nathan bivins
Charlotte
North Carolina
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We started our first RtL campaign yesterday...the group has played 2-3 sessions of normal Descent, but we're all boardgamers so I think we're pretty savvy. We shall see. I'm doing this report from memory, so bare with me. Conquest gains are in [] for the OL and () for the party.
House Rules:
-Nanok has +1 armor instead of +2
-Feat hand size is 2/1/0 for copper/silver/gold.
-Treachery cards are picked from 2N+4 random eligible cards from the treachery deck, N=treachery points.
-No Tamalir raze can be attempted until 4 cities are razed
-Divine Power (SoB catch-up rule)
The game includes myself as the OL and Mike, John, and Josh as the players.
Players select:
Mike: Spiritspeaker Mok
John: Laughin Buldar
Josh: Kirga
Extra: Zyla
(Ouch, a great looking group. John had his pick between Nanok, Buldar, and another tank...great draws. I pay one more threat every turn, Buldar is a damage dealing beast, Kirga is one of the best ranged heros, and Zyla already makes me want to pull out my hair.)
Skills:
Mok - Boggs the Rat
Buldar - Tiger Tatoo
Kirga - Crack Shot
Zyla - Swift
(Great, Mok is even more of a pain as he prevents spawn (especially nasty coupled with Kirga, Buldar is more mobile, Kirga boosts her range, and Zyla is crazy fast.)
The players elect to buy no shop items.
I reveal three random Avatars and get the Great Wyrm, Demon Prince, and Spider Queen...and pick the Great Wyrm. I choose Obsidian Shackles, as it seems the easiest and the most appropriate for the Avatar...my reasoning is that I have no good LTs for the Wyrm, so I might as well use the shackles plot to "raze" cities.
I purchase siege engines with my free XP.
Week 1
Overlord gains conquest [+1]
Sir Alric Farrow moves towards Riverwatch.
The party shops in Tamalir buying the Elven Robe for Zyla. The loadout:
Mok - Blinding Rune, Tunic, Ghost Armor
Buldar - Axe, Morning Star, Chain Shirt
Kirga - Crossbow, Chain Shirt
Zyla - Dagger, Elven Robe, 1 fatigue potion
The party finds a rumor, X Marks the Spot, and places it.
Week 2
Overlord gains conquest [+1]
Sir Alric moves towards Riverwatch.
The party moves to Thelsvan Highway (making their way to the Rumor I assume, and countering my Lt movement) and has no encounter. They enter the first dungeon level and draw the Gauntlet. This level has -3 threat cost for traps, and 3 free OL cards to start, and features a master beastman leader who can play cat and mouse with the heroes. I chose the dark priests as minions and place them in the large room to protect the leader Grimfang.
The heros advance through the Gauntlet and make quick work of the hellhounds (breath couldn't get through the armor of kirga and buldar)and I spawn some kobolds. I figure with the command bonus, and swarm, these buggers might have a shot, and the extra -2 for traps makes for a nice stacking bonus. Zyla sprints all the way to the glyph (+3) and to the back of the dungeon towards the chest since she is oblivious to the kobolds and the beastman and starts attacking a kobold standing on the chest. I see an opportunity and pounce on the other three as they round the corner, and focus on Mok with the kobolds and priests. Eventually I take Mok down [+2], and Zyla is injured as well. Kirga takes a few blows but ultimately Buldar takes down Grimfang before he can run through one of the doors and hide. Mok shops in town with the newly acquired loot and buys an Axe for Zyla, shield for Kirga.
After Grimfang is gone (along with his command)(+2), the rest of the monsters are mopped up quickly, except for Zyla who takes about 4 turns to finally kill the master kobold guarding the chest. The chest yields the Skull Shield which Kirga takes[+1]. The party decides to advance deeper in the dungeon despite the OL having a lot of threat and full hand of cards.
Dungeon summary: OL - [+3] 5/5, Party - (+5), Skull Shield
The second dungeon drawn was the Gardens of Tarn that feature a long spiraling hallway ends with a master Giant leader named Lodall who inflicts sleep on successful attacks in addition to the normal stun, reach, and sweep. It also has some trap tiles. I pick the sorcerers and skeletons as minions, since I aim to stop Zyla from ruining this level for me.
