When last we checked in with House Drake, the heir apparent and her bevy of half brothers boldly fought off an incursion by the covetous forces of House Buckwell. having firmly established the town as the base for a new frontier, the Drake family headed south to learn what had become of their relief force. rather than encountering Uncle Anders and the Drake Company archers, they found a deserted road and odd, over-sized footprints. Lady Ella said upon seeing the tracks "This has a bad Hodor about it."
Returning to Castle Drake, the band found the bailey littered with idle armsmen not of their house. Indeed, among the banners present were those of House Hayford, House Highgarden and the hated Buckwells. Maester Gyles flew into a righteous rage, demanding that Celia present herself to the new lady of House Drake. A war of words ensued as Celia insinuated something shady-nasty had gone on during the heroes' absence. She had the lawful will of the departed Ondrew Drake whereas the unsealed letter borne by Gyles must be a fake.
Celia's guests stood shocked and dumbfounded as the Maester tore a strip off her hide (and pride) before berating the harpy back into the lair. Ella reiterated that she was named heir even as Celia advanced her own son Torrhen as the new lord of the Drake Household. In a fit of rage and sensing that his honor was about to be compromised, Torrhen snatched Celia's forged will and tossed it into the fire. This act of defiance outraged his Uncle Anders and the two exchanged words. Foolishly the exchange came to blows and Anders swung at his nephew, apparently disregarding the fact that the young knight was still clad for battle.
Torrhen easily turned aside the strike and returned one of his own. Having sheathed his sword in Anders' gut (which caused an alarmingly loud belch a la Phil Collins), Torrhen turned angrily on his mother. Her interference had nearly sold the house to its enemies and Ella into a marriage contract with Highgarden. "The Silent Sisters are always looking for people," Torrhen declared. Ella spurned the Highgarden offer knowing that marrying into a Westerosi family would mean surrendering her Dornish birthright and her ability to lead the house.
Having upset Celia's plans, the heroes seized the Hayfords and Buckwells as hostages. Having already dealt the Buckwell's a serious blow, holding their heir hostage was a modest coup for the Drake family. Maester Gyles dispatched ravens to the Buckwells offering to exchange their heir for a year's tithes. The Buckwells agreed and offered to meed at Pembroke. At roughly the same time news came from Pembroke from Ser Uther Frey of the Night's Watch. Ser Frey claimed he was besieged in the village smithy, accused of foul murder.
Though the coincidence in locale was odd, the Drake's vowed to uphold the house honor and lend aid to the Night's Watch. Knowing that the Buckwell's and their allies were also heading to Pembroke with treachery in mind, the Drake's drew forth their armies and summoned the forces of the newly founded House Fitzdrake to assist. If the Buckwells thought the prisoner exchange could be warped into an ambush and slaughter, they were going to be terribly surprised.
Ella countered the Buckwell aggression by proposing a marriage pact with House cafferen, an ally of the Buckwells. In exchange for remaining out of the fight, Ella promised cafferen a quarter of the Buckwell lands. if they should actively support House Drake, they would gain a third of the Buckwell lands as well as join the two houses together by the marriage of her younger brother Thedric to the Cafferen's eldest daughter. In theory, the cafferens agreed. How the situation would play out in Pembroke is yet to be seen.
House Drake has outmanuevered treachery from within and aggression from without. Will this last minute alliance with cafferen turn the tide of battle and destroy the Buckwells once and for all? Has House Drake overstepped its place engaging in this most dangerous game of politics? Have Maester Gyles' clever manipulations totally hodored House Drake?
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Epic dice fail and other things that go bump in the night
Border Board Games' Monstrous Hallowe'en Monster Game Extravaganza took place on Saturday, October 15. This month's crowd included visitors Bob and Christine (?), Carlo and Kristin, Rob, Beth and I and newcomer and hopeful returnee Mike.
Earlier in the day gaming at the Lair saw Carlo lose not one but TWO games of King of Tokyo as Beth pulled victory out of thin air. In each case Beth waited until the last throw of the dice to send his beloved Krakken back into the watery Abyss while her Donkey Kong reigned supreme. Added with Carlo's failure to murder "wretches" in Letters from Whitechapel before being apprehended by Beth and Kristin, his gaming got off to a slow start.
Having moved to the village hall at the appointed time, we set up for what would be many of our's first exposure to the newest Lovecraftian themed game Elder Sign. The game follows the model of the Fantasy Flight series featuring familiar heroes from Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness. Unlike the other two titles, Elder Sign is a much quicker game to both set up and play.
In many ways this is a great introduction to the worlds of Lovecraft and horror gaming. It's relatively light and, as a co-op game, engages all players in the successes, or failures, of their peers. In our first journey into the realms of terror and madness our adversary was Nyarlathotep, who was sometimes confused with the goatee-wearing evil version of Beth, Ynahteb.
It is hard to say if we were just lucky with our dice or lucky with our adventure locations, but we seemed to breeze through Nyarly with amazing speed. Indeed, not a single investigator went screaming into hell that I can recall. not so on our second attempt. The second time round Shub Niggurath was our adversary and, despite having more doom tokens prior to awakening, our luck fell apart early on.
