I am pretty new to the wolrd of Descent, and LOVE being the Overlord. I havent even played as a hero yet, and so far my friends don't even want to be the Overlord , but i am discovering, playing with 5 of us all the time, it isn't exactly easy to stop the heores. Anyone have any good tips on how to kill them off?

Right now we are playing through the first campaign, quest 5, the one where there are no exits at the end and once they die they die..i have been widdling down thier health, acting like i cant quite kill them, so when they get to that last room they will be easy pickings, but so often the quest design itself makes it incredibly difficult to stop the heroes, or sometimes, even to slow them down.

One easy trick is to attack them with a monster (expecially skeletons) and then walk away. This forces them to either advance (and attack 1 monster) or burn fatigue in order to attack 2. If they burn fatigue, they will edventually run out and be forced to advance.

In 5-man game = spawn, spawn and... more spawn. You have to make heroes to move slowest as they can. Spawn FTW!

Spawns are actually better (proportionately) in a small game, because the heroes use up a larger fraction of their total actions killing a given spawn group. Though spawns tend to be fairly overpowered generally, so spawning a lot in a large game isn't a bad idea, either...you're just less likely to bother with the crappy spawns, like razorwings.

You should be aware that, though the game has some scaling effects based on the number of heroes, they don't really work--the game will be easier for the heroes with more heroes and easier for the Overlord with fewer. So if the heroes are winning all the time, you might consider playing with fewer heroes or giving them some sort of handicap. Adding in treachery from an expansion (if you have one) will also swing things considerably in the OL's favor...

Thanks for all the tips so far all, I have been planning on bringing the threat stuff from the first expanion once we finished the 5th quest. It seems like such a tough battle to actualy kill off the heroes despite my greatest efforts, but it sounds like the expansions will be makinf it much easier to accomplish this.

but seriously, rapid fire + skilled = 4 long range attacks per turn = 4 dead monsters....ridiculous

Get the power card that allows you to draw 3 cards a turn out ASAP (think its called evil genius), its a winning formula no matter what map.

yeah, Evil Genius is the bestest ever....but, you have to play long enough to even get it. I JUST finished a game where i had the heroes (all 4 of them) on the ropes for the first 4 rounds (ONE conquest token away from winning), and then it was back to "No Hopesville". What sucks is not getting any cards besides Aim, Charge, Dodge and Spawns. The spawns were great, but i only got ONE trap the WHOLE game, it was only 9 rounds (they FLEW through the dungeon) though. It also didn't help i spawned in an Elite Beastmen party, right around a corner from a heor...THREE out of the four MISSED!! Needless to say, i was livid.

Is there a rule some where that says i can take out one Overlord card for each new threat one?

theres a rule that says that you swap out cards purchased with treachery for cards already in the OL deck. Presumably, that's to keep the deck size the same.

GOOD, i must have missed that when i was reading about the treachery cards...bye bye aims, it is about dang skippy time those things took a flying leap.

I've found that as an overlord, the best way to stop the heroes is with hit and run tactics. In order to spread them out, taunt the speedier heroes to the front, then quickly attack whichever heroes have the least amount of armor with a quick spawn or your fastest monsters, for ex. razor wings. Don't forget that your monsters can only attack once, and move once, dont waste that movement. when they go to loot a chest, use mimic, hit them, then run around a corner behind as many other monsters as you can. Make them chase that treasure down. and while their chasing it be sure to trip them up with sum spiked pits or crushing blocks (2 lane hallway + crushing block + spiked pit in that order = kill zone for heroes). As the other overlords have suggested dont forget that the continuous cards are the most powerful by far and that is why they cost so much. discard those crappy cards you keep gettings rather than trying to find a use for them, then drop a continous second turn for the win.In the end the most important tip i can give you is to play it like a chess game, as the overlord you need to be thinking at least 3 turns ahead. You know what traps and monsters are available to you, while they have no idea. Use it or lose it (the game that is).

Just try to be careful, if you become to proffesional of an overlord they may not let you play anymore because they cant even defeat the 1st dungeon. gl and hf with your descent journeys.

Hawknight said:

AHAHAHa...rofl...Aims and Doges are first things I throw out in general.

You said you were running a campaign, which suggests that you are using Road to Legend, but the problems you describe sound like you have the base game, perhaps Altar of Despair or Well of Darkness. If you have Road to Legend, start using it now. If you don't own it, get it now.

RtL enables the OL, as well as the heroes, to gain experience/conquest points, which are then used to upgrade the OL deck and monsters. You also will pick one of six OL avatars, one of which will most likely "speak" to your playing style. You like traps? Spider Queen. You like spawning beastmen? Beastman Lord.

Some decent tips by previous posters. Here are a couple that work for me. They are particular to RtL.

Pick on the weakest link. You know, the squishy mage or ranged character. At least through copper level, I can kill one of them, by the second dungeon level, once every two to three rounds. Before you know it, there are only two fighters in a room with a horde of monsters. Then, by the time the mage and/or ranged character make it to the action, one fighter has been transported involuntarily back to town. Priceless.

Create bottlenecks to buy time to generate more threat and draw more (and, hopefully, better) OL cards. Block up hallways with critters and traps, but not crushing blocks, I believe the game designer ruled that a necessary path in a dungeon cannot be made impassable.

I think that aim and dodge weren't given enough credit. My heroes love it when I play Dark Charm with Aim. It's also fun to aim a Troll's Bash. I think saving a dodge for the dungeon-level leader also makes sense.