The heros advance along the long corridor and I burn through quite a lot of threat to try to take down Kirga (who is cursed) with traps when she steps on the tiles. Unfortunately only 2 total damage is done. I play dark charm on Buldar and it's successful! Buldar however rolls his worst damage yet, scoring only 8 damage against Kirga. The skeletons snipe, doing little damage, and I hold my sorcerers in reserve and spawn a pair of blood apes to make use of the long hallways.
The party waits around the corner of the upper right hallway, and prepares to assault my forces while Zyla sprints ahead to claim the gold, glyph (+3), and treasure using a feat card. The chest contains no items (+1). I made the mistake of not covering these, thinking the party still too far away. With Zyla in the party, I cannot make this mistake again.
I do however kill Zyla with the sorcerers and skeletons [+1]. The rest of the group moves efficiently to deal with the blood apes before they can leap and dispatch the sorcers and skeletons taking little damage. A few more traps are played with no success on the rolls.
With only a few skeletons remaining and Lodall the giant poised behind the closed door, Buldar takes an advance action and uses a feat to attack twice, taking Lodall down to 5 health. The giant retaliates and hits for a few damage to Buldar and stuns and sleeps him. Mok moves up to hit Buldar (to wake him), and misses. Kirga kills the rest of the skeletons and Buldar wakes up, shakes off the stun, and in one blow kills Lodall(+2).
The group rests and then moves through the portal...leaving the OL again with decent threat and full hand as the decide to venture deeper in the dungeon since it is going so well.
Dungeon summary: OL - [+2] 7/7, Party - (+6) 11 total
I think the campaign started well. The second dungeon level was not very effective for me, but part of the problem was my traps being ineffective ( a few blanks and the ones that did hit were negated mostly). Kirga is cursed but difficult to bring down now with the high health, 3 armor, and Skull Shield protecting her from traps. Zyla is almost not worth killing, and Buldar is a tank that destroys anything in his path. Mok is pesky, and was stunning monsters left and right, but he remains my easiest target.
I made a few mistakes (not playing a power card, since I thought I'd make them flee), underestimating a swift, feat carded Zyla, etc.
Hopefully in the third level I can even the scales a bit....
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Bryce K. Nielsen
United States
Elk Ridge
Utah
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Don't be fearful of Kirga, I've got a Crobin in my campaign with 7 armor (when you count the Skull Shield) and his special -1 damage ability which means I need over 8 damage to do anything to him, and I routinely take him down. Having upgraded Dark Priests helps (they're murder with their Dark Prayer ability), Traps too (though his special ability tends to negate traps unless you have trapmaster out). Often times I'll hit him with a trap on his turn (Crushing Block) so he'll tap his shield, and then I'll maul him with a bunch of monsters (Copper Beastmen usually do the trick) that each do one or two damage and eventually whittle him down.
High Armor is difficult, but not impossible 
-shnar
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nathan bivins
Charlotte
North Carolina
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My problem, at least so far, with Kirga is that I can't spawn-attack her. 16 health, 3 armor, skull shield against traps, and anti-melee spawn special ability makes her a tough nut to crack.
I have to place my spawns far ahead in the dungeon when it starts, and I haven't turned over the spawn marker in either dungeon level...is this common?
I usually can beastman spawn and damage troublemakers, even tanks...but Kirga prevents this. Include Boggs guarding the rear, and I have to keep my monsters back waiting on the party to advance in both dungeon levels.
I've taken Kirga down to about 5-6 health in the game, but no deaths yet. Hopefully the next level is what I need.
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Alain Gottcheiner
Belgium
Brussels
Unspecified
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Obviously, you'll need to spawn something that's quick and deal damage from disatnce. Beastmen are the usual damage-dealers but perhaps not against this party.
Anyway that's a tough group indeed..
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nathan bivins
Charlotte
North Carolina
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Seems like Razorwings, Dark Priests, and Sorcerers might be my best bet for spawn-attacking since beastmen are out. Any other advice, suggestions?
Luckily, I think we got all the rules right...nothing tricky came up it seems. I've been reading the Geek for weeks in preparation for this campaign.
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Posted Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:56 pm