While in our first game we seemed to succeed on our first try probably 80 percent of the time, it often took three tries to resolve a single adventure with Shubby. This slowed down our collective rate of equipment gathering (basically, item cards and spells provided bonus dice or "hold" spots to help accomplish tasks) and accelerated our loss of sanity and stamina.
Mike endured a particularly gruesome sequence of deaths staggering around battered and bleeding from one disaster to the next. It goes to show that volunteering to take the sanity hit to start the game doesn't always make you a hero - sometimes you just become a victim. In the first game Mike's character Jenny Barnes (the purple chick) could do no wrong. In round two, no matter what he had, he could do no right.
In time, after many agonizing attempts and failures, Shubby awoke and promptly devoured Mike for the last time. As we had accomplished so few tasks and his battle condition required sacrificing trophies, our ranks were quickly thinned until only four of the seven remained. Beth's magician Dexter Drake and then Kate Winthrop did a little damage before he disappeared and Kristin's character the Fuller brush vendor Bob Jenkins, who bravely tried to stop the worst of the bleeding among the company, also spiralled into the Abyss.
It came down to Ashcan Pete (Bob) and Harvey Walters (me) facing a wounded but still ferocious elder thing. Bob rolled well but, ultimately, his lack of trophies saw him devoured moments after Kate threw herself into the maws of evil. Harvey Walters, the professor from Miskatonic University, stood alone as the guardian at the door. Weirdly enough, he had gathered plenty of trophies and, despite not having many bonus dice to rely on, rolled well. His power to convert terror (tentacles) into scrolls (knowledge) proved crucial as he banished the elder thing with only a single trophy remaining.
The final game of the night was a round of Last Night on Earth which pitted Mike, Rob, Beth and Bob against Carlo the zombie master. Just as Carlo's dice went quiet earlier in the day, so too did his zombie dice once he had rolled for his starting zombie horde. Perhaps his plan to sacrifice half their number to make them invulnerable in the first round wasn't the best choice after all. With the objected being "Burn 'em Out", the heroes had to gather explosives and destroy three of the four zombie spawning pits.
The characters were Jake the Drifter (Bob), Father McFeely (Beth), Sheriff Mr. Anderson (Rob) and Johnny Popular (Mike). In what can only be termed an incredible string of luck, the humans would quickly find a trove of explosives in the school. While the gasoline wouldn't seem such a stretch, the twin packs of dynamite struck people as a little odd. The humans enjoyed a lot of success fighting off the zombie attackers. With pistols, baseball bats, fire extinguishers and fire axes, they blew through the seething mobs, quickly destroying half of Carlo's spawning pits. Father McFeely eliminated a Taken Over marker that protected one of the spawning pits and promptly ran out to deal with it.
The lone high point for the zombie master came when Jake stood defiantly outside the Plant as Father Grabass went into the light less building. His dynamite having already been used, Jake went down howling as the zombies overcame him. Though he would emerge as a zombie hero, the Father's task was already done as Sally emerged inexplicably from the barn just in time to see the final spawning pit blow.
While the zombie action was resolving itself, Christine and Kristin had a rematch of King of Tokyo. The results of that contest were not immediately known at press time.
Earlier in the day gaming at the Lair saw Carlo lose not one but TWO games of King of Tokyo as Beth pulled victory out of thin air. In each case Beth waited until the last throw of the dice to send his beloved Krakken back into the watery Abyss while her Donkey Kong reigned supreme. Added with Carlo's failure to murder "wretches" in Letters from Whitechapel before being apprehended by Beth and Kristin, his gaming got off to a slow start.
Having moved to the village hall at the appointed time, we set up for what would be many of our's first exposure to the newest Lovecraftian themed game Elder Sign. The game follows the model of the Fantasy Flight series featuring familiar heroes from Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness. Unlike the other two titles, Elder Sign is a much quicker game to both set up and play.
In many ways this is a great introduction to the worlds of Lovecraft and horror gaming. It's relatively light and, as a co-op game, engages all players in the successes, or failures, of their peers. In our first journey into the realms of terror and madness our adversary was Nyarlathotep, who was sometimes confused with the goatee-wearing evil version of Beth, Ynahteb.
It is hard to say if we were just lucky with our dice or lucky with our adventure locations, but we seemed to breeze through Nyarly with amazing speed. Indeed, not a single investigator went screaming into hell that I can recall. not so on our second attempt. The second time round Shub Niggurath was our adversary and, despite having more doom tokens prior to awakening, our luck fell apart early on.
While in our first game we seemed to succeed on our first try probably 80 percent of the time, it often took three tries to resolve a single adventure with Shubby. This slowed down our collective rate of equipment gathering (basically, item cards and spells provided bonus dice or "hold" spots to help accomplish tasks) and accelerated our loss of sanity and stamina.
