Otherworld Skirmish- Burn Baby Burn, Part II

PART 2

TURN 7 

“a creaky unlocked door is easily opened revealing a medium size room off set on its right with two prison . An ominous tension hangs in the air,  as if an invisible weight was suspended overhead”

DUNGEONEERS 1 Fate  2 Activations

This turn is simply movement, opening the door is free action allowing the Barbarian and the Assassin to enter the room while the Wizard and Monk wait but the door. The Assassin reaches the Adventure Token here on his second action so he can’t search until next turn. 
The Defenders having no one on the board, pass, so the Turn ends.

TURN 8

INITIATIVE:  Dungeoneers  5 vs  Denizens 1 :  2 Fate Each

Dungeoneers are going first this turn, and luckily we have 2 Fate. I buy an activation so the now have 3. This allows the Assassin to go first , not burning the Barbarians turn first and using the Leader (1) ability to activate him.

ACTIVATION 1- The Assassin,  Action 1: he searchs the room as a special action ( drawing a card as we remove the Adventure token) And again it’s a Wandering Monster card.  I roll to see who it is and it’s the….

And it comes floating right over the wall!!!

EYE TYRANT!!

Action 2:  As the Eye Tyrant levitates into the room, The Assassin takes a hasty shot with his Crossbow. He needs a 3+  but the Tyrant is a Flyer (flyers are very powerful in OWS as you will see) so the shot is at -1, I'll  need a 4+ and roll a 4. On the wound roll its Str 4 vs Def 3 so I need a 3+ and I roll a”2”,  a miss.

ACTIVATION 2 – The Barbarian,   Action 1: He charges! 

Note: Flyers CANNOT be engaged in Melee, except my Barbarian has a Spear which has the Thrust ability which lets him attack flyers and get an extra die to do so, I he’ll get two dice to attack, and with onslaught I can reroll one of them.

First order of business is we do a opposed roll off for his Rage ability to see if he gets an extra attack.. Morale is 4 for both and the Tyrant wins, so no extra attack for Rage.  The Barbarian attacks once at -1 , and rolls 2 dice and they come up Snake Eyes! A pair of 1’s? what a way to start things off !  He does has “onslaught” so I get to reroll on die and roll  a 3,  just enough to hit!

I give up my second action to use his “great strength” ability this makes my Str 6 vs his Def 3 or a 2+ I roll a 3! , that’s a wound…but wait! The Tyrant has the Otherworldly ability  “Shield of Force” which negates any damage on a 5 or 6, I a roll a “6” so NO WOUND, ok this guy is going to be hard to kill.

ACTIVATION 3 – The Wizard Activates, Action 1:  he moves just a little to get a good line of sight and Action 2 : Casts  his Haste Spell on the Barbarian.  "Haste" if successfully cast will give him a Free Action “even if he’s already activated” 

I roll both my Magic dice, and roll a pair of 3’s for 6 plus his Intelligence of 5 for a total of 11, just enough as the spell needs a 10 to cast. 

The Barbarian attacks again, he rolls a 5 to hit, then a 5 to wound!, The Tyrant’s Shield of Force roll is a 2, even with his 2 fate I cannot stop it. The Eye Tyrant takes his first wound!.

ACTIVATION 4- via "Follower" The Monk, having no ranged attack, and having no way to engage flyers In Melee  is useless here, so I don’t even activate him,.

I do realize at this point thinking about the Monk, that the Web spell will Immobilize the Tyrant making it  no longer “flying” and the Monk can attack it, but first we need to get that Spell off which wont be easy as you will see.

TURN 8   DENIZENS 

EYE TYRANT ,  1 Activation 2 Fate

The Eye Tyrant has many abilities so I’m not sure where to start, I realize right away, things like Strike Fear and Tempest (Slow) are only good if you go First in a turn, going second you need to just blast away,

Action 1: I try an Arcane Bolt, (which is an generic magic missile that is an ability and not a spell) on the Barbarian as I have 2 fate and need to put him down if the Tyrant is going to have a chance. ,  I roll a 6 to hit, , …I roll another 6 to wound !, and then Barbarians save is 2, ouch

The Barbarian  takes his second wound  straight away and  now only has one hit left!

