Army of Sheep lead by a sheep

I'll start this year's Ropecon write-ups with one that's by far the easiest one.

Battle Sheep proved it's worth in being a terrific game for even those of us who suffer from severe sleep deprivation while playing.

Though, I have to admit that now and then doing some easy math might save from a humiliating defeat.

Oh well, what can I say more about such a simple game. We had three players, and I did win two times out of the ten or so rounds we played.

Goreshade vs Thyra

So, this game was played a few weeks back. I have to start writing these now.

It was my first real Warmachine Mk3 (or: New Edition) game with actual miniatures.

My list was 75 points:

Goreshade the Bastard & Deathwalker

- Corruptor
- Leviathan
- Malice

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls +2x Brute Thrall + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Withershadow Combine
2x Pistol Wraith
Necrotech
Warwitch Siren
Soul Trapper

Opponent had something like this:

Thyra
- Blood of Martyrs
- Vigilant
- Dervish
- Avatar of Menoth

Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Idrian Skirmishers + Command Attachment
Daughters of the Flame
Hierophant
Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic?
Wracks
Rhupert

Scenario was good old Incursion, I think. No idea who started the game any more. Pictures are a bit blurry.

Incorporeal Pistol Wraith wanted to seize flag on the right. I don't know what was the deal with flag on the left, nobody seemed to be too interested in that.

Daughters of the Flame flooded Malice and my front line on the left, but Bile Thralls took care of those aggressors. Malice took a few souls in the process, and a bit later Malice just becomes my new favorite cryxian warjack. I mean... Arm 22. Amazing.

Both players score a few control points, Protectorate from the middle flag and Cryx from the flag on right. I remove Idrians easily enough and now when I'm looking at the pictures situation doesn't look that bad for Cryx. I was just terribly afraid of Protectorate warjacks, as none of my own warjacks excelled in Arm 21 removal. I'd need at least two warjacks to charge one target, and then there'd be one Protectorate jack that could easily enough remove both pieces I sent in...

At least that was how I felt.

Next I get a little bit of a spook when I advance Goreshade to cast Bleed on an Idrian Skirmisher. I didn't really pay attention on how far Thyra would be able to launch Blood of Martyrs. Don't know if Bleed attracted Blood.

Thyra advanced and used feat, casts Carnage and what else. Thanks to Lamentation on Goreshade, whatever Thyra did left her at zero focus points. I bet I've never ever gained as much use out of Mage Blight.

Blood of Martyrs then charged Goreshade, and had enough movement to get in to position. I doubt I would've taken such risks with Goreshade had I remembered Carnage and Silence of Death. Most probably that was one dead Goreshade now.

Except that there is this Warwitch Siren that was able to get a free strike against Blood of Martyrs. The attack hit and triggered shadow bind. There had been a lone Daughter of the Flame that could have tried to take her down, but opponent forgot. A bit of an anticlimactic save for me.

Next Thyra is sitting relatively close to Cryx with zero focus.

Goreshade charges some warrior model and pops up a new Deathwalker. He uses feat, too.

Only two Bane Thralls get to Thyra and both miss, but good old Dark Shroud had been delivered. With Deathwalker Thyra had -2 def & arm. Malice got within Thyra's back arc and butchered her up. Shame that Malice had just been errata'd to not be able to use possession on warcaster models.

Well. What can I say.

A most skillful caster bait I guess.

Frostgrave campaign game fourteen

Oh dear, it's been over a week since this game was played. July can be so busy sometimes.

So, this game was the last game of Thaw of the Lich Lord campaign. My circus folk were attacking the floating island of the Lich Lord together with Sigilist warband.

I took a picture of the board before deployment was made. There's a lot enemies around for sure, so fighting against each other wasn't definitely main priority between warbands.

Quite a few enemies went against Sigilist warband. I almost felt sorry for the guys, but at that point I didn't know better...

Surely there was the Lich Lord disguised as an Armored Skeleton that attacked my warband. At best that skeleton was surrounded by three soldiers of mine. And yet - that Armored Skeleton took down Barbarian, Apothecary and Rangifer plus dealt the Wounded status on my Captain. Well, okay, I don't remember exactly if that skeleton dealt the finishing blow on each of these soldiers, but without exaggerating Apothecary, Barbarian and Captain suffered their fate against that Armored Skeleton from hell.

