I have some questions about the first encounter of Death on the Wing.

Can a spider that is on top of a boulder be attacked by heroes adjacent to that boulder? I assume the answer is yes, but I'd like to make sure. And how about ranged attacks? Also allowed I'm guessing.

Also if spiders are positioned behind the boulders like this..

------------

E S B E E

E S B H E

------------

(E = Empty space, S = Spider, B = Boulder, H = Hero)

.. the hero can't climb over the boulder using awareness right? He is not allowed to move to the empty space behind the spiders and his only option is for him, or another hero to smash the boulders, correct?

Third and last question. The rules state that the quest ends when all boulders, so objective tokens, are on the map. What happens when adding the Labyrinth of Ruin expansion to the campaign? This expansion contains extra objective tokens, if those get added this encounter will take twice as long, and it already took 2 hours or something.

Thanks!

Our playthrough:

We played this quest yesterday as our first Act I quest. This is only our second campaign we're playing after we quit the first one just before the interlude, because someone new joined our gaming group, so our turns might not have been spent in the most optimal way.

I was playing the Overlord (With just the basic deck, and the first plot card from Merick's deck, not that that one was used.) I placed a master Ettin on the Fire Pit

The heroes were Grisban as Berserker, Tomble as Thief and Shiver as Runemaster.

I managed to stall the heroes long enough in the Fire Pit with my Ettin (Used throw a few times to seperate Thomble for the rest so he couldn't add another heroes defense pool.

The game ended because all boulders were placed on the map. In the end the heroes almost made it, because I wen't a bit easier on them. But Grisban, being at full fatigue and only having 3 movement, didn't make it to the exit after removing a boulder on the last turn (before I placed the last boulder)

Took a lot longer than I was expecting from such a small map.

And the heroes won Encounter 2 of the quest, by the way.

Unless the quest says otherwise, I'd assume a hero climbing over a boulder could be placed in the nearest available empty space. You can't shoot through boulders, but you can shoot to boulders. It's been clarified that regardless of how many expansions you have, to just use the 10 tokens from the base game.

I have only played this scenario once. Regarding the boulders, my group ruled that as the 1st box only contained nine boulders, nine boulders were all that needed to be placed as we also had the expansion.

I think the FAQ/errata stated there should be ten tokens in the base box that are the limit of boulder supply. Maybe you are missing one?

Alright, I assumed the token thing was the case, we played it that way as well.

The rules state "As an action, a hero may attempt to scramble over a boulder while adjacent to the objective token by testing awareness. If he passes, he moves to any empty space adjacent to that boulder, ignoring any figures or obstacles that would normally block his way."

So, if the spiders fill up the empy spaces adjacent to them, i would assume they can't move to spaces further away, cause they aren't adjacent? The ignoring any figures part seems to be for spiders that are on the boulders I would think. Although then the 'obstacles' part is weird. If it indeed means next empty space, then a scenario like this would be possible:

-----------------

E S B B B E E

E S B B B H E

-----------------

The hero would, with one awareness check, be allowed to jump over 3 boulders and a spider to reach one of the empty spaces on the left...

Actually, in the scenario you drew, there is still one empty space adjacent to that boulder- directly above the hero. He couldn't scramble to a non-adjacent space unless that space was also occupied.Also, I'm rethinking my "scramble to nearest empty space" idea since the victory conditions depend on heroes being able to be trapped by boulders .

Yeah, I don't think it's a "nearest empty space thing". Based on the wording, if there is an empty space adjacent to a boulder, then the hero can move to it regarless of any other impediment. But, if there is no empty space adjacent to the boulder, then the action has no effect i.e. he's trapped.