Mike endured a particularly gruesome sequence of deaths staggering around battered and bleeding from one disaster to the next. It goes to show that volunteering to take the sanity hit to start the game doesn't always make you a hero - sometimes you just become a victim. In the first game Mike's character Jenny Barnes (the purple chick) could do no wrong. In round two, no matter what he had, he could do no right.
In time, after many agonizing attempts and failures, Shubby awoke and promptly devoured Mike for the last time. As we had accomplished so few tasks and his battle condition required sacrificing trophies, our ranks were quickly thinned until only four of the seven remained. Beth's magician Dexter Drake and then Kate Winthrop did a little damage before he disappeared and Kristin's character the Fuller brush vendor Bob Jenkins, who bravely tried to stop the worst of the bleeding among the company, also spiralled into the Abyss.
It came down to Ashcan Pete (Bob) and Harvey Walters (me) facing a wounded but still ferocious elder thing. Bob rolled well but, ultimately, his lack of trophies saw him devoured moments after Kate threw herself into the maws of evil. Harvey Walters, the professor from Miskatonic University, stood alone as the guardian at the door. Weirdly enough, he had gathered plenty of trophies and, despite not having many bonus dice to rely on, rolled well. His power to convert terror (tentacles) into scrolls (knowledge) proved crucial as he banished the elder thing with only a single trophy remaining.
The final game of the night was a round of Last Night on Earth which pitted Mike, Rob, Beth and Bob against Carlo the zombie master. Just as Carlo's dice went quiet earlier in the day, so too did his zombie dice once he had rolled for his starting zombie horde. Perhaps his plan to sacrifice half their number to make them invulnerable in the first round wasn't the best choice after all. With the objected being "Burn 'em Out", the heroes had to gather explosives and destroy three of the four zombie spawning pits.
The characters were Jake the Drifter (Bob), Father McFeely (Beth), Sheriff Mr. Anderson (Rob) and Johnny Popular (Mike). In what can only be termed an incredible string of luck, the humans would quickly find a trove of explosives in the school. While the gasoline wouldn't seem such a stretch, the twin packs of dynamite struck people as a little odd. The humans enjoyed a lot of success fighting off the zombie attackers. With pistols, baseball bats, fire extinguishers and fire axes, they blew through the seething mobs, quickly destroying half of Carlo's spawning pits. Father McFeely eliminated a Taken Over marker that protected one of the spawning pits and promptly ran out to deal with it.
The lone high point for the zombie master came when Jake stood defiantly outside the Plant as Father Grabass went into the light less building. His dynamite having already been used, Jake went down howling as the zombies overcame him. Though he would emerge as a zombie hero, the Father's task was already done as Sally emerged inexplicably from the barn just in time to see the final spawning pit blow.
While the zombie action was resolving itself, Christine and Kristin had a rematch of King of Tokyo. The results of that contest were not immediately known at press time.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
What could possibly go wrong with that plan?
The Battle of Amreth was a display of what a few ignorant people can accomplish when they have no idea what might happen. As we left off last time, Torrhen rode boldly into an archer ambush leading the most skittish band of horsemen in Westeros. Despite losing half of his troopers in the opneing salvo, the heavily armored knight crashed the lines of the archers/bandits, trampling them mercilessly and driving the rest to flight.
Meanwhile, back in the village, Ella set asbout inspiring the villagers with kind words and fierce invective. She pledged to protect the village, rebuild its defenses and bring prosperity and order to the land. It all started with a couple of hangings and a slow clap. Fortunately the villagers have learned to expect little from their lords and ladies and the news that Ondrew had died and Ella was now lady of the house did little to discourage them. Luckily she did such an admirable job of rousing their peasantly ardor that many of the men vowed to stand alongside the handful of House Drake armsmen and battle the legion of battle-hardened infantrymen Buckwell had sent their way.
Garth, meanwhile, had found the missing Drake offspring Warrick hiding in the ruins of the town tower. Warrick immediately proved his legacy by displaying the Valyrian bloodline traits and the propensity for ill-considered actions that have become the hallmark of the bloodline. Some villagers suspected that Maester Gyles may have had a hand in Warrick's fall from the tower but neither Garth nor his irregulars have stated such either publicly or privately.
The bandits broken, the peasants rabble-roused and the irregulars sent off to harry the approaching Buckwell soldiers, all that remained was to await the arrival of reinforcements from Castle Drake. Much to the heroes' dismay, Uncle Clusterfuck, errr, Anders, had decided to make the deployment as slow and painfully protracted as possible. By the time the heroes learned of this, they realized they would be forced to stand and fight with what they had or turn tail and flee, knowing that the village would be razed, its meager wealth plundered and Ella's credibility forever left in tatters.
Had there actually been somewhere to flee toward, knowing that Anders held the castle and would unlikely let us in despite the rampaging horde at their backs, perhaps flight would have been an option. The Drake children decided instead to stand and fight. If their forces were routed, the hope remained that sufficient horses would survive to allow the Drake family to flee the battlefield.