Action 2: 

The Tyrant casts “Pillar of Wrath” which is a Flame Strike, I like the fact that if you successfully cast it its coming down regardless if the to hit roll misses it scatters  and it’s a 3” Blast template  I can aim it anywhere within 12”  this fits nicely over both the Barbarian and the Assassin. He has 3 magic dice on his last activation I roll all three, it only needs a 10 ! I roll a 19, with his 6 Intelligence added. It’s cast, I roll the target roll and it’s a 6! Ooof.  This could be bad.

Both The Barbarians and the Assassin take Str 4 hits but the Barbarian’s Def is 5 so I need a 5, I roll a 3! , nope but I have 2 Fate so I burn both making it a 5! Hit…the Barbarian has a 5+ save, I roll and roll a “5” he lives!...Lucky

The Assassin is much easier to wound at Def 3 He is easily hit, he has the Concealing Cloak ability that does nothing for him here, He also has Dodge, I see that Pillar of Wrath flaming attack is treated as a “weapon” so that means he can try to Dodge it. He needs a 4+. And I roll another “5”  Lucky day for these two..they both survive the direct hit.

 The Battle Continues 

TURN 9

INITIATIVE  Dungeoneers 6 vs Denizens 5 

DUNGEONEERS 2 Activations, 1 Fate

ACTIVATION 1- The Barbarian.

Action 1, Attacks with Spear, rolling two dice thanks to “thrust” ability against this flying menace. I roll a 2 and 4, good enough for a hit.  To wound I again sacrifice his second action, to use “great strength” so I need a 2+ to Wound, I roll a “3” and wound, The Tyrant uses his “Shield of Force” but again rolls a “2” and takes it’s second wound!.

ACTIVATION 2- The Wizard.  Realizing the Wizards web spell is the key to taking this thing down  we give that a try:

Action 1,  Wizard cast the the spell “Mystic Web” I roll a 6 and 1 for 7 plus the Wizard INT of 5 = 12!! Just enough to get the spell off, Unfortunately since I rolled a “1” on a casting dice this has two negative effects:

1-      Any caster upon rolling a “1” during the casting attempt exerts himself too much and is finished activating for the turn, drained

2-      Any “1” roll during the casting attempt, triggers the Eye Tyrants “All in the Eye” Special Ability automatically negating the spell (anti magic eye)

Pffffffff.

ACTIVATION 3   The Assassin , via Leader (1) takes an Aimed crossbow shot, hoping to get lucky His shot is a  base 3+ ,  adjusted for Aimed = 2+ ,  adjusted again for "Flyer" back to 3+ 

I roll a “1” , 

ACTIVATION 4 – The Monk,  via Follower.   Can’t do anything to injure the Eye Tyrant so I just move him away from the others knowing the Tyrant is going to blast them again next turn.

TURN 9   DENIZENS 

EYE TYRANT ,  1 Activation 

Action 1:   Casts Pillar of Wrath using all  3 Magic Dice again,  because his other two spells are only useful if he goes first in a turn.   Again the spell is easily cast  with a 4,2 and 6 + 6 INT for an 18.

Again the Barbarian and Assassin are Target and the spell is on target with a roll of “4” however both rolls to wound are terrible with a “3” and “1” and with no Fate to help out they both again avoid flaming death!.

Action 2:  Its clear to me against our heroes outnumbered 4 to 1, the Eye Tyrant is at  serious disadvantage, we need some other minions in the fray in order give it some flexibility and tie up the Barbarian, because If the Wizard just uses Haste again,  we will surely lose its last his sooner than later.

With that- I decide since the Tyrant is on it's home turf, it knows all sorts of ways while flying to navigate around this Dungeon (only makes sense) so I have him fly over the wall out of LoS of the its opponents., Since its not physically in combat with Barbarian as its “Flying” we don’t risk an Agility test and potential free strike for leaving combat. So the Tyrant simply floats out of the room, to stay on the board and engage them later when we get something else on the board.

That ends this  combat for the time being.

The Eye Tyrants got many tricks up it sleeve.