Lich Lord's minions weren't exactly easy on the Sigilists either. I guess the amount of rolls of 20-19 and 1-2 were at least very close to the average. It just happened so that NPC's took all the maximum values...

Next one Wraith Knight started to close in against each warband. The one who got against my circus proved to be an annoying nuisance that Jack (my wizard) had to eventually come and butcher up with his Fight +10 against undeads.

Though my Wraith Knight dragged fight for several combats, I must say Sigilists took the harder Knight this time. I think opponent had stacked something like +11 or +12 for his wizard and yet the Wraith Knight killed the Sigilist wizard with just one attack. After that other sigilists fell to it's blade, too.

It started to look like Lich Lord might be the winner here.

I had been advancing closer to Lich Lord under Fog spells. Opponent had cast Draining Word on Elemental Bolt and had tried to pepper the Lich with missile fire. The archers and/or crossbows removed Elemental Shield from Lich and caused five damage points in.

Lich Lord's performance started to look very, very suspicious when it had already failed to cast spells so many times that it had taken three damage points in from miscasts only. What was this guy? An Armored Skeleton in fancy clothing?

Sigilists eventually succeeded to take down the Wraith Knight. Jack had taken whipped himself into a maniacal rage (Fleet Feet, Possess, Leap spells, everything...) and was rapidly getting close to Lich Lord. He really wanted to challenge the Lich in melee.

One dream came true when he did exactly that.

And, uhm.

If there was any question about the real Lich Lord, they all vanished now. Lich Lord died to just one hit.

The untrustworthy circus folk robbed five treasures out of the eight present in this scenario.

My apprentice had been injured at some point, had a movement value of 5 and was stuck in difficult terrain. There were only three turn left to escape when Adon the Apprentice finally got out.

Sigilist wizard rolled "1" on the injury chart and, well, died. That was pretty critical 20 that had been rolled, seems like.

Well. We'll see if these warbands continue their existence beyond this Thaw of the Lich Lord. Not in any organised way at least for sure.

However, if Jack ever continues his exploits, I still kept the details about the campaign as detailed as possible:

--

Jack Saturn is level 45 with 4570 experience.
He has levelled fight by +3, Will by +4*, and health by +6.
Fleet Feet spell has been improved by +6*, Elemental Ball by +4*, Leap by +2, Possess by +2*, Spell Eater by +2*, Imp by +1 and Fog by +3.
He has learned Plague of Insects, which has been improved by +3.
He has learned the Reveal Secret spell, which has been improved by +1.
He has learned Willpower spell, which has been improved by +2.
He has learned Plane Walk spell.
He has learned Planar Tear spell*
He has learned Bind Demon spell*

Home base is Inn with Crystal Ball, Sarcophagus of Healing, Carrier Pigeons (+2 gold) and Kennels
Reputation: (personal) Death of Lich Lord

Vault has Magical two handed weapon (+1 damage modifier), 2x Sword of Undead Slaying, Magical bow (+2 damage modifier), Club of Battering, Hand Weapon (+1 Fight)
Amulet of the Ghoul King
Book of Rangifer
Ring of Power (1)
Eyes of Amoto
Fire Heart Gemstone
Horn of Hellfire
Grimoire: Poison Dart, Control Construct, Furious Quill, Enchant Weapon, Shield, Miraculous Cure, bought: Planar Tear
Grimoire of Lichdom
Quiver of the Soul Seeker
Scroll of Planar Tear
Ivory Scroll (Familiar)
Ring of Slow Fall
Boots of Leaping
Unbreakable Orb
Robes of Arrow Turning
Gloves of Casting


Unspent gold: 181.

Warband roster is worth 1520 gold (level 45 apprentice is 650) and includes:
Apprentice has Smashed Leg
Barbarian
Marksman
Ranger
2x Treasure Hunter
Apothecary
(miss next game) Bard
War Hound
Rangifer
Captain: Stat increase: +1 Move (cost so far: 185 gold), leather armor, sword of undead slaying and dagger, Amulet of the Ghoul King, 150 experience
- Tricks of the trade: Sprint, Furious Attack (+3F before attack rolls are made)

Thieves' honor

But wait! There's more!

