: Graves
Conviction: Barbaric
Society: Accept Darkness
Population 14:
Astarno Meyhope (F) hunt xp 6, strength +4, evasion +1, Insanity 5
Courage 1, Understanding 1
Club proficiency 2
Ruthless
Hemophobia, Vestiphobia, Stark Raving
Has no re-roll
Biliouli (F) hunt xp 9, strength +7, evasion +1, Insanity 5
Courage 2, Understanding 2
Dagger proficiency 4
Sneak Attack, Otherwordly Luck, King's Step
Megalophobia, Secretive, Quixotic
King's Curse (head, body, waist, legs)
Fated vs King's Man
Marrow Hunger
Has no re-roll
Twinja Meyhope (F) hunt xp 1, strength +2, evasion +1, insanity 3
Courage 1, Understanding 1
Club proficiency 1
Sneak Attack
Emotionless, Shallow Lungs
No reroll
Anhednia Newlinga (F) hunt xp 1, strength +2, evasion +1, insanity 1
Understanding 1
Club proficiency 1
SUPER HAIR
No reroll
Undulantele Forgamn (M) hunt xp 13, movement -1, accuracy +1, strength +5, evasion +2, insanity 0
Courage 5 (stalwart), Understanding 5 (explore)
Twilight Sword proficiency 6
Ruthless, Tough, Trailblazer
Performance Anxiety
SUPER HAIR
Has no re-roll
Identula (M) Newlinga, hunt xp 0, accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2
Understanding 1
Sword proficiency 1
No Reroll
Lyaschura Forgamn (F) xp 7, accuracy +1, strength +4, evasion +2, insanity 0
Understanding 3
Sword proficiency 3
Defender, Swordman's Promise, Synchronized Strike
Traumatized, Recovering from Post-Traumatic Stress
Has no re-roll
Merdency Forgamn (M), xp 1, accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2, insanity 0
Courage 7 (matchmaker), understanding 4 (tinker)
Abyssal Sadist
Has no nose (jowls bit it off)
Has no re-roll
Lebugdé, Foolish Sneak of Darkness, (M) hunt xp 1, strength +3, evasion +2, speed -1, insanity 6
Courage 1, Understanding 3
Axe proficiency 2
Quixotic, Anxiety
Intracranial Hemorrhage
No Reroll
Vernark (F) xp 1, movement -1, strength +3, evasion +2, insanity 0
Understanding 1
Broken hip
SUPER HAIR
No reroll
Caramanca (M), xp 6, accuracy +1, strength +4, evasion +2, insanity 1
Courage 2, Understanding 1
Sneak Attack, Caratosis
Quixotic, Indecision
Gaping Chest Wound
No reroll
Unnamed Survivor (M) accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2
Understanding 1
Unnamed Survivor (M) accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2
Understanding 1
Unnamed Survivor (F) accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2
Understanding 1
Upcoming events:
Hooded Knight on Lantern Year 26
That's what happened. As I was skimming through rule book glossary, I noticed this teeny weeny detail: Secret fighting arts count towards the maximum of three fighting arts. And I've played as if they didn't. This assumption was based on the fact that Sculpture innovation describes Secret Fighting Arts as not being Fighting Arts.
Oh well.
This misplay has had a major impact in current settlement, as Mursonus should have been far less useful. He's existence is an abomination now, unreal, performing dream-like feats of killing monsters as well as enduring their attacks.
It's far too late to revert effects of this misplay, but to make at least some kind of amends with my conscience, Mursonus ceases to exist right now, right here. He was a secret savior all along.
I also noticed I've been playing hunt phase wrong - as a solo player I don't get to pick who's the event revealer. This has probably given me quite an edge, perhaps saved from a few deaths, even.
But at least I've also been playing brain damage wrong to my disadvantage - I didn't know the actual brain symbol there is one damage level. I've been rolling for brain trauma immediately as first point of damage has soaked in through insanity. Also I did not know that you actually retain your weapon mastery even if you switch to another weapon.
But let's get 2018 Kingdom Death started.
I want a new Sleeping Virus Flower, so I'm going after Flower Knight level 3.
Departing survivors are getting +2 Survival, +4 Insanity, +1 armor.
Team consists of: Fabenta, Anhemio, Niamur and Sacronicus, which is also the turn order for being event revealer.
First we get 69, Time Lapse. As settlement has fought the Phoenix, everyone gets a little understanding, but feel a strange change in their personality.
Looks like team consists now of:
Lyaschura, who is Traumatized.
Undulantele, who has Performance Anxiety.
Draemolo, who is Unrelenting and has Anxiety. This is troublesome, as he has no stinky gear and next to no armor either, as he was supposed to be mostly for support.
Valherdence, with Coprolalia. Her re-roll is also re-set.
Next Undulantele picks 43, fresh kill. Not surprising that the prizes go to Undulantele.
Draemolo reveals 09, but the golden light is soothing for him. Perhaps it reminded him of the place where his personality should exist right now.
Valherdence reveals Dead Warrior and decides to investigate right away, gaining the Black Guard Style which does nothing for her.
Lyaschura rolls 82, Consuming Grass. Both Lyaschura and Undulantele become stragglers and have to archive a gear.
Party arrives at the forest gate. Roll of 4 means everyone gets a bleeding token, thus starting showdown with two of those.
Herb Gathering gives fresh acanthus and some survival. Everyone is now at maximum survival. Though the bushwhacking came with a price: everyone took a point of head damage from Sudden Life flower knight hunt event.
Choking Heat gives +1 Movement token for a couple of survivors, and Whispering Leaves left Valherdence without insanity to protect from brain damage.
Fight in itself went surprisingly well. I got accuracy penalty for Flower Knight, and danced with the bird with high evasion survivors. Fight might have been on the easy side, but again it seemed like I drew the trap every other round.
In the end every survivor had their defenses devastated thanks to the Perfect Aim card or what it was. But nobody died. Let's go home from a hunt well done!
Year 21
Event is Cracks in the Ground, which yields a founding stone.
Settlement finally innovates Drums.
Sense Memory gives two Vespertine Arrows and Otherworldy luck for Valherdence.
I plant a new survivor from Warbling Bloom who eats Lantern Bud right away. This means a total of eight Endeavors.