We are only in the base game.....Journey into Darkness, we are on Quest #5. I have a group of regulars (5 of us) that play once a week and they level up like the first page of the quest guide talks about, and i JUST got Well of Darkness and used the treachery ones for the first time ever last night with another group that ins't campaigning...didnt go so well, i didnt realize i could take out useless cards when i put in the new treachery cards.

I never thought about coupling Aim with Dark Charm, good call, i do save a dodge or two for the Boss Man at the end of the quest, if i have room for it and dont have loads of sweet sweet sugary traps to use instead.

What is the rule about springing a trap next to a trap already there? I just cant block the path right? but i can force them to jump over a pit? or not? I think the rules say something about not playing a trap next to an obsticle? i can't recall now, better go look that one up.

The Crushing Block trap says on the card that you cannot use it in a space that is adjacent to an existing obstacle. There is no other restriction.

You cannot place a trap next to an Obstacle, being a pit, water, block etc. In any Direction.

That's sad, but it is how we have been playing any way....one day i will be a strong and powerful Overlord, and then all will quake with fear and trembling...or at least get a few wounds when i drop a block on their little noggin.

Dribbler said:

I can't find any such rule, except specifically for the Crushing Block card, as noted above. Cite your source.

OOOhhh, so that means i can play Crushing Block FIRST and knock them into a open space and THEN play Poisonous Spiked Pit underneith them??? plz say yes plz plz plz plz plz plz plz plz plz

Yes

Yes.... you can do that (as far as I remember )

I have incited many temper tantrums through my trap abuse/volley/spam

I'm with Anistone and MyNameSux. Yes, use Crushing Block, which leaves rubble, first, spiked pit next. It feels good, so do it. Imagine the glee in your heroes eyes as you bottleneck a passage with traps. Hopefully, they aren't hip to the forums.

I did not see any general rule barring playing traps next to obstacles, but the wording on the Crushing Block, as Anistone stated, prohibits it's use adjacent to an obstacle. That's to stop the stop OL from completely blocking a necessary passage. You would have to check the wording on other trap cards, e.g. Dart Fields and so forth, but I would be surprised if their placement is barred next to obstacles.

Cool, thanks. Luckily my Heroes are not hip to the forums at all, whew. I have no intentions of making the dungeon impassible, i just want a chance to slow them down. I also have one hero who reads just enough to know how to openly object to my actions as the OL, but not all the concerning details, so a lot of times, he makes me doubt if i understood the rules correctly, or I missed something he didn't. This helps a ton. Thanks all.

For high armor heroes I use traps for the most part. Don't waste valuable attacks on them for maybe 1 or 2 points of damage. Also don't trap at the end of a room when they have time to heal. Trap them right after the door to a new area opens and the fighter is on his way up to Battle the master in the room.

That brings up an important point: Make your players declare their action before they do anything. If you know they're going to Run then they're probably going for a glyph or treasure chest. If they declare a Battle then it's a perfect time to drop some traps so that they don't have enough movement points to complete their action or, at the very least, run them out of fatigue.

My favorite spawn card is the Beastman War Party for some easy conquest. You wait until the party opens a new area and the fighters move forward. Then spawn beastmen right behind the weak mage-type and gank him. Be sure to use your Master Beastman first so that the other two beastmen get Command. Also use that Aim card. A poster above complained about useless Aim cards - I use them all the time on my big monster attacks; it makes that X no longer an issue.

My second favorite spawn card is Dark Brothers, but they're an expansion monster. They're grossly overpowered and my heroes have learned to fear their sniper attacks.

My favorite trick is one that's already been mentioned: Crushing Block followed by Spiked Pit. The only thing I'll add to that is this: Try it on the last member of the party going down the corridor for that turn. The block gives you a perfect spot for spawning critters to finish the kill.

Also be sure to trash talk and bait the players. You'll soon learn who is susceptible to it, and lure him away from the party with sorcerers or skeletons. Splitting the party hurts your LOS for spawning but it makes getting hits on the weaker members much easier.

One last thing: You don't have to spawn your critters together. Find one space here and there that the heroes don't have Line of Sight to and scatter your critters out between them. Then jump out and say, "Hi!"

You should note, that in the latest FAQ, it was clarified that "crushing block" was defined as a blocking obsticle, along with a few others, (crushing wall, water, rolling boulder) So it would be possible to place a crushing block next to a pit that has already been played.

Basically, as long as you are not sealing off a pathway to the end of a dungeon, then you can play the crushing block next to anything.

If you spawn cobolds, don't use the red master cobolds for purposes of fight.

Instead, spawn the red master cobolds in some corner of the dungeon the heroes will never reach again.

If the heroes don`t search and kill that master cobolds, every trap card will be much cheaper to play. (In fact, you will get back the threat-points for the kobold-spawn card after having played just two trap-cards). In the long run, this will be quite more effective than some other spawn cards.

If the heroes will search and kill the master cobolds in the corner at the end of the world, the heroes will lose lots of turns just to kill the two little fellows. Lots of turns in which you will collect threat points...

The white cobolds should be used to block ways. In the most cases, they won't do much damage as they are too slow to reach the heroes in full number (to maximise their abilities). But if you use them to block some ways, the heroes will lose turns as they first have to cleave through a horde of cobolds.

(But if you are blocking ways, don`t forget the mages with their explosion-spells.)