Overlord Loop hole?

By Maralol, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Hello guys!

Me and my brother are playing campagin mode. I control 2 Hero's and he control's the OL.

We both know the rules pritty well but we started to noticed something that we didnt know how to react to so we just went with it.

Here is the problem:

Quest DEATH ON THE WING

My brother as the OverLord knocked down both of my heroes with only 2 minions left and keep't me knocked down the enitre Quest untill all the BOULDERS were in place. Remember he can always reinforce more minions.

This means he could pick up OL cards when knocking me down and pick up card the start of his turn. I dont need to recover but this would mean that the Overlord just pick up a card each of his starting round and put down a BOULDERS. This resulting in him having like 10-15 cards in his hand for the second encounter.....

And this happend a second time during Act 2

Quest BLOOD OF HEROES

As you know the Overlord start this round. He rushed me with his minions and knocked both of my heroes by the second round I think.

What he did was just to keep me knocked down all the time and didnt return the blood untill he had all the Overlord cards in his hand.

I mean if i just stay knocked down he will not end the quest untill he has full of cards in his hand. If i recover both of my heroes..I still dont have any actions left and he just zerg's me down again.

What happend was ...he had full cards in his hand and i started knocked down in the second encounter. Not much i can do...

Is this a legit way to play?

Sorry for my bad english and this is a good game just alot of question marks ;p

Thanks guys!

How you've been playing definitely seems "legit". It's important to realize that Descent (2nd edition) is a competitive game; it is not the job of the overlord to direct gameflow. He is competing against the heroes.

My recommendation is to play with four heroes. Even if you have less than 5 people playing, I always recommend the four hero game as it seems to be the most even. When four heroes are present, it is very hard for the overlord to knock out all heroes in one turn; with one or two heroes still conscious, you can revive your other heroes and get some actions in. This will result in less hero deaths in general, reducing the amount of cards that the overlord receives.

Hope you find this helpful.

How you've been playing definitely seems "legit". It's important to realize that Descent (2nd edition) is a competitive game; it is not the job of the overlord to direct gameflow. He is competing against the heroes.

My recommendation is to play with four heroes. Even if you have less than 5 people playing, I always recommend the four hero game as it seems to be the most even. When four heroes are present, it is very hard for the overlord to knock out all heroes in one turn; with one or two heroes still conscious, you can revive your other heroes and get some actions in. This will result in less hero deaths in general, reducing the amount of cards that the overlord receives.

Hope you find this helpful.

I concur with this answer. There isn't anything against the rules in what your brother was doing- he was exploiting the victory conditions to stall for time and gather OL cards. There is no way for the heroes to "forfeit" a quest or to otherwise force the OL to execute his victory conditions. On some level, utilizing this is just good OL strategy. However, when the heroes are outmatched (as is more often the case in a two-hero game) it can become rather frustrating and feel unsporting. However, it is perfectly legal.

Playing with more heroes almost always mitigates this tactic. It's very hard to consistently keep 4 heroes knocked out, and as long as there's one standing, he can revive 1 or 2 of the others.

That being said, when the heroes are winning, they can pull the same trick by keeping the monsters dead and searching all the treasure before finishing an encounter. The OL can't forfeit an encounter, either.

Edited by Zaltyre

Thanks guys for your answers. I understand the logic behind your answers, i just felt to OP but as you said: When playing 4 Heroes, they can just camp the minions and get all the treasures.

Me and my brother are playing against eachother and we are both pritty fair, we want good games so if someone does a misstake we help eachother to make the game as a good game as possible. This is the first time playing campaign.

We (maybe me more) thought it would be pritty 1 sided as Hero's would win this easy...oh boy was I wrong hahah.

But I will take your advice and play with 3 or 4 champions instead.

Thanks again!

Just to add one thing! You dont start knocked down in the second encounter, you get to do a standup action in between encounter one and two.

Just to add one thing! You dont start knocked down in the second encounter, you get to do a standup action in between encounter one and two.

Great point, Sixko, I missed that in his original post. He'll recover all fatigue, as well, since that disappears between encounters.

Definitely play with 4 players, the game will be much much much more enjoyable and balanced.

Yeah, as most said:

  • 4 Heroes: Easy Mode for heroes and more of a challenge for the Overlord
  • 3 Heroes: Normal Mode for heroes and Overlord
  • 2 Heroes: Hard Mode for heroes and easy mode for Overlord.

As most have recommended, always play with 4 heroes, if that get's to be to cumbersome for a 2-player game, I'd suggest playing a minimum of 3 heroes, this makes the game a bit easier for 1 player who is controlling the heroes but still gives a bit of a challenge for both sides.

No no no, 4 heroes is normal mode, 3 heroes is easy mode for heroes, 2 heroes is easy mode for overlord.

No no no, 4 heroes is normal mode, 3 heroes is easy mode for heroes, 2 heroes is easy mode for overlord.

^^This absolutely. No question.