 TURNS 10, 11, 12, and 13

The next 4 turns all involve me moving about the Dungeon toward Adventure tokens, I manage to uncover three more during the 4 turns all the While I am moving the Eye Tyrant on its Turns into a position where if another member of the Denizens faction is revealed, the Eye Tyrant can float in an join the battle, The Adventure Deck, however has other plans

The Next three card turned are:

Strongbox 1VP to the Dungeoneers

The “Power Gamer” card  which is boon to the Defender giving them a “3D6 choose the best die” Bonus on any attack, statistic or morale test.

The “Saving Throw” card another boon to the Defenders where the next successful melee attack is an auto miss, the only catch is you have to declare it in advance.This leaves only two Adventure tokens left

TURN 14

INITIATIVE   6 vs 6 !  No Fate

Since it’s a tie and the last round went to the Dungeoneers, this time its to the Denizens, so the Eye Tyrant goes first. At the end of turn 13, on the Assassins second action, I had him open the door leading to the hallway, this was not particularly wise seeing how the Initiative went .

I was hesitant to engage them as I really want the Troll on the board, but I just cant resist the juicy target I am seeing.

TURN 14  DENIZENS 

EYE TYRANT, 1 Activation , 0 Fate

Action 1:  I have the Eye Tyrant move a couple inches into line of sight of the group and well within spell range

Action 2:  Casting Pillar of Wrath I can target all 4 of them with one flame strike and I successfully cast it using all three magic dice again. To make sure I hit them , I use the “power gamer” card to roll 3 dice and pick the best one I roll a 1,4,and 6 , considering the "1" there I am glad I did. 

Rolling wounds against all them, again the Barbarian and Assassin avoid injury, they just seem totally flame proof  BUT the Wizard and Monk are not so lucky and both take wounds, (the Wizards Shield of Force roll failing with a “2”) 

Not the ideal outcome the Tyrant was hoping for , I now have to hope he can survive this next round and potentially escape again!.

The lure of this potentially being devastating to the Dungeoneer was to great, in the end it was a poor choice

TURN 14

DUNGEONEERS, 2 Activations, 0 Fate

ACTIVATION 1 The Barbarian  Action 1:  He has take a move action 1st in order to get line of sight Action 2:  He Charges!! Once again we try to make the “Rage” roll to see if he get the extra attac and .He fails it again!- I guess he’s just not that mad?

Since I am only getting one attack at -1,  I now uses the Tyrant’s “saving throw” card to declare this attack a miss, so it doesn’t matter what I do, I avoided the most likely cause of the Eye Tyrant untimely demise.

ACTIVATION 2- The Wizard. As tempted as I am to “Hasten” the Barbarian again , his one attack, against the possibility that IF I can get the Web spell off, I can get the Assassin and the Monk into melee for alot more chances  seems like the pragmatic thing to do. I decide to have him try to cast "Mystic Web" again , and again its successfully cast! but this time the Tyrant’s magic resistance nips it in the bud, I should have cast haste , Its just way to hard to cast spells against the Eye Tyrant (as it should be)

Casting Spells against the Eye Tyrant is just a lost cause.

ACTIVATION 3- The Monk, via Follower.  I again just move the Monk out of the way and potentially somewhere useful for the next turn.

ACTIVATION 4-  The Assassin, via Leader (1)  Getting down to eye level I see the Assassin has clear, unobstructed shot at the Tyrant (right in its mouth)  I go for the aimed crossbow shot.

I roll a 6 to hit! Then a "4"  to wound….Potentially a lethal blow , 

and the Tyrants , Shield of Force roll is a

It loses it last hit and is incapacitated.

And the Eye Tyrant goes down to an unceremonious crossbow bolt.

I was hoping for something a bit more epic, going to down to crossbow bolt was sort of anti climatic.

END PHASE – I remove the Eye Tyrant from the field.

Note:  In the end , I think The Tyrant as spec’d is a pretty tough monster , especially if not alone in the Skirmish, but at 100 points , more than any other creature in the rule book, except Dragons, I was left wanting more, I feel I pushed it as hard as I could as a solo creature, the spell selection just isn’t that great, other options were Sleep, which is great spell if you have a bunch of minions to swarm the prone victims, or summoning demons or animating undead but neither of those felt “true to form”.  I just didn’t get the right situation to get  Fear or Slow spells to be useful.