I notice I have what it takes to cook a dish for the first time ever. And what a dish! +1 permanent evasion for Paraske. I will probably cry or something if he dies to some randomness after he will be resurrected via Sleeping Virus Flower.
Valherdence and Flont (the new flower face) use a little face painting techniques and drink two Love Juices right away. Valherdence forms a deep bond with Flont. How am I to convince Flont to eat Lonely Fruit, now? I'd be a monster to do that. Flont did lose his re-roll in this baby-making process.
Valherdence also found the time to pray at the shrine. Departing survivors are getting +1 armor to all locations.
Biliouli cures some leather and makes an extra love juice, which is put to use immediately. Finally the result I have been craving: Birth of a Special Child.
Settlement develops Bone Pickaxe, Almanac and Hunter Whip
With last endeavor Paraske attempts to learn Abyssal Sadist from statue, and succeeds in doing so.
I decide to hunt level 2 Sunstalker, as the level 3 fight with Flower Knight was so promising. But, yeah. Sunstalker is no joke. I don't know how you should fight it effectively. So much of the damage ignores high defenses altogether.
Paraske, Valherdence, Lebugdé and Pelastra is the revealing order.
Paraske draws Baby and the Sword, but as Paraske has no re-roll I dare not to risk it. After all there was this sailor-mouthed Valherdence within party. Got 82 instead. Consuming grass again. Luckily there's a whip in party now. Lebugdé lost rawhide gloves, and one point of evasion because of that.
Valherdence draws Perfect Meadow and everyone feels a little sleepy-headed. First roll is 66, Forbidden Word. Understanding the word gives Paraske some Insight, and Indecision disorder for Valherdence. Next roll is 16, Night Terrors. There is indeed a savior in the party right now. She gets Purpose from age story event, as well as her savior abilities unlocked.
Next Lebugdé rolls 100. I'm worried that I have to start showdown with next to no insanity now, but I suppose I should not complain when the cyclopean knight gifted the survivors with Steel Sword and Steel Shield. At the cost of draining Lebugdé's re-roll.
Crippling Misery breaks Pelastra's foot.
Paraske rolls a Nightmare, so he gets -1 evasion and some (8) insanity.
Overwhelming Darkness gives +1 population from Paraske's path of the brave. Then we got some events that dissolves both Almanac and a Monster Grease.
Fight is a disaster.
Very early in the game Paraske dies to some unlucky rolls from Sun Dial damage shenanigans. He was supposed to be my main damage dealer.
This has me panicking, so Pelastra uses her savior criticals, giving her a lot of hunt XP in not-so-good context.
For a little while fight goes a little better, but then Valherdence dies, too, and I'm left with two most inexperienced and undergeared survivors I had. With Pelastra even carrying the Steel Shield, slowing her down massively.
But there is only a couple of cards in the deck. Some of them nicely bubble moods. Soon situation is that there is one card left in AI deck, two on sun dial and two moods in play.
AI card is one of these that rotate sun dial and deal damage twice to survivors in light. Both survivors are reeling, so I assume I have only one chance to win this - surge an attack that hits and kills when the last AI card is resolving.
So Lebugdé raises his Steel Sword and strikes. And it's a miss. Quite a sinking feeling.
But then I realize that I got Pelastra left - and she does have a strength 6 weapon with only one attack (two hits would have brought trap) and I dash & surge her.
Such relief when Sunstalker dies, slapped dead with a shield!
Home, finally home, victorious!
Year 22
Event is Nickname. Lebugdé, also known as Foolish Sneak of Darkness, has thus became rather useless survivor. Savior got a nickname too, which I didn't bother to roll, because of next story event.
Which is Murder. Biliouli murders our heroic savior who dealt the killing blow to level 2 Sunstalker. Was she envious? Anyway, she received +3 hunt xp, Quixotic and Otherworldly Luck. Though it may not be a very wise choice, as seems like giving Otherworldly Luck to someone is a death sentence. Oh well.
So all that was left from the glorified hunting party is the Foolish Sneak of Darkness (-1 accuracy and speed) that has intracranial hemorrhage. Of course one of them is coming back rather soon, but still an aggravating situation.
Then Hooded Knight pays a visit and gives +1 weapon proficiency for Undulantele.
And lastly, as Paraske died during showdown, the settlement is visited by a Guest.
Departing survivors will gain +1 to all armor levels, +5 insanity and a random fighting art.
And then I'm left wondering what to do with eight endeavors.
Yearly innovation is Forbidden Dance. Shrine ritual is a success, thanks to Biliouli.
Settlement develops Dried Acanthus, Almanac, Monster Grease, Rawhide Drum, Cycloid Scale Shoes and Skirt, Sky Harpoon and Sun Lure & Hook.
A whopping 4 endeavors is spent at shared experience to make Paraske and Vadramanten ready for a Phoenix fight. Because that's what I plan to do. Level 2 Phoenix.
I was not taking notes during the hunt phase nor writing here, so details have been lost. But it was a good thing I gave two points of hunt experience for two new survivors - that particular hunt event ended showing up that would have erased them from existence otherwise.
Extra annoyance came from recurring nightmare, that made hunting party having to face Overwhelming Darkness twice. This results in having two survivors with Post-Traumatic Stress, and quite a few negative attribute tokens that Vadramenten spent whole fight removing with First Aid Kit.
I wasn't very happy when first card drawn was Gouge & Feast. This caused arm and body severe damage rolls for Vadramanten, who thankfully survived despite getting -3 on the rolls because of Top of the Food Chain. Would have been quite depressing to lose a survivor to first drawn card in a showdown.
Paraske managed to cause a critical wound the bird's liver, which helped immensely and made fight go relatively smooth.
Getting Phoenix down to last card remaining wasn't all that painful, but that's where table-flip inducing rage started to build up. Last card was Excrete, so it was a very safe card indeed. There was also Death Blow location coming next. So I attempted to wait until Phoenix was preparing for a poop and then have Paraske surge a lethal shot. He was hitting on 2+ and wounding on 2+, with re-rolls on missed attacks.
Hitting was no problem, but wounding was obviously the "1", that I even tried to re-roll with Paraske's once-in-a-lifetime. Bad choice, because re-roll was also "1".
And three next rounds it stayed the same. Paraske even received destroyed genitals injury during this terrible streak of nothing but 1's on wounds.