The peasants set to work building fortifications. these were not fortifications that would have daunted most armies and probably only discouraged an army of peasant rabble disinterested in whatever cause it was they took up arms for in the first place. Under the direction of the Drakes the villagers contructed some wicker pallisades and barriers coupled with a shallow ditch and slight earthen mound. The idea was not to shatter the Buckwell ranks on these walls, for, realistically, a single torch could have burned them down but, rather, to direct the attacking soldiers by splitting their ranks to allow Torrhen's cavalry to mow them down. If the Buckwells were at all allowed to form square, our few cavalry would have proven utterly ineffective.
The key was to engage the soldiers and cause them to chase down the fleeing peasants while the irregulars tried to hamper them and therefore allow the cavalry to run them down. What was entirely unexpected was the amount of damage the irregulars caused during their day of harrying attacks. By the time the Buckwells emerged from the logging road, fully a third of their numbers had been eliminated. A further piece of luck followed as Garth led the missile barrage from the peasant levies. Sticks, stones, arrows and other miscellany rained down death on the Buckwell ranks. Little Jordel was a figurehead among the peasants, launching rabbit sticks with deadly accuracy and effect.
The Buckwell ranks were seriously depleted following several volleys but, alas, all good things must come to an end. Soon the Buckwells swarmed the barricades, cutting down the villagers armed only with trowels and bar stools. Their losses were terrific. Soon they broke and ran, a long line of soldeirs spreading out behind them. That was the time when Torrhen struck, wiping out the stragglers with a brutal thurst. Even as the cavalry swept in from behind, Ella again emerged to rally the dispirited villagers, turning their terror into a weapon. In the slaughter that ensued, Maester Gyles was credited with some of the most inspired attrocities, the viciousness of which was doubtless inspired by General Torrhen's own capacity for cruelty.
In the end the Drake clan stood tall and emerged trimuphant, capturing dozens of prisoners and, more importantly, forging the core of an army that would be raised to strike back at the treacherous Hayfords and the hated Buckwells. Maester Gyles stood before the crowds at the conclusion of the battle and spoke rousingly of the Drakes' successes on theday. he ended his speech with a phrase that may supplant all others in the Drake lexicon: "We totally hodored the Buckwells, right?"
p.s. The events involving Maester Gyles may or may not have been based on actual events. Such is the danger of relying on minstrels and scribes to report on history after the fact.
Meanwhile, back in the village, Ella set asbout inspiring the villagers with kind words and fierce invective. She pledged to protect the village, rebuild its defenses and bring prosperity and order to the land. It all started with a couple of hangings and a slow clap. Fortunately the villagers have learned to expect little from their lords and ladies and the news that Ondrew had died and Ella was now lady of the house did little to discourage them. Luckily she did such an admirable job of rousing their peasantly ardor that many of the men vowed to stand alongside the handful of House Drake armsmen and battle the legion of battle-hardened infantrymen Buckwell had sent their way.
Garth, meanwhile, had found the missing Drake offspring Warrick hiding in the ruins of the town tower. Warrick immediately proved his legacy by displaying the Valyrian bloodline traits and the propensity for ill-considered actions that have become the hallmark of the bloodline. Some villagers suspected that Maester Gyles may have had a hand in Warrick's fall from the tower but neither Garth nor his irregulars have stated such either publicly or privately.
The bandits broken, the peasants rabble-roused and the irregulars sent off to harry the approaching Buckwell soldiers, all that remained was to await the arrival of reinforcements from Castle Drake. Much to the heroes' dismay, Uncle Clusterfuck, errr, Anders, had decided to make the deployment as slow and painfully protracted as possible. By the time the heroes learned of this, they realized they would be forced to stand and fight with what they had or turn tail and flee, knowing that the village would be razed, its meager wealth plundered and Ella's credibility forever left in tatters.
Had there actually been somewhere to flee toward, knowing that Anders held the castle and would unlikely let us in despite the rampaging horde at their backs, perhaps flight would have been an option. The Drake children decided instead to stand and fight. If their forces were routed, the hope remained that sufficient horses would survive to allow the Drake family to flee the battlefield.
The peasants set to work building fortifications. these were not fortifications that would have daunted most armies and probably only discouraged an army of peasant rabble disinterested in whatever cause it was they took up arms for in the first place. Under the direction of the Drakes the villagers contructed some wicker pallisades and barriers coupled with a shallow ditch and slight earthen mound. The idea was not to shatter the Buckwell ranks on these walls, for, realistically, a single torch could have burned them down but, rather, to direct the attacking soldiers by splitting their ranks to allow Torrhen's cavalry to mow them down. If the Buckwells were at all allowed to form square, our few cavalry would have proven utterly ineffective.
The key was to engage the soldiers and cause them to chase down the fleeing peasants while the irregulars tried to hamper them and therefore allow the cavalry to run them down. What was entirely unexpected was the amount of damage the irregulars caused during their day of harrying attacks. By the time the Buckwells emerged from the logging road, fully a third of their numbers had been eliminated. A further piece of luck followed as Garth led the missile barrage from the peasant levies. Sticks, stones, arrows and other miscellany rained down death on the Buckwell ranks. Little Jordel was a figurehead among the peasants, launching rabbit sticks with deadly accuracy and effect.