Last weekend there was also time for a four player Talisman.

Since the amount of expansions starts to be overwhelming, we used only some expansions to hopefully cut down the time required to finish the game. Reaper and Werewolf were there, as well as Dungeon and Woodland side boards. Ending was random.

Characters were Elf, Cat Burglar, Spy and Philosopher. No real fighters and no real spellcasters. Interesting.

Strength and Craft ups were tremendously rare in this game. Early game Elf went to the Woodsland, and Cat Burglar had a streak of bad luck. Both characters had their time without fate and only on one life.

Spy and Philosopher seemed to have the strongest starts. At least when it came to survival.

Since it's already been five days since the game, I'll just highlight some moments I still remember. That is, my character (once again) being turned into a toad. Despite having a fate to re-roll the unlucky "1" at Enchantress. Which was my warlock quest, by the way. So all of my stuff fell to City while my new croaky form was teleported to the middle region. Oh joy. I was the Spy.

Philosopher also found it difficult to progress despite having amazing combo with Orb of Knowledge and his own card exchange.

Elf and Cat Burglar had made an amazing comeback and suddenly looked like top two contenders for alternative ending.

Elf got stuck in the Woodlands and Cat Burglar had it all too easy to navigate through Inner Region with Magic Lamp - an item that let's manipulate dice rolls.

Random ending was Thieves Guild, which seemed like pretty bad design to me. I mean, if the one at the crown rolls a 3+, what's to stop him or her getting talismans from other characters? It's next to impossible to get to the crown.

It probably should be so that affected players can choose which items they give.

Yet it was fitting that Cat Burglar won with Thieves Guild.

Betrayer Hard Mode

Last weekend I didn't only play croquet. Three games of Dead of Winter (in the heat of summer) were played with four players.

Now and then it isn't a bad practice to read the rule book from start to finish. I noticed that the last 20 games of Dead of Winter before these (all games, that is) have been played incorrectly in regards to betrayer condition. I guess the actual rule and the variant rule had an unholy offspring in my mind, when earlier we have been using one betrayer card per player, not per game.

Uh oh.

Well, looks like games with two betrayers aren't going to happen from now on.

Anyway, first game was Raid Party. Police Station and Hospital were eventually picked as our raid targets, but we fooled around for quite a while before realizing there isn't quite enough time for rampaging through that many locations. If it wasn't for the plentiful weapon cache with two tactical rifles early in the game, I don't think we'd have eventually won.

Only one player couldn't achieve personal victory condition.

Second game was Eight weeks of darkness. This one was quite exciting game. First few weeks passed like they were a dream, most of us were probably thinking that can this really be this easy? But after half way the amount of zombies and slowly diminishing location decks escalated the difficulty.

With careful optimization it looked like we'd might be able to finish main objective. But then one player rolled Bitten, which instantly dropped morale to concerning levels, that is 2. Now we'd need a little bit of luck. But we did begin the eight week. Second last player rolled a second Bitten result from the exposure die, and, well. It was quite an anticlimactic ending, to be honest, for an otherwise thrilling game. Morale at 1 was impossible for use to navigate through.

I guess we survived seven weeks and five days, or something.

Last game was Find the Cure mission.

In this game there was one betrayer. Though I had my suspicions at times, I think I wouldn't have voted to exile the betrayer.

Main objective was completed in time, but only one played had also finished secret objective. Surviving for yet one more turn seemed unlikely, so the search for the last medicine was pretty hectic and stressful situation.

Sunshine blinds my eyes

Last weekend I played two rounds of croquet. I'm not going to embarrass myself by trying to give detailed battle reports out of them.

Cataclysm

I've been stalling the acquirement of The Cataclysm expansion for Talisman.

After all, Talisman gets rarely played these days and I somehow find this expansion a little dubious. I mean, are we going to see a new line of expansions that are expansions on top of expansions? Probably not, but this way of expanding game feels a little cheap. The Cataclysm could've been a stand-alone expansion and that would have been perfect, but now it's pretty much alternate centre board, while original centre continues to be mandatory.