I suppose the story here is: "never interrupt a Phoenix on it's poop."
But Phoenix went down without other casualties than some permanent injuries.
Two Post-Traumatic stresses caused me to have only three endeavors.
Year 23:
Settlement event is Elder Council which further reduced available endeavors.
After innovating Momento Mori, I'm left with just one endeavor. Innovation choices were absolutely terrible, but this will at least give me mask maker if I'll actually win Butcher level 3.
Butcher fight is coming next, and Paraske had to receive Post Traumatic Stress.
This gives an evil plan, though.
Some Lonely Fruit for the flower-head ought to give me one endeavor from losing survivors during settlement phase. And if there were survivors who perish against the tree, I'd gain even more endeavors. Maybe I might even get to cure Paraske with those.
Except now when I'm searching for some details over skipping next hunt, I notice that I've been playing even that wrong. I won't be able to get Paraske to fight Lonely Tree, but he will be available if I go fight the tree. It just feels so very much more difficult without a bow master.
Settlement develops Brain Mint, Hollowpoint Arrow, 2x Dried Acanthus, Phoenix Helm, Arc Bow and Monster Grease.
And then I try to fight the Lonely Tree level 3.
Vernark, Anhednia, Undulantele and Vadramenten try to crack the shell of the tree.
First round is amazing. Survivors deal seven points of damage to the tree - along with a less useful critical effect (iron bark loses super dense.)
Clawhead Arrow hits and damages, and then Arc Bow does the same.
Axe master deals two points of damage, and twilight sword deals three. Of course this required quite a bit of surging.
Tree draws Dreamer's Fruit, which in itself does not cause direct attacks.
Second round is far more meager, with only two points of damage to the tree, one of which came from Sky Harpoon's special ability. Two survivors were dragged to farthest Tall Grass, and Vernark takes Broken Hip.
Next the tree draws Absorbing Roots. Again not an attack.
Undulantele and Vadramenten take their time to trek back to the tree. During this time tree grows quite few moods that Vadramenten tries to play off with Whisker Harp. I start to feel rather secure - being extra careful seems to be the "thing" with Lonely Tree. Slowly move and stalk the tree. Do not let it notice you're there. (Of course it knows you're there...)
Many turns pass when Lonely Tree has only five life points remaining. And I had slowly grinded with the aid of Cat Eye Circlet the trap card to be the only card left in the hit location deck.
I wasn't worried at all about any regular attack tree was making. Diversion Tactics, Evasion +4 and one block and one hit ignored from Phoenix Plackart and survival for dodge and Dried Acanthus made me feel invulnerable with Undulantele. Four dice for attacks from the tree hitting on 7+ seemed like a joke. But then I had to pop the trap.
Suddenly it would be around ten attacks from Basic Action or whatever AI cards would do. Many of the hit locations makes attacker suffer Basic Action. Generally I managed to get one location that didn't trigger attack, and that wound was done with Arc Bow.
Soon the tree was at one life point remaining. (I figured it would still require two wounds to actually kill it, since you can wound the monster "normally" after all life points have been drained.)
Next AI cards were Blood Lure and Handed Roots, with Lure being completely out of question, and Handed Roots denying possibility to hug the tree and gain benefits of diversion tactics.
So the axe master Vadramenten takes a swing, with +1 speed token, and every attack hits.
Still, Vadramenten was only scoring wounds on 8+. Which would also be critical hits. Anyway, Vadramenten scored a critical wound and gained a point of strength. Next wound roll is abysmal, which I re-roll with Axe Proficiency. It's a second 9.
I did not expect the tree to fall this "easily", though the fight did not feel easy. Well, I spent around four hours at it.
Undulantele, who started the fight with insanity 18 had only nine points left after the showdown - most of the brain damage coming from Phoenix Plackart. It took that long both in-game and outside of it.
One Fresh Acanthus was found during play and Scavenger kit gives ??? and that's about it. There were no fruits on the ground during aftermath.
But the guaranteed rewards, oh my. Highly coveted Drifting Dream Fruit and Porous Flesh Fruit. And Super-Hair ability for the whole group.
Paraske and Lyaschura have now recovered from their Post Traumatic Stress disorder. Paraske eats Porous Flesh fruit.
Settlement develops another Hollowpoint Arrow, makes some leather to construct Phoenix Greaves, and then special innovate Scrap Smelting.
I plan on cheesing Butcher3 with -2 movement and hope that he doesn't draw this +3 movement card any time soon.
So. Might as well. Die.
Random terrain is Egg Sacs, which isn't very helpful.
Flower Knight Badge gives Diversion Tactics. I randomize the tactic card by placing all of them in a row, then rolling a d3 to see which one is what I get. And I believe I have had this tactic at least in 50% of showdowns when I've brought the badge. Or perhaps even more.
... and it was a full wipe. Kind of. Terrible loss, at least.
After so much carefulness and preparations.
For many turns I humiliated Butcher, who couldn't do much, running around with his movement of 3. Now and then he landed an attack, but generally they didn't have me scared. Then Butcher sped up with Lantern Frenzy. He picked Paraske as his target, which could have made me giggle a little. Paraske had movement 8. Butcher had only 5, even with all the tokens from Lantern Frenzy.
I was overconfident, I admit. Right next Butcher began to spam his teleportation attack. There weren't that many AI cards left in his deck, so it turned up quite often. Paraske, last one of the starting four and stat-wise and amazing survivor. He gave us the language we speak. His arrows would strike true even if he were blindfolded. And then this Butcher teleport from over half the board away and does the thing that gave him his name.
Then the fight started to fall to pieces.
Caramanca, the red savior, was the only one who managed to run off with Pictographs. Everyone else - my A-team - dead.
Year 24
Settlement event is Phantom. Departing survivors will lose one point of armor randomly, and +2 to storytelling endeavors.
Hands of Heat becomes a tradition... right before Watcher fight on year 25. Not that I would have needed resources.
Nine endeavors, though. Better make them count, except with no resources it's going to be difficult.
And I realized I actually cannot nominate Biliouli for Intimacy, thanks to this regal plate covering her waist.
But I need new survivors. First Biliouli scavenges a broken lantern, and then starts doing Augury. It takes three attempts, but in the meantime this triggers Insight, which gave an extra endeavor. Oh well.
Undulantele and Lyaschura make a baby, and they don't even have to waste any re-rolls.