The Buckwell ranks were seriously depleted following several volleys but, alas, all good things must come to an end. Soon the Buckwells swarmed the barricades, cutting down the villagers armed only with trowels and bar stools. Their losses were terrific. Soon they broke and ran, a long line of soldeirs spreading out behind them. That was the time when Torrhen struck, wiping out the stragglers with a brutal thurst. Even as the cavalry swept in from behind, Ella again emerged to rally the dispirited villagers, turning their terror into a weapon. In the slaughter that ensued, Maester Gyles was credited with some of the most inspired attrocities, the viciousness of which was doubtless inspired by General Torrhen's own capacity for cruelty.
In the end the Drake clan stood tall and emerged trimuphant, capturing dozens of prisoners and, more importantly, forging the core of an army that would be raised to strike back at the treacherous Hayfords and the hated Buckwells. Maester Gyles stood before the crowds at the conclusion of the battle and spoke rousingly of the Drakes' successes on theday. he ended his speech with a phrase that may supplant all others in the Drake lexicon: "We totally hodored the Buckwells, right?"
p.s. The events involving Maester Gyles may or may not have been based on actual events. Such is the danger of relying on minstrels and scribes to report on history after the fact.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
October gaming
First of all, many thanks to Matt Taylor of the Westford board gaming group for coming over on Sept 17th to play some board games. Without him, it would have been just Richard and myself. It seems that this September the stars and moon were aligned as such that our local members couldn't make it. With Matt attending, we were able to play Cyclades and Civilization.
Our next board game night will be held October 15th at 6 PM at the Derby Line Village Hall. To honor Halloween, we will make it our special Halloween edition of Border Board Games. That means we will bring along our horror/monster themed games like Betrayal at House on the Hill, Fury of Dracula, Last Night on Earth and whatever else in our collection fits the theme. I'm sure that there will also be some Halloween goodies available to eat as well.
If board gaming isn't your thing and you'd rather play RPGs, then consider joining our RPG group. We typically meet every 4th Saturday in Derby Line for our mega RPG day. We get together right after noontime and play for about 8 hours. For half the time we play D&D 3.5 and the other half we play the Song of Ice and Fire. If you are interested in only playing one RPG, that can be arranged. Our next RPG date is Sept 24th and, for October we will aim for Oct 22nd.
Our next board game night will be held October 15th at 6 PM at the Derby Line Village Hall. To honor Halloween, we will make it our special Halloween edition of Border Board Games. That means we will bring along our horror/monster themed games like Betrayal at House on the Hill, Fury of Dracula, Last Night on Earth and whatever else in our collection fits the theme. I'm sure that there will also be some Halloween goodies available to eat as well.
If board gaming isn't your thing and you'd rather play RPGs, then consider joining our RPG group. We typically meet every 4th Saturday in Derby Line for our mega RPG day. We get together right after noontime and play for about 8 hours. For half the time we play D&D 3.5 and the other half we play the Song of Ice and Fire. If you are interested in only playing one RPG, that can be arranged. Our next RPG date is Sept 24th and, for October we will aim for Oct 22nd.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Mail, Civilizations and Monsters
It was a small group that convened for Border Board games on Saturday night. We drew the usual crowd of Beth, myself, Homer, and Shannon and were glad that Rob could stop by as well. The night started with our second ever playing of Thurn & Taxis. T&T is a game I've been eying for a while so when the board game yard sale came to pass, Beth and I decided to bid on it. To our delight, we won it and picked it up at the Green Mountain gamers Game 'n Grill in Norwich.
We made some mistakes on our first play-through, mistakes we noted and vowed to not repeat. Luckily we managed to avoid the problems this time. Everyone earned the carriages in the right order and we negated points for having leftover bird houses errr, post offices. Beth seemed to have a pretty solid system in place from the get-go. Her houses popped up throughout the region in no time and her routes quickly earned her reams of bonus points. Homer went to big-route way and amassed a tidy sum of bonus chits himself.
Being his first time through, Shannon seemed a little lost leading to the dissolution of a promising 4 city route early in the game. While it didn't help his fortunes, it seemed to be the turning point at which he began to understand the subtle nuances of the game. I plugged away trying to fill up the big honking grey area and actually managed to trigger end game with my #7 carriage. Homer and I tied at 23 points apiece while Shannon had a dismal showing at only 4 points. The leftovers really damaged his score on his first time through. Beth won the game with an impressive score of 26, even without the #7 carriage in her possession.
Our next game involved breaking out 7 Wonders. The appeal is the game's ability to support a large number of players coupled with a relatively quick game play assuming everyone has played it before. This turned out to be a fairly tight match despite four wildly different strategies. Homer presented a surprisingly balanced point spread ranking 1st or 2nd in every category to score a 54 point win. Beth followed close behind mainly on the strength of her blue bonus points to finish with 47 points. Shannon and I ended up tied at 44 points each as Shannon went heavily on the military and I went the science route due to having Babylon B as my city.