Oh well.

The figures were, as far as board games go, gorgeous. They have been improving in quality for quite a while, and now the details are so sharp that models like Scavenger, Arcane Scion and Barbarian wouldn't gather dismissive looks if included in a full fledged miniatures game. Barbarian's sword is worthy of mention: it's not a flimsy, flaccid rubber baton that melts in the sunlight, as often longish, unsupported appendages are on board game figures.

Figures do 'suffer' from gigantism yet again when compared to earlier Talisman figures. Maybe it's because of the magical radiation that The Cataclysm brought.

Rules for new characters were a little off. Scavenger and Arcane Scion look to me like they're hideously overpowered. Black Knight also has the potential to be the premiere player character killer with little danger for himself, and yet his starting Strength / Craft ain't bad at all.

And that was pretty much everything. There were two plastic bags of cards, and of course the main board.

For the heavy price that this game expansion came with, I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed at least when it comes to physical content. And actual play experience, oh, let's wait for a year or two... (hopefully not)

Scaverous vs Reznik in the new edition

Yesterday I played first game of the new edition of Warmachine.

Traditionally we've played a game or two on my summer visit to Kuhmo with another player who's from here, but this time around we weren't present at the same time.

So it was time to blow the dust from Vassal engine and play a 10 point game.

I played:

Lord Exhumator Scaverous 1

- Erebus
- 2x Deathripper

Minimum unit of Bile Thralls

Opponent had:

High Executioner Servath Reznik 1
- Castigator
- Devout
- Dervish

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
2x Allegiant of Fist

We didn't use any scenarios in such a small game. Protectorate started. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1. So far Death Ward is on Erebus and Ignite is on Castigator (like it needs to ignite things any better...)

Second turn Protectorate advanced under spell shielded warjacks and warcasters, and defense 18 Allegiants of Fists.

Such magic protection was an intimidating prospect. I was afraid I wouldn't get any use out of Scaverous' feat at all until it was already too late. Witch Hound stopped me from planning any kind of an assassination with Erebus (I didn't think I'd be able to pull it off without -2 arm on Reznik) so instead I decided to waste my feat to destroy the Choir of Menoth. Lovely plan, but somehow I grossly overestimated the reach of AoE 4. Oh well. Used my feat to kill three choir boys.

Perhaps it was worth it anyway, since Feast of Worms gives soul tokens nowadays.

Bile Thralls activated next and did some futile sprays. I was sure I'd kill one Allegiant with a purge attack, but damage roll came up as double 1's. My warcaster's new ability, Knowledge of the Damned, came into good use in the first game with him.

I knew that charging Erebus to Castigator might be a very bad idea. Too often Cryxian jacks take an good chunk of health boxes away from an Arm 19 target, but fail to disable any important systems. But this time was different. Perhaps the dawn of new edition, or something. Charge damage roll was 10, second initial 9, first extra attack 6 and last attack 10. This wasn't enough to wreck the jack, but it was stationary now and - most importantly - had lost it's cortex.

Turn 3 Reznik casts Engine of Destruction and charges Erebus. Death Ward acted more like a Death Warrant because of Purgation. But still Reznik didn't destroy Erebus with three attacks. Reznik used his feat. Devout had already activated and had tried to injure Deathripper, but had failed in doing so. Lone choir priest gives extra damage for Dervish, who comes and punches Erebus twice, hitting with both attacks. Last attack scores the kill. Last remaining Allegiant knocked some six points off from Deathripper on the right, or something.

Exactly what I feared had now happened: I had lost Erebus, and opponent kind of nothing. Stationary Castigator without cortex had at least made Reznik commit himself far. So, now Reznik died or Cryx lost. Fortunately Reznik was within charge distance of Scaverous, who had eight focus this turn. Scaverous charged in and would hit with 6+. Scaverous went without attack boosts the whole run, and didn't miss a single time. Damage rolls (which I boosted) were quite excessive. A camp of two didn't help against rolls of 14+ and so.

But this simple and innocent game only led to the true test. I have to start thinking how to engineer my new and improved excel sheets...