 I feel what it is lacking is both a third activation , or if we don’t want to open that door in the game, make it a free activation as an additional special ability, and then some sort of powerful beam attack of say strength 6 to mimic the infamous disintegration ray, then this thing would be the renown beast that terrorized millions of role playing gamers.

TURN 15

“ After defeating the horrifying Eye Tyrant, the wounded hunters continue the search for the missing artifact”

“It must here somewhere followed by a string of epithets from the Assassin as he kicks loose a crumbling section of wall”

(a strange living , writhing , Sound is heard ) “what’s that? The Wizard asks annoyingly, “Not good” the Monk flatly replies  . A long black line of large dung wreaking  dog sized rats ooze from the wall  quickly filling the room and hallway

( nothing happens here but the Adventure token is flipped , a wandering monster card revealed and the rats are rolled)

TURN 16

INITIATIVE 6 Denizens vs 1 Dungeoneers    3 Fate vs 2 Fate

DENIZENS  6 activations 3 Fate

Ok ,wow!  if I had just be able to wait it these rats really would have helped the Tyrant out, just by the activations, they are just rats but lets see what they can do, with mob leader 3 we will be able to use all that fate to increase die rolls.

I’ll spare you die rolls here, it was long fight with 12 rats, but needing 7’s to hit on the charge  and 6’s afterword, with 5+ at best to wound, even with the 3 fate they only managed to hit and wound twice and both times were dodged by the Assassin and Monk. 

The Dungeoneers killed 5 the first turn and 4 the next the last 3 scattering on a fail morale check during the end phase of turn 17

Thats alot of Rats!

TURN 18

INITIATIVE   Dungeoneers 5 vs Denizens 2  2 Fate vs 1 Fate

“Moving down the hall the dungeon walls turns to wet cavern stone, a sticky musty odor of rot hangs in the air, decaying bones and some filthy bedding indicate this is some large creatures lair”

DUNGEONEERS- 2 Activations, 2 Fate

I use the Fate to buy an Activation here so in case I uncover the Troll  The Barbarians isnt limited to go first in order for me to activate the Assassin. 

 I have the Assassin move over the last adventure token here and I draw a card and its “the Swing Log” a Trap card, The damn Troll has trapped his lair!  

The Swing Log is a Strength Test needing 7, the Assassin rolls a “2” is only Strength 3 so the 5 wont do it.. It’s a Strength 5 hit and easily hits on a 2+ and would have wounded him except “Dodge” saves him again with a 4+ save.

"Dodge" clearly a mandatory skill for lightly armored characters as long as their Agility is at least a 3

TURN 19, 20, 21

At this point I have cleared all 8 Adventure tokens , the Troll still remains in play and we have not recovered the Treasure card, I have the Dungeoneers make their way back toward the exit , the next 3 turns drawing a card each time.

I get the Golden Idol,  1 VP to Dungeoneers

Jewels, 2 VP to the Dungeoneers

A Spike Trap!! (which is disarmed by the Assassin, with a successful agility test)

Since we haven’t found the  "Treasure Chest"  card yet but have recovered more VP that its worth, and the Dungeoneers are close to the exit, I  decide I’ll call it day, I draw one more Card and its, of course, The Troll blocking their escape.

                          The Final Fight begins

TURN 22

INITIATIVE   Dungeoneers 4, Denizens 2,  1 Fate each

DUNGEONEERS, 2 Activations, 1 Fate

The Dungeoneers get very lucky here as the Troll did not get the jump on them.

ACTIVATION  1  The Barbarian.   Action 1: Charge!. Rage Roll again Morale of 4 vs 4 and I roll 4 vs 3 in Favor of the Barbarian

He finally get his extra attack, even with “thrust” I need use his Onslaught roll but hit both times, I need pass my test against Fearsome and I do,,with a 6.. to at a very good defense of 5, I need to roll 5’s roll a 4 and a 5 burning 1 fate to get the second wound, Normally this would kill it but this troll is upgraded so it has a third hit.

Action 2: I attack again Hit but do not wound!

ACTIVATION 2 The Assassin, via Leader (1).  Action 1: aimed shot,  3+, but increase to 2+ because its Large!...hit with a 6 but does not wound it with a 4!, ( need a 5)

ACTIVATION 3, The Wizard.  Action 1: Casts Haste on the Barbarian.. rolls 3, and 3 for a total of 11, a success!