Our last game of the night was a venture into Wrath of Ashardalon. While game play is similar to Castle Ravenloft, the monsters, challenges and some features are unique. Luckily the differences were so easily grasped that Rob and I being the only ones to have played both systems, still didn't need to explain much of anything. I believe Shannon may have been the only newcomer to the Wizards of the Coast D&D based game series.
With a full crew, we ventured into the subterranean lair of some evil Kobold dude (whose name I clearly cannot recall). As is often the case, we had barely stepped into the dungeon when things began to fall apart. Homer the Paladin and Beth the Fighter quickly went one way battling hordes while my Wizard, Shannon's Cleric and Rob's Rogue went the other. Before too long a cave in had reduced travel to a crawl on the north end of the dungeon while monsters streamed out in poison dealing masses to afflict Homer with curses and poison. The Blood-Raging Cleric continued to take damage owing to his inability to actually reach any monsters in time.
The environment cards are the biggest advantage the game has over the players (beyond always getting to attack first). As soon as the lava walls appeared, the Wizard was doomed. A curse would cause him to take damage for every tile he moved through while standing by a wall caused a single point. Standing still triggered yet another encounter that caused something to explode and the Wizard to tumble into a heap. Meanwhile the blood rage started to drain the Cleric of vitality, in spite of his starting with a Tome of Experience.
Over on the other side of the map, a giant boulder slammed into the Paladin and Fighter who, between them, seemed to be in a perpetual state of cursed, dazed and/or poisoned. When we finally came back together on the south side of the map, things continued to sour. The Legion Devils made their first (and second) appearance while Duergar and Kobold sentries opened more tiles and brought in more monsters. Oddly enough, we had only TWO tiles remaining when the trigger tile was finally pulled. This is a testament to the tile summoning monsters drawing everything from the bottom.
It was an error we caught late but we realized that we had not been activating like-named monsters as often as we should have. Given the difficulties we'd experienced to that point, it was probably for the best even though it did somewhat tarnish the end game. Knowing that he wasn't long for this world, the Paladin rushed ahead hoping to bring out the final encounter. It worked though it brought along a host of new monsters to go with it. Then with the Paladin down we used our last Healing Surge.
With hordes surrounding him and three of five party members in the eastern end of the dungeon, we had to orchestrate a complex and somewhat insane plan to somehow kill the Kobold Dude before the Paladin's turn came about again (for he had been swamped and died once more). As the Rogue and Wizard rushed to help the Paladin, the Fighter and Cleric orchestrated a careful fighting withdrawal from the Devil infested eastern caverns.
The Rogue and Fighter delivered some punishment to the Kobold Dude even as he slashed his way through our ranks leaving him down to 2 HPs with only the Wizard standing in the way of victory. Wielding an impressive arsenal of magic weapons (which, quite frankly could have better served someone else), the Wizard hypnotized the Orc Archer into attacking his commander allowing the coup de grace to be delivered via Flaming Sphere. The Kobold Dude fell to the ground as the Wizard's flaming balls tea-bagged him to death. Huzzah!
We made some mistakes on our first play-through, mistakes we noted and vowed to not repeat. Luckily we managed to avoid the problems this time. Everyone earned the carriages in the right order and we negated points for having leftover bird houses errr, post offices. Beth seemed to have a pretty solid system in place from the get-go. Her houses popped up throughout the region in no time and her routes quickly earned her reams of bonus points. Homer went to big-route way and amassed a tidy sum of bonus chits himself.
Being his first time through, Shannon seemed a little lost leading to the dissolution of a promising 4 city route early in the game. While it didn't help his fortunes, it seemed to be the turning point at which he began to understand the subtle nuances of the game. I plugged away trying to fill up the big honking grey area and actually managed to trigger end game with my #7 carriage. Homer and I tied at 23 points apiece while Shannon had a dismal showing at only 4 points. The leftovers really damaged his score on his first time through. Beth won the game with an impressive score of 26, even without the #7 carriage in her possession.
Our next game involved breaking out 7 Wonders. The appeal is the game's ability to support a large number of players coupled with a relatively quick game play assuming everyone has played it before. This turned out to be a fairly tight match despite four wildly different strategies. Homer presented a surprisingly balanced point spread ranking 1st or 2nd in every category to score a 54 point win. Beth followed close behind mainly on the strength of her blue bonus points to finish with 47 points. Shannon and I ended up tied at 44 points each as Shannon went heavily on the military and I went the science route due to having Babylon B as my city.
Our last game of the night was a venture into Wrath of Ashardalon. While game play is similar to Castle Ravenloft, the monsters, challenges and some features are unique. Luckily the differences were so easily grasped that Rob and I being the only ones to have played both systems, still didn't need to explain much of anything. I believe Shannon may have been the only newcomer to the Wizards of the Coast D&D based game series.
With a full crew, we ventured into the subterranean lair of some evil Kobold dude (whose name I clearly cannot recall). As is often the case, we had barely stepped into the dungeon when things began to fall apart. Homer the Paladin and Beth the Fighter quickly went one way battling hordes while my Wizard, Shannon's Cleric and Rob's Rogue went the other. Before too long a cave in had reduced travel to a crawl on the north end of the dungeon while monsters streamed out in poison dealing masses to afflict Homer with curses and poison. The Blood-Raging Cleric continued to take damage owing to his inability to actually reach any monsters in time.