Biliouli prays armor ritual.
The new baby, Merdency, visits Momento Mori and gains instant Bold and Insight. This does mainly nothing, extra card when innovating and +1 endeavor, again.
So there are five endeavors left.
It takes three attempts for Merdency to learn Abyssal Sadist.
Lebugdé manages to cure his Anxiety, but intracranial hemorrhage is there to stay.
If I would have fared a little better against Butcher (meaning: I would have won at least Paraske and Vadramente still alive), I would have tried to hunt Lion God.
Now? I don't know. Maybe I'll try it anyway if I try some weird Vespertine Arrow + Death Mask shenanigans with +9 to luck.
Trailblazer makes the first hunt event a Lion God event. It's Geodes, which yields a little insanity for survivors and three (3) Iron. Only three venture to Worm Tunnels, though. And as sort of an achievement, Twinkare even descends to Crystal Lake and could have gone to Lantern City. He chose not to.
Next Lyaschura rolls 72, Something to pass the time. She doesn't have as good games as Livia had, so no-one is on the mood for one.
Undulantele receives Stark Raving from Lion God event White Pillar, but he had the almanac to protect him.
Merdency picks up a fresh acanthus from Herb Gathering, and then Jowls bites his nose off during Sky Fishing.
Then Twinkare gets 58, Scent on the Wind. And rolls 10. Skip next space. I take it that I still have to roll for Overwhelming Darkness, but ambush the monster.
Twinkare takes a -1 evasion token.
Undulantele is scared sane, but I could not take it. Had to re-roll, and gained a crab spider instead. (Undulantele has Twilight Sword. Being sane would have had quite serious repercussions - he would not have been able to attack at all, if he was sane!)
Same happened with Lyaschura, but I let it go. She has no sentient weapons.
Merdency gets insanity and courage.
And here we are. At the dawn of fight with Lion God. Ambush is going to help me immensely - the set-up in book looks suicidal. And I can get the bow-user on top of giant face and what else, oh my.
Honestly I did not expect Twinkare to survive, though I gave him Dried Acanthus. But against the odds - he did it. This also triggered Age for him. I rolled +3 permanent strength for him. Getting Post-Traumatic Stress and losing two levels of proficiency didn't feel that terrible any longer.
Then I proceed to rewards, and excited I read The Knowledge Worm story event. Roll 4.
If you want to call it intuition, then it was right. Twinkare did not survive. There went my Death Mask. But maybe I shouldn't feel bad because of it, as the showdown went exceedingly well. Monster giveth and monster taketh, I guess... when we take look at how Butcher fight went.
Fight itself was interesting. Ambush made it sure I had cover where survivors needed it. I tried to fish for some nice critical effects from hit locations before committing Twinkare. And I got the hematosis effect and -1 toughness token for Lion God.
Lyaschura gets frenzy from some brain trauma, which makes me hide her for most of the game. Merdency had his hands full at manipulating both AI and hit location deck, so most damage came from Undulantele and Twinkare.
Lion God completely wrecked two or three terrain pieces, one of which revealed the sinkhole.
Lyaschura had the time to study Lion Statues and eventually went to take the dive, when Undulantele was standing next to sinkhole in the blind spot of Lion God. I was quite afraid there as I didn't know how much there were knockback effects in the AI deck. But Lyaschura found Old Blue Box and the Urn thanks to some good rolls. Lion God had been slowly reduced to one AI card remaining, which was a heft effect. It was easy to navigate around as long as Undulantele had survival.
Eventually Lion God killed itself by hefting too many times.
Year 25
Settlement event is Haunted. Roll of 4 is annoying, losing insanity and an endeavor hurts.
Them there is some lantern branding. Hands of Heat continues to be a tradition, but next time settlement sees it on year 34. Loss of resources was troublesome, even if survivors received probably my all time high resources.
Settlement innovates Bed, which is kind of hilarious. Just before they encounter the ultimate predator, everyone goes to bed. It was just a bad dream all along.
I realized that I got zero re-rolls available, which makes Intimacy quite risky. But it's the Watcher fight. I need a bigger settlement.
Anhednia and Identula paint the founder's eye, and drink Love Juice. It's a healthy pair of twins. But since I had a matchmaker in returning survivors, I spent endeavor for Anhednia and Identula to have another moment of intimacy. This time only one extra population, and not even with +1 bonus strength from bed. But hey, +3 population.
Then I got only one endeavor left.
Biliouli opens Old Blue Box and receives Ancient Lion Claws and Lantern Mehndi.
She also tries to pray at the shrine, but this time departing survivors are only getting a little extra insanity.
It's a terrible thing to notice that all of your shining stars have dimmed as you wake up the Watcher. I have any hope at all in Undulantele and Caramanca, and I suppose a little in Biliouli. What does it matter if I lose my only King's Stepper on this fight, because there won't be another King's Man encounter if I lose?
So, next comes The Watcher. I just don't know when.
Settlement storage:
3x Iron
2x Monster Hide
Equipment:
2x Lion Beast Katar, 2x Bandages
Ancient Lantern, Dormant Twilight Cloak
Catgut Bow, Clawhead Arrow, 2x Hollowpoint Arrow
Arc Bow
2x Skull Helm
Bone Darts, Bone Dagger, Bone Blade, Bone Club
Scrap Dagger, Scrap Sword
Skullcap Hammer
Hunter Whip
Counterweight Axe
2x Full Rawhide Set, Rawhide Boots
Cycloid Scale Set
Sky Harpoon + Lure & Hook
Leather Armor Set + Leather Boots, 2x Shield
Phoenix Plackart, Helm, Faulds + Feather Shield
Sickle, Pickaxe
2x Monster Grease, 1x Lucky Charm and Fecal Salve.
