Hey everyone,
We played our first session with the released Woodland yesterday. Here is a rundown of the expansion features with some highlights on the individual characters.
A Customizable Difficulty
Unlike The Dungeon , which is difficult with good treasures, and The Highland , which is easier with weaker relics, The Woodland is as hard as you want it to be. Before you step into The Woodland, you have to choose your path out of three available. If you choose an easy path, then your trip through The Woodland will be easier, but your destiny will be challenging. The opposite is often true.
The key is that you are not forced to reach the end. You may choose an easy path, spend some time in The Woodland, and leave. Or, you may choose whatever available path will allow you to reach the end. Because the available paths change, your time to enter The Woodland could come at any point in the game.
As an example, a character like the Troll, despite his high Strength, might avoid the Dungeon because of the abundance of Craft enemies. He might normally feel the same about The Woodland. However, if the Mage's Path is available, he might take it. The Path will add 2 to his Craft, but force him into a battle against a creature with a Strength equal to twice his Craft. This option is attractive to the Troll: a Craft boost through the Woodland and a manageable end fight of Strength 6.
However, if the Wizard takes that path, he might be an unstoppable psychic combatant (Craft 5+2) in the Woodland, but fighting a Strength 14 creature at the end would be unwinnable! So he may take that path simply to grind in the Woodland spaces near the entrance.
(...or prevent someone like the Troll from taking it!)
Destinies
Destinies are the ultimate prize of The Woodland. There are 14 Destinies: 7 light and 7 dark. Each Destiny gives you the following.
- +1 to your fate value.
- +1 to your Strength, Craft, or life value.
- A new way to replenish fate.
- A use for your fate other than to reroll dice.
For example, The Enlightened Destiny increases your Craft and fate value by 1. It allows you to replenish 1 light fate each time someone casts a spell. Finally it lets you pay 1 fate to draw a spell, even if you are at limit (you discard down after drawing).
The game does not distinguish between light and dark Destinies, as all are shuffled into a single pile. However, light destinies will replenish your light fate and the alternative use for fate will help your character. Dark destinies will replenish dark fate and alternative fate uses will hinder opponents.
Unlike Dungeon Treasures and Highland Relics, Destinies cannot be stolen or ditched (although some cards force you to discard them) and they stay with your character after death. To maximize their utility, you must accumulate fate and be willing to use it! If this sounds like you, then you may prefer a Destiny instead of an object from the other Regions.
Highlights from the Session
Expansions: Only the Woodland! Four players.
Characters: We shuffled all 19 characters and drew the Thief, Ancient Oak, Totem Warrior, and Wizard.
Ending: We played revealed with no other side boards, so our only option was War of Seasons.
Thief: The Thief stole things from the Village before even attempting the Woodland, but once the Wizard found the Stone of Lia Fal, he couldn't resist. The stone is a magic object found in the Woodland that is attached to a Destiny. The Thief decided to chase after the Wizard into The Woodland. The Thief chose a path which prevented spells from affecting him (including those from a vengeful Wizard), and eventually took that stone and its Destiny to boot. He then left the Woodland via the Forest and discarded his path.
Ancient Oak: The Oak has a difficult early game because his base stats (S3/C2) are not that high, and he must choose how to flip his growth token before his turn. He decided to enter the Woodland early and choose the Mage's Path , which increased his Craft by 2. In the final space he would be forced into a battle with Strength twice his Craft. This was perfect for him because he could fight Strength or Craft enemies, and gain growth tokens instead of trophies. Then, when he neared the end, simply flip his growth tokens all to the Strength side. The battle would be only Strength 4 (twice his Craft value of 2), and his Strength would be 3 plus however many growth tokens he got.
Unfortunately, he was forced to discard this path quickly after encountering the Crossroads. He had no intention of going to the end of the Woodland with his new path as the destiny effect was too tough. He simply flipped his growth token to Strength and wandered around the Woodland with S4/C4 and left the Woodland after gaining some stats. He then left the Woodland and discarded his path.
See? You can choose your path, but not your destiny! You may only change your destiny by choosing a different path, which you may do at any time (by leaving the Region). Of course, a few effects force you onto a path...It is the entire theme of
The Woodland
expansion, worked beautifully into the path and destiny cards.
Totem Warrior: The Totem Warrior gets a spirit token each time he defeats an Enemy. They can add to his attack score, heal him, or give him a spell or fate. In this game, the Totem Warrior was too free with his use of tokens! He would never save them, always discarding them to gain a spell. Well, after a hit with pestilence, a giant, and a cave dragon, he wished he'd saved more tokens to heal his life! He died and was replaced by the Troll.
As a tip for the Totem Warrior, try stockpiling spirit tokens in the early game. You don't need to spend a token to increase your attack until after dice are rolled, so you can otherwise save them for extra lives. This strategy would have helped the Totem Warrior avoid death. Maybe you shouldn't use tokens become a spellslinger until you have gained stats and are less likely to need them for lives and fights. The Totem Warrior is my favorite character from The Woodland because of his simplicity yet versatility.
Troll: The Troll did not enter The Woodland out of fear for high Craft Enemies. No path was available that was enticing enough!
Wizard: The Wizard found the Runesword, and on his first turn into The Woodland also found the Stone of Lia Fal which gave him a Destiny. He got kicked out of The Woodland twice, but he felt ready to tackle the Path of the Seelie, which gives him 1 light fate per turn but forces him into a Strength 7 battle against Oberon at the end. Well against a strong Enemy he was forced to use the Psionic Blast spell he had been saving, but he was too far into the Woodland to want to retreat. He landed on the Dense Forest just before the last space.
So, prior to moving, he cast his spell (Mesmerism) and it was replaced with...another Psionic Blast! Unfortunately he already cast his maximum number of spells so he had to move away from the meeting with destiny, just for a turn. Lo and behold, he discovered a very interesting card... one that would change the entire goal of the game for all characters...
Hopefully you get your copies of The Woodland soon and all choose your unique paths through the Forest!
Edited by Artaterxes