The environment cards are the biggest advantage the game has over the players (beyond always getting to attack first). As soon as the lava walls appeared, the Wizard was doomed. A curse would cause him to take damage for every tile he moved through while standing by a wall caused a single point. Standing still triggered yet another encounter that caused something to explode and the Wizard to tumble into a heap. Meanwhile the blood rage started to drain the Cleric of vitality, in spite of his starting with a Tome of Experience.
Over on the other side of the map, a giant boulder slammed into the Paladin and Fighter who, between them, seemed to be in a perpetual state of cursed, dazed and/or poisoned. When we finally came back together on the south side of the map, things continued to sour. The Legion Devils made their first (and second) appearance while Duergar and Kobold sentries opened more tiles and brought in more monsters. Oddly enough, we had only TWO tiles remaining when the trigger tile was finally pulled. This is a testament to the tile summoning monsters drawing everything from the bottom.
It was an error we caught late but we realized that we had not been activating like-named monsters as often as we should have. Given the difficulties we'd experienced to that point, it was probably for the best even though it did somewhat tarnish the end game. Knowing that he wasn't long for this world, the Paladin rushed ahead hoping to bring out the final encounter. It worked though it brought along a host of new monsters to go with it. Then with the Paladin down we used our last Healing Surge.
With hordes surrounding him and three of five party members in the eastern end of the dungeon, we had to orchestrate a complex and somewhat insane plan to somehow kill the Kobold Dude before the Paladin's turn came about again (for he had been swamped and died once more). As the Rogue and Wizard rushed to help the Paladin, the Fighter and Cleric orchestrated a careful fighting withdrawal from the Devil infested eastern caverns.
The Rogue and Fighter delivered some punishment to the Kobold Dude even as he slashed his way through our ranks leaving him down to 2 HPs with only the Wizard standing in the way of victory. Wielding an impressive arsenal of magic weapons (which, quite frankly could have better served someone else), the Wizard hypnotized the Orc Archer into attacking his commander allowing the coup de grace to be delivered via Flaming Sphere. The Kobold Dude fell to the ground as the Wizard's flaming balls tea-bagged him to death. Huzzah!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Ambush!
The dealings of the besieged House Drake continued as the band moved into the hinterlands, hoping to turn aside the Buckwell incursion at Amrath. With Ella taking a leading role, in part to keep her away from treachery at Castle Drake, but, more importantly to show face along the troubled border, the band made its way north. Garth leading his irregulars and Torrhen the untested cavalry, the band was not long in coming into trouble.
Amonmg the rugged hills of the northlands, the band encountered a suspect deadfall. Suspecting the blockage might be an ambush, Garth's scouts forged ahead to secure the area while Torrhen's troopers worked to remove the tree. Though no ambush proved forthcoming, evidence gathered at the scene pointed to a deliberate effort to stall the House Drake forces in their drive northward.
Not far off Torrhen's forces encountered a band of House Hayford knights as well as a group of poachers. The bold knight led his men into a savage charge that quickly obliterated the Hayford troops. Their presence, so deep in Drake territory, boded ill. After seizing a prisoner, slaying another, and securing the goods from the Hayford troops, the band headed north once again.
The most troubling part of the episode was that Hayford, the house to whom Celia and Anders are blood relatives, should suddenly appear at a time when Anders' and Celia's loyalties remain in doubt. Their possession of a sizable cache of gold also hints at treachery in the offing. Not only is Buckwell threatening the lands, but, evidently, Hayford may also have a hand in this business. Fortunately some of the crack irregulars were able to take down messenger ravens further revealing the role of Hayford in the debacle.
Sensing that the road ahead would be either patrolled or prepared in ambush, Maester Gyles proposed cutting cross country to reach Amrath from the east instead of along the northern road. With Gyles uncanny sense of direction, aided at times by Garth's woodlore, the band managed to circumvent trouble and arrive in town in a steady, pouring rain. Seeking the town's holdfast, the band entered only to learn that marauders had been plaguing the town for some time. the news troubled Ella as no word of repeated incursions had ever reached her ears, despite serving as acting head of the household.
The suspicious guard Jervis was found strung up in the village, the lone survivor of the latest raid against the town. His survival did not last long, however, as the villagers hung him for his bold treason. His presence, however, coupled with the close ties the young man bore to Anders, only confirmed that something ill was afoot. While Torrhen angered the villagers by seizing Jervis' horse, a fine specimen taken from Drake's own stables, Garth placated the townspeople by granting them the wolf pelts recovered from the Hayford poachers.
As Ella and Maester Gyles continued to probe the villagers for more information, Torrhen led the bulk of his cavalry south along the main road, hoping to catch the ambushers from behind. At the same time Garth and some of his irregulars finally located the missing Drake kinsman, the bastard Warrick, hiding in the ruins of the town's lone guard tower. As the day wound to a close, Torrhen's troops suddenly found themselves under attack....