Monster Tooth Necklace
Flower Knight Badge
Regal Helm, Plackart, Boots and Skirt (on Biliouli)
Steel Shield, Steel Sword
Butcher Axe
Twilight Sword (on Undulantele)
Necromancer's Eye, Cat's Eye Circlet
Lantern Mehndi, Ancient Lion Claw
3x Dried Acanthus
Almanac
Brain Mint
Satchel, Scavenger Kit, First Aid Kit
Vespertine Cello, Whisker Harp, Rawhide Drum
1x Vespertine Arrow
1x founding stone
Locations:
Organ Grinder, Skinnery, Bone Smith, Leather Worker, Weapon Crafter, Barber Surgeon, Skyreef Sanctuary, Plumery
Sculpture: Abyssal Sadist
Innovations:
Language, Paint, Symposium, Lantern Oven, Inner Lantern, Face Painting, Ammonia, Sculpture, Pottery, Cooking, Shrine, Hovel, Family, Sacrifice, Clan of Death, Pictographs, Bloodletting, Storytelling, Ultimate Weapon, Drums, Forbidden Dance, Momento Mori, Scrap Smelting, Bed, The Knowledge Worm
Mastery: Fist & Tooth, Katar, Bow
Principles:
Life: Survival of the Fittest
Death: Graves
Conviction: Barbaric
Society: Accept Darkness
Population 14:
Astarno Meyhope (F) hunt xp 6, strength +4, evasion +1, Insanity 5
Courage 1, Understanding 1
Club proficiency 2
Ruthless
Hemophobia, Vestiphobia, Stark Raving
Has no re-roll
Biliouli (F) hunt xp 9, strength +7, evasion +1, Insanity 5
Courage 2, Understanding 2
Dagger proficiency 4
Sneak Attack, Otherwordly Luck, King's Step
Megalophobia, Secretive, Quixotic
King's Curse (head, body, waist, legs)
Fated vs King's Man
Marrow Hunger
Has no re-roll
Twinja Meyhope (F) hunt xp 1, strength +2, evasion +1, insanity 3
Courage 1, Understanding 1
Club proficiency 1
Sneak Attack
Emotionless, Shallow Lungs
No reroll
Anhednia Newlinga (F) hunt xp 1, strength +2, evasion +1, insanity 1
Understanding 1
Club proficiency 1
SUPER HAIR
No reroll
Undulantele Forgamn (M) hunt xp 13, movement -1, accuracy +1, strength +5, evasion +2, insanity 0
Courage 5 (stalwart), Understanding 5 (explore)
Twilight Sword proficiency 6
Ruthless, Tough, Trailblazer
Performance Anxiety
SUPER HAIR
Has no re-roll
Identula (M) Newlinga, hunt xp 0, accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2
Understanding 1
Sword proficiency 1
No Reroll
Lyaschura Forgamn (F) xp 7, accuracy +1, strength +4, evasion +2, insanity 0
Understanding 3
Sword proficiency 3
Defender, Swordman's Promise, Synchronized Strike
Traumatized, Recovering from Post-Traumatic Stress
Has no re-roll
Merdency Forgamn (M), xp 1, accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2, insanity 0
Courage 7 (matchmaker), understanding 4 (tinker)
Abyssal Sadist
Has no nose (jowls bit it off)
Has no re-roll
Lebugdé, Foolish Sneak of Darkness, (M) hunt xp 1, strength +3, evasion +2, speed -1, insanity 6
Courage 1, Understanding 3
Axe proficiency 2
Quixotic, Anxiety
Intracranial Hemorrhage
No Reroll
Vernark (F) xp 1, movement -1, strength +3, evasion +2, insanity 0
Understanding 1
Broken hip
SUPER HAIR
No reroll
Caramanca (M), xp 6, accuracy +1, strength +4, evasion +2, insanity 1
Courage 2, Understanding 1
Sneak Attack, Caratosis
Quixotic, Indecision
Gaping Chest Wound
No reroll
Unnamed Survivor (M) accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2
Understanding 1
Unnamed Survivor (M) accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2
Understanding 1
Unnamed Survivor (F) accuracy +1, strength +3, evasion +2
Understanding 1
Upcoming events:
Hooded Knight on Lantern Year 26
Thursday, February 1, 2018
My life is Ruined
A week or so ago I played this 75 point game of Warmachine.
I don't think I ever played against Butcher3 even during Mk2. But I had heard enough horrifying stories. Which only escalated when I saw the opposing list.
Lord Exhumator Scaverous [+27]
- Corruptor [14]
- Deathripper [6]
- Inflictor [13]
- Nightwretch [7]
- The Withershadow Combine [9]
Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius [4]
- Reaper [13]
Necrotech [2]
Satyxis Raider Captain [4]
Saxon Orrik [4]
2x Soul Trapper [1]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Bile Thralls (min) [9]
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max) [11]
Opponent had:
[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand
Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed [+22]
- 2x Juggernaut [12]
- 2x Kodiak [13]
- Ruin [17]
- War Dog [3]
Kayazy Eliminators [5]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [5]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]
Scenario was Outlast.
All these arm 20 warjacks. Maybe I'd be able to snatch a few of them with Reaper and telekinesis and I don't know, something. At least opponent had no mechanics, so every system I'd break would be gone forever.
Once Butcher arrived around mid-field, I tried to assassinate him. He was sitting behind a few Kodiak clouds and assorted warjacks and a forest.
So I attempted to drag him through forest.
I left Scaverous without focus and tossed Telekinesis and whatnot all over the place. Feast of Worms was cast on a Bile Thrall that I had positioned for this purpose. Scaverous cast Icy Grip on Butcher and then turned him around for Reaper.
Alright, so let's scalpel the army commander away.
Reaper advances and shoots harpoon. I realized too late that I had forgot to cast Puppet Master on Reaper. Oh well. Need to boost the attack roll then. It's a hit, and damage has to be boosted also to secure at least one point of damage.
Guards! Guards! There is a security breach!
Triple 1's were mocking me there for my forgetfulness.
Well. Then I had most of my army in a broad semi-circle with Butcher3 on the middle. I aimlessly tried to cause some damage here and there to the warjacks, but I needed to hope for a miracle, which actually might not help, even if I would have succeeded in destroying a jack or two, or crippling a few.
Gun Carriage slammed Inflictor over Scaverous with high damage rolls. Maybe a mortar gave a shot too, I don't remember. But Energizer gave Ruin both a charge lane and reach to get to knocked down, focusless Scaverous.
Butcher didn't even have to use feat. Scaverous was dead.
I don't think I ever played against Butcher3 even during Mk2. But I had heard enough horrifying stories. Which only escalated when I saw the opposing list.
