Thomas Diendorf
United States
Apple Valley
California
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Decided to get into it again. Wanted to work my way back up to using a magic character, so I started with someone basic, The Berserker. The best way to get back into the game is to play it over a two month period (instead of one) to get the most experience out of it and learn quickly the strategy for a single character. Set my VP to 1 Great Treasures, 3 Fame, 4 Notoriety, 1 Gold (I'm hoping 9 points is right, 5 points for first month, 1 point per additional week).
Decided to use the optional rules Watchful Natives, Extended Treachery, Grudges and Gratitude, Extended Grudges and Gratitude, Benevolent Spells (won't need it for my character, but I prefer this rule), and Commerce.
I start at the Inn, ready to begin. My first activity for the day is Trade, to see what the Rogues have to offer. I find that they sell a Dragon Essence, and a Shield Lantern. Didn't want any of those, so moved on to Hiring. I try to hire Rogue VI, but get a  max roll. Try again and get the same result, so decided to spend the 5 gold to get him. Did another HR on my last phase, and got a good deal to only pay 2 gold for Rogue V. Had a good starting party with 2 Rogues and 4 gold, and was ready to set out for adventure the next morning.
Then Sunset came, along with the Company. My Meeting with them caused Trouble, and then a Block/Battle. Well that was just frikkin great. What strategy could I possibly come up with to survive this battle?
Well, I couldn't run from them, so I decided to have my two Rogues lure the Company Captain and Company I. I placed my H4** Move chit on Duck (with my helmet) and my H5 attack in Smash. Wanted to eliminate the guys with the fastest attack speeds so that I could run away the next round, hopefully. So I targeted the Company V (Great Swordsman), but was stupid enough in the heat of the moment to not be intelligent about where I position the denizens on my battle sheet. I should've placed Company V alone while positioning the other four together (2 each per space), but I didn't. I placed a Pikeman with V. My 2 Rogue hirelings managed to do away with the Company Captain and Company I, but I couldn't do a thing after repositioning. Was hoping to take the hit from the Great Swordsman and counter after my shield was destroyed, but should've realized it wouldn't have matter. After repositioning, The Great Swordsman and Pikeman were aligned with me. When I went back to the rules to see how combat would go, I realized that I forgot that weapon length determines who attacks first on the first round of combat, weapon speed every other round. So, I was screwed. My two Rogues killed their targets, the Pikeman destroyed my helmet, and the Great Swordsman chopped my head off. So much for a 2 month adventure.
Aside from hiding, was there any way to do better at this? To survive this sort of combat situation?
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gexthegecko wrote:
Aside from hiding, was there any way to do better at this? To survive this sort of combat situation?
You're almost certainly dead in this situation.....a risk of not hiding at the Inn with the Company or even the Patrol potentially wandering in thirsty and looking for trouble.....but there's a slim chance of survival if you maximise your play.
If you're going to risk a day not hiding at the Inn, it would be worth recording an Alert phase.....if the monster roll is a 1 or 3, you can go Berserk, which will increase your chances of survival significantly if the Meeting roll goes bad. Little wasteage here because the Berserker can alert his axe if the monster roll is safe and his bonus Rest will mean there's negligible hassle in recovering from premature berserking if the Meeting roll is favourable.
With four of the seven Company stopping him running, it's unlikely he's going to be able to leg it.....you're playing to the death here. As you discovered, the Company are brutal in the first round withe their long weapon lengths.....second round is when you and the Rogues become more effective (particularly Rogues 5, 6 and 7).
You have to imagine the glass half full, play with the best odds, and hope it comes off.
I'd ignore C1 and C6 who have low odds of killing you first round (although C6 can pull off a kill any time with a tactics change and lucky missile table roll). All the Company are armoured so your rogues need to fight on their M3 attack side. One Rogue has to Lure CHQ because the M3* attack will kill you....if CHQ doesn't change tactics both will undercut but the rogue's weapon length will hit first in this first combat round. If CHQ flips and doesn't intercept, your rogue is dead. Another should Lure a Pikeman.....a definite chance he'll die on an interception or Pikeman tactics change but the odds are a bit better he won't be hit and will get the kill.
You're facing a great swordsman, two pikemen, a short swordsman and a crossbowman. You're going to be intercepted by someone. I would place all the dangerous opponents in one box and the least dangerous alone in the remaining two boxes....this is a good principle in fighting alone against any large group, such as the Captain vs goblins. Here the pikemen and great swordsman are your killers so I would group them together in one box, banking on the 2/3 chance they won't intercept (you're dead if they do, of course). Place the two who have low odds of killing you, C1 and C6, each in their own box. Move H4** in the Duck behind your helmet, H5 attack on the great swordsman.....if he and the pikemen don't intercept you, and he doesn't change tactics, you'll kill him. You may or may not lose your helmet and take a wound from C1 or C6 intercepting.
So the best outcome for second round is that CHQ, C5 and a pikeman are dead and your rogues have survived. Second round both rogues are guaranteed pikemen killers so should lure them. You're left with a short swordsman and crossbowman, with or without your helmet. Hope for a lucky interception and bad rolls on their part and if you survive to round 3 you can run or finish them off with the rogues.
A lot of chance here but it's possible.
Brent.
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George Haberberger
United States
Rochester
New York
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Yeah, the Berserker and a handful of rogues will lose to the Company. It's worth going negative on fame/notoriety if you can just to survive, or hiding during the turn.
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Thomas Diendorf
United States
Apple Valley
California
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GeorgeHa wrote: Yeah, the Berserker and a handful of rogues will lose to the Company. It's worth going negative on fame/notoriety if you can just to survive, or hiding during the turn.
Guess I also should've mentioned I play with that one rule on Realmspeak where you can't voluntarily make your fame/notoriety go negative in situations like that. Figure it fits more thematically that way, you're not famous or notorious enough to be feared or worth hiring (Campaigns).
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