Amonmg the rugged hills of the northlands, the band encountered a suspect deadfall. Suspecting the blockage might be an ambush, Garth's scouts forged ahead to secure the area while Torrhen's troopers worked to remove the tree. Though no ambush proved forthcoming, evidence gathered at the scene pointed to a deliberate effort to stall the House Drake forces in their drive northward.
Not far off Torrhen's forces encountered a band of House Hayford knights as well as a group of poachers. The bold knight led his men into a savage charge that quickly obliterated the Hayford troops. Their presence, so deep in Drake territory, boded ill. After seizing a prisoner, slaying another, and securing the goods from the Hayford troops, the band headed north once again.
The most troubling part of the episode was that Hayford, the house to whom Celia and Anders are blood relatives, should suddenly appear at a time when Anders' and Celia's loyalties remain in doubt. Their possession of a sizable cache of gold also hints at treachery in the offing. Not only is Buckwell threatening the lands, but, evidently, Hayford may also have a hand in this business. Fortunately some of the crack irregulars were able to take down messenger ravens further revealing the role of Hayford in the debacle.
Sensing that the road ahead would be either patrolled or prepared in ambush, Maester Gyles proposed cutting cross country to reach Amrath from the east instead of along the northern road. With Gyles uncanny sense of direction, aided at times by Garth's woodlore, the band managed to circumvent trouble and arrive in town in a steady, pouring rain. Seeking the town's holdfast, the band entered only to learn that marauders had been plaguing the town for some time. the news troubled Ella as no word of repeated incursions had ever reached her ears, despite serving as acting head of the household.
The suspicious guard Jervis was found strung up in the village, the lone survivor of the latest raid against the town. His survival did not last long, however, as the villagers hung him for his bold treason. His presence, however, coupled with the close ties the young man bore to Anders, only confirmed that something ill was afoot. While Torrhen angered the villagers by seizing Jervis' horse, a fine specimen taken from Drake's own stables, Garth placated the townspeople by granting them the wolf pelts recovered from the Hayford poachers.
As Ella and Maester Gyles continued to probe the villagers for more information, Torrhen led the bulk of his cavalry south along the main road, hoping to catch the ambushers from behind. At the same time Garth and some of his irregulars finally located the missing Drake kinsman, the bastard Warrick, hiding in the ruins of the town's lone guard tower. As the day wound to a close, Torrhen's troops suddenly found themselves under attack....
From the depths
The heroes have continued their investigations into the disappearance of House Lyrandar's Siren's Song. With the loss of the airship, one destined to resupply an archaeological expedition on the northeast coast of Xendrik, Lyrandar's officials are concerned about what manner of forces could take down one of their prized airships.
Following leads cultivated from the destruction of the Wharf Rats waterfront gang, the party proceed north along the coast to the fishing hamlet of Gull Rock. After securing transportation from a riverside vendor, not the least of which was a prized riding ratite Xerxes, the group headed out along the tidal causeway to the remote village. Once there they assumed the guise of messengers of the late, but unlamented, henrich and learned that the treasures from the Siren's Song came from a group of sahuagin marauders located among the channel islands.
Their attempts to meet with the sahuagin leader Zilzbek resulted in a battle along the waterfront that left Zilzbek's two lieutenants dead and Zizlbek begging for mercy. Only after providing the band with the information they sought was the sahuagin leader permitted to flee back into the watery depths. Armed with this new information, the party returned to the Bad Penny, there to meet their contact the gnome scoundrel Rumley. Rumley promised the band that he could secure passage to the islands on behalf of his employers. deciding that they would be likelier to encounter the marauders aboard a merchantman, they opted to follow that route instead of securing a smaller, faster, packet ship.
As the session wound down, the band prepared for an oceanic voyage, hoping to discover the mysterious giantish device Zilzbek asserted was behind the downing of the airship.
Following leads cultivated from the destruction of the Wharf Rats waterfront gang, the party proceed north along the coast to the fishing hamlet of Gull Rock. After securing transportation from a riverside vendor, not the least of which was a prized riding ratite Xerxes, the group headed out along the tidal causeway to the remote village. Once there they assumed the guise of messengers of the late, but unlamented, henrich and learned that the treasures from the Siren's Song came from a group of sahuagin marauders located among the channel islands.
Their attempts to meet with the sahuagin leader Zilzbek resulted in a battle along the waterfront that left Zilzbek's two lieutenants dead and Zizlbek begging for mercy. Only after providing the band with the information they sought was the sahuagin leader permitted to flee back into the watery depths. Armed with this new information, the party returned to the Bad Penny, there to meet their contact the gnome scoundrel Rumley. Rumley promised the band that he could secure passage to the islands on behalf of his employers. deciding that they would be likelier to encounter the marauders aboard a merchantman, they opted to follow that route instead of securing a smaller, faster, packet ship.
As the session wound down, the band prepared for an oceanic voyage, hoping to discover the mysterious giantish device Zilzbek asserted was behind the downing of the airship.
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