Lord Exhumator Scaverous [+27]
- Corruptor [14]
- Deathripper [6]
- Inflictor [13]
- Nightwretch [7]
- The Withershadow Combine [9]
Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius [4]
- Reaper [13]
Necrotech [2]
Satyxis Raider Captain [4]
Saxon Orrik [4]
2x Soul Trapper [1]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Bile Thralls (min) [9]
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max) [11]
Opponent had:
[Theme] Winter Guard Kommand
Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed [+22]
- 2x Juggernaut [12]
- 2x Kodiak [13]
- Ruin [17]
- War Dog [3]
Kayazy Eliminators [5]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)]
Winter Guard Mortar Crew [5]
Winter Guard Gun Carriage [17]
Scenario was Outlast.
All these arm 20 warjacks. Maybe I'd be able to snatch a few of them with Reaper and telekinesis and I don't know, something. At least opponent had no mechanics, so every system I'd break would be gone forever.
Once Butcher arrived around mid-field, I tried to assassinate him. He was sitting behind a few Kodiak clouds and assorted warjacks and a forest.
So I attempted to drag him through forest.
I left Scaverous without focus and tossed Telekinesis and whatnot all over the place. Feast of Worms was cast on a Bile Thrall that I had positioned for this purpose. Scaverous cast Icy Grip on Butcher and then turned him around for Reaper.
Alright, so let's scalpel the army commander away.
Reaper advances and shoots harpoon. I realized too late that I had forgot to cast Puppet Master on Reaper. Oh well. Need to boost the attack roll then. It's a hit, and damage has to be boosted also to secure at least one point of damage.
Guards! Guards! There is a security breach!
Triple 1's were mocking me there for my forgetfulness.
Well. Then I had most of my army in a broad semi-circle with Butcher3 on the middle. I aimlessly tried to cause some damage here and there to the warjacks, but I needed to hope for a miracle, which actually might not help, even if I would have succeeded in destroying a jack or two, or crippling a few.
Gun Carriage slammed Inflictor over Scaverous with high damage rolls. Maybe a mortar gave a shot too, I don't remember. But Energizer gave Ruin both a charge lane and reach to get to knocked down, focusless Scaverous.
Butcher didn't even have to use feat. Scaverous was dead.
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Old Witch Deneghra (what?)
Alright, now it's been two weeks since I played these two 25 point games of Warmachine. It was against a returning Warmachine player I had never met before. And coincidentally, he also had Trollbloods as his faction. And Gunnbjorn was one of his warlocks.
I had same list in both games, and it was:
Wraith Witch Deneghra
- Harrower
- Helldiver
- Nightwretch
Bloat Thrall
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Soul Trapper
Warwitch Siren
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max)
And it's the old Wraith Witch. Errata came after these games were played.
First game opponent had:
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Dire Prophet
- Dire Troll Mauler
- Mulg the Ancient
- Winter Troll
- Trollkin Runebearer
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min)
We had Mosh Pit scenario from prime rulebook, as some of those are better fitting for low point games such as these.
Implacability and general large-baseness made some trouble for both my Hellmouthing and shooting from Black Ogruns. I wasted my feat, and a total of 10 focus points over two turns were wasted on Hellmouths that killed one stone bearer, I think.
Somehow a decisive moves didn't happen. I had my chances at assassinations when Gorman was lucky at lobbing the Black Oil over Hoarluk. But when my troops had been reduced to Bloat Thrall, Gorman and Deneghra, I decided to just charge it and see how it goes.
Turns out Mulg and Mauler were able to kill the focusless cryx caster.
Game 2:
Here opponent had:
Captain Gunnbjorn
- Dire Troll Bomber
- Dozer & Smigg
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min)
- Stone Scribe Elder
Northkin Fire Eaters
Here I couldn't do anything to the dire trolls (again) but with a little better positioning Deneghra was eventually able to charge Gunnbjorn while incorporeal, resulting in a dead trollblood warlock.
These write-ups were quite a bit shorter than usually, but two weeks tend to do that.
I had same list in both games, and it was:
Wraith Witch Deneghra
- Harrower
- Helldiver
- Nightwretch
Bloat Thrall
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Soul Trapper
Warwitch Siren
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max)
And it's the old Wraith Witch. Errata came after these games were played.
First game opponent had:
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Dire Prophet
- Mulg the Ancient
- Winter Troll
- Trollkin Runebearer
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min)
We had Mosh Pit scenario from prime rulebook, as some of those are better fitting for low point games such as these.
Implacability and general large-baseness made some trouble for both my Hellmouthing and shooting from Black Ogruns. I wasted my feat, and a total of 10 focus points over two turns were wasted on Hellmouths that killed one stone bearer, I think.
Somehow a decisive moves didn't happen. I had my chances at assassinations when Gorman was lucky at lobbing the Black Oil over Hoarluk. But when my troops had been reduced to Bloat Thrall, Gorman and Deneghra, I decided to just charge it and see how it goes.
Turns out Mulg and Mauler were able to kill the focusless cryx caster.
Game 2:
Here opponent had:
Captain Gunnbjorn
- Dire Troll Bomber
- Dozer & Smigg
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min)
Northkin Fire Eaters
Here I couldn't do anything to the dire trolls (again) but with a little better positioning Deneghra was eventually able to charge Gunnbjorn while incorporeal, resulting in a dead trollblood warlock.
These write-ups were quite a bit shorter than usually, but two weeks tend to do that.
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Cryx vs Trollbloods 50 points
Alrighty, it's starting to be almost two weeks from these games, so I better hurry them up here. Though I'm not sure if one can speak about hurrying, then.
Anyway, they were two 50 point games of Warmachine against Trollbloods.
First game was:
Wraith Witch Deneghra [+28]
- Deathripper [6]
- Erebus [16]
- Nightwretch [7]
- Skarlock Thrall [4]
Bloat Thrall [4]
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist [4]
Pistol Wraith [5]
Satyxis Raider Captain [4]
Saxon Orrik [4]
Soul Trapper [1]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [3]
Versus
Captain Gunnbjorn [+28]
- Dire Troll Blitzer [16]
- Slag Troll [10]
- Troll Impaler [11]
Braylen Wanderheart, Trollkin Outlaw [5]
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) [6]
Scattergunners (max) [14]
Trollkin Highwaymen (max) [15]
I did my best to remove Krielstone unit early on, and I succeeded. Though it cost Warwitch Siren and pretty much a Deathripper, at least for arc-noding purposes.
