The Elm Great Bow is a good weapon, but is very far from being the most dangerous one you'll encounter.

Not all Runes have the surge ability to "blast" but does that do really inconvenience the OL because it gives the heros serious crowd control.

I would suggest going over the purchase deck and looking at all the various weapons and armour and finding out how they can affect the game play.

One of the best example is the crossbow. It has a surge ability to move a creature one space. How does it work? Can you use it to reduce the range? Who decides where it moves? (For a surge, on a succesful hit move the target one space, even if it took no damage; you cannot use it to reduce range, it applies after the apply damage step; The hero decides where it moves to)

You can look at it this way instead of wildly swinging and leaving themselves open to attack they have (or one of the heads has) learned a more defensive strategy but not leaving themselves as open with attacks.

I am finding out that there is soooooo much to learn, especially to make a potent OL--shop deck, character abilities and how they all interact with the various monsters. I guess my question is HOW do you learn (and retain!) it all? Is it simply repetitive playing and analysis of the successes and failures?

I am finding out that there is soooooo much to learn, especially to make a potent OL--shop deck, character abilities and how they all interact with the various monsters. I guess my question is HOW do you learn (and retain!) it all? Is it simply repetitive playing and analysis of the successes and failures?

Yup. It's a strategy game. The more you play, the better you get. Being familiar with the rules helps a ton , because it's much easier to understand how ability A might interact with ability B when you know all the implications of the text of each ability (at least, that's how I feel.)

The Elm Great Bow is a good weapon, but is very far from being the most dangerous one you'll encounter.

Not all Runes have the surge ability to "blast" but does that do really inconvenience the OL because it gives the heros serious crowd control.

I would suggest going over the purchase deck and looking at all the various weapons and armour and finding out how they can affect the game play.

One of the best example is the crossbow. It has a surge ability to move a creature one space. How does it work? Can you use it to reduce the range? Who decides where it moves? (For a surge, on a succesful hit move the target one space, even if it took no damage; you cannot use it to reduce range, it applies after the apply damage step; The hero decides where it moves to)

Hmm... not to derail but as a question for the crossbow, we've been playing it as it has to do damage to be able to use any surges. From what I've read so far all other surge effects, unless specifically noted, are this way. The crossbow doesn't say anything about being able to use a surge without first doing damage. So should I be thinking of this the opposite way? Should I think that I can use surges even when no damage is done unless specifically stating damage has to be done (like for conditions, for instance)?

The Elm Great Bow is a good weapon, but is very far from being the most dangerous one you'll encounter.

Not all Runes have the surge ability to "blast" but does that do really inconvenience the OL because it gives the heros serious crowd control.

I would suggest going over the purchase deck and looking at all the various weapons and armour and finding out how they can affect the game play.

One of the best example is the crossbow. It has a surge ability to move a creature one space. How does it work? Can you use it to reduce the range? Who decides where it moves? (For a surge, on a succesful hit move the target one space, even if it took no damage; you cannot use it to reduce range, it applies after the apply damage step; The hero decides where it moves to)

Hmm... not to derail but as a question for the crossbow, we've been playing it as it has to do damage to be able to use any surges. From what I've read so far all other surge effects, unless specifically noted, are this way. The crossbow doesn't say anything about being able to use a surge without first doing damage. So should I be thinking of this the opposite way? Should I think that I can use surges even when no damage is done unless specifically stating damage has to be done (like for conditions, for instance)?

This is incorrect. The only requirement is that the weapon must deal damage in order to apply a condition. Forced movement is not a condition. As long as the attack isn't a miss, it can force movement, even if it does no damage at all.

Thanks for that clarification. We were playing that to use any surge dependent on an attack, the attack must inflict at least one damage after defense is rolled.