Square a

Gloomhaven: Square (A) – second attempt

David Skelector Actual Play, Boardgame, Fantasy, gloomhaven

We’re back in town, Exile is boring and uncomfortable.

This time we use the Power of Foreknowledge and actually have a *gasp* PLAN!

Scenario 11

Goal: Kill the Commander

Team: Cragheart (lvl 4), Elementalist (lvl 3), Mindthief (lvl 4), Spellweaver (lvl 4)

Difficulty: 2

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Here we go again!

First room, we all attack the Elite Archer and ignore the guards.

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The Mindthief’s stench is so FOUL that he’s the least likely to be attacked

The Mindthief’s psychic powers convince the Cragheart that he’s not, despite contrary evidence, a plodding rock-person, and he moves all the way to the next room. That obviously takes the garrison by surprise – its much more lightly-defended than in our previous attempt.

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Mindthief: “Fly Craggy, fly!”
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Guard: “What was that? Must’ve been the wind…”

I kill one normal archer with a well-placed (2x) manabolt. The Elementalist kills an Elite with a ranged attack of his.

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One round later and we’re all re-grouped at the fountain’s room (or is that the eponymous square?). I ride the wind and freeze nova 2 archers. Next is our only hassle of the scenario as the archers pick a 2 targets deck card, severely wounding both me and the Mindthief with their ranged attacks.

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Meanwhile the guards choose the safety of numbers against the remaining Living Bones.
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Notice the nice wall of stone. Creation of the Cragheart to further slow down our foes.
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Commander: “WTF! You again!? Guards, to me!”
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Guards: “Comin’ Boss” *move -1*
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That’s what we call CORNERED!
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DEATH by RATS! Gruesome…

Blissful Victory!

Sweet Revenge!

  • As much as we were far removed from success in our previous attempt, now it was truly a walk in the park (and not because of medium difficulty)
  • We used and abused a perfectly legal (but strange) game mechanic whereas enemies don’t appear if there is no more available minis
  • I was pretty useless with my SW apart from giving elements to the Elementalist from time to time
  • The Cragheart led the charge and implemented efficiently our plan
  • The Mindthief did really good damage against the Boss

Gloomhaven: Square (A) – first attempt

David Skelector Actual Play, Fantasy, gloomhaven

Re-reading the rulebook and checking the FAQs, we now know that we’ve messed up a whole bunch of rules. Among them is the difficulty level. It appears that contrary to what we’d thought, we’re not that good… So, for the time being, very hard is beyond our capacity, as the actual post will make clear..

Scenario 11

Goal: Kill the commander

Team: Cragheart (lvl 4), Elementalist (lvl 2), Mindthief (lvl 4), Spellweaver (lvl 4)

Difficulty: 3

Our short mercenary career have, somehow, led us to side with the merchants in an attempt to overthrow the military rulers of the city of Gloomhaven. That doesn’t sound that bad, does it? That’s until you learn that the leader of our faction is also a necromancer…

Our role is to kill the Commander of the Guard. He has many men at his disposal but we’re not alone on this risky endeavor, undead troops fight on our side! Cannon fodder, yay!

Things starts smoothly, two guards and an elite archer in the first room. One of our lousy Living Bones is killed, and then we wipe the floor with the guards.

Next room: some archers and half a dozen guards. There’s also 2 Living Corpses on our side but they’re immediately cut down by the archers’ arrows. The useless stinking wretches. But here comes the Cragheart, RUTHLESS, he crushes our foes under tons of rocks. Me and our new friend, the Elementalist, finish the survivors.

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The Mindthief, behind, gnawing at a friendly Living Bones

The Elementalist opens next door and… there’s a SHIT TON of folks over there.

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Elementalist: *Uh, guys… Is it too late to defect?”

We do see that the right side is weakly defended and maybe we could dash to the final room? But, oh no, that’s not what we do…

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Cragheart: “I SMASH YOU WITH FOUNTAIN!”
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Commander: “Who the fook are you?”

The Cragheart and Mindthief are exhausted, leaving a wounded Spellweaver and a raw recruit to face the Boss… That dude has 56 hp. We fight ’til the end. It’s mercifully quick in coming.

Bitter Defeat!

That’s a hard blow to our pride…

  • We’ve almost cleaned up the map but it cost us way too much.
  • Both the archers and guards had shield, we had a hard time doing real damage.
  • The Elementalist card “infuse an element/ – 1 to damage” doesn’t look like its worth it.
  • Opening the second door without killing the previous enemies would have meant a less crowded third room.
  • We could have jumped in the fountain, killing the archers while (mostly) protected from the guards.

See second (and succesful attempt) Here!