Satyxis Raiders and Highwaymen spent a few turns looking menacingly at each other, neither doing much else.
When sluggers entered middle zone to contest it a bit, Satyxis charged onwards and pretty much decimated the unit. Deneghra did have her feat going on that turn, too. I decided to try how Overtake option from Sea Witch would turn out, and all it did was that I could move one model so that it engaged another. For my benefit, I mean. Kind of feels like a non-option.
It was a swingy game, as after Deneghra's turn there were so few trollbloods left that it looked like a clear game to me. But then, after trollblood turn I started to think I was horrendously losing the attrition game.
But I had been able to snatch scenario points here and there. When I was one point off from victory, I was outnumbered almost three to one, I decided I had to take the zone on the right, no matter the cost. Fortunately there was only Slag Troll denying me that point, but Dire Troll was engaging both Deathripper and Erebus.
Deathripper tried to bite the troll really hard to cripple any of the important branches, but failed to do so.
Erebus walked to attack Slag Troll, but this provoked a free strike from dire troll. All weapons systems from Erebus went down. He did manage to freeze the Slag Troll though, and was rolling better damage with one die than with two dice. But this was not enough.
But then I noticed Deneghra was within charge range of the light warbeast. Problem solved at the last possible moment.
Game 2:
Lord Exhumator Scaverous [+27]
- Deathripper [6]
- Inflictor [13]
- Ripjaw [7]
Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius [4]
- Reaper [13]
Scrap Thralls [2]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Cephalyx Overlords [8]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [3]
Opponent had a list something like this, but I can't figure out last remaining four points. Maybe opponent forgot to deploy something? Anyway, the list:
Grim Angus [+29]
- Dire Troll Blitzer [16]
- Dire Troll Mauler [15]
- Swamp Troll [8]
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) [6]
Pyg Bushwhackers (max) [15]
- Pyg Bushwhacker Officer & Mortar [5]
Trollkin Sluggers (max) [10]
This game went really fast, as Satyxis Raiders ran to engage Bushwhackers. Opponent was hesitant to commit ranged models to contest scenario zones, and underestimated threat of Scrap Thralls to objective marker. Well, Scaverous did sacrifice a whole lot of focus points in casting Feast of Worms to ease their job. Sooner than I realized Cryx had accumulated enough control points for a scenario victory.
Anyway, they were two 50 point games of Warmachine against Trollbloods.
First game was:
Wraith Witch Deneghra [+28]
- Deathripper [6]
- Erebus [16]
- Nightwretch [7]
- Skarlock Thrall [4]
Bloat Thrall [4]
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist [4]
Satyxis Raider Captain [4]
Saxon Orrik [4]
Soul Trapper [1]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [3]
Versus
Captain Gunnbjorn [+28]
- Dire Troll Blitzer [16]
- Slag Troll [10]
- Troll Impaler [11]
Braylen Wanderheart, Trollkin Outlaw [5]
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) [6]
Scattergunners (max) [14]
Trollkin Highwaymen (max) [15]
I did my best to remove Krielstone unit early on, and I succeeded. Though it cost Warwitch Siren and pretty much a Deathripper, at least for arc-noding purposes.
Satyxis Raiders and Highwaymen spent a few turns looking menacingly at each other, neither doing much else.
When sluggers entered middle zone to contest it a bit, Satyxis charged onwards and pretty much decimated the unit. Deneghra did have her feat going on that turn, too. I decided to try how Overtake option from Sea Witch would turn out, and all it did was that I could move one model so that it engaged another. For my benefit, I mean. Kind of feels like a non-option.
It was a swingy game, as after Deneghra's turn there were so few trollbloods left that it looked like a clear game to me. But then, after trollblood turn I started to think I was horrendously losing the attrition game.
But I had been able to snatch scenario points here and there. When I was one point off from victory, I was outnumbered almost three to one, I decided I had to take the zone on the right, no matter the cost. Fortunately there was only Slag Troll denying me that point, but Dire Troll was engaging both Deathripper and Erebus.
Deathripper tried to bite the troll really hard to cripple any of the important branches, but failed to do so.
Erebus walked to attack Slag Troll, but this provoked a free strike from dire troll. All weapons systems from Erebus went down. He did manage to freeze the Slag Troll though, and was rolling better damage with one die than with two dice. But this was not enough.
But then I noticed Deneghra was within charge range of the light warbeast. Problem solved at the last possible moment.
Game 2:
Lord Exhumator Scaverous [+27]
- Deathripper [6]
- Inflictor [13]
- Ripjaw [7]
Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius [4]
- Reaper [13]
Scrap Thralls [2]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Cephalyx Overlords [8]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [3]
Opponent had a list something like this, but I can't figure out last remaining four points. Maybe opponent forgot to deploy something? Anyway, the list:
Grim Angus [+29]
- Dire Troll Blitzer [16]
- Dire Troll Mauler [15]
- Swamp Troll [8]
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) [6]
- Pyg Bushwhacker Officer & Mortar [5]
Trollkin Sluggers (max) [10]
This game went really fast, as Satyxis Raiders ran to engage Bushwhackers. Opponent was hesitant to commit ranged models to contest scenario zones, and underestimated threat of Scrap Thralls to objective marker. Well, Scaverous did sacrifice a whole lot of focus points in casting Feast of Worms to ease their job. Sooner than I realized Cryx had accumulated enough control points for a scenario victory.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Cryxmas Games
Kuhmo traditions continued with two small Warmachine games. These were played around 24-26th days of December, so they are no longer in fresh memory.
Lists were ten points and first game was:
Wraith Witch Deneghra
- Erebus
- Nightwretch
- Ripjaw
Gorman diWulfe
Bloat Thrall
Versus
High Allegiant Amon
- Crusader
- Dervish
- Devout
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Wrack
First game I kind of wanted to make this super-stunlock maneuver I've been dreaming of. That means a Blind, Shadow Bind, Knockdown and Stationary all on one model.
Well it didn't come to that, but in small point sizes as this it definitely affected matters when you get, for example, 50% of enemy army blinded.
Don't mind the stegadon, by the way. It's an obstacle. Not a proxy.