Barbarian  attacks hits with a 4 and wounds with 6!  We put the troll down, its incapacitated.

The Troll get puts down, but with Regeneration, he can get right back up!

 ACTIVATION 4, via “follower” The Monk  Action 1: moves into a better position if the troll gets back up in the End Phase thru Regeneration

END PHASE

Before I remove the Troll, I roll 1d6 for each  on a 6 the hit comes back , I roll, 1,4,6, The Troll is back with one hit.

TURN 23

INITIATIVE   Dungeoneers 1, Denizens 4,  Fate 2 vs 1

TROLL - 1 activation , 2 Fate

Action 1, Attacks Barbarian,  hits with a 6 with a Rending attack, its Strength 5 its only needs a 4 + to wound the Barbarian , Rend is Brutal so I roll 2 dice and pick the highest, I roll a 5 and 1,

The Barbarian has a 5+ save and rolls a 1!!! He is down and incapacitated.

Last Stand of the Barbarian Chief,  He finally is killed in action.

Action 2:  Troll Charges the Monk!  Need a 5 on the charge to hit due to the -1, I roll a 3 but can use both fate to make it a hit. The Troll at Str 5 only needs a 2+ to wound the Monk and rolls a 5 but the Monk can Dodge on a 4+ and Does!.

DUNGEONEERS  2 Actions no Fate (used during Trolls turn)

ACTIVATION  1 – I need to Activate the Wizard First if  I want all three to be able to go

Action 1, Uses Arcane Bolt. The troll is large so it’s a 3+, he rolls a “1”

Action 2, Repeat Uses Arcane Bolt. The troll is large so it’s a 3+, he rolls a “1”

Sigh…

ACTIVATION 2 ,via Follower, The Monk

Action 1 Brawl attack Hits , cannot wound with 2

Action 2 Brawl attack hits, cannot wound with 3, needs 5

ACTIVATION  3- The Assassin,

Action 1:  Aimed Shot,  hits with a 6 and wounds with a 5!,  the crossbow is deadly again this day and the Troll falls..

took a couple rounds, but Regeneration is tough!!

END PHASE

I remove the Barbarian from play as he is dead.  As for the Troll, As far as I read it looks you roll for all a creatures lost hit when you check Regeneration which means it has a good chance of getting back up (and why fire is key against them) but I a roll a 2, 3 and a 5, and 3 Dungeoneers exit the Dungeon victorious, the 4^th dying in battle at the last moment so his comrades could exit.. To Valhalla!!

Final Thoughts

Compared to my first game at only 4 turns long, this game at 23 turns was pretty epic. That's completely due to placing all the Defenders as Wandering Monsters in the Adventure Deck.

 If I run something like this again I will make sure I get enough creatures on the board at once to make it a more even playing field. Should the Dungeoneers had facedany combination of two between the Spiders, Eye Tyrant and Troll, it would have been a very tough fight.  I thought the Characters performed well, The Barbarian was a total tank and damage sponge, The Assassins upgraded crossbow shot was absolutely ace, but lack of other range support really limited his chance to use his other abilities, The Wizard did ok, was very durable, but  just didn’t get the right opportunity to shine  

Note :On Wizards=the game. No question needs more spells!!! which shouldn’t be too tough as there is a zillion of them out there to rework!

The only let down was the Monk, it just wasn’t his element, he would have been a terror in my first game as hero against things like wolves and goblins, he tore right thru his Rats no problem but just didn’t have the luck against the tougher creatures.  On the Defender side, I’ve already commented on the Spiders and the Eye Tyrant, the Troll, upgraded was a very tough fight as you saw…If that monk had missed that Dodge roll and went down and the Troll had another turn, he easily could have killed them all.  As an “out of the box” minion 2 Trolls for 50 points is  very good addition to any Evil warband.

Next up, I running a single scenario on 2 x 2 board another Adventurers vs Monsters scenario called “BAIT!” I’ll let you guess who’s who there, it should not be more than single report, I’m going to run that one Faction vs Faction straight out of the book .hopefully I’ll get to this weekend, until then Thanks for reading!. 

Three make it out alive!