Arm 21 crusader could have been a great trouble for me to chew through even when it came to have a go at the bonejacks. But Erebus still is only p+s 16. So instead I decided to ignore Crusader altogether and try to score assassination. Amon was behind Devout and there was Repenter blocking Erebus from charging Devout. Deneghra used Dark Banishment on the Repenter and lobbed it some six inches away. But this was an all-out attempt to win. Deneghra was focusless and within Crusader's melee range. Erebus better succeed.
And Erebus did succeed. When the boosted attack against Amon hit, the Protectorate warcaster went stationary. Of course everything hanged on 5+ tough roll once again, because it wasn't until the last possible attack that finally dealt enough damage to Amon. This time tough roll failed.
Second game was:
Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- Slayer
- 2x Helldiver
- Deathripper
Gorman diWulfe
Machine Wraith
Versus
High Executioner Reznik
- Crusader
- Revenger
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Exemplar Bastions
This somehow turned into long fight of attrition. Crusader was trying to flank Cryx, which distracted Asphyxious with twelve or thirteen focus points for a turn. During this time Cryx lost Slayer and Helldiver and what else.
But Cryx gained the upper hand, and finally there was nothing else except a lone Bastion and Reznik on board. Reznik ran to engage Asphyxious and had five focus points for camping.
I think Gorman succeeded to blind him. Asphyxious burned out attacking Reznik, and still Reznik was not dead.
I don't remember if it was Vociferon that finihed Reznik or Deathripper, but whatever the case, Reznik fell after taking quite a beating.
Lists were ten points and first game was:
Wraith Witch Deneghra
- Erebus
- Nightwretch
- Ripjaw
Gorman diWulfe
Bloat Thrall
Versus
High Allegiant Amon
- Dervish
- Devout
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Wrack
First game I kind of wanted to make this super-stunlock maneuver I've been dreaming of. That means a Blind, Shadow Bind, Knockdown and Stationary all on one model.
Well it didn't come to that, but in small point sizes as this it definitely affected matters when you get, for example, 50% of enemy army blinded.
Don't mind the stegadon, by the way. It's an obstacle. Not a proxy.
Arm 21 crusader could have been a great trouble for me to chew through even when it came to have a go at the bonejacks. But Erebus still is only p+s 16. So instead I decided to ignore Crusader altogether and try to score assassination. Amon was behind Devout and there was Repenter blocking Erebus from charging Devout. Deneghra used Dark Banishment on the Repenter and lobbed it some six inches away. But this was an all-out attempt to win. Deneghra was focusless and within Crusader's melee range. Erebus better succeed.
And Erebus did succeed. When the boosted attack against Amon hit, the Protectorate warcaster went stationary. Of course everything hanged on 5+ tough roll once again, because it wasn't until the last possible attack that finally dealt enough damage to Amon. This time tough roll failed.
Second game was:
Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- Slayer
- 2x Helldiver
- Deathripper
Gorman diWulfe
Machine Wraith
Versus
High Executioner Reznik
- Revenger
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Exemplar Bastions
This somehow turned into long fight of attrition. Crusader was trying to flank Cryx, which distracted Asphyxious with twelve or thirteen focus points for a turn. During this time Cryx lost Slayer and Helldiver and what else.
But Cryx gained the upper hand, and finally there was nothing else except a lone Bastion and Reznik on board. Reznik ran to engage Asphyxious and had five focus points for camping.
I think Gorman succeeded to blind him. Asphyxious burned out attacking Reznik, and still Reznik was not dead.
I don't remember if it was Vociferon that finihed Reznik or Deathripper, but whatever the case, Reznik fell after taking quite a beating.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Eternal No More
Gosh I am late with these things.
But let's get started.
Around Christmas I paid a visit to some sort of a home town (not sure if it's my home town), but anyway, I played a few games there.
First the long time campaign of Touch of Evil continued.
First time ever we played against Krampus, because, hey. Seasonal and all.
Heroes were Katarina, the Outlaw and Frederic Leon, Foreign Diplomat.
Frederic was hunting for events while Katarina hunted everything else. Once more heroes got busy at later stages in game - Shadow Track took the nose dive at last two stages, so heroes had to start the showdown before they had amassed a musket or a handgun for every hand and foot and toe.
We had not paid that much attention to the plethora of events we had - Katarina got around 15 dice worth of attacks, dealing a wound on 4+ and able to re-roll missed rolls. This didn't kill Krampus on one round, but took over half of it's wounds off. Easy win.
Confident from this victory, we played another against a random villain.
This was Werewolf. Heroes were Jack Fellows and Valeria, the Eternal.
Jack Fellows drew Endurance and gave an extra wound for Valeria. Then first card ever drawn from corner location was Walking Dreams, and Shadow Track just fell four steps.
Terrible outbreak of Murder -mysteries made Shadow Track to fall rapidly, and this time heroes needed to start the last showdown woefully underprepared. Short story short: two more kills for Werewolf during this campaign.
Campaign statistics:
Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus
Villains still to be defeated: 11
Heroes dead: Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 18
Stashed investigation: 7
But let's get started.
Around Christmas I paid a visit to some sort of a home town (not sure if it's my home town), but anyway, I played a few games there.
First the long time campaign of Touch of Evil continued.
First time ever we played against Krampus, because, hey. Seasonal and all.
Heroes were Katarina, the Outlaw and Frederic Leon, Foreign Diplomat.
Frederic was hunting for events while Katarina hunted everything else. Once more heroes got busy at later stages in game - Shadow Track took the nose dive at last two stages, so heroes had to start the showdown before they had amassed a musket or a handgun for every hand and foot and toe.
We had not paid that much attention to the plethora of events we had - Katarina got around 15 dice worth of attacks, dealing a wound on 4+ and able to re-roll missed rolls. This didn't kill Krampus on one round, but took over half of it's wounds off. Easy win.
Confident from this victory, we played another against a random villain.
This was Werewolf. Heroes were Jack Fellows and Valeria, the Eternal.
Jack Fellows drew Endurance and gave an extra wound for Valeria. Then first card ever drawn from corner location was Walking Dreams, and Shadow Track just fell four steps.
Terrible outbreak of Murder -mysteries made Shadow Track to fall rapidly, and this time heroes needed to start the last showdown woefully underprepared. Short story short: two more kills for Werewolf during this campaign.
Campaign statistics:
Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus
Villains still to be defeated: 11
Heroes dead: Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul
Heroes remaining: 18
Stashed